2010 Christmas in Kentucky

As we traveled beyond the Arch and Busch Stadium and

on across the Mississippi

I remembered the song we used to sing before Thanksgiving - Over the river and thru the woods - to Dolores's house we go!  

It wasn't as nice out as we'd been having - but again - the weatherman says there is a storm coming - seems we've been staying just long enough to be sandwiched between them all along!

Loiusville was waiting for us - along with some blue (ish) skies!  The trip didn't seem as long as it has before - maybe I'm just enjoying this trip way to much! ;-)

And Chaito had another friend waiting for playtime!  Dolores and Kenny were dogsitting Jackson - and they (both dogs) absolutely had a blast.  They would play and roll until we thought they should be exhausted - and rest a bit - and play some more... oh... for the energy!!

Chaito even got his own lamb Chop!!

Keith and I got books and smellies, and food (Kentucky style)

I even got gifts!  

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve!  It has been several years since Keith spent Christmas with his family - Dolores's girls brought their families and friends over for dinner and gift exchange.  I met Keith's nieces and nephews,  everyone ate - and then of course (like Chaito) many were ready for naps.  On Sunday, Faith and a friend joined us for Church and a really rushed dinner before heading back to their home - Dolores had to take Mom, Melody, and Heather back also.  The van that Dolores borrowed for the trip was so full that the 'loot' from the exchange had to be left for Monday's trip over.  I brought sample boxes for the exchange.  Samples of good Oregon product - straight from my kitchen LOL - and I do think that everyone liked what was in them.  I didn't see anyone 'sharing' or doing any trading - I didn't know that there were going to be so many there (I wasn't really thinking - of course) so I didn't have them boxed to distribute better - and I'll know better next time!  I learn something each and every day ;-)

Christmas dawned with another play date - Jackson was waiting at the door for Chaito to be able to play!

And the snow arrived!

And it was a great day to hide our noses and nap! or otherwise relax! ;-)

I miss having the family occasions like we used to have.  It seemed so much more like Christmas this year than in years past.

Tomorrow morning we say another good-by and head towards Florida!  Kenny gave us the updates and tips on getting the best for our house when we return - so - it's time to go put it on the market and cross our fingers!!

Happy New Year!!

2010 - On towards St Louis!

It's along about the 2nd half of December and we've been really, really lucky for travel weather!  No matter how you cut it - it is a long, long trip but.... I enjoy driving .... I LOVE watching the countryside and all the beautiful vistas that God put into this truly amazing USA ~ just for us!!!  How lucky are we!!!

To try and keep Chaito from getting really stressed - we took 'his' bed and blanket in with us each night!  There was a light dusting of snow on the ground as we went over to the breakfast at Best Western in Santa Rosa.  It had pretty much turned to a drizzly rain by the time we got loaded up and ready to go.  Chaito sure kept a good close eye on his buddy ~ I'm thinking that he wanted to make sure we didn't leave him - and we didn't!! ;-)

Keith and Chaito make perfect travel partners!

We had lunch here at Shamrock, OK.  The whole town was done up with the theme.  It was cute to 

see.

When we left Yukon, Oklahoma our trip meter was 3,828.4 miles.  This is the number of trip miles from the time we stopped for gas in Florence, OR.  That's a lot of miles folks!

More of the flat scenery that is so prevalent all the way through the center of our country.  It's flat and in December - it's brown - and I've been thru here in the summer - and it's like the song says - "Amber waves of grain" - it all seems to have a beauty of it's own.  I am in somewhat of a somber reflective mood as I drive through here.  This is the morning that Linda texted me that Uncle Jim passed on during the night.  Probably ~ in a really strange way - the scenery calmed me.

And we have arrived in St. Charles!  Chaito has his spot all picked out!  There was some really, really cold weather just in front of us - school closures and all sorts of stuff - but - we are in luck - it's cold and there is some snow and ice leftovers - but the skies stayed blue and the sun shining for our whole trip!

We got to St. Louis in time for the 'Portrait Party' that April has planned.  Ricks whole family came in mass and this really great lady came in and took portraits for us.  Ricks family is very upbeat and lively - They came - they posed - we ALL ate (and ate, and ate), and it was time to nap! LOL





The Orf house was all decorated for Christmas and even had a jigsaw puzzle set out for everyone to stop and try to fit a piece ~ each and every time we walked past.  Chaito stayed with them for the few days we were there - a bit easier on him than in the hotel room.  He, Monica, and Nana made fast friends - at least I think they did - no one told me any different!

I got this great idea that I was going to try to map our trip - I got as far as Coos Bay to Bremerton - and took this photo - and lost the map - So much for that great idea - but you can see by this - we literally visited 2 corners of the country (Bremerton and San Diego) before heading across with our final destination being Florida (and Keith really does want to do the Keys before we head back out!)

We spent a fun evening bowling, touring the Christmas decorations, looking all over for a Coldstone Ice Cream shop - finally settling on Steak and Shake - where April felt enough of an appetite to actually, really eat something (I'm so proud of her!), and the final photo is at the Orf's - Elizabeth is teasing about their less-than-full-size tree!


















It's been a great trip so far!!

2010 - Eastward Travel!

