Missed by Kyle

We're still here! Hurricane Kyle apparently decided to visit our northern friends in Nova Scotia so we were spared. The whole event was anti climatic as we got only a bit of rain and no wind to speak of. Not that I'm complaining - I would rather it be so. All-in-all I think we got around 4 inches of rain over the past few days so I'm glad we will be seeing some sun today. It is time to re-stock the motorhome for our short trip coming up on Wednesday. I haven't made a get-ready-to-roll list yet so I better get busy. Then I have to make my put-the-motorhome-in-storage-for-awhile list. The lists just go on and on.

I think we will be going out to breakfast this morning. We don't do that very often around here but it sounds like a good idea and the cupboards are getting a little bare anyway. Time for Peggy to do that which she dreads the most - go grocery shopping. You can see that not only was I lazy in not testing the generator before the "hurricane" but Peggy decided not to stock the shelves in preparation as well.

Fall has hit pretty hard here in New England and the fall colors are really starting to jump out. Now that the sun looks like it will join us today I will try and remember to get out the camera and take a few pictures to share with the folks from away. "From Away" is a Maine term used o describe people who aren't from here. In order to not be "from away" I think you need to be born here so Peggy and I are still "from away." In order to be a Mainer (pronounced Maine-ah) you need to be at least 2nd generation and preferably born north of Portland. Now you know why we refer to ourselves as Maineiacs.

Oh yeah - "Winning" is the answer to the trivia question in the last post. Now aren't you glad you know that?

Today's question: In what year did Maine become a state and who "owned" it before that?

Staying Dry at LL Bean

I survived the trip to the doctor on Wednesday and he did give me a cortisone shot in my hand to solve (at least temporarily) the trigger thumb problem. This time the shot seemed to hurt a lot more after a few hours. I assume they put some kind of nerve killer in with the cortisone and it wears off after awhile. Regardless - it hurt pretty bad Wednesday night but is OK now. The thumb is still "triggering" a bit but the pain is less.

Thursday was my scheduled semi-annual meeting with our financial advisor. Needless to say - we had a lot to talk about. After spending an hour with him and looking at where we stand - I guess our overall retirement plan is still OK but the market and the overall economy better turn around pretty soon or I think Peggy may have to find a job.

Our stretch of really nice weather ended yesterday and it rained most of the day. Since outside chores were pretty much out of the question we decided to take Nan into Freeport to visit that icon of Maineness - LL Bean. Unfortunately everyone else in southern Maine chooses rainy days to visit LL as well. So Nan bought some gifts and I bought some LL gadgets with my birthday gift card from Eric and we got outa town. Since we were officially goofing off anyway - we decided to take the back roads to Auburn, Maine and visit the Motorhome store to pick up a couple of needed repair parts (it's time to replace that rubber band needed for the screen door latch to operate). We had a nice drive and you could really see the brighter fall colors starting to pop out.

Today was more of the same - rain on and off all day. So I accomplished a few chores around the house and motorhome including the aforementioned latch repair and made the bi monthly trip to the local recycling center and transfer station (AKA "the dump").

Well it appears that Hurricane Kyle is going to travel up the east coast tomorrow and bring some more rain and wind. Although not unheard of - it is pretty rare that a real hurricane makes it this far north. The last time we had a hurricane warning in Maine was some 17 years ago - Hurricane Gloria I believe it was. We got a bunch of wind and rain outa that one and some power lines were knocked down for awhile but nothing terribly destructive. Hopefully we won't see much more than that this time. I suppose I should have broken out the home generator and fired it up to make sure it was ready - but I didn't.

We have made plans for Nan to fly back to California (actually to Reno, NV) in two weeks from today (October 11). Since Nan really doesn't care much for flying and isn't used to the airport scene - and since she will have to change airlines in Chicago - I will be escorting her as far as Chicago to help ensure all goes smoothly. I think she is enjoying her stay here in Maine - but I also think she is looking forward to getting back home.

The weather forecast for later next week looks pretty good so we plan on heading for Bangor on Wednesday and then to Acadia National Park on Thursday. I hope the good forecast holds so we all can get a chance to enjoy Acadia.

That should pretty much bring you all up-to-speed on the not-so-busy lives of the Evringhams - Mainers Waiting To Be In Motion.

