What an amazing journey. It ended with a little difficulty. We left Pendleton and planned to be home at about noon. We were driving along and listening to the final two discs of our story. We were less than 100 miles from home. (I had passed a car with a flat tire and thought how lucky we had been not to have any problems along the way. As soon as I thought it I wondered if thinking it would jinx us as it does when I say it. I didn't say it, but too late.)
Suddenly Bob rolled down his window as a car was passing us. I could see a hand out of the passenger window as the car with trailer cruised by. I asked Bob who it was. He said that they had indicated some sort of problem. We wanted to pull over and look, but this was part of I-84 where we were right next to the Columbia River, the roads were very windy and there was almost no shoulder. Bob finally found a very short spot with a wide enough shouder and we pulled off. At first we did not see anything wrong. Then we saw that one of the passenger side tires on the trailer was gone. It was not just flat, the entire tire was gone. We were riding on the rim.
We got into the pickup and started looking for the emergency phone number fom our insurance. We reached them and they indicated that our emergency coverage had lapsed over ten years ago. This was crazy because we did not even have insurance with this company ten years ago. But they were willing to send someone out if we paid almost $200. There we were on the freeway with cars whizzing by and causing the pickup and the trailer to shake every single time. The wind was very strong and it was scary to even get out of the pickup. I didn't have much choice so I gave her the credit card number and figured we would fight it out with the insurance company when we were home and safe.
It took about an hour for the tow truck to get there. The guy was wonderful. He knew just what to do. He didn't use a jack but rather boards and had Bob pull the other trailer wheel onto the board and that lifted the trailer enough for him to take off the wheel and replace it with the spare. He also found out what had caused the problem. There was a small piece of metal that was hanging behind and between the two tires. It had scored the other tire and had obviously scored the missing one so much that it just disintegrated. Thank heaven the other car warned us and we were able to stop safely. It could have been a disaster.
We started up again with all tires working. It is amazing how vulnerable we both felt after this. But by now, we were both hungry. We stopped at a wonderful restaurant in The Dalles. (It was obvious that the woman on the emergency phone was not from Oregon. When I told her that we were near The Dalles I had to repeat it about five times and finally spell it out including the space. I love Oregon.) We were able to collect ourselves and Bob was already planning his speech to the manufacturer about this being caused by a manufacturing defect.
It took another 1 1/2 hours to get home. I must say that we did not see any place in the entire five months that was more beautiful than the Columbia Gorge. We both kept seeing things that we had never noticed before along the way. What a wonderful way to end the trip!!
We have pulled Honey into the drive and I have started emptying it and doing laundry. I am having a hard time remembering where things are in my own house. I am sure that it will not take long to get back into the swing.
So here is what I will take away from the trek.
1. The USA is beautiful and there are so many more places to go and see that we did not have a chance to visit, even on a five month trip.
2. There is no place like home for me. There was no place that I would rather live than here in Portland Oregon. It has the right weather, the right scenery, the right pace of life, etc.
3. I missed my daughter, son-in-law, and grandson more than I thought I would.
4. It takes a lot of work for two people to be together 24/7. I am amazed that we are still talking to each other.
5. My favorite places were, Kartchner Caverns, Galveston Beach, Henderson Beach Florida, St. Augustine, Washington DC, Hershey Pennsylvania, Watkins Glen New York, Burlington Vermont, Mt. Rushmore, the Rocky Mountains, and the Columbia Gorge.
6. Bob's favorites were, Kartchner Caverns, City of Rocks in New Mexico, Fredericksburg Texas, Henderson Beach, Watkins Glen New York, Burlington Vermont, Cape Cod, Maumee Bay Ohio, and Mt. Rushmore.
7. Neither one of us has any desire to do such a long trip again, but we will do shorter ones.
Thanks to everyone who read this and let me know that they liked it. It has been a joy.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
We are in Oregon!!!
