Last of the Great 48!

The journey is complete!

2008-07-06T15:50:00.000-07:00

We undertook this trip to see the last of the 48 continental United States. We accomplished that goal by camping in California. While we'd visited Washington State and California by air, we'd never camped there, so we didn't feel we'd really "seen" them and didn't qualify to put our sticker for that state on our map. Yes, we have one of those! LOL It's mounted on plexiglass and rides in the RV.

We covered 9,660 miles and saw some really beautiful country. Even if it wasn't the most beautiful spot, it was still unique in that we'd never seen it or there was nothing like it in Alabama.

We visited 21 states on this trip.

We didn't eat out a whole lot. Most of the funds were taken up with fuel costs. If you've been following our blog, you'll know that I recorded most of our gas stops. I might have missed a couple in Washington State, but you get the idea of the upward rise in cost. Some people asked us why we didn't wait a year to see what was going to happen with fuel prices. The answer is easy: How often do gas prices go down significantly? If we'd waited another year, the fuel would probably be higher, we'd be a year older and who knows what next year will bring?

We enjoyed meeting old friends on the road and enjoyed making new friends. Each is special to us. Thanks for dinners, lunches, hugs, and your friendship!

Thanks to all of you who prayed for our safety and things that were happening here at home. It's great to have friends who take care of things for you. Then you have neighbors who go above and beyond the call of duty. All of you will never know how much you mean to us.

We're working on next year's trip already with the idea of going to Prince Edward Island. We've been to three of the Canadian Provinces so far, so we'll start adding to that list of stickers! LOL We watched a marathon of "Anne of Green Gables" on PBS when that was the only channel we could pick up. I've since read the books and think I'd like to spend a couple of weeks on PEI. Who knows? I may change my mind and head to Alaska!

Thanks for reading the blog. We hope you've enjoyed it as much as we have. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them!

We'll see you down the road at some point in life!

Jenny and David :)

Day 51 - Homeward Bound!

2008-07-06T15:42:00.001-07:00

Spent an interesting evening at the Days Inn/RV Park. Had breakfast free - wow! Danish for me and waffle for David. I'm sure we'll stop somewhere later to eat some real food! We pulled out about 8:00 a.m. headed for Memphis and the turn home.

We reached Tennessee at 9:20 a.m., Mississippi at 9:52 a.m. and Alabama at 12:17 p.m. Getting closer to home!

We saw more crop dusters....uhhh, aerial applicators...only here they're call "Agricultural Aviators." Does anyone know why they're all yellow planes?

We came through the new Corridor X/Future I-22 from Memphis to Birmingham. Since we last came through here, a new section was opened up and it cut about 30 minutes off our travel time. Only problem was a car was stalled on Arkadelphia Road in Birmingham and it backed up 18 wheelers, cars, and us for about 30 minutes. We finally pulled in about 3:30 p.m. It was good to see my mother's house (where we keep our RV).

We didn't unload a whole lot so we could get home to our house! It's been 2 months since we've seen it. Can't tell you how good it looked! The bed felt even better! LOL

Wrap-up coming in the next post!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 50 - A very long day

2008-06-30T18:04:00.000-07:00

Short post as it's going to be a long day. We left about 9:00 a.m. and stopped about 9:30 a.m. so I could get my blood pressure meds refilled at Wal-Mart in Oklahoma City. We left again about 10:00 a.m.!

Not much to see on this stretch of I-40. It's really rough riding!

Arkansas at 1:45 p.m. Got entertained by several yellow crop dusters.

Got to the Days Inn and Suites/RV Park in Brinkley, AR. We're about an hour west of Memphis. We'll be home tomorrow.

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 49 - Alabama meets Oklahoma!

2008-06-29T18:32:00.000-07:00

We headed out early to OKC because we're meeting Donna, another of my online friends. We've come close to meeting before, but never could work it out, so today is the day!

It was nice and cool when we pulled out and stayed cool most of the day.

Just past Groom, TX we saw a leaning water tower. It really is leaning! LOL

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/1266

One thing I saw along I-40 that I REALLY liked! A rest area with a tornado shelter! That was just perfect! LOL I did see one really funny looking "vehicle" on a side road that looked like the TIV.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_Intercept_Vehicle

At 4:00 p.m. we met Donna at the campground! We've been emailing for years, but it marked our first visit. We went to dinner at a GREAT BBQ restaurant. Best ribs I've ever had! Chrissy really like visiting with Donna, too! LOL

All too soon we had to stop talking and go back to the campground. Donna lives in Tulsa so she had a drive back. It was great to finally meet her.

On a somewhat sad note: Our vacation will be ending here, but it's going to take two hard days of driving for David to get us home. My mother is back home from my sister's and she's not doing well. We've arranged for friends to help with her care until we get home. We don't know yet what's ahead, but pray for all of us as we travel home. The next few days will be difficult, but with your prayers, we'll make it. I will continue the blog until we reach home.

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 48 - Part 2 - Palo Duro Canyon

2008-06-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

After the main heat of the day, we headed to Palo Duro Canyon. It's gorgeous and it's hard to believe that it's Texas! It's not what you'd think you'd see!

You drive down into the canyon on an eight mile road and back up the canyon on the same eight miles. It takes a while to drive it, but it's gorgeous.

There are lots of hiking trails, bike trails, and horse trails. There are many pull-outs to view the canyon, also.

They also have a number of flash floods here, so the roads are marked where they occur and how high the water is. Not sure I'd want to camp here. Uh, yes....David did cross where the water is. Said he was cooling his brakes!

We saw lots of wild animals....deer, turkeys, tarantulas! Yes, tarantulas! No, I'll never go camping here, but was rather proud of myself for getting out of the truck and taking the photos of them. If one had turned toward me....I hate to think!

We made our way out of the canyon just before dark and just before I freaked over all the spiders! LOL

Early to bed as we have a long drive to Oklahoma City tomorrow! OH! Rain during the night and it's much cooler here!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 48 - Part 1 - Groom, TX

2008-06-29T17:52:00.000-07:00

We got up kind of early and headed out for a tour. We started to Palo Duro Canyon, but decided to visit there in the evening. A friend had told us about Groom, Texas so we headed there. It's the home of the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere. But it was way more than that!

Around the cross are statues and explanations of the 14 stations of the Cross. There is also sculptures of the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, and the Tomb. It was very moving. We ran into a church group from Tennessee returning from a mission trip to Arizona. They were all as amazed as we were. http://www.crossministries.net/

After we spent some time there, we rode into town to the Blessed Mary Restaurant. It's the only place in town to eat. The menu has about 15 items on it and no prices. The "cash register" is a jar by the exit and you put in what you feel is proper for your meal. The two specialties are hamburgers and enchiladas. I had the hamburger and David got the enchiladas. Each table has the name of a disciple and a Bible verse. There are all sorts of religious pictures on the walls.

Check out this story about the place: http://www.route66university.com/study/inthenews/121.php

We truly enjoyed our visit to both places! Headed back to the campground for a short nap and get ready for Palo Duro Canyon.

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 47 - Amarillo by morning - errr - later afternoon

2008-06-28T08:01:00.000-07:00

Woke up early and realized something was wrong. My left eye had something in it. Tried washing it out, but no luck, so I thought maybe I'd just scratched it. Didn't get any better. We stopped along the road at a grocery store and David got some plain tears eye drops. The pharmacist told him that if it wasn't better if a couple of hours to get it checked. Back on the road.

Strange things on the road (according to David's terminology):

Free Range Solar Fried Chicken
Dry Aged Road Kill (YUCK!)

We got to Texas at 2:30 p.m. and now we're back on Central Daylight Time.

Looked for a WalMart with an optical center along the way as the eye isn't better. We finally found one - in Amarillo. Dr. Luke and Kim could not have been nicer! Kim lives in an Airstream similar to ours! Dr. Luke took me back and started looking at my eye. He put some staining liquid in my eye, but didn't see any cuts or scratches. I'm kind of funny about my eyelids and when he flipped my lid up, I just about had a stroke! LOL It was there he saw the great offender! I had a grain of sand embedded in the upper lid! He deadened the eye so I wouldn't freak and run and very gentle cleaned the upper lid and the lower part of my eye. He told me I wouldn't know if anything else was in there until the feeling came back, but he didn't see anything else. He gave me some drops for it and told me to call his cell if I had any problems or come back on Saturday if I needed to and he wouldn't charge for a visit. He and Kim were super!

We got set up at the Amarillo Ranch RV Park. The sites are HUGE! We're right down the street from the Big Texan Steak Ranch and we planned to have dinner here. We made a reservation for 7:00 p.m. and a limo with horns showed up to pick us up. Our camping neighbor, Jerry Lewis, was waiting to go, too, so we decided to have dinner together. Dinner was great! We also had a coupon for a free desert and it was Texas-sized, too! In the picture above, you see a table near the cooking area. If you can eat a 72 oz. steak and all the trimmings within an hour, you get it free. That table is reserved for them! Unfortunately, no one was willing to try it that night. Take note of the trash can. Guess what it's for????

Here's a link to the restaurant: http://www.bigtexan.com/

We took the limo back to the campground and talked a bit. My eye feels much better. Two songs keep coming to mind: "Dust in the Wind" and "The Answer My Friend is Blowing in the Wind."

Tomorrow we'll visit Palo Duro Canyon.

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 46 - Visit with Liz and Family!

2008-06-28T07:21:00.000-07:00

Before we left this morning , we swept, vacuumed, and mopped. We also rearranged items in the RV, and removed mysterious items from the fridge.

Leaving with a few sprinkles falling this morning and headed to Albuquerque to visit our friend Liz and her family - Bob - husband, and kids, Max, Wells, and Keely. It's not a long drive today, so we'll stop to shop along Route 66.

We stopped at Continental Divide, NM to do some shopping and do some sight-seeing. James wanted his photo taken at the continental divide sign and the Route 66 sign on the highway, so we took a moment to do that.

I went inside the first store, but didn't find anything I couldn't live without. Inside the next store, something was going on. The three people who worked there kept saying "I hope she's alright....I wonder where the ambulance is." They kept looking out the window, but I didn't see anything. I paid for my purchase and step outside. There was an older lady on the ground having a seizure. Her husband was trying to hold her still. I asked him if needed any cold water, but he said no and that the ambulance was coming but was coming from some distance. As we pulled out, the ambulance pulled in. Hope everything turned out alright.

On to Albuquerque! We get in and get settled. We'd stayed here before and liked this campground. It's on Route 66 and has a lot of vintage cars and campers parked around. Best of all, they have trees!

We call Liz and arrange to meet her at her house about 4:00 p.m. We headed to Camping World and Walmart for a little shopping for the RV before heading to her house. We finally get there! I didn't take a picture of Liz's yard, but wish I had! Flowers everywhere and it's gorgeous. I need her to visit me and fix my yard!

It was good to see her again. The kids have grown a lot in the two years since we've seen her and the family. We also got to meet Pita the dog. She's gorgeous and great with the kids. She really likes playing with Bob!

We headed to dinner at Garcia's. It was a great Mexican restaurant. The fun part was, Liz knows everybody there! She even knew some of the kids in the place. Dinner was wonderful! Thanks for everything!

We headed back to the campground as we have a 300 mile drive to Amarillo, TX in the morning. When we got there, we realized that a storm had moved through the campground. It had rained in parts of Albuquerque, but the campground got wind and sand. Our doormat was buried in the sand and there were small tree limbs down over the park, but no damage to any one's unit that we could see.

Off to bed and an early morning! Oh, don't forget to check out David's new cut!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 45 - Gallup-ing off!

2008-06-25T05:52:00.000-07:00

The high in Flagstaff yesterday was 83 degrees and this morning it's clear and cool - 43 degrees! Caught the laundry up and re-arranged the inside stuff!

We've now traveled 7,822 miles!

Off through the desert and then into some hills. More dust devils!

Stopped in Holbrook, AZ for a bite to eat for lunch and back on the road again!

New Mexico at 3:00 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time

I think Stephen King developed my seat belt. For no apparent reason, it suddenly grabs me and holds me against the seat. The only way to get loose is to take off the seatbelt. You can fix it and the next minute you're right back against the seat. I bet I took the seatbelt on and off about 50 times!

David decided to get a haircut in Gallup. If you've been a previous reader of our blogs, you know that these "vacation" haircuts don't usually go well. When he got out of the truck, I should have told him to not get "scalped." I'm sorry I didn't as he came back with a haircut that won't grow out before Christmas. He says it's cooler and it really doesn't look bad, but it's SHORT!

Liz - we took your suggestion of dinner at Earl's. I'll get even with you somehow! The food was great as was the service, but you forgot to mention the "visitors." Just wait.... LOL

After dinner we went to the El Rancho Hotel/Motel. It was great. It's an old hotel on Route 66 just down the road from our campground. During it's hey-day, many movies stars stayed here. They would film westerns in Monument Valley and come back here for the night. There was a player piano in the lobby. The top of the piano was playing the keys and a piano roll, but the bottom was playing percussion instruments. It was pretty neat!

Back to the RV and enjoying the breeze. No AC for us...fans feel great. Looks like it's raining off in the distance. They told us in the office that they get 12" of rain here a year. I can believe it!

Off to Albuquerque in the morning and to meet Liz!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 44 - The Heat Lets Up...a little

2008-06-24T17:24:00.000-07:00

We have about a three hour drive today across the desert and mountains to reach Flagstaff. We left while it was still cool.

A large portion of Highway 89 runs through the Navajo Reservation. It's hard country here and I'm not sure how they make a living here.

Just before Cameron, I noticed dirt in the air. I first though someone was plowing, but realized you don't plow in the desert! It was a dust devil. The photo I got was shot out the window while we were driving. We could see it for a long time.

We got to the campground and is it ever nice here. It's breezy and in the 80's. It's a "senior-oriented" campground so it's quiet. We'll stay at a KOA sometimes, but its usually full of kids. This campground isn't a KOA and it's nice and quiet.

After lunch outside under a tree, we met our neighbor. She has two dachshunds. They're much older than Chrissy and Chrissy couldn't understand why they wouldn't play with her!

Nap time again!

Spent the afternoon catching up the blog. Ahhhh. Wi-fi!

Happy Anniversary to Keith and Rebecca!

David's cooking dinner and I'm signing off now. Tomorrow is Gallup, NM!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 43 - Part 3 - Stormy Weather!