This entry's trivia question is dedicated to the memory of Paul Newman - who we lost today at age 83.

Q. What is the name of the 1968 film starring Paul Newman who played a Indy 500 car driver?

Doctor Visits and the Precious Metal Standard

Yesterday started the Doctor/Dentist visits for Peggy and I. Actually Peggy started on Monday with a visit to her massage therapist for a rub down. Then yesterday Peg saw our local dentist to start the process to get a crown on the tooth that she broke last month. Today I will be seeing the doctor about my left thumb which has a case of "trigger finger." I had this problem last year and it was solved (at least temporarily) by a shot of something into my hand. Hopefully another shot will make it better again. I'd hate to have to have surgery to repair it!

Now for the answer to the last blog entry's pop quiz:

Way back in Alexander Hamilton’s day our country based its wealth in terms of how much Gold and Silver it had on hand. Then in 1873 the USA replaced this “bi-metallic” standard with a gold only standard and gold coins and gold backed US currency were issued. In 1878 this changed a bit to appease the silver miners in the west and the government did start issuing silver coins and silver certificates as well. Then came the “great depression” of 1928 which some people (including President Elect Franklin Roosevelt) thought was caused by fluctuations in the price of gold. Sooo – Roosevelt persuaded Congress to quietly place the US on the silver standard and silver and silver certificates were pumped into the market to replace gold. Silver Certificates were abolished by Congress on June 4, 1963 and all redemption in silver ceased on June 24, 1968.

Today - paper currency is still valid legal tender without the Silver Certificate, instead being backed simply by the strength of the U.S. economy. According to the U.S. treasury, "The notes have no value for themselves, but for what they will buy. In another sense, because they are legal tender, Federal Reserve notes are 'backed' by all the goods and services in the economy."
Bottom Line – If we stop producing goods and stop providing services then today’s currency is useless. Sounds to me like we better start producing something or start providing some worthwhile service other than collecting fees for handling currency in one way or another!

That's it - No more rants about the economy on this blog for at least a month. We'll call it a Monetary Moratorium.

Autumnal Equinox

Well we made it to Autumn! Looking back now - what happened to spring & summer? We certainly have been busy since last May. We celebrated the first day of Autumn yesterday by going out to lunch with Nan and then taking a drive to see the ocean at Land's End on Bailey Island. It was a perfect day and the ocean was a beautiful hue of blue. After all that scenery over the past several months I still say you can't beat the scenery in Maine! In fact - I think we have decided to take a few days (maybe next week) and drive Nan up to Bangor to visit the new Casino (Hollywood Slots) and then head over to Acadia National Park for a day of sightseeing. Acadia can be a real pretty place on a nice day in the fall.

Well the Dow dropped another 372 points yesterday. My prediction is that it will rise a few hundred today when the idiots that sold yesterday buy back the same stuff they sold. They sold it because they were afraid it would drop farther than it did and when it didn't drop that far then it looks like a good deal today. Actually who knows what these people are thinking?

Believe it or not - I agree with McCain when he said the market is basically sound. It's the idiots playing around in the market that are unsound. What ever happened to something having a real value and being backed by real assets. Those days left us back in the Clinton years and WE (that's all of us) have been living in a make believe financial world for about 10 years now. Since we are now paying the piper it will more than interesting to see where the piper leads us. I try not to get too excited one way or another about this stuff but when my super safe money market fund says that my $1.00 I had yesterday is really only worth $0.97 today and then freezes my $0.97 so I can't take it out and put it under my mattress - I guess I get a little testy.

That trip to Acadia is looking more and more like a good idea ...

For those of you who took the last pop quiz and didn't look up the answer on the internet (Stacy) - Zora Duntov was indeed a senior Chevrolet Engineer in the 50s and 60s who was known as the father of the Corvette. One of my heros.

Todays pop quiz: When was the last year that a dollar bill was actually backed by a dollar in gold/silver?

Shakespeare, Zora Duntov, and the DJIA

To Blog or not to Blog - that is the question. Whether tis nobler to keep on writing although not in motion, or to keep our friends and family up-to-date on our activities. Ah that is the rub. [My apologies to William Shakespeare].

