Finish Line Map

Here is our last map.

In contrast, here is our last map from our trip in 2006.  In that year, we went north first, as we left on August 28 and came home in November.  

Our Final Report

Looking back through the pictures, I realized again how beautiful this country is, and that the best way to see it is to drive through it, taking as much time as you can.  Each area is so different and each has it's own beauty.  Many of the best views we saw could not be photographed because of the immensity of the viewscape.

There are so many places that I want to visit again and hope that I will have that chance.  Gotta stay healthy!!

I remember driving over the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge and knowing that I would love to explore that area some day - it will be a while until it dries out.

Our total mileage was 11,411 miles.  Our mpg was 15, even with headwinds and many steep mountains and fully loaded.  Good job, RoadTrek and Dodge Ram

Because of West Coast gas prices (as high as $4.379 in Ca, due mainly to higher taxes), our average cost per gallon was $3.72.  Lowest prices were in Texas and Arizona at $3.299/gal.  But I'm glad we didn't wait until next year - who knows what next year will bring!

To all of you who patiently hosted us, many thanks.  We have many good memories of our visits with you, and we hope you know that our homes are open to you here in Virginia.  We'll even come to the airport in DC to pick you up (Dulles if you can, please)!

A collection of miscellaneous photos follows.

A view from the road in Washington State

The swamp behind our campsite in Louisiana

The view of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge Visitor Center

An interesting plant in a park in Washington State

Cliffs of the scablands of Eastern Washington - enlarge it so you can see the colored lichens on the basalt.

A view from the road somewhere.

A statue in North Dakota

A Palo Verde tree in Phoenix, AZ

A close up of an Agave plant in Tuscon, AZ

Cactus specimen in Tucson, AZ

View from campground in Oracle, AZ

Redwoods in California campground

Petrified wood at Gingko State Park in eastern Washington

Sculptures at Wild Horse Monument in Montana

Love you all!! Stay in touch.

Carole's Tornado

We arrived home Tuesday afternoon.  It was great to return to the beautiful views of Virginia - one of the Shenandoah Valley is below.

Below are several pictures of the damage at Carole's house - it appears that the house was not damaged  except for slight damage to the deck rail, although the sunporch roof leaked along the outside walls.  Volunteers had come in and cut up the big trees that were blocking the roads, and made huge piles of the smaller branches.  This area used to be covered with thick woods.  If you need firewood, call Carole!

We will post one more blog with the last map and some miscellaneous photos, later this week.

Thank you for following us - hope you enjoyed the trip as much as we did!

Nearing the End of the Road

Boy, are we behind in the Blog.  Hope to catch you up today. 

We crossed the width of Missouri to arrive at West Plains, which is south of Springfield. There we spend three nights with our friend Jill and her husband Scott.  They have a farm waaaay out in the country and are active in the Missouri Fox Trotters business.  Here is their horse Arlie with his trainer, who they hope will take some honors in the big June show.  Scott showed off his new tractor and attachments, and then put it to good use dragging the van out of the mud as we were leaving – piece of cake!  We went to one of the local prairie preserves where Vera saw these beautiful grasses.

Our next stop was in Lexington, Ky, but to get there, we had to cross multiple flooded  rivers – the Mississippi, the Ohio, and the Missouri, which all sort of converge at Cairo Illinois, as you have read in the news.  Because many bridges were closed, we had to go north into Illinois, cut east and then south into Kentucky.  The extent of flooding was astounding.

Kentucky has some beautiful rolling hills and the parkways just flow along the countryside.  In one small town, we saw these great horse sculptures.

Lexington is a beautiful, prosperous looking town.  We visited Elizabeth's (Vera’s daughter) stepmother Kathy and half brother (Kathy's stepson) Chris.  Confusing isn’t it.  Glad they are family,  and we hope for a longer visit next time. Kathy gave us a private tour of the Univ. of Kentucky Art Museum (she is the Director there).

We headed east to West Virginia and were rewarded with more curvy mountain roads (the WV Turnpike is extreme), and will arrive at Carole’s home in Mount Jackson on Tuesday and survey the tornado damage at Carole's house.

