Sep. 5 through 9, 2015

Before Sep. 5, 2015

This new travel story is going to be posted, probably, weeks after it happens. There was a problem with my computer back in August. Henk thinks I should get me a new one, and maybe I should, but we’re retired now and try to spread out buying big ticket items. So Henk cleans everything off and reinstalls. Keeps running into snags, and it takes more than a week L . Of course a lot of programs are missing now – for example, my favorite solitaire collection, but more urgently, Word and Excel are gone. We have the CD for them, says Henk, but we can’t find it anywhere. His naturalization papers are missing too, and we need those for him to apply for Social Security. They must be in the RV then, we think (whenever we can’t find something, that’s our fall-back position, and when we’re in the RV, we say, must be at home). And we’re leaving early this Fall for the West Coast because we want to visit Yellowstone N.P. So I wait a bit with the blog.

Sep. 5

On the road we have only the MiFi and it uses our limited data plan, so what I like to do is write my blogposts as word documents and then copy and paste them in, instead of having the blog open for the entire writing effort. So, until we get to the RV in Wyoming I make notes. It’s actually Sep. 14 today, and no, I’m not finally typing this on my computer, but on Henk’s. We can’t find the Office CD (or the naturalization papers) in the RV either… I don’t know if I can post to the blog from it – that would require me remembering the password ;)

We leave, on September 5^th, with the Honda on the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend. The car is packed, breakfast and lunch are in the fridge together with two days worth of ice coffee/decaf, we showered the night before, so all we have to do is get up, get dressed and go. Henk quickly connects trickle chargers to the cars that stay home and I wrap the frozen stuff and the pickle collection in layers and layers of insulation. Up at 5:30, and we’re on the road at 5:50. We take the route over Keene and through Vermont to Albany, NY: routes 103, 114, 9,279, and 7. Once we’re in New York we get to route 90 via 87. Gas prices haven’t been this cheap since 2004, and we grin every time we fuel up.

New Hampshire and Vermont are misty and mysterious, and it doesn’t really change to farm fields until we’re on US route 90. Nature isn’t showing Fall colors yet, and we see only crows, vultures, starlings, two ducks and 2 cormorants - so we amuse ourselves with number plate games as we cruise through upper PA, OH and IN into IL. When we check into a motel in Mokena/Chicago we have seen 26 different US plates plus 1 Canadian one. The first 950 miles are behind us. That isn’t so bad on the first day, we switch drivers every 2.5 hours, and we’re not stiff yet ;). It’s not even 9 PM, and we roll into bed soon after.

Sep. 6

We’re up and at’m at 6, on the road at 6:53 with a pint of tasty homebrewed ice coffee each. Route 90 all day. IL to IA to Gothenburg, NB by 5:45. We have time for a little walk before dinner. There are a lot of old farm machines around the restaurant parking lots. We find them super interesting, being born and raised city kids ;). And no surprise after a day of only highways.

Other interesting moments of the day were when we headed for the highway and drove through a flock of starlings that all turned at the same time like starlings do; and when we stupidly thought we could stop at a quilt store on the Iowa border (no, not on Labor Day Sunday before 10 A.M., silly). 40 state plates plus 2 Canadian. Goldenrods, sundrops, sunflowers, corn, tall grass prairie before the Mississippi and shorter grass after – this only in isolated pockets and the highway margins. 700 miles.

Sep. 7, Labor Day

Today we’re only going to Denver, Littleton to be exact; only 300+ miles, to visit with the Swansons – friends from Destination Imagination. We want to be there around noon. Up at 7, on the road at 7:37. I write these things down because I’m anal, not because this is useful information or anything ;). It rains a little but not enough. We leave route 90, dive into Colorado on 76, and immediately notice that the noxious monoculture of Nebraska changes to overgrazed and fenced high prairie. Then rte 25, corn, sugar beets. No new state plates today.

We arrive at the Swansons at 12:10 – we were in their street at 11:58 but couldn’t find the house number. We forgot to look for a house with a stone sculpture in front… *shaking my head, we KNOW Frank makes stone art*. We have an awesome visit, even got to tour Frank’s workshop and see the works in progress. Then we go out for dinner and eat food we never ate before: me, quails, and Henk, elk steak.

Sep. 8

We leave at 7:45 for Rawlins, WY, today’s end point and 380 miles. The morning is beautiful with hot air balloons west of rte 25, the Rockies as their backdrop. We see a lone bison just before the Wyoming border, probably from a ranch. Once we are on rte 80 we see our first really long train of the trip – 4 locs, 104 cars, plus 2 more locs in the back.

Rawlins is where the RV spent the summer. We left it there in April, on an unused site, and no, they didn’t need a key, what for? But halfway the summer they called, we Fedexed them a key, they put the RV behind a fence and expanded the campground. Obviously we’re curious about what we will find. We get to Rawlins around noon, and first have a bite to eat, then pull in at 12:30. Btw, still no new number plates.

More important though: setting the RV free! And she starts on the first try. Good girl! With a mere, oh, 5 or 6 times tacking back and forth Henk works her out from behind another two RV’s and out of the gate.  We get a fine spot and a free night. We spend a lovely afternoon unloading the car, settling ourselves in, getting groceries, and cooking ourselves dinner. Sir Duck, Elvis and the Pink Baron – our dashboard pals – move to the RV dash together with our pet plants. Henk checks campgrounds on the internet for tomorrow and I call a few. We settle on Cody, WY, about 50 miles east of the east entrance to Yellowstone NP.

Sep. 9

Today is Wednesday. I’m starting to forget what day of the week it is… We’re off to a leisurely start at 9:20 – well, that would have been earlier, but the awnings on the slide-outs didn’t close properly. Henk notices there’s bits of grass sticking out here and there, so I climb on top with the long pokey thing with the hook that’s for pulling down the small sun shades, lay on my belly, and pull out the bird’s nests… Henk gets the rest from the very top of the ladder. Eek. I hold on to the ladder with absolutely no hope I will be able to do anything helpful if it topples.

Today no highway at all – yeay! WY state route 287, 135, 789, and 120. We pass very large ranches and very small settlements until Riverton, where there’s a Social Security office. Oh, oops, only open on Monday and Friday. Hmm. We enjoy our lunch out front. Then off to Cody, the birthplace of Buffalo Bill. There are many pronghorns today, plus a few mule deer, cows and horses, swallows, bluebirds, sparrows and ravens, magpies, and a grouse. Can’t tell which kind – when I look in the bird book there turn out to be quite a few.