Hey, Mom! We're Home! - June 28, 2011
Tom's internal alarm went off at 5:40am. This was the last time that I had to get up this early.
But up we got and were breakfasted and on the road of 8:02am. Still didn't beat the 7:55am we made that one morning though.
About 8:50am there were clouds gathering overhead but then the sun peeked out. We crossed the PA state line (or is that "commonwealth line?") by 9:00am. Even with another stop at a rest area at 9:24am we were making good time.
Then came the end of the morning. At 11:12am we were warned that traffic might stop. It just slowed down for a bit. Then it got dark and it rained for a bit.
We stopped for lunch and even ate it at a picnic table at a rest area. It was sunny at that time and lunch was as enjoyable as the lunch stop outside the day before.
We went through several constructions areas in PA but the scariest one was where they were doing something that required some heavy mechanical pounding at or on the metal drainage grates at the side of the road. We listened to the pounding far down the highway and were surprised as it got louder each time we passed another metal grate even THAT far down the road. Soon it seemed that we were so far down the road that we shouldn't be hearing the pounding but it continued. Then, for me, the sound changed and was now sounding like we were dragging something metal behind us. If I were driving I would have picked a space between the traffic cones and headed for the side of the road to check things out.
But we continued to ride listening to this sound. Then at the end of the construction area where we where allowed to use both lanes of the highway the noise stopped! Tom said, "The road changed." I don't care what happened, just as long as the noise stopped and everything was okay.
We continued on our way without incident. It was sunny and 82 degrees as we traveled the last stretch of our trip down Airport Rd. Then the dread of having to deal with the traffic on my street (major traffic road) set in. We decided that Tom would just back the trailer into the driveway and whatever way it was in the driveway was the way it would sit until later in the evening. Tom backed the trailer perfectly in the middle of the 2-car wide driveway. What a guy!
At 4:55pm, on Tuesday, June 28, 2011, about 8.75 hours after we started that morning, we were Home! Thanks for coming along.
Trip Stats:
Travel time : 121 hours, 9 minutes
Miles driven (includes trips at destinations) : 9577.5
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
"You Do Exist!" - June 27, 2011
"You Do Exist!" - June 27, 2011
We were awake at 5:30am, or what passes for "awake" for me at that hour of the morning. After breakfast we had some sprinkles of rain and then again just before leaving for the last time which we did at 8:15am. It was early but not the earliest that we left any place. The sprinkles did not continue nor did it rain.
At 9:30am we made our "map stop" just inside the Ohio state line. How could I know how close we were to my friend's house if I didn't have a map? We continued on our way at 9:50am with an ETA for the campground of 1:06pm. Good timing. Hoped that we could keep it.
Wrong! I "threw a monkey wrench into the works." At about lunch time we had stopped for the necessities of life and then I made motions to sit at a table to eat rather than eat on the run. I had completely forgotten that we had a schedule to keep. It was too nice a day to waste if we didn't eat at a picnic table. So we did. And we moved the ETA to after 2:00pm.
We arrived at Maple Lakes about 2:13pm just as we had planned. This is a gated community; one has to wait for the gate to be raised before one can enter. I saw the camera aimed at the gate but I don't know how they know whether to raise the gate when you go out and come back. They have your license number but that is only on the rear of a vehicle from PA.
We were not given a map but only verbal directions to our site. We made it without too many problems. We just had to remember "the little green man" whose presence tells us to turn. We passed the pool. It really looked nice and clean. But we weren't there for that. This was just a place to park for the night! And it was close to the wash house.
I don't know why it takes us an hour to "set down roots" for the night. But that's just about it to the minute that all of the outside stuff is done and I have made the inside liveable and sleepable for the night.
That done we kicked off our shoes and settled for a "power nap." That was easy for Tom but not for me. I'm not too great at power naps. Besides I was too excited. In about a half hour we got up and made ourselves presentable (well, sort of) and headed for the van. I called my friend to warn her, I mean tell her, that we were on our way. The gate that we met when leaving was ready and willing to let us out. We didn't even have to stop for it. I hoped that the gate at the entrance was as accepting when we returned.
Following my friend's excellent directions we arrived without a problem. As we turned the corner to her street there she and the kids were waiting to greet us. I needed to give her a hug to make sure she was real and not a figment of my computer's imagination. She is real, alright!
We spent a great evening with the family in conversation whether over eating a wonderful chicken dinner, made with all that grease that the doctor's warn you to stay away from but tastes so good, eating some very tasteful soft ice cream or just sitting in a living room and letting our "jaws flap." Our host's comment "Some foods are good for the body and some are good for the soul" says it all. It was a wonderfully restful and all too short evening. We had to call it quits early because of having to get a good night's sleep in order to last for our 6-hours drive tomorrow.
Our thanks for a wonderful evening given we drove off hoping to find the campground in the dark as well as the camp site. But we had to get in the campground first.
Following the directions backwards we had no problems finding the roads and the campground. Now to get in. Driving up to the gate didn't work; not even driving very close to the gate. We sat for a very short when someone drove up on the left side of the area in front of the office window and in front of one part of the gate as we sat on the right side in front of the same gate. The person pushed some kind of a button and the gate opened. We followed the car in without the gate coming down on the roof of the van or starting some sort of an alarm.
We found the site, too, without a problem, grabbed our bags and headed for the wash house. Soon we were in bed supposedly getting ready for the next day. I spent some time remembering the people with whom I had just spent a portion of my life. Well worth the price of planning.
Tomorrow starts the last saga of this trip.
We were awake at 5:30am, or what passes for "awake" for me at that hour of the morning. After breakfast we had some sprinkles of rain and then again just before leaving for the last time which we did at 8:15am. It was early but not the earliest that we left any place. The sprinkles did not continue nor did it rain.
At 9:30am we made our "map stop" just inside the Ohio state line. How could I know how close we were to my friend's house if I didn't have a map? We continued on our way at 9:50am with an ETA for the campground of 1:06pm. Good timing. Hoped that we could keep it.
Wrong! I "threw a monkey wrench into the works." At about lunch time we had stopped for the necessities of life and then I made motions to sit at a table to eat rather than eat on the run. I had completely forgotten that we had a schedule to keep. It was too nice a day to waste if we didn't eat at a picnic table. So we did. And we moved the ETA to after 2:00pm.
We arrived at Maple Lakes about 2:13pm just as we had planned. This is a gated community; one has to wait for the gate to be raised before one can enter. I saw the camera aimed at the gate but I don't know how they know whether to raise the gate when you go out and come back. They have your license number but that is only on the rear of a vehicle from PA.
We were not given a map but only verbal directions to our site. We made it without too many problems. We just had to remember "the little green man" whose presence tells us to turn. We passed the pool. It really looked nice and clean. But we weren't there for that. This was just a place to park for the night! And it was close to the wash house.
I don't know why it takes us an hour to "set down roots" for the night. But that's just about it to the minute that all of the outside stuff is done and I have made the inside liveable and sleepable for the night.
That done we kicked off our shoes and settled for a "power nap." That was easy for Tom but not for me. I'm not too great at power naps. Besides I was too excited. In about a half hour we got up and made ourselves presentable (well, sort of) and headed for the van. I called my friend to warn her, I mean tell her, that we were on our way. The gate that we met when leaving was ready and willing to let us out. We didn't even have to stop for it. I hoped that the gate at the entrance was as accepting when we returned.
Following my friend's excellent directions we arrived without a problem. As we turned the corner to her street there she and the kids were waiting to greet us. I needed to give her a hug to make sure she was real and not a figment of my computer's imagination. She is real, alright!
We spent a great evening with the family in conversation whether over eating a wonderful chicken dinner, made with all that grease that the doctor's warn you to stay away from but tastes so good, eating some very tasteful soft ice cream or just sitting in a living room and letting our "jaws flap." Our host's comment "Some foods are good for the body and some are good for the soul" says it all. It was a wonderfully restful and all too short evening. We had to call it quits early because of having to get a good night's sleep in order to last for our 6-hours drive tomorrow.
Our thanks for a wonderful evening given we drove off hoping to find the campground in the dark as well as the camp site. But we had to get in the campground first.
Following the directions backwards we had no problems finding the roads and the campground. Now to get in. Driving up to the gate didn't work; not even driving very close to the gate. We sat for a very short when someone drove up on the left side of the area in front of the office window and in front of one part of the gate as we sat on the right side in front of the same gate. The person pushed some kind of a button and the gate opened. We followed the car in without the gate coming down on the roof of the van or starting some sort of an alarm.
We found the site, too, without a problem, grabbed our bags and headed for the wash house. Soon we were in bed supposedly getting ready for the next day. I spent some time remembering the people with whom I had just spent a portion of my life. Well worth the price of planning.
Tomorrow starts the last saga of this trip.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
"This Is Really A 'Down' Day" (TJK) - Sunday, June 26, 2011
"This Is Really A 'Down' Day" (TJK) - Sunday, June 26, 2011
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STEVE! (June 27)
(Yeah, I know it's tomorrow but there won't be a blog for tomorrow so I'm saying this now. Besides you won't hear about this until you read it tomorrow.)
Oh, bummer! That hand on my shoulder just won't go away. Of course not! It belongs to the one I asked to wake me when he got up. Nice person he is. :o) A personal alarm clock.
Off for a shower, get dressed and on to church. First showers in a new washhouse always take much longer. Have to decide where the bag holding the clothes goes so it doesn't get wet (Is there a hook or a dry spot on the bench?), and where does the soap, shampoo, wash cloth and towel go? And you consider yourself lucky that you got the only shower stall in a total of three that is complete. The handle that works the water on/off and temperature is not lying on the floor of the stall and the fixture around the drain in the middle of the floor of the stall is not lying in the corner of the stall.
After church we went into town looking for a Denny's which we knew was there and at which we could get breakfast. But as I was reading signs I read one for a local "Family Restaurant".
"Shall we give it a try?"
"There are a lot of cars there. Sure. Let's do it."
And so we tried Sero's Restaurant. Good food. Good portions. Moderately priced. Good choice.
We asked for the location of a grocery store and where we could get a newspaper. Found all three within a quarter mile. This should be our last stop for bread and water but, unfortunately, not our last stop for gas. Tomorrow will probably take two stops, which includes one to start out, and Tuesday two. I hope gas prices keep getting better as they have been in the last few days.
Back at the campground I was in bed almost as soon as the groceries were put away. Can you believe two hours and twenty minutes? It IS time to be Home.
We did spend chair-time today with the newspaper. The sun was very warm even though hidden by the clouds. Tom worked on getting "The Man" ready for the trip. We have to get back on I70 but I guess that is still the normal direction and not anything special because of construction.
We watched people leave. I was surprised because I thought some of the people who left were "regulars" with permanent spots. A lot of people didn't observe the 12pm check out time. The people next to us left about 1:30 and the people "down the street" were still packing at 2:15!
Tom did his bookkeeping early and then started getting dinner.
When dinner was finished, I am ashamed to admit, I was ready for another nap. I asked Tom not to let me sleep past 7pm. He didn't but I just couldn't get awake. He came back at 7:15. I got up.
We talked about travel plans for tomorrow and Tuesday. I'm getting even more excited about meeting my friend, tomorrow, and want to spend as much time with her as we can. So there probably won't be any computer time tomorrow night which means no blog for tomorrow. But Monday's will come as will the last day, Tuesday. Just a little bit late.
Now the blog is almost finished for tonight. It is almost 9pm and it is still daylight! I will enjoy this day as long as I can.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STEVE! (June 27)
(Yeah, I know it's tomorrow but there won't be a blog for tomorrow so I'm saying this now. Besides you won't hear about this until you read it tomorrow.)
Oh, bummer! That hand on my shoulder just won't go away. Of course not! It belongs to the one I asked to wake me when he got up. Nice person he is. :o) A personal alarm clock.
Off for a shower, get dressed and on to church. First showers in a new washhouse always take much longer. Have to decide where the bag holding the clothes goes so it doesn't get wet (Is there a hook or a dry spot on the bench?), and where does the soap, shampoo, wash cloth and towel go? And you consider yourself lucky that you got the only shower stall in a total of three that is complete. The handle that works the water on/off and temperature is not lying on the floor of the stall and the fixture around the drain in the middle of the floor of the stall is not lying in the corner of the stall.
After church we went into town looking for a Denny's which we knew was there and at which we could get breakfast. But as I was reading signs I read one for a local "Family Restaurant".
"Shall we give it a try?"
"There are a lot of cars there. Sure. Let's do it."
And so we tried Sero's Restaurant. Good food. Good portions. Moderately priced. Good choice.
We asked for the location of a grocery store and where we could get a newspaper. Found all three within a quarter mile. This should be our last stop for bread and water but, unfortunately, not our last stop for gas. Tomorrow will probably take two stops, which includes one to start out, and Tuesday two. I hope gas prices keep getting better as they have been in the last few days.
Back at the campground I was in bed almost as soon as the groceries were put away. Can you believe two hours and twenty minutes? It IS time to be Home.
We did spend chair-time today with the newspaper. The sun was very warm even though hidden by the clouds. Tom worked on getting "The Man" ready for the trip. We have to get back on I70 but I guess that is still the normal direction and not anything special because of construction.
We watched people leave. I was surprised because I thought some of the people who left were "regulars" with permanent spots. A lot of people didn't observe the 12pm check out time. The people next to us left about 1:30 and the people "down the street" were still packing at 2:15!
Tom did his bookkeeping early and then started getting dinner.
When dinner was finished, I am ashamed to admit, I was ready for another nap. I asked Tom not to let me sleep past 7pm. He didn't but I just couldn't get awake. He came back at 7:15. I got up.
We talked about travel plans for tomorrow and Tuesday. I'm getting even more excited about meeting my friend, tomorrow, and want to spend as much time with her as we can. So there probably won't be any computer time tomorrow night which means no blog for tomorrow. But Monday's will come as will the last day, Tuesday. Just a little bit late.
Now the blog is almost finished for tonight. It is almost 9pm and it is still daylight! I will enjoy this day as long as I can.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
What's That Big Round Bright Thing In The Sky? - Saturday, June 25, 2011
What's That Big Round Bright Thing In The Sky? - Saturday, June 25, 2011
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BONNIE!
Tom awoke early this morning and was up and out. He called to me as he descended the steps to the trailer. I answered and rolled over. But I eventually did get up. Basic bodily needs told me that I'd better if I knew what was good for me.
Things seemed to be all mixed up this morning but we did work at packing to get out. We had no goal except maybe a mental goal to be out as early as the two other days. Whatever it was, it worked. We were on the road by 8:30am with an ETA of 1:05pm CDT.
As we were working I was getting warmer. Then I realized that the sun was already shining. We haven't seen the sun in I don't know how long! What a beautiful day!
But after the first half hour on the road we were heading into the clouds again. I hoped that things would clear.
We passed a huge wind farm just north of Bloomington-Normal bypass. It was so long. The farms are usually only five or so turbines in line with each other but there are many lines of this turbines. This farm must have been at least a half mile long. But the amazing thing about this wind farm was that none of the turbines were spining! And two of them were "facing" the opposite direction than all of the others.
We stopped just inside the Indiana border for a map. We had to ask for it. There was a sign on the wall to ask the attendant for a map. So I looked around and about 10 minutes later I saw this older man coming out of the employee's room dressed as a maintenance person. I asked where the "attendant" was so I could ask for a map. He said, "That would be me." There were a few more people looking around the attendant's desk. So he went into his "office" and came out with 3 maps; just enough for everyone to be satisfied. They, too, were 2009-2010 maps. More budget cuts.
Two things about this gentleman: he was in his seventies and his shirt had a patch on it that read "Attendant Supervisor."
There was a clock on the wall in the lobby of the Information Center that gave the time as 12:40pm Eastern Daylight Time. Yay! We did it! We are in our own Time Zone. We are getting closer to Home.
Since it was about half way between body time and EDT we decided to have lunch. We gathered our PB&J sandwiches, carrots and Snapple and headed for a picnic table in the shade. The sun, indeed, did reappear and was warming the day as it should. As we were eating lunch the "Attendant Supervisor" passed by on the lawn mower heading for the patches of grass just past us.
Lunch finished, we headed on down the road. The next rest stop was closed and had been for a while. It looked like it. Good thing we stopped when we did. The next stop was a gas stop and that was uneventful except for the price which was $3.39. It was the best that we have seen for a while. We left the gas station with a full tank of gas and a ETA of 2:41 CDT/3:41 EDT without problems.
But, hey, problems are what keep life interesting. Our road was under construction and the way the highway department wanted us to go didn't sound like a good idea and even "The Man" wasn't saying anything about changing the route so we stayed with "The Man." We probably weren't in a construction zone as long as we would have been if we followed the highway department's suggestion. The speed was reasonable and I could find us on the map for which we just asked. :o) I was just very thinkful that we were traveling on a Saturday when the workers were not active or it would have been a lot worse. The signs even said to find and alternate route. But when you don't know the area how do you find and alternate route?
Long story short, we followed "The Man" and we arrived at S & H Campground about 4:00pm EDT. Not bad: just 20 minutes later.
We were registered an escorted to our little niche in this world. It's a good thing we were because we weren't given a map. And it seems that none of the sites are numbered or named. When we leave here for church tomorrow I wonder if we will be able to find "The Puppy" again. :o) We were put up on the hill and in the back. There are some "regulars" here but here is where the "one nighters" are put. We are near the washhouse . . . if you go through another person's site.
Two sites down from us there is a double site that is used as a road to the washhouse. My guess is that they don't use that site until the place is really packed and then they will put two Rvers in that site.
A note of interest about gas prices: We passed through a small town which was selling gas at several stations for $3.19. Then, at a few stations in another small town a little further down the road, gas was being sold for $3.09! I hope we can find those stations again.
Tom's in bed and I'm ready for that last walk to the washhouse. Talk to you tomorrow when we will still be in IN.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BONNIE!
Tom awoke early this morning and was up and out. He called to me as he descended the steps to the trailer. I answered and rolled over. But I eventually did get up. Basic bodily needs told me that I'd better if I knew what was good for me.
Things seemed to be all mixed up this morning but we did work at packing to get out. We had no goal except maybe a mental goal to be out as early as the two other days. Whatever it was, it worked. We were on the road by 8:30am with an ETA of 1:05pm CDT.
As we were working I was getting warmer. Then I realized that the sun was already shining. We haven't seen the sun in I don't know how long! What a beautiful day!
But after the first half hour on the road we were heading into the clouds again. I hoped that things would clear.
We passed a huge wind farm just north of Bloomington-Normal bypass. It was so long. The farms are usually only five or so turbines in line with each other but there are many lines of this turbines. This farm must have been at least a half mile long. But the amazing thing about this wind farm was that none of the turbines were spining! And two of them were "facing" the opposite direction than all of the others.
