Home again, home again, jiggety jog

Tuesday, May 17, 2011 (Day 241)

We left Hermiston before 9, and only stopped in Ellensburg for gas and a quick sandwich. We reached home about 1:30. It was a beautiful drive all the way, and sunshine and blossoming trees when we arrived.

(Everyone who reads this blog knows we’ve returned home already, but we’re posting this just to wrap up the trip.)
This was our longest trip so far in Howie. Harris was gone from home a good 3 months, and Judy 2 months. We had a great trip, saw some new states, and loved seeing Kyle and Keith. Our house seems so big to us now! But it’s good to get home to our own bed. We still wake up in the morning thinking, “what city are we in again?”…”oh yeah, we’re home”. Howie survived, with minor dings. We lost the cover to the light on the back, over the doors. We still have a minor leak in the bathroom. Howie needs a good wash and wax, and an oil change.


Crossing into WA we noticed the high water level



Harris is ready to head out again, as soon as the oil change is done. Judy’s ready to get a few things done around the homestead, which is probably why Harris is ready to head out again!

Ahh WA...vineyards and snow capped mountains



Miles driven today= 278

PS- Harris was able to unload stuff from Howie, turn around and get in his car and drive to Seattle, and make it for first pitch as the Mariners faced the Minnesota Twins.

Hermiston, OR-- Driving home

Monday, May 16, 2011 (day 241)

We woke up fairly early and turned on the TV in time to watch the shuttle Endeavor take off. Yay for the space shuttle! Boo, that we missed it! We’re glad that it finally took off…God speed to it and the crew.

We stopped by the Handi Quilter’s factory/office. We got an upgrade for the stitch regulator, but found out we didn’t bring all the right parts with us, so we hope this will fix the problem. We’ll find out when we return…tomorrow!

The reason we went via Salt Lake City



We had planned to stop after about 5 hours, but ended up driving further. We’re currently in Hermiston, Oregon, with about 4 hours or so to get home tomorrow. Going over the Blue Mountains was a beautiful drive….if a bit stormy. We got rained on, but that was better than snow! There was snow on the sides of the road at the summit, and a new dusting on several of the mountain sides. We started the day at about 45 degrees, stayed there most of the day, but there was a brief moment of sunshine on the west side of the mountains that reached 60 degrees. Brief moment.

Cloudy and a cool 42 degrees in Utah



We gained another hour coming west, but still pulled in a bit late for a full dinner, so we’re snacking on leftovers. And, because this RV park (Pioneer RV park) has a lot of TV channels on their cable, Harris is watching his first Mariner game…vs. the Minnesota Twins. Both teams are struggling, so we’ll see who wins.

Tomorrow we plan to be home! It’s been a long trip, but we’ve had a great time. We think we’ve been in 28 different states altogether!


Interesting clouds, wetter, and a warmer 60+ in Oregon




Total miles driven=589

Salt Lake City

Sunday, May 15, 2011 (day 240)


Our first view of the capitol



We’re taking a day off traveling, because we’re headed to the Handi Quilter repair shop tomorrow morning to talk to someone about Judy’s machine. So, we didn’t travel all day. But! We spent a lot of the day in the car anyway!

The view from the back



We spent the day geocaching and playing tourist in Salt Lake City. The weather was beautiful….temps in the 70’s and we put our shorts back on. (Probably for the last time, sigh.) We went to the State Capitol building, and were surprised to find it open on a Sunday. As we walked around the 4 stories, we saw one other person in the whole building. Amazing! It is a beautiful building, made of marble, full of murals, sculptures, the requisite dome and some rooms full of gilded walls. We kept our voices down because they echoed so loudly…even if there wasn’t any one there to hear us!

The 4th floor




Approaching the center dome




View looking up




The view we had while caching up in the hills



Then we drove down the hill to the temple square. The area around the temple was beautiful, with gardens, sculptures and fountains. Spring is still in full bloom here, which was so good to see, because when we return to Seattle we know that the tulips will be long gone. We took a lot of pictures after just feasting with our eyes on all this sunshine and color.