I guess I will opt to keep on writing once in awhile to keep anybody out there who cares up to date on what we are up to here in Vacationland. For the past couple of days we have been slowly getting back into our home routine. My chore list is growing and growing and I'm trying to get some of them done but I think I'm losing the battle. I did manage to mow the lawn and wash the Vue and the Truck but not too much else. I'll do better tomorrow - I promise.

I did manage to go look at a 1969 Corvette as a possible next restoration project. Not that I really need another project or that I have the room to do another full blown classic car restoration - but ya never know. I would really rather have an earlier Corvette - but they are harder to find and a lot more money if you can find one. The one I looked at today was basically all there and definitely in need of restoration. On the good side - it was a convertible and had a 4 speed manual transmission. On the bad side - it really needs a lot of work and the guy really wants more for it than I think it is worth. I guess I'll just keep playing with my Chevelle.

Nan seems to be adjusting well to the Eastern Time Zone but I'm not sure she cares too much for the cooler weather. We'll try and keep her warm for the next few weeks before we mail her home to the warmer climes of Yreka.

That will have to be enough for today. Check back in a few days and Mikee will make predictions on the future of the DJIA. My guess will be as good as anybody elses - that's for sure!!

Pop quiz for the day - Who was Zora Duntov?

From Sea to Shining Sea

Well we made it! The Maineiacs in Motion (plus Nan) completed our Sea to Shining Sea (and Back) trip - arriving in good ole Topsham yesterday around 3:00 PM. As you would expect we were glad to not be "In Motion" for awhile and glad to be home.

That said - we had a great trip and were able to see and visit with more relatives than I would have ever imagined we would be able too see on one trip;

Nebraska - 3
Yreka - 32
Reno - 1
Sacramento - 21
New Mexico - 11
Ohio - 3

Total Relatives visited - 71 (not including the ones in graves in Oregon - 4 more)

The Sea to Shining Sea (and Back) trip covered 7,819 miles through 21 states not counting the various side trips in the Vue (3,521 East to West - 4,298 West to East). This was somewhat less than the 2005 trip (8,295 miles and 26 states).

More Statistics of little or no real value other than to show how insane a person can be to even keep track of such things ...

New States traveled in the motorhome - 2 (Colorado and Kansas)

(We now have visited 42 states and still need Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan)

Nights in motorhome - 46
Paid Nights in Campgrounds - 31

Now for all of my readers favorite stats ..

Gallons of Gas (Motorhome Only) - 1,103.1 gallons
Average Motorhome Gas Mileage - 7.1 mpg (I was hoping for better based on the spring trip experience but I guess the prevailing winds were not in my favor!)
Average price paid for gas - $3.74 per gallon (I know it is hard to believe but the average was actually LESS than the spring trip which averaged $3.87 per gallon!)
Most Expensive Gas - Brigham City, UT - 8/14/2008 - $4.039
Least Expensive Gas - Oak Grove, MO - 9/11/2008 - $3.469

I leave it to you math whizzes to figure out the total gas cost - I try not to write it down - too painful.

Lost time due to Motorhome Breakdowns - About 2 hours (We now have driven the motorhome about 42,000 miles since we bought it in 2004. Although we have had the normal amount of "issues" over that time I have been very happy with the reliability of the Winnebago.)

Net Gambling Winnings - $200
Gambling Winnings Wealth Transfer to Children - $60
Gambling Winnings Wealth Transfer to Shasta County California - $144

Net-Net Gambling Winnings (Loss) - (-$4)

All-In-All ... A GREAT trip !!! (Now all we have to do is get Nan home somehow - anybody heading to the west coast anytime soon and need a rider?)

Almost Home - & Musings of a Maineiac in Motion

We had a relatively leisurely drive today from Niagara Falls to Schenectady, NY where we settled in for the night at the Arrowhead Marina and RV Park – a really beautiful spot right on the Mohawk River. Since it is now far past Labor Day and since it is the middle of the week the park is mostly empty. So we will enjoy our one night stay, get a good night’s sleep, and finish our trip back to Maine tomorrow.

Well Brian Williams and NBC news is talking about the greatest financial crisis in the USA since the great depression. Since I wasn’t around for the great depression I guess I really can’t make comparisons … but I think predictions of the sky falling are a bit premature. I do think that those of us who have lived our financial lives relatively conservatively (without great amounts of debt) are at least in a position to have some control over our destiny. Thanks Nan and Dad for teaching us to live within our means … now if our government (local, state, federal) would only start living by that motto and encouraging others to do the same.

