Waiting for Summer (Or Something Like It)

The reason we went to Texas

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Hart Mountain in Cody Wyoming

Joyce and the Horsey in Deer Lodge Montana

Sculpture in the Oregon Garden

Multnomah Falls

Ron, Jan, Joyce, and some good looking guy

No Explanation Needed

Junuary is almost over and we are waiting patiently for the 4th of July and the official beginning of the summer season in Seattle! Our last taste of summer weather was about 2 weeks ago in Oklahoma. Since then it has deteriorated slowly and now we are back to high temperatures in the upper 60's. We took a ride east of the mountains on Friday (our anniversary) and found some low 70's there, but nothing like it should be near the end of June. Seems to me that the weather is a little odd everywhere this year.
Our adventure to the Oregon Garden with Ron and Jan last week was fun, and we packed a lot into a couple of days. On our way home, we stopped at Multnomah Falls along the Columbia River in Oregon. We have been by there before, but had never stopped. The falls are spectacular. We made it back home on Monday night about 10:00. We'll be going to Ron and Jan's for dinner this coming Saturday. They live just a few blocks from an Indian casino and huge fireworks stand, so Saturday night should be quite loud.
Our Moses Lake friends Mike and Joyce were over for a visit yesterday. We had some grilled salmon for lunch and plotted a couple of possible RV adventures for this summer. We also talked about the possibility of caravaning together to Arizona this fall. We've never gone south in November before, so it should be interesting and hot, as it usually is in the 90's then. Maybe we will get back out on the golf course!
So that's about it for now, and we have no big adventures planned until our Hawaii trip on the 21st of October. But, you never know when we may get itchy feet and head out on the road. That is assuming that the Motorhome gets all of the warranty work taken care of, and it gets out of the shop. It's been there since we got back from Texas....................................Ernie

Home Again

We rolled in on Thursday evening about 8:00. Tuesday night we stayed in Deer Lodge Montana and we had definitely left the summer weather in the rear view mirror. The rivers in Montana were at the highest levels that we have ever seen. The Yellowstone and the Clark Fork were running high, wide, and muddy. And, there is still lots of snow in the mountains.
On Wednesday we stayed in Post Falls Idaho. Nothing exciting there. The weather was deteriorating even more, as it poured rain that evening. We headed out Thursday morning around 10:00 and made a stop in Moses Lake to visit with snow bird friends Mike and Joyce. We had a nice lunch and visit at their house before heading off on the final leg of this journey around 4:30. The plan was to miss the rush hour traffic coming in to Seattle, but we still hit stop and go traffic on Mercer Island!
Tomorrow (Sunday) we are headed off to Oregon with Ron and Jan to spend the day and overnight at The Oregon Gardens. We have never been there before, but Ron and Jan have, and say that it's very nice. So it's up at the crack of dawn to hit the road again. This time I get to be a passenger, as Ron will be doing the driving. That's going to seem a little odd.
When we get back, we will download pictures and recap the past 3 weeks................Ernie

Onward

From the flatlands of Nebraska to Cheyenne, Wyoming was our Sunday drive. Our one diversion for the day was a rest stop at Pine Bluffs, Wyoming where there was an archeological dig sponsored by the University of Wyoming. A professor and students have been excavating part of a hillside and found objects dating back tens of thousands of years; a building was put up right over the actual dig site. We found it interesting so spent some time talking to the people interpreting the information.

Yesterday we drove thru some high winds and cool weather. The countryside is unusually green and rivers and creeks are overflowing. Cody, Wyoming was our destination, where we met up with my cousin who lives here. We had dinner together in town and a good visit. It had been at least 10 years since we've seen each other.

Destination today: somewhere in Montana. Stay tuned.

Wrapping Up Austin

Kristin and Ernie at County Line BBQ restaurant.

Looking south down Congress St. toward downtown Austin. This is a famous area with lots of funky shops that's supposed to be frequented by actors and 'famous people' and 'regular' people (like us?).

I just liked this sign where we got our sno-cones.

Enjoying a sno-cone (aka shaved ice) on a very warm beautiful Austin evening.

Turtles, turtles everywhere......

Where we ate (BBQ of course) - I liked the sign.

More turtles.....................up close and personal................

Our last day in Austin was Thursday; we moved the RV to a small park 30 miles north in a rural area. Drove back in to Austin to pick up Kristin and we went to 2 large antique malls. For dinner, once again had BBQ at a place called "The County Line" located next to a creek. After dinner we went to look at the creek and it was full of hundreds of turtles (see picture). On the way back to drop Kristin off at her apt. we stopped for sno-cones on Congress St. - a popular activity on a hot summer night. I have not had to walk out with a sweater 'in case it gets cool' since we arrived in Texas.

