Home James!

Kissimmee FL to  Summerville SC 400 miles

Day 54


Beautiful weather and an easy ride, a great end to this trip. 

We waited until after Orlando's rush hour to leave the Tropical PalmsRV park.  It's on the far side of Orlando, which means traveling right through the city.  The ride through was not bad at all. 

Walking Brandy before leaving the Tropical Palms RV Resort

Great place and close to Disney...our third time here.

Someone dressed the cypress knees as bride and groom at the park

We took I4 to I95, then drove to Daytona Beach to pick A1A, the scenic ocean route that travels up Florida's east coast along the barrier islands...for the most part.  It's a gorgeous drive, and we like to ride along at least part of it whenever time allows.

 Today we stopped at Ormond Beach along the way at one of the many beach accesses.  We turned the generator on for the A/C for the dogs, grabbed our beach stuff and went down the stairs to the beach.  The beach, which stretches for miles, was ours for as far as we could see, except for one lone fisherman.  We were amused by watching a crab venture out of his hole in the sand, and then run back into it whenever he detected any motion nearby.  We walked a little, noting how immaculate this beach was...no broken glass, no cigarette butts, no plastic washed up.  Apparently, the current does not wash junk up on this stretch of beach like some others we've visited.  Couldn't stay longer than an hour, still had a long ride, over four hours ahead.  Climbed in the RV, realized that the beach is nice, but air conditioning is even nicer, made lunch, and ate looking out over the Atlantic Ocean.  Ah...

We could even keep an eye on the RV

Beach all to ourselves, nice!

Determined to get sand between our toes one more time

Didn't know he took this one of me digging to find that crab in the hole

Back to the Interstate and Florida and Georgia's beautiful roads.  Their I95 is so much nicer than South Carolina's section.  We always have mixed feelings crossing into our home state, we're glad to be nearing home, but embarrassed by the terrible condition of our most important interstate.  It narrows to two lanes each direction and is in desperate need of resurfacing.  Well...at least it keeps people from falling asleep, with all the bumping around.  We've been watching Georgia's remaking of their stretch since before we moved to Georgia for a two year stretch in 1991.  It is almost compete now.  They have the foresight to allow for extra lanes and extra wide bridges to accept more lanes in the future.  South Carolina could learn a great deal from Georgia and Florida.  Many  of our cities are still separated by TWO lane roads (like back in the 50's) with the exception of  Charleston to Myrtle Beach on US17. 

Gigantic tires just barely cleared the overpasses north of Jacksonville

We arrived home a little after six this evening.  The house and yard looked better than they ever have.  Darn...looked so good we feel bad about selling it!    We called the kids and we all went out for Italian...ended up with pizza because while we were gone, the place decided to only serve pasta dishes on the weekends and pizza and calzones/Stromboli the rest of the time.  What's up with that?  Bad move...and what's cheaper and less labor intensive than pasta?  Whatever, it was very good.  Coming to the end of our calorie blowout...

Our for pizza with daughter, daughter in law and granddaughter...sure missed them

Tomorrow we meet with the realtor to sign papers on the house....I don't think the buyer had a long list of things they want us to do, if he does that will be a problem...and we'll stay here.  Gosh, we got it the way we wanted it, well, the kitchen is still small...

This was a great trip in spite of the crazy weather situation.  We experienced many new places, and that's getting harder to do every trip.  There were no breakdowns, no major problems with where we stayed, we didn't witness any horrific accidents and except for early on we didn't have many moments when we wanted to rip each other's heads off!

I'd like to thank everyone who traveled along with us again our latest journey.  There were nights that I didn't feel like writing, but knowing others were following, I didn't want to disappoint anyone.  I'd always be glad the next day that I did write, because memories fade quickly, especially traveling.  Jim has only read it once or twice, he keeps saying that he can't wait to read it to 'see where he's been'! 

We've been a all round this great country of ours, but you know what?

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Until next year...IF we go 'On the Road Again' ....thank you and goodbye for now.

Every Person Comes Out Tired

Happy Birthday to our son, Jonathan!

Kissimmee Florida

Day 53

You will know exactly what the title refers to if you have ever been to EPCOT in Disney World.   

Before we entered the park we ate breakfast at a restaurant, our first of the entire trip.  If we ate like this every day we'd be much fatter...and probably in line for heart bypass surgery!

Check out the cloud with the hole in the middle over my head

So many topiaries, this one all made of bromeliads in the China section

The crowds were light at EPCOT when we entered about 10:30.  This time of year that is to be expected, it's nice.  It was the warmest weather that we've felt this year, and we were wishing for a few more clouds overhead.  It's been so long since we've been in EPCOT that we'd forgotten what most of the rides were all about.  I kept asking Jim if we'd ever been on this one or that one, or if it was a new ride.  I thought every ride in EPCOT was pretty tame, I was wrong.

Never in my life have I ever experienced any type of motion sickness, or been queasy on any amusement park ride...never.  Until today.  In all fairness, we were warned, over and over and over before boarding this ride.  But you know how these places are, they tend to over-do the warnings, so we really don't pay much attention.