2008-06-23T21:07:00.001-07:00

Being hot and tired when I returned from Antelope Canyon, I took off my socks and shoes - inside. BIG MISTAKE! My shoes were full of red sandstone. I dumped it on the floor. Cleaned it up and we all took a nap.

I woke when I felt the RV move. I got up thinking someone must have knocked on the door, but Chrissy was sound asleep and David was, too.

I looked out the window and saw a huge storm coming. It was blowing dust our direction. The wind was making the RV sway even though David had the stabilizers down. When the storm got really close, the RV rocked really hard one time. Then it was over. Saw one or two raindrops hit the window and that was it.

We decided to ride down to the marina at Lake Powell. HUGE yachts and boats use the lake there. The photos I took are of the storm moving away over the mountains. I wasn't scared and it was actually pretty. It was too late in the day to see a rainbow. That would have made it perfect.

We're going to Flagstaff tomorrow instead of driving on the Gallup, NM. That change will put us back on schedule. It's hot and it's taking a good bit out of us, so a shorter day will be welcome.

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 43 - Part 1 - A Bridge Experience

2008-06-23T21:04:00.001-07:00

Most of you who know me know that I don't like bridges, especially when they are very high off the roadway. Well, Glen Canyon Dam Bridge is one of those.

We stopped at the Visitor's Center and I asked David if we could walk across the bridge. After he got over his initial surprise, he said yes. Off we went--me, David, and Chrissy.

We walked the dam side first. You can feel the bridge flex and you can feel the traffic going by you. There is fencing up so you can't throw things down, but along the way there are openings so you can take photographs.

The dam picture features the dam and Lake Powell.

The canyon side features LARGE boats on the left side of the river. Yes, the little things are big boats!

The bridge picture is the bridge we all walked. Well, most of us walked. Chrissy got scared and David ended up carrying her! LOL

See Day 2 for more info!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 43 - Part 2 - Antelope Canyon

2008-06-23T20:55:00.000-07:00

Sorry the parts of the day got out of order, but I can't change it. If you know how, please let me know!

We went out for more sightseeing after the dam visit. We went to an overlook where you can see the marina. We meet a couple of Holland visiting the US. We told them about Antelope Canyon and they headed back into town to get an 11:30 a.m. reservation.

David didn't go with me on the shoot as he doesn't generally take photographs. The truck picked me up at the campground and it goes into Page for you to pay and get your reservation pass. Soon our guide, Dorothy (featured below) called our group. She first loaded groups of four, then groups of three. The Dutch couple, Yeroen and Yose and I made up a group of three.

It's a 10 minute ride on the pavement and then 10 minutes of jumping through sand on a huge truck. I had visions of Rommel's Raiders jumping dunes in Africa! We got stuck once, but easily got out.

Before you wonder what Antelope Canyon is, here's a link so you can read about it:

http://www.navajonationparks.org/htm/antelopecanyon.htm

When you enter the slot canyon, your guide leads you through and suggests photo opportunities. It's crowded as your group isn't the only one there. Photographers have also paid to stay longer, but they deal with groups like us. After leading you all the way through, the guide takes a break and tells you how much time you have left to work your way back out taking photos. You're inside the canyon for 45 minutes.

Because I'd been here before, I suggested to my new friends that they take a photo when they see something they like or just shoot as it looks different when you work your way back out of the canyon. It's also hard to remember what you wanted to photograph on the way out.

We finished our tour and headed back into town. Yeroen and Yose dropped me back at the RV. They visited with Chrissy and toured our RV. They're headed on to Yosemite and we talked about our visit there.

It was a pleasure to meet both of them. They were so excited to see the US.

Off to part 3!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 42 - Page-Lake Powell

2008-06-23T20:53:00.001-07:00

We pulled out of Las Vegas EARLY headed toward Page, AZ. I remember some of this road from our early excursions here and remember we have to cross Glen Canyon Dam to get into Page. We also cross in and out of Arizona a number of times.

Utah - 11:45 a.m.
Arizona - 1:18 p.m. (MST) They don't observe Daylight Saving Time, but the Navajo Reservation does.
Utah - 3:09 p.m. (MDT)
Arizona - 3:20 p.m. (MST)

Along the desert we saw a number of dust devils. The wind is really blowing across the desert.

Ahead I see the bridge! It's the metal one you see in the picture. On the driver's side is the Glen Canyon Dam. On the passenger's side is the canyon....

We made it into the campground a few minutes later. David registered me for a photo shoot at Antelope Canyon for tomorrow.

Early evening and some rest.

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 41 - I promise I'll be good! It's too hot to play outside!

2008-06-23T20:52:00.001-07:00

We decided to skip Barstow, CA and go on to Las Vegas even though it means we're a day ahead of schedule. Of course, we're going through mountains and a desert and it's very hot!

Not much to see along the road:

Breakfast at McDonald's
The 10 Commandments on signs along the road
A town spelled Zzyzx in California
World's Tallest Thermometer - Baker, CA - 104 degrees
World's Tallest Convenience Store
Air Conditioning off for the next 16 miles (BIG HILL!)
Joshua trees outside Joshua Tree National Park
Bypassing Death Valley - already there I think!
Enter Las Vegas at 12:30 p.m.

We came through Las Vegas on the back side of the strip headed toward Nellis Air Force Base and the Las Vegas Motor Speedway (already been there). We get to the campground and it's a fortress! If you stay more than a day you have to buy a gate remote to get in and out. Fortunately, we're here one day.

We have trouble getting into the spot assigned to us, so David walks back to the office to tell them we need a different site. He's gone forever and then I see him walking back and forth. He could find a way to get back to the office as he can't get the gate to open. It has to be opened by the office when they see you on camera. Apparently they weren't looking. He finally got in the gate when someone else came in.

We finally get set up, but it's a 50 amp site and we need 30 amp service or an adapter. Back to the office. Keep in mind it's 110 degrees now. He finally comes back and tells me that a 30 amp service is "hidden" on the spot. Great!

We go inside the RV and it's 116 degrees and now the AC doesn't want to work! We started looking for a motel that would take pets because it was too dangerous to stay in that heat! David got the AC to work by removing the cover of the breaker box and pointing a fan on it. We could get the temp to come down a couple of degrees at a time. Took quite some time to get it to 89 degrees.

We go to bed with the fan running and the AC struggling. I woke up sometime during the night and realized the fan had stopped running. Then I realized the AC wasn't running! I woke David up and he looked outside. It was quiet...no generators running, no AC's running anywhere. It was a power outage. We managed to get back to sleep and sometime during the night the power came back on. The fridge stayed cold because it switched over to gas when the power went out.

Think we'll leave early tomorrow!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 40 - The Happiest Place on Earth!

2008-06-21T20:43:00.001-07:00

We decided to head to DisneyLand! We've been to DisneyWorld many times, but we were right here in Anaheim and had not good reason not to go! We even decided to take Chrissy along as they have a kennel there just outside the gates. We were within walking distance, but decided to take the truck. Good thing! It was hot!

We got to the park just as it opened, but it didn't seem very crowded. Since we only had one day, we chose Disneyland instead of trying to go to the California park, too.

Dropped Chrissy off and in we went. It's very much like DisneyWorld, but smaller. Many of the rides are the same name, but not the same ride. Pirates of the Caribbean was great here! I loved the animatronic Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow. The ride is longer and more involved than Florida.

We rode some of the "kid" rides and went through the Enchanted Tiki Room a couple of times just to get cool. It's different, too, from Florida.

The one ride we didn't like was "Indiana Jones." I'm not fond of roller coasters and the dark....what did I get? A roller coaster and the dark! I wasn't the only one screaming! LOL

We split a lunch plate that could have fed an army! Food was delicious. Also stopped for some ice cream and got to watch a show in the air conditioning....Aaaaah!

We went to check on Chrissy in the kennel and she was doing great. They had a number of dachshunds in there that day.

We really had a great time in the park and proudly wore our First Time buttons we were given. Cast members stopped us a good bit and asked if we were having a good time. Of course we were! It was the happiest place on earth. Although....we saw a bunch of parents and kids who were not happy! LOL

My feet were really hurting (got blisters on the balls of my feet), so we gave up about 6:00 p.m. It was also about 100 degrees! We collected Chrissy at the kennel and she was awarded a VIP certificate! Very Important Pet. We'll take it home and have it framed! LOL

We arrived back at the RV to find the power had been off. We later discovered it was a problem with the power box and one of the breakers. If we had left Chrissy in her cage, she would not have survived the heat. It was 106 when we went inside. We cooled off some eventually. Got to watch the Disney fireworks out the window of the RV. Gorgeous!

Off to Page, AZ tomorrow and we're still a day ahead of schedule.

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 39 - Huntington Beach! NOT! But we meet Linda again!

2008-06-21T20:24:00.000-07:00

We got up and left early while it was still cool. Quiet, peaceful night, and very restful and needed. Yesterday was a hard day.

I'm so proud of my husband...he negotiated his way through Los Angeles pulling an RV. No moments of panic, no wrong turns. He did an excellent job. I could see the Hollywood sign, but couldn't get a photo, but I did get one of Capitol Records. You "Earthquake" movie fans will know this one! The other road photo is going into LA....look closely and you'll see the buildings in the "air."

We got to the campground and it's conveniently located to where we needed to go next - WalMart! I had to have a prescription refilled and David needed the oil changed in the truck. No problems with either, but the mechanic reset our trip indicator! Bummer!

We also went into AAA to find out more DisneyLand info. The girl at the counter sent us on a long wild goose chase looking for discounted tickets. She didn't know the place that had sold them previously was no longer doing it! Oh well!

Before we left to meet Linda, David took another spill. One of the underground sprinklers in the park was leaking outside our RV. He was walking Chrissy and stepped over the wet area and put his foot on the water meter where it was dry. Unfortunately, it sank because of the wet ground. No serious injury, just a scraped leg. They had the wet area repaired by the time we returned.

We didn't have tooo far to drive to meet Linda - on to Huntington Beach where my brothers live. Only my brothers are out of town in Hawaii with the whole family. The live next door to the campground we had chosen, but since they were gone, we decided on one in Anaheim. Makes it easier to go to DisneyLand! LOL

We got to the campground about lunchtime and discovered it's "four blocks to DisneyLand and you can easily walk that." Of course, it's 100 degrees here and I'm not up for that! We eat a light lunch because we're meeting Linda at Duke's in Huntington Beach for dinner at 6:00 p.m.

Off to Duke's! We don't want to get on the 5, so we take PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) all the way in. We stopped at every light along the way and were a little late getting to Duke's. Linda was already there and had gotten a pager for our table. It was great to see her again. She was as lovely and gracious as I remembered from our previous visit and know from our emails.

I noticed it was getting dark in the restaurant when we were seated. I wondered why they didn't turn on the lights and I remembered! They keep it dark until the sun sets on the ocean and THEN the lights come up. We tried to get a table near the window, but it was graduation night and those spots were not available. It was a little noisy in the restaurant, but that didn't stop us from talking for about 3 hours! We wished Colleen and Breezy could have joined us, but Breezy was moving and Colleen was helping her.

We walked out on the pier and Linda explained the "fog" that rolled in is referred to as "June Gloom." It was also cold and windy and she and I wimped out on David. We talked a bit more as the valets got our vehicles and it was too soooon time to go.

Going back to the campground was relaxing except Sir Garmin kept telling us to turn right on PCH. That would have put us in the ocean and not on the way back to Anaheim. Fortunately I knew the road and area and we were soon back to the campground. We're going to DisneyLand tomorrow! I may be too excited to sleep!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 38 - A sad day and a castle

2008-06-21T17:33:00.000-07:00

We got up early to visit Carmel Valley in order to do laundry. We had a few loads and the laundry was close by, but not in the campground. It opened at 8:00 a.m., but we left a little early to get breakfast out this morning. We decided to eat a Jeffrey's, next door to the laundry. Lots of regulars in there as they were all greeted by name and asked if they'd like their usual. Most did. I had scrambled eggs, toast, sausage, and potatoes. David had Cajun sausage and pancakes. It was terrific and it was $22 before tip!

Laundry opened and went spent a couple of hours there and then headed back with nice clean clothes. Then it started. My phone rang, but the call was dropped. I checked and it was our vet. I called them back and they had our dog, Molly, there. Molly is a 14-15 year old sweet doberman who stayed with our neighbors. Since she's so old, we'd made arrangements in advance for the "inevitable." And it happened. I asked the vet's office to call our neighbors to let them know what was going to happen.

Molly had been unable to stand on her back legs, so our wonderful neighbors, Paul and Tina, took her to the vet. The vet first thought it might be treatable, but it turned out not to be so. After discussing it with the vet's office and each, we decided to have her put down. It was not an easy decision. I cried most of the day and David was very quiet. It was almost as if Chrissy knew something had happened as she was in my lap most of the ride and extremely sweet.

We got on Highway 1 near Carmel and headed south. We'd been warned it was a twisting and winding road on the coast (hills and curves for the next 63 miles). Twisting and winding don't begin to describe this road! We stopped to take pictures several times and got cold! David's hat was blown off a couple of times, but he managed to retrieve it. That was at Hurricane Point....appropriately named! Since we have the RV behind us, we have no choice to go slow and use the turnouts when possible. Some guy on a motorcyle was Soooooo thrilled with us that he showed us that we were number one. Wasn't he nice?

Next up was a rock slide. We spent about 30 minutes parked along the coast watching the workers scoop up the stuff that until an hour before had been on top of the hill. They cleaned it up quickly and were reminding each other how long the road was being closed.

We stopped at one viewpoint where docents were present. There were elephant seals there on the beach! They flip sand on themselves and just hang out in the sun. I asked the docent why they flipped the sand. He told me that they use the sand to cool themselves and as a sunscreen. We asked how far Hearst Castle was and he pointed to the hillside. You could see the bell towers from there.

As we got to the parking lot, David's cell phone chirped. It was Tina. She told us more about Molly. Tina and family took the time to go visit Molly. Tina fed her and gave her a treat and told her how much we all loved her. She brushed her and cleaned her, also. She said Molly gave her a look like it was okay for her to leave and it was time for her to go. I lost it when she was telling us this. David ended up talking to her. We have wonderful neighbors and they'll never know how much this means to us.

Molly will be cremated and we'll scatter her ashes when we return. She loved running in the back pasture, so we'll scatter them there.

On to the castle....it had been cool on the beach, but it was over 100 degrees on top of the hill where the castle is. One brochure said no photography and no drinks up there. Turns out it was wrong on both counts, so I have no pictures and didn't have any water either! I'd like to go back to visit it again. We missed the movie (45 minutes) and did the experience tour. They have 5 different ones to choose from.