The apartment Kristin shares with 2 of her friends is very cute and a good size for them. Before they moved in, new carpet and countertops were installed and the whole place was painted. Kristin has her own bedroom and bath, and the other 2 girls share a room and bath, since they've known each other a long time. The kitchen is a good size; they are on the ground floor and have a small back patio. So after 5 days of showing us the sights of Austin and having a nice visit, we bid 'adieu' to Kristin, gave her a big hug, and said goodbye. I have to admit I did so with a little difficulty, but she seems very happy and loves Austin.

Yesterday morning we left early for our next destination 30 miles north of Oklahoma City - Guthrie, OK - the first capitol of OK before it was displaced by OK City. Our OK friends Ron and Diane drove over from Tulsa and we had dinner out (BBQ again!). We experienced lightening, thunder and wind last night - good old midwest summer weather.

This morning we drove thru the rest of Oklahoma, all of Kansas and into Nebraska where we are staying outside of the small town of York, Nebraska. At one point somewhere in Kansas we were in the exact geographical center of the continental U.S. That was about the extent of the excitement for the day as it was all farm country all day.

After driving approximately 800 miles due north, tomorrow we take an abrupt turn west and hope to arrive in Cheyenne, Wyoming tomorrow afternoon.

One thing I've learned that Texans tend to say a lot is 'y'all' --- so hope y'all will stay tuned for the next installment. - Joyce

Sweltering in Austin

The "Home Away From Home" in New Mexico

Us and Big Rocks in New Mexico

We had Texas BBQ here - it's out in the hill country about 20 miles outside of Austin.

Texas State Capitol Building

Downtown Austin in the background.

Bats flying out from under the bridge in Austin

The Boyer girls with the Rosengren girl

We rolled into Austin Saturday evening, and proceded to miss the turn for the campground, which turned into an adventure. But we made it and were all hooked up by about 9:30. The temperatures have been in the 100 degree range, with Monday hitting 103 and breaking the record for that date by 6 degrees! We always seem to find some extreme weather, but so long as we don't encounter tornados or the like, no problem. As Archie Bunker said " ca saroo saroo".
On Sunday we transferred all of Kristin's "stuff" to her apartment and met her roommates. Then we had dinner here at the RV park and visited. On Monday we went to the Salt Lick barbecue for a late lunch / early dinner, then toured the Texas state capitol building. Later that evening we went to Ladybird Lake to see the bats fly out from under a bridge. This is a big deal here, and there were hundreds of people there. There are 1,500,000 bats that fly out every night. Even though the temperature was 100+(with humidity almost as high), and we were right on the water, there wasn't a mosquito in site! It took about an hour for all the bats to vacate their perches.
On Tuesday we went up to Dallas to visit our old West Seattle neighbors Craig and Wendy and their 3 girls. It's approximately 225 miles to Dallas from here, so the round trip added up to a lot of driving. And I will testify that Texans DO NOT drive friendly! We had a nice visit at the Boyer's, and it's hard to believe that their girls are getting to the "young lady" stage. Maggie is 12, and will be entering 7th grade. She was just a baby when they moved in across the street from us. Olivia is 5 now, and was just a baby when they moved to Texas. And Kate is in the middle. Kristin was their babysitter for quite a few years.
Today we had a late breakfast with Kristin, then Joyce and I went to Fredericksburg for the day. We spent the afternoon at the Chester Nimitz Pacific War Museum - it was extremely interesting and well done.
Tomorrow we have to leave the campground we're in and go about 30 miles north for the night. There is a huge Motorcycle rally in Austin over the weekend. We're told that it's almost as big as Sturgis. Then it's up to Oklahoma City to meet with Ron and Diane for the evening. Then it's north through Kansa, Nebraska, and into Wyoming to pick up I-90 for the journey west.
//////////////////////////////////////////////Ernie

Heating Up On The Road

We left home Tuesday morning with temperatures in the 50's. Thursday evening we arrived in Wickenberg Arizona with temperatures in the mid 90's, and projected to be around 104 today. This is how it will be for the next 10 days or so.
We headed east from Seattle, then dropped down through Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, then into Arizona. We crossed the new bridge at Hoover dam, but couldn't appreciate the enormity of that project. The bridge barriers are tall, so unless you stop and walk out onto the bridge, you don't have a view.
This morning we will be headed East through Phoenix and Tucson, and on into New Mexico. We should finish the day somewhere near the Texas border. From there it will be about 600 - 700 miles to Austin, and unless we get crazy, that will get us there on Sunday afternoon.
Fuel prices continue to drop as we head south with the price of diesel more than 50 cents a gallon less than at home. With this round trip projected to use about 300 gallons of fuel, it starts to make a significant difference. We'll update again from Austin Texas. Ernie