We stopped just inside the Indiana border for a map. We had to ask for it. There was a sign on the wall to ask the attendant for a map. So I looked around and about 10 minutes later I saw this older man coming out of the employee's room dressed as a maintenance person. I asked where the "attendant" was so I could ask for a map. He said, "That would be me." There were a few more people looking around the attendant's desk. So he went into his "office" and came out with 3 maps; just enough for everyone to be satisfied. They, too, were 2009-2010 maps. More budget cuts.
Two things about this gentleman: he was in his seventies and his shirt had a patch on it that read "Attendant Supervisor."
There was a clock on the wall in the lobby of the Information Center that gave the time as 12:40pm Eastern Daylight Time. Yay! We did it! We are in our own Time Zone. We are getting closer to Home.
Since it was about half way between body time and EDT we decided to have lunch. We gathered our PB&J sandwiches, carrots and Snapple and headed for a picnic table in the shade. The sun, indeed, did reappear and was warming the day as it should. As we were eating lunch the "Attendant Supervisor" passed by on the lawn mower heading for the patches of grass just past us.
Lunch finished, we headed on down the road. The next rest stop was closed and had been for a while. It looked like it. Good thing we stopped when we did. The next stop was a gas stop and that was uneventful except for the price which was $3.39. It was the best that we have seen for a while. We left the gas station with a full tank of gas and a ETA of 2:41 CDT/3:41 EDT without problems.
But, hey, problems are what keep life interesting. Our road was under construction and the way the highway department wanted us to go didn't sound like a good idea and even "The Man" wasn't saying anything about changing the route so we stayed with "The Man." We probably weren't in a construction zone as long as we would have been if we followed the highway department's suggestion. The speed was reasonable and I could find us on the map for which we just asked. :o) I was just very thinkful that we were traveling on a Saturday when the workers were not active or it would have been a lot worse. The signs even said to find and alternate route. But when you don't know the area how do you find and alternate route?
Long story short, we followed "The Man" and we arrived at S & H Campground about 4:00pm EDT. Not bad: just 20 minutes later.
We were registered an escorted to our little niche in this world. It's a good thing we were because we weren't given a map. And it seems that none of the sites are numbered or named. When we leave here for church tomorrow I wonder if we will be able to find "The Puppy" again. :o) We were put up on the hill and in the back. There are some "regulars" here but here is where the "one nighters" are put. We are near the washhouse . . . if you go through another person's site.
Two sites down from us there is a double site that is used as a road to the washhouse. My guess is that they don't use that site until the place is really packed and then they will put two Rvers in that site.
A note of interest about gas prices: We passed through a small town which was selling gas at several stations for $3.19. Then, at a few stations in another small town a little further down the road, gas was being sold for $3.09! I hope we can find those stations again.
Tom's in bed and I'm ready for that last walk to the washhouse. Talk to you tomorrow when we will still be in IN.
One Day Closer To Home - Friday, June 24, 2011
One Day Closer To Home - Friday, June 24, 2011
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, VERA AND PAUL! (on June 24)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ERIC! (on June 22)
[Note: I lost the internet connection late on June 24 and could not post this blog until early June 25 before we left on the day's journey. I hope no one stayed up looking for it last night. :o) ]
I was awake several times early this morning but didn't get up until 5:45am. It was 59 degrees outside and didn't feel bad inside.
We had to move but took time to have a scrambled egg breakfast. But when Tom was ready to bring the van back to hitch the trailer to it the van wouldn't keep running. Tom has had trouble with the van a few times with starting on a cold day. Today wasn't really cold cold but it wasn't warm either. Finally the van cooperated and we were able to continue the process get the trailer hitched. We were still able to be on the road by 8:35am which wasn't bad. The ETA was 11:42am which was in about 3 hours.
The day was gray. There were big heavy gray clouds overhead and they were everywhere we went. The temperature when we started was 59 degrees.
Once when I looked out of the window there were rows and rows of low growing plants and people were bending over the rows of plants. Then I noticed on the side of a 53ft trailer at the side of the field was a banner which read: "upickstrawberries.com." Then I understood that these people were picking strawberries for personal use. I remember doing that when we lived in White Haven. It was like an annual pilgrimage. There was a man there that told my sons that they can't charge you for what you take home in your belly.
We were still in Wisconsin when I noticed that some of the county roads had the names of letters like "I", "V", "N", etc. I had wondered if they ran out of names for their roads and just started to use letters. When I saw the sign "Highway BN" I told Tom that if I saw a sign "Highway BK" he was going to have to stop the van and go get the sign for me. {Just kidding, officer. Just kidding.}
Then we crossed into Illinois. Very soon afterward we made a "Map stop" at the Information Center. It was closed, so the sign said, "due to budget cuts." The screen was down so the sign could be posted on it and many, many piles of information were left on the counter including the official state transportation map. I like to get them so that I know where I am and where I am going. The date on the map I picked up was "2009-2010." I guess they don't have the money to update the maps and a lot of other things just like a lot of other places.
We stopped at another rest area and was amazed at the Information Center building. It was a two-story affair because the cars when they were seperated from the trucks and trailers and tow vehicles went up a slope and everything else stayed on the same level. So the people from the cars went in the upper story and the truck drivers and everyone else who shared that same parking lot went in downstairs. If you wanted to change levels on the inside of the building you had to walk the stairs. There was no elevator.
As we sat and ate our lunch, we watched a man who tended the vending machines in the building. He came out of a door on the upper story with cart piled high with various drinks and snacks. He struggled to hold the cart back so that he wasn't pushed down the hill as it lead away from the building. Once down on the same level as the lower floor he struggled to pull the cart back to the building and get it inside. No one dared to help him. I just imagined him doing this job in the rain, the cold, and the snow. Not my kind of job, thank you.
We finally found the Hickory Hollow Campground but not without a few hitches; not the least of which was that the access road had been moved and no one told "The Man." "He" just didn't know.
We were escorted to our site and the escort waved good bye. Tom turned off the engine and I opened the door to step out into a mud puddle. He had to move the van. Luckily this is the only mud puddle we had to contend with. We were at the end of a row of sites and we were alone. I figured out later that we were there at the very end of the park because we wanted water and electricity but no sewer. And it is quite a trek to the washhouse.
Finally it was time to "crash" and it felt good. Tom got up before me and went for some things including bread for dinner and gas for our trip tomorrow.
Housekeepping, dinner and dishes filled a good part of the evening. The smells of the wood burning in the fire rings nearby really smelled good. This is truly a campground. Right next to us is a large expanse of trees in which tent sites are placed. It reminded us of the times that we camp and not "RV." We are lucky; now we can do both.
That final trek to the washhouse took too long. When I tried to sign on to my account which happened to be using Tom's login to the campground's internet I found that the login had timed out because I hadn't used it in a while. So this will have to be posted tomorrow. :o( I will not awaken him for a login for the internet!
Tomorrow night we will be in Greenfield, IN in EDT! We will be able to stay put for two nights, Saturday and Sunday. And then comes Monday when, after some traveling, I will finally meet someone whom I've known only online and for a short time but whom I feel that my heart has known forever. Then Tuesday we will be Home. Ahhhhh!
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, VERA AND PAUL! (on June 24)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ERIC! (on June 22)
[Note: I lost the internet connection late on June 24 and could not post this blog until early June 25 before we left on the day's journey. I hope no one stayed up looking for it last night. :o) ]
I was awake several times early this morning but didn't get up until 5:45am. It was 59 degrees outside and didn't feel bad inside.
We had to move but took time to have a scrambled egg breakfast. But when Tom was ready to bring the van back to hitch the trailer to it the van wouldn't keep running. Tom has had trouble with the van a few times with starting on a cold day. Today wasn't really cold cold but it wasn't warm either. Finally the van cooperated and we were able to continue the process get the trailer hitched. We were still able to be on the road by 8:35am which wasn't bad. The ETA was 11:42am which was in about 3 hours.
The day was gray. There were big heavy gray clouds overhead and they were everywhere we went. The temperature when we started was 59 degrees.
Once when I looked out of the window there were rows and rows of low growing plants and people were bending over the rows of plants. Then I noticed on the side of a 53ft trailer at the side of the field was a banner which read: "upickstrawberries.com." Then I understood that these people were picking strawberries for personal use. I remember doing that when we lived in White Haven. It was like an annual pilgrimage. There was a man there that told my sons that they can't charge you for what you take home in your belly.
We were still in Wisconsin when I noticed that some of the county roads had the names of letters like "I", "V", "N", etc. I had wondered if they ran out of names for their roads and just started to use letters. When I saw the sign "Highway BN" I told Tom that if I saw a sign "Highway BK" he was going to have to stop the van and go get the sign for me. {Just kidding, officer. Just kidding.}
Then we crossed into Illinois. Very soon afterward we made a "Map stop" at the Information Center. It was closed, so the sign said, "due to budget cuts." The screen was down so the sign could be posted on it and many, many piles of information were left on the counter including the official state transportation map. I like to get them so that I know where I am and where I am going. The date on the map I picked up was "2009-2010." I guess they don't have the money to update the maps and a lot of other things just like a lot of other places.
We stopped at another rest area and was amazed at the Information Center building. It was a two-story affair because the cars when they were seperated from the trucks and trailers and tow vehicles went up a slope and everything else stayed on the same level. So the people from the cars went in the upper story and the truck drivers and everyone else who shared that same parking lot went in downstairs. If you wanted to change levels on the inside of the building you had to walk the stairs. There was no elevator.
As we sat and ate our lunch, we watched a man who tended the vending machines in the building. He came out of a door on the upper story with cart piled high with various drinks and snacks. He struggled to hold the cart back so that he wasn't pushed down the hill as it lead away from the building. Once down on the same level as the lower floor he struggled to pull the cart back to the building and get it inside. No one dared to help him. I just imagined him doing this job in the rain, the cold, and the snow. Not my kind of job, thank you.
We finally found the Hickory Hollow Campground but not without a few hitches; not the least of which was that the access road had been moved and no one told "The Man." "He" just didn't know.
We were escorted to our site and the escort waved good bye. Tom turned off the engine and I opened the door to step out into a mud puddle. He had to move the van. Luckily this is the only mud puddle we had to contend with. We were at the end of a row of sites and we were alone. I figured out later that we were there at the very end of the park because we wanted water and electricity but no sewer. And it is quite a trek to the washhouse.
Finally it was time to "crash" and it felt good. Tom got up before me and went for some things including bread for dinner and gas for our trip tomorrow.
Housekeepping, dinner and dishes filled a good part of the evening. The smells of the wood burning in the fire rings nearby really smelled good. This is truly a campground. Right next to us is a large expanse of trees in which tent sites are placed. It reminded us of the times that we camp and not "RV." We are lucky; now we can do both.
That final trek to the washhouse took too long. When I tried to sign on to my account which happened to be using Tom's login to the campground's internet I found that the login had timed out because I hadn't used it in a while. So this will have to be posted tomorrow. :o( I will not awaken him for a login for the internet!
Tomorrow night we will be in Greenfield, IN in EDT! We will be able to stay put for two nights, Saturday and Sunday. And then comes Monday when, after some traveling, I will finally meet someone whom I've known only online and for a short time but whom I feel that my heart has known forever. Then Tuesday we will be Home. Ahhhhh!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Safely East Of The Mississippi - Thursday, June 23, 2011
Safely East Of The Mississippi - Thursday, June 23, 2011
I missed Cindy's birthday on June 12 so, 13 days late,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CINDY!
I was awakened at 5:30 this morning. Ugh! I didn't feel like getting up but I did. I knew we had to roll today. The thermometer said it was 68 degrees inside and 59 degrees outside. It just felt cold.
We were pulling out of the site by 7:59am. We missed yesterday's time of 7:55am. I thought we did better than yesterday and we didn't have a talkative neighbor. But 8:00am isn't bad. We were on the road!
The sky was gray and we had sprinkles for some of the trip. Never any real rain. There were several bright spots and one time we saw patches of blue sky but that was it. Just a dark, damp day.
We saw several wind farms. They always make me want to ask questions. Why are some of them not spinning? Why are some of the blades spinning faster than others? How much elecricity do they generate? Why are the blades on some of the generators longer than others? All of the blades on one farm are the same size but some farms have smaller blades than others.
We stopped at a particular rest stop because of a need and to eat lunch. It was 59 degrees outside so we put our jackets on and went looking for our first geocache in Minnesota. We were successful in finding it. It was a rather ingenious set up. We needed to find a MN cache today because we were not stopping in MN for the night when we could get a chance at another cache. And we did it! Now we need to find one in Wisconsin!
A little later we safely crossed the Mississippi River. Now we have done it in both directions. That must mean that we are getting closer to home!
We arrived at Country Roads Motorhome and RV Park "for the older kids" in Lake Delton, WI at 4:02pm. This place caters to the adult population. Tom figured that we had 8 hours, 2 minutes total time, both driving and stops. We had 6 hours, 9 minutes total driving time. We are 766 miles from Home by great circle distance.
It was 59 degrees at the park. We had already used one of our two tanks of propane and Tom had hoped that we would not have to buy any this trip. But if it is 59 degrees at 4pm . . . . He bought propane to make sure we had heat for tonight and tomorrow morning, at least. We will turn it off when we go to bed.
We "crashed" for a short time and then had dinner. Then we went out to get gas for the van for tomorrow's trip and to find a cache in Wisconsin. We were successful on both accounts. Now I think we are finished finding caches for this trip. On previous trips we have found caches in PA, OH, IN and IL and those are the only states we have left to go through.
We came back to the trailer for bookwork and the internet and to heat the trailer. At 8pm it is still 59 degrees. Maybe we will be lucky and not have a really cold night.
Tomorrow we will try to get out of here at a reasonable time but that doesn't me that we will push it like we did today. We'll have eggs for breakfast and that will take a little longer. "The Man" expects that the 183 mile trip will take us about 3 hours, 10 minutes. Then we can relax the rest of the day except for doing the dishes one more time before we arrive at Home with a lot of dirty dishes.
Tomorrow night we expect to be at Hickory Hollow Campground in Utica, IL.
I missed Cindy's birthday on June 12 so, 13 days late,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CINDY!
I was awakened at 5:30 this morning. Ugh! I didn't feel like getting up but I did. I knew we had to roll today. The thermometer said it was 68 degrees inside and 59 degrees outside. It just felt cold.
We were pulling out of the site by 7:59am. We missed yesterday's time of 7:55am. I thought we did better than yesterday and we didn't have a talkative neighbor. But 8:00am isn't bad. We were on the road!
The sky was gray and we had sprinkles for some of the trip. Never any real rain. There were several bright spots and one time we saw patches of blue sky but that was it. Just a dark, damp day.
We saw several wind farms. They always make me want to ask questions. Why are some of them not spinning? Why are some of the blades spinning faster than others? How much elecricity do they generate? Why are the blades on some of the generators longer than others? All of the blades on one farm are the same size but some farms have smaller blades than others.
We stopped at a particular rest stop because of a need and to eat lunch. It was 59 degrees outside so we put our jackets on and went looking for our first geocache in Minnesota. We were successful in finding it. It was a rather ingenious set up. We needed to find a MN cache today because we were not stopping in MN for the night when we could get a chance at another cache. And we did it! Now we need to find one in Wisconsin!
A little later we safely crossed the Mississippi River. Now we have done it in both directions. That must mean that we are getting closer to home!
We arrived at Country Roads Motorhome and RV Park "for the older kids" in Lake Delton, WI at 4:02pm. This place caters to the adult population. Tom figured that we had 8 hours, 2 minutes total time, both driving and stops. We had 6 hours, 9 minutes total driving time. We are 766 miles from Home by great circle distance.
It was 59 degrees at the park. We had already used one of our two tanks of propane and Tom had hoped that we would not have to buy any this trip. But if it is 59 degrees at 4pm . . . . He bought propane to make sure we had heat for tonight and tomorrow morning, at least. We will turn it off when we go to bed.
We "crashed" for a short time and then had dinner. Then we went out to get gas for the van for tomorrow's trip and to find a cache in Wisconsin. We were successful on both accounts. Now I think we are finished finding caches for this trip. On previous trips we have found caches in PA, OH, IN and IL and those are the only states we have left to go through.
We came back to the trailer for bookwork and the internet and to heat the trailer. At 8pm it is still 59 degrees. Maybe we will be lucky and not have a really cold night.
Tomorrow we will try to get out of here at a reasonable time but that doesn't me that we will push it like we did today. We'll have eggs for breakfast and that will take a little longer. "The Man" expects that the 183 mile trip will take us about 3 hours, 10 minutes. Then we can relax the rest of the day except for doing the dishes one more time before we arrive at Home with a lot of dirty dishes.
Tomorrow night we expect to be at Hickory Hollow Campground in Utica, IL.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Tea For Two - Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Tea For Two - Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Again, Tom was up before 6am and, as I had asked him, he woke me. I "made the beds" as I crawled out and dressed before I went to the bathrooms. Congratulate me. I got to the bathrooms before Tom was on his way back to the trailer. Yay for me! :o)
We had breakfast and I made PB&J sandwiches for lunch. I packed them and some carrots for whatever kind of lunch we would have; traveling or stopped.
Tom worked at getting the trailer hooked to the van amidst the banter of the man in the next site who just liked to talk. I finished inside and was able to help a little with the trailer hitching. Off to the bathrooms for the last time here and we actually left the RV Park at 7:55am, 5 minutes earlier than our goal of 8:00am. We really felt good!
We were headed for Tea, SD* just south of Sioux Falls and near the Minnesota border. Tom had estimated that it was a 300 mile trip and it actually was 304.6. Not a bad job.
Although "The Man" said that it would take 5.25 hours driving time. It actually was 4.5 hours. But that's "The Man" for you. We had three stops: one for a rest stop alone, one for a gas stop and one for a rest stop and lunch. Tom thought that we might be able to sit at one of the picnic tables in the rest stop but that didn't work out. The wind was blowing rather hard. The woman in the information booth said that she thought that the wind has been blowing for about 4-5 weeks at a rate of 15 mph. She said that people were getting used to it. I'll be glad when I get away from it. It feels cold to me.
We did, indeed, cross over in to Central Daylight Time. For the purpose of record keeping we kept the car clock and our "body clocks" on Mountain Daylight Time until we arived at the Red Barn RV Park.
When we saw our site I said, "It's only for one night. At least we are close to the bathrooms." Our neighbors have at least one large dog by evidence of the scat left very near where we parked the van. (After we crashed Tom went out and noticed that it had been cleaned up.)
We did "crash." After all that driving Tom was looking a little road weary. It felt good "to be horizontal."
We had dinner soon after we "crashed" and then went out for water and gas. We should soon be finished buying things except for water and gas.
The next things are to get what we need from the internet, especially to check on the geocaches that we want to look for in Minnesota. We will not be spending the night in MN but passing on through to Wisconsin. We want to check to see if the caches have been found lately. We don't want to be looking for something that isn't there any longer as we had done in Montana.
Then to bed, early I hope. "The Man" says there will be more than 6.5 hours driving time tomorrow. And if we get on the road before 8:00am as we did today we could be hitting the work traffic on I-29 before we get to I-90 again and even on I-90. We will be on I-90 all day tomorrow too.