I have been so tired the last few nights that I have not downloaded my pictures to include in my blog. Tonight I finally did it. I am including one picture from the KOA campground. You can see our site and also how crowded the campground was. I love the picture as we were leaving Mt. Rushmore of the profile of George Washington - different than you usually see. The last two pictures were from Yellowstone - one showing the yellow stone from the geyser. The other showing the devastation from the beetle that is killing the trees. So sad.
Last night after I finished blogging and was talking to my daughter on the phone, Bob was having trouble getting comfortable. He stretched and hit the picture of our grandson. It fell over and came apart and scattered. I got off the phone and started helping Bob look for the pieces. We couldn't find them all. We actually had to go into the storage compartment under the sofa because some pieces fell through the hole and were down there. The picture frame was demolished. Good thing that we were parked outside a Walmart. When Bob announced that he would not be able to fix it, I just grabbed my purse and marched into Walmart and bought another one. Yeah.
We had another long driving day today. We are now in Pendleton Oregon. We cheered as we crossed the border. We then filled our gas tank and Bob started to get out and I had to remind him that he just had to roll down his window and say "fill er up." We cheered again. We got some lunch and there was no sales tax. We cheered once again. Good to be home.
As we drove from Ontario to Pendleton I viewed the scenery through new eyes. Oregon is amazingly beautiful and I have not appreciated it in the past. At first it was barren land - no water but no trash. This must just be grazing land. But it was starkly beautiful and thought provoking in appreciating the difficulties of the pioneers. I don't have the right words to describe it well and pictures do not capture it.
Then it got greener. There was still very little trash and there was a lot of obvious pride of ownership. The properties were neat and well tended.
I had completely forgotten how beautiful the drive down the mountain and into Pendleton is. (I did have my eyes closed for part of it. I trust Bob's driving, but some of it is so scary and feels as if you are careening down the hill out of control and ready to plow into that semi doing about 20 miles an hour.)
We are camped at the Wildhorse Casino campground. There is a powwow going on here that we will stop and see tomorrow - too tired tonight. (I had a little scare. We went into the casino for a little gambling and then dinner. I went to pull out my wallet to pay and the wallet was not there. I get so scared when that happens. I hightailed it back to the trailer which was about half a mile and left Bob in my wake because I was so nervous. There it was sitting on the table in the trailer.) We plan to stay here tonight and one more night and then head for Portland. We will be home on Monday July 5. Yeah.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Yellowstone
It was very warm last night in the Walmart parking lot. We made a mistake and parked so that the parking lot light shined right into the window above the bed and right onto me. That made it hard, I could not throw off the covers and lay there naked because the light was shining right on me. It would have been a great view for someone. But when it cooled off we slept better.
I have to laugh at myself. After we had dinner Bob got on line to do his month end recap of our finances (Yes we can do that in a Walmart parking lot as long as we have cell phone reception.) He wanted to print out the summary of our charges so that he could compare them to our receipts. The printer was out of colored ink (it still had black but no colors). I was in the store shopping so Bob started to look around for the extra ink that we had packed. When I got back he said that he could not find it. I remembered seeing it the day before when I was cleaning. I started looking. I pulled up the seats with the storage underneath - not there. I pulled out the drawers - not there. I looked in the drawers in the pickup - not there. I pulled up the seats again, I pulled out the drawers again, I searched every inch of the pickup - thinking maybe it had fallen out - not there. I thought about going into Walmart to see if they carried the ink we needed. I was so frustrated. I KNEW that I had seen it. Bob finally changed all the fonts to black and printed it out. We were tired and irritable. I suggested that we have a drink of the scotch that I had brought. (I keep the scotch wrapped in a dish towel with all of the cleaning stuff because the cleaning stuff is all plastic and I can keep the glass bottle of scotch from rolling around.) I pulled out the scotch and guess what was behind it amidst all the cleaning stuff - the printer ink! I have no idea why I put it there. Maybe I needed more stuff to hold up the scotch bottle. We just started to laugh and then sat there drinking the scotch. How can you lose stuff when this trailer is so small?
