July 30: Home

The air is cool as we leave St. George. We hit a snag at the on ramp to the I-15, it is closed for road work and there are detour signs. Either the last detour sign is not well marked or we don't see the arrow. We end up on the other side of the I-15 and stop at a gas station for information. Dan is definitely not adverse to asking for directions. We find the temporary on ramp for the south bound traffic and are on our way.

The trip takes 9 hours, but the air stays cool, the traffic is light and the route we take has good roads. We take the 58 west from the I-15 to Mojave, then Ave. D to the I-5 near Gorman and head south to the 126 west to Ventura. Linda sleeps most of this time so the trip doesn't seem like 9 hours to her. Dan is so excited to get back home that he doesn't feel tired. At the last rest stop before home he has a huge smile on his face.

We get home earlier than planned so we can spend a little time with one of our daughters and her girls since they are "vacationing" at our place this week. They have been doing the "back to school shopping" and enjoying the nice beach climate. They live inland where it gets very hot in the summer.

It is good to be home, but as we unpack the trailer and start to put things away we have a little trouble remembering just where everything goes. It is like being in someone else's home. We have been gone two and a half months so there is a pile of mail to go through as well as unpacking. It will take a few days to get everything done and a few weeks to get the dirt from the road off the van and trailer. The fun is over and it is time to get to work.

We had a marvelous trip, really enjoying the places we visited and seeing so much of our country. The Bear was a great companion. He had a few boring days, but otherwise had a good time. He is glad to be home and is getting rested up.

Our country is a marvelous playground with many wonderful and helpful people. There are an incredible number of interesting things to see and do. Everyone wants to know if we will do it again. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. We will keep you posted if we plan another adventure.

July 28 & 29: St. George, Utah

On the I-15 from Provo to St. George we see fields of alfafa and even some with corn. Here is a piece of farming equipment waiting to go to work.

We watch the temperature rise as we get closer to St. George. When we arrive it is 105, but dry. We will spend a couple of days with the Arnolds.

We visit the Huff's this afternoon and are impressed with the progress on their home remodel project. They have done an excellent job. We also look at the latest electric guitar Gary has built. He used three different patterned rose woods and the result is beautiful.

The Bear really enjoys the visit here in St. George. The Arnolds have a couple of bears for him to hang out with. On Wed. morning the bears enjoy tea in the back yard while it is still cool enough to be out side. The Bear and Dan take naps to prepare for the last leg of the trip while the rest of us go to a movie.

We all go out for dinner and have root beer floats and cookies later in the evening.

The temperature outside is 106 today and we decide to make the trek across the desert during the night. We get everything ready to leave, Dan goes to bed early for a few hours of sleep before we hit the road. The original plan was to make this part of the trip in two days, but Dan feels that he is up to driving the distance in one night.

Linda has to stay up and visit with her brother & sister, take advantage of every minute she has to spend with them. Dan awakes at midnight and we are on the road by 12:10 am.

July 27: Provo, Utah

On the road leaving Wyoming we see more mountains on the horizon. This is a welcome sight for us after two months of flat land. When one lives with mountains every day they become part of the comfort of home.

The last rest stop in Wyoming. The I-80 is along the Mormon Trail to Utah.

More wind power at use. We have seen many locations where these wind turbines are being used. Of course these locations have a record of daily wind. However, we have noticed that when the winds are very Strong the turbines are disabled in order to avoid damage.

Here we are in Utah. We're getting very close to home now. Some how I deleted the Welcome to Utah sign my mistake so you'll just have to take our word for our location at this point. We are in the mountains now and the colors and formations have changed. The soil is red here just past the state line. We realize that we will see a wider variation in the land scape in the next few days than we have seen for the past two months.

We are at the Visitor Center in Utah and the Bear is impressed by this view. The weather is cooler and the sky is clear this morning. Judging by the pattern of the past couple of weeks we expect the storm clouds to start moving in this afternoon.

Wow! Look at the size of the sage brush! We hope the Bear doesn't pick up any ticks.

We are entering Utah Valley and plan to spend the night in Provo.

