May 31 Are We There Yet ????

OMG, I am so tired of traveling! It’s hit me like a ton of bricks today. I came through the mountain pass from the high desert of Eastern OR to Eugene today. Another beautiful drive, but this time with cars on my bumper the whole way once I got into the two lane mountain roads. So, I didn’t take that many pictures! :) After getting into camp tonight, (right beside the Willamette River in Eugene), I called my old boyfriend, John Gucker, and confirmed our plans for this coming weekend, David Yeh and made plans for lunch tomorrow, and then had a long talk with my Dad. June will surely be a busy month. PS Pictures to follow at some point of happy internet connection.

May 30 Now THAT’S what I’m TALKIN’ About!

The desert is MAGNIFCIENT! I think I could just drive around on empty desert roads forever and be a “happy camper”! In the middle of this stunning drive this afternoon, I passed a sign (but I didn’t get a picture, shucks) that announced “Pacific Time”. Jim Carey’s latest movie “Yes” features (among other things), a photography-jogging class. Hmmm. Great movie, BTW, IMHO. I also thought quite a bit about cowboys and Indians. I can still just imagine riding a horse for days through this landscape, creaking leather saddle, swigging water from a canteen, demanding whiskey in the saloon, seeing Indians appear on the ridge. I guess that makes me a cowboy. Okay, so some info about the pictures: The river is Owyhee River in Rome, OR. The next picture I took after this one was blurry, so I’m not including it here, but it was also a road sign that said “Congestion”. I wondered, where? LA? One picture shows garbage can size wire holding rocks in the fence. These were spaced along fairly frequently – I’m guessing they help hold the fence in place during snow drifts. The place I’m camping tonight is Crystal Crane Hot Springs, and there is a picture of the spring. It is really nice – I soaked for about an hour. The water temp is 103 degrees, so I kept getting out to cool off every now and then. I’m not quite sure about the “crystal” part of the name because it’s about as clear as Bream Lake; you can see your feet. Apparently the only thing that grows around here is alfalfa, and a bunch of sulfur has to be put on the land in order to do that because the water has so many minerals in it taking it the other way pH-wise. This is from a man I talked to in the springs – he’s not a stranger! :) His name is Rotten Rick and he’s a member of a Black Powder group. He lives in Baja MX, about 700 miles south of the border. I didn’t quite catch the name of the place he said, but he’s familiar with Mulege. He said that he has a sail boat in MX and has sailed all over the Sea of Cortez. (Sound familiar, Katharine and Candice?) He’s in the process of buying a summer place around here. PS I'm having a hard time getting the pictures to upload, so I will put them on later.

May 29 Onward to Wendell, Idaho

I'm watching some TED talks on the computer tonight as the campground has a pretty decent internet connection. Not too much to report for today, except fixing problems I shoulda/woulda/coulda. You know, that whole scene. .... A squirrel? a rat? chewed on the hoses on the gas tanks on the trailer tongue months ago, right after I first got the camper. No idea why, crazy animal. I ran out of gas in one of my cylinders this morning and when I switched over to the other tank, gas leaked from that rat bitten hose!! I couldn’t believe it! (Well, actually I could.) So I spent a few extra minutes in the Great Salt Lake Area this morning, getting that all squared away. I went ahead and replaced both lines. I guess I’m learning as I go here – I should’ve replaced them both to begin with, in FL. The frig has been on the warm side ALL day long now and just now starting to cool down. That's another reason why camping with fermented food is great - those ferments like the slightly warmer temps! ;) I've got the a/c running tonight! Just enough humidty in the air to remind me of home. Also the campground is fairly close to the freeway, so the a/c also provides some white noise to drown that out. Here's at least one picture taken at a red light. :) This one shows Salt Lake in the distance. Passed by lots of beautiful green fields today - hay I'm guessing, irrigation on most of it, and then saw long rows of squared hale bales several times, just sitting out, no plastic!

May 28 Hanging Out With Edith

Today Edith and I went for a little afternoon hike up to Stewart’s Falls in Sundance Canyon. We saw some “invasion of the body snatchers” type caterpillar hatchlings, vibrating on their webs, pretty freaky. It was a gorgeous afternoon and it was really great to spend some time chatting with Edith and walking in nature. In the early evening, I snapped a picture of Edith and Randy. They are both still working at Novell. Later, Eric and Andrea came over to chat for a few minutes and I got their picture too. Eric has been accepted to an osteopath program in Colorado and starts in July; Andrea has been wait-listed for a pharmaceutical program there and hopes to start next year (if not this year if really lucky). I looked at their tongues and pronounced them young and healthy!

