Just because I can

 

Friday cat

 

Yeah, this!

 

. . . and away we go

 Just a few sights as we travel the countryside.

Wyoming

The smoke is from the fire in Colorado that I posted about last week.

 

 

So . . .   which one is really Prime?

 

 

 

 

 

 

  It seems like we were in Nebraska forever

 

 

Illinois

 

 

 

 

No, we didn't drive straight through.
There was an overnight in Nebraska and another at Davenport, Iowa.
Another thing that happened was the weather turned colder.

The nice thing was we got to see the grand nephew again, then flew home.

glad we beat the latest lockdown quarantine.

Home . . .

 . . . but not for long.

It's only 540 miles from West Wendover [or slightly less than 8 hours if you only stop for fuel].
It was Friday and we were happy to be traveling westbound, out of the mountains.

When we got here the first order of business was to unload the care and wash clothes.

While we were on the road MB's sister-in-law had moved into the guest room.
She was driving back to Ohio, from which she had only flown a week and a half earlier.
She was leaving Monday morning.
We were driving with her in her car.
We're taking a more direct route, but avoiding Chicago.
I will probably always try to avoid Chicago unless it is specifically the destination.
I will probably also avoid Denver.
It's about driving in or near those cities.

But I digress.

It was a weekend full of activity, mostly good-byes and few tears.
SIL was leaving a lot of family behind, but the timing was right.

She'd been furloughed from here job because of Covid 19, then terminated.
The job search had been a real disappointment because the offerings all came up short.
Unemployment doesn't even cover a house payment, the wages offered aren't much better.

So the house goes on the market and sells in three days for more than the asking price.
The goods, except for the ones MB and I transported, are packed for a mover and loaded just before closing the deal.
We packed our bags and some snacks.
Now it's time to hit the road again.

It's 664 miles to where we stayed at Salt Lake City.

We crossed a few boundaries.

We actually stopped  for something besides fuel.

The furry critter is Sumatra, shortened to Sumi and sometimes called Mow [rhymes with ow].
He travels well.

You know you're getting close when you see the smokestack at Rio Tinto's Kennecott copper Smelter.
It's visible for miles.

A more pleasant sight.

Actually I was trying to get the hills in the background.

Then there was a stop at Costco before Sugarhouse Barbeque [that's how they spell it], I wouldn't mention it if it wasn't good.
This is how they do it.

more travels tomorrow

Happy Birthday, Pop!

This man won my mother's heart and was my father from 1951 until one day shy of his 90th birthday.
He occasionally played the accordion, but we didn't hold that against him.

Sums it up

 

Friday cat

 

Pictures tell a story, too

But here's the setup.
Originally we planned to stay the night at Laramie, WY.
Our long detour put an end to that, so we spent the night in Loveland, stopping at Costco on the way out of town and finding a local place to eat breakfast in Laramie before heading west on I-80.

The weather had changed.
It was really windy.
The winds from the west had caused a huge wildfire on the northwest corner of  the Rocky Mountain NP to flare up such that the visibility in Loveland and Fort Collins was greatly reduced, not to mention the smell.
Just a sample.

Wyoming had no smoke, but there were other issues . . .

. . . almost all the way to Salt Lake City.
There were two semis sleeping on their sides on the side of the freeway near Rawlins.

We made it as far as West Wendover, NV,  where we spent the night.
The only sightseeing was at the Salt Flats.

Where were we?

 Oh, yeah . . .

Colorado is noted for its Rocky Mountains.
We'd driven through them a little over a week before, but it had been dark most of that time because we'd started out at some unnatural hour.
We weren't in such a hurry this day so we drove west on I-70 with the idea we would head north and drive through Rocky Mountain National Park.

The weather was gorgeous.
It was about a two hour drive to the south entrance to the park.
The scenery is spectacular and the road traverses the Continental Divide.

Yep, it says 11,307 feet

We were halfway to the park at this point.

There's a visitor center just outside the entrance, so we stopped to see what the highlights of the park are.
Almost the first thing we heard from a ranger was there were issues with the highway at the highest part of the park, something about ice.
We decided to go ahead anyway.

About ten miles into the park we stopped again.

You can't get there from here!

We were informed that the road might open that afternoon, but they were still removing ice from the pavement near the next summit.
We were determined that we'd see the park so we reversed direction and drove back the way we'd driven, not quite back to Denver.

So we saw a lot more than we'd planned by taking back roads through the foothills to Estes Park and entering the national park from the east side.

The long way around.
When we reached the east entrance we found that the road had been opened about a half hour after we turned around.
We also found that we were not going to be able to get to the Alpine Visitor Center at the top of the park before it closed.
Besides the wind was really gusting that late in the day.
However, we did get some pretty spectacular views.