When we got close to Bullhead City we stopped and got all the fixins' for Dad (and Keith's) favorite dinner.  Meatloaf.  I don't know that I do anything special to it - just empty the fridge into some hamburger - bake it - and put it on the table.  But they like it ~ so we got the stuff.  We got almost there and Dad called.  I figured he was just looking for an ETA - but that wasn't it.  Uncle Jim has taken a turn and Dad needed to get there.  I convinced him to just hang out and wait for the 10 minutes it would take for us to arrive.  And he did.  During that 10 minutes he packed, changed clothes, had his jacket on, and suitcase in the car - ready to go!

Unfortunately, there was no flight to North Bend, OR that night.  Eventually, he calmed down enough to take off his jacket and sit down while I tried to simultaneously find a decent flight online and fix dinner.  Finally got him booked out of Vegas on the first flight into San Fransisco - and then on up to North Bend.  Due to the circle jerk that is called an airport board up there - the Portland connections with Alaska (which were great by the way) are no longer available.  So Dad sat in the LV airport waiting for the SFO weather to clear so that the plane he was supposed to be on at 7 or so AM could take off at 10:30.  and guess what... he missed his connection to North Bend.  Another circle jerk... Sounded so much like the flight I had out of North Bend in April.  So - Dad left Bullhead at 4 am so he can be there in time, sat in the airport for an extra 3+ hours, made it to SFO and sat there for another 4 or 5 hours, to get to arrive in North Bend (and someone was waiting to take him to Powers to Uncle Jim) at 8:30!  The whole time worrying himself to a frazzle because he was afraid that the man he'd known as a brother for over 50 years would be gone before he could get there.  In the end - If Dad had left Bullhead - driving - stopped and spent the night somewhere - and continued on - he would have arrived in Powers before the flight arrived in North Bend.  AND he would've had his car, AND he wouldn't have had to spend an enormous amount for a return trip - that ended up just like the one out!!  The morning flight couldn't take off due to weather - so they canceled it - caught the next one and missed their connections (Evelyn came back with him) and arrived back in LV about 10 hours late - with Leona sitting there waiting to pick them up.  Boy - I'm sure glad I wasn't a fly roaming around inside of Dad's head while either of those trips were happening!

But back to the story, Dad made it in time.  He was there for several days before I received the text message from Linda saying Uncle Jim had gone on to heaven.  I am glad that Dad made it - glad that Uncle Jim is out of his pain - and content with the fact that he lived a good long life and was ready to go.  Rest in Peace Uncle Jim!

So - since Dad wasn't around, we left Bullhead ~ with our little Chaito sooo glad to be going with us - I opened the pick-up door and he loaded up - no problem!



Oh, and I forgot to tell you, on the way between Reno and Bullhead - we stopped at AREA 51 - it isn't anything but a little water stop and we bought t-shirts - but we STOPPED!! LOL

 See Chaito settled right in to his designated pose!!

 This is just a sample of the "hills" between Bullhead City and Kingman.  If you look closely enough there is the top portion of the highway threaded thru and between the little peak on the right and side of the top... and a great view from the top too - just like driving straight into the sky!

 At Kingman, we stopped, got milkshakes and headed towards Flagstaff where we planned to stopfor the night.

 Williams was a very interesting looking place, and oddly enough, it looked vaguely familiar... you know why - because we've been through here before!!  I had to look it up on the map to try and figure it out!  I knew I'd never been through Kingman - so I was just kind of - hey ... deja vu or what! LOL  AND it is a very, very kool lookin' town too!

 And we did try to stop at Geronimo - it is a ghost town - 1 major building -  if it is any more than that - it was well hidden - we did see a souvenir shop with a couple of tepee's sitting next to it - but - we didn't stop.

 Really neat rock formations along I40 between Geronimo and

 the Hard Rock Casino at one of the many, many Arizona reservations.  We checked into stopping at one - but none of them allowed a dog.  Geez, not much into 'senior' tourists - we all travel with our new-found babies - and these places were out in the middle of NO WHERE... or if not . . they weren't where any amenities could be found! LOL

 Some of what I call awesome scenery.  Not awesome in the same awesome as the what Mike, Brett, and Sharen get pictures of - I surely enjoy my drives :-]

 An truly barren rest area !

A working oil field LOL - 

we stopped for the night at Flagstaff.  Had a nice meal, planned our travel for tomorrow, kicked back and watched tv for the evening.  Tomorrow is another day and some more miles!

Just outside of Flagstaff is a true amazement.  It is where a meteor hit the earth some who-know's how many eon's ago.  We (as in I) followed the sign off of  I40 - up and down the rolling high desert scenery for some 10 -15 miles off in the opposite (not quite but...) direction - to find a fenced off area that hosted some rv's - a few cars - a strong breeze - and a truly helpful guide at the top of the stairs leading to the entrance to the Meteor Crater - I read the signs - they had tours, a theater-in-the-round playing a documentary of the Meteor Crater - all inclusive - for the paltry fee of $15 per person.  Best part was, since the wind was so strong ~ the tours were all closed - and no - there was no alternative rate since we couldn't actually go see the Crater (due to the wind).  So we thanked them and left to drive on some more!! LOL  There was a car that came in behind us - as we were walking back down the steps - they went up and paid 30 bucks to go watch a movie all about the Meteor Crater.  Well, I learned as much as the movie would've taught me online - and did it at my own pace too!

Enough for now....