The Long Road Home

Sunday: (08/25) Up early and prepared to roll away by 0800. We headed South on I87 to Albany then West on 17, I81 then I86. We stopped about every 2 hours for a walk. About 1400 Lou was driving and hit a swarm of bees. What a mess. Almost couldn’t see out the windshield. We pulled into a rest stop and cleaned the bees and their honey off the windshield, somewhat. Some honey remained. We continued on and stopped for the night at another rest area near Owego, NY, about 1630. We completed 310 miles today. Leftovers for lunch. Toast and soup for dinner. (GPS: 42.0914202,-76.2718318)

 

Monday: (08/26) We got onto the road at 0430 this morning. W had to pull to the side of the road almost immediately because the heavy fog was frosting the windshield. I ran the windshield wipers which immediately made a minor visibility problem a major problem. Not all the honey was off the windshield or wipers. I wiped the windshield again as well as the wiper blades. I was afraid to run the wipers all day so we were lucky we didn’t have rain until later in the day. When we had a good shower later, I pulled off the freeway and ran the wipers which worked well and the windshield was clean. We stopped a couple of times for breaks and even a two hour break for lunch while I took a nap. 427 miles completed today. We stopped at a Walmart in Fremont, OH, for the night. Our microwave died before lunch today so we bought a cheap one at this Walmart. My 10# lifting limit delays and or changes lots of our activities. We had salads for lunch and some shrimp fettuccine for dinner. (GPS: 41.373863, -83.117782)

Tuesday: (08/27) Granola and banana for breakfast. I tried some almond milk with mine. We waited to leave until after 0800 so we could mail some things at the Post Office. We continued through Ohio on non toll roads. Highway 6, 24, 30, 49, I94, and I80. We stopped in Warsaw for lunch (German potato salad and chicken) and a nap in Plymouth. 356 miles today. We stopped for the night at Starved Rock State Park, North Utica, Il. Lou made some salmon rice for dinner.
(GPS: 41.306650, -88.976047)

 

Wednesday: (08/28) Two more states behind us. We were up at 0650 and rolling a little after 0800. Granola and banana for breakfast. We were back on I80 all day. We stopped for lunch and for me to attend my webinar. Leftover salmon and rice for lunch. Dinner at the Cracker Barrel Restaurant in Omaha, Ne. We continued on a few miles more to the Melia Hill Rest Stop West of Omaha in Gretna, NE where we stopped for the night. (GPS: 41.084003, -96.275537)

 

Thursday: (08/29) Fish with yellow squash and Brussels sprouts for breakfast. Lou and Dawn made chicken and vegetable stew which we dad over rice for dinner. We drove across Nebraska today. We stopped at Cabela's store #1 in Sydney, Nebraska for a stretch. We got to see the 2019 MVPA Transcontinental Motor Convoy, the 100th anniversary of the first motor Convoy across the US. Washington DC to San Francisco. In Cheyenne, we stopped to see my nephew and his wife and son. We then drove up the mountain on Hwy 80 and spent the night at the Lincoln Memorial rest stop. (GPS: 41.237640,-105.434919)

 

 

Friday: (08/30) We were up early before six and on the road shortly thereafter. About 0800 we stopped and had leftovers for breakfast and took showers at a reststop. In Evanston, Wy we had Chopped chicken salads for lunch. I took a nap at another rest stop. When i woke up, Lou sent me over to a couple with a dead battery on their 4Runner. i got out my little lithium battery jump starter and it started them up nicely. This was the second time I've used it  and neither was for our car, but it has tested out well and should be ready when/if needed. We made 521 miles today and stopped for the night at a KOA in Wendover, Nevada. Baked beans and bread for dinner. (GPS; 40.736380,-114.067450)

