40Years

Going West

40Years — Tue, 28 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

We left Buffalo this morning and shortly passed another State line. Now we are in Montana, our 9th State. We must be getting tired because we took very very few pictures today. I think partly it was because we have been this route quite a few times in the past. However we did find a new place to visit.

We visited the Little Big Horn site. Custers last stand. The first thing we did was to hear a Ranger speak on that war. He had been a school teacher for 30 years and some was in College teaching about the little big horn. He seem just a bit different before he started but we found out why. He has a huge passion for what he does. He wants people to understand what really happened and it was like a one person play for about 40 minutes. Fantastic. We could almost see it taking place on the hills in front of us. It was well worth the stop.

Now we are at Deer Lodge, Montana. Tomorrow we will go through Idaho. Honey is doing better all the time and she never really did bad. Now she sits in her bed on her perch and watches out the window. She's awesome! :)

Now I'll try to put a few pictures in.

Lots to look at

40Years — Mon, 27 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

When we woke up this morning it was overcast so we took our time with breakfast and driving so maybe it would burn off so we could see Mr. Rushmore. We messed around till about 10:30 and then thought it was looking pretty good so we decided to go on in. I stood and stared at the presidents while Dan parked the car and walked back. Then he took a couple pictures and while he was in the middle of taking the third one (I think) the clouds came and you couldn't see anything. Not for the rest of the time we were there. We got the rows of flags and a dish of ice cream made with the recipe that Pres. Jefferson made up. It was very good!

Then we started off again and went to see the devils Tower. The mountain that was in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Fantastic! Dan took a picture of some buffalo and we stopped at the gift shop. Then we headed West. Headed back home. We are in Buffalo, Wyoming tonight. The cameras are still in the car so I think we'll watch a movie before I put some in.

Love you

Rest and Chief Crazy Horse

40Years — Sun, 26 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The rest in Colorado was good. Glad we did that! When we checked into the room the AC wasn't working even after an hour so Dad called the front desk and they sent a man to take care of it. He looked at it a while and said - It's dead. So they moved us to the room next door. That was nice. This morning at about 5 Honey woke Dan up to go for a walk and he was trying to hurry but the door wouldn't open. He called the front desk and no one answered. He tried again and finally the "lady" answered and Dan told her we were locked in our room and she told him, no, those locks can't lock you your room. They're new. The conversation did not go well but finally she came up to check, and oh my! It didn't work! Dad went out the window to take Honey for a walk while I finished my shower and got ready and waited for the maintenance person to come. She finally came at about 6:30 and she told Dad that he must have done something wrong and these locks don't lock people in and her machine could open it if, on the off chance, she couldn't do it. Well, guess what, she couldn't do it. And neither could her little machine. She ripped the thing apart and still couldn't get it to work. These locks were new enough that the guy that installed them was still there so she got him and he came and ripped it even more apart and got us out. We left within about 1 minute. It was good to go!

We stopped to see the ruts left in the stone from the wagons going across the Oregon trail. We saw the big chief statue. I took a nap and now Dan just went out to get us some salads. Honey has been sooooooo good! What an awesome service dog! :)

Colorado is our 6th state

40Years — Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Yes, today we drove into our 6th state since Sunday and two of them we went into twice. :) We are having a very good time. Our itinerary has changed because the place I had booked for Friday and Saturday nights is 9000 feet high and I think I would die. Just not enough oxygen. So we're going to Denver.

Grand Canyon!!!

40Years — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Today was awesome! Beautiful colored mountains and hills. I like it a lot more than I thought I would. And when we went to the Grand Canyon, we went up and up and up and up to almost 9000 feet! Incredible! What a magnificent view! But it's like going to the Ocean. No matter where you are you can only see a little bit of it. I stayed in the Lodge looking out the window at the Canyon and I started feeling worse and worse. By the time Dad got back from taking pictures he said maybe we should go and I said I think so cause I don't feel well. He helped me outside and I sat to wait for him to get the van. He said my lips were blue from lack of oxygen! He said breathe deep and he was off for the van which was parked a long ways away. Pretty soon a man in an electric glorified golf cart came right up to me and said "are you Jean?" I said yes and he said "I'm here for you." :) Dad sent him to take me to the van and he took me right there and didn't even charge us. I'm not sure I would have made it.

It was a good day. I loved it! But now we are tired again.

Now I'll try to put up some pictures. :)

Carson City to Las Vagas

40Years — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Wow! We left the motel at 7 this morning and headed toward Las Vegas. The terrain changes right away. Very dry and lots of sage Brush. After while we saw some strange little trees and then suddenly they were all over. Then they were gone. It changed quickly. There were always mountains. Most of the time we were completely surrounded by mountains but they sure weren't like the mountains in Oregon! The got dryer and dryer and more barren. Then colors. Strips of color or chunks of color or mountains of color. Mostly brown, black, white, red, yellow and a little green. The rocks making the mountains came up vertically or horizontally or sometimes in a swirl. It was amazing and pretty interesting. Not something I would choose to live in but I'm glad we got to see it.