 We should have known better when we stepped up to the ride and were asked, "Spinning or no spinning?"  Hah, I've been on plenty of spinning rides, no problem.  We should have know better when we were handed an orange pass to board that had *Warning* printed in huge letters on it.  We should have known better... between the two of us we have all the physical limitations printed on the card, heart, blood pressure, back problems.  We should have know better when at every stage of pre-boarding we were offered the option to leave the line.  We should have know better when the location of the 'barf bags' on the control panel in front of us was pointed out.  We SHOULD have know better.

I kept asking Jim if this ride was real or virtual, he thought it was virtual.  Actually, it was both.  And I think that was  the problem, the brain can't quite adjust.  Thankfully, each person has a little 'job' to do and buttons to push and I think that keeps people focused, which is a good thing.  I knew within seconds of 'blast-off' that I shouldn't have gotten on this one, and certainly shouldn't have eaten two fried eggs, bacon and buttered toast!  Almost immediately I felt queasy, which to me, is so unusual.  When you blast off, you feel the G-forces on your body.  I was too busy taking deep breaths to think how this was possible...especially since we were obviously still very much on earth and not soaring over Cape Canaveral.

Thankfully the ride did not last too long.  As soon as we exited  and I caught a glimpse of the mechanism I brilliantly figured how the 'ride' worked and why I felt nauseous - centrifugal force!  Basically we were in a centrifuge.  By the way, 'centrifugal' is indeed the proper word, there is no such thing as 'centrifical' force...the things you learn on Wikipedia!  Oooooh, better stop talking about this, I'm feeling queasy just re-living it.  When we got off, I turned around and took a picture of the ride.  Jim asked why and I told him so I would remember which one it was and NEVER go on it again!

Be afraid, be very afraid...

It took me another hour to settle my stomach .  We stayed a the park until late afternoon.  I was beat.  Between the heat (over 90degrees today) and the walking, walking, walking, I needed to get back to to the RV and put my feet up for a while, my knee was starting to hurt too. Guess I'm not as young as I used to be...no wait, I felt just as bad after a day in any of the parks when I was YOUNG too!

Oh, so much nicer  in the evening

After we recharged our  batteries, we returned to the park in the evening, when it was much more comfortable temperature wise to see the fireworks and light show.  Good show...It's been a long time since we've been to a fireworks display. 

My kids won't believe this but...Your father missed AMERICAN IDOL tonight! 

Tomorrow,  we leave for home.  We are so ready.

A Road Less Traveled

Navarre FL  to  Kissimmee  FL  470 miles

Day 52

Of course, there wasn't a cloud in the sky looking across the sound to Santa Rose Island this morning.  I only got a few minutes to enjoy it and then it was in the RV and hitting the road.  We stayed on I10 until a little beyond Tallahassee where we picked up the Apalachee Pkwy, toward Perry.  Love this highway, US27/98/19 and a few other routes all run together down around the big bend area and the upper west coast of the state.  Very little traffic, very little anything, but oh so green.  We love the huge oak trees draped in moss, the small farms, tiny towns and even the 'old Florida' shacks along the way. 

Later we joined I75 for a few miles and finally the Florida Tpk down to Kissimmee.  Gets expensive with all these axles, but the reduced traffic is worth it.  Somehow the black clouds draped over the area was moving AHEAD of us and shortly after we arrived the sun was out and all was right with the world.

We are staying at the Tropical Palms RV Resort near Celebration and the Parks.  We've been here a couple of times before, latest in January of this year.  Not many tourists this time of year, and the snowbirds have all migrated north for the summer.   It's a good place, near everything, reasonable...WIFI and cable.

Oh, and get this...    We put the house on the market when we left.  They have shown it about 30 times.  Last week we decided that we didn't want to keep it listed and thought we'd just try to expand the kitchen and live there forever.  It's a good house, only 3 yrs old, just a slightly further out than we liked and the kitchen was a little small for me.  So this morning Jim called the agent and told her to take it off the listings and we would be home Wednesday.  She returned his call this evening...we had a buyer.  Doesn't it figure?  Now we are trying to decide if we did the right thing....    Gotta be out in a couple of weeks, YIKES!

Tomorrow we will visit Disney, most probably Epcot.  It's been a long time since we've been to that one.

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

Navarre Florida

Day 51

Well, today was about as lousy as it can get. 

Woke up to grey skies...that was the BEST the weather had to offer.  Soon it began to storm, serious rain.  The nasty stuff was slightly to the west of us, in areas we drove on the beach and a little north of there where we had lunch.  Ferocious lightning, and six inches of rain there, we had little lightning but at least two inches of rain...it rained hard ALL day long.

Why do dogs think shoes make great pillows?