We left Cody fairly early and headed for Yellowstone. One of the best buys we ever made was to buy the senior pass for national parks. It has gotten us into at least three different parks on this trip without any cost and Yellowstone was another one. Nice!!!
According to the literature the entire park is above 7000 feet in altitude. Bob has a hard time breathing above 5000 feet so this was a challenge for him. I asked him to stop so that I could take some pictures. He got out the driver's door and walked to the passenger door and was out of breath and had to rest. So he did not get out much.
There is a big lake in the middle of the park that is a caldera resulting from a volcano. (I didn't know that the park was part of a volcano.) The trees in the eastern end of the park have been devastated by a beetle. They are dead. It makes it hard to look at them. But it was an amazing sight to see.
We then got to the area of the geysers. There were way too many people around Old Faithful so we skipped that one and went to one of the smaller ones. Wow. Bob was not able to walk so he stayed in the truck and I walked up to the geyser. It was really hot. The steam was pouring out. You could feel the heat walking by from about 15 feet away. The steam was so heavy that there were times when you could not see anything. The smell was a little sulfuric, but not bad. The sulfur in the water left yellow stains on the rocks as it went over the falls and into the river. (I had one of those really stupid moments about 5 minutes after getting in the truck when I realized why the park is named Yellowstone. Duh!) We had a very nice picnic lunch, but it was hard on Bob to stay much longer, so we just drove out. I liked it, but to tell the truth I was more impressed with Bighorn yesterday. I would like to go back and camp at Bighorn. Yellowstone is just too crowded. (Yeah I know this is a holiday weekend but from everything I heard it is always crowded.)
We drove 8 miles in Montana and then into Idaho. I must say that eastern Idaho looks like someone decided that the entire part of the state should be a dump. There is trash all over the place - in huge piles and everywhere. There did not appear to be any pride of place. I don't think we had seen any other place that was as trashy. It got a little better as we drove west and it became more agricultural. But there was still lots of trash.
We are now in a Walmart lot just outside of Twin Falls Idaho. So close to home. We will probably camp in Oregon for a day or two. It all depends on whether we can find a place to camp during the holiday weekend.
We look back on this and we both agree that we are getting tired and we want to come home. We are thinking about where we will park Honey in our small driveway and I am planning on getting my hair cut as soon as possible. We are looking forward to pulling up to a gas station, rolling down the window, and saying "fill 'er up." Soon.
I have to laugh at myself. After we had dinner Bob got on line to do his month end recap of our finances (Yes we can do that in a Walmart parking lot as long as we have cell phone reception.) He wanted to print out the summary of our charges so that he could compare them to our receipts. The printer was out of colored ink (it still had black but no colors). I was in the store shopping so Bob started to look around for the extra ink that we had packed. When I got back he said that he could not find it. I remembered seeing it the day before when I was cleaning. I started looking. I pulled up the seats with the storage underneath - not there. I pulled out the drawers - not there. I looked in the drawers in the pickup - not there. I pulled up the seats again, I pulled out the drawers again, I searched every inch of the pickup - thinking maybe it had fallen out - not there. I thought about going into Walmart to see if they carried the ink we needed. I was so frustrated. I KNEW that I had seen it. Bob finally changed all the fonts to black and printed it out. We were tired and irritable. I suggested that we have a drink of the scotch that I had brought. (I keep the scotch wrapped in a dish towel with all of the cleaning stuff because the cleaning stuff is all plastic and I can keep the glass bottle of scotch from rolling around.) I pulled out the scotch and guess what was behind it amidst all the cleaning stuff - the printer ink! I have no idea why I put it there. Maybe I needed more stuff to hold up the scotch bottle. We just started to laugh and then sat there drinking the scotch. How can you lose stuff when this trailer is so small?
We left Cody fairly early and headed for Yellowstone. One of the best buys we ever made was to buy the senior pass for national parks. It has gotten us into at least three different parks on this trip without any cost and Yellowstone was another one. Nice!!!