Sign on the road near Big Sur: A will is a dead giveaway.

It's now late in the day and we have to drive on. The road is less winding now and we make good time, but it's getting really late and we'll never make it to Santa Barbara. We stopped at one place at Pismo Beach, but wanted us to pay for a "premium spot" so we didn't have to unhook the truck from the trailer. We left...to much for it. We kept driving and driving and driving. About half a hour from Santa Barbara and almost dark, we saw a county campground at a lake. We were tired and pulled in. If the didn't have hookups we could make it one night. Turns out they had terrific hookups and a spot where we could back in and not unhook! Off to bed without dinner.

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 37 - Golfers, get ready for this one!!! Pebble Beach!

2008-06-17T19:57:00.000-07:00

We pulled out from the campground about 8:45 this morning and headed down New Priest Grade. It wasn't bad! Far easier going down than up! LOL

We're headed for Carmel, California today - about 200 miles. Funny, Sir Garmin says it's a 4 hour drive. After driving SIX hours we know why. The road was like a snake. We went from about 6,000 ft to sea level.

Got to the campground and that was an experience in itself. We're actually in Carmel Valley, California. Very nice campground, but you have to cross a narrow, one lane metal bridge. The road beyond it isn't much wider than one lane. Try moving an RV to the side of the road to let someone else pass! WHEW!

We headed out for the 17 mile drive at Pebble Beach. While I could NEVER live in that place it was certainly work seeing it. It takes 2-3 hours to drive the entire drive because there are so many beautiful places to stop and take pictures. I had to change my 1G card out because I filled it! It's hard to decide which ones to keep!

I kept the clock picture! The clock by one of the many clubhouses is a ROLEX! I want one of those at my house! LOL

We saw seals, birds, and deer! We also saw golfers, but I didn't check them out too much as I'm not a golfer.

Enjoy the pix! Tomorrow is Santa Barbara!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 36 - Glacier Point and Marisposa Grove

2008-06-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

We decided to leave early to make today's drive as it's some distance from the campground. We're about an hour away from Yosemite and the drive takes us up in the mountains above Yosemite.

On our way into the park, we passed two gas stations with prices over $5.00 a gallon. The diesel fuel at these stations is close to $6.00 a gallon. We didn't get fuel there!

Our first stop was Glacier Point. It was beautiful! We could see full waterfalls and Half Dome was so close you could almost reach out and touch it. People were telling us there were people on top of Half Dome. Sure enough..there were people up there! We first thought they were trees, but they were moving. WOW!

We walked over to another viewpoint and geological exhibit housed in a small stone building. I sat outside on a bench with Chrissy while David explored the building. A couple came up with their 90 year old father. The daughter told me that her father had had 3 dachshunds and he missed them. Knowing Chrissy's temperament, I asked him would he like to pet her. She sniffed his hand, licked him and was all over him. She somehow understood he needed to pet her. She didn't growl or try to move away. A little girl saw Chrissy and she let her pet her, also. This was one of the few trails in the parks where dogs were welcome and Chrissy was welcomed in many languages!

We got back in the truck and headed down to the next viewpoint. We decided to have lunch here and the view was spectacular!

We moved on to Mariposa Grove. This is still in the park and is made up of giant Sequoia trees. It's hard to even take pictures of them as you can't get a whole tree in the picture. Dogs are not permitted to enter the grove as they may bring in parasites that are not in the grove now. David and I took turns walking the trail among the trees. They are HUGE!

We were about 4 hours away from the campground at this point, so we asked Sir Garmin for another route back to the campground. He gave us one that was not that far but was about 2 hours instead of 4. We decided to go that way.

Since we needed fuel and some groceries, we stopped along the way in Oakhurst. David was going to get a few groceries and put them in the cooler in the truck. We didn't get the eggs which were $4.99 a dozen and we didn't get a rotisserie chicken which was $9.99. We did get some water, though! LOL

As we were leaving, we noticed a huge cloud coming over the mountains. We'd seen it as a small one earlier, but now it was much larger. After Oakhurst we were on the way to Mariposa. We started noticing fire engines, graders, fireman, and other equipment headed back toward Oakhurst. We still don't know if the cloud was saw was really a cloud or smoke from a fire.

Remember the road we didn't like the other day? Well....Sir Garmin had us going back up that road! Priest Grade! It wasn't quite as bad as the other day as the RV wasn't behind us, but still had a couple of times I came close to screaming. Decided to look at the route for tomorrow...yes, we have to go back down the hill...WITH THE RV! Yikes!

We were all tired, so we made it an early evening. A little reading and lights out!

Tomorrow....Big Sur and Carmel! Back to the coast!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 35 - Yosemite with James Spann

2008-06-15T19:35:00.000-07:00

What a place! It was cool last night and we slept well.

David got up early and started cooking breakfast for all of us! We had bacon, eggs, fried potatoes, toast, and plenty of ketchup! YUM! I actually peeled and cut up the potatoes. We only had one boo-boo and it was mine. The picnic table was close to the edge of a drop-off on our space and I didn't notice it. I did when I the table started to move and turn over! LOL I quickly stood up and righted the table. We moved it to more level ground!

John and Jean ate breakfast with us and then all toooo soon it was time for them to head home. We were sad to see them go, but it was great to catch up. They have a new granddaughter and what a cutie she is!

After they left, we got ready and headed back to Yosemite. This time I brought James Spann along and he was thrilled to see Yosemite. I also remembered to bring my telephoto lens. Some of the pictures in this day's blog are similar to yesterdays, but much closer.

My favorite on is the climbers! I didn't even know I'd captured them on the shot until I was reviewing them. They were climbing El Cap. If you are a Star Trek fan, this is where Capt. Kirk, Spock, and Bones were camping. Kirk fell off El Cap and Spock caught him by using jet boots. Now I get to see "real" people climbing El Cap! In the large shot of El Cap, you see the "nose" to the right. It's the sharp edge of El Cap. Next shot you see an inset of the face of El Cap. Until I blew up a "smudge" I saw, I didn't know it was three climbers going up the face. They won't finish the climb today, either!

The small thin fall is Ribbon Falls. The larger one is Horsetail Falls. The pool is just below Horsetail Falls. The top of Bridal Veil Falls shows how hard the wind/water blew.

We drove the rest of the loop, enjoyed a picnic, and decided to take tomorrow to view the giant sequoias. Can't wait to see them. We'll also visit Glacier Point.

We did get an email that our youngest grandson had fallen and broken his left arm. He's got a split on and will get a cast on Monday. Poor baby!

Leftovers for dinner and a walk in the RV park. Chrissy made a new friend - Lorenzo. He's 3 and from Italy. He understands English, but doesn't speak it, so his dad translated. He also has a 7 month old sister who is a real doll!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 34 - Yosemite, Infinity and Beyond!

2008-06-15T09:05:00.000-07:00

We left Manteca after a great evening with Jan and Mike. It was toooo soooon to leave!

We pulled out about 9:45 am headed to Groveland, CA and Yosemite. Friends of ours, Jean and John Bell who now live in Sonora are meeting us at the campground. John did radio in Birmingham and Mobile for a number of years and you've probably heard his voice on lots of commercials. The have a Mini-Winnie RV (not to be confused with our mini-weiney (Chrissy).

We've now covered 6,000 miles, but it was time to stop for gas. Everyone said to buy our gas in Oakdale so we did. It was $4.57 a gallon! YIKES!

It's June 14 so it's Flag Day. Many of the small towns we've passed through have flags waving everywhere. It's really a beautiful site.

We also saw a new calf! Mama was nudging the baby to get up and baby had gotten the two back legs up. She was gorgeous!

What can I say about the last six miles getting to the campground? Warren - you might have gotten me with Tony Stewart, but you really got me about not telling me about Priest Grade! WOW! You see a sign telling you to turn off your A/C for the next five miles. We can see waterlines running up the mountain, but had on idea we were going the same way!

Some of you may remember our incident with Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado a few years ago. Eight miles up and eight miles down and cross it at 13,800 feet. Well, Priest Grade goes straight up in six miles. It twists, it turns, it makes transmissions run hot! David wasn't sure we'd make it and neither was I. I could see us in the river WAAAYYYYY down below.

We got to the campground and after a "discussion" about our sites, one of the guys here said Old Priest Grade was the scarier road. It takes 6 miles to get up the hill on New Priest, and 2 on Old Priest. I don't even want to know!

If found this info:

A note about old and new Priest Grade Roads

The final approach to Groveland involves a ride up Priest Grade. One has two route choices, left (Highway 120 and New Priest) or right (Old Priest) up the canyon.

New Priest Grade: This is Highway 120 and is 6 miles and very curvy. In the East bound direction (uphill) The passenger will be sitting on the outside of the hill, overlooking the edge. Buses and trucks use this route. It tends to flow at somewhere between 25 and 35 miles per hour.

Old Priest Grade: This is a narrow country road, not a State Highway and is half the curves of New Priest Grade, a third the distance, very steep at three times the pitch and flows at 25 miles per hour or less. Weight restrictions.

Many folks recommend up the old, down the new, keeping the passenger always on the inside of the hill. Very polite!

I was on the passenger side!

As we were coming up the hill, I did see a guy going down the other road on a skateboard. I didn't want to watch as I knew he probably wasn't going to make the first curve at the speed he was going!

We got settled in at the campground and Jean and John pulled in. After visiting for a bit, we headed out to Yosemite. It was stunning. At the first viewpoint where I could see El Cap and Half Dome, I couldn't breathe!

We passed several signs about bears that read "Speeding Kills Bears." John just made the comment that if they were speeding, they should have the licenses taken away! Cracked us all up. John does comedy for a living, so check out his website: http://thebatfry.com You can also listen to his comedy podcasts on I-Tunes or through your computer.

Chrissy was with us and when she is we keep a plastic bowl on the transmission hump for her. When she wants water, she pulls the bowl on the seat and we pour her water out of a bottle. welllll.....We're going through one of three tunnels and I make my usual joke about how dark it is in here and David makes the usual comment about taking off your sunglasses. We came out of the tunnel and Chrissy pulled her bowl up. I pour her drink into and looked down and it was dark! She's lapping it up like there is no tomorrow. I checked and had poured her a bowl of Dr. Pepper! I felt so bad...especially when she started belching!

The Park is crowded, but we made our way through. I could have stopped every few feet to take photos, but it was getting late so we headed back to the campground to make dinner.

David planned to cook some rib eyes and marinate them in Moore's Marinade. It's a salty, soy based marinade. He was drinking Dasani from a bottle and had mixed Kool-Aid in the water. He laughed and said he almost drank the marinade by mistake. A few minutes later he's at the kitchen sink spitting out stuff and drinking water from the tap and spitting again. Turned out he did drink from the marinade! Didn't take him long to realize it wasn't his Kool-Aid!

John fixed green beans, I fixed fresh cauliflower with cheese sauce, and we had a great dinner outside. Jean and I talked and we all stayed up toooo late!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 33 - Meet Jan and Mike

2008-06-14T07:07:00.000-07:00

On the road a little early so we can stop at the grocery store to get items for dinner tonight with Jam and Mike. Jan is another member of the online group I'm in and we haven't meet in person..only online for many years.

We're driving in a valley with all kinds of fruit trees and vegetables: orange trees, apricot trees, olive trees, almond trees, grapes, tomatoes, and more we couldn't identify. We even saw a crop duster spraying the fields. Then we discovered it's not a crop duster; it's an "arial applicator!" We could still see the fire from the day before.

I'm really a child of media: went through the town of Lodi (Oh, Lord, stuck in Lodi again - Credence Clearwater Revival), went through Stockton (Big Valley - wonder if the Barkleys are home?), and when we went through Sacramento (state capital), we couldn't decide if we should stop to see if "Ahnold" was home. The best was when a CHP (California Highway Patrol) motorcycle passed us - I wondered if it was Ponch or John!

We got into the campground and get settle so I called Jan to tell us we were here. Jan told me, too, that Tim Russert of NBC had passed away. That was sad to learn. I always looked forward to his political explanations and he seemed so excited about the upcoming elections.

Jan and Mike had planned to come to get us for some sightseeing and so they did. We drove to one of the firestations where Mike works and got to see everything. I got to sit in the fire engine (not truck) and got the whole tour. They slide down a pole at this station and it scared me to death looking at it! You have to step out to grab it. I don't think I'll be a fireman here anytime soon. We met the guys there at the station, too and you couldn't ask for a more nice and patient group. Thanks for everything!

Back to the RV and dinner. Mike and Jan brought steaks that we marinated in Moore's Marinade (from Alabama) and garlic. Jan also brought some awesome Paula Deen lemon "muffins." If I'd know how good they were first, I'd never made it to the great steak. David made his wonderful mac and cheese. YUM! The leftovers of the mac and cheese went home with Jan and Mike. We explained it was great for breakfast - milk, eggs, cheese, etc. We got the leftover steak and muffins. I think we got the better deal.

It was a late evening, but so much fun. Chrissy made friends with both and them and relaxed to the point that she fell asleep under the table, curled up next to Jan's foot! She was a tired puppy when she went to bed!

Off to Yosemite tomorrow where we'll meet our friends (formerly from Alabama now in California) John and Jean.

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 32 - Mission Accomplished!

2008-06-12T17:29:00.000-07:00

Got up early this morning to get ready to leave. Just one problem....the water lines froze overnight! It was in the low 20's this morning at Diamond Lake, Oregon! Thank goodness David fixed his coffee pot the night before or he would have had no coffee. I broke out the hair dryer and he got our lines thawed.

We pulled away about 9:00 a.m. Really hated to leave this place...it was beautiful and peaceful. SIGH....

While we were still in Oregon a HUGE coyote crossed the road in front of us. I was on the phone with a friend back home and started yelling "Deer! Deer! Deer!" They were all standing on the side of the road. We saw lots of small animals today, too.

Saw a coffee place called "Moody Brews." Thankfully I have the Moody Blues on my IPod so I don't get another song stuck in my head.

Speaking of songs, remember when Lucy and Ricky and Fred and Ethel went to California? They were riding along singing "California Here I Come." No, I didn't break out into song in the truck; only in my head. See...now you're singing it, too.

We reach California at 11:30 a.m. We have now seen all of the lower 48 United States over the last eight years. It's been wonderful, but we have more to see and places in those 48 we haven't seen yet. Wish I'd kept track of all the National Parks and Monuments we've visited over the years.