Nothing is worse than being at the beach and watching it pour.  Stayed holed up in the RV all day. We got a little 'cabin feverish', thankfully this place has good cable  It's also a good thing that we have TWO TV's in the RV...could have gotten ugly if not.  I watched a couple of hours of  'Hoarders' and Jim had his NASCAR.   It was raining so hard that we didn't even want to venture out to a mall or movie theater, which are all over 15 miles away.  So the laundry  got done, a dog got a bath and the RV got a good cleaning.  Not every day is a holiday.

Just before sunset the rain stopped, but still heavy clouds

Our timing certainly has been off on this trip.  Apparently, the weather had been quite nice here...until we showed up.  We were hoping for at least ONE good beach day before we go home, it was not to be. Tomorrow may be showery too.  We are heading east, hoping to make the Orlando area, but I just looked at a forecast and the local weather map had Florida covered in raindrops.  Why am I NOT surprised?

Ya know....we might be home sooner than we thought.

What a Slap in the Face

Biloxi Ms  to  Navarre Fl   180 miles (via US98/US90 and I10)

Day 50

Warm and muggy this morning, while we walked.  About a half mile from the RV on a wooded road, the biting horseflies found us.  We did an about face, but every so often we seemed to gather a dozen or so around us.  One bit my neck and a few minutes later I saw one on Jim's cheek.  I reacted immediately with a SLAP!  It was a knee- jerk reaction, I didn't have time to gauge how hard I was swinging at his face.  As soon as my hand landed I knew it had put way more force into it than I needed to kill a little horsefly.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!  It made him bite his tongue....you should have seen the LOOK I got!  I wonder if it was some sort of sub-conscious thing?  Hmmmmm....we may never know.  Been a looooong trip.

Soon thereafter we left Parker's Landing RV Park, got on a detour road....in the bowels of D'Iberville, encountered construction with perhaps the world's dumbest flagman...I mean, how HARD is it to turn the little sign from slow to stop?  He had two cars facing each other on the ONE lane road.   But eventually we found I10 and headed toward Mobile. 

On the eastern shore of Mobile Bay is the longest causeway...well, the Key West one is longer, but this one ranks up there.  We turned off of I10 to US98, a scenic road that we've taken many times.  A little bit of everything on it, farms, small towns, pecan groves...until we picked up US59 through Foley Alabama.  Love this town, if we didn't have all the family back in Charleston, this would be high on our list of 'nice places to retire'.  We drove down to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, discovering that today was their big music festival.  The beach road was shut down in town, but we managed to get around it and back on the beach road heading to Perdido and Pensacola.  Stayed on US90 from Pensacola to Navarre where we are for the next two nights. 

Almost invisible here, an orange oil containment boom, the first we've seen...in Pensacola harbor

No matter how we tried to pronounce this guy's name....it came out sounding dirty!

Ah....finally, the white sand beaches of the Florida panhandle...and warm weather!  Today was a beautiful day, but we spent it traveling.  We were eager to see the local forecast as soon as the cable was hooked up.  Well, it's not what we'd hoped for.  They said rain and thundershowers 'until after Monday, when it clears out of here'.  Guess who else will be clearing out of here on Monday?  We can't seem to win.  I need an emoticon of the little guy slamming his head against the wall here...

Oh...there go the big guns.  We are near Elgin AFB and they shoot some REALLY BIG GUNS off every night.  At least we know what they are. 

The Big Guns didn't bother Brandy!

We are planning to go to Orlando Tuesday.  Tell everyone you know there that bad weather is about to move in!

On The Bayou

Clinton Ms  to  Biloxi Ms  170 miles

Day 49

The power finally came on around midnight last night.  I'd gone to bed and was almost asleep when it kicked back on, good thing, because the electric company trucks are loud and it was getting too warm in here. 

Now that it's almost time for this trip to end, the weather is the nicest that we've had.  We walked for a bit, probably a little less than two miles this morning.  Really need those longer walks...I'm feeling all the extra calories!  Buttoned everything up and left the Springridge RV Park after 10:00 am.  this place is okay for overnight.  It's a paved park with a many permanent residents.  But there's not much else around...we picked it because it had cable and WIFI and with the power failure couldn't use either. 

Leaving Springridge Park, Clinton Ms.

Highway 49 is the shortest route to the gulf and we gladly took it, we've had enough interstate traveling for now.  We were going through a small town about a half hour later when Jim pointed out an old Bronco on a trailer.  We talked about how must restoration it was going to take, and how a nicely restored one could bring quite a sum of money.  Suddenly, a few seconds after he passed us, we heard a loud noise and saw a shower of sparks.  The man's trailer hitch had let go and somehow he brought it under control before the trailer flipped the his pick up truck.  Jim has always been fussy about any kind of hitch, always getting the safest one possible...now I see why. 

A few hours we were in Biloxi at a different place, no trains!   We are on the Tchoutacabouffa River...say THAT five times fast.  Heck, just say it, I can't!  Jim wanted a late lunch, so we went back to the 'Drive ins, Diners and Dives' place, The Shed in Ocean Springs for beef brisket.    No dinner tonight, this stuff sits for hours. 