Now we are in Las Vegas. Talk about overwhelmed! This is strange but I honestly thought Vegas was a smallish town with lots of gambling. A place people came to gamble and then go home. It's huge! Rows and rows and rows of homes. Highways all over and criss crossing. The road ways are decorated pretty. The trees are kind of cool looking. The traffic is bananas and the city is very dark feeling. In fact Navada feels dark. Every town had a casino, cash place, pawn shop and brothel. Vegas has them all in abundance. I have no desire to go out into it. Just want to stay here and then leave in the morning.

Honey didn't like her perch so much today. She shook and tried to get onto my shoulder and wanted to jump off in any direction. Finally Dad thought of putting her bed up there and that really helped a lot! Poor little dog. I think she just isn't very stable up there. She sure does like the motels though!

I have pictures but I'll put them on later. There aren't many and they aren't exciting. Oh well. Hope you had a good day.

Love you

Susanville to Carson City

40Years — Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Today was an easy day, or at least most of it. We stopped and took quite a few pictures and did some side drives. We couldn't sleep very late this morning because last night we had a bed that felt like sleep on the floor. And we had tiny little squishy pillows. But we made it, had breakfast free at the motel and then left about 7:20. It was a very nice room.

When we left Susanville we saw several deer, ducks, and geese but not nearly as many animals as yesterday. We decided to call the lady in Dads phone who tells us which way to go, Flo. So we're driving along and decide to stop and look at a lake. As we pulled into a parking place next to the fence to keep you from going down a cliff. As we parked, Flo said "continue straight ahead" lol That was her best mess up yet! The big flowers were in the middle of a traffic circle in Truckee, Calf.

We took a jont to see Donner Pass. Went into a museum and Honey and I posed with the wagon train people. :) It was very interesting. I didn't put all the pics up but I wanted them to be here. Dont forget to read about the Weather rock. lol

Then there are some pics of Donner lake and Dad on the summit at over 7000 feet. Very high! I did not like it. Gave me a headache, nausea, and dizzy. A pic of a guy climbing a rock, some snow at the level we were at, and Honey in the van.There is also a pic of at zig-zag fence. There were a lot of them in Northern California and I liked them so we took a picture. Lake Tahoe is a beautiful lake but it isn't Oregon! As we were driving along the north side we watched carefully for the Welcome to Nevada sign. There wasn't one so we stopped at a visitors place and Dad got a little map and pointed to the border, so that's our boarder sign for Nevada. :)

Now we are in Carson City. Tomorrow will be a llllooooonnnnnggggg drive through the desert. At least 8 hours. We wanted to do it quick. lol The we see Hoover Dam and then stay in Las Vegas. We're kind of tired but doing good. Last night I couldn't even make it through Superman. We went to bed at 9. We'll see how it goes tonight.

Love you!

On our way

40Years — Sun, 19 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Susanville is in this bowl

taking a picture of Susanville

Snow capped mountain

Walking the dog

Flowers in California

Our first state sign

Our first day of driving is done. We saw some very interesting and divers country side. Rain Forest, mountain ranges, dry barren, marsh land and something that looked like eastern Oregon. It was a good drive. Dan put in a bunch of CD's so we had music most of the way. He even put in a disk of opera because he knew I would like it and it probably wouldn't kill him. :) He is awesome!

I put the pictures in but I evidently don't know how to get them into the right order. Oh well at least they're there. We left Stayton about 7:10am and got to Susanville about 5. We didn't rush and stopped several times. Tomorrow we have a much shorter distance to go so we can stop all we want and just enjoy it. We'll end up at the North end of Lake Tahoe and in Carson City.

So far so good! PTL

Honey's ready!

40Years — Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Honey

I took Honey to the groomers yesterday and she is sooooo pretty and soft and clean and she smells good and she is all ready to go. Dan is off in Wisconsin till Friday night and we leave Sunday morning. Dan made a wonderful Honey perch. It's a table that goes right behind the seats. It's window height and is carpeted. Honey LOVES it! :) She is really a good traveler and this will be perfect for her. Only 4 more days!

Anticipation

40Years — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

We don't leave till May 19 but it's already exciting. 2 weeks alone with my best buddy! I love it! We just moved our trip back a week so Dan can attend a safety conference in Wisconsin but that's ok. I need to cancel two reservations I had already made and move them to the later date, but that shouldn't be a problem. Wow... 40 years!