August 10, Green River UT to home

Up before 6:00 to pack the car for the final time and eat breakfast.  Tonight we will sleep in our own bed.

The morning drive through Utah was such a contract to what we had seen in Colorado.  Rather than sharp peaks, the landscape was filled with canyons and large colorful, rock formations.  There were many view points to look at the beatify and we stopped at a couple of them. The formation pictured is called Ghost Rock. We hope to get back to this area next year.  It is stunning.

One of the areas that we always look forward to seeing when traveling on Highway 15 is the Virgin River Gorge, in the upper corner of Arizona. Over about 20 miles, the interstate drops about 4,000 feet and exits through a narrow portal from the Utah plateau unto the flat desert of Nevada.  The temperature jumped to well over 100 degrees by the time we exited the canyon.

Then it is just putting in the miles unto reaching Las Vegas.  There were stopped at our all time favorite Vegas Buffet at Main Street Station.  A great final meal for a great trip.  It is the number 1 rated value buffet in Vegas.  We always are pleased with our meals there.

Then, only 300  more miles to home.  It was with a happy cheer that Dick said, “Welcome to California”.  It is good to be headed home.

We arrived home at 6:30, having driven over 11,000 miles in 43 days, passed through 30 states and two Canadian provinces, and visited so many historic and natural sites.   We both have now been to all 50 states. We love this country!!!  We now have a mile zero sticker from Key West (this is from US Highway 1 which runs from Key West to Maine) to balance our Alaskan Highway sticker on the back of the car.  We had previously visited Maine and we live in San Diego.  We have been to the extremes of the country.

As we drove those last miles home, we reviewed our trip, day-by-day.   We feel so blessed and fortunate that we could experience such an unbelievable trip.  Of course, a continuing highlight was that we were hosted by many friends and family during the trip.  Their gracious hospitality was very special. We learned so much about the history and geography of this country.  Our brains and spirits are  feeling a bit full right now.


Finally, we unloaded the car, and were happy to be safe and sound at home as we began to really think about reentering our normal lives. 

Thanks for following our travels and adventures   May you have some great adventures of your own.

August 9, Estes Park CO to Trailridge Road, to Aspen to Green River Utah

We woke up to a beautiful day, wishing we could stay a little longer, but today would be a great drive through some amazing mountain areas.

We drove up the Trail Ridge Road which crosses the continental divide, the highest continuously paved highway in the country.  It is within Rocky Mountain National Park with its highest point at 12,183 feet.  It is like having climbed a mountain and then staying on the top ridges with great views down into the valleys.  

The road stayed above 10,000 feet for over an hour.  The drive was splendid with views to photograph at every turn. 

We stopped and watched the marmots and the pikas, both mammals that thrive in these high elevations.  The pikas, related to rabbits, were busily harvesting grasses to feed them over the long winter when they do not hibernate.  We saw many of the scurrying around with a clear sense of urgency.   We have always liked them since they are so cute.  They are in danger from more than predators, they are very sensitive to heat.  Because of global warming, they are having to retreat higher and higher on the mountains.  They are out of luck when they run out of mountain. 

The yellow-bellied marmots, a close relative of the eastern groundhogs, were busy getting fat to get them through their hibernation.  They had obviously been successful since they were moving very slowly and looked quite round.

From the Trailridege Highway, we drove south to interstate 70 passing by Winter Park, the largest ski resort in CO.  Once on 70, we passed other major ski areas, such as Copper Mountain and Vail.  We turned south climbing unto a high plateau, as we traveled to Leadville. This has been the center of mining in CO.  To the south of Leadville, we turned west again passing along the shoulder of Mount Elbert, the highest mountain in CO.  Our immediate destination was Independence Pass which provided switch back climb and detent which gave us spectacular Alpine views.  More photos, more mountains.  WOW!!

We made a brief stop at a mining ghost town, called Independence.  During the 1880s they had nearly 2000 residents.  This was a harsh town to live in. During the winter, they tunneled through the deep snow to avoid the deep snow and brutal wind and cold.  Although gold was found (over $190,000 worth was removed in two years), the town was quickly abandoned when the gold played out, and an easier life was available in Aspen.

Now the town is left more to the wildlife, both big and small.

Aspen was our next destination, but not the town of Aspen itself which we drove quickly through.  We were headed to The Maroon Bells, another of Dick’s all time favorite mountain areas.  We arrived in the late afternoon when the light was really interesting especially through the aspen trees. 

We were told by the ranger, that a helicopter rescue was in progress and we observed the helicopter hovering high on the mountain peak, landing at a temporary base not far from where we were and taking off again.  Later, we saw an ambulance driving into the park.  We hope that the rescue was successful. We were reminded that these mountains are also called the Deadly Belles do to the dangerous rock climbing conditions. 

Meanwhile, we had the chance to do some walking around Maroon Lake at the base of the mountains.  These mountains and the surrounding ones are indeed a deep red color which is fabulous to see.  We saw a couple beaver lodges and even caught glimpse of one beaver swimming.  We could see why they named the nearby town, Aspen.  The lower mountains were covered with them.  They looked even more lovely than usual in the late afternoon, showery light.   

Our walk was caught a bit short as ominous dark clouds moved in and a thunderstorm began.  We hurried and missed getting soaking wet, but then got to enjoy the multiple rainbows and amazing clouds and light on the mountains.

Again, it would be great to stay longer, but we were now on our way home and decided to drive another 4 hours to get into Utah yet today.   We were struck by how quickly the land changed from alpine mountains to arid plateau.  The drive went fine, except for a great deal of road construction made trickier after dark.  We were happy to stop for the night, knowing we were now only about 13 hours from home.