Tonight we drove down to the Beau Rivage casino and threw money away even faster than Las Vegas...at least I got to play for a little while in Vegas, this one gives nothing back.   Nice hotel...no Vegas though.  On our way out we saw an ice cream shop.  As we walked closer we noticed that it was GELATO.  But not prices at $17/ cup like Caesars.  More like $3.99...so Jim finally got his gelato. 

Domo Arigato 'Mr. Gelato'

By the way, there is NO oil on the beaches here, they are still pristine...but for how long?

This day went way, way better than yesterday.

Tomorrow:  East.  That much I know.  Jim says 'he'll let me know' when he decides.  Heck, I'm just along for the ride.

Well, it WAS the13th

Little Rock Arkansas to Clinton Mississippi 355 miles


Day  whatever.....uh, 48?


The day started off badly, I suggested that we stay put, pull the covers over our heads and wait until tomorrow and start the day again.

Jim was upset that the KOA put us in a pull-through site (meaning that you can make the swing without having to back up to get out) that wouldn't allow us to actually pull through...even with the Jeep unhooked. We intentionaly didn't unhook the Jeep last night to make leaving one step easier this morning. So he unhooked the Jeep, which would have to be re-hooked a few minutes later when we pulled out.


It was already warm and muggy so the extra work wasn't putting him in a good mood (psst - that 'good' mood never showed up at all today) then he came in and kicked the dogs water bowl over. A few minutes later he asked me to hit the button to pull the living room slider and too late we realized that one of the kitchen drawers wasn't closed completely and it crushed the moulding on the slider. A minute later I kicked the dogs dry food all over the place. We almost forgot to put the TV antenna down (the cable didn't work worth a darn at this place) and finally, even with the Jeep unhooked he still couldn't make the swing out of the 'pull through'. And it wasn't even 9:00 yet!

Ouchie

Thankfully, the actual traveling went well today. It's hot and muggy, but that's okay, we like it better than cold. We made it on to I40 east and stayed on it until I55 near Memphis. Coming from Arkansas, there seems to be NO good way over the Mississippi

River. I cringe at the thought of the I40 bridge through Memphis, its old and so congested. Today was even worse on I55, and old metal bridge and twists, turns and narrow bumpy lanes. Not a pleasant few miles.

Back over the big, big river

Finally, the traffic thinned out a little past Elvis Presley Blvd and we started thinking about lunch. So tired of sandwiches, so we pulled into a plaza and had a Back Yard Burger. I think they had to go out to kill the cow...we were the only ones at the counter, slow.

Then back out to I55 south. This may just be the most boring stretch of north/south interstate east of the Mississippi. It's green though, so very green this time of year. One problem with that is that much of the green is KUDZU! Good grief, it's so bad in parts of this state. In the distance it resembles a giant green blanket covering everything. Did you know that years ago Burpee sold it in their catalogs as a 'erosion control plant'? I must admit it does stop erosion, at the same time killing everything it covers!



There are extremely few RV places in this part of central Mississippi. We realized that from last year when we tried to stay around Jackson. I called ahead and booked at the best place I could find, which takes us about 10 miles out of our way, and later realized that it was the place we ended up at last year. It's not bad, tight spaces on asphalt, but a nice place with great WIFI and cable. Many permanent residents, but quiet, feels safe and convenient to everything.

We ate mustgos (leftovers) and took a half hour ride up to Yazoo City. This is the town that the horrific tornado touched down in on April 24, this year. Earlier on I55 we drove past where the same tornado had crossed the interstate and were astonished at the width of the swathe it cut through a dense forest. Seeing Yazoo City was jaw dropping. This tornado was such an annomily for this part of the country. It was a mile and a half wide and traveled for 80 miles! The path we saw seemed to travel down a country road and took down just about every tree, huge oaks twisted and splintered, some uprooted like they were just pulled out of the ground as easily as a weed plucked out of a garden. I know

how loud a single large limb is when it snaps, but can't begin to imagine what the sound of hundreds of enormous, old growth trees would be like being splintered!

One of many destroyed homes in Yazoo City

It was just starting to get dark by the time we returned to our RV park. Jim started to watch Dances With Wolves and I had just gotten on line with the laptop to read a little and start the blog post, when....poof, the RV park had a power failure. That was an hour ago, and I am watching my battery drain.


And, unbelievably, a minute ago I thought I smelled 'something'. The dogs have NOT had one, even ONE little 'accident' this whole time on the trip. I started looking around, Molly was fast asleep, Brandy was under the table looking up at me and Rookie, was under the table and would NOT look at me. Can you guess who was guilty? But where WAS 'it'? Let's face it, this is a 30 foot box and the door to the bedroom was closed...I screamed when I found 'it'...THE STUPID DOG SHIT ON THE COUCH!The good news is that 'it was firm'.


Well, I guess it was fitting....the day started out kind of shitty and ended up really shitty!

Power still out... no A/C, no fans...