We are camped between the Provo River and a canal on the west side of town. It is quit warm today, but every spot is shaded by trees. We use the air conditioner for a little while to cool the trailer off for better comfort. The storm does move in and we have rain again.

July 28: The Provo River next to the RV park.

The canal if full of ducks this morning. They seem to be just getting their day started. Some of the duck on the bank are chasing others and one smaller duck looks like it is actually attacking another. These critters can be pretty aggressive with each other.

We hook up the trailer and hit the road again.

July 26: Rock Springs, WY

On our way to Rock Springs we pass by the town of Sinclair. This is what we see; the Sinclair oil refinery with a small community to the west of it.

We are now seeing hills and mountains. This one with the rocks at the top is interesting. Talk about going from one extreme to another. We left the high humidity and green landscape and are now in a desert climate and higher altitude. It is so dry that we are downing water constantly.

We are at the KOA in Rock Springs. It has gotten windy and after we get the trailer set up the force of the wind gets stronger and, as can be seen in this photo, has blown in the storm clouds. The sky is soon a blanket of clouds and the wind is causing the trailer to rock. If any rain did fall over us it dried up before hitting the ground. We spend the rest of the day inside. The winds die down by night fall. Tomorrow the chore will be to get out on the road before the winds pick up again.

July 24-25: Laramie, Wyoming

July 24: As we progress westward the landscape changed to the drier prairie, less fields of crops and more ranch land with grazing cattle. The lush green is gone and the foliage is drier. The land is still flat, no sign of mountains yet.

We have noticed a few mesquite trees here and there, but the numbers have been increasing. Here we now see mostly mesquites.

We have reached Wyoming and see more pine trees. The trip today is a continual, but gradual climb.

The mountains are starting to appear. The scenery is what is typical in old west movies.

We stopped at the visitor center shortly after crossing the state line and picked up a map and tourist guide. We saw a picture of this monument to Abraham Lincoln and read about it, but are surprised when we can see it from the interstate. What an impressive sight. This monument is at the summit, highest point on the transcontinental I-80 at 8640' above sea level, about 15 miles east of Laramie. This monument was commissioned in 1959 to stand at the highest point of the Lincoln Highway. When I-80 was completed in 1969 the monument was moved to it's present location.

July 25: We are staying in Laramie for the next two nights (altitude 7200'). This prison housed may notorious outlaws in the 1800's and early 1900's. One of note is "Butch" Cassidy.

Look who the U.S. Marshal captured.

The processing room.

The kitchen.

The laundry with man-powered washing machines.

The prisoner housing, three tiers high.

And here is the newest prisoner. Wonder how long he'll have to serve.

Behind the prison is a frontier village. This is a very nice log cabin compared to those we have seen on this trip. Glass in the windows, two large bedrooms and nice furnishings.

The front porch with the man-powered washing machine and tubs. We saw washing machines like this one in the Route 66 Museum at the first part of the trip. There is a barn and other out buildings and several pieces of farming equipment.

Just inside the entrance in the main room of the house is the wash basin. This was probably located here so the family members could wash up after working out on the farm as soon as they entered the house.

The old west street.

The curator, Teresa, decides that the Bear can work off his sentence at the guest counter in the visitor center of the Territorial Prison Historical Site. So don't worry, he'll be coming home with us.

This monument is on the University of Wyoming campus. We didn't spend any time on the campus. After visiting the Territorial Prison Historical Site we had a snack in a beautiful park in the shade of a tree. The weather is comfortable, but we see storm clouds moving in.

We stop at the Chamber of Commerce to pick up a self guided tour map of the Historical are of Laramie then stop at Wendy's for lunch. We decide to go back to the trailer to rest and just in time. The storm moves in on a strong wind which rocks the trailer and drops rain for a while. After dinner we head over to the Ice Arena to see the Fly Ball event. The event starts tomorrow, but the local participants are practicing. This is an event for dogs and their people. The dogs work in teams of 4 on a relay basis. Each dog must run in a lane, clearing gates, hit a platform that releases a tennis ball. The ball is retrieved, the dog runs back in the lane to deliver the ball to it's handler. As soon as the dogs passes a point on it's return the next dog is released to perform the same fete.