Stay tuned for the end-of-trip statistics – to be published within the next few days from the beautiful State of Maine – “the way life should be” (except for the excessive taxes).

Niagara Falls

We made it through the rest of Ohio, a corner of Pennsylvania, and to Niagara Falls yesterday. Since we arrived later than previously hoped – we decided to forgo the falls yesterday and stay another day here in Niagara Falls. Besides wanting to spend some leisure time at the falls – it was pretty unanimous that we needed a non-travel day.

Right about the time we decided to retire for the evening the remnants of Hurricane Ike decided to pay us a visit here in NY. Although there wasn’t much rain – the winds picked up pretty dramatically to around 25-30 mph with gusts up to about 50 mph. So – we did what any intelligent RVer would do - We pushed a few buttons – moved in the slides – and went back to bed. After a few hours the winds died down and we all had a great nights sleep. It was good to feel some cooler and less humid air move in after the winds passed.

We spent Monday morning sleeping in a bit, had a great french-toast breakfast, and then drove to the falls for some sightseeing. The weather was a bit cool with overcast skies – but actually not too bad for spending a few hours outside looking at the sights. We started off at the Visitors Center where we borrowed a wheelchair for Nan and then strolled over to American Falls for Nan’s first look at “Niagara Falls.” American Falls is a pretty cool place because you are right next to the water (the Niagara River) when it takes its plunge over the edge. Nan was pretty impressed so we boarded the trolley and drove over to Horseshoe Falls for more fun. Horseshoe Falls is the longer of the two falls and probably the more spectacular. In the picture you will notice the “Maid of the Mist” tour boat at the base of the falls. Peggy and I got to experience the view from that vantage point on our previous trip here and Nan didn’t think she needed to … so we forgo that part of the adventure. The real adventure was pushing Nan back up the ramp from the Horseshoe Falls viewing point! Peggy and I got our exercise for the day – for sure!

After finishing our sightseeing, we had a bit of lunch and wandered back to the motorhome for a nap and some chores (doing more laundry – it never seems to end!).

Tomorrow we will start the last leg of our west coast to east coast journey. I hope to make it to about Schenectady tomorrow and then finish our trip back to Maine on Wednesday.

Look out Mainers – the Maineiacs in Motion are (almost) back!

Ohio

We did make it to Cincinnati yesterday where we parked the rig, unhooked the car, and went to visit with niece Carin and her kids Amanda and Zach. Nan hadn't seen Carin since our son Eric's wedding two years ago and hadn't seen Amanda and Zach for about 3 years (last time we took Nan in the motorhome to CA from ME) so it was great for her especially and for us as well, even though we saw the Brown bunch here in Cincy last June. We found a great little Chinese food place near Carin's and had our fill of Pu Pu, fried rice, and lo mein. Yum Yum. Carin is planning a move to Nevada with son Zach as soon as her house sells in Cincinnati - Anybody out there need a really cute house in a nice neighborhood of southeast Cincinnati?

Since Carin had to go to work today (Saturday) we decided to continue our trek east. We got a late and lazy start and then found a grocery store (and we were running kinda low) before we left town. Needless to say we didn't make it too far today but did manage to roll north and east a bit to near Cleveland where we decided to call it an evening.

Tomorrow we (I) hope to get an earlier start and make it to Niagara Falls somewhat early in the day so that we can get a chance to go see the falls before the remnants of Hurricane Ike show up.

We (except for Nan) are only a few days from home now. Once we make sure Nan gets a chance to see Niagara Falls we will then set our sights east and head back to Maine. We have been gone now for about 6 weeks and we are ready to get back home, sleep in our other bed, and get back to our "Maine" routine - whatever that is. We are starting to see some color in the otherwise green trees so the first signs of autumn are upon us. I'm sure we will see even more as we continue to travel east and north.

So tomorrow we shuffle off to Buffalo. On the way I think I'll stop and visit my friends - the Seneca - in NY and fill up with some cheaper gas. It is amazing how fast the price of gas can go up when there is a hurricane down around Texas and they shutdown the refineries. I think we need to build some more somewhere not so prone to weather - how about you ?!