Lots of people taking pics today



We went on a drive to find more caches on a high ridge to the north of the city. After finding a few, we stopped for a coke float break…much appreciated. We felt like the altitude was still affecting us, which we didn’t expect because we’ve been “high” for a few days now!

Colors abound



When we returned to our park to cook dinner, the weather was still warm and sunny, but the wind is coming up…Howie is actually rocking! No tornados, thank goodness, but strong winds nevertheless.

Some more



Tomorrow after our visit to Handi Quilter, we make the final push for home! One of us says “yay!”…one of us says, “Let’s head south again to the sun!” Guess which one is which.

We really liked the statue and flowers




Total miles driven today=25

Cheyenne, Wy

Friday, May 13, 2011 (day 238)
and Saturday, May 14, 2011 (day 239)

Up early and driving on! The wind was blowing, the rain was falling, and we were hoping for better weather further west. Nebraska is a long state to drive across east to west…farmland eventually turned into ranchland, and we began a very gradual climb. We left an elevation of 1600 feet above sea level, and ended up at 6200 feet above sea level! Trees disappeared, and scrub brush appeared.

Windy, 45 degrees, and GRAY



We didn’t realize how high we were climbing until we stopped for the night outside Cheyenne, Wyoming. We drove to Terry Bison Ranch RV. It’s a place people go to see buffalo, ride horses, eat at a restaurant (bison burgers and steaks) and camp. It was a very nice camp, but the weather had definitely turned, and the altitude made it worse. The wind was whipping around and the temperature was falling. We were also feeling the effects of the altitude, which gave us slight headaches and a tired feeling.


We went 5 miles into Colorado before we could turn around




We had planned to stay in Cheyenne on Saturday, and look around the capital city. But:
1) The capitol building was closed
2) The weather was really, really windy and cold
3) The camp would only give us our camp club discount for one night…..so



We spent the night within .2 miles of the border



We took a little bit of time in Cheyenne to visit a quilt shop (very nice!) and do a few geocaches. There was one geocache on the border between Wyoming and Colorado, going north on I 25, and one going south on I 25. Harris parked on one side of the freeway and ran across the blessedly –not- busy- road to get the caches.

We came right back to Wyoming



Then we headed back to I 80 and west to Salt Lake City. When we left Cheyenne, it was 45 degrees. As we climbed up the mountains, we started finding snow on the side of the road and the temperature dropped to a low of 29 degrees as we reached 8100 feet. We crossed the Continental Divide and started a gradual decline. The temperature started to climb back up, and at one point actually reached 60!

There was still snow by the road!




We’re hoping to take a break from long driving days and are also hoping the weather improves. It’s still blowing and gray out, like another storm is brewing. We’ve stopped at the Pony Express RV resort outside of Salt Lake City.


Total miles driven today 460 miles

Waco, Nebraska

Thursday May 12, 2011 (Day 237)

Waco City park
(Both vehicles are Pleasureways)



A leisurely morning….we were in no hurry to leave the good weather that was returning. Looking down the road we knew the weather was going to get colder, so we decided to tarry in the sunshine a bit. We were close to the Nebraska border, and we saw that Lincoln had a quilt museum. Hmm…sunshine, quilt museum….must be a good reason to stop! Judy went into the museum which had a great display of white corded quilting from France (1700’s). Harris went geocaching around the area and found 7 caches, so he was happy. Then, because we were already there, we had to see the state capitol building. It is a spectacular building, as many capitol buildings we have seen are.


One of these things is not like the others...



The building was begun in 1922, finished in 1932, and designed to be a “tower on the plains”. The artwork inside is truly wonderful, and we spent about an hour wandering around and up to the 14th floor, which has an observation deck. This being the merry month of May, the building was also full of school groups of children, happy to be out of the classroom.


This sight really focused our attention while driving



We drove just a little further on to a town called York and stopped at the Double Nickel Campground. We were just getting the chairs out for an afternoon in the sun, when the wind picked up dramatically and it started to rain. The rest of the evening was spent watching the lightning, thunder and clouds dump rain on us. A tornado watch turned into a tornado warning. Judy was ready to head for the tornado shelter that the park graciously provides. Harris was just having fun watching her freak out. The worst of the wind finally moved on, the sky turned black because it was that time of night, and we’re cozily listening to the rain beat on Howie’s roof. Another tornado has passed us by. Whew!