I'm gonna strongly suggest that you click on the images below to get the full effect

Even then you can't imagine how spectacular it is.

For our next stop we drove to Loveland, CO, where we stayed the night.

next, Wyoming

Then we made haste

We stopped for a bite to eat in St Louis at Steak and Shake.
Then made our way across Missouri to Lawrence, KS.

Next stop is Denver, more specifically, Arvada, where just so happened that we were able to connect with MB's niece, who is attending college for post graduate studies.

I marvel at the tenacity of the pioneers who crossed the plains by wagon making, at best, 20 miles per day.
I wonder what else they did to occupy their interest.

but, wait, there's more

The downside

Maybe "downside" is too strong a term.
It makes it seem like we don't look forward to coming home.
I mean we still have more than five days left.

So . . . our next stop is at Terre Haute because we don't care to drive all the way to St. Louis and arrive in the dark.

If we'd had the time, we'd have made our stop at St. Louis while traveling east, but the timing wasn't right.
We had two reasons for stopping there.
The first is there is a national park.

The Arch is easier to find than this sign.

It's pretty much visible from a distance.

The second reason to stop is a little more solemn and the main reason we went out of our way to go back through St. Louis again.

There is a place in the lower left (Sec. 82) that's special.

I can't imagine not visiting whenever I have an opportunity.
This is the third time.
It was a little dusty.

More adventures

 After the weekend in the cornfields of NW Ohio, celebrating the christening and visiting family we only see periodically, we headed north.
MB's sons had other plans and went west.

We took MB's sister-in-law, the grand nephew's grandmother, to the Toledo airport to fly back here to finish packing her belongings so move [maybe we'll eventually get to that tale].
Then we headed for Lansing, MI to visit PHG, my stepdaughter.
We spent a full day catching up, of which there was lots to do, because we only text one liners mostly.
We visited a cider mill.

not a golf course

The orchard, on the right was in full fruit.

Early Thursday, before daylight, we got on the road again to visit one of our favorite places.

NO!
Not Mackinaw City, this place.

Not here, but where it leads to . . .

. . . Mackinac Island.
It was brisk day, but mostly Sunny, and we'd have a full day to explore.
We checked in with the hotel so we wouldn't have to wait in line at check-in time.
Then walked back to the village for lunch, where we were entertained by a gull [try as I might I can't find the photos].

We wandered around town for a bit [looking for magnets, if you have to know], bought some fudge . . .  because that's a thing on the island, had some coffee, and returned to the hotel.
There was still ample time before dinner, a dressy affair at our hotel, to explore some more.
So we walked back down into the town and rented bicycles (because we didn't realize that bike rentals were included with our room) and wandered counterclockwise around the island.

There are photos from the ride I can't find, too.
The official measurement is 8.2 miles.
We obviously must've done some redundancy.
Also we realize we need to ride more often.

We returned to our hotel after turning in the bikes and dressed for dinner, which we enjoyed.
Then we went to our room and slept.

Breakfast is also included with the room.
It is well presented, with many offerings.
Then it's time to check out and work off the food.
We, again, wandered through the town, exploring for magnets and that one thing you can't live without.
We have a magnet now, to go with the others we've accumulated in our travels.

if you click on the image you might be able to read some of the magnets

We have room for more.
When these panels are full we can always put some on the fridge.

Then it was time to catch the ferry and head south.
We were meeting my brother-in-law, and others in the Detroit area for dinner.
What fall colors we saw on the drive were spectacular because of the contrast.

Do we try to cram too much into too little time?

just asking

Friday cat (and dog)

 

. . . and so

 . . . we arrived in Ohio.
Dayton to be precise, not our final destination.

We were this close (> <) to Wright-Patterson AFB, where there's a museum I really want to see, but we arrived late and had other things to do early the next day, so we'll have to visit another time.

We had a nice brunch with family friends who recently moved there from here.
Then we went to Costco to buy fuel and headed to our local destination.

 

Yeah, it was next to a cornfield.
There's a lot of that back there.
It has nothing to do with why we're there.

MB is with the main reason we're in Ohio.

. . . er, why we're there.

Some folks have other priorities.

The Bug knows there's always a good time to nap.

further adventure's will follow

. . . and further

It's a long way to Ohio and we have to be there on Friday.
That means the rest of the way across Colorado [and the Rockies] and most, if not all of Kansas.

Days 4 and 5:
Up before daybreak and into Denver not quite in time for the morning rush hour.
First things first is gas and travel snacks at the Costco in Arvada.
Then back onto Interstate 70.

Yeah, it's like that all the way to Topeka, a little less than 800 miles

Well, with this one exception.

We all went our separate ways for dinner; found our hotel after dark.

Then we were up before sunrise, which we saw while crossing the Missouri River at Kansas City.

We were in Dayton Ohio before dark, a little more than 650 miles.