Rewinding in Illinois

Another day - another state. Today we left Missouri and made it into Illinois. Missouri should be the last really "wide" state we have to go through for awhile (New York meets that definition also). We had a relatively short day today traveling only about 280 miles. Tomorrow we hope to make it to Cincinnati and visit my niece (and Nan's grandaughter) Carin and her family. We seem to gravitate to Cincinnati every trip lately to see Carin and her gang. We can't help it - except for own kids/grandkids - she and her family are our only other "eastern" relatives. If she has her way - that will change soon as she is working hard to sell her house, pick up stakes, and move back out west - sooo we better get our visiting in now.

Today was only slightly rainy back in Missouri. It appears that will change tomorrow as the forecast is for nothing but rain for the next few days. I guess all this rain explains why the countryside turned awfully green a few days ago. It also explains why we are back in corn country. We crossed the Mississippi River today near St. Louis so I guess that means we are officially "back east."

The selections on TV tonight are so bad - we decided to watch a movie. What movie? Why Mclintock of course! Peggy's favorite all time western. I gotta admit - it does have some really classic scenes. Not only are we watching an old movie - we are watching it on a VCR! Remember those - I had a hard time figuring out how to rewind the tape. Can you imagine that - someone (me) was unkind last time and forgot to rewind.

The Show Me State

Did ya ever wonder why the Missouri state nickname is the "Show Me State?" I suppose there are some really good reasons but I can't think of any. I guess in some states people will believe whatever you say - but not in Missouri - in Missouri you have to "Show Me" in order to be believed. Just another thought that sneaks into the brain of a Maineiac while in Motion in the Midwest.

OK - Pop Quiz ... What city is the state capital of Missouri? .... Times Up! Nope it's not Kansas City, not Springfield, certainly not Branson - it's Jefferson City!

I suppose you have guessed that we made it to Missouri today. Yup - after traveling through the wide state of Kansas we made it through the traffic mess in Kansas City and into Missouri, more specifically Oak Grove, Missouri. All-in-all Kansas was a pretty state. Don't tell the folks in Nebraska but I think the scenery through Kansas was more interesting than in the cornhusker state. Although the scenery was nice - the weather was overcast all day and we didn't take too many pictures - so once again this blog entry will be picture-less.

It looks like Missouri is in for some wet weather over the next few days ... and after that it looks like even more wet weather from Hurricane Ike. That being the case - I guess we will continue east tomorrow and see if we can get ahead of the wet weather. Hopefully it won't be inclement all day. I don't mind driving in the rain for a little ways - but all day wouldn't be fun.

Oh well - another day - another 300 or so miles! Actually I think we will keep it under 300 tomorrow as we make it through Missouri and into Illinois.

Kansas

Today we continued our trip east by first heading north to Colorado Springs and then turned east across I-70 through the rest of Colorado and into Kansas. The really good news is that so far - the motorhome has not failed to start following my starter repair back in Albuquerque. I am still not ready to claim total victory - but it was pretty cold this morning and that seemed to have been part of the issue when the engined failed to start earlier. So I continue to travel east with fingers crossed each time I turn the key.

We didn't take any pictures today as the scenery was pretty much the same as yesterday and the skies were overcast pretty much all day. In fact I don't think it got above 60 degrees all day until we arrived here in WaKeeney. Windy and cold was pretty much the situation all day - I even had to break down around noon and change into long pants!! Totally unsatisfactory .... I hear tomorrow is supposed to be warmer so I'm putting the long pants away for awhile longer.

Unless the crew revolts before morning the plan is to head further east tomorrow - leaving KS and making it to Kansas City, MO. Sometimes the crew of this land yacht can be difficult for the captain to deal with - but no mutinies so far.

Colorado - Rocky Mountain Brrr

We left sunny New Mexico this morning and headed through Santa Fe - past Las Vegas - through northern New Mexico and into Colorado. Yup - that's right - we went through Las Vegas, New Mexico - actually a pretty looking place north of Santa Fe - much better looking than the glitz of the Nevada version.

You can tell that Autumn is on the way. I don't think it got above 70 degrees all day and tonite it will be around 40 degrees here in Pueblo, CO. Next thing ya know we will be shoveling snow!