We haven't bought gas here yet...saw it for $4.79 and $4.83. We'll need to buy gas tomorrow....SEND MONEY! LOL

We passed a sign saying "Prescribed Burn- Please Do Not Report." Later we could see smoke in the distance on the right and left. Those two fires are not prescribed burns.

We've been seeing a huge snow-covered mountain. As we get closer, we know it's Mt. Shasta. We stopped at an overview and got some great pictures. I could have stayed there all day

Someone suggested to us to visit Lake Shasta. We crossed it several times. The water is almost gone on one end and it's low over the entire lake. Still, it was a beautiful lake.

We had planned to spend the night in Redding, but decided to move on and now we're in Corning, CA. "Smoke From a Distant Fire" keeps running through my mind. Our the front window of the RV, we can see a HUGE smoke cloud. This is the Humboldt Fire. Paradise, CA is being evacuated. We have winds of up to 25 mph and they say we'll get the ash later. We've been watching the local TV station and they keep updating the evacuation procedures. Many homes are burning and it's very sad.

We got to the campground and the temps in the 90's. I really should have entitled the whole blog the Fire and Ice Tour! LOL We stopped at a rest area about halfway here and took off the sweatshirts and finally got to wear short-sleeved t-shirts. What a change! Even Chrissy isn't cold anymore!

David cooked fried chicken fingers outside on the electric skillet. The park owner drove up and wanted to know what he was cooking. David told him and he told David he didn't know how good it smelled! A few minutes later, the wife drove by, too. David also made gravy. I made herb and butter rice and English peas. After dinner, David took the leftover chicken and gravy to the office. The owner said if anyone complained about us while we were here that he'd say "Who?"

A knock at the door! The owner brought us some locally grown olives! I don't care for them, but David does. There are olive trees everywhere here. Didn't know they were grown here.

We'll head out early tomorrow for Manteca to meet another online friend and her husband. We're hoping one more may join us!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 31 - DUH!

2008-06-11T19:47:00.000-07:00

Since we've been here, we haven't had internet or cell phone service. Or at least that's what I thought.

We woke to sunshine this morning and decided to take pictures of Diamond Lake and the mountains since the sky was clear. First was Diamond Lake with Mount Bailey behind it. People were already out fishing. While the water is still choppy, it's settled a great deal since the first time we saw it.

A little further up the road is Mt. Thielsen. We can actually see both mountains from the campground and see a bit of the lake through the trees. The view is blocked some by all the trees.

When we come back into the campground, David points out a new piece of equipment on the trees near us...it's a wi-fi booster. Turns out we'd had wi-fi the whole time we've been here, but they didn't tell us when we checked in and we didn't ask. DUH! So this is why the blog is suddenly caught up! LOL

We've spent the day walking the dog, reading, watching movies - Enchanted and Les Miserables, catching up on email and doing laundry.

Tomorrow is an early day - we head to Redding, CA where we will reach our goal of seeing all of the continental US states! That won't be the end of the trip...there are lots of interesting places on the way home!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 30 - Crater Lake, OR

2008-06-11T17:00:00.002-07:00

It's cloudy and still snowing a bit. I'm cold...what's new? LOL LOL LOL

We leave early headed to Crater Lake. We've been told it's beautiful when the sun is out, but just another lake when it's cloudy. Guess we'll see!

The trip is about 50 miles to Crater Lake and over a mile high. We pass snow and more snow. We miss the visitor's center hidden in the snow! David decides we need to get some fuel and the park paper shows the gas station is just around the corner. Sure enough...two pumps in the middle of a parking lot. But surely something is wrong...$3.56 for a gallon? David wasn't sure the pumps were working because of the price, but he put his credit card in and the pump came on! It really was that price. What a surprise!

We start up to the mountain top and it's still snowing. We enter the gift shop/restaurant and go to the viewing window. The lake is clouded over! All of a sudden people were all at the window and saying "Get Ready!" The cloud blew away from the lake and there it was in all it's glory! It was astounding!

We headed back to the truck and stopped at the top viewing area. The ranger shouted "Get Ready!" Suddenly the clouds parted and there was the lake not through a window. It was cold and windy, but so worth standing in the cold and wet!

We shot several pictures and decided to have lunch. We'd packed a picnic and drove out to the one mile of the rim drive that was open. Rest closed for snow! We ate lunch watching the lake come and go from the clouds. It was so beautiful! Look closely in one of the photos for the blue jay! While I was taking photos, a bird landed in a tree next to me and "fussed" at me the whole time!

We took our time driving back and enjoyed the scenery. Tomorrow is a slow day and we should catch back up on our schedule!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 29 - Diamond Lake, OR

2008-06-11T17:00:00.001-07:00

We've now traveled over 5,000 miles! We are a L-O-N-G way from home! What scenery we've seen!

Wouldn't you know that we decide to leave and a storm is coming! I'd love to see gale force winds along the coast, but not while in the RV, so we're headed inland to Diamond Lake, OR. We'll visit Crater Lake and Diamond Lake.

Again Sir Garmin has a sense of humor. He took us up a mountain road that had us going and coming and sometimes meeting ourselves! He had us turning right into the campground. But wait...there is no campground! We backtrack a bit and find a road that says Diamond Lake Resort, so we try that road. Just 1/4 mile down the road is the campground. There is snow piled up everywhere, but the campground is open - barely. They normally open May 1, but opened only last week - because of the snow. It's cold here and light snow is falling.

We see the sign to Crater Lake. The north road is closed - snow again! We'll take the south road tomorrow. It's longer, but it's open.

We get set up and head over to the lake and mountain we can see from the campground. Or at least we can see the lake. The mountain is covered by clouds and the lake is choppy. Back to the campground.

Early evening to take some time to rest and read. Just a day on the road. Maybe tomorrow the sun will be out again!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 28 - Fun with Dick and Audrey

2008-06-11T16:52:00.001-07:00

Audrey is a member of Liberty Baptist Church and invited us to go with her. I'm glad we did! We got to meet more of her friends and met her brother, Dutch. He's a very talented artist and Audrey has a lot of his work. Check out his website: http://www.raftisland.com/dutch/default.htm His work is beautiful. We also met Dutch's family. We enjoyed the music and the preaching at Liberty. Nice folks!

After church we agreed to meet back at the RV in about an hour so Audrey could take us on a tour of her town and area. Dick was cooking dinner for us!

Audrey arrived and we introduced her to Chrissy. Chrissy is a little tough to warm up to people and barks and growls. She's a territory protecting dachshund. She fell in love with Audrey right away. She even came with us on our tour!

The weather was beautiful! Sun was out and so were a lot of people looking for clams. We watched them for awhile and kept touring. Audrey and I visited the gardens while Chrissy and David napped in the car. The roses weren't blooming yet, but the garden was spectacular.

The seals again! LOL The tide was in when we saw them the first time. What I thought was rocks turned out to be seals! They were everywhere! And making a racket.

We decided it was time for some lunch, so we headed into Charleston. On the way I got a nice picture of the Cape Arago Lighthouse. It's not in use anymore, but it's still lovely on the coast. But back to lunch....what would a visit to the coast be without fish! YUM!

We drove around more of Coos Bay and Audrey took us to her friend Rosalee's house. It sits above Coos Bay and has a great porch for viewing the bay and beyond. Rosalee has a spotting scope set out on the porch so you can watch the large ships come in and out. All to soon it was time to leave. It was time to head to Audrey's house!

We got to meet Dick (the wonderful chef). He and David had similar working backgrounds and were soon chatting away like old friends. Dick had most of dinner ready, but it needed to cook just a moment longer so Audrey and I chatted. Audrey was born in Holland and her home reflects her heritage. It was lovely to see all the blue and white tile work and other pieces. She has a great collection of teapots and tea cups. She also has a lot of her brother's artwork, too. And flowers! She even had calla lilies blooming freely in her backyard!

Time for dinner! Fried chicken (best I've ever had!), mashed potatoes, gravy, and broccoli. Dessert was served, too. Wonderful meal and even better hosts!

All tooo soon it was time to go back to the campground. We said our goodbyes and headed back. Time to pack up to move to Crater Lake!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 27 - We meet Audrey!

2008-06-11T16:48:00.001-07:00

After talking with Audrey on the phone the day before, we made plans to meet at a church garage sale Saturday and she was so gracious about us being there early!

We got to the church right around lunch time. Audrey greeted me at the door with a big hug and introduced me to all her friends. Then it was time for some serious conversation over Mexican food. Both the food and conversation were great. All too soon it was time for Audrey to go back to work at the church. We made plans for the next day and headed back to our campground.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Cape Arago since we were camped on Cape Arago Road. We stopped at all the rest areas and viewpoints. One we stopped at was curiously noisy. There were barking sea lions just offshore and you could hear them before you got there. We watched them through the binoculars for awhile and worked our way on down the coast.

At the end of the Cape, the road makes a circle back to the road, but there is a beautiful viewpoint there. We walked out a trail close to the water. It ended 500' or so from the seals! They were barking and making a racket. Chrissy had been a good dog until this point. The seals terrified her. She refused to walk and cowered down on the trail. David finally had to pick her up and carry her back. She wanted no part of those seals.

We headed back to the RV to catch up on laundry and chores. We'll go to church tomorrow with Audrey.

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 26 - Who'll Stop the Rain?

2008-06-07T09:39:00.000-07:00

I have another "ear worm." Ever had a song stuck in your head? That's called having an ear worm. Supposedly if you can get to the last verse, you'll get rid of it! Good luck on this one! "Who'll Stop the Rain?" is stuck in my head! Rain, Rain, Rain and Cold, Cold, Cold! LOL

What scares me about all this rain is what you can see in one of two pictures: Tsunami Zone and the birds aren't even flying! Not sure which on scares me most! LOL

We decided to leave Tillamook because of all the rain and not being able to get out, so before we left we went on two quick tours. We first saw the Air Museum. It originally held 8-9 blimps during WWII. Now it holds vintage aircraft. If you look at the picture of the prop, you'll see me and David reflected in it. The building is the largest wooden structure in the US (I think!). It's large enough that during an air show, a pilot flew through it end to end. Owls live in the upper parts of the building.

It's still raining hard, but we're beginning to understand some of the mentality here. It's going to rain, so get your stuff done. We saw a guy weedeating, kids walking to school, people shopping, and walking everywhere in the rain! You just get on with it. In all this rain, we've seen one umbrella!

Off to Tillamook Cheese. A guy at our campground told us to make sure we have a waffle cone before we leave. Good advice! When you tour Tillamook Cheese, you do a self tour and then end up in the gift shop! What a great idea! LOL Then you sample cheese, buy cheese, ice cream, and goodies. Food was great! Ice cream was the best!

Well, I know I said in the last post that we were spending some time in Lincoln City. Didn't happen! There was a tremendous storm coming in off the Pacific that was supposed to bring hail to the area. We finished our tours and headed out. On the way out of town we say a Tea/Gift Shop called "La Tea Dah." Thought it was cute.

We stopped along the way to see a lighthouse, but it was quite foggy and didn't get a good view of it. We could, however, hear the foghorn. It was thrilling!

We got to Lincoln City and the rain had not let up! We decided to drive on to Coos Bay. We passed the Dunes Area and I wish we could have stopped to see them. They go on for miles. We saw one sign that read "Just Dune It." We later found out that a lot of people get hurt or killed on ATVs in this place.

Coos Bay is where we were to meet Audrey (from my online group of friends). We've been together online for 10-15 years, but never met in person. Only problem was that now we were two-three days ahead of schedule and I knew what Audrey had coming up.

I emailed Audrey after we got set up and then David called her to break the news that we were early. We also noticed that the rain had almost stopped! Still chilly, but almost no rain. YEA!

Back to the campground and get ready for tomorrow and a visit with Audrey!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 25 - Back on the Oregon Trail!

2008-06-07T09:33:00.000-07:00

Light rain falling and the temps are in the 50's. We pull out about 9:15 a.m. and reach Oregon at 10:00 a.m. We had a moment of fun with Sir Garmin. His name is Lee and Australian. We needed to turn onto Washington 4 (WA 4). Instead of telling us that, he told us to turn on Western Australia 4. Not sure how we'll make this turn!

The trip today was almost as good as the ride along the Great Lakes. David decided he didn't like the route Sir Garmin was going to take us, so he decided to drive along the Columbia River and then onto Highway 101 beginning in Astoria. One - it's raining and foggy. Two - Highway 101 isn't always on the coast and can run in the mountains, too! LOL Shades of the Canadian trip!

The picture of the rock with the bush in front was our first view of the coast. It's rocky and has huge waves!

We saw the lighthouse at Cape Mearas. It's the shortest one on the coast. It's not longer used, but it's beautiful from there. Also at Cape Mearas we saw the octopus tree. It's a kind of fir that's spread out. The cliffs picture of typical of what we've seen.

We've seen some interesting signs:

Beer is cheaper than gas. Drink. Don't Drive.

Holiday Inn Express under a bridge:
Where sleeping under the bridge is a good thing.

Coffee shop: Divine Grounds

We passed through Paradise - David decided he didn't want to visit Paradise because it was wet, cold, and windy. Even the dog hates it! LOL

Early evening and off to see Tillamook tomorrow.

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 24 - Off to the mountain again!

2008-06-07T09:16:00.003-07:00

We decided to try the route to the mountain that would take us close to Spirit Lake. So we headed out after breakfast. This route is longer than the previous day's route.

We drove and drove and drove. We saw log trucks everywhere. If you've ever seen Ax Men on A & E, you'll understand the trucks. They're huge and the logs are bigger! The road is winding and all of a sudden you meet a logging truck.

We didn't see as much damage the the landscape on this side of the mountain. There aren't as many pullovers so there's not much to see. We keep noticing that some of the side trips we want to take are marked closed - Ape Caves (Lava tubes you can walk through) and Lava Field. We get to the last town before reaching the road to the Observation Area and the sign says the road is closed due to snow! We wonder if we can still see anything so we go ahead as they road isn't closed yet.

We keep going up the road and we notice trees that have been cut and cleared only to allow vehicles through. As you can see from the picture, it really got to the point where it wasn't safe to go on. We later learned from a local lady that the road is usually open by June at the latest, but because of so much snow, it probably won't open until July! Needless to say, we didn't see Spirit Lake or Mt. St. Helens from here.