Saturday: (08/31) We enjoyed the showers in the KOA RV Park, had granola for breakfast then pulled out and headed back onto Hwy I80. We stopped in Elko to get some gas. I made a wrong turn heading to the station but saw a Burger King. Since I’ve had to modify my diet eliminating beef, I’ve been craving a hamburger. I got one of BQ’s Impossible Burgers, an all plant substitute for beef. I had it dry with a touch of sriracha sauce and it was excellent. We browsed the C.A.L Ranch Store next door. I found some of my western shirts there. Lou did most of the driving today. We stopped for lunch at The Pig BBQ in Winnemucca. We made it to Reno by 1600 and while Lou and Dawn browsed a thrift store, I got the RV filled with gas. Since it was over 90 degrees and a holiday weekend with all the RV parks filled, we headed for the cooler mountain elevations. We stopped for the night at the Donner Pass Rest Stop. Salads for dinner. (GPS: 39.342355, -120.3400319)

 

Sunday: (09/01) Up at 0600. Apple and peanut butter for breakfast. We showered and then continued on Highway 80 to Sacramento. We stopped at a Lowe’s store there to get cooler pads, which are difficult to find in our usually cool area. We arrived home just before noon and went to the Corner Bakery for chopped salads for lunch. I set up the RV and drained the tanks. Lou prepared our cooler for use. I relaxed in the afternoon looking over my mail.

Our trip since 1/19/19 was 10,031 miles in length, shorter than it would have been if we had stayed out through October.

Sunny Cheyenne

Wednesday:
It’s been an interesting trip. Snow, Ice, and rain all the way here after leaving California. How pleasant to arrive in Cheyenne, known for its cold weather, to see a sunny sky and 70 degree weather. Wonderful! Unfortunately, it won't last.

We're staying at the AB Camping RV park at 1503 West College Drive, Cheyenne. It's just East of I25 about a mile. Nice park. It hasn't fully opened yet so we're getting a discount

Thursday:

Woke up to a nice white blanket of snow. Of course. Snow everywhere we go recently. Today the high is supposed to be 37 degrees than it is supposed to start warming up after this, I hope.

It's very blizzard like here, especially to a Californian. White stuff everywhere, no sun, blustery wind moves the snow around when it isn't being added.

We went out to breakfast at the Village Inn. Pretty good grub. Nice visit with the relatives.

Went shopping at the local mall to get a little exercise. It was thrilling getting from car to store to store with the high wind and blowing snow. Just why do people want to call this home?

We returned home early in the afternoon to find all DC power dead in the RV. No heater and no refrigerator were the special concerns. The batteries were fine and charging, due to the solar and inverters charger. The disconnect switch clicked when pushed to disconnect but only flickered the power. I suspected a fuse but which one. Out came the manual. Little help. It is a general terms manual without a wiring diagram. It didn't say which fuse corrected this problem. Due to the position of the panel, the weather (blowing snow) and very cold, and how packed together the fuses are; identifying the defective fuse took a while. Finally the culpret was found and everything was back to normal. Fuses must be dying of old age.

All the trucks have hunkered down. The Flying J about a mile West of us is packed to about triple ocupancy. Brother Ernie pulled in there Wednesday morning so he has a nice close in spot. Late arrivals are double parked and or parked up to a 1/2 mile away. Yesterday afternoon we got trapped there for a while while, due to the mis parked trucks, no traffic could move.

We had dinner at nephew Larry's house. When we left about 11:30 pm, the wind had stopped and the sky was clear. That happened sometime after 9pm. With clear sky's and no wind, maybe it will warm up.

All this cold is after the 10 day weather.com forecast before we left had said we were in for nice reasonably warm weather 20 degrees warmer than we've been having. Our gray cloud seems to be following us.

Friday:
15 degrees at 7am this morning. Once the sun rose, the radiant temperature did likewise so the window thermometer said it was the mid 50's but the actual temperature was quite a bit lower. Most of the snow melted off but at 3:30 pm it was 30 degrees. Actually it must be that it is such a dry cold here that makes these low temperatures bearable?

We had breakfast at the Egg and I near the Capitol building. Again a nice visit with the folks.

After making a bunch of copies at Kinko's and then a little shopping with Ernie. We returned to the RV. The Motosat worked today, I assume, because of the warmer temperatures. So I spent a little time posting to the blog.

Saturday:

A bunch of the family at Larry's house. Lou and Keigan's dog Doc relaxing.


Virginia had a huge collection of Owls.