We noticed the difference in the landscape from the Badlands to the eastern border of SD. We were missing the spires and high peaks and now have the rolling mounds. We ave also crossed the Missouri River. However where we crossed the river it was dammed and was a lake.
What surprised us was that we are still over a half mile above sea level. We each expected to be much lower. I was hoping for some warmer weather that the lower altitude would bring us. No such luck. I pulled out another heavier t-shirt for tomorrow. :o(
See you all in Wisconsin tomorrow evening. We are a little over 1100 miles from home. :o)
*When the railroad line survey from Yankton to Sioux Falls ws done, the village of Byron was founded. It was decided the village needed a post office, so an application was submitted. But several other communities were also named Byron, so the postal authorities asked for 10 short names from which one would be chosen. Nine names were chosen, and they could not come up with a tenth. Many residents were German, so the tradition of afternoon tea was important. It was decided to break for tea, then someone suggested adding "Tea" to the list. The postal authorities chose Tea, which was incorporated in 1902. - from the Red Barn RV Park information folder
Again, Tom was up before 6am and, as I had asked him, he woke me. I "made the beds" as I crawled out and dressed before I went to the bathrooms. Congratulate me. I got to the bathrooms before Tom was on his way back to the trailer. Yay for me! :o)
We had breakfast and I made PB&J sandwiches for lunch. I packed them and some carrots for whatever kind of lunch we would have; traveling or stopped.
Tom worked at getting the trailer hooked to the van amidst the banter of the man in the next site who just liked to talk. I finished inside and was able to help a little with the trailer hitching. Off to the bathrooms for the last time here and we actually left the RV Park at 7:55am, 5 minutes earlier than our goal of 8:00am. We really felt good!
We were headed for Tea, SD* just south of Sioux Falls and near the Minnesota border. Tom had estimated that it was a 300 mile trip and it actually was 304.6. Not a bad job.
Although "The Man" said that it would take 5.25 hours driving time. It actually was 4.5 hours. But that's "The Man" for you. We had three stops: one for a rest stop alone, one for a gas stop and one for a rest stop and lunch. Tom thought that we might be able to sit at one of the picnic tables in the rest stop but that didn't work out. The wind was blowing rather hard. The woman in the information booth said that she thought that the wind has been blowing for about 4-5 weeks at a rate of 15 mph. She said that people were getting used to it. I'll be glad when I get away from it. It feels cold to me.
We did, indeed, cross over in to Central Daylight Time. For the purpose of record keeping we kept the car clock and our "body clocks" on Mountain Daylight Time until we arived at the Red Barn RV Park.
When we saw our site I said, "It's only for one night. At least we are close to the bathrooms." Our neighbors have at least one large dog by evidence of the scat left very near where we parked the van. (After we crashed Tom went out and noticed that it had been cleaned up.)
We did "crash." After all that driving Tom was looking a little road weary. It felt good "to be horizontal."
We had dinner soon after we "crashed" and then went out for water and gas. We should soon be finished buying things except for water and gas.
The next things are to get what we need from the internet, especially to check on the geocaches that we want to look for in Minnesota. We will not be spending the night in MN but passing on through to Wisconsin. We want to check to see if the caches have been found lately. We don't want to be looking for something that isn't there any longer as we had done in Montana.
Then to bed, early I hope. "The Man" says there will be more than 6.5 hours driving time tomorrow. And if we get on the road before 8:00am as we did today we could be hitting the work traffic on I-29 before we get to I-90 again and even on I-90. We will be on I-90 all day tomorrow too.
We noticed the difference in the landscape from the Badlands to the eastern border of SD. We were missing the spires and high peaks and now have the rolling mounds. We ave also crossed the Missouri River. However where we crossed the river it was dammed and was a lake.
What surprised us was that we are still over a half mile above sea level. We each expected to be much lower. I was hoping for some warmer weather that the lower altitude would bring us. No such luck. I pulled out another heavier t-shirt for tomorrow. :o(
See you all in Wisconsin tomorrow evening. We are a little over 1100 miles from home. :o)
*When the railroad line survey from Yankton to Sioux Falls ws done, the village of Byron was founded. It was decided the village needed a post office, so an application was submitted. But several other communities were also named Byron, so the postal authorities asked for 10 short names from which one would be chosen. Nine names were chosen, and they could not come up with a tenth. Many residents were German, so the tradition of afternoon tea was important. It was decided to break for tea, then someone suggested adding "Tea" to the list. The postal authorities chose Tea, which was incorporated in 1902. - from the Red Barn RV Park information folder
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Vagabonds No Longer - Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Vagabonds No Longer - Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Happy First Day of Summer!
Tom was up and out again around 6am. I followed but not shortly. I "make the bed" on my way out of it; straighten out the sleeping bags, tucking in the pillows, getting them ready for when we "crash" in the afternoon. ;o)
We decided that since we missed breakfast out last Sunday we would do it today. Using the free Urbanspoon application (thank you, Diana and Lori) we found the Cactus Cafe and Lounge in Wall. The food was good, plentiful and inexpensive. I don't think this is a part of the Wall Drug Store business. It doesn't seem to be this same kind of thing.
The town of Wall, I expect, is best known for the Wall Drug Store started in 1931 just a little off the highway by the Husteads. They were going to give it 5 years to grow and then decide what to do. In 1936 the business wasn't going anywhere. Mrs. Hustead came up with a plan. Mr. Hustead put signs on the highway advertising a free glass of ice water to anyone who came by. This was enough to entice many people into the shop. Now the business has grown by leaps and bounds and is a destination rather than a stop over. It is kid friendly with a "Back Yard" in which to play, a 6 foot jackalope, panning for gold and lots of other stuff. There are numerous dining rooms and, of course, souvenier shops. There is free parking, 5 cent coffee, free coffee and a donut to Viet Nam Vets and a free glass of ice water for all who stop by. You can check it out here, http://www.walldrug.com/default.aspx . No, I'm not being paid to write this. :o)
We went south from Wall on Rt 240 and used the Pinnacles Entrance to the Badlands National Park. We took the Bandlands State Scenic Byway, otherwise called the Loop Road through the Badlands. This place reminded us of the Painted Dessert. It's history is similiar and just as beautiful even on a rain plagued day. It wasn't raining when we rode most of the way to the Visitor Center at the other end of the road.
We have come to like the Visitor Centers. There is so much information there about the history of the particular park we are in. It provides answers to a lot of questions and starts one thinking about more questions. They also play a 20-minute DVD about the park. It is a nice rest and very informative.
When we left the Visitor Center it was raining. It had really just started. We had to decide whether to try for the geocache in a nearby ghost town or call it a day. We decided to take the ride and see if the rain would stop.
It did stop and we rode through the prairie to find the ghost town named Scenic. The building facades were made to look like saloons and stores. I was sure that they were ever real businesses. But the cache was in a stone building that definately was a real jail. Chalk another one up for South Dakotah.
Then we decided to take the Sage creek Rim Road back to our original starting place in the Park. We were supposed to see bison and a prairie dog town, both of which we did. There was a very big herd of bison a bit of a distance away from the road but soon there were two huge bison very near the road lying down, chewing their cud, not caring about the traffic on the road. If we hadn't had enough pictures of bison we would have surely stopped, too.
The prairie dog town looked like a dud at first but then you had to watch the grass carefully. Then you saw it. One tan ball popped up and just that fast it wasn't there any longer. There it was again! It disappeared! There's one over there! No, wait. There it is! It was fun to find them.
But the two amazing things about the Sage Creek Rim Road were the unpaved, gravel road and the fact that it divided the prairie on left from the Badlands on right. The wind tickled and swayed the grasses on the left and moved through the pinnacles, spires and canyons on the right. We stopped for a picture of the expansiveness of these stone forms. I hope the pictures turn out.
We have taken 155 pictures today. I hope at least some of them are good. ;o)
Back to the RV Park where at least some of the evening's guests have already gathered. This is the fullest any RV Park has been at night and the emptiest in the morning. Last night a car pulled in at 10pm and took a spot near us. I heard "camping" noises. They weren't the noises heard in an RV Park but ones that I associate with tenting/camping in the state parks in PA. The last trip to the bathrooms told me I was right. The daddy was putting up the tent while the two early elementary boys were dancing around having a hard time waiting until they could go into the tent. Somewhere there was a mother who was trying to quiet a crying baby. And the rain didn't help any. They, too, were gone by the time we came back from breakfast this morning.
We "crashed" for a while and had dinner. We made some preparations to be one of those people who leave here tomorrow morning. "The Man" tells us we have five and a quarter hours driving time to accomplish about 300 miles. While accomplishing those statistics we will have crossed from Mountain Daylight Time to Central Daylight Time and we will be in Tea, SD. We will have come down off the mountains and will be on our way Home, vagabonds no longer. ;o)
Happy First Day of Summer!
Tom was up and out again around 6am. I followed but not shortly. I "make the bed" on my way out of it; straighten out the sleeping bags, tucking in the pillows, getting them ready for when we "crash" in the afternoon. ;o)
We decided that since we missed breakfast out last Sunday we would do it today. Using the free Urbanspoon application (thank you, Diana and Lori) we found the Cactus Cafe and Lounge in Wall. The food was good, plentiful and inexpensive. I don't think this is a part of the Wall Drug Store business. It doesn't seem to be this same kind of thing.
The town of Wall, I expect, is best known for the Wall Drug Store started in 1931 just a little off the highway by the Husteads. They were going to give it 5 years to grow and then decide what to do. In 1936 the business wasn't going anywhere. Mrs. Hustead came up with a plan. Mr. Hustead put signs on the highway advertising a free glass of ice water to anyone who came by. This was enough to entice many people into the shop. Now the business has grown by leaps and bounds and is a destination rather than a stop over. It is kid friendly with a "Back Yard" in which to play, a 6 foot jackalope, panning for gold and lots of other stuff. There are numerous dining rooms and, of course, souvenier shops. There is free parking, 5 cent coffee, free coffee and a donut to Viet Nam Vets and a free glass of ice water for all who stop by. You can check it out here, http://www.walldrug.com/default.aspx . No, I'm not being paid to write this. :o)
We went south from Wall on Rt 240 and used the Pinnacles Entrance to the Badlands National Park. We took the Bandlands State Scenic Byway, otherwise called the Loop Road through the Badlands. This place reminded us of the Painted Dessert. It's history is similiar and just as beautiful even on a rain plagued day. It wasn't raining when we rode most of the way to the Visitor Center at the other end of the road.
We have come to like the Visitor Centers. There is so much information there about the history of the particular park we are in. It provides answers to a lot of questions and starts one thinking about more questions. They also play a 20-minute DVD about the park. It is a nice rest and very informative.
When we left the Visitor Center it was raining. It had really just started. We had to decide whether to try for the geocache in a nearby ghost town or call it a day. We decided to take the ride and see if the rain would stop.
It did stop and we rode through the prairie to find the ghost town named Scenic. The building facades were made to look like saloons and stores. I was sure that they were ever real businesses. But the cache was in a stone building that definately was a real jail. Chalk another one up for South Dakotah.
Then we decided to take the Sage creek Rim Road back to our original starting place in the Park. We were supposed to see bison and a prairie dog town, both of which we did. There was a very big herd of bison a bit of a distance away from the road but soon there were two huge bison very near the road lying down, chewing their cud, not caring about the traffic on the road. If we hadn't had enough pictures of bison we would have surely stopped, too.
The prairie dog town looked like a dud at first but then you had to watch the grass carefully. Then you saw it. One tan ball popped up and just that fast it wasn't there any longer. There it was again! It disappeared! There's one over there! No, wait. There it is! It was fun to find them.
But the two amazing things about the Sage Creek Rim Road were the unpaved, gravel road and the fact that it divided the prairie on left from the Badlands on right. The wind tickled and swayed the grasses on the left and moved through the pinnacles, spires and canyons on the right. We stopped for a picture of the expansiveness of these stone forms. I hope the pictures turn out.
We have taken 155 pictures today. I hope at least some of them are good. ;o)
Back to the RV Park where at least some of the evening's guests have already gathered. This is the fullest any RV Park has been at night and the emptiest in the morning. Last night a car pulled in at 10pm and took a spot near us. I heard "camping" noises. They weren't the noises heard in an RV Park but ones that I associate with tenting/camping in the state parks in PA. The last trip to the bathrooms told me I was right. The daddy was putting up the tent while the two early elementary boys were dancing around having a hard time waiting until they could go into the tent. Somewhere there was a mother who was trying to quiet a crying baby. And the rain didn't help any. They, too, were gone by the time we came back from breakfast this morning.
We "crashed" for a while and had dinner. We made some preparations to be one of those people who leave here tomorrow morning. "The Man" tells us we have five and a quarter hours driving time to accomplish about 300 miles. While accomplishing those statistics we will have crossed from Mountain Daylight Time to Central Daylight Time and we will be in Tea, SD. We will have come down off the mountains and will be on our way Home, vagabonds no longer. ;o)
Monday, June 20, 2011
Father, Forgive Me... - Monday, June 20, 2011
Father, Forgive Me... - Monday, June 20, 2011
Oh, my! No! It can't be! It IS!
I left the window in the sleeping area of the trailer open last night. I didn't know it until I came back from the bathrooms this morning. I was wondering why the area around the bed was so chilly last night when I crawled into bed. I was warm all night in my wonderfully warm sleeping bag but I had to keep my head covered all night and find a way to breathe.
Trying to figure out why that happened I came up with this scenario: yesterday, when we "crashed" it was nice enough outside that I opened the window as I have done a number of other times. On those occasions I remembered to close it immediately upon awaking. Yesterday, apparently, I just got up and went about my business. No wonder it was 52 degrees outside this morning when Tom got up just after 6am and only 57 degrees inside. Poor guy had the heater on when I got back.
We were ready to leave the Rv Park at 9:06am. The sky to the east was really dark. The was going to be one of our shorter traveling days; only about 130 miles. But that sky didn't look good.
But the views were wonderful. This is land of the red dirt. Just under the sod was this wonderfully red dirt for a number of feet deep.
We were really close to the Wyoming/South Dakotah border and I almost missed taking a picture of the SD sign. It was the only picture I took today because of the rain. The rain cooperated until after we found our first geocache in SD at the Information Center just inside the SD border. By 10:12am it was raining and it was 54 degrees outside with the wind blowing.
We stopped for another geocache in SD but it was raining hard and since we already had one we just decided not to bother. Who wants to sit in a van with wet clothes?
When the rain slowed we decided to start up again. But it wasn't long until the rain started up again too. And it did get heavy for a little bit before it slowed down and stopped.
We had been warned that we might have to stop because of an accident "in 28 miles." By the time we arrived at the area there was a line up in a single lane. There were a lot of trucks, EMT, tow trucks, etc in the area. It seems as though a tracker trailer slid off the wet highway on a curve and the trailer ended up on it's side about 30 yards from the highway curve. I didn't see the tractor unless it had been hauled away before we arrived in the area. But... I did see what could have been the rear wheels of the tractor. They were in a position that would be correct if the tractor were lying on it's side. I only saw the wheels.
Soon we were at our exit and we arrived at Sleepy Hollow Campground at 12:20pm. It was 60 degrees and vey windy.
We worked at setting up the trailer and then it was my turn to take the long walk to the bathrooms. When I came back Tom had the makings of our traditional PB&J sandwich so that we could "crash" sooner. And "crash" we did.
One of our other traditions when we camp is cetain foods are served on certain days. Well, maybe it's only this one food. Today was a rainy day so the menu consisted of corned beef hash and peas. It was wonderful. It tasted good with an egg broken over the hash and served with lots of memories. We added the pistachio pudding. It was good too.
Then it was time to do the dishes. When on vacation and traveling we do dishes as seldom as possible. Well, we came to the end of some things; so tonight was time to do dishes. I thought that we might get a chance to see what the Wall Drug Store was like but after the dishes it was just time to "veg out."
Tom managed to see some beautiful skies and took the camera outside. There was a "sun dog." (if the term is incorrect will someone please correct me) It's when you can see a rainbow when the sun shines through the clouds in just the right way. The image of the rainbow isn't as clear on the picture but then it wasn't as clear as it was when we first saw it. Then Tom took a picture of the sky just to the northwest and it was something to applaud!
We stay in Wall, SD for two nights, Monday and Tuesday. Tomorrow we see the Badlands National Park and Wednesday we are on the road again. Before that we hope to be able to have a good breakfast at a nearby diner. And before that we hope to have a good, night's sleep. Good night!
Oh, my! No! It can't be! It IS!
I left the window in the sleeping area of the trailer open last night. I didn't know it until I came back from the bathrooms this morning. I was wondering why the area around the bed was so chilly last night when I crawled into bed. I was warm all night in my wonderfully warm sleeping bag but I had to keep my head covered all night and find a way to breathe.
Trying to figure out why that happened I came up with this scenario: yesterday, when we "crashed" it was nice enough outside that I opened the window as I have done a number of other times. On those occasions I remembered to close it immediately upon awaking. Yesterday, apparently, I just got up and went about my business. No wonder it was 52 degrees outside this morning when Tom got up just after 6am and only 57 degrees inside. Poor guy had the heater on when I got back.
We were ready to leave the Rv Park at 9:06am. The sky to the east was really dark. The was going to be one of our shorter traveling days; only about 130 miles. But that sky didn't look good.
But the views were wonderful. This is land of the red dirt. Just under the sod was this wonderfully red dirt for a number of feet deep.
We were really close to the Wyoming/South Dakotah border and I almost missed taking a picture of the SD sign. It was the only picture I took today because of the rain. The rain cooperated until after we found our first geocache in SD at the Information Center just inside the SD border. By 10:12am it was raining and it was 54 degrees outside with the wind blowing.
We stopped for another geocache in SD but it was raining hard and since we already had one we just decided not to bother. Who wants to sit in a van with wet clothes?
When the rain slowed we decided to start up again. But it wasn't long until the rain started up again too. And it did get heavy for a little bit before it slowed down and stopped.
We had been warned that we might have to stop because of an accident "in 28 miles." By the time we arrived at the area there was a line up in a single lane. There were a lot of trucks, EMT, tow trucks, etc in the area. It seems as though a tracker trailer slid off the wet highway on a curve and the trailer ended up on it's side about 30 yards from the highway curve. I didn't see the tractor unless it had been hauled away before we arrived in the area. But... I did see what could have been the rear wheels of the tractor. They were in a position that would be correct if the tractor were lying on it's side. I only saw the wheels.
Soon we were at our exit and we arrived at Sleepy Hollow Campground at 12:20pm. It was 60 degrees and vey windy.
We worked at setting up the trailer and then it was my turn to take the long walk to the bathrooms. When I came back Tom had the makings of our traditional PB&J sandwich so that we could "crash" sooner. And "crash" we did.
One of our other traditions when we camp is cetain foods are served on certain days. Well, maybe it's only this one food. Today was a rainy day so the menu consisted of corned beef hash and peas. It was wonderful. It tasted good with an egg broken over the hash and served with lots of memories. We added the pistachio pudding. It was good too.