According to the literature the entire park is above 7000 feet in altitude. Bob has a hard time breathing above 5000 feet so this was a challenge for him. I asked him to stop so that I could take some pictures. He got out the driver's door and walked to the passenger door and was out of breath and had to rest. So he did not get out much.
There is a big lake in the middle of the park that is a caldera resulting from a volcano. (I didn't know that the park was part of a volcano.) The trees in the eastern end of the park have been devastated by a beetle. They are dead. It makes it hard to look at them. But it was an amazing sight to see.
We then got to the area of the geysers. There were way too many people around Old Faithful so we skipped that one and went to one of the smaller ones. Wow. Bob was not able to walk so he stayed in the truck and I walked up to the geyser. It was really hot. The steam was pouring out. You could feel the heat walking by from about 15 feet away. The steam was so heavy that there were times when you could not see anything. The smell was a little sulfuric, but not bad. The sulfur in the water left yellow stains on the rocks as it went over the falls and into the river. (I had one of those really stupid moments about 5 minutes after getting in the truck when I realized why the park is named Yellowstone. Duh!) We had a very nice picnic lunch, but it was hard on Bob to stay much longer, so we just drove out. I liked it, but to tell the truth I was more impressed with Bighorn yesterday. I would like to go back and camp at Bighorn. Yellowstone is just too crowded. (Yeah I know this is a holiday weekend but from everything I heard it is always crowded.)
We drove 8 miles in Montana and then into Idaho. I must say that eastern Idaho looks like someone decided that the entire part of the state should be a dump. There is trash all over the place - in huge piles and everywhere. There did not appear to be any pride of place. I don't think we had seen any other place that was as trashy. It got a little better as we drove west and it became more agricultural. But there was still lots of trash.
We are now in a Walmart lot just outside of Twin Falls Idaho. So close to home. We will probably camp in Oregon for a day or two. It all depends on whether we can find a place to camp during the holiday weekend.
We look back on this and we both agree that we are getting tired and we want to come home. We are thinking about where we will park Honey in our small driveway and I am planning on getting my hair cut as soon as possible. We are looking forward to pulling up to a gas station, rolling down the window, and saying "fill 'er up." Soon.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
We are in the mountain time zone
We had a very relaxing day yesterday. I cleaned the entire trailer, including dusting, washing the floors, and washing the windows. It took me less than an hour to do that. (Amazing.) We spent a little more time at the pool. (As I spend more time in the pool I enjoy the water more and more.) The sun was out all day but it was windy. I took a walk around the entire campground - it is huge. I would love to bring grandson (and his parents if they are interested). He would so enjoy it in about 5 years.
I didn't sleep well last night - too much resting I think. So we were up early this morning and left early, heading west. South Dakota continued to be very touristy right to the border. I can't believe all of the things that they are using to get tourist money. But the scenery was gorgeous and Mt. Rushmore is worth seeing. (Bob says that Mt. Rushmore is just a hill of "beans." I don't know what that means, but he insisted that I include it in the blog and he thinks it is very funny. Weird husband.)
As soon as we crossed into Wyoming there were no more touristy things. In fact, there was very little. The landscape was green, but there was no water to be seen and very little development. It was fairly flat. Then suddenly you could see the mountains. These were the Bighorn Mountains. I had never heard of them. We turned off the interstate and started to cross the mountains. We climbed very steeply. Hank (the pickup) was struggling a little, but he did not overheat. We just slowed down some.
The views were gorgeous. This was one time when I really wished that I could paint or draw because photos just cannot capture the amazing sights and vistas. The ground is mostly rocky and there were regular signs identifying the type of rocks and their ages, ranging from millions to billions of years. The strata were beautiful and often included streaks of red or orange. As we got on the other side we were in a gorge with sheer walls of the most beautiful rock formations. We wanted to stop, but this was a narrow road and a 9% downgrade so we thought it might not be a good idea.