The Nebraska state capitol building




One of several murals in the entry chamber




The ceiling of the rotunda




We navigated several student field trips



View from the 14th floor observation deck
(btw, parking meters were 50 cents per hour!)



Top of the dome---optical illusion?




Issue of the day




Interesting contrast in church architecture across the street




Miles driven today =190

Adair, Iowa

Wednesday May 11, 2011 (Day 236)

We woke up early, and it was such a pretty morning we decided to take a walk and do some geocaching. The campsite was next to a trail, some of which was on a boardwalk over some wetlands. (One sign said wetlands have more animal life per acre than any other ecosystem. Really? We would have picked jungles…) The humidity of yesterday was gone and it was a great walk. We found one geocache on the boardwalk almost right away. Another one must have been muggled, because we couldn’t find it, and it should have been easy. There were a few more in the nearby cemetery…did we mention the park was right next to the quietest neighbors? We couldn’t get into the cemetery from the park, so opted to do those after breakfast so we could drive to the entrance. It was a beautiful cemetery, with quite a variety of headstones and monuments. We found 3 more caches here before we hit the road.

A nice fishing scene we saw on our walk



Indiana gave way to Illinois and then Iowa. Interstate 80 was a faster road, but full of trucks and amazingly, 2 serious accidents that we had to get off and detour around. Must be all that straight, straight road. Except when we went around large cities like Des Moines, the countryside was all farmland with a few trees interspersed here and there. Fields looked plowed, and maybe planted, but nothing looks like it’s coming up yet.

A beaver's work near our path



We decided to drive a little further today, and ended up in the western part of Iowa, in a city park in Adair. Seems quiet so far, but we heard a train a moment ago. We just had to laugh…trains seem to be a constant on this trip. We heard them last night in Indiana as well.

Canadian Goose showing its better side



The last hour of our drive was a bit dramatic. The sky got darker and darker, and then, zap! Lightning everywhere, and huge raindrops. This actually happened around lunchtime, back in Illinois as well….the temperature there dropped from 94 to 70 in a matter of minutes. This time, the temp went from over 80 to 60 about that fast. The lightning lit up the whole sky, as well as zigzags that seemed to split the sky right in front of us. Harris turned on the CB radio, and the weather report said to be on the look out for tornados, as these can develop without warning in these fast moving storms. Great. We didn’t know which county we were in, but Judy kept a worried eye on the sky until the storm seemed to pass. Tune in tomorrow to see if we’re still here!

Well, maybe this is the better side...





Miles driven today =575

Driving on through 6 states

Monday, May 9, 2011 and Tuesday, May 10, 2011 (days 234 and 235)

These have been driving days.

Monday we left Sturbridge, MA (about an hour west of Boston) and drove to Knox, Pennsylvania, on the western border of the state. Eastern Pennsylvania has some of the worst roads we’ve encountered, but thankfully when we turned off to I 80, they improved.

Our view of Ohio today



Pennsylvania is a pretty state to drive through. It has lots of wooded hills that were giving us a preview of what fall could look like. Some trees were still in the budding stage, and were different shades of burgundies and yellows. We could just imagine how beautiful it would look in October.

Our camp site for tonight



When we reached western Pennsylvania, more and more farms began appearing. When the wind blew in just the right (or is that wrong?) direction, our campsite had a very distinctive odor.

A walk we took next to our campground



We got up early and hit the road, crossing Ohio almost entirely on state highway 30. (Interstate 80 became a toll road, very expensive for Howie.) It was a great highway for us to use, as we averaged about 65 mph for most of it. We got a very rural view of Ohio, passing farm after farm for most of the day. We continued on highway 30 to Warsaw, Indiana, which isn’t too far from Chicago.