Tomorrow: South, and a better day!

Walking the Big Dam Bridge

Oklahoma City, OK  to  Little Rock AR.  335 miles

Day 47

OK City was already trying to form storms when we left this morning.  We took I40 and stayed on it ALL THE WAY.  Actually, you can get on it in Wilmington NC and ride all the way to Barstow CA!  Again, we passed the tornado area shown on the news this week.  Further east on I40 we saw several other places where the tornadoes touched down, some about 80 miles away from OKC...

The weather was nice and the landscape almost glowed green.  Eastern Oklahoma is more hilly and greener than most people think.  We tend to think of Oklahoma as prairie and it's not.  Must have been all the cowboy movies.  Arkansas has more lakes than most would think, and small mountains.  And it is the birthplace WALMART!  And Bill Clinton.

The interstate was in bad shape for miles, it would get better and worse.  Much construction going on, some is a complete reconstruction, right down to the dirt.  They tear it up and start with a new roadbed.  When they do this, they close one side of the highway for miles, as it usually means replacing bridges too.  It's time, you can only patch so much...and our highways are showing their age.

On one stretch, we had to switch onto the westbound lanes, so there was two-way traffic.  We had TOM TOM on, not that we needed direction, but to keep us aware of how many miles we were from our destination.    Suddenly the TOM TOM comes alive with 'MAKE A U-TURN!' Jim wondered what was going on with it.  Then TOM TOM orders 'SHARP RIGHT!'.  I figured out what was wrong....I told Jim,  "TOM TOM is freaking out because it knows that we are driving along I40 on the WRONG side of the highway!"   We got a good laugh out of that.  I was waiting for TOM TOM to scream, 'We're all gonnna die!!'

There didn't seem to be a lot of RV places in the book I use, so I  called the KOA here in North Little Rock ahead of time to reserve a spot.  However, we did see quite a few on the highway signs.  We know what to expect at a KOA however.  After a little relaxing time and when the sun got lower we took a walk.  I'd read in the KOA book that there was a walking and bicycling path along the river.  Jim and I started out to find it.  Right down the street was a sign *Big Dam Bridge*.  Of course, that started us putting 'Big Dam' in front of everything we saw....a big dam rock, a big dam pond, a big dam pothole.  Eventually we found the BIG DAM BRIDGE. 

We walked across the Arkansas river on the foot and bicycle bridge that is the BIG DAM BRIDGE.  It was crowded with walkers and bikers.  There are miles of walking paths along the river.  Nice, very, very nice!

Big Dam Ramp up to the Big Dam Bridge

Big Dam walking/biking path

BIG Dam geese...and there were plenty!

All together our little hike was over 4 1/2 miles long.  Oh...and I so should NOT have made fun of 'wounded knee' back a couple of weeks ago.  And I so should not have bragged that MY knees never bother me. And I so should NOT have told  my sister in law that I always baby my  knees in aerobics.  I so should have not said those things, because whenever I open my mouth like that it bites me you know where!  Yes, my right knee is hurting! 

Came back to the RV, gave one of the dogs a bath...it's smelling a little 'kennellish' in here after three dogs and so many weeks in a 30 foot box.  Oh, and thanks to KOA's practically all having cable TV, we got to watch Jim Cantore working himself into quite the dither over the storms in Kansas and Texas. 

Tomorrow...East and South, how's that for being exact?

Oklahoma, Where the Wind Comes Sweeping Down the Plain...

St Joseph Missouri  to  Oklahoma City, Oklahoma   385 miles

Day 46

Jim wasn't too thrilled with disconnecting in the mud this morning.  So much rain yesterday.  Beacon RV Park, was down in a gully between a commercial and residential area.  Don't know how it got a 5 star rating, it didn't look like a 5 star.  But, it did have a nice laundry, a storm shelter, trees, grass  and a kick-ass WIFI. 

Leaving Beacon RV Park in St. Joseph Mo.

Looking at the map and weather channel, we decided to head south (to get WARM!) and continue on to Oklahoma City.  We drove all day in gorgeous weather down I35 arriving at 4:30.  It was warm and muggy...yay! 

Hard to believe that just 24 hours earlier all Hell was breaking loose here with the tornadoes.  This evening was much nicer!  Although, the TV news kept breaking in and warning that there could be some severe storms and tornadoes...Something that the did not anticipate this morning when we decided to head this way.  Part of that decision was also based on the fact that we really do not like taking I70 through Missouri, especially the St. Louis area.  No big cities today, not even OK City, we are just a tad north and east of the downtown. 

Tonight we hopped in the Jeep to drive by the the areas on the news last night that were destroyed by one of the tornadoes.  Really amazing how so many buildings can be completely ruined and right across the street everything is perfect.  We also noticed that the KOA Campground is at the same exit that the Love's truck stop that was on the news is located.  We stay at so many KOA's....we were wondering if we'd made it down here yesterday if we'd have been there.  Man...now THAT would have made for an interesting blog entry!