Then it was time to do the dishes. When on vacation and traveling we do dishes as seldom as possible. Well, we came to the end of some things; so tonight was time to do dishes. I thought that we might get a chance to see what the Wall Drug Store was like but after the dishes it was just time to "veg out."
Tom managed to see some beautiful skies and took the camera outside. There was a "sun dog." (if the term is incorrect will someone please correct me) It's when you can see a rainbow when the sun shines through the clouds in just the right way. The image of the rainbow isn't as clear on the picture but then it wasn't as clear as it was when we first saw it. Then Tom took a picture of the sky just to the northwest and it was something to applaud!
We stay in Wall, SD for two nights, Monday and Tuesday. Tomorrow we see the Badlands National Park and Wednesday we are on the road again. Before that we hope to be able to have a good breakfast at a nearby diner. And before that we hope to have a good, night's sleep. Good night!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Off And Running - Sunday, June 19, 2011
Off And Running - Sunday, June 19, 2011
Happy Father's Day to all to whom this greeting applies.
Note: We again have phone service. Not only can we be annoyed but we can annoy! :o)
We were up and out of bed by 5:40 this morning!!!! A ride to the bathrooms and a very reasonable walk, sans walkng stick, back to the trailer started my day. My foot is getting better. Tom drove in both directions. :D
Breakfast was not really hurried but we kept moving. By 8:15am or so we were on the road. We probably would have done better had I done more stowing and securing last night.
We watched Wyoming's mountains, hills and open space once more. It is an amazing countryside. There's a little farming and lots of cattle ranching. If there is a farm there is an irrigation system. There were oil wells working today; very few were standing idle. There were very few trees.
I've mentioned before, or hope I've mentioned before, about the equipment and machinery going to rust in many of the yards in this state and others that we have been through. Lots of the properties that we passed had trailers in various states a disrepair. I've wondered it these were purchased or accepted by the land owner as cheap storage units. I guess I'll never know.
We drove through some sprinkles of rain and mostly dry periods. It was never long stretches of real rain.
We reached Sundance, WY, in just under 6 hours driving time; 340 miles. The name of the RV Park is Mountainview. We have seen more mountains in Wyoming and these do not compare to most of them. But they are nice.
When Tom went to register us, the woman asked if we were going to see Devil's Tower. It wasn't on our list of things to do so the answer was "No." At another time I was looking at the things in the Park Store and kept seeing this image of Devil's Tower. After some converstation later and some googling we found out that Devil's Tower was the place that the aliens landed in the movie "Close Encounter of the Third Kind." I still don't think we will go to see it.
It was dry but threatening rain when we arrived at Mountainview RV Park. We set up and I went to the bathroom. What a nice place. I guess that's why they can charge such high prices. Then Tom went out for gas so that we will be ready to take off tomorrow morning. As a side note: he found that the "Plus" gas was cheaper than the unleaded regular. So the van got a taste of the "good stuff" this afternoon. Hope he doesn't choke! :o)
Just before dinner (and continuing now just after 9pm local time) it started to rain. It's mostly been a soft rain but once or twice there have been bursts of harder rains. As Tom said, "I hate to deny these people the much needed rain but I hope it isn't raining when we leave tomorrow."
Since it is less than 2.5 hours drivng time to Wall, South Dakota, our next stopping place, we will not it be in as much of a hurry to leave as we were today. That means that I will NOT tell Tom to wake me when he gets up. ;o) But we won't dally too long either. And, since we have the time, we will try our hand at a few geocaches along the way. We'd like to log at least one in SD!
Lastly, for those of you who like numbers; so far, in just shy of 6 weeks, we have logged 7,405 miles. And now that we have turned out face eastward, measuring on the great curve we are 1,500 miles from home. This number will be getting lower as we get closer to home.
Happy Father's Day to all to whom this greeting applies.
Note: We again have phone service. Not only can we be annoyed but we can annoy! :o)
We were up and out of bed by 5:40 this morning!!!! A ride to the bathrooms and a very reasonable walk, sans walkng stick, back to the trailer started my day. My foot is getting better. Tom drove in both directions. :D
Breakfast was not really hurried but we kept moving. By 8:15am or so we were on the road. We probably would have done better had I done more stowing and securing last night.
We watched Wyoming's mountains, hills and open space once more. It is an amazing countryside. There's a little farming and lots of cattle ranching. If there is a farm there is an irrigation system. There were oil wells working today; very few were standing idle. There were very few trees.
I've mentioned before, or hope I've mentioned before, about the equipment and machinery going to rust in many of the yards in this state and others that we have been through. Lots of the properties that we passed had trailers in various states a disrepair. I've wondered it these were purchased or accepted by the land owner as cheap storage units. I guess I'll never know.
We drove through some sprinkles of rain and mostly dry periods. It was never long stretches of real rain.
We reached Sundance, WY, in just under 6 hours driving time; 340 miles. The name of the RV Park is Mountainview. We have seen more mountains in Wyoming and these do not compare to most of them. But they are nice.
When Tom went to register us, the woman asked if we were going to see Devil's Tower. It wasn't on our list of things to do so the answer was "No." At another time I was looking at the things in the Park Store and kept seeing this image of Devil's Tower. After some converstation later and some googling we found out that Devil's Tower was the place that the aliens landed in the movie "Close Encounter of the Third Kind." I still don't think we will go to see it.
It was dry but threatening rain when we arrived at Mountainview RV Park. We set up and I went to the bathroom. What a nice place. I guess that's why they can charge such high prices. Then Tom went out for gas so that we will be ready to take off tomorrow morning. As a side note: he found that the "Plus" gas was cheaper than the unleaded regular. So the van got a taste of the "good stuff" this afternoon. Hope he doesn't choke! :o)
Just before dinner (and continuing now just after 9pm local time) it started to rain. It's mostly been a soft rain but once or twice there have been bursts of harder rains. As Tom said, "I hate to deny these people the much needed rain but I hope it isn't raining when we leave tomorrow."
Since it is less than 2.5 hours drivng time to Wall, South Dakota, our next stopping place, we will not it be in as much of a hurry to leave as we were today. That means that I will NOT tell Tom to wake me when he gets up. ;o) But we won't dally too long either. And, since we have the time, we will try our hand at a few geocaches along the way. We'd like to log at least one in SD!
Lastly, for those of you who like numbers; so far, in just shy of 6 weeks, we have logged 7,405 miles. And now that we have turned out face eastward, measuring on the great curve we are 1,500 miles from home. This number will be getting lower as we get closer to home.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
"When I find the knob I'll turn it off." - Saturday, June 18, 2011
"When I find the knob I'll turn it off." - Saturday, June 18, 2011
She must have found the knob because it was so peaceful outside when we got up this morning. It was wonderful!
We had a leisurely breakfast and decided that I still could do the food shopping that we had planned. I'm not a big fan of Wal-Mart but they do have those electric carts for people who can't get around too well. So off we went to Wal-Mart. Tom got the motor oil and we restocked our staples. Then we headed back to the trailer. I would have liked to have stopped at the Sierra Trading Post to look around but that didn't happen. Tom figured that I wouldn't be able to handle the walking around.
We unloaded the groceries and made lunch. Then, of course, there was the nap. I slept longer that he did. No surprise there.
Tom was outside enjoying the air went I awoke. And the breeze was starting to pick up again. Someone must have hidden the knob on the woman again.
I had said earlier that I wanted to shower mid afternoon. There are no heaters in the bathrooms so I figured the warmest part of the day would be in the mid afternoon. The shower was wonderful. At least this place had a handicap accessible bathroom. Using it made showering very easy. At least I had some practice not to long before we left on out trip. ;o)
Today I've been getting to the bathrooms by van. Tom has been taking me and I've been able to get around in the bathroom very well. It's when I've been sitting too long without movement that it is hard to walk. All it getting better. I really do think I could have gotten around the Sierra Trading Post a bit today.
Dinner, the usual end of day things and getting ready to travel is what occupies us just now. Soon we will be in bed wondering what wonders and wanderings tomorrow will bring. Tomorrow we sleep in Sundance, WY.
She must have found the knob because it was so peaceful outside when we got up this morning. It was wonderful!
We had a leisurely breakfast and decided that I still could do the food shopping that we had planned. I'm not a big fan of Wal-Mart but they do have those electric carts for people who can't get around too well. So off we went to Wal-Mart. Tom got the motor oil and we restocked our staples. Then we headed back to the trailer. I would have liked to have stopped at the Sierra Trading Post to look around but that didn't happen. Tom figured that I wouldn't be able to handle the walking around.
We unloaded the groceries and made lunch. Then, of course, there was the nap. I slept longer that he did. No surprise there.
Tom was outside enjoying the air went I awoke. And the breeze was starting to pick up again. Someone must have hidden the knob on the woman again.
I had said earlier that I wanted to shower mid afternoon. There are no heaters in the bathrooms so I figured the warmest part of the day would be in the mid afternoon. The shower was wonderful. At least this place had a handicap accessible bathroom. Using it made showering very easy. At least I had some practice not to long before we left on out trip. ;o)
Today I've been getting to the bathrooms by van. Tom has been taking me and I've been able to get around in the bathroom very well. It's when I've been sitting too long without movement that it is hard to walk. All it getting better. I really do think I could have gotten around the Sierra Trading Post a bit today.
Dinner, the usual end of day things and getting ready to travel is what occupies us just now. Soon we will be in bed wondering what wonders and wanderings tomorrow will bring. Tomorrow we sleep in Sundance, WY.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Down Day??? - Friday, June 17, 2011
Down Day??? - Friday, June 17, 2011
Special Note: Happy Wedding Anniversary to Nancie and Martin!!!
Today was supposed to be an easy day. I wasn't going to, and didn't, get up early. We had an easy and leisurely breakfast and then things turned to business. Just easy stuff.
Well, easy if you put your head down and just lean into the wind. It was blowing like a crazy. Some people asked me if it was always like this thinking that I knew more than they did. I couldn't help them. When Tom went to buy quarters for the washers and dryers at the office the woman asked if he was enjoying his stay. He said with a laugh, "Yes, but can't you do something about this wind?" She replied, "When I find the knob I'll turn it off." Evidently she didn't find the knob because the wind has been blowing all day and is still blowing at 9pm local time.
Tom was going into Cody to get the oil changed in van. He says that he has never pushed this van this long and this hard before and wants to keep up with the recommended oil changes. And I sorted our dirty clothes and went to the laundry. The "little red wagon" makes this part of the job very easy. But before he went we put one of the sleeping bags on a plastic covered picnic table and held it down with the spring clamps that we use to hold a cover on our table when we are camping.
I was well into getting the laundry washed and some drying when Tom showed up in the laundry room. This was too soon. He said that the three or four of the more reputable places were very busy and a few of the less reputable places had people waiting. So he came back. He said that he will continue to watch the oil as we travel and add oil when necessary.
In a little while all of the laundry was washed and most of it was drying when I went to sit down for a while. The floor is covered with a rubber mat as a safety feature. It is about a quarter inch thick. I stepped off it the wrong way and the instep that I had been babying since Mesa Verde was back to step 1. I found it difficult to walk back to the trailer from the laundry room but made it. It is also difficult to walk around now. I'm going to have to take one more walk to the bathrooms. The next three days will be the hardest to get through but I'll start that trip to healing again.
With all of that going on we did manage to air both of the sleeping bags and both of our pillows. Ahhh! Fresh bedding tonight.
Tom was going to grill tonight but with this wind all of the cooking was inside the trailer. With dinner done we started the dishes. Did someone say this was going to be an "easy" or "off" day?
But I do have a feeling that we will be in bed early. ;)
Tom is looking at the route that "The Man" expects to take us on Sunday to Sundance, WY. It's on the other side of the state.
Tomorrow we expect to go into Cody and do some food shopping. There are a few other things we could do if we feel like it but we will let the Spirit move us tomorrow.
Special Note: Happy Wedding Anniversary to Nancie and Martin!!!
Today was supposed to be an easy day. I wasn't going to, and didn't, get up early. We had an easy and leisurely breakfast and then things turned to business. Just easy stuff.
Well, easy if you put your head down and just lean into the wind. It was blowing like a crazy. Some people asked me if it was always like this thinking that I knew more than they did. I couldn't help them. When Tom went to buy quarters for the washers and dryers at the office the woman asked if he was enjoying his stay. He said with a laugh, "Yes, but can't you do something about this wind?" She replied, "When I find the knob I'll turn it off." Evidently she didn't find the knob because the wind has been blowing all day and is still blowing at 9pm local time.
Tom was going into Cody to get the oil changed in van. He says that he has never pushed this van this long and this hard before and wants to keep up with the recommended oil changes. And I sorted our dirty clothes and went to the laundry. The "little red wagon" makes this part of the job very easy. But before he went we put one of the sleeping bags on a plastic covered picnic table and held it down with the spring clamps that we use to hold a cover on our table when we are camping.
I was well into getting the laundry washed and some drying when Tom showed up in the laundry room. This was too soon. He said that the three or four of the more reputable places were very busy and a few of the less reputable places had people waiting. So he came back. He said that he will continue to watch the oil as we travel and add oil when necessary.
In a little while all of the laundry was washed and most of it was drying when I went to sit down for a while. The floor is covered with a rubber mat as a safety feature. It is about a quarter inch thick. I stepped off it the wrong way and the instep that I had been babying since Mesa Verde was back to step 1. I found it difficult to walk back to the trailer from the laundry room but made it. It is also difficult to walk around now. I'm going to have to take one more walk to the bathrooms. The next three days will be the hardest to get through but I'll start that trip to healing again.
With all of that going on we did manage to air both of the sleeping bags and both of our pillows. Ahhh! Fresh bedding tonight.
Tom was going to grill tonight but with this wind all of the cooking was inside the trailer. With dinner done we started the dishes. Did someone say this was going to be an "easy" or "off" day?
But I do have a feeling that we will be in bed early. ;)
Tom is looking at the route that "The Man" expects to take us on Sunday to Sundance, WY. It's on the other side of the state.
Tomorrow we expect to go into Cody and do some food shopping. There are a few other things we could do if we feel like it but we will let the Spirit move us tomorrow.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
And The Hats Are Where? Duh! - Thursday, June 16, 2011
And The Hats Are Where? Duh! - Thursday, June 16, 2011
Today was going to be another busy day. When we got up this morning it was 51 degrees inside the trailer and a not-too-shabby 41 degrees outside. Brrr!
Although we wanted to be sure to get an early start we did take time to have waffles for breakfast. YUM!
We entered the park, again, by the east entrance at about 9:30. It takes us over a half hour, and maybe 45 minutes, to get there. Not far inside the park there were a lot of workmen and a lot of equipment and two "flagpersons." They were cleaning up a mess. During the night the water coming down the mountain had brought a lot of mud with it. So much mud, as a matter of fact, that it covered half of the road and was deposited high enough that it covered the metal rails that are usually along the side of the bridges across little streams of water that usually come down mountsides. The increased snowmelt had really brought some surprises with it.
Today was a gray day; a lot less sun and a lot less snow. The scenery was better yesterday with the sunlight on the white snow.
I watched the temperature sensor for the outside air go down: 49 degrees, 48 degrees, 41 degrees. These were the temperature changes for 9:30am to 9:48am. No wonder I was feeling colder!
Somewhere else there was another traffic jam because of a wildlife sighting but it was not in my camera's range.
It was a very windy day; a cold wind. When we stopped at the West Thumb Geyser Basin we realized that we left our winter hats back in the trailer. I specifcally packed them in the trailer so they would be available at night time in case we really get cold in bed. But I forgot to bring them along on the trip to the park. I did think of the hooded sweatshirts though.
And it was here that we found out that we would be too late for the next eruption and way to early for the following one.
Next we stopped at the Kepler Cascades. What a waterfall! It has cut such a deep canyon.
We also stopped Biscuit Basin and Midway Geyser Basin for some more views of the thermals and a chance to fill our lungs with sulphur. *cough *sputter *choke
We decided that we really didn't have the time to go into Idaho to find a geocache but we did want to stop at the Old Faithful Post Office to mail some cards. I'm hoping they will get a special post mark. What a tourist complex!
Then we were on our way home. While we were going down the mountain there was a bicyclist walking and pushing his packed bicycle up the mountain. It was already 41 degrees with the probability of rain, flash floods and snow showers. The higher mountains were already covered with clouds. I wondered if he would have accepted a ride if someone offered him and his bicycle a lift up the mountain.
We were back at the RV Park by 4:50pm and down for a nap by 5:05pm. Then came dinner and computer time for blogs and bookkeeping.
It rained a little bit at 7:50pm but soon stopped. The wind slowed a bit but it is up to howling speed again. Sometimes the trailer even rocks a little. "Rock a-bye, baby, on the tree top...."
Today was going to be another busy day. When we got up this morning it was 51 degrees inside the trailer and a not-too-shabby 41 degrees outside. Brrr!
Although we wanted to be sure to get an early start we did take time to have waffles for breakfast. YUM!
We entered the park, again, by the east entrance at about 9:30. It takes us over a half hour, and maybe 45 minutes, to get there. Not far inside the park there were a lot of workmen and a lot of equipment and two "flagpersons." They were cleaning up a mess. During the night the water coming down the mountain had brought a lot of mud with it. So much mud, as a matter of fact, that it covered half of the road and was deposited high enough that it covered the metal rails that are usually along the side of the bridges across little streams of water that usually come down mountsides. The increased snowmelt had really brought some surprises with it.
Today was a gray day; a lot less sun and a lot less snow. The scenery was better yesterday with the sunlight on the white snow.
I watched the temperature sensor for the outside air go down: 49 degrees, 48 degrees, 41 degrees. These were the temperature changes for 9:30am to 9:48am. No wonder I was feeling colder!
Somewhere else there was another traffic jam because of a wildlife sighting but it was not in my camera's range.
It was a very windy day; a cold wind. When we stopped at the West Thumb Geyser Basin we realized that we left our winter hats back in the trailer. I specifcally packed them in the trailer so they would be available at night time in case we really get cold in bed. But I forgot to bring them along on the trip to the park. I did think of the hooded sweatshirts though.
And it was here that we found out that we would be too late for the next eruption and way to early for the following one.
Next we stopped at the Kepler Cascades. What a waterfall! It has cut such a deep canyon.
We also stopped Biscuit Basin and Midway Geyser Basin for some more views of the thermals and a chance to fill our lungs with sulphur. *cough *sputter *choke
We decided that we really didn't have the time to go into Idaho to find a geocache but we did want to stop at the Old Faithful Post Office to mail some cards. I'm hoping they will get a special post mark. What a tourist complex!
Then we were on our way home. While we were going down the mountain there was a bicyclist walking and pushing his packed bicycle up the mountain. It was already 41 degrees with the probability of rain, flash floods and snow showers. The higher mountains were already covered with clouds. I wondered if he would have accepted a ride if someone offered him and his bicycle a lift up the mountain.