Back to the campground and feeding the ducks. Note: I actually had on rubber ducky socks! I tried so hard to get them to eat of my hand, but Mama Duck wanted no part of it. She had 8 babies and kept tabs on them all. She'd run mallards off and other females who got too close. All of a sudden I heard a horrible squeal and she was dragging one of the babies around and around and it was squealing like crazy. I couldn't figure out why she'd do that to one of her babies! After a quick headcount, I realized it wasn't one of hers. When it finally got loose, the baby swam back to her family!

Raining again so we're back to the RV. Off to Oregon tomorrow without seeing the mountain except from a distance in Portland!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 23 - Off to Washington! It's a blast!

2008-06-07T08:50:00.000-07:00

Photos:

Green valley: The mountain behind that you can't see is Mt. St. Helens. The green area is the ash field below the crater. We could see elk there! David and James: Entering the Johnston Ridge Observatory. "Black Mountain" is what we could see of Mt. St. Helens. The lake photo is Coldwater Lake - formed after the 1980 eruption. Bridge: New bridge built after 1980. Mud flows destroyed the original one. Muddy field is where the mud flows went through a valley. Elk also live here now. "Pig in the Blanket" would be Chrissy who is cold here! Yellow plant is Scotch Broom. It's considered a nuisance here.

We got up late...it's raining, cold, wet, and the furnace is on. Off from Portland to Washington and closer to our goal of seeing the last of the 48 states we haven't seen yet.

We cross into Washington State at 11:15 a.m. Weather hasn't improved here! We pull into the campground, but it's closed! Nothing on their website indicated it wasn't open or even that it wasn't completed yet. Seems they can't get permits from the county completed. They're right on the Toutle River near the mountain. So.....we get a couple of recommendations on area spots to camp. We decide on Silver Lake RV Resort.

What comes to mind when you think resort? Fish camp didn't come to mind! No cable, little TV, a view of the lake when you walked down there, no wi-fi.....not a resort in my mind, but still a nice, quiet place.

We get set up and head out for the loop on WA 504. We're on Spirit Lake Road, but because of the blast, the road no longer goes to Spirit Lake. Harry Truman who died in the blast had a resort on Spirit Lake. It filled in with trees blown from the mountain, but has been making a comeback. Hope we get to see it!

We passed through the town of Toutle - saw a sign for "Best Burgers in Town." It was the ONLY place for burgers in town!

It's about a 50 mile drive up to the Johnston Observatory and takes a winding road filled with logging trucks. It's still drizzly and some of the pullouts have no view, but the ones you can see are spectacular. When we get to the top, we can't see the crater for the fog and it's moving in. We talked to a volunteer ranger and he explained the crater was a good eight inches above where we could see. The snow in the parking lot has some of the walkways closed. The snow must be 10' to 12' high in places. It's the wettest winter they've had in some time.

We go inside and they have some remarkable displays. Then it was time for the movie. It opens with the final words of Scientist Johnston (Observatory and Ridge are named for him). You hear him yell, "Vancouver, Vancouver...this is it!" The film was outstanding. When the movie was over, a sign come on telling us to remain seated. The screen and the curtain rose to show us a great view of the crater.....but, all we saw was white! The fog had completely moved in and covered it and where we had been standing.

We shopped a little and then headed back down the mountain to the campground. We passed "bigfoot" exhibits and saw houses partially buried in ash. We're on the road where the damage was done.

Fed the ducks at the campground, had dinner, and started reading a book about Mt. St. Helens. Early evening! Tomorrow we'll take WA 504 toward Spirit Lake.

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 22 - Roses!

2008-06-03T08:49:00.000-07:00

We decided today was going to be the day to see the Rose Gardens in Portland. It's sunny and a little cool, but it's going to rain later in the day.

Just one stop before we headed to the gardens....We're big fans of the show "Little People, Big World" and the Roloffs live nearby, soooo......We knew the farm is only open during the pumpkin season, but we headed out anyway. Got a great sign of the farm! LOL

We headed back into Portland and found the gardens. You could smell roses long before you got there. It was heavenly. Most of the roses are just beginning to bloom, but the ones in bloom are spectacular. James especially liked the fountain in one of the side gardens.

After walking the entire garden, we headed back to the RV for a nap. Naps are SO wonderful. Not a long one, but just enough to recharge our batteries.

Next stop, Larch Mountain Overlook and Vista House. The info we have says you can see seven mountains from the top so we headed out toward the Columbia River Gorge. We started up the road and kept seeing signs that the road was closed ahead because of snow. We hadn't seen any snow so we kept driving along with others. Guess what? Closed for snow....

We went back down the mountain and turned right. Just ahead was the Vista House and the viewpoint we were looking for. Inside it's very art deco. Outside was a great view of the gorge. We couldn't see the mountains as the clouds starting rolling in again. We're in a really long truck with a hitch on the back. We tried to pull into a parking space, but there was a "lady" standing in the way that kept us from pulling completely into the space and she wasn't going to move! She had to finish her smoke first! She looked at us and turned around again! About the time David decided to move, she got into her car on the passenger side and on David's side of the truck. He waited and waited for them to pull out, but they took their sweet time on it. Finally, we could park! YEA!

It was windy up there, but the view was gorgeous. You can see the complete gorge from there.

We started back to the campground, but needed some gas and groceries. Since we had Chrissy with us, some one has to stay in the truck with her. So I got David's credit card and went into WalMart. He was going to go back to the gas station while I was gone. When he got to the station he realized I had his credit card, so he used his debit card for gas. Even with gas over $4.00 a gallon, they tacked on a "transaction charge" of $.45. Sheesh!

Got the groceries and headed back for dinner. A little tv and some reading and time for bed. We're leaving tomorrow for Mt. Saint Helens. It's a day early, but it's going to rain tomorrow all day and we've seen what we wanted to here.

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 21 - Snowy picnic in June

2008-06-02T08:58:00.000-07:00

Pictures: The long, single waterfall is "Horsetail Falls." The fall with the bridge in the middle is "Multnomah Falls." The snowy mountain view is Mt. Hood taken from the Timberline Ski Resort. The full view of Mt. Hood was taken from an apple orchard.

I got to sleep late this morning....7:00 a.m. Not really late until you realize it's 9:00 a.m. at home! Breakfast and we head out.

We're going to drive the Columbia River Gorge and the Mt. Hood Scenic Highway. We started with the Mt. Hood drive. It's drizzly and cool and cloudy. Not a good way to see a mountain.

We decided to visit Timberline Ski Lodge on Mt. Hood. There is still about 12' of snow here. People were skiing and snowboarding. Even when the clouds rolled through and blocked the peaks, they were still skiing.

We made our way down the mountain and decided to have lunch. We saw a sign for a parking and picnicking area. We pulled in...no tables as they are apparently under the snow! One other couple was also having lunch in the parking lot. We made our sandwiches and enjoyed the view and watch a light snow fall. June 1st and it's still snowing! WOW!

We finished our lunch and decided to head out. We pulled over by the car of the other couple and David asked where they were from....Alabama! They are from Scottsboro and they are Joe and Rusty Williams. They had flown out and had not gotten any good shots of the mountain. I'll be emailing some of the ones I got when the mountain was out. Nice to meet some fellow residents of Alabama.

We finished the Mt. Hood Scenic Route and turned onto the Columbia River Gorge Drive. We'd seen part of it the day before as it runs along the interstate. We decided to pull off at the falls area. The falls are really beautiful this time of year. I got some nice photos of Horsetail Falls and Multnomah Falls. We road on part of the original road and was it ever narrow. Very glad we weren't pulling the RV through there.

It was a beautiful day, but still cloudy. Since David cooked some extra chicken when he grilled out, dinner was quick and easy - basmati rice with chicken broth, almondine green beans, and grilled chicken. YUM!

Watched some tv and headed to bed. More sight-seeing tomorrow.

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 20 - We met the $4.00 mark

2008-06-02T07:22:00.001-07:00

We pulled out of Pendleton about 9:00 a.m. headed for the Portland area. Stopped for fuel and it was $4.17 per gallon. WOW! On top of that, you cannot pump your own gas in Oregon. We'd run across that before in New Jersey. Cut the cost and I'll pump it myself! I can do it.

The eastern side of Oregon doesn't look at all like what I thought Oregon looked like. It's dry and hilly and desert like. It's windy, too. We've seen "wind farms" everyone on top of ridges. We also saw a huge warning sign: "WARNING! Blowing dust area for the next 40 miles." The wind buffeted the RV, but most of the wind was a head wind until we reached the Columbia River Gorge. Then it became a swirling cross wind.

You see the picture of Chrissy with her ears sticking straight out? It's the wind! She reminded us of the old show "The Flying Nun." Bet she could fly across the river and back! The wind is blowing whitecaps and waves on a river going the other direction. Still there are people out on the river fishing! Some in small boats....not me!

David likes Pilot Truck Stops as it's easy to get in and out with the RV and he likes their coffee. We saw the ultimate Pilot....it has an RV park. I'm afraid he'll really want to spend the night! LOL

We can see Mt. Hood from the road, but it's a long way from us yet. We saw a sign that says the elevation of Mt. Hood is 11,240'. Thank goodness we don't cross it.

We drove along the Columbia River Gorge and it's beautiful, but windy. One of the towns along the gorge is The Dalles. We learned it marked the end of the Oregon Trail for those headed west. We also saw several teams playing ice hockey alongside the road. Almost summer and still playing ice hockey!

We stopped at a rest area along the river and found squirrels! They were everywhere! David had some pretzels, so he gave them some of them. MORE squirrels appeared!

As we were leaving the welcome center near town, we passed an overpass. The overpass was decorated with salmon leaping into the air. We passed one small river where salmon were jumping like that!

We reached the campground in Fairview (outside Portland) and it's very nice. Roses everywhere and so neat and clean. They even have a duckpond where you can feed ducks. They even provide the food for you to feed them. We've seen rabbits everywhere in the park. Some of them are just babies!

Early dinner and off tomorrow to tour the Columbia River Gorge and Waterfall Areas.

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 19 - On the Oregon Trail

2008-05-30T16:49:00.000-07:00

It was sunny and in the 50's leaving Idaho this morning about 9:00 a.m. We're headed to Oregon! It's the only state we've never visited and one of three we've never pulled the camper through!

Since there are lots of cattle here, David has decided there must be a lot of meat and potatoes people here. Grow potatoes and grow cattle! Because the cattle can wander on the roads, you cross a lot of cattle crossing areas. They feature pipe set a few inches apart across a road. The cattle can't cross them. Today we ran across some that were fake! The "pipe" was stripes painted on the road. Guess the cattle can't tell the difference. We've also seen a lot of stockyards. Don't want to think where my steak comes from!

We got to Oregon at 10:15 MDT. We crossed the Snake River here for the millionth time. We've crossed it so much I'm considering getting a python.....not really!

At Huntington, we crossed into the Pacific Daylight Time. The time change really is tough getting used to! It's 10:15 a.m., and my stomach thinks it's lunch time. Not sure what time we'll think we need to turn in for the night.

We saw a lot of 3 blade windmills on the hills. They weren't turning today. Speaking of hills, we saw huge hills with cattle on them everywhere! We can't figure out how the cattle owner knows where to find them.

Trucks here pull 2 and 3 trailers behind them. I thought if they could do that, I could try driving the RV. It's fairly open and you can see a long way ahead. David just looked at me like I was crazy. He wanted to know why I'd drive here and not a home. I told him I could see far ahead, but then we ran into the mountains. Then I changed my mind. I'd never pass anyone because I can't tell when to pull back over. David says it's safe when you don't hear horns....

It's still spring here...lilacs are in bloom all over the place. The lilacs here are huge...not like my little one at home. It's been planted for years and has finally started blooming, but it's only about 2' high.

We've been following the Oregon Trail. It was so nice of the pioneers to design such a great route!

Tonight at the campground it's free movie and sloppy joe night. They're showing "Enchanted" which I also have on board with us. Don't think we'll make movie night.

Tomorrow we move to Portland for several days. The Rose Festival is going on this weekend and I'm really looking forward to that!

Still reading "Mary Queen of Scots."

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 18 - Where in Idaho are we?

2008-05-29T16:42:00.000-07:00

When we left Heise Hot Springs this morning, it was in the 50's and partly cloudy. We pulled out about 8:30 a.m. Shortly down the road in Idaho Falls it began to sprinkle. We're getting used to that!

We picked up the interstate in Idaho Falls and stayed on it all day until we got to Boise. Along the way the landscape changed dramatically....mountains, valleys, deserts, potato fields, nothing for miles! The Snake River was crossed several times. It's high water time for it.

We saw cattle, goats, sheep, llamas, and a couple from York, Alabama. They stopped at a truck stop to take a shower and were planning to spend the night at WalMart. Not my idea of camping!

We finally got off the interstate at Boise and wound around and wound around and wound around. Sir Garmin sent us all through town with tons of turns. I really thought he'd lost his mind when it told us to turn right into the campground. Right turn was into a cemetery! RV park is on the left! It's a nice park...good wi-fi, cell phone reception, and cable TV. YEA! I can watch the episode of LOST I missed last week and the 2 hour season finale.

David's cooking dinner...leftover steak and herb/butter rice, and chocolate/raspbery lava cake! Sun is shining, fan is on, and it's not raining or snowing.....

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 17 - Heise Hot Springs, ID

2008-05-29T16:37:00.000-07:00

Heise Hot Springs is kind of out of the way, but we'd been here before and wanted to visit again. The RV Park is part of a resort that's over 100 years old. It features mineral baths and pools.

After a quick trip into town, we headed back to swim! It's in the 50's-60's outside, but the temperature in the main pool is 95 degrees to 105 degrees. It felt heavenly! Stayed in that pool for awhile and moved to the cooler pool for a bit. It was great.

We met a young lady named Gwen at the pool. She was great to talk to and we hope she finds a great place to live!

Just one problem with the pool...I stayed in too long and ran my blood pressure up. Face was red and had a terrific headache. Finally felt better and was ready for dinner. Don't miss toooo many meals! LOL

David washed some clothes and we spent some time cleaning and mopping in the RV. Not the most fun you can have here.... LOL

Early evening and still reading "Mary Queen of Scots."

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 16 - We had to cross the mountain sometime...

2008-05-29T16:33:00.000-07:00

Sir Garmin (the GPS) and AAA all gave us the same route. WY 22 over to Idaho and to the campground – 84 miles. No big deal, right? WRONG!

We left Jackson Hole about 9:45 a.m. It’s cloudy and in the 50’s.

The first sign something might be amiss was a sign showing WY 22, no vehicles over 60,000 pounds. Next sign was 10% grade doing downhill!