May 27 From Rawlins, WY to Orem, UT

The desert is so beautiful! I got to Edith and Randy Steven's in Orem right at 6pm. They took me to eat at Outback as blood deficiency preventive, after they said "yuck" to liver. Imagine that!

May 26 Scat Sighting; West to WY

I broke camp this morning in SD and headed out for Wyoming and Utah. I noticed that apparently a large group of buffalo came through the meadow at my campground, leaving handy reminders to watch your step. Which reminded me of another question: Where does the buffalo shit in the meadow? That's right, anywhere she wants! :)

I drove to Rawlins, WY. Absolutely beautiful drive.

May 25 The Animals at the Park

THe hitchhiker is a burro, who is being cleaned by his friend the whole time he's trying to catch a ride (or a bite to eat). Burros were turned loose in the park 80 years ago (something like that) after a tourist attraction using them closed. The next video is of PRONGHORNS not deer. And the last shows a very frisky little buffalo calf.

May 25 Mt Rushmore on Memorial Day

So this was cool - the first time I’ve ever been here, although, maybe once is enough. Parking was $10 cash, which was a bit high I thought. But still, I had a good time. The presidents are Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt, representing the country’s foundation, preservation, expansion (the Louisiana Purchase was completed in Lincoln’s term), and development. Of course the land was taken from the Lakota Sioux. The mountain was originally named Six Grandfathers by them. The carvings were supposed to be to waist, not just heads.

May 25 The Unseen Animals in the Park, at least to You

So I have a couple of great videos of the buffalo. One is two of them crossing the road right in front of the truck. The other is of a small herd of them munching away at dusk. There are some little birds that hop right along with the buffalo as the buffalo moves forward in munch mode. Very cute. However, I can't get them to upload. Maybe I've got too big of a file format. Something to look into LATER.

May 24 To the SE Corner of SD

I drove from Sioux Falls to Custer State Park, SD. Another beautiful drive. I love the driving out West – big open spaces and no traffic. I got into the State Park about 6pm and of course it was full (holiday weekend) and of course it was raining. But, I did manage to luck out and get a no-frills site in one campground (Legion Lake) in the middle of the park. I ended up staying in the same spot the next night also because the shower house was the best. I mean, really, The Best. I had gotten up this morning with a terrible crick in my neck (slept wrong?) and so spent some time this evening, letting the hot water work on the knots. After I got my camper set up, I could hear the rain on my roof and I looked out on a meadow with about 6 or 7 tents. One guy was cooking in the rain. I was soooo happy to have a nice warm little house.

May 23 Due West Through the Fields of Minnesota to SD

Danny and Bryan worked on the camper again this morning, so I went into Coloma to do a load of clothes. I did a bit of yoga and qi gong, waiting on the laundry, trying to hide around the corner from the other woman in the laundry mat, who had brought a book. When I was throwing my clothes into the dryer, she asked, was that tai chi I was doing? Turns out not only does she know about qi gong, but she loves it! Her sister-in-law has had cancer off and on for 50 some years and does qi gong regularly. After some discussion, the woman said that I was a good reminder to her to take classes and keep going. Now if I could only influence myself! :) I left Danny’s about 1pm (without a picture, I can’t believe it). It was raining in WI but as I drove west, the sky cleared. I saw a few windmills in Minnesota. It was a really nice drive, no traffic to speak of, the phone behaving itself and laying right there on the passenger seat. My ipod crashed so I resorted to cds after catching a program on NPR called “The People’s Pharmacy”. It was on chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. The treatment acronym given was “SHINE” for sleep, hormone, infection, nutrition and exercise as able. Interesting. I got the last spot available at the Jellystone Camp in Sioux Falls, SD at 8:15 tonight – fortunate, eh? :) Then after I put the camper up, two couples came to see it and find out what I’m up to. It was fun talking to them.