We were back at the RV Park by 4:50pm and down for a nap by 5:05pm. Then came dinner and computer time for blogs and bookkeeping.
It rained a little bit at 7:50pm but soon stopped. The wind slowed a bit but it is up to howling speed again. Sometimes the trailer even rocks a little. "Rock a-bye, baby, on the tree top...."
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Wanna See What We See Every Day - Wednesday, June 15 20111
Wanna See What We See Every Day? - Wednesday, June 15, 2011
First I want to tell everyone who would have some reason to call on our cell phone that it will not work. We have no service out here in the middle of nowhere. I don't see anyone in the Park using a cell phone. The one woman we did see was standing in the middle of a grassy area again in the middle of no where. But she must have had service or she was talking to herself or she was a geocacher looking for a cache.
If anyone needs us you will have to contact us by email until further notice.
Okay! Here is what we see when we stand at the door of the trailer and look out. The other directions aren't so great but that's okay.
As I was researching Cody's elevation I found three numbers The one that Cody uses is 5061 ft. That's not a shabby number. But there's list of cities that uses 5088 ft, Wikipedia uses 4997 ft and something to do with weather uses 5098 ft. But I'll stick with Condy's number, 5016 ft.
Last night we had an experience that showed me that wild drivers are not limited to Allentown or Bethlehem. Tom was parked in the parking lot while I was in a store. When I came out Tom started the van and started to turn left to come to pick me up. At the same time someone entered the parking lot behind and to Tom's right, came across behind the van and turned right up the left side of the van. I just stood there and covered my eyes. I could just "see" the van hit this car or the car hit the van. As it happened, I think, Tom saw what was happening and stopped. The other person just kept on going, parked his car and walked into the store. I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought we were going to lose the van.
There's a lot that I want to write about. The best that I can, and should, do right now is to list the topics and write later. It's been a long day from 9am to about 7:45pm. We were eating dinner at 8:15pm. Now it's bed time.
Snowballs at 7610 ft at 56 degrees on the Ides of June
Pictures of snow on the mountains at 48 degrees
Road washed out
wet hand and feet in Yellowstone Lake - ice
Waterfalls
Big Horn Sheep
Maybe more if my mind will let me remember.
I am just too tired. I will talk to you later.
++++++++++++++++++++++
June 16, 2011 - This is an edit to write about the things I listed that I wanted to tell you:
One of the things we had in the back of our minds to do, or maybe it was just in the back of my mind, was that we would be able to "reach out" and touch the snow. We did better than that. We entered Yellowstone National Park at the East Entrance and immediately started to climb. The snow was on the ground and increased as we climbed in elevation. I asked Tom to pull into a turnout. We were the only ones there. We reached over the wall and touched the snow. It was like little pellets of ice. But it made wonderful snowballs. I didn't pack it too hard because it was ice and I was afraid that it would hurt Tom. Just think: Snowballs at an altitude of 7610 ft at 56 degrees on the Ides of June! How different than my usual experience. I guess we weren't the only ones who thought about doing this. All day long we saw people making and throwing snowballs.
I took many pictures of snow on the mountains. It was just a feast for the eyes. And it was only 48 degrees! One of the things that I saw but did not take a picture was of a couple on a motorcycle. We were in an avalanche area and were asked not to stop in this 2 mile stretch of road. But they just had to. The gentleman stayed on the bike which was parked on as much berm that was free of snow while his traveing companion crossed the road to take a picture of the height of the snow on the side of the road behind the gentleman. It seems that this road had to be plowed at one time and that this particular place had a snow drift on it. The snow was indeed much higher than the height of the man sitting on his bike and maybe even twice as high.
At one point we were cautioned to slow down because there was a traffic signal ahead. This was weird because even the major intersections didn't have traffic signals; only stop signs. As we came to the intersection we were told that there was a "one lane road" ahead. And indeed there was. When it was our turn to go we looked over the barriers to see the other side of the road from us and saw that half of the road had been washed away. So I guess there will have to be some major work there to repair it. I can just imagine what the traffic will be like there in another month.
In a little bit we came to a shore of Yellowstone Lake. The waves were breaking against the small stones at the edge of the water. The waves came in fast and I wanted to get my hand in the water without getting my feet wet. It didn't happen because all of a sudden a series of waves came in and broke higher and harder on the shore than I expected. I not only got my hand wet but also half of my right foot and the toes of my left foot. The water was warm on both my hand and my feet. My feet never did feel cold as my sneakers and socks dried while I was wearing them.
At another point on a shore of Yellowstone Lake there was a pile of chunks of ice lining the beach. In the lake on top of the water was something that looked like slush. It extended into the lake for about six feet or more. The waves must have deposited this ice on the shore line. There was someone who was taking a picture of a young man who had stooped down and picked up one of the pieces of ice. By the time we came past this place at the end of our day to go home there was no more ice on the shore line. We had agreed that the snow is indeed melting.
There are several waterfalls along this particular loop in the park. We took pictures of all that we saw. One of them required a long walk and I wasn't up to it. Tom offered to go get the picture to add it to a collection for a friend. I accepted and off he went. I can't wait to see the pictures. I haven't seen any of them yet. And he just told me that he can't find the two pictures that he took of me with the snowball! They aren't anywhere to be found. Not even in the recycle bin. Oh, well!
There are bisons all over the park. Just give them a chance and they will show up. We were hoping to see bear, moose, elk or some Big Horn Sheep. It wasn't until the end of the day and nearly out of the park that traffic was stopped. We figured it was because of more bison creating another traffic jam. Wrong! It was because of 10 - 12 Big Horn Sheep who wanted to leave the fields on our right and climb the rocks on our left. So they just crossed the road in spite of all of the cars! I hope the pictures turn out. I had wished for a moment that I had video so that I could see the leaping and the climbing of the rocks again.
One of the things that we are doing along the way on this trip is some geocaching. I've mentioned geochaching before. This is a high tech "hide and seek" game when someone hids something, usually some kind of container the size anywhere from the inside diameter of a quarter inch and length of about 3/8" to a 50mm ammo can. Sometimes it only contains a log as with the ultra small ones and you must bring your own pen to sign the log and sometimes it contains a lot of "swag", prizes that you can trade for something that you have brought along. The hiding spot is posted online as GPS (Global Positioning System) coordinates. A geocacher has a GPS receiver and uses this to find the cache. Well, anyway, we wanted to add the western US states to our list of states in which we had found caches. We weren't successful to find them in all of the states in which we looked and we had to add Montana to that DNF (Did Not Find) list. Tom tried this particular one and it should have been easy. But after finding two snakes he decided a DNF wasn't too bad. He went online to post this DNF and warn of the snakes only to find that this cache went MIA and hadn't been replaced yet. Bummer!
These are some more of the things that kept us busy this day. Hope you are enjoying them.
First I want to tell everyone who would have some reason to call on our cell phone that it will not work. We have no service out here in the middle of nowhere. I don't see anyone in the Park using a cell phone. The one woman we did see was standing in the middle of a grassy area again in the middle of no where. But she must have had service or she was talking to herself or she was a geocacher looking for a cache.
If anyone needs us you will have to contact us by email until further notice.
Okay! Here is what we see when we stand at the door of the trailer and look out. The other directions aren't so great but that's okay.
In the middle of the picture to the left side just below the line of trees there seems to be a dark gray oblong area. That is the Shoshone River that passes by just below us and "talks" to us all of the time. When Tom made the reservations last winter the owner here told him that we would be above the river but that the river didn't have any water in it at that time. Now the river has lots of water from the snow melt and is even overflowing it's bank in some places. And there's a lot more to come down.
Some of you have told me to take lots of pictures. Yesterday's count count was in the measily 230s while today's was 453 or 39x depending on whether Tom can find out what the laptop did to some of those pictures.
There were lots of pictures of bison. Each time they were a bit closer to me. But then I saw that some of the herds had the young with them. So I started in again. Then on the way home the traffic was stopped. When we got to the place where we could see what was happening we found that the bison wanted to go to the fields on the other side of the road. One big fella was standing in the road right in the middle of our lane of traffic. We were the fourth vehicle from him. Another big bison tried to pass between the second and third vehicles and didn't like the prospects there. Then he walked along side of the third vehicle and looked at the space between it and us. He was much happier with that and moved on in and just kept going. And I was snapping all the way. After he went through we continued on our way.
Last night we had an experience that showed me that wild drivers are not limited to Allentown or Bethlehem. Tom was parked in the parking lot while I was in a store. When I came out Tom started the van and started to turn left to come to pick me up. At the same time someone entered the parking lot behind and to Tom's right, came across behind the van and turned right up the left side of the van. I just stood there and covered my eyes. I could just "see" the van hit this car or the car hit the van. As it happened, I think, Tom saw what was happening and stopped. The other person just kept on going, parked his car and walked into the store. I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought we were going to lose the van.
There's a lot that I want to write about. The best that I can, and should, do right now is to list the topics and write later. It's been a long day from 9am to about 7:45pm. We were eating dinner at 8:15pm. Now it's bed time.
Snowballs at 7610 ft at 56 degrees on the Ides of June
Pictures of snow on the mountains at 48 degrees
Road washed out
wet hand and feet in Yellowstone Lake - ice
Waterfalls
Big Horn Sheep
Maybe more if my mind will let me remember.
I am just too tired. I will talk to you later.
++++++++++++++++++++++
June 16, 2011 - This is an edit to write about the things I listed that I wanted to tell you:
One of the things we had in the back of our minds to do, or maybe it was just in the back of my mind, was that we would be able to "reach out" and touch the snow. We did better than that. We entered Yellowstone National Park at the East Entrance and immediately started to climb. The snow was on the ground and increased as we climbed in elevation. I asked Tom to pull into a turnout. We were the only ones there. We reached over the wall and touched the snow. It was like little pellets of ice. But it made wonderful snowballs. I didn't pack it too hard because it was ice and I was afraid that it would hurt Tom. Just think: Snowballs at an altitude of 7610 ft at 56 degrees on the Ides of June! How different than my usual experience. I guess we weren't the only ones who thought about doing this. All day long we saw people making and throwing snowballs.
I took many pictures of snow on the mountains. It was just a feast for the eyes. And it was only 48 degrees! One of the things that I saw but did not take a picture was of a couple on a motorcycle. We were in an avalanche area and were asked not to stop in this 2 mile stretch of road. But they just had to. The gentleman stayed on the bike which was parked on as much berm that was free of snow while his traveing companion crossed the road to take a picture of the height of the snow on the side of the road behind the gentleman. It seems that this road had to be plowed at one time and that this particular place had a snow drift on it. The snow was indeed much higher than the height of the man sitting on his bike and maybe even twice as high.
At one point we were cautioned to slow down because there was a traffic signal ahead. This was weird because even the major intersections didn't have traffic signals; only stop signs. As we came to the intersection we were told that there was a "one lane road" ahead. And indeed there was. When it was our turn to go we looked over the barriers to see the other side of the road from us and saw that half of the road had been washed away. So I guess there will have to be some major work there to repair it. I can just imagine what the traffic will be like there in another month.
In a little bit we came to a shore of Yellowstone Lake. The waves were breaking against the small stones at the edge of the water. The waves came in fast and I wanted to get my hand in the water without getting my feet wet. It didn't happen because all of a sudden a series of waves came in and broke higher and harder on the shore than I expected. I not only got my hand wet but also half of my right foot and the toes of my left foot. The water was warm on both my hand and my feet. My feet never did feel cold as my sneakers and socks dried while I was wearing them.
At another point on a shore of Yellowstone Lake there was a pile of chunks of ice lining the beach. In the lake on top of the water was something that looked like slush. It extended into the lake for about six feet or more. The waves must have deposited this ice on the shore line. There was someone who was taking a picture of a young man who had stooped down and picked up one of the pieces of ice. By the time we came past this place at the end of our day to go home there was no more ice on the shore line. We had agreed that the snow is indeed melting.
There are several waterfalls along this particular loop in the park. We took pictures of all that we saw. One of them required a long walk and I wasn't up to it. Tom offered to go get the picture to add it to a collection for a friend. I accepted and off he went. I can't wait to see the pictures. I haven't seen any of them yet. And he just told me that he can't find the two pictures that he took of me with the snowball! They aren't anywhere to be found. Not even in the recycle bin. Oh, well!
There are bisons all over the park. Just give them a chance and they will show up. We were hoping to see bear, moose, elk or some Big Horn Sheep. It wasn't until the end of the day and nearly out of the park that traffic was stopped. We figured it was because of more bison creating another traffic jam. Wrong! It was because of 10 - 12 Big Horn Sheep who wanted to leave the fields on our right and climb the rocks on our left. So they just crossed the road in spite of all of the cars! I hope the pictures turn out. I had wished for a moment that I had video so that I could see the leaping and the climbing of the rocks again.
One of the things that we are doing along the way on this trip is some geocaching. I've mentioned geochaching before. This is a high tech "hide and seek" game when someone hids something, usually some kind of container the size anywhere from the inside diameter of a quarter inch and length of about 3/8" to a 50mm ammo can. Sometimes it only contains a log as with the ultra small ones and you must bring your own pen to sign the log and sometimes it contains a lot of "swag", prizes that you can trade for something that you have brought along. The hiding spot is posted online as GPS (Global Positioning System) coordinates. A geocacher has a GPS receiver and uses this to find the cache. Well, anyway, we wanted to add the western US states to our list of states in which we had found caches. We weren't successful to find them in all of the states in which we looked and we had to add Montana to that DNF (Did Not Find) list. Tom tried this particular one and it should have been easy. But after finding two snakes he decided a DNF wasn't too bad. He went online to post this DNF and warn of the snakes only to find that this cache went MIA and hadn't been replaced yet. Bummer!
These are some more of the things that kept us busy this day. Hope you are enjoying them.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Ride 'Em Cowboy! - Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Ride 'Em Cowboy! - Tuesday, June 14, 2011
The sign over the road down Yellowstone Avenue reads, "Rodeo tonight! 8:00PM" Another place it explains that from June until September there is a rodeo at 8pm every night. As we rode past the venue at 8:20 there were a lot of cars in the small parking lot but the stands were not full of people. And there was a lot of dust being kicked up at one end of the field. Cody, Wyoming, is a cowboy town.
There is a Buffalo Bill Historical Center in town which is surrounded by the Buffalo Bill State Forest and then there's the Buffalo Bill Dam. Since the main industry in Cody is tourism there is much to do and see and eat. Even Wal-Mart showed up here. And I want to check out the Sierra Trading Post Outlet store before we leave...I hope. But we have a lot more important things to do before we leave on Sunday to start our trek eastward.
When Tom got up this morning after 6am it was 40 degrees outside and 50 degrees in the trailer. He turned the heater on (for me) and went to shave. When he got back it was 45 degrees outside and 60 degrees in the trailer. It was so nice when I got up even before he returned.
Even after getting up a little later and having most things done to leave, we weren't completely ready to go until 9:05am. Our ETA was 12:15pm. But since this RV Park says that check in time is 3pm (maybe that's just for the hotel) Tom decided not to hurry and to enjoy the scenery.
We noticed when we entered it that the town of Lander has an elevation of 5357 ft. That's another town with an elevation of over a mile high. Denver advertises itself as "the Mile High City." I always thought that that was rare. Now I'm finding out that there are a lot of towns that could say that but they couldn't say "City."
Lilacs are in bloom and people are just planting the flowers around their houses.
I had been hoping that we would get to ride through the part of Lander that we didn't see yesterday but I was dissappoined. But we got to see some new and wonderful territory. One of the things that we have been seeing sometimes on our travels were oil wells. Some of them were working and some were not. The ones we saw today were working. I'm curious as to how much they produce in one day.
Because we drove more slowly today than on other days we arrived at the Yellowstone Resort and RV Park a little after 2pm. We set up the trailer and, as has become our custom, we "crashed." When we got up we did the dishes.
Then it was time to eat. We didn't feel like cooking so between the navigator and the "urbanspoon" we found "Bubba's Bar-B-Que." So we ate "cowboy" tonight. And because we were a little earlier than the "dinner crowd" we had a quiet meal as well.
Then we went food shopping and looked for a laundromat. The one at the park is expensive ($2 for washer and for dryer) we looked for one in town. Of the two we found, the second was the better of them. There were people using the second one compared to no people in the first one. And the second one was clean. But it, too, wanted $2 for a washer and twenty-five cents for I don't know how much time on the dryer. I was told that the washers held a lot. The sign said that they were double capacity. We shall see what we decide by Saturday. This will be out last laundry day on the road.
When we came back to the trailer we put away half of the groceries and then started on the book work. It was much later than usual.
Tom gave up and went to the bathrooms, came back and went to bed. After a while I went to the bathrooms. I didn't want to go out when it was colder. It is now 12:20am and the outside temperature is 52 degrees. The inside is 63 degrees. Besides, we were reminded when we checked in that this is bear country so we should be careful when we are out after dark alone.
With that thought I say "good night."
The sign over the road down Yellowstone Avenue reads, "Rodeo tonight! 8:00PM" Another place it explains that from June until September there is a rodeo at 8pm every night. As we rode past the venue at 8:20 there were a lot of cars in the small parking lot but the stands were not full of people. And there was a lot of dust being kicked up at one end of the field. Cody, Wyoming, is a cowboy town.
There is a Buffalo Bill Historical Center in town which is surrounded by the Buffalo Bill State Forest and then there's the Buffalo Bill Dam. Since the main industry in Cody is tourism there is much to do and see and eat. Even Wal-Mart showed up here. And I want to check out the Sierra Trading Post Outlet store before we leave...I hope. But we have a lot more important things to do before we leave on Sunday to start our trek eastward.
When Tom got up this morning after 6am it was 40 degrees outside and 50 degrees in the trailer. He turned the heater on (for me) and went to shave. When he got back it was 45 degrees outside and 60 degrees in the trailer. It was so nice when I got up even before he returned.
Even after getting up a little later and having most things done to leave, we weren't completely ready to go until 9:05am. Our ETA was 12:15pm. But since this RV Park says that check in time is 3pm (maybe that's just for the hotel) Tom decided not to hurry and to enjoy the scenery.
We noticed when we entered it that the town of Lander has an elevation of 5357 ft. That's another town with an elevation of over a mile high. Denver advertises itself as "the Mile High City." I always thought that that was rare. Now I'm finding out that there are a lot of towns that could say that but they couldn't say "City."
Lilacs are in bloom and people are just planting the flowers around their houses.
I had been hoping that we would get to ride through the part of Lander that we didn't see yesterday but I was dissappoined. But we got to see some new and wonderful territory. One of the things that we have been seeing sometimes on our travels were oil wells. Some of them were working and some were not. The ones we saw today were working. I'm curious as to how much they produce in one day.
Because we drove more slowly today than on other days we arrived at the Yellowstone Resort and RV Park a little after 2pm. We set up the trailer and, as has become our custom, we "crashed." When we got up we did the dishes.