Today's drive was really pretty ... we left the high desert-like scenery of Albuquerque, traveled generally north through some nice mountainous areas around Santa Fe and then bingo! - we arrived in the high prairie region - grassland as for as you could see to the east while the mountains were on our left. The route we took today was the old Santa Fe Trail used by the early settlers out here in the west for cattle drives and other such stuff when they weren't generally fighting with the local Apache, Comanche, and other tribes trying to get by living off the vast buffalo herds that inhabited this land back then. The trip was a lot less complicated today - no hostiles, no rattlesnakes, the motorhome just kept rolling along ...

Bakers and Bakers and Bakers

We made it to Albuquerque yesterday after traveling on a "blue" road for the first time in several days. Although the scenery was similar there we at least a few more trees here at the 6-7,000 foot level. After setting up we went over to see the Baker Clan for an hour or so - with ice cream for all! We hadn't seen them for three years so it was great to see how the kids have grown - and we had to see the newest addition Matthew.



Today Peggy joined the Bakers for church and I went grocery shopping and then crawled under the motorhome to see if I could figure out why my starter solenoid has been failing to pick up first thing in the morning - on cold mornings. After removing the starter and checking it more closely it appeared to me that the main 12 volt connection stud was a bit loose - so I made an attempt at tightening it and reinstalled the starter. It will be interesting to see if that solves the problem. After that Nan and I joined Peggy at the Bakers house and spent the day visiting, playing cards with the kids (and getting beat soundly), taking a trip to the local school play area, an then having Pizza and Ice Cream - Life is Good here on the road with the Maineiacs in Motion.



Niece Cathy and her husband Gary have done a pretty great job raising their baseball team - Nick, Chris, Andrew, Joe, Emily, Ben, Beth, Nathaniel, and Matthew - what a lineup!



Tomorrow we are on the road again heading for Colorado. Colorado will be a new state for us in the Motorhome so we get to add to our "States Visited" map.

Paiutes – Lake Powell – Flagstaff

We left Cedar City on Friday morning and were immediately faced with the reality that traveling in this country can be interesting in a motorhome. The route I wanted to take, Highway 14 out of Cedar City, had several signs indicating that this route would be motorhome unfriendly so I turned around and headed south on Highway 15. That left me with two options – Option 1 involved going back to Zion NP and heading over a road that had a 1 mile long tunnel that required motorhomes to be “escorted” through. The other option was to take an “orange” road further south. So we took door number 2 and were off to more adventures.

Door number 2 took us through a Paiute Indian reservation where we stopped for awhile at Pipe Wells National Monument to visit a very nice museum. We continued on through southern Utah and stopped again for lunch at “Big Water,” a not-so-big town that had a dinosaur/fossil museum alongside the highway that offered a good place to park. After another great motorhome lunch we traveled over the spectacular Glen Canyon Dam and northern Arizona before arriving here in Flagstaff. The good news is that after traveling trough the nations high desert for the last 3-4 days – we finally made it back to some trees! Since Flagstaff is at over 7,000 feet in elevation I guess the trees decided they could grow and replace the sagebrush.

We look forward to another great nights sleep and making the trip to Albuquerque and a couple days rest from traveling. Look out Cathy and gang – we’re almost in New Mexico.

Kolob Canyon – Zion National Park

On Thursday we drove south of Cedar City to visit Zion National Park. Our first stop was in the Northwest corner of the park as we drove through Kolob Canyon. The drive through Kolob Canyon is pretty short and is right off Highway 15 – and is pretty spectacular! Although we (Peggy) took a lot of pictures, I can only post a few here to give you just an idea of what we saw.

After leaving Kolob Canyon we headed another 45 miles or so south to the main entrance to Zion NP. Since the drive up through the canyon through Zion is relatively narrow and has limited parking opportunities the only way to see the sights is to take the shuttle bus from the park entrance. So we did! Although the walk from the parking lot to the bus stop almost did poor Nan in – we made the trip and were treated to some pretty spectacular views of limestone and other type rock formations. After spending a couple of hours on the trip (with a stop for lunch at the Zion Lodge along the way) we made it back to the park entrance, found the car and drove back to Cedar City.
Although we really only got a taste of what this part of southern Utah has to offer – since Nan really isn’t up to hiking and since my head cold limits my ability to really enjoy the sights as I’d like – we have decided to leave Utah and continue our trip tomorrow. So we are off to Flagstaff, AZ and then Albuquerque, NM to visit niece Cathy and family.