We then went through a high plateau that was very flat. There were some small rivers and some agriculture. At the end of the plateau we started up the foothills of the Rockies. This was designated in our map as one of the most scenic rides. At first there was not much to see. Then as we got closer there were amazing rock formations and mesas. (We had been listening to an audio book and had to turn it off to watch.)
I realized as we were driving that one big advantage of blogging is that I do not just watch the scenery go by. I look at it and try to use words to describe what I am seeing and feeling. That helps me to really see it and to think about what I am seeing.
We were luckier on weather today than usual. As we were driving along the plateau I could see a huge black cloud that was obviously raining and it looked like it was right over where we were headed. But the wind was strong and it blew the cloud further east before we got there. We are currently in Cody Wyoming, the sky is beautiful blue, and it is 90 degrees with 11% humidity. We are in a WalMart parking lot. (This is very easy and inexpensive. I have now learned to look up which towns have WalMarts so that we do not have to guess.) There are already 15 rvs in this parking lot and they keep pulling in. If everybody buys something from WalMart when they stop here, it is a good business idea. I really tried not to buy from WalMart before we started spending the nights here.
Lots of driving today and Bob is quite tired, partly becuase of the higher altitude here. But we both enjoyed the day. I really like the west (better than the east). I like the scenery, the people to tree ratio, and the pace of life. Hmmm.
I didn't sleep well last night - too much resting I think. So we were up early this morning and left early, heading west. South Dakota continued to be very touristy right to the border. I can't believe all of the things that they are using to get tourist money. But the scenery was gorgeous and Mt. Rushmore is worth seeing. (Bob says that Mt. Rushmore is just a hill of "beans." I don't know what that means, but he insisted that I include it in the blog and he thinks it is very funny. Weird husband.)
As soon as we crossed into Wyoming there were no more touristy things. In fact, there was very little. The landscape was green, but there was no water to be seen and very little development. It was fairly flat. Then suddenly you could see the mountains. These were the Bighorn Mountains. I had never heard of them. We turned off the interstate and started to cross the mountains. We climbed very steeply. Hank (the pickup) was struggling a little, but he did not overheat. We just slowed down some.
The views were gorgeous. This was one time when I really wished that I could paint or draw because photos just cannot capture the amazing sights and vistas. The ground is mostly rocky and there were regular signs identifying the type of rocks and their ages, ranging from millions to billions of years. The strata were beautiful and often included streaks of red or orange. As we got on the other side we were in a gorge with sheer walls of the most beautiful rock formations. We wanted to stop, but this was a narrow road and a 9% downgrade so we thought it might not be a good idea.
We then went through a high plateau that was very flat. There were some small rivers and some agriculture. At the end of the plateau we started up the foothills of the Rockies. This was designated in our map as one of the most scenic rides. At first there was not much to see. Then as we got closer there were amazing rock formations and mesas. (We had been listening to an audio book and had to turn it off to watch.)
I realized as we were driving that one big advantage of blogging is that I do not just watch the scenery go by. I look at it and try to use words to describe what I am seeing and feeling. That helps me to really see it and to think about what I am seeing.
We were luckier on weather today than usual. As we were driving along the plateau I could see a huge black cloud that was obviously raining and it looked like it was right over where we were headed. But the wind was strong and it blew the cloud further east before we got there. We are currently in Cody Wyoming, the sky is beautiful blue, and it is 90 degrees with 11% humidity. We are in a WalMart parking lot. (This is very easy and inexpensive. I have now learned to look up which towns have WalMarts so that we do not have to guess.) There are already 15 rvs in this parking lot and they keep pulling in. If everybody buys something from WalMart when they stop here, it is a good business idea. I really tried not to buy from WalMart before we started spending the nights here.
Lots of driving today and Bob is quite tired, partly becuase of the higher altitude here. But we both enjoyed the day. I really like the west (better than the east). I like the scenery, the people to tree ratio, and the pace of life. Hmmm.
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