Then it was time to eat. We didn't feel like cooking so between the navigator and the "urbanspoon" we found "Bubba's Bar-B-Que." So we ate "cowboy" tonight. And because we were a little earlier than the "dinner crowd" we had a quiet meal as well.
Then we went food shopping and looked for a laundromat. The one at the park is expensive ($2 for washer and for dryer) we looked for one in town. Of the two we found, the second was the better of them. There were people using the second one compared to no people in the first one. And the second one was clean. But it, too, wanted $2 for a washer and twenty-five cents for I don't know how much time on the dryer. I was told that the washers held a lot. The sign said that they were double capacity. We shall see what we decide by Saturday. This will be out last laundry day on the road.
When we came back to the trailer we put away half of the groceries and then started on the book work. It was much later than usual.
Tom gave up and went to the bathrooms, came back and went to bed. After a while I went to the bathrooms. I didn't want to go out when it was colder. It is now 12:20am and the outside temperature is 52 degrees. The inside is 63 degrees. Besides, we were reminded when we checked in that this is bear country so we should be careful when we are out after dark alone.
With that thought I say "good night."
Monday, June 13, 2011
Greetings From Lander, Wyoming - Monday, June 13, 2011
Greetings From Lander, Wyoming - Monday, June 13, 2011
We got up at 5:45am so that we could get an early start. HA! We still didn't leave until 8:28! The ETA for the supposed 5 1/2 hours drive was 1:49pm not counting rest stops and fuel stops. We registered at 1:41pm!
No we didn't cross a time zone. Tom was able to shave some time off the ETA and we did stop once for gas, twice for rest stops and once for road construction.
There were many opportunies for picture taking today so Tom downloaded about 260 images off the camera. Some were taken inside a moving vehicle so the odds that they are good are just about nil. But I just kept snapping pictures. Hope springs eternal! There were pictures of the scenery, huge letters on the sides of mountains at various places as we drove, an accident that happened at a place that I was taking pictures, flooding of farm lands, a wind farm with many "propellars" (I'm not sure of the proper term) going at different speeds, many antelope in Wyoming, fences that we guessed were snow fences and then we saw snow near them so we were sure they were and snow that we could have touched if there was a place to stop the van with trailer and we could have gotten out,
The RV Park is called TWin Pines. It was not where Tom was expecting it be so we passed it. He had to drive 5 more miles before he could turn around with the trailer and go back.
We were told that 2 weeks ago they had ten inches of snow on the ground which disappeared in three days. We were also told by the Park hostess that she was told that yesterday the day-time temperature at Yellowstone National Park was 32 degrees and that they had snow.
This is a very nice small RV Park with only 20 sites. Some of the sites seem to be occupied somewhat permanently. There is one here from New Jersey.
Although the trek to the bathroom is a bit long the facility makes it worth while. The women's room is large and divided into different areas. In a large private room is a tub/shower and a chair on which to sit. The open area has one vanity set on the counter top that is set on the wall rather high. In another large, private area has the toilet. All of this is very clean. This is a good place.
We went into Lander this afternoon to do some geocaching. It is a lovely small town. The residents might object to the word "small" but I didn't see a lot of it. The first cache was in the outskirts of a new residential area. Really nice houses. Some of the residents were out walking and, I guess, wondering what we were doing in the bushes. The other two were in about the same section of town. One was in a small community park and the other was in a nearby alley. Now we have Wyoming logged for geocaching.
As we started to go to Lander we noticed that there seemed to be a "duel" going on between the white and dark clouds. There seemed to be some misting going on between them. Because we had just been talking with the Park hostess about the time she met a tornado up "close and personal" at a place near here I was beginning to wonder if this was not at least the beginning of a tornado.
We came back to the trailer for dinner. Then Tom went out again to fuel up the van for tomorrow's trip and I got started on the blog.
It is 9:30pm here and it just got dark. The outside temperature is already 59 degrees. Out come the jackets for the trip to the bathrooms. The inside temperature is 71 degrees. We all lucky. On this trip it has already been in the mid 60s inside the trailer. But it won't be long until we are in our very warm sleeping bags getting ready for tomorrow's trip.
We got up at 5:45am so that we could get an early start. HA! We still didn't leave until 8:28! The ETA for the supposed 5 1/2 hours drive was 1:49pm not counting rest stops and fuel stops. We registered at 1:41pm!
No we didn't cross a time zone. Tom was able to shave some time off the ETA and we did stop once for gas, twice for rest stops and once for road construction.
There were many opportunies for picture taking today so Tom downloaded about 260 images off the camera. Some were taken inside a moving vehicle so the odds that they are good are just about nil. But I just kept snapping pictures. Hope springs eternal! There were pictures of the scenery, huge letters on the sides of mountains at various places as we drove, an accident that happened at a place that I was taking pictures, flooding of farm lands, a wind farm with many "propellars" (I'm not sure of the proper term) going at different speeds, many antelope in Wyoming, fences that we guessed were snow fences and then we saw snow near them so we were sure they were and snow that we could have touched if there was a place to stop the van with trailer and we could have gotten out,
The RV Park is called TWin Pines. It was not where Tom was expecting it be so we passed it. He had to drive 5 more miles before he could turn around with the trailer and go back.
We were told that 2 weeks ago they had ten inches of snow on the ground which disappeared in three days. We were also told by the Park hostess that she was told that yesterday the day-time temperature at Yellowstone National Park was 32 degrees and that they had snow.
This is a very nice small RV Park with only 20 sites. Some of the sites seem to be occupied somewhat permanently. There is one here from New Jersey.
Although the trek to the bathroom is a bit long the facility makes it worth while. The women's room is large and divided into different areas. In a large private room is a tub/shower and a chair on which to sit. The open area has one vanity set on the counter top that is set on the wall rather high. In another large, private area has the toilet. All of this is very clean. This is a good place.
We went into Lander this afternoon to do some geocaching. It is a lovely small town. The residents might object to the word "small" but I didn't see a lot of it. The first cache was in the outskirts of a new residential area. Really nice houses. Some of the residents were out walking and, I guess, wondering what we were doing in the bushes. The other two were in about the same section of town. One was in a small community park and the other was in a nearby alley. Now we have Wyoming logged for geocaching.
As we started to go to Lander we noticed that there seemed to be a "duel" going on between the white and dark clouds. There seemed to be some misting going on between them. Because we had just been talking with the Park hostess about the time she met a tornado up "close and personal" at a place near here I was beginning to wonder if this was not at least the beginning of a tornado.
We came back to the trailer for dinner. Then Tom went out again to fuel up the van for tomorrow's trip and I got started on the blog.
It is 9:30pm here and it just got dark. The outside temperature is already 59 degrees. Out come the jackets for the trip to the bathrooms. The inside temperature is 71 degrees. We all lucky. On this trip it has already been in the mid 60s inside the trailer. But it won't be long until we are in our very warm sleeping bags getting ready for tomorrow's trip.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
"Poor, Poor 'Puppy'" - Sunday, June 12, 2011
"Poor, Poor 'Puppy'" - Sunday, June 12, 2011
We awoke to our last full day in Ogden, Utah. Since worship at Elim Lutheran Church was to begin at 10am we had lots of time to shower and make eggs for breakfast. We even had some time to spare.
The weather was breezy and on the chill side because of the breeze. I chose to wear my light weight denim long sleeve shirt over my top but wished I had more for this outdoor service. All of Elim's summer worship services are outdoors on a small lawn between the parking lot and the church building. All visitors at Elim are gifted with a loaf of bread and a copy of their monthly newsletter. We were not missed so we had a loaf of Amish Friendship Bread to bring back to the trailer.
From our site in the RV Park we could see the snow covered peaks of the mountains. On our way back to the RV Park the peaks were lost in the mist that swirled around them. It just felt like it was going to do something and "something" it did.
It was about 11:20 until the Liturgy was finished and we were on our way back to the RV Park. When we entered the Park I took a look around and said, "Poor, poor 'Puppy.'"
Huh? The trailer has acquired the name "Puppy." The reason for this goes back to when we were considering whether to buy the trailer. Tom asked the saleman how the trailer would "track." He was used to trailering a 12-ft fishing boat trailer but not a 20-ft RV trailer. The salesman replied, "It'll follow you just like a puppy." And so our trailer got it's name.
But the reason for my remark "Poor, poor 'Puppy'" was that it was left all alone in our portion of the trailer park! I know that four motor homes and trailers left before we left for church. But there were still quite a few still here. But when we came back our "Puppy" was all alone! Within the hour RVs of all sorts were arriving. Now it looks like a growing town.
We changed our clothes and prepared lunch. As we were eating I noticed the water spots on the window behind Tom. Then I could see them on the edge of the window beside but a little behind him. Then I noticed that the water was running off the awning onto the other side of that window. It was raining. Raining for sure. The roads were getting wet. The trailer steps were getting wet. The windows on the one side of the trailer were getting wet. And just that fast it stopped.
And just that fast it was time to take a nap. It didn't take long for either of us to fall asleep. And within the hour, sooner for Tom than for me, we were up and it was beautiful outside. We could even see the mountain peaks!
I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that the bread had lasted this long without being tasted. After all there were the important things of "lunch" and "sleep." But now the "Amish Friendship Bread" was to be tasted. And it was/is good. I've tasted some that weren't this good; just the right amount of sweetness and moisture. YUM!
I've been promising myself that I was going to clean that red dust out of the bathroom before we left the last RV Park and then this one. If I didn't get it done today the promise was going to have to be extended to another park. So I got at it. Nothing really good; just some wet paper towels that had already been used to dry hands in the wash house and air dried. They were wet with just water and started picking up the red dust and regular dust. I even managed to sort the laundry into various pillowcases before to put it back into the shower stall.
While I was doing all that "good stuff" Tom was emptying the gray water tank, stowing the hose and cleaning the bugs from the windshield of the van. He also was checking the map and finding out how "The Man" was planning to take us to Lander, Wyoming, tomorrow.
Next came dinner. It was so nice that we ate outside again. And the temperature climbed to about 80 degrees. Don't ask me what happened to the weather today. But I'll take it.
We then went about our normal nightly activities of the trip spreadsheet and email for Tom and the blog and email for me. I've been telling Tom that I can't send email for two nights but this is the first time that Tom can't send any. The first night I was able to send it on my webmail URL but I can't even do that now. I have always been able to receive email but it's just lately that I can't send it. We will be in Lander, WY only one night and then Cody, WY for five nights. I'd like to be able to send email in both places but particularly in Cody!
We've made our plans as to how we would like tomorrow morning to go since we have almost five and half hours travel time. Let's hope it goes that way.
We awoke to our last full day in Ogden, Utah. Since worship at Elim Lutheran Church was to begin at 10am we had lots of time to shower and make eggs for breakfast. We even had some time to spare.
The weather was breezy and on the chill side because of the breeze. I chose to wear my light weight denim long sleeve shirt over my top but wished I had more for this outdoor service. All of Elim's summer worship services are outdoors on a small lawn between the parking lot and the church building. All visitors at Elim are gifted with a loaf of bread and a copy of their monthly newsletter. We were not missed so we had a loaf of Amish Friendship Bread to bring back to the trailer.
From our site in the RV Park we could see the snow covered peaks of the mountains. On our way back to the RV Park the peaks were lost in the mist that swirled around them. It just felt like it was going to do something and "something" it did.
It was about 11:20 until the Liturgy was finished and we were on our way back to the RV Park. When we entered the Park I took a look around and said, "Poor, poor 'Puppy.'"
Huh? The trailer has acquired the name "Puppy." The reason for this goes back to when we were considering whether to buy the trailer. Tom asked the saleman how the trailer would "track." He was used to trailering a 12-ft fishing boat trailer but not a 20-ft RV trailer. The salesman replied, "It'll follow you just like a puppy." And so our trailer got it's name.
But the reason for my remark "Poor, poor 'Puppy'" was that it was left all alone in our portion of the trailer park! I know that four motor homes and trailers left before we left for church. But there were still quite a few still here. But when we came back our "Puppy" was all alone! Within the hour RVs of all sorts were arriving. Now it looks like a growing town.
We changed our clothes and prepared lunch. As we were eating I noticed the water spots on the window behind Tom. Then I could see them on the edge of the window beside but a little behind him. Then I noticed that the water was running off the awning onto the other side of that window. It was raining. Raining for sure. The roads were getting wet. The trailer steps were getting wet. The windows on the one side of the trailer were getting wet. And just that fast it stopped.
And just that fast it was time to take a nap. It didn't take long for either of us to fall asleep. And within the hour, sooner for Tom than for me, we were up and it was beautiful outside. We could even see the mountain peaks!
I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that the bread had lasted this long without being tasted. After all there were the important things of "lunch" and "sleep." But now the "Amish Friendship Bread" was to be tasted. And it was/is good. I've tasted some that weren't this good; just the right amount of sweetness and moisture. YUM!
I've been promising myself that I was going to clean that red dust out of the bathroom before we left the last RV Park and then this one. If I didn't get it done today the promise was going to have to be extended to another park. So I got at it. Nothing really good; just some wet paper towels that had already been used to dry hands in the wash house and air dried. They were wet with just water and started picking up the red dust and regular dust. I even managed to sort the laundry into various pillowcases before to put it back into the shower stall.
While I was doing all that "good stuff" Tom was emptying the gray water tank, stowing the hose and cleaning the bugs from the windshield of the van. He also was checking the map and finding out how "The Man" was planning to take us to Lander, Wyoming, tomorrow.
Next came dinner. It was so nice that we ate outside again. And the temperature climbed to about 80 degrees. Don't ask me what happened to the weather today. But I'll take it.
We then went about our normal nightly activities of the trip spreadsheet and email for Tom and the blog and email for me. I've been telling Tom that I can't send email for two nights but this is the first time that Tom can't send any. The first night I was able to send it on my webmail URL but I can't even do that now. I have always been able to receive email but it's just lately that I can't send it. We will be in Lander, WY only one night and then Cody, WY for five nights. I'd like to be able to send email in both places but particularly in Cody!
We've made our plans as to how we would like tomorrow morning to go since we have almost five and half hours travel time. Let's hope it goes that way.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Nothing To Do And All Day To Do It In - Saturday, June 11, 2011
Nothing To Do And All Day To Do It In - Saturday, June 11, 2011
Well, that's not completely true. We knew that we needed to do some food shopping and pick up a few things for the trailer and we wanted to do some geocaching so that we could get the state of Utah added to our list. And then, of course, we had to find the church we will attend tomorrow. But after that . . . .
There was an overflowing wash tub of dirty dishes waiting for us even before breakfast but we had what we needed clean for breakfast so breakfast was a go. Then the next decision was whether to do the dishes or go shopping. Using the theory that the longer you wait on a Saturday morning the more traffic there would be we decided to go shopping. When we found a Super Target we decided to see if we could find everything we wanted in one place. We were successful, for the most part.
By the time we were finished at Target and were headed in the direction of the church the traffic was almost bumper to bumper. We finally found the church, looked at the parking situation and were headed back to the RV Park when we realized that you can't go back "home" the same way you came: one way streets and all that. We finally figured out what to do, even in the midst of the construction and Wal-Mart traffic.
It was too close to lunch to go out again so we started to get things out for lunch. After lunch came the dishes. And the mess! We had this water problem before on this trip but now was just one too many times. We couldn't figure out how the water got to the floor under the galley sink without going through the drawers which were higher than the floor.
After we did the dishes Tom became a contortionist. He laid on the floor and tried to look up behind the drawers for a leak while I ran the dish water down the drain.
The best thing about that was the Tom didn't suffer any physical damage. The good thing is that we learned how to take the drawers all of the way out of the cabinet so that the entire plumbing system of the galley sink was viewable. The next best thing was that the problem was found. The last connection between the trap and the pipes in the sink was loose and probably not connected at all. Tom screwed the connection together and no more leak. We will have to keep an eye on that particular connector to make sure it doesn't vibrate apart again.
We left the entire area under the galley sink open with the three drawers along with the dish pans and drainer on the sofa and we took a nap! ;o)
After the nap it was decided that the floor of the area under the galley sink still felt wet so we went geocaching. Tom had done some work with this earlier and had two caches that were really close by. As we had started to look for the first one a car came around the corner. The driver looked at Tom who was giving a sign post the once over. The car stopped about four or five car lengths ahead of us. The driver got out of the car and walked toward us while she was holding "a phone" to her ear. This is one of the most common ploys that geocachers use as they look the situation over. One never knows about these "muggles" (non-geocaching people). Tom found the cache as I watched the woman and she went back to her car.
Tom replaced the cache, came back to the van and we drove off down the road past the woman. We had to turn around in the cul-de-sac of businesses and drive past to woman to get back to the main street. She was still there when we past as we knew she would be. We will have to check the log for that cashe to see if anyone else logged a find for today.
Tom tried another cache that was nearby and that required some bushwacking. He was successful. Now we have two for Utah. We have others to get in Utah but at least we don't have to worry if we don't get to hunt any of them because we have at least one in Utah. Wish we could say that about all of the states that we visited.
Then it was dinner time. It was so nice outside. Temps were in the mid to upper 70s and the picnic table was in the shade of a very small tree. Tom got the grill out and so we were enjoying grilled kielbassa sandwiches, green beans and some wonderful chocolate pudding for dessert. More dishes to go into the wash tub!
The folding lounge chairs came out and soon we were enjoying the early evening air and peacefulness.
A note about this place: If you keep track of our wanderings this past 5 weeks you will find that we usually (with one exception) find a place to park on a Friday and stay put until Monday. That's because we have found that most people camp on weekends and there is a lot of traffic. RV Parks must be different. Lots of people showed up here last night looking for a place to park their rigs. We showed up mid afternoon. We had quite a few trailers, 5th wheels and motor homes parked around us. By 11am check out time we were just about the only ones here. We took our nap and Tom got up before me. When I got up I told him that I thought that he had moved the trailer. The Park had been repopulated! Maybe it is different with the RV populace. The RVers are not like the campers who retreat to the woods on Friday night (now it seems to be Thursday night), party-hardy on Saturday and then pack up and travel home on Sunday. Rvers just travel any day they want to.
Today we had rain. It was just a little rain; it was enough to see coming down, it streaked the windows and wet the picnic table. But nothing worth getting an umbrella out for. It is the first time that it rained since we started our trip almost 5 weeks ago. I thought I heard it happen at almost midnight last night but when I went to the wash house there was no sign of any wetness. But this time I mad sure that Tom saw this rain. But is was only a trace amount. Is it still considered that it rained today?
Off to the wash house and then to bed. The community will change again here while we are at church. Wonder what the next one will look like.
Oh, yeah. This place has a train that runs by here in the middle of the night. There it goes for the first time tonight.
Well, that's not completely true. We knew that we needed to do some food shopping and pick up a few things for the trailer and we wanted to do some geocaching so that we could get the state of Utah added to our list. And then, of course, we had to find the church we will attend tomorrow. But after that . . . .