We are in a gorgeous RV park, that we wish we'd chosen when we visited here  last year .  This Twin Fountains RV Resort is beeyooteeful!  All level concrete pads (somehow Jim got it to be not level...but we won't go into that) great free WIFI, cable, pretty grounds, grass, trees, in a good location and reasonably priced.  The only slightly negative I can see is that some of the sites are close to the highway, most are not. 

Nice, roomy and level sites at Twin Fountains

He's  ready to leave, I'm getting 'the look'

Tomorrow's forecast is threatening.  They are saying that the weather may be a carbon copy of Monday's storms.  We had planned on staying an extra day and seeing a couple of things that we missed last year, OK City  has plenty of things of things to see and do.  One thing that we do NOT want to see is a towering super cell with a funnel dropping out of it!  We saw some of the tornado chasers getting ready for tomorrow and that was enough.  Hurricanes?  Bring 'em on, but tornadoes scare the bejesus outta us!

So...on the agenda for tomorrow?  East.

Yup, Called This One Right!

Gretna Nebraska  to  St. Joseph Missouri  155 miles

Day 45

When the weather is bad here, it is very, very bad. 

We woke up to cold temperatures and heavy, heavy rain.  The radar showed storms all around us, especially in the directions that we going.  The rain never stopped as we headed east on I80 through Omaha then south on I29 towards Kansas City Missouri. 

Jim grew weary of fighting the gusty winds and trying to see through the sheets of rain on the windshield.  We considered going through Kansas city then turning east on I70. We wondered if we really could outrun the storms, but decided not to try and stopped for the day after only 155 stressed filled miles.

For the rest of the afternoon we watched the weather channel as these horrific storms dropped tornadoes on Oklahoma.  We were heading in that direction, so we are very grateful that we stopped when we did.    One of the things that helped here in St Joseph, to deter the formation of tornadoes  was that it stayed very cold for this time of year...only in the mid to upper 40's!  I've been cold all day, the minute the heat turns off, I'm cold again.

It is still raining hard, but they say it should end soon...good, makes too much noise on a motor home roof!

Tomorrow - I haven't a clue...

Mother's Day Away From Home...just isn't the same

Omaha Nebraska

Day 44

Our oldest dog, Molly, (13 yrs old) has been shivering quite a bit lately.  I know dogs shiver when they are in pain, but the old girl seems fine in all other respects - especially eating.  I was thinking it must be the cold, but wanted to be sure that nothing else is going on.  The floor is cold in the RV, no warm basement below this house.  We have the heat on and it's nice in here, so it must be the floor.  To test this theory,  I let her sleep between Jim and I last night.  She fell fast asleep, snoring away,  and never shivered.

I spoke to all three of my grown children today.  While I was on the phone with my oldest, Paul, I dropped my cell phone into the dishwater in the sink.  I didn't think I could move as fast as I did plucking it out.  It is acting a little wonky (like dialing 99999999999 all by itself) but I think it will dry out all right.

We enjoyd a lazy morning here at the KOA then made our way over to Jim's brother's home.  From there we drove to visit dear friends of theirs at their lake house.  We had been to this weekend house several years ago when it was in its original condition, now they have just finished the second renovation.   Amazing what they have done, I felt like I was living a Home and Garden Channel program. 

By the time we got back to Omaha it was dinnertime and we had reservations at a lovely restaurant downtown.  Mothers' Day deserves a special place.  Our nephew and his beautiful wife were able to join us and they had  some big news for us.  They are expecting a baby in late fall.  What a lovey family this will be...some things you just know.

Anyway,  even though I ate halibut, the cheesecake did me in.  Ask me if I care.

Tomorrow we leave here and head south east.  However, looking at the weather tonight, I see chances of severe storms, including tornadoes in that direction.   Hmmmmm, may have to rethink this.

Till tomorrow....wherever we end up.

In Cornhusker Land

Omaha Nebraska

Day 43

So begins our seventh week traveling the country in the 30 foot box...it's getting smaller 

We both slept soundly last night.  This RV park is a good distance from the road and the rail road track isn't  20 feet from the camper.  Yay!

We made our way over to the brother and sister in law's house late morning.  Took a walk in one of the many parks in this area.  The winds were gone, and the two mile walk was refreshing.  Later we lunched at the Kona Grill.  Wish we had one closer to home, great place!

Tonight we saw Iron Man. I'm not usually a fan of super hero movies, but for some reason I enjoy the Iron man movies...could it be Robert Downey Jr.?  Certainly could.

We'll be here one more day, then taking off on Monday.  Of course, we're not sure exactly where that will be.  The only thing I know for sure - it won't be NORTH!

Wind Chill

Grand Island Nebraska to Gretna Nebraska 132 miles


Day 42


Rained hard most of the night. Again,  it wasn't a rhythmic calming sound, but a loud and annoying popping on the thin roof. That and being cold kept me awake...my FACE was freezing! Next time I won't forget to check to see that the heat is set. Heck, it was 50 degrees inside the RV this morning!