There was a nice photo board at virginia's services. Larry's cat Tigger had more visitors than he could handle. We lounged around a bit in the morning, what was left of it when we awoke, anyway. We prepared our duds. We don't normally dress up when traveling in the RV, nor much any other times. We picked up Ernie and went to St Marks Church for Virginia's service. Nice service. Good to see the family dressed up. We took advantage of that to take some pictures. they all cleanup pretty good.

After the services and reception, we undid the dudss and went over to Larry's for the evening. One of the main activities, other that watching games on TV, and conversations was playing Yahtsee.

Sunday:
We met Ernie and most of the family for breakfast at the Flying J restaurant. It was a buffet and was pretty good. Ernie then departed to Salt Lake City.

Lou, Nephew John, his wife Judy, and I went down to Estes Park. On the way we looked around at a nice park with a lot of bronze statues in Loveland, Colorado. John used to teach art and some of the artists were once his students. We looked arounf the shops in Estes Park. We especially liked the glass blowers shop, one of the best we've seen. We had dinner at Momma Rose's then headed home.




We visited a park in Loveland that had lots of statues. Don's nephew John taught art and some of his former students have statues here.


Some wildlife near Estes Park Colorado.

Monday:
We really slept in today, rising about 0930. Breakfast was leftovers from last nights dinner. The weather was nice again today even though ocassionally brezzy.

I decided to fix the windshield so the crack stops growing but my glue that was left over from the previous damage repair leaked and wsn't good. We stopped by a local auto parts store for a new repair kit.

Other projects for the day included replacing Lou's electric blanket, getting haircuts and filling the water bottles. We also copied a couple of cookbooks from Virginia's collection for Dawn.

John, Matt and Kegan went fishing and had great sucess so dinner was fish at Larry's house. We went home earlier that usual to do our laundry.

Tomorrow we depart headed South.

Sheridan Laundry

Even on the road, mundane things must be done, like the Laundry. Today was laundry day. While Lou and Dawn went out shopping, I worked on the Blog and got some pictures labeled and published. We hit the road about 2pm. We stopped at "Custer's Last Stand", at Little Big Horn Battlefield. Nothing exciting there though?

Stopped for the night in Billings.

Se All The Photos:
Little Big Horn

Sheridan, Wy

We arrived in Sheridan Wyoming. We took a trip out to Big Horn to look around. Looked over the cometary there. Some family members are there like my Grandfather (1847-1903). We went to the fair in Sheridan. The big feature is the Pig Wrestling Contest. They have small, free fairs here in Wyoming. No carnivals, no commercial booths.


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Sheridan

Gillette, Wy

We got up early to beat the heat and hiked the Red Bluffs Trail around the outskirts of Devils Tower.






We then headed toward Sheridan. We stopped in Gillette. We found a nice restaurant, Humphrey's (Known everywhere else in the region as Sanford's, but has the different name in Gillette). We went to the fair. An amazing fair complex and it was free. Not all that much there though. We hit the road again and stopped about 7:30pm for the night in a rest stop due to extremely high winds.

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Devils Tower
Gillette

Devils Tower, Wy

We dashed up to take a morning walk around the tower with the ranger. Our primary concern was to get the refrigerator working. It tripped the GFI when we tried to use it on electricity and the gas flame wouldn’t light. A little hairdryer use eventually cleared up both problems. The rain yesterday had been almost horizontal from the left, the side the refrigerator vent is on. We opted to move to the KOA campground just outside the park so we would have air conditioning since it will be about 95 this afternoon.

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Fort Laramie and Agate Fossil Beds

On the road today. We Stopped at Fort Laramie. Also checked out the graveyard there. We stopped at a couple of towns to look around and arrived at the Agate Fossil Beds NM at 6pm after the visitor center closed. We hiked up to the quarries nearby and to the Bone Cabin to check them out. We left the Fossil Beds about 8pm and went a few miles up the road to Harrison. They provide free camping in their park. If we had arrived in daylight, we would have seen they even provide electricity.

Flowers, Old Building Walls

A bunny climbed out of the down spout, Sunset

Fossil Bed Quarryies
All The Fort Laramie Photos
All The Agate Fossil Beds Photos