More Lonely Road

After a good nights sleep in Ely - we headed south and east yesterday, continuing along the loneliest road in America only to connect to Highway 93 - an even lonelier road. A beautiful day, sunny skies, relatively cool weather - what could be better! Well it would have been better if I didn't have this head cold that I'm sure I got from Eric - who brought it too me clear from Maine last week. I understand from Brian's Blog that some of the New Jersey Evringham's got it too. Leave it to Eric to be able to spread a cold over thousands of miles and several states. Just kidding Eric - we love you!

We finished our drive yesterday by stopping in Cedar City, UT and today we will be driving down to Zion National Park to see some sights. In spite of the head cold I hope to have a fun day and will try not to get Peggy and/or Nan sick in the meantime.

Sierra Nevadas and The Loneliest Road

Yesterday we left the big city of Sacramento and headed west on I-80, over the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. We went from about sea level to over 7000 ft in elevation in under a hundred miles. We also went from a comfortable 80 degrees to a chilly 49 degrees at Donner Summit at around noon! It seems this country is experiencing a bit of arctic air moving in a bit early. This trip was made on Labor Day and boy am I glad we were heading away from Sacramento. The going-home traffic heading to California was pretty bad - but no problems for us heading to Nevada.

We made it to Marcie and Don's in the early afternoon and set up camp at the Redeker RV Resort. Not only we were treated to a real nice spot at the RV Resort, we were also treated to dinner at the Fandango Casino and an hour or so of watching Nan spin the wheels and collect a few bucks from Nevada to spend later down the road somewhere.

Today we were again treated to a hearty breakfast at the Redeker place and then hit the road to continue our westward journey. Did I forget to mention it was right around 32 degrees this morning! - had to find the long pants for today's trip!

Mainly for the experience of it all - we decided to take highway 50 across Nevada. Highway 50 was part of the original Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental road across America. Today the route across Nevada is known as the loneliest road in America - now I know why.

Today we drove from Carson City to Ely, Nevada - a distance of about 330 miles. The first town in the eastern trip is Fallon, Nevada - not far from Carson City and home to a Naval Air Station - you will have to figure out that one for yourselves. The next 250 miles or so is pretty nice road across pretty much all of Nevada through mostly high desert with a few mountain ranges to climb over. I'm sure we saw at least 50 cars on the road in that 250 miles - but probably not too many more! There were also a few cows but that was about it for wildlife. You should also know that this was a major route of the Pony Express back in the 1860s. You can still see some of the foundations of the Pony Express Stations along the way (right behind the modern day GPS in the picture!

I don't mean to paint too ugly a picture because the scenery was really beautiful - but lonely is a good term to use to describe the trip.

Tomorrow we are off to Utah and more adventures in the west.

More Reunion - More Fireworks

Again – what a difference a day or two makes. Yesterday was a very nice day here in Sacramento in the mid 80s, low humidity and a nice breeze, a perfect day for another reunion of sorts with the “Durham” clan. We all met over at sister Terri’s house and had a great afternoon with lots of visiting, kids in the pool and more on the trampoline.

As usual, when all five of Ev and Ed’s girls get together the volume went up exponentially with the addition of each one. These five know how to have fun and the giggling got pretty out-of-hand – but everybody had a great time. Thanks Terri and Max for being great hosts!!

One advantage of staying here at the Cal Expo RV Park during California State Fair Week and probably the only one other than a central location, is the evening fireworks. Every night at 10 PM sharp the fireworks are set off from the horse racing track that is part of the fairgrounds and adjoins the RV Park. The fireworks only last about 5 minutes but are on par as far as quality goes with those provided at the Quiring RV Resort.

Today we start the trip west! This trip has certainly provided the opportunity to see a lot of relatives that we haven’t seen in awhile but it’s time to start heading home. Don’t get the wrong idea – we are not done with this adventure! Today we will be stopping in Minden, NV to visit some more with sister Marcie and BIL Don. Then it is off to see some of the beauty in southern Utah and then – we have decided to go visit about the only relatives we missed on the trip – Niece Cathy and family in Albuquerque and then may be even twin Niece Carin in Cincinnati (again!). Shhhh – don’t tell ‘em – we’ll surprise ‘em!