The dogs were shivering after their walk.  Their fur is short, but not THAT short, for cryin' out loud.  Southern dogs.  I should talk....I had a sweatshirt and my winter coat on.  The wind was howling and I was walking backwards with my hood up to not have to face the wind.

There was ony a short distance to go and we had wanted to take the state roads, but with the wind, we needed to stay on the wider interstate. 

Tonight and for the rest of the weekend we are in Gretna KOA, near Omaha.  We visited Jim's brother and wife this evening.  On the way there, Jim didn't listen to TOM TOM and we had to double back....hmmmm.

Today is the first day of the trip that I didn't take any photos.  I was too cold.

Little RV on the Prairie

Brighton Colorado  to  Grand Island Nebraska  385 miles

Thursday, May 6  2010

Day 41

Nice day for driving, not much wind.  Come to think of it, not much anything. 

This interstate, I76, connects I70 to I80 from Denver to Nebraska in the northeast corner of Colorado.  There's not much out there, in a touristy sort of way.  Cows, there are cows, and grass...the corn isn't growing yet.  Oh yes, there is a river, the South Platte that the highway follows, and a few lakes .  Plenty of those enormous windmills off in the distance too.  And there you have it, that was our day.

We noticed the sky darkening as we neared the Grand Island KOA, around dinner time.  Back into Central Time after North Platte, we'd lost an hour.  Hate giving them back.  We knew there was a cold front on its way, but were surprised that there were severe storms around...it didn't seem warm enough for that.  The severe storms were tracking just a little south of us, thank goodness, because the ones we got were bad enough!

The rain was noisy and the temperature fell.  Had trouble sleeping.  When we awoke and turned the news on we couldn't help but laugh at what was happening.  The temperatures were TWENTY degrees lower than normal and windy.  It was only in the low 40's and with wind chills in the 20's.  Good grief, we seem to bring strange weather everywhere we go.  

Maybe we'd better go home...they say it's getting too hot there....

Eastbound And Down...And Up And Down

Wednesday,  May 5, 2010

Moab Utah to Brighton Colorado (via Utah RT 128 & I70) 400 miles

Day 40


Today was a travel day. We left the Moab KOA around 8:30 and decided to take a scenic byway RT128 through canyons and driving beside the mighty Colorado River. This was was a little slower and longer than taking RT191 back to I70, they way we came, but oh man, it was so worth it!

Riding along the Colorado River on RT148

More open range just before the Interstate

Up close and personal...sorry, I like cows

The highway (not really, it's just a narrow two lane road) winds and twists through a canyons for 44 miles, going around the southern end of Arches, then north to the interstate about 50 miles west of Grand Junction, Colorado. Glad we took this way back, it was fabulous. A perfect way to put an exclamation point on the Utah portion of this trip.



The weather was okay, not crystal, like the last few days, but nice. It was a little chilly in the higher altitudes that we were driving through today. Before we knew it we left the relatively lower mountains of Grand Junction and got more acquainted with the BIG BOYS of the Rockies.



We drove through some of the more popular ski resort towns. Vail is something to see, even from the highway! Some day I really want to get down into that town. Still plenty of snow on the mountains, but this is what they call the 'mud' season, and the crowds are not there.

Lil Dummy somewhere on I70 @ 65 miles per hour...tough life, eh?

I70 westbound lanes are elevated due to the narrow canyons in some places

Poor Tioga was put to the test pulling the mountain passes. After huffing and puffing up Vail Pass at 35mph, we thought it best to disconnect the Jeep (which is pretty much 4800 lbs of dead weight going uphill) and I drove it behind the RV. We had lunch in a park and ride, then I followed Jim up and down and up and down a few more high mountain passes. The RV was very happy not having to drag the Jeep up some of the highest mountain passes on the US interstate system.

The we met up with the snow going up the first pass

A view I normally don't see.  I'm driving the Jeep, following Jim and giving the poor RV a break.

Entering the Eisenhower Tunnel at about 11,000 feet elevation

I tagged along all the way, about 60 miles, until we 'hit bottom' which would be coming down off the mountains, in Golden Colorado. I always laugh at the signs on the highway coming down that last, long grade. They keep reminding the drivers that they are NOT all the way down yet!

We found a mall and re-hooked. Good thing because I really didn't want to drive in Denver afternoon traffic.



The shortest way to Omaha was to pick up I76 in Denver. Almost immediately we encountered our first traffic jam of the trip. It was due to an accident and many lanes of traffic trying to get into one. Actually, it worked to my favor, because apparently all the RV parks/campgrounds are on the other sides of Denver. This highway goes off at an angle to the northeast corner of Colorado to Nebraska...and who goes to Nebraska?



We found a place by accident and turned in. It has no WIFI or cable. As soon as we got settled I looked around for the railroad track, that I knew would be here. Yep, just at the edge of the park, across the street. The good thing is that it's out in the farmlands, that are disappearing, with a new shopping center less than a mile away.