We slowly worked our way up the mountain. It began raining. Some traffic passed us as we were doing 20-25 mph. Now it’s raining…now it’s SNOWING! We’re almost to the top and David’s cell phone rings. It’s Eddie. He and Susan got in late and had a hard time getting up this morning. It’s a good time to stop and take the call as the transmission is beginning to overheat and it’s time to think about going down the hill.

We topped the mountain pass at 8,440’ in the snow. There’s a new sign – 10% grade for the next 3 miles. Three miles? Visions of Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado were running through my mind! Not sure what David’s thinking…I’m afraid to ask!

He keeps the truck in first gear as much as possible and brakes as necessary. Suddenly it levels out and we were in Idaho! Then were going up another pass! This one was easier – only 6,764’!

Sir Garmin sends us on to Ryrie, but we’re coming into Heise Hot Springs from a different direction. Last time we came through Idaho Falls, but not this time. Suddenly Sir Garmin comes to life and tells us to turn right. We did. It looks somewhat familiar. Then he tells us to turn again, but this time it doesn’t look familiar! We end up on a flooded dirt road with a dam/bridge/road that says a limit of 3 tons can cross. Way more than we weigh with the truck and RV. Two young men were fishing there, so we ask for better directions. He told us to go across that bridge and the campground was right there! David asked if there wasn’t another way as we couldn’t cross there. Fortunately they knew all the right turns.

We got back on the road and Sir Garmin now tells us we’re on a good route! Why didn’t he take us that way the first time? LOL We finally got to the campground and we’re almost in the same spot as we were the last time. It’s grassy and warmer here – 50’s. We planned to cookout (finally), so David set out some steaks. Into Idaho Falls to check email and update the blog.

We had gone to Barnes and Noble previously to use the wi-fi, but now they charge a minimum of $25 to access it for three sessions. We did learn that Schlotsky’s Deli across the parking lot had free internet. We were there so long, I thought they would put us to work. I checked all 400+ emails and got some of the blog done, but not caught up.

David talked to a man inside the deli who had made a quick stop. They talked about places to visit. When he left, he let his big dog out of the truck and the dog hopped right into the back of the truck! A good visit!

We have passed some new signs here that confused us:

GAME CROSSING – Monopoly? Scrabble?

WATCH FOR STOCK – IBM? Coca-Cola?

We also keep seeing a beautiful bird here. It’s black and white and has a very long tail on it. It’s stunning!

Finished “Though the Gates of Splendor.” David’s reading Apocalypse 2012 (it’s kind of out there!). I’m reading a biography of Mary – Queen of Scots.

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 15 - A memorable Memorial Day

2008-05-29T16:26:00.000-07:00

It’s Memorial Day and back to Jackson Hole for one last day. Eddie and Susan are flying back to Raleigh about noon. We have now driven 3,100 miles since leaving home two weeks ago. Rather, DAVID has driven 3,100 miles.

As we leave Yellowstone, light snow is falling. Strange – snow on Memorial Day! As we’ve always left Yellowstone through different entrances, this marks the first time we’ve left through the South Entrance. We normally come in that way. Lake Lewis is still covered with ice and there is a LOT of snow on the ground. We were rewarded with the sight of a rare Trumpeter Swan taking flight from the Yellowstone River.

Chrissy almost went to “dog heaven” again! Once in awhile, we give her a small rawhide bone to chew while we’re driving. We don’t give it to her when we’re not there to watch as she sometimes gets choked. Well, she swallowed one whole end of it and began to choke. David couldn’t find a place to pull over with the truck and RV and she’s still choking! Just as I decide to “go in after it,” she coughed it up. NO MORE BONES FOR CHRISSY!

We cross back into an area where we have cell phone service and both our phones are alerting us that we have voicemail. We’ve had no cell phone service or internet service since we’ve been in Yellowstone. I check my messages first and both messages are from Stephanie. She tells us our son, Adam, has been hurt at work on FRIDAY (it’s Monday now). He caught his right hand in a conveyer belt. His fingers are attached and not broken, but seriously injured. David’s call was from Adam telling us the same thing. We got Adam on the phone and learned he’d pulled his index finger and middle finger out of socket and torn ligaments and tendons. The skin on his fingers was also damaged. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital and was taken care of promptly. His hand is bandaged and he was told to take care of the fingers as they could still be damaged further. He did say he was feeling better. Scary to learn all that!

When we get back to the Tetons, a light rain is falling and the temperature is in the 40’s. You can’t see the mountains because of cloud cover and rain. We drive on to Jackson Hole and back to the Snake River KOA. It’s right on the banks of the river and the river is swift and full.

We drop the trailer, have some lunch and head out to the park again. First stop is Schwabacker’s Landing. On my screen saver on my work computer, I have a picture of this place, but have never visited here. You drive down a winding dirt road that leads to the Snake River landing and a picnic area. Weddings are done here frequently. We saw a small trail and followed it. There had been signs warning about bears in the area, but the ranger that was there said they had not had a recent sighting of one.

I took some pictures at the lake there and it was beginning to rain, so we walked back up the trail. David stopped to talk to a man who was there in the parking lot. He had been looking at the wedding site for his daughter’s wedding. He is a professional photographer, but was not planning to photograph his daughter’s wedding. He suggested we walk on to the beaver ponds, so we went back down the trail.

We passed the small lake where I had been taking pictures, and there was a HUGE beaver pond. The water is clear and you can see round rocks and algae in the bottom. You can see where the beaver have dammed up the pond. Across the pond was another beaver dam. It began to rain lightly, and in my picture of Schwabacker’s Landing, you can see the ripples from the rain on the pond. The mountain is not clearly seen behind it, but I know it’s there!

On to Cunningham Cabin. The photographer at Yellowstone told me to try shooting here. I found it hard to believe it was really a home place for a family. The home has a sod roof, but made of wood. It has two small rooms joined by a dogtrot.

A few more stops for photos and off to the campground. It’s raining and cold, so David decides to do laundry. Second time for laundry on the road. I read and he washes laundry!

I’m reading the last of Teddy Roosevelt’s biography by McCullough. David’s almost finished The Shack. Finished watching “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.” Next up is “Through the Gates of Splendor,” the story of the five missionaries killed in Ecuador.

Up early to head out to Idaho in the morning!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 14 - Stampede!

2008-05-29T16:18:00.000-07:00

Another of those cold, snowy mornings. Is it really the end of May? Almost summer? I didn’t pack enough clothes for this type of weather!

Today we’re visiting West Yellowstone, MT. It’s one of our favorite drives because of all the animals we normally see. There is also an eagle’s nest along the route. We usually see lots of anglers in the Yellowstone River.

We started out about 9:30 a.m. and drove toward the West Yellowstone Loop. One of the main roads is closed (Canyon to Tower) because of heavy snow. It was supposed to open on May 23, but they don’t have an idea of when it might open because it keeps snowing there. Because it’s closed we can’t get to Lamar Valley to see the buffalo and wolves. Maybe next time…..

Since the roads along Firehole were open and Eddie and Susan hadn’t seen these roads, we took some time to drive them again. My favorite geyser in the whole park is along one road. It’s small, but goes off every 20 minutes. It puts up a huge steam plume and continues about one minute. If you miss it, just wait or if you want to see it again, jut wait. It’s always every 20 minutes.

We spent a good bit of time seeing each road and it was getting close to lunchtime and we were still 15 miles from West Yellowstone. That may not sound like a lot, but by the time you pull off or over for animals, it can be hours! We decided to drive straight into West Yellowstone unless animals prohibited us doing so. We finally got there about 2:00 p.m.

We had lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Food was good, but I think there were more of us (4) than were employed there! We talked a bit and decided to head back out. Since we were in two different vehicles, we decided to split up going back.

We stopped a few times coming back toward the Canyon Loop. Several animals were along and in the river….mostly elk. When we got close to the turn at Canyon Loop, I saw a “dog” crossing the field in the snow. All of a sudden it dawned on me it wasn’t a dog. It was too large for a coyote, so we decided it was a wolf. As we turned the corner, we saw LOTS of people with cameras filming the wolf. Of course, we did the same. It was then I noticed a second wolf. The pack was traveling through the snow toward Canyon Village. I wish I’d put the telephoto lens on the camera. You can see the wolf, but not as clearly as I could have gotten it.

When we finally got back to Fishing Bridge where we’re camped, I asked David to drive on past the entrance and a little way down the road. It was closed last time we were here. If you wanted to go to Cody, WY, you had to find another loop to get there. We drove down the road and didn’t see a lot, so we turned around to head back to the RV. Just before we got to the entrance of the RV park, we got into a “buffalo jam” – lots of people stopped because the buffalo take over the road. Most people take it in stride and wait for the buffalo to move. This buffalo was a single male taking his time walking up the middle of the road. We were about ¼ mile from him as he approached us. There was no other vehicle in our lane, so the buffalo had a clear “shot” to finish coming down the road. EXCEPT…..one “visitor” decided to blow his horn! What a change happened!

I shoot pictures with a Nikon D50 and it has a feature I really like. When I bought the camera, the salesman told me if I held down the shutter button while a bear was running toward me, the bear would remain in focus the entire time until he got to me! I was sold!

Well…..I started to shoot and held the button down. You can see the buffalo walking a few steps, but when the horn blows, he starts running! You can see that his feet are off the ground! I’m still shooting and not thinking anything more about the buffalo. Then I realize he’s getting closer, but I’m still shooting! He gets closer and closer and he puts his head down like he’s going to ram the truck! I’m still shooting! At the very last second, he turned from my side of the truck and just missed the outside mirror! All David could think of was we’re going to need a new radiator! All I could think of was how to get these pictures posted! LOL LOL LOL I’ll see if I can get them on Flicker so you can see this big boy charging the truck!

It’s our last day here at Yellowstone, so we went to visit Eddie and Susan at their hotel. We ended up having dinner from the deli and had some great conversation about what all we’d seen that day. After hugs, we went back to the RV to pack up for the move to Jackson Hole on Monday.

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 13 - Hamburger Heaven!

2008-05-29T16:15:00.000-07:00

Steph’s grandmother Dean had told us about a place she and her family had eaten at MANY years ago when they visited Yellowstone. It was “on the left going out of Gardiner, Mt.” We were going out that entrance so we took off to find it.

Still snowing and cold here, but just beautiful. When you go out the entrance at Gardiner, you climb up into the mountains and then drop into a valley. There isn’t as much snow on this side of the park. It’s quite warm (almost 60 degrees) and the sun comes out now and then.

We’ve passed a sign marking the 45^th Parallel – Halfway between the Equator and the North Pole.

We stopped to take pictures of the Roosevelt Arch and headed into Gardiner. It’s a long row of tourist shops, a left turn over the river, and 2 long rows of more shops leading out of town. We drove through town (didn’t take long), but didn’t see the hamburger place. We turned around and headed back through town. There on the right was a sign for Helen’s Corral Drive-In – Home of the Montana Hateful Burger since 1960! Had to be the place! David pulled in and we got out to order. You can see from the photos how large the burger was! I ate around the outside and David ate what was left which was still a LOT!

Coming back into the park we came back down the Old Faithful loop road. This time our two favorite drives were open. We turned into Firehole Geyser Road and immediately saw several carcasses. Could have been deer or elk, but didn’t know for sure. Didn’t take pictures of them, either! There were also some trees that were cut right at the road. It appeared they’d just opened the road that day.

We saw a lot of buffalo and elk and had a great time!

See ya down the road!

Jenny J

Day 12 - Off to Yellowstone!

2008-05-29T16:00:00.001-07:00

We’re moving to Fishing Bridge at Yellowstone today. Cold, snowy, same as before! LOL

We’re entering Yellowstone National Park from the South Entrance. It looks like the frozen Artic! Snow drifts on the side of the road over 12’ high! Lake Lewis is frozen as is Lake Yellowstone. There is snow everywhere. I don’t believe I ever seen this much snow. James Spann asked to have his picture taken in the snow drift!

We got into the campground and got set up. When we checked in, the man who registered us asked if we had any pets. We said we had Chrissy. He reminded us to keep her on her leash and to keep her close. A bear had been spotted in our campground and Chrissy would just be a “snack on a leash.” Guess who won’t be walking the dog!

We caught up with Eddie and Susan and started touring. We headed out to see Old Faithful. It’s funny, but you cross the Continental Divide twice before you get there!

We got to Old Faithful in time to see it go off. We were a bit chilly at that point and headed to the Lodge to get something warm to drink. While we were inside, there was a book signing going on. A young man who photographs the Tetons and Yellowstone was signing two or three of his books and some of his prints. He gave me some pointers and some of his favorite shooting spots that most “tourists” don’t know about or won’t take the time to visit.

Some of our favorite roads and drives were still not opened, so we didn’t get to see some of our favorite parts of the park. We did see a lot of animals, though. NO BEARS!

We decided to make it an early evening. Tomorrow Eddie and Susan are going off on their own and we’ll head to West Yellowstone, MT. After they’d left for the hotel and David had gone to read, I was sitting at the dining table. I heard a funny noise. I looked up at the door window and noticed what looked like a snowball sliding down it! The glass in the door is frosted so I opened it to find 1” to 2” snowflakes! I have never seen any that large before! The snow piled behind our camper is quite high!

See ya down the road!

Jenny J

Day 11 - "Hell's Kitchen"

2008-05-27T15:58:00.000-07:00

We didn't get up too early this morning. Just another lazy day in the snow!

I forgot you haven't met Eddie and Susan so that's them in the picture at the church.

We decided to meet Eddie and Susan as their hotel and get some lunch. We decided we'd eat at the Sidewinder Restaurant in Jackson Hole. It was a little before noon when we got there and the young lady asked us how many. Before we could tell her "four," some guy comes running through and telling her to hold up putting people at the table. We could easily see the kitchen area and he's ran in there ranting and raving! It was like an episode of "Hell's Kitchen!" He's yelling at the cooks and the servers! Another woman tried to seat us and he yelled at her! He finally got every one's attention and yelled out, "I've got 50 people in another room who haven't ordered yet so you can leave or stay. I don't care." We decided to stay to see what happened next!

We finally got a table and ordered. Susan and Eddie ordered sweet potato fries, but got regular fries. Otherwise our orders were correct and good! At some point in the meal, we noticed that "sneaker guy" wasn't wandering around yelling anymore. Not sure where he went. Everyone kept their cool except him.

Off to the park again! We drove through many of the loops and roads as it was our last full day here until Monday. We spotted three moose at Gross Ventures Junction - pronounced "Grow Vahnt" by most.