We passed the 10,000 mile mark the other day, and our backends really feel it.  We’ll be glad to be home and out of the van, but it has served us well.

May 4 Map

The Blizzard of Spring 2011

Yes, the spring blizzard did hit Montana, and North and South Dakota, shutting down Interstate 90 and others, blacking out much of eastern Montana and causing huge drifts.  On Saturday morning, there was a light coating of snow at Glendive MT, but the wind was blowing more than 50mph, so we decided to stay put until Sunday.  At 10am I met a lady checking out of the motel, and at 6pm, I met her checking in again.  She had gone 15 miles east to find snowdrift filled roads and it took her 6 hours to return to where she started!  We were lucky that we had stayed put!

Before we became blizzard-bound in Glendive, Carole received word early Thursday morning that a tornado had torn through the development where she lives – a stressful time of not knowing what had happened to her house was somewhat relieved when her daughter finally was able to enter the development on Sunday to find that, while most of the forest was gone, Carole’s house was the lucky one with no trees through the roof!  All of the power poles were downed, but have been replaced and electricity is on again.  Volunteers came Monday and cut up most of the downed trees – still a lot to do though and Carole obviously wants to be home.  So, we are heading eastward faster than planned.

Sunday, we left our safe place in Montana, and soon crossed into North Dakota.  At Bismarck we turned south towards South Dakota.  South Dakota and the other Midwestern states have had way too much rain, so the landscape with filled with new ponds and lakes, and beautiful skies.

Driving through the beautiful countryside of South Dakota, we tried and tried to get a great picture of the beautiful male pheasants that we could see along the grassy roadsides.  But every time we would stop, they would take off, running with their tails and heads high in the air, directly away from us.  Some even hunched down under the grass and scurried along, until they popped cheerful a good distance away,  seeming to say ‘ha-ha, catch me if you can”.  Beautiful birds!  Here’s not a picture of a pheasant – gone!

We stopped to view the falls at Sioux Falls which were impressive (when we were here in 2006, there was a drought and the falls weren’t), and then moved on into Nebraska. 

We stopped at our favorite museum in Camberlain, SD, at the St. Joseph Indian School, where this sculpture greets the students.

Through South Dakota into Nebraska along the Missouri River we drove, where we found a beautiful campground at Ponca State Park, which had a wonderful nature and river discovery center.  The state parks are finally open – May has arrived.  This sculpture was at Ponca State Park.

Tuesday’s drive brought us to into Sioux City, Iowa, along the Missouri River, and further south to a campground just north of Kansas City, Mo.   We will sneak over to Kansas so that Carole can mark that state off her list (both of us now have all of the lower 48 and Vera has Alaska too).

.

Here are some strange sculptures we have seen along the way.

Some of  you have asked about the puppies.  Missy and Maggie are both wellk, but a bit bored we think. They often ride along up front, sleeping between the two front seats (on top of the maps and papers and snack bags)  What a life!

We love Montana

We were so impressed with the Montana landscape on our trip in 2006, specifically the Rocky Mountains.  The various mountainous clusters of the Rockies are interspersed with this high valleys and foothills, rounded and smoothed by eons of erosion.  We actually used the Interstate (I-90) because of the altitude, and even those roads were winding and steep.

We crossed the Continental Divide at 6693 feet.  We spent a night in Butte and another in Bilings where we had another Roadtrek problem fixed.  The furnace wasn’t working properly (a necessity in this climate) because of (get this) some “mud dauber nests”! 

From Butte to Billings, the landscape changed from tree covered and snow capped mountains to rocky outcrops and rolling foothills with beautiful ranches along the way and up in the hills.

Rain accompanied us as we drove east of Billings, from Miles City to Glendive, Montana, where we are now holed up in a motel, awaiting the forecasted blizzard tonight and tomorrow.  When it is safe, we will head over to North Dakota and then down to South Dakota. 

Why so many Walmart’s and motels?  The National Forest campgrounds and the State Park campgrounds in Washington and Montana are all closed until May 1!  Hopefully, our luck will be better in the Dakota's.