There was an overflowing wash tub of dirty dishes waiting for us even before breakfast but we had what we needed clean for breakfast so breakfast was a go. Then the next decision was whether to do the dishes or go shopping. Using the theory that the longer you wait on a Saturday morning the more traffic there would be we decided to go shopping. When we found a Super Target we decided to see if we could find everything we wanted in one place. We were successful, for the most part.
By the time we were finished at Target and were headed in the direction of the church the traffic was almost bumper to bumper. We finally found the church, looked at the parking situation and were headed back to the RV Park when we realized that you can't go back "home" the same way you came: one way streets and all that. We finally figured out what to do, even in the midst of the construction and Wal-Mart traffic.
It was too close to lunch to go out again so we started to get things out for lunch. After lunch came the dishes. And the mess! We had this water problem before on this trip but now was just one too many times. We couldn't figure out how the water got to the floor under the galley sink without going through the drawers which were higher than the floor.
After we did the dishes Tom became a contortionist. He laid on the floor and tried to look up behind the drawers for a leak while I ran the dish water down the drain.
The best thing about that was the Tom didn't suffer any physical damage. The good thing is that we learned how to take the drawers all of the way out of the cabinet so that the entire plumbing system of the galley sink was viewable. The next best thing was that the problem was found. The last connection between the trap and the pipes in the sink was loose and probably not connected at all. Tom screwed the connection together and no more leak. We will have to keep an eye on that particular connector to make sure it doesn't vibrate apart again.
We left the entire area under the galley sink open with the three drawers along with the dish pans and drainer on the sofa and we took a nap! ;o)
After the nap it was decided that the floor of the area under the galley sink still felt wet so we went geocaching. Tom had done some work with this earlier and had two caches that were really close by. As we had started to look for the first one a car came around the corner. The driver looked at Tom who was giving a sign post the once over. The car stopped about four or five car lengths ahead of us. The driver got out of the car and walked toward us while she was holding "a phone" to her ear. This is one of the most common ploys that geocachers use as they look the situation over. One never knows about these "muggles" (non-geocaching people). Tom found the cache as I watched the woman and she went back to her car.
Tom replaced the cache, came back to the van and we drove off down the road past the woman. We had to turn around in the cul-de-sac of businesses and drive past to woman to get back to the main street. She was still there when we past as we knew she would be. We will have to check the log for that cashe to see if anyone else logged a find for today.
Tom tried another cache that was nearby and that required some bushwacking. He was successful. Now we have two for Utah. We have others to get in Utah but at least we don't have to worry if we don't get to hunt any of them because we have at least one in Utah. Wish we could say that about all of the states that we visited.
Then it was dinner time. It was so nice outside. Temps were in the mid to upper 70s and the picnic table was in the shade of a very small tree. Tom got the grill out and so we were enjoying grilled kielbassa sandwiches, green beans and some wonderful chocolate pudding for dessert. More dishes to go into the wash tub!
The folding lounge chairs came out and soon we were enjoying the early evening air and peacefulness.
A note about this place: If you keep track of our wanderings this past 5 weeks you will find that we usually (with one exception) find a place to park on a Friday and stay put until Monday. That's because we have found that most people camp on weekends and there is a lot of traffic. RV Parks must be different. Lots of people showed up here last night looking for a place to park their rigs. We showed up mid afternoon. We had quite a few trailers, 5th wheels and motor homes parked around us. By 11am check out time we were just about the only ones here. We took our nap and Tom got up before me. When I got up I told him that I thought that he had moved the trailer. The Park had been repopulated! Maybe it is different with the RV populace. The RVers are not like the campers who retreat to the woods on Friday night (now it seems to be Thursday night), party-hardy on Saturday and then pack up and travel home on Sunday. Rvers just travel any day they want to.
Today we had rain. It was just a little rain; it was enough to see coming down, it streaked the windows and wet the picnic table. But nothing worth getting an umbrella out for. It is the first time that it rained since we started our trip almost 5 weeks ago. I thought I heard it happen at almost midnight last night but when I went to the wash house there was no sign of any wetness. But this time I mad sure that Tom saw this rain. But is was only a trace amount. Is it still considered that it rained today?
Off to the wash house and then to bed. The community will change again here while we are at church. Wonder what the next one will look like.
Oh, yeah. This place has a train that runs by here in the middle of the night. There it goes for the first time tonight.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Time For Our Spirits To Catch Up With Our Bodies - Friday, June 10, 2011
Time for our Spirits to catch up with our bodies - Friday, June 10, 2011
I guess we could have but we didn't try. I finally got out of bed about 6:15am but it was just too cold to think about it. Off to the wash house and back again to find a warm trailer and Tom there dressed and ready to go. We had breakfast finished by 7:30 and talked about the posibility of being able to get out of the RV Park by 8:30am. Neither of us thought that it was possible so we really didn't work at it. We didn't think there was that much to do but we just didn't move.
We were ready by 8:50am so that wasn't too bad. We went through the town of Panguitch. We had gone through this town before but I never had time to read the banners and signs that were hung and I wondered why all these quilts were hanging on so many buildings. This time I had time to read the signs. It was the "Walking Quilt Festival." One just walked around town and viewed the quilts, I guess. There were a few groups of people walking the streets of this quaint little town on Utah's Rt 89 yesterday when we were in town to shop. I hope they get a lot more people to visit this weekend.
Then I saw another sign that interested me but I was a little too early. "Balloon Festival - June 23-28" Gee, I wish I could be there.
Tom didn't turn "The Man" on until well into our time on Interstate Rt 15 and "he" still wanted to turn us around to go another way. When we went up this one very high mountain we wondered if this was the reason that "he" wouldn't take us this way because "he" was told that we were a "truck." Finally "he" accepted that we were taking Rt 15 so that's the way "he" was happy to take us.
But then we got close to Salt Lake City. We saw a sign that said that the highway was to have two new lanes by 2012. And so the construction zone began. And continued. And continued. And continued. But the traffic kept moving. Then all of a sudden the traffic stopped. There was some lane changing but not like in PA. The two worse lanes were the extreme two right lanes out of four. After we lost 21 minutes on our ETA we found that there was an "incident" and all of the traffic in the extreme right lane was to merge left. So that was the problem! Once we passed the "incident" participants traffic was back to normal very quickly.
We exited Rt 15 when "The Man" told us to and followed "his" directions right to the parking lot of a major hotel chain! I think this was "his" revenge for not listening to "him" in the first place.
While Tom checked the Campground directory for the RV Park's directions on how to get there I looked around and noticed that we seemed to be right near an exit from Rt 15. I could see the desending slooping road from the highway. Armed with the directions that he found in the book and what I figured I had found Tom "crossed his fingers" and found his way to a major street that seemed to be going in the way he wanted to go. We took the road under the highway and EUREKA! There was the sign for the RV Park at which we had reservations for the weekend. We had officially arrived in Ogden, Utah!
Tom went into the office to register us and get our site number. It wasn't too far from the Office where the Restrooms are located. They must have just finished (within the past few months) renovating the rooms because they still had the "new" look to them, even the toilet seats. Anyway, I am very happy with them. I must remember the code that will let me into the bathrooms. This is not new. But what is new is that the code for the men's room is different than the one for the ladies room.
We "crashed" for a while and then had supper. A man came knocking on the trailer door asking if we wanted to buy some fresh tomales. Since dinner was already planned Tom declined but was tempted. He probably will be back.
After dinner we took a walk around the RV Park. This a a very big place with some permanent "residents" here. I can't understand the concept of leaving a home and coming here to live in a trailer. One of the things we found at other RV Parks and in the State Parks in PA is that some workers who travel distances for their jobs will bring their RVs and park it in the site for a week (here it is in the "permanent" section). They use part of the stipend they are paid for housing to pay for the site and pocket the difference from what they were paid. It works for them. Maybe that's the way they paid off the trailer!
I know we are near the solstice but I just can't get used to it being light at 9pm. It is still light enough for me to see my way to the "wash house" at 9:15pm without a flash light. But I need light to see where I am walking so my trusty flashlight goes with me wherever I go.
We have no real plans for the weekend except for a little food shopping and get a few things for the trailer. If so inclined, we could do a little geocaching. On Sunday there is church. This "down time" is what I call "giving our Spirits time to catch up with our bodies." We will be in no hurry to do anything this weekend.
Now it is time to finish this, post it, write another note and get to bed. It is now 11pm local time and the temperature is 65 degrees. What a difference! Wonder what it will be when we get up in the morning.
I guess we could have but we didn't try. I finally got out of bed about 6:15am but it was just too cold to think about it. Off to the wash house and back again to find a warm trailer and Tom there dressed and ready to go. We had breakfast finished by 7:30 and talked about the posibility of being able to get out of the RV Park by 8:30am. Neither of us thought that it was possible so we really didn't work at it. We didn't think there was that much to do but we just didn't move.
We were ready by 8:50am so that wasn't too bad. We went through the town of Panguitch. We had gone through this town before but I never had time to read the banners and signs that were hung and I wondered why all these quilts were hanging on so many buildings. This time I had time to read the signs. It was the "Walking Quilt Festival." One just walked around town and viewed the quilts, I guess. There were a few groups of people walking the streets of this quaint little town on Utah's Rt 89 yesterday when we were in town to shop. I hope they get a lot more people to visit this weekend.
Then I saw another sign that interested me but I was a little too early. "Balloon Festival - June 23-28" Gee, I wish I could be there.
Tom didn't turn "The Man" on until well into our time on Interstate Rt 15 and "he" still wanted to turn us around to go another way. When we went up this one very high mountain we wondered if this was the reason that "he" wouldn't take us this way because "he" was told that we were a "truck." Finally "he" accepted that we were taking Rt 15 so that's the way "he" was happy to take us.
But then we got close to Salt Lake City. We saw a sign that said that the highway was to have two new lanes by 2012. And so the construction zone began. And continued. And continued. And continued. But the traffic kept moving. Then all of a sudden the traffic stopped. There was some lane changing but not like in PA. The two worse lanes were the extreme two right lanes out of four. After we lost 21 minutes on our ETA we found that there was an "incident" and all of the traffic in the extreme right lane was to merge left. So that was the problem! Once we passed the "incident" participants traffic was back to normal very quickly.
We exited Rt 15 when "The Man" told us to and followed "his" directions right to the parking lot of a major hotel chain! I think this was "his" revenge for not listening to "him" in the first place.
While Tom checked the Campground directory for the RV Park's directions on how to get there I looked around and noticed that we seemed to be right near an exit from Rt 15. I could see the desending slooping road from the highway. Armed with the directions that he found in the book and what I figured I had found Tom "crossed his fingers" and found his way to a major street that seemed to be going in the way he wanted to go. We took the road under the highway and EUREKA! There was the sign for the RV Park at which we had reservations for the weekend. We had officially arrived in Ogden, Utah!
Tom went into the office to register us and get our site number. It wasn't too far from the Office where the Restrooms are located. They must have just finished (within the past few months) renovating the rooms because they still had the "new" look to them, even the toilet seats. Anyway, I am very happy with them. I must remember the code that will let me into the bathrooms. This is not new. But what is new is that the code for the men's room is different than the one for the ladies room.
We "crashed" for a while and then had supper. A man came knocking on the trailer door asking if we wanted to buy some fresh tomales. Since dinner was already planned Tom declined but was tempted. He probably will be back.
After dinner we took a walk around the RV Park. This a a very big place with some permanent "residents" here. I can't understand the concept of leaving a home and coming here to live in a trailer. One of the things we found at other RV Parks and in the State Parks in PA is that some workers who travel distances for their jobs will bring their RVs and park it in the site for a week (here it is in the "permanent" section). They use part of the stipend they are paid for housing to pay for the site and pocket the difference from what they were paid. It works for them. Maybe that's the way they paid off the trailer!
I know we are near the solstice but I just can't get used to it being light at 9pm. It is still light enough for me to see my way to the "wash house" at 9:15pm without a flash light. But I need light to see where I am walking so my trusty flashlight goes with me wherever I go.
We have no real plans for the weekend except for a little food shopping and get a few things for the trailer. If so inclined, we could do a little geocaching. On Sunday there is church. This "down time" is what I call "giving our Spirits time to catch up with our bodies." We will be in no hurry to do anything this weekend.
Now it is time to finish this, post it, write another note and get to bed. It is now 11pm local time and the temperature is 65 degrees. What a difference! Wonder what it will be when we get up in the morning.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Bryce Canyon - Thursday, June 9, 2011
Bryce Canyon - Thursday, June 9, 2011
It was a mite nippy outside and inside this morning. Tom said that when he went out it was 34 degrees. When I went out later it was 33 degrees. When Tom got up it was something like 45 degrees in the trailer. He turned the heater on when he got up so that it was about 54 degrees inside when I got up. Isn't he a honey? :o)
About 9:00am we went to Bryce Canyon. We decided that we would see what we could and then come back to the park. We like to go to the Visitor Centers in the National Parks. They have started to present an approximately 30 minute film/dvd about the respective parks. The films are very informative about the parks creation and what you can see there. We arrived just in time for the start of the presentation.
In May and for the rest of the busy season they have a free shuttle bus running to some of the more popular viewing points: Sunrise Point, Sunset Point and Bryce Point. But they miss some of the other viewing points that the views are just as spectacular and surprising. They started running the shuttles because in the Park's busy season there are four private vehicles entering the park for every one parking space. We decided that it was still early in the season so that we would not have a problem parking. And we didn't.
The thing they miss is most of the canyon. Bryce Point is only about 6 miles into the canyon area out of the 18 mile drive that is possible. The brochure says that on "most days" the shuttle will make two round trip tours to Rainbow Point, the furthest view point on the tour and also the highest at 9115 ft. The shuttles miss the 12-miles in between. We didn't.
One of the surprises was seeing one of the lesser known natural bridges. A natural bridge is when the middle of a rock formation has eroded away enough that it looks like a bridge. There is a viewing point that is called "Natural Bridge" and that bridge is very large with a large hole in the rock formation. But we found at least two smaller natural bridges at other viewing points. Pictures are better than words. You will just have to wait.
Another thing that you will have to wait for is the picture of a raven that was just about 6 feet from me and wouldn't go away. We had stopped at Auga Canyon and Tom went to take pictures while I waited in the van. Almost immediately with Tom closing the door of the van on the driver's side the raven landed in the parking lot on my side, stopped and looked up at me. And he continued to look up at me sitting there. He would walk to the back of the van only a short distance and then turn to look at me again. He was waiting for me to give him some food. Since we are not to feed the wild animals I didn't offer him anything and he was none too happy about that. At least 2 cars stopped as they were leaving the parking lot and watched this bird. Finally Tom came back with the camera and I took some pictures. I don't remember whether I took a picture of him when he ruffled his feathers and squawked at me. He was not very happy when we drove away and he didn't get anything to eat.
We drove down the 18 miles to Rainbow Point to see it's marvels of creation. Then we drove back stopping at all of the view points that we could. Finally we decided that it was time to go hunting for bread, milk and gas for our trip for tomorrow. Tom just told me that "The Man" says that it is a five and a quarter hours driving time to our next stopped over. But Tom thinks he can do better by getting on some interstate highways that "The Man" is ignoring. We shall see.
We checked on the weather at our next stop over in Ogden, Utah, and was surprised and dismayed to see that there is some flooding in the Ogden area. Tom called the RV Park tonight and asked if it was still okay to come. The woman who answered said that there is no problem at the park and the interstates are fine. So Ogden, here we come.
We have done some things to be ready to move in the morning. I'd like to get to bed early and get out of here early. But there is always something that pops up. We will try to avoid that.
Talk to you tomorrow night from Ogden, Utah.
It was a mite nippy outside and inside this morning. Tom said that when he went out it was 34 degrees. When I went out later it was 33 degrees. When Tom got up it was something like 45 degrees in the trailer. He turned the heater on when he got up so that it was about 54 degrees inside when I got up. Isn't he a honey? :o)
About 9:00am we went to Bryce Canyon. We decided that we would see what we could and then come back to the park. We like to go to the Visitor Centers in the National Parks. They have started to present an approximately 30 minute film/dvd about the respective parks. The films are very informative about the parks creation and what you can see there. We arrived just in time for the start of the presentation.
In May and for the rest of the busy season they have a free shuttle bus running to some of the more popular viewing points: Sunrise Point, Sunset Point and Bryce Point. But they miss some of the other viewing points that the views are just as spectacular and surprising. They started running the shuttles because in the Park's busy season there are four private vehicles entering the park for every one parking space. We decided that it was still early in the season so that we would not have a problem parking. And we didn't.
The thing they miss is most of the canyon. Bryce Point is only about 6 miles into the canyon area out of the 18 mile drive that is possible. The brochure says that on "most days" the shuttle will make two round trip tours to Rainbow Point, the furthest view point on the tour and also the highest at 9115 ft. The shuttles miss the 12-miles in between. We didn't.
One of the surprises was seeing one of the lesser known natural bridges. A natural bridge is when the middle of a rock formation has eroded away enough that it looks like a bridge. There is a viewing point that is called "Natural Bridge" and that bridge is very large with a large hole in the rock formation. But we found at least two smaller natural bridges at other viewing points. Pictures are better than words. You will just have to wait.
Another thing that you will have to wait for is the picture of a raven that was just about 6 feet from me and wouldn't go away. We had stopped at Auga Canyon and Tom went to take pictures while I waited in the van. Almost immediately with Tom closing the door of the van on the driver's side the raven landed in the parking lot on my side, stopped and looked up at me. And he continued to look up at me sitting there. He would walk to the back of the van only a short distance and then turn to look at me again. He was waiting for me to give him some food. Since we are not to feed the wild animals I didn't offer him anything and he was none too happy about that. At least 2 cars stopped as they were leaving the parking lot and watched this bird. Finally Tom came back with the camera and I took some pictures. I don't remember whether I took a picture of him when he ruffled his feathers and squawked at me. He was not very happy when we drove away and he didn't get anything to eat.
We drove down the 18 miles to Rainbow Point to see it's marvels of creation. Then we drove back stopping at all of the view points that we could. Finally we decided that it was time to go hunting for bread, milk and gas for our trip for tomorrow. Tom just told me that "The Man" says that it is a five and a quarter hours driving time to our next stopped over. But Tom thinks he can do better by getting on some interstate highways that "The Man" is ignoring. We shall see.
We checked on the weather at our next stop over in Ogden, Utah, and was surprised and dismayed to see that there is some flooding in the Ogden area. Tom called the RV Park tonight and asked if it was still okay to come. The woman who answered said that there is no problem at the park and the interstates are fine. So Ogden, here we come.
We have done some things to be ready to move in the morning. I'd like to get to bed early and get out of here early. But there is always something that pops up. We will try to avoid that.
Talk to you tomorrow night from Ogden, Utah.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
What A Change! - Wednesday, June 8, 2011
What A Change! - Wednesday, June 8, 2011
It's moving day again! But with one more thing added. The wi-fi was so slow that we couldn't send email last night so we left that for this morning. We were hoping that it would be better in the next place. (It is!)