We don't get to see the Historical Old Town due to the thunder storm, and when we get back to the trailer a second thunder storm blows through.

Tomorrow we head for Rock Springs.

July 23: Ogallala, Nebraska

The Great Platte River Archway Monument. This spans the width of I-80. We look this up in the Nebraska Travel Guide we picked up at the Visitor Center. By the time we find out what this monument entails it is too late to stop. It includes a museum covering the development of the west. This archway is quite impressive and visible from miles away.

Just past the archway is this "abandoned" state coach.

"Wind Sculpture" in a pond at the rest stop near North Platte. The panels are hinged so that the wind can make them move. The wind is light today and two of the panels are moving slightly. As you can see the panels face in several directions so that what ever the direction of the wind there will be movement somewhere in the sculpture.

While photographing the sculpture we see these huge mushrooms in the grass. These have been pulled up, most likely by children. Whether they are edible we do not know.

Here we are again under a T-storm watch. We finally have cable TV service and can watch the news and keep informed about the weather. This is the sky to the west of us, and.....

this is the sky to the east of us. We see a couple of flashes of lightning, hear a few rolls of thunder in the distance, have a light sprinkling of rain, but that is it so far. The clouds lift from the western horizon a little and the sunset is beautiful.

We may take in some of the points of interest tomorrow, or just head on to Wyoming where it is cooler. The temps are going to be in the high 80's & low 90's here tomorrow, and with this humidity it is not comfortable outside. It is good that the trailer has an air conditioner.

July22: Grand Island, Nebraska

Nebraska, entering another state. This bridge takes us over the Missouri River which is the state line between Iowa and Nebraska. We are on a bee line for home from now on. If we see something of interest we will check it out, but today is a camp, rest and plot the path to home day. We need to be home by the 3rd of August. After the first month and a half we were both wanting to be home, then we got over that and wanted to keep traveling.



Linda thinks of her experiences riding horses and feels the old saying is true, "The horse has to be encouraged to head away from the barn, but is ready to make a fast return."



We have seen a great amount of flat land or rolling hills. We see rolling hills when we first enter Nebraska, but soon we are looking at scenes like this. We will have to get use to the mountains again after we cross the Rockies.

We know we have loads of photos of corn fields, but this one caught our eyes.

This is a field damaged by flooding from the heavy rains. We are traveling north of the areas where the flooding was so devastating, but have seen some fields that show the effects.

Many of the Fields we have driven by have been replanted after the soil dried enough. Many farmers have put in soy beans in these areas instead of corn.

Finally a group of farm building and silos close enough to really see them. If one were on an exhibition to photograph farms, silos and barns our path of travel so far would be excellent.

In the past week most of the corn crops have blossomed out. The KOA RV park where we are camped is on the grassy side of this fence. Dan is 6'1", so this gives an idea of how tall the corn is. We can also see that the stalks have fairly good sized ears. This is "dent corn", the variety used to produce animal feed and ethanol. Before this crop is harvested it is left to dry out. Unlike "sweet corn" which is the type consumed by us people.

The stalks are so close together that weeds can't grow. The farms, fields, towns, and landscapes we have passed through in the past month are picture perfect. Green, clean and well taken care of. We have seen State Pride among the citizens of these state and it is impressive.

July 21, Madison County, Iowa

Today we stopped in Adel to stay the night. We discover that we are right at he edge of Madison County, the place written about in the book "The Bridges of Madison County". It's a short drive and has several historic covered bridges. We pick up a map here. We also find that the town of Winterset, where this Visitor Center is, is the birth place of John Wayne. Now we have two points of interest to visit.

City Hall in Winterset, Madison Count, Iowa.

Read the street sign. As always, this town has wonderful old, old buildings which are well preserved.

John Wayne's boyhood home.

The Duke in bronze.

We find this bridge in a beautiful park where there is also a hedge maze. The bridges are all almost identical so we visit just this one. The gate to the maze is locked. It would have been fun to go through it.

None of the bridges have water running under them, and most have been relocated to the area around this little town.

We walk across the bridge and explore the park area.