We spotted lots of elk, buffalo/bison (David and I still disagree on this term - I say buffalo....he says bison!), and snow melt. Some roads are closed because of high water.

Headed back for reading time and movie: Reading a biography on Teddy Roosevelt and watching "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee."

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 10 - Another day in the Tetons

2008-05-27T15:46:00.000-07:00

Didn't get up quite as early this morning as we were going out to take early morning pictures. It's still snowing/raining here! It's cold, wet, and windy!

Off we go! Into the Tetons for sight-seeing even though it's raining/snowing. We stopped at the visitor's center. There were geese everywhere! Look closely at the picture with the goose on the edge of the roof. There is an egg behind her! It started snowing here.

We went on to a Museum for Animal Art. They had a water sculpture inside of a moose. Oh Don...it's real title is "Swamp Donkey." No kidding!

It's at this point we almost lost Chrissy! We had stopped in the Park to take some photos and she was with David who had her on the leash. We got back in the truck and she started to throw up and rub her face on the pavement once we stopped. She had blisters coming up on her nose and face. We quickly got her back into the truck to drive to Dornan's store for peanut butter and benadryl. Her little face continued to swell until her lips looked as if they turned inside out. Her eyes also started to swell shut and she was developing blisters everywhere on her face. She gave one huge sigh and stopped moving. I was afraid she was gone and screamed at David to drive faster. It was still 10 minutes to Dornan's. He flew inside and got the benadryl and peanut butter. We gave it to her and within minutes the swelling was going down.

We got back to the hotel where Eddie and Susan were staying and the hotel staff found a vet we could talk to. The vet told us that something had probably bitten or stung her and that we had acted correctly. She told us to continue giving her the PB and benadryl during the night. We did and she's much better now! I really thought she was gone at one point!

David and I celebrated our 21st anniversary on May 9, but waited to celebrate until we got to the Tetons. David made reservations for us in the Mural Room at the Lake Jackson Hotel in the Park. You go to the second floor and get a stunning view of the mountains - unless it's snowing! It was 39 degrees and snowing!

Before we ordered, they brought out bread and butter. The butter pats were moose shaped! I had wrack of lamb and David had elk. I tasted it and it was good, but don't think I would ever order that!

It was snowing heavily and it was cold so we headed back to town! What a great day in the park!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 9 - Sunrise at the Tetons

2008-05-21T07:22:00.000-07:00

I woke up about 3:30 a.m. with my "friend" the kidney stone. Managed to go back to sleep until the 4:00 a.m. wakeup call. Pain got unbearable, so I took the drugs I was supposed to and got dressed to leave for Jackson Hole and the Tetons. We picked up Eddie and Susan and headed out.

We decided to go to Mormon Row to shoot pictures. The temperature was in the 30's and it was quite chilly!

Sun wasn't hitting the mountains yet and there were lots of people there already. We meet Gene and Susan from Gadsden there! Small world.

Once the sun came up and hit the mountains, all you could hear was serious picture taking. Lenses being changed, clicking of shutters, etc. Normally the mountains turn pink at sunrise, but not today. Instead we had a golden light that caused the barn to glow. The barn was built over 100 years ago by the Mormons and several of them are still in the park.

Since the morning light was still good, we moved over to the beaver ponds. It's as close to the point I really wanted to shoot, but couldn't because of high water. There isn't as much snow on this side of the mountain.

After a few more shots at a different spots, we headed back to Jackson Hole. It was time for breakfast! Some friends had recommended eating at The Bunnery. The food was terrific. We spent a little time in Jackson Hole and then headed back to the campground for a quick nap before lunch.

We spent some time viewing the park. Pulled into Colter Bay and found the Bay clogged with ice. It looked more like Antarctica than the Tetons!

We made a stop before heading back into town and that's where the trouble started. Chrissy began to get sick in the truck and she never does that. We got her outside and noticed she had blisters on her nose and over her eyes. Within minutes, her eyes were almost swelled shut. We got back in the truck and made a 15 minute run to Dornan's Trading Post for benadryl and peanut butter. Her lips swelled so that they were almost inside out looking. She gave one huge sigh and didn't move again. I thought she was gone and wouldn't tell David. I just told him to drive faster. We got the benadryl and peanut butter and in a matter of minutes, most of the swelling and blisters were gone. We talked to a local vet who told us we did the right thing. She believes that something stung Chrissy and it was a bad allergic reaction. She's better now, but we're keeping benadryl in the truck just in case.

After we determined she was going to be okay, we met Eddie and Susan for dinner at the Teton Steakhouse and a couple from Alabama was seated behind us. We've run into a lot of people for Alabama! It was a tiring day for all of us, so we called it an early evening and headed back to our RV.

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

We met Eddie and Susan for dinner at

Day 8 - On to the Tetons

2008-05-21T07:01:00.000-07:00

Got up early and it was great outside: 50's, sunny, and best of all...no wind! That meant David could cook bacon for breakfast outside. He uses an electric skillet outside so the inside of the RV doesn't smell like bacon for days.

We begin the morning with a mileage reading of 72920. We are a long way from home now.

We crossed into Teton County. Also crossed the Continental Divide at 9658. Truck was struggling up some of the inclines. Thought we'd have to get out and push to make it over the top.

There is snow everywhere here. Not just a little depth to it, but enough for snowmobiles to still be running and to find out that Crocs won't work as snowshoes. James said he wanted to get out and measure the snow, so he and I walked to the edge where he could measure. I was almost past my knees before I stopped. I just knew my snowshoes (Crocs) would work better than that.

We got to the Jackson Hole Airport (which is located in Grand Teton National Park) about the time our friends plane landed. We were glad to see Eddie and Susan. We went with them to their hotel to make plans for the rest of the day. A man in an Alabama shirt walked by and asked David if we were from Georgia since he had on a Georgia Tech cap. At that point, David and the other man realized they knew each other. Tom Wilson! Small world! They had just finished talking when another man walked up to David and asked him when he graduated. This man was a EE 1964 grad of Georgia Tech.

We were all starving by now, so we went to Bubba's BBQ in Jackson Hole for lunch. When we got to dessert, we order 4 different pies because we couldn't decide which ones to get: buttermilk, chocolate buttermilk, pecan, and fudge pecan. For me it was a toss-up between the buttermilk pie and the fudge pecan pie. They were all good!

We got the RV set up and headed back into town to pick up Eddie and Susan. We did an overview of the park, showing them where to go and how to get around in the park. We then made plans to meet at 5:00 a.m. to go shooting sunrise pictures of the Tetons.

We didn't eat dinner, but had a couple of snacks and went to bed early so we could get up before dark...does that make sense? LOL

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 7 - I'm in a fog!

2008-05-18T19:53:00.000-07:00

Weather is sunny, cool, in the 40's and no wind this morning. However, I'm in a fog! We left the campsite about 8:15 a.m.

The pain from the kidney stone returned so I took my Phenegren and Percoset. I don't remember much about the trip here to Riverton. I know we're about 3 hours from Grand Tetons! YEA!

Wyoming - 9:45 a.m.!

We can see the Rockies and they have snow on them. We also passed a double stacked train. So strange looking!

We spotted lots of antelope and tumbleweeds.

Tomorrow we meet our friends in Grand Tetons!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 6 - Part Two - I'm Walking The Floor Over You

2008-05-18T19:46:00.000-07:00

We must have passed about 100 deer on the 13 miles to the ER in Casper. It was just about dusk, so there were plenty of them. We have deer whistles on the truck and they ran every time we drove close. Thank goodness.

The hospital in Custer has 10 rooms. The ER is in a separate building. They have 3 nurses on duty and one doctor. There had been two ladies in a car wreck before I got there and they kept apologizing for making us wait. I think we waited 15 minutes before I was seen!

I had a wonderful nurse named Charlene. She was an angel! She took my history and said the doctor would be in shortly. They determined I had a kidney stone (my 3rd or 4th, I forget). My blood pressure was 186/93! The pain was horrible! Probably a 7-8 on a scale of 1-10. I couldn't sit and couldn't stand. Ended up walking around the room a lot. The doctor suggested a CT to see where the stone was and how large. It was about to reach the bladder and was 3 mm. OUCH! Good pain meds and nausea medicine helped. She offered to give me morphine, but I opted for something not so strong! David would have had to pour me into the truck if I'd had that. When the IV was gone, I got to go home. We got back to the RV about 11:30 p.m. I slept so good!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 6 - Part One - Reason for visiting Hill City

2008-05-18T19:20:00.000-07:00

We headed out about 7:45 a.m. Skies with sunny with a light win and temp in the 50's. A great day!

We saw snow on the side of the road outside Rapid City, SD. They had a MAJOR blizzard on May 1 of this year. In fact, some people had just gotten their power restored yesterday. We also saw snow on the side of the road in Custer State Park.

Strange sign of the day: Wildlife at Large. Does that mean they escaped? Strange street sign: Dead Broke Street.

We are staying at the Horse Thief Campground outside Hill City. It's a beautiful campground in the woods. It's still off season here, so it's not crowded here. There is a huge pasture in front of our campsite. Last night before we left to go out (Part Two), there were deer everywhere!

We drove into Hill City to the Alpine Inn. It's a German restaurant that has terrific food. The last time we were here, David ordered bread pudding which he loves! He swears up and down it's the best bread pudding ever. It's described as a traditional bread pudding with no raisins or nuts covered with a caramel sauce. Since I don't care for "wet bread," I had a white chocolate raspberry mousse. It was terrific. The actual meal I had was weinerschnitzel and David had the German plate (sausages, kraut, potato salad, etc.). WONDERFUL! James enjoyed the bread pudding, too.

We picked up Chrissy at the campground and headed to Custer State Park. It was open house weekend, so it was free entrance and camping and the place was crowded. We passed Sylvan Lake as we came in. If you saw "National Treasure," this is the lake that Nicolas Cage stuck his hand into the rock and screamed. The wind was blowing so hard, the fish were stacking up along the bank where the wind blew them out! LOL

We took the wildlife tour through the park. We'd done this before and knew to bring carrots for the donkeys. About halfway through the loop, they hang out around the road looking for "handouts." We had two pounds of carrots. The picture you see of me screaming was the only one David took of me feeding them. Good thing, too! The van you see became a drive-in when David started handing out carrots to other people. The donkeys get quite "pushy" trying to get more carrots and we both were almost knocked over by them. They didn't bite, though! One came up to the truck window and the donkey and Chrissy had a meeting there. She didn't growl or bite, but let the donkey sniff her!

I wasn't feeling well when we got to the end of the loop and decided to head back. David asked what I wanted for dinner, and the thought of food was more than I could take. I'd been queasy most of the day and the thought of food was horrible.

When I finally admitted my right side was killing me, he found out where the nearest hospital was and headed out.

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 5 - WIND!

2008-05-16T16:25:00.000-07:00

David got up early to fix breakfast. He cooked bacon outside as they wind had "died" to about a steady 10 mph. It was sunny and cool and a great day to cook out. Then he asked me for the eggs....what eggs? I couldn't find them in the fridge and the fridge isn't that big. We realized we left them in our fridge at home! George and Deborah - PLEASE take our eggs home with you and use them! LOL

James is feeling better after a trip to Wall Drug. Yesterday he took a nasty fall from the truck. His feet came off the base! A little super glue later and a nice rest in the RV today and he'll be back on the road with us tomorrow.

Headed to the Wounded Knee Museum - wasn't open. Decided we try to post office - wasn't open. Most of the stores in the Wall Drug area were open. We visited most of the shops and found a few items. We got some homemade donuts and David got the $.05 coffee. We each got two donuts, but I only ate one. I wrapped the other in the paper they came in and then wrapped a paper napkin around it. It went into my purse for later.

By now the post office was open so we got more stamps, mailed a package, and some bills. Off again!

This time the Wounded Knee Museum was open. It was interesting. I'm reading "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee." They also had the DVD, so we'll probably watch it tonight. We talked to one of the locals who "fought" in the Wounded Knee battle in the 1970's. He's not impressed with what they do.

By now we've learned something the hard way. The wind here is blowing at a steady 30 mph with higher gusts. They don't consider this windy! We found if you open both truck doors at the same time, all the paper in the truck begins to swirl like a tornado! Now we get in one at a time!

We tried to visit the Missile Museum yesterday, but they were booked for the day. Went back today and got our name on the standby list for the afternoon. They had room for one of us...not both. David let me take the underground tour. You tour the control center which looks from the outside like a regular ranch house except for the "stuff" around it - radar, poles, wire, etc.

You tour the upstairs area first and then taken an elevator 31' down to the control center. David missed this part, but they did let him tour upstairs twice! He actually got two different tours. We learned that these sights used to cover South Dakota, but they don't have any live ones here anymore. These places were "hidden" in plain sight! The missile silo we visited was a 1/2 mile from the interstate.

We met a guy carrying a gnome. Seems he "appropriated" it from a neighbor's yard. It's going on a trip from Arizona to Bermuda! See, I'm not the only one who likes friends to vacation.

We came back and settle down to get ready for dinner. It was really quiet with Chrissy so I thought I'd see what she was doing. She was very quietly and calmly eating my donut. She'd gotten it out of my purse, unwrapped it, and half of it was gone when I noticed it! I only hope that donut looks better on her than it would on me.

I just learned on the local weather that the winds are Chinook winds. It's warmed up to 80 degrees here with 40-50 mph gusts. The trailer moves with the wind.

David has taken laundry to be done. Running low on towels and other unmentionables. They have 3 washers here and it's $1.25 per load. Not too bad.

Tomorrow we're back on the road and headed for Hill City, SD.

Reading: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and The Chili Queen (Sandra Dallas).

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 4 - Wall, SD

2008-05-16T05:20:00.000-07:00

Woke up this morning to 48 degrees and partly cloudy. It rained off and on during the night. What we haven't gotten used to is the wind. It never stops blowing here.

We started the day with the mileage at 72,050. No ending mileage as today is a sight-seeing day when we get to Wall, SD.

Current count on Wall Drug Store billboards and signs since yesterday: 66! That doesn't count the ones all around town. See Rock City is way behind on this place.

We're now in Mountain Time, so if you ever get us on the cell phones, remember the time difference! LOL

We stopped at a scenic overlook just before the Badlands and ran into a girl from Huntsville and her grandmother from Virginia. It was so windy there, we had difficulty walking out to the sight to view the area. Found out later that the wind was blowing with gusts up to 44 mph. We were also under some clouds that dumped rain a few minutes later, so I guess that accounted for some of the wind.