After breakfast we continued to get ready to move. I saw that our neighbors were getting ready to go too so I went over "to say hello before I say good-bye." They were from Willamsport, PA, and are 10 days into a 5-6 week journey. They were headed south and then west before heading home. They have almost been in all 50 states so that is what they are trying to do. We wished them well.
Soon we were ready to go and off we went leaving the Arches and Canyonlands of this part of Utah behind. We were surprised when they went with us! Except for the Arches these same rock formations were our scenery for very many miles. We never tired of them. There would have been more pictures of the rock formations and the canyons but the camera ran out of "food" (batteries) and the only replacements were in the trailer. I had to wait until we stopped to get some more. You better believe that there are extra batteries in the front of the van now just in case the camera runs out.
Tom noticed that the van recorded an outside temperature of 68 degrees. This is much lower than the mid 80s the day before and the mid 90s the day before that. This is supposed to be a taste of what is to come tonight. As I write this at 10:10pm MDT it is 51 degrees outside. I think I'm going to need a jacket for the last trip to the wash house tonight. I just checked AccuWeather and they are saying a low of 33 degrees with a Real Feel of 26 degrees. I just asked Tom to get my hoody down from the cabinet over the bed!
We did some mountain climbing with the van before lunch time. I thought I rememberd a 8200 ft number but I can't swear to it. Tom thought he had felt something amiss with the van so we stopped to check the engine fluids. But, of course, they should be cool. So Tom went into the trailer and made our infamous PB&J sandwiches. After lunch he check the fluids and everything was fine. So off we went again.
Soon we past two signs of interest. One was that the summit of this particular mountain which was not too far higher than us was 7886 ft. I felt like I could almost reach out and feel the snow.
The second sign of interest was that this next downgrade was 7 miles long. I don't think it gave a percent of incline. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. At some places even I could feel what a gust of wind was doing to the van and trailer. I was glad that I wasn't hanging onto the steering wheel.
All of this time the camera just kept clicking away. There were times when I just put the camera down and looked at my surroundings and then there were times when I tried to catch everything. There were times when I missed a lot of pictures because of a low battery. But there were still 419 pictures to download from the camera tonight. It's going to take a lot of time to go through all of them.
Finally we arrived at our destination, Bryce Canyon Pines Campground and Store RV Resort. Compared to some places we have parked over night this is a resort. It looks so much like home, the mountains of PA, that I had to take a picture of the park as I waited for Tom to register us. There are pine trees, lots of them, throughout the campground. It is wonderful.
But it also means that we are on top of a mountain. the GPSr tells us we are at 7760 ft. I feel it. It doesn't take me long to get winded and there are times that it is just plain hard to breathe. Yes, I am taking things easy. And we are staying hydrated!
Time to get off to bed so we can get to the canyon. It's 46 degrees outside and 65 degrees inside. I'd better hurry so I can get into that warm sleeping bag before it gets too cold in here. See you later.
It's moving day again! But with one more thing added. The wi-fi was so slow that we couldn't send email last night so we left that for this morning. We were hoping that it would be better in the next place. (It is!)
After breakfast we continued to get ready to move. I saw that our neighbors were getting ready to go too so I went over "to say hello before I say good-bye." They were from Willamsport, PA, and are 10 days into a 5-6 week journey. They were headed south and then west before heading home. They have almost been in all 50 states so that is what they are trying to do. We wished them well.
Soon we were ready to go and off we went leaving the Arches and Canyonlands of this part of Utah behind. We were surprised when they went with us! Except for the Arches these same rock formations were our scenery for very many miles. We never tired of them. There would have been more pictures of the rock formations and the canyons but the camera ran out of "food" (batteries) and the only replacements were in the trailer. I had to wait until we stopped to get some more. You better believe that there are extra batteries in the front of the van now just in case the camera runs out.
Tom noticed that the van recorded an outside temperature of 68 degrees. This is much lower than the mid 80s the day before and the mid 90s the day before that. This is supposed to be a taste of what is to come tonight. As I write this at 10:10pm MDT it is 51 degrees outside. I think I'm going to need a jacket for the last trip to the wash house tonight. I just checked AccuWeather and they are saying a low of 33 degrees with a Real Feel of 26 degrees. I just asked Tom to get my hoody down from the cabinet over the bed!
We did some mountain climbing with the van before lunch time. I thought I rememberd a 8200 ft number but I can't swear to it. Tom thought he had felt something amiss with the van so we stopped to check the engine fluids. But, of course, they should be cool. So Tom went into the trailer and made our infamous PB&J sandwiches. After lunch he check the fluids and everything was fine. So off we went again.
Soon we past two signs of interest. One was that the summit of this particular mountain which was not too far higher than us was 7886 ft. I felt like I could almost reach out and feel the snow.
The second sign of interest was that this next downgrade was 7 miles long. I don't think it gave a percent of incline. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. At some places even I could feel what a gust of wind was doing to the van and trailer. I was glad that I wasn't hanging onto the steering wheel.
All of this time the camera just kept clicking away. There were times when I just put the camera down and looked at my surroundings and then there were times when I tried to catch everything. There were times when I missed a lot of pictures because of a low battery. But there were still 419 pictures to download from the camera tonight. It's going to take a lot of time to go through all of them.
Finally we arrived at our destination, Bryce Canyon Pines Campground and Store RV Resort. Compared to some places we have parked over night this is a resort. It looks so much like home, the mountains of PA, that I had to take a picture of the park as I waited for Tom to register us. There are pine trees, lots of them, throughout the campground. It is wonderful.
But it also means that we are on top of a mountain. the GPSr tells us we are at 7760 ft. I feel it. It doesn't take me long to get winded and there are times that it is just plain hard to breathe. Yes, I am taking things easy. And we are staying hydrated!
Time to get off to bed so we can get to the canyon. It's 46 degrees outside and 65 degrees inside. I'd better hurry so I can get into that warm sleeping bag before it gets too cold in here. See you later.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Work and Play - Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Work and Play - Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Today was laundry day. I hate laundry days on the road. It's always someone else's washer and dryer (sometimes cared for and sometimes not), you can't get the settings you are used to using because you know your own washer and dryer and they are never the same size as the yours at home. Besides my preference is to hang my wash outside to dry! But I deal with it.
After breakfast Tom went to Moab to get a haircut and do the grocery shopping while I tended to the laundry. Tom told me that "they" had just cleaned the laundry room and that no one was there . . . yet! I had already sorted the laundry and loaded up "the little red wagon" (a foldable wagon frame with a red liner) and headed for the the laundry. There were only 3 washers and 3 dryers so I had to go through them twice. I loaded the 3 washers and took the wagon back to the trailer for the rest of the laundry.
Back to the laundry room and I found that the washers were finishing in turn. The first load went into the dryer and another load of wash was started. Then the second load of wash was finished and it went into the dryer and the second load of wash was started in the machine. And the same with the third washer.
By the time the third washer was finished and ready for the dryer Tom was back and helped with the transfering of the laundry. We went back to the trailer to deal with the clothes that were ready to be put away.
The laundry wasn't completely out of the laundry room until after lunch. Doing laundry can sure kill a day! We folded the last of the clothes and then went for some fun. We went to another National Park that was nearby, Canyonlands.
The canyons weren't the same as the Grand Canyon but they were massive. Some of the rock faces were straight up and down. You could see were some of the rock had become separated and had fallen down the wall. Far, far below there was a flat surface making you think that that was all there was to the canyon. But as you looked across that flat surface there was another canyon going down further and further than one could believe possible. We took only 205 pictures, give or take 5 or so. We not only got the snow capped peaks that we see from our RV Park but some on the other side.
We came back to the RV Park and Tom took a picture of the "Old West type church" that lives on the RV Park. It was used in the making of some western-type movies. He also took a picture of the sign that helps to identify the snow covered mountains.
It was 5:00pm until we crashed for a while. I could have stayed there but Tom woke me for dinner. Then it was time for me to "pay the piper" for not putting the clothes away in the first place. But the ride through Canyonlands National Park was worth it. And it was already paid for with out Senior Pass!
Satellite is slow tonight. We had an influx of people in the park this afternoon (our new neighbors are from PA. I haven't seen them yet but will have to get to talk with them before we leave tomorrow.) so I suspect there is heavy usuage of the band width. The internet is so slow. I will have to post this tomorrow.
Tomorrow we go to the area near Bryce Canyon. I am told that the weather will be somewhat cooler. Sure hope so although today's high was only in the 80s.
Notes on the news of yesterday:
Tom got some information from the barber this morning when he went to the "whooper shop." (That's what the Keener family called the barber shop because of all the stories that were heard there. Not much different from the "beauty parlor" or "hairdresser" for the ladies.)
The kind of wind that we had here that re-decorated the trailer is not normal around here. They have wind but not that strong.
And Tom was correct: There is less snow on the mountain tops that we can see. That is because the snow has been blown off the mountain. The mountains usually lose their snow cover in the summer but there are years when it has not all disappeared.
Today was laundry day. I hate laundry days on the road. It's always someone else's washer and dryer (sometimes cared for and sometimes not), you can't get the settings you are used to using because you know your own washer and dryer and they are never the same size as the yours at home. Besides my preference is to hang my wash outside to dry! But I deal with it.
After breakfast Tom went to Moab to get a haircut and do the grocery shopping while I tended to the laundry. Tom told me that "they" had just cleaned the laundry room and that no one was there . . . yet! I had already sorted the laundry and loaded up "the little red wagon" (a foldable wagon frame with a red liner) and headed for the the laundry. There were only 3 washers and 3 dryers so I had to go through them twice. I loaded the 3 washers and took the wagon back to the trailer for the rest of the laundry.
Back to the laundry room and I found that the washers were finishing in turn. The first load went into the dryer and another load of wash was started. Then the second load of wash was finished and it went into the dryer and the second load of wash was started in the machine. And the same with the third washer.
By the time the third washer was finished and ready for the dryer Tom was back and helped with the transfering of the laundry. We went back to the trailer to deal with the clothes that were ready to be put away.
The laundry wasn't completely out of the laundry room until after lunch. Doing laundry can sure kill a day! We folded the last of the clothes and then went for some fun. We went to another National Park that was nearby, Canyonlands.
The canyons weren't the same as the Grand Canyon but they were massive. Some of the rock faces were straight up and down. You could see were some of the rock had become separated and had fallen down the wall. Far, far below there was a flat surface making you think that that was all there was to the canyon. But as you looked across that flat surface there was another canyon going down further and further than one could believe possible. We took only 205 pictures, give or take 5 or so. We not only got the snow capped peaks that we see from our RV Park but some on the other side.
We came back to the RV Park and Tom took a picture of the "Old West type church" that lives on the RV Park. It was used in the making of some western-type movies. He also took a picture of the sign that helps to identify the snow covered mountains.
It was 5:00pm until we crashed for a while. I could have stayed there but Tom woke me for dinner. Then it was time for me to "pay the piper" for not putting the clothes away in the first place. But the ride through Canyonlands National Park was worth it. And it was already paid for with out Senior Pass!
Satellite is slow tonight. We had an influx of people in the park this afternoon (our new neighbors are from PA. I haven't seen them yet but will have to get to talk with them before we leave tomorrow.) so I suspect there is heavy usuage of the band width. The internet is so slow. I will have to post this tomorrow.
Tomorrow we go to the area near Bryce Canyon. I am told that the weather will be somewhat cooler. Sure hope so although today's high was only in the 80s.
Notes on the news of yesterday:
Tom got some information from the barber this morning when he went to the "whooper shop." (That's what the Keener family called the barber shop because of all the stories that were heard there. Not much different from the "beauty parlor" or "hairdresser" for the ladies.)
The kind of wind that we had here that re-decorated the trailer is not normal around here. They have wind but not that strong.
And Tom was correct: There is less snow on the mountain tops that we can see. That is because the snow has been blown off the mountain. The mountains usually lose their snow cover in the summer but there are years when it has not all disappeared.
Monday, June 6, 2011
They Are Even Here - Monday, June 6, 2011
They Are Even Here - Monday, June 6, 2011
I crawled into bed last night and settled. Just then I heard the train whistle. It wasn't the usual 2 longs, a short, a long that I had been hearing which is sounded at a crossing. This was different and I've forgotten it already. The trains seem to be wherever we go.
I was the stay-a-bed this morning but I finally got up. Tom was up and about as usual. We made some plans for the day and the next few days; Tom needs a haircut, laundry needs to be done, are we going to Canyonlands National Park which is just up the highway a bit?
We were out of the trailer and headed for Arches National Park by 9:30am or so. Close enough for rock 'n' roll. We decided to leave the window open in the trailer to catch the breeze and for ventilation.
As we approached the Park entrance I had my doubts. I saw switchbacks like the ones at Mesa Verde and I was getting scared already. Then I saw a group of cyclists who were going to ride up those switchbacks with the cars, campers, RVs, mobile homes and buses. Oh, Bruther!
The only time that we had a concern about a cyclist was when we wanted to turn into the parking lot of the Visitor Center and we were slightly behind a cyclist. Tom decided that there was plenty of room to get in front of him and turn. And rightly so.
We saw to exhibits in the Visitor Center, bought two shirts in the store and then headed up the mountain on the switchbacks. I don't think they were as bad as Mesa Verde's. At least they weren't as long. Soon we were at the "top". Actually there was no "top". The roads kept going up and down the sides of the canyon walls. And we weren't allowed to climb on the tops of the rocks that we were viewing. On some of them we were permitted to walk closer to them but not on top of them. There were many trail heads that lead to trails that experienced hikers could take.
We took a total of 256 pictures in the 5 hours we were there. There were often three shots of the same subject just to make sure you "got a good one" especially in a moving vehicle. Then you take a picture of one thing only to find out that the road will take you closer if you only had waited. There were some formations that you just had to name, such at Snoopy, Praying Hands, the Buzzard, the mushroom, etc.
There were so many formations with holes in the rock and tunnels. There were tunnels that are horizontal and had vertical "skylights" from the top down into the "tunnel." And all of these are natural creations without any human intervention. Again, at some point you just stop taking pictures and just drink in all of the sights.
The Visitor Center had a board on which was posted that the high temp for today was supposed to be in the mid 90s and it would be windy with gusts up to 46 mph. After a while it did get rather windy. It was almost as if you could lean into the wind and it would support you.
It was still windy when we arrived back at the RV Park. We entered the trailer to a "cunch" underfoot. I ran my finger over the table and it was gritty. Everything that had a flat surface had a layer of red gritty sand on it. The open window and the wind were the culprits.
We were too tired to deal with it so we just put our things down and "crashed" as is our usual afternoon activity.
When we got up I started wiping down the things that we needed to use to get dinner ready and eat like the large cutting board that covers the stove when it isn't being used as a stove, the stove (even under the cutting board), the galley counter and drawer tops, the table, the lavatory counter and sink. They were all just a red mess.I have no vaccuum cleaner so I guess we will be sitting on this dust until we get home. I know what I will be doing in July!
After dinner we did the dishes and tried to contact a friend but had no luck. After the third call I suggested that she might like to call us. After a while Tom found that we had two misssed calls from her but our cell phone never rang. It did in the beginning of our trip but we had the same problem in the middle of our trip. Tom played with it for a while but still didn't find out how to turn the ring tone on. Since we don't know if or how we turned it off we are of no help. And he didn't bring the owner's manual with us.
Now it's time to go to bed. I will take one last trip to the wash house. If it turns midnight I might try to post this tonight. If not it will have to be done tomorrow morning.
I crawled into bed last night and settled. Just then I heard the train whistle. It wasn't the usual 2 longs, a short, a long that I had been hearing which is sounded at a crossing. This was different and I've forgotten it already. The trains seem to be wherever we go.
I was the stay-a-bed this morning but I finally got up. Tom was up and about as usual. We made some plans for the day and the next few days; Tom needs a haircut, laundry needs to be done, are we going to Canyonlands National Park which is just up the highway a bit?
We were out of the trailer and headed for Arches National Park by 9:30am or so. Close enough for rock 'n' roll. We decided to leave the window open in the trailer to catch the breeze and for ventilation.
As we approached the Park entrance I had my doubts. I saw switchbacks like the ones at Mesa Verde and I was getting scared already. Then I saw a group of cyclists who were going to ride up those switchbacks with the cars, campers, RVs, mobile homes and buses. Oh, Bruther!
The only time that we had a concern about a cyclist was when we wanted to turn into the parking lot of the Visitor Center and we were slightly behind a cyclist. Tom decided that there was plenty of room to get in front of him and turn. And rightly so.
We saw to exhibits in the Visitor Center, bought two shirts in the store and then headed up the mountain on the switchbacks. I don't think they were as bad as Mesa Verde's. At least they weren't as long. Soon we were at the "top". Actually there was no "top". The roads kept going up and down the sides of the canyon walls. And we weren't allowed to climb on the tops of the rocks that we were viewing. On some of them we were permitted to walk closer to them but not on top of them. There were many trail heads that lead to trails that experienced hikers could take.
We took a total of 256 pictures in the 5 hours we were there. There were often three shots of the same subject just to make sure you "got a good one" especially in a moving vehicle. Then you take a picture of one thing only to find out that the road will take you closer if you only had waited. There were some formations that you just had to name, such at Snoopy, Praying Hands, the Buzzard, the mushroom, etc.
There were so many formations with holes in the rock and tunnels. There were tunnels that are horizontal and had vertical "skylights" from the top down into the "tunnel." And all of these are natural creations without any human intervention. Again, at some point you just stop taking pictures and just drink in all of the sights.
The Visitor Center had a board on which was posted that the high temp for today was supposed to be in the mid 90s and it would be windy with gusts up to 46 mph. After a while it did get rather windy. It was almost as if you could lean into the wind and it would support you.
It was still windy when we arrived back at the RV Park. We entered the trailer to a "cunch" underfoot. I ran my finger over the table and it was gritty. Everything that had a flat surface had a layer of red gritty sand on it. The open window and the wind were the culprits.
We were too tired to deal with it so we just put our things down and "crashed" as is our usual afternoon activity.
When we got up I started wiping down the things that we needed to use to get dinner ready and eat like the large cutting board that covers the stove when it isn't being used as a stove, the stove (even under the cutting board), the galley counter and drawer tops, the table, the lavatory counter and sink. They were all just a red mess.I have no vaccuum cleaner so I guess we will be sitting on this dust until we get home. I know what I will be doing in July!
After dinner we did the dishes and tried to contact a friend but had no luck. After the third call I suggested that she might like to call us. After a while Tom found that we had two misssed calls from her but our cell phone never rang. It did in the beginning of our trip but we had the same problem in the middle of our trip. Tom played with it for a while but still didn't find out how to turn the ring tone on. Since we don't know if or how we turned it off we are of no help. And he didn't bring the owner's manual with us.
Now it's time to go to bed. I will take one last trip to the wash house. If it turns midnight I might try to post this tonight. If not it will have to be done tomorrow morning.
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