May 22 Camping Inside

Last night I camped in a really nice little campground at Montello, WI on Buffalo Lake. I really needed something peaceful and quiet after Wednesday night! Driving into town, I saw a gaggle of Canadian geese. At first I thought they were fake because that’s what I’m used to seeing in FL, those plastic ones in people’s yards. There were about three or four adults and then a short distance away, a family complete with seven or eight downy ducklings. So cute! But I didn’t endanger lives by trying to snap that shot. Tonight I’m sleeping inside my camper inside Danny’s garage. He and his right-hand man, Bryan, have the axle pulled off my camper. I bought my camper from Danny last fall (http://www.dannyscampers.com/) and since I’m in the neighborhood, I’m getting a little warranty work done. The axle is being better positioned under the camper and the foam weatherstripping is being replaced with D cell rubber. And a few other little things, a baggage door on the driver’s side bunk area, a new light cover for one that disappeared, etc. So probably I will be out of here sometime tomorrow. Hey, I got my phone back! And it still works! Happy Memorial Day weekend to everyone! Be safe!

May 21 Driving to Wisconsin

I spent the night at an inexpensive, clean, convenient campground in Kellogg, Iowa, but it was noisy being so close to the freeway. That really made it unpleasant. That and the toxic mop smells I had to endure in order to be on the internet. It was also very windy, all day long, but the modification I made to my camper before leaving FL worked really well, so no problem-o. Here’s a picture just after crossing the Mississippi River (second time on this trip) in Wisconsin. Another drive-by shooting.

May 20 The Bridges of Madison County, Iowa

So I needed to pee and I needed gas. I drove by one exit where I could plainly see the gas station right there – thinking I’ll get off at the next one. So the next one, turns out I’m driving a mile and a half into the little town of St. Charles, Iowa, where the Imes Covered Bridge has been relocated too. So more good fortune! Got to read some history about covered bridges!

May 20 Kansas

Spent the night at the Hertz’s and visited with Monica Hertz, Virginia, and Barbara Jacobs, Virginia’s companion. Also met Jeff and Larisa Hertz. They have a beautiful home! Their backyard borders cropland; this year, there’s corn coming up. Virginia is doing well and looking forward to the family reunion in Nebraska this year. Monica prepared a delicious breakfast!

May 19 afternoon Stillwater, OK

Since I was driving practically right by, I had to make the detour and buy a tee shirt! It’s not a cute as the one I got tar on, Katharine, but it’s still nice!

May 19 In Oklahoma, Visiting the Coday Side

I had a great time in Oklahoma! They fed me real good, too! I really enjoyed seeing everyone and meeting all my younger cousins! SeaJay (I have this spelled wrong, most likely - so send me a email and I'll correct it, someone!) showed me how he makes arrow heads. Winter is busy with tumbling and cheerleading. She’s learning to drive and takes the corners real slow and the straight-aways real fast! :) Adrienne is going back to Indiana; she is interested in missionary work. Cody is going to join the Marine Corp. Aunt Darlene and Uncle Nob have a lot of dogs! Uncle Nob is going to start up a small welding business. Barbara and Mark are looking for work; I just missed meeting their youngest son by a couple of days. Max, you would have enjoyed meeting all these cousins! We talked about noodling, which is fishing by sticking your hand into a hole, the giant catfish bites your arm and you pull it up! I just saw a couple of good videos on youtube about this – check it out.

May 17-18 Traveling Through Arkansas

Spent the night in Brinkely, AR at a very nice camp area behind a Days Inn. Saw this red mulberry tree at a rest stop near Ozark, AR . It's fenced off because there are three graves at the foot of the tree. I wish that picture turned out better. The infant died first, then the 25 year old man (dad? brother?) and a few months later, the 19 year old woman (mom? sister?), all in something like 1879. I wonder what happened. I thought about Kathleen, mulberry trees and toxic heat.

May 16 In Tennessee, Visiting the Street Side

I went to Aunt Betty and Uncle Bill's house in the afternoon and visited with them. I got to meet Aunt Rita for the first time - she and Uncle John came out from Nashville. Paul, Alice and Ruthie live just a couple of house away from Aunt Betty and Uncle Bill, and it was so great to see them too! Aunt Betty made lasgna for dinner, yum yum! And homemade chocolate chip cookies!

I managed to lose my phone while I was there, but by some miracle, it was found after I left, by a woman at WalMart. That's a mystery because I didn't stop at a WalMart until I couldn't find Carl and June's house in New Johnsville. But regardless, Aunt Betty and Uncle Bill are mailing it to me in care of Danny at Danny's Campers, my Friday location, so life is good!

I spent the night in the driveway at Carl and June's house and didn't get away until the next afternoon. Carl showed me Google Earth and his very capable phone - wow. June made me an excellent ham and cheese omelet Sunday morning, delicious!