Tomorrow, we drive across northeaster Colorado and western Nebraska...hope I can control my excitement! Wanna bet we see lots of cows?

Canyonlands

Moab Utah

Day 39

Canyonlands National Park & Dead Horse Point State Park

Good weather for our first excursion to Canyonlands National Park.  We were advised to stop in to see a state park, Dead Horse Point, on the way.  Very nice! 

Today was a day of  'WOWS', should have counted how many times we said it.

There were some spectacular views of the canyons.  From the visitors center, one can see a deep canyon, the Colorado River and some enormous electric blue 'ponds'.  Jim wonderered what they were...of course, I knew exactly what they were.  They are where the airline industry get the water for the airplane toilets!    Some other person there said  they were  drying ponds for the potash industry....silly man.

Tidy Bowl blue at the bottom of the canyon

From Dead Horse Point, the Colorado River is 2,000 feet below!

On the way to the state park and Canyonlands we finally got to see the native wildlife we've been searching for.  Big, very big and RIGHT ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD, were the cutest cows!  Okay, it was more like 'domesticlife', instead of wildlife.  The road was on open range, so the cows just walked wherever they wanted.  It was like Lion Country Safari, only it was really Bovine Country Safari.  Still it was fun stopping right beside them.  We got a good laugh out of pulling up and saying, "Hey, COW"!  The cows would stop eating and pick their heads up and look right at us.  Um...maybe we've been on the road too long?

Hey Cow!

Canyonlands was breathtaking, totally different from Arches, but stunning in its own way.  We walked a bit.  The Mesa Arch was 1/2 mile total, and hilly...our calves were screaming from yesterday's walk.  But the Mesa Arch was worth it.   Canyonlands is huge and today we saw the 'Island in the Sky' section. 

Take a few steps to the right...oops!

Mesa Arch

Finally a picture together!

Tomorrow we are taking a scenic byway Rt128 from here toward Grand Junction Colorado.  We are stepping up travel in order to meet with famiy in Omaha, so Colorado will be a 'drive by' this year.

Arches

Moab Utah


Day 38

Arches National Park

The weather was perfect for our visit to Arches National Park today. We left a little after 9:00 and headed into town for gas, ice and a couple of Subway sandwiches. Visitors must bring their own food into the park. Even though the entrance to Arches is in town, I really didn't want to take that initial climb up the side of the mountain twice!

Hwy 191 into Moab

The park is awesome. I am not a fan of the adjective 'awesome' as it is so overused these days, but it is the perfect word to describe this place. The cliffs, the colors, the vistas, the valleys and the La Sal mountains in the background are all a treat for the eyes.

On the hike...way steeper than it looks here

Mr. Wounded Knee on the same hike

We felt energenic so we decided to hike one of the many trails early on. This one, Park Avenue, was labeled 'moderate'. Most of the mile hike was downhill, the first hundred feet or so, almost vertical on a mostly man-made stairway. Then down through a the gorge, walking mostly on a smooth rocky river bed. Half way down, we passes an elderly couple going in the opposite direction (uphill) and marveled at their physical condition. Jim had been ready to turn around and shorten the hike until he saw them...he wasn't about to be upstaged by an two people who looked old enough to be our parents! Later as we finished the hike we saw them again and told them that they were an inspiration to us. Jim asked if they would like to volunteer their ages - she was 81 and he was 85! How wonderful is that?  Oh, and the return trip was all uphill...an elevator would have been nice!

Balancing Rock - this would be a real bad time for an earthquake!

No...I think I'll just stand under the arch and wait... WHAT!

The dictionary should have this picture next to the word 'GNARLED'

Lunch was by one of the overlooks, in the Windows and Double Arch area. Talk about a table with a view! Jim's right knee had started to bother him on the first hike, so for the rest of the day we took shorter hikes on mostly level ground. On the other hand *I* was in perfect physical shape, but had to stay with the 'old guy' with the bum knee. *I* would have taken the hikes up the mountain cliffs...yep, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!


So we drove from overlook to overlook, walking and taking photos. Good thing for digital photography, because I would have gone broke developing film, there are so many gorgeous scenes it's hard to stop taking pictures.

Double Arch, how cool is that?

About half way through the park, I realized that we were seeing 'things' in the rock formations. Faces, the Sphinx, a lion, the little 'Google Street View Man' and I even saw a few vertical columns that looked to me like giant....um....er, oh, never mind...

By late afternoon I must have been getting a little hungry. So many of the rock formations looked like huge a Mr. Potato Head, or gigantic russet potatoes. Time to leave.

The End

Back to the KOA, easy dinner....one of those frozen vegetable mixtures with pasta, and a sauce to which I added a grilled chicken breast sliced and mixed in. Talked with my daughter, he did the laundry and I gave Molly a bath. Chores have to be done, even on vacation.

KOA Campsite

View from the RV of the LaSal Mts. (morning)

Tomorrow, good weather forecast and a visit to Canyon lands National Park.