We got to the first campground about 12:30 p.m. Three people in it, no real hookups, office closed, so we left. We're now at the Arrow Campground in Wall, SD. Wi-fi is good.

We had a quick lunch and headed out to the Missile Silo Park and the Badlands. We were too late to get a reservation at the Missile Silo Park. They tour two times a day and only 6 people can go. We'll try again today to see if anyone cancelled. We did meet a ranger here from North Carolina. Good to hear a fellow southern accent.

We made several stops along the overviews at the Badlands. It's so strange looking. For 2 days we've seen nothing but wide open country, and now we see strange rock formations and deep valleys. Wind has not let up, so if you see some pictures with my hair in it, you'll understand. Look for the picture of David holding onto a sign for dear life!

Animals seen today:

Bluebirds
Buffalo/Bison - 6
Prairie Rattlesnake -1 (crawling across US 240 - 4 lanes) in the middle of downtown Wall
Pheasants - 4
Prairie Dogs - 1000's and 1000's (Chrissy wanted to play with them!)
Cows - 1,000's
Deer - 6 (huge ones)
Skinny Cows - a/k/a - antelope - 10
Mean dog - 1 (in the rv)

James enjoyed the Badlands very much, but had a minor accident when he got back to the RV. We'll take him to Wall Drug tomorrow to get his injuries checked. I think some superglue should make him good as new!

Hamburgers grilled on George Forman for dinner. Still can't cook out. Still running the furnace after dark as it gets cold then! Watched a little TV and read. Off to bed soon!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 3 - Midnight at The Oasis

2008-05-14T14:59:00.001-07:00

Beginning Miles - 72050
Ending Miles - 71703
Total today - 347

It was cold this morning in Gretna (Omaha), Nebraska. 39 degrees. The heat pump had a hard time keeping up during the night. Good thing we have a 12 pound heating unit - Chrissy!

We pulled out about 8:00 a.m. headed for South Dakota. We crossed the Mormon Bridge over the Missouri River to enter Iowa. I keep seeing dotted lines on the GPS unit when we get close to a state line. David explained that there really were dotted lines on the pavement. He said it was much like the new cooler units at WalMart: When you get close to them, the lights come on from an energy saving mode. He looked out his window just as we crossed the "dotted line," and he swore the dotted line was briefly lit up on the pavement. That's his story and he's sticking to it.

We crossed into South Dakota at 10:30 a.m. and took a short break. David and James got out to stretch their legs and have their picture taken. On the way back to the RV, we saw a truck with a rat picture on the back. We've all seen "How's My Driving?" stickers, but this one was great, "RAT ON ME."

Tomorrow we're headed to Wall, SD. If you've ever gone to Chattanooga, you've seen the "SEE ROCK CITY" barns and signs everywhere. Same goes for Wall Drug in Wall, SD. On I-29, I counted 8 signs. On I-90, I've counted 26 so far and we're not there yet!

We spotted smoke coming from the Souix City area. Twenty miles later we came upon a barn fire. It's amazing you can see the smoke from such a distance. It's fairly flat here with a few occasional hills. We're getting 10-12 mpg on the truck driving flat country and keeping the speed down. Check out the gas prices on the right hand side of the blog!

We passed a sculpture garden that featured the "World's Largest Bull Sculpture." I'll have to take their word for it.

Just before we got to Mitchell and the Corn Palace, we saw several signs for "Dick's Body Shop." One of the signs mentioned "24 Hour TOE Service." Does this mean if I break a toenail, he'll fix it regardless of the hour? What if I need a new coat of nail polish.....

Another strange sign we keep seeing is "Drive in your lane." Not quite sure why I'd be driving in someone else's lane...

We stopped briefly at the corn palace. It's billed as the world's largest bird feeder. The decorations on the outside are made of all corn products. We learned that since we were there two years ago, the corn crop failed and for the first time in MANY years, the designed wasn't changed for two years. The designs inside the building are changed every 10-15 years.

More strange signs: Eat Here (Then Get Gas) outside Doowah Ditti's Cafe off I-90.

Saw a pheasant walking SLOWLY across I-90. Beautiful bird and I hope he made it!

We decided to stop for the night at The Oasis Campground across from Big Al's Oasis Restaurant - Coffee $.05. I've got a new song stuck in my head - MIDNIGHT AT THE OASIS. We pulled in and the office is closed. There's a note to find a spot and they'll be by later to collect payment.

David has a steak marinating in Dale's Sauce and some chicken so we can have a grilled lunch tomorrow.

We got to the campground at 4:10 p.m. It's 69 degrees, sunny, and a 14 mph sustained wind. There is rain headed in our direction, but it may fall apart before it reaches us.

Boy did I miss that one. About the time the charcoal started getting hot, the bottom fell out! Cooked dinner with George Forman. Still, it was great!

Supposed to be down in the 30's here tonight!

Finished "Alice's Tulips" and will start "The Shack" tonight if I can get it away from David.

Hoping David Archuleta is going home on AI tonight. He probably won't and it will be the two David's next week. Sorry to see Marissa and Tony go on DWTS, but it was time.

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 2 - Did I mention I don't like storms???

2008-05-13T17:27:00.000-07:00

Beginning Mileage - 71231
Ending Mileage - 71702

St. Louis, MO to Gretna, NE

We'd spent the night with the heat on as it turned cool! It also got stormy at daybreak. We got up at 5:00 a.m. and got ready to pull out by 7:00 a.m. About that time, a severe thunderstorm warning for St. Louis was issued. Really strange clouds were overhead with lots of wind. WICKED LIGHTNING! We ran into some rain, but no hail. I will admit I was scared! I just knew the Airstream was a HUGE lightning rod!

Headed toward Columbia, MO, a Ford pickup passed us with a vanity tag that read "FLIP99." Unless you're a NASCAR fan, you wouldn't understand. That's Carl Edwards number (99), he drives a FORD for Roush/Fenway Racing and when he wins he does a backflip off the car door. Columbia, MO is his hometown.

We also passed a Dodge Raider. I don't recall ever seeing one of these. Strange looking vehicle!

It's springtime here again. While the redbuds bloomed in Alabama, they're just now blooming here in Missouri. It's beautiful here, but the pollen counts are probably through the roof! LOL

Since the storm passed, it's been extremely windy and cloudy. I kept looking for the storm spotters to be everywhere. David and I had watched several stories on TV about a guy who built a TIV (Tornado Intercept Vehicle). IMAX is using his footage he shoots for another film. It looks like a tank! David kept teasing me it was on an overpass, about to pass us, etc. I just knew we'd pass a truck with Doppler Radar on it....didn't happen, though! LOL

A little later, a truck did pass us with STORM SOLUTIONS MIDWEST on it. It was pulling a beautiful silver chopper. We wondered if that's how they chase tornadoes or get away from them!

1:00 p.m. and time for lunch. Did some shopping at Wal-Mart, got fuel and headed back to the road by 2:00 p.m.

Got to Iowa at 3:22 p.m. ROUGH ROAD!

Got to Nebraska at 4:40 p.m.

It's 59 degrees, 20 mph winds and cloudy. Heat's back on! I didn't bring enough winter clothes for my summer vacation! LOL

Light dinner and out with the dog walking in the park.

Reading: Alice's Tulips by Sandra Dallas. Bought The Shack at Wal-Mart to read.

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Day 1 - On the road with James Spann!

2008-05-13T16:55:00.000-07:00

It can now be revealed that James Spann of ABC 33/40 will be with us on our 8 week adventure. He's excited about the prospects of seeing the last of the great 48!

Starting Mileage for the day: 70,712
Ending Mileage for the day: 71,231
Total trip day 1: 519 miles

We pulled out at 6:00 a.m., sunny, and in the '50's. After a stop for air in the tires and quick McDonald's , we headed up the road to St. Louis.

At 9:00 a.m. we made it to Tennessee. Going into Nashville, we saw a billboard for a new website: www.loansforthewealthy.com. Check it out!

We got to Kentucky at 11:30 a.m. and had a nice lunch at the rest area. The couple parked next to us were headed to Alaska pulling a pop-up camper.

Noon and back on the road. Here's where the fun begins! We stopped for fuel at Oak Grove, KY. Gas was $3.66 a gallon.

At 2:00 p.m. we crossed the Ohio River into Illinois. We stopped at a rest area in Rend Lake and had a momentary scare. There was a HUGE hole in the parking lot where the trucks and RV's go. Fortunately we could park and not go through the hole. We were eating lunch and heard a great KABOOM! The first thing I thought was someone had hit our RV! Turned out it was an 18 wheeler who didn't slow for the hole.

Chrissy rides well....if you can call sleeping most of the day riding well. She has a little plastic bowl on the transmission hump. When she wants water, she pulls the bowl up on the seat. I keep a bottle of water to pour into her bowl and then pour the leftover bowl water back into the bottle.

I mentioned to David I was thirsty and he offered me a bottle of water....yes, that bottle. Fortunately, I realized it before I shared the bottle with Chrissy!

5:00 p.m. and we're in Missouri...but wait! The campground is in Illinois and right below us under the bridge! Ever tried turning a 3/4 ton pickup with a 31' trailer behind in in St. Louis rush hour?

5:10 p.m. back to Illinois and in the campground!

I COOKED DINNER! I know what will be a shock to some of you, but we had red beans and rice with smoked sausage.

6:00 p.m. we watched the local news: It's 69 degrees and windy! This was the wettest year on record for St. Louis and the Mississippi is one foot below flood stage. They are 9" above normal in rainfall for the year and more is expected tomorrow, along with severe storms.

Just before dark and Dancing with the Stars, we took James' picture under the Arch in St. Louis. We were all going to watch Dancing with the Stars, but David was tired and went to bed early. I watched it all and then read for awhile. I think Tony and Marissa are going home.....

Leftovers: Cost of the campsite - $36.95 with AAA discount. Finished reading Diary of Mattie Spenser by Sandra Dallas.

Getting up early to drive about 500 miles again tomorrow!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Getting ready to go!

2008-05-09T15:08:00.000-07:00

It's been crazy trying to get ready to go, celebrate our 21st Anniversary, visits from kids and grandkids for Mother's Day, and get my mother to my sister's house in Georgia. It'll all get done...sometime!

The current plan is to pull out at 6:00 a.m. on Monday morning headed for St. Louis, MO. That's the current plan....never know what happens when you try to leave.

I really hope some of you who read our blog will be able to join us along the road. Here's the itinerary--subject to some change:

St. Louis, MO
Omaha, NE
Mitchell, SD
Wall, SD
Hill City, SD
Buffalo, WY (subject to traveling on to Thermopolis, WY. Depends on the mountains.)
Jackson Hole, WY (Grand Tetons)
Yellowstone National Park
Heise Hot Springs, ID
Boise, ID
Pendleton, OR
Portland, OR
Mt. St. Helens, WA
Otis, OR
Coos Bay, OR
Crater Lake, OR
Redding, CA
Manteca, CA
Yosemite, CA
Big Sur, CA
Santa Barbara, CA
Huntington Beach, CA
Barstow, CA
Las Vegas, NV
Page, AZ
Gallup, NM
Albuquerque, NM
Amarillo, TX
Oklahoma City, OK
Conway, AR
Mountain View, AR
Home - July 5

Keep us in your prayers! I'll be posting gas prices on the front page of the blog. Filled my car up this morning. Who knows? That $3.530 gas I bought today, might be worth some REAL money in July! LOL

I've decided to keep secret the TV personality who's going with us. I'll post his picture with us after we get to St. Louis.

If you have any advice for us, please leave comments on the blog!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

It's getting closer!

2008-04-21T16:00:00.000-07:00

I really need to take a new picture of the Airstream. This was taken right after we got it last year! I'll take one with the awnings out so you can see how "hard" it is to camp! LOL

We're still tweaking the route a bit, but here's a general idea:

St. Louis, IL
Omaha, NE
Mitchell, SD
Wall, SD
Hill City, SD
Buffalo, WY
Grand Teton National Park, WY
Yellowstone National Park, WY
Ririe, ID (Heise Hot Springs)
Boise, ID
Pendleton, OR
Fairview, OR
Castle Rock, WA (Mt. Saint Helens) - yeah, I know my record for natural disasters! Sue, still want to camp with us?
Otis, OR
Coos Bay, OR - Audrey are you ready for us?
Redding, CA
Manteca, CA
Yosemite National Park, CA - John and Jean - still up for this?
Big Sur, CA
Santa Barbara, CA
Huntington Beach, CA - family and Linda - here we come!
Barstow, CA
Las Vegas, NV - on our way to somewhere else. Gotta spend the night somewhere!
Page, AZ - I'll close my eyes going across Glen Canyon Dam this time. Going back to Antelope Canyon!
Albuquerque, NM - Liz - can you stand us one more time?
Amarillo, TX
Oklahoma City, OK
Conway, AR
Mountain View, AR - one week to rest before heading home!

HOME - July 5!

If you see something on the route we shouldn't miss, please let me know!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

2008-04-16T12:02:00.000-07:00

I was having a TERRIBLE time trying to route us from California to Mountain View, Arkansas and still have a week to spend in Arkansas. Finally got David to look at my list. For some reason, I'd missed a day here and there and several days in one week! Now I have more time to devote to stopping in California! Still want to visit Death Valley, but David took that one off the trip route. It's already 104 degrees there during the day. Imagine driving a large pickup truck pulling a metal Airstream RV through the desert. What was I thinking!!!! Maybe we could go at night? LOL

I should have our route plotted on the next post and I hope it's in a few days!

We are taking another person with us on this trip! It's a local TV celebrity and he's looking forward to traveling with us. Any guesses? I'll have his picture on the blog in a few days!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)

Making the first move!

2008-04-07T12:52:00.000-07:00

Photo to right: Taken on our first trip to the Tetons.

I'm currently laying out the trip - The Last of the Great 48! Once we complete this eight week journey, we will have covered the entire continental United States since we began RVing about eight years ago. We'll be leaving the day after Mother's Day - Monday, May 12, 2008.

This year's trip will take us to Washington, Oregon, and California! We've been to Washington and California before, but never with the RV. Really looking forward to this trip.

We're stopping in Grand Teton and Yellowstone for about a week. Our friends in North Carolina, Susan and Eddie, will be flying in to meet us there. I plan to take lots of early morning shots of the Tetons so I hope they like getting up early! LOL

That's it for the moment! More info as we get closer.

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)