Sturbridge was a little cold at night, making us glad to have our down blanket again. We turned on the heat a bit last night in Knox. Today on our way through Ohio, it really heated up again, probably because there are thunderstorms in the forecast for tonight. It has been a high of 84 degrees, and is very muggy. When we reached our campsite in Warsaw, (a city park), we turned on the air conditioning again for the first time since we left the South behind.


It finally cooled down at sunset



Total miles driven last 2 days=840

Mother's Day in Boston

Sunday, May 8, 2011 (day 233)


One of the few free spots to park in Boston
(a 7 min walk from Keith's)



Happy Mother’s Day! Judy felt it was wonderful to spend the day with Keith and Theresa, and get calls from Kyle and Tasha. It made her feel loved!

Harris was ecstatic that Judy found a BananaGrams partner



We woke up early and waited around a bit before we headed into town again. When we arrived, Keith took us on a long walk to a different section of town looking for a good place for brunch. The weather was almost perfect, sunny but just a bit cool…great for walking.

The closest Harris got to Fenway Park on a game day



Along the way we marveled at many old buildings that were beautifully built, with many architectural details that just aren’t put on buildings today. Some streets were lined with blooming trees, as well. We feel we’ve been following spring up the coast. Some trees here aren’t fully leafed out yet, making for many shades of green on the hillsides.

One of many green areas we passed on our walk



We ended up eating at a place called Legal Seafood. It was a great place to eat and we stuffed ourselves with lobster bisque, Belgian waffles, and a Captain’s plate of fried seafood. (Can you guess who had what?)

One of many "Brownstones" we passed



After this satisfying meal, we walked just a bit further to the MIT museum. Theresa, who had been studying, met us there. It was an interesting place to visit, with many great exhibits. (It was also a bit noisy, because there were hordes of little kids there….must have been a Mother’s Day special. One station for the kids involved balloons. And one noise heard throughout the museum was popping balloons. Ah well, only old, retired teachers get cranky at the site of unrestrained children, right?)

A fire station w/an old Police Station next to it



We took the bus back to Keith’s apartment, and, still being full from brunch, decided to play another round of Munchkins. This time, Keith won, in spite of our best efforts to defeat him! We finally left Boston about 8:30, drove to our camp outside of Sturbridge, MA, where we will sleep soundly before heading home tomorrow.

Keith and Teresa who went to MIT museum w/us





A non-robotic picture of them





The three of us





Keith presenting his Mother's Day present




Total miles driven today=60

Hanging out with Keith in Boston

Saturday, May 7, 2011 (day 232)

It took us about an hour to drive into Boston this morning and find Keith’s apartment. Actually, finding the apartment wasn’t hard, just finding parking for Howie was hard. We called Keith from outside his place, and he took us to a place a few blocks away that had some free space for the day.


Keith looks great. He cooked us an eggplant dish for lunch (see, Aunt Marilyn, he’s using the book, “how to cook everything”), and told us of his plans for walking around the north end of the city. Theresa was away from the apartment, studying for her upcoming finals. Before we got started on our walk, the weather changed from sunny and mild to dark clouds, rain, thunder and lightning. So….change in plans. We started playing a game that Keith introduced us to, called “Munchkins”. Theresa came home and all four of us played a game until the rain let up. We decided to stick around the neighborhood for dinner, as the clouds were still a bit threatening. So we walked a few blocks away and were introduced to a United Nations of restaurants up and down the street. We finally settled on a Vietnamese restaurant and had a very good dinner. We walked to a frozen yogurt place for some yummy dessert. ( Mixx…let’s you choose from about 12 flavors, put all your own toppings on and charges by the ounce.) Back to the apartment, early hours yet, time for another round of Munchkins. Keith was particularly happy, because this game takes at least 3 people to play, and now he had fresh victims. Unfortunately for him, his dad, and then his mom beat him at his own game. Isn’t Keith a great teacher!


Keith making his garlic and parsley eggplant



Harris found a Hampton Inn outside Boston in Natick that allowed us to park and stay in Howie overnight . That saved us about 90 miles and a couple of hours in travel time. We turned off the light around 10:30.

Where we spent the night in Natick




Total miles driven today=75