August 8, Estes Park CO Rocky Mountain National Park

Today, for the first time in the last 41 days, we decided to spend the day doing different activities from each other.  Patti decided to take a day “off” and relaxed in the hot tub, read a murder mystery and rested.  She also had the chance to have a couple of nice phone calls with friends and family. Just what she needed.  She so enjoyed this lovely resort in EstesPark.  

Dick, on the other hand, had been looking forward to a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park.  He had chosen a destination of one of his favorite lakes in the park. It meant a two-hour climb up a well-maintained trail to “The Loch”.  This trail starts off through a lovely aspen grove that Dick remembers form fall hikes when everything was a golden glow.

The water was rushing over Alberta Falls just the way he remembered.   Most people were only going as far as the falls.  It was less than a mile to it and a crowd was gathered at the viewing area.

Above the Falls the trail moved into a more open area with beautiful vistas, before turning into a canyon.  Along the way he frequently encountered Golden Mantel Ground Squirrels.  They are not chipmunks, nearly three times larger. 

After the final climb into a moraine, Dick could see the lake and the mountains that surrounded it.  He had a leisurely lunch, before starting back down.  He was able to rejoin Patti after having been gone about 6 hours.   

Once Dick was back, tired, but very satisfied from all of the beauty, we had the chance to talk about our days.  We used the time in the evening to do some food prep, laundry and getting ready for the trip home.  We also caught some more of the Olympics.  We saw some of the track and field and diving.  The Olympic coverage finishes earlier when you are watching it on Mountain Time.  Finally, to bed.

August 7, Colby KS to Evergreen CO to Estes Park CO

Up and going early. One pleasure of early rising in the mid-west is the beautiful sunrises, each are so different.  This morning the sun rose right next to a large grain elevator.  Interesting  effect here on the western plains.

Into Colorado and then a turn to the far south-eastern corner for another stop on our Japanese internment camp tour.  As we drove the sight of yet another camp, we were struck by how isolated this camp was.  Amache Internment Camp, was another of the ten main camps the War Relocation Authority set up to incarcerate Japanese Americans, mostly US citizens from the West Coast.  This site was serious in the middle of nowhere.  We had hoped to make a visit to a small museum being curated by local high school students, but were unable to reach anyone to open it for us.  http://www.amache.org/

We were very pleased though at the fine interpretation done at the site of the camp itself.  They had the best brochure filled with excellent photos and descriptions.  This camp had the highest level of young men who volunteered and fought in WWII.  The resourcefulness of these people under incarceration is astounding, and at Amache they formed a cooperative store that did $40,000 a month in sales providing to one another essential items. 

We were again moved at the total injustice of the situation, and the importance that these people who suffered must not be forgotten.

As we were headed to the Denver area, we were following the route of the Old Santa Fe Trail, and discovered that we would be passing close by Bent’s Old Fort, a national historic site.  Dick quickly advocated that we should add that to our itinerary.  One unique aspect to this fort was that it was not a military fort, but rather a commercial fort.  It was in operation in the 1833s to 1849, where they outfitted trappers and traded for furs, especially with the Southern Cheyenne Indians.  This fort was in a critical location being about two months down the trail from Independence Missouri and so travelers were thrilled to have this island for civilization at the outer limits of the US territories, on the border of what was then Mexico. http://www.nps.gov/beol/index.htm

Another one of the unique features of this fort was that it was made out of abode, not the stereotypical wooden stockade.  It fell into disuse after a Calera epidemic decimated the Southern Cheyenne and there was no one to trace furs with.  Once not being maintained, the abode simply washed away.

Once the National Park Service took control over the land, they debated whether to try to rebuild the fort.  They were able to fine some details measurements and drawings that had been done when the fort was in its prime.  The fort was rebuilt and opened to the public in 1976?  Because it is not an original structure, but a living history site, visitors are able to touch things and see craftspeople and workers in action, without risking the archeological artifacts.  Again, we found the Park Service ranger and volunteers to be excellent in their knowledge and ability to present information in an accurate and interesting manner.  They were dressed in period clothing and were acting, as they would have at that time, but interpreted things to us.  We had a delightful conversation with a woman who was busily cooking beef tongue in a clay crock over coals on a hearth.  Yum, yum.  It was a fascinating visit.

As we drove further west the clouds built and threatened rain.  We only had a little fall on us but we did get a spectacular view of Pike's Peak with the storms moving over it. Then we drove through the rush hour traffic through Colorado Springs and Denver.  So many cars, moving slowly.  We climbed out of Denver through the foothills of the Rockies to Evergreen Colorado.  The road followed a narrow canyon that wound its way between steep cliffs.  It was breathtaking. 

In Evergreen, we were so pleased to see dear friends, Jenny and Bo who have a great home in the mountains there.  We were touched by their gracious hospitality, including Jenny’s triumphant new dishes she learned in gourmet chef classes.  We were feasting on am amazing food in a fabulous setting.  It was wonderful to reconnect and catch up on our lives and travels.  We were pleased to leave with an autographed copy of Jenny’s latest book.

The evening passed too quickly and it was rather late when we made the final drive of the day through the mountains northwest of Boulder to Estes Park CO where we would spend a couple of nights, next to Rocky Mountain National Park.

August 6, Hannibal MO Kansas City, Colby KS

Not too early of a start because we had to wait until the Mark Twain House and Museum opened at 9:00.  We drove into the Hannibal historic district, and found the museum a few moments after it had opened.  There was much information about Mark Twain’s life in Hannibal as a child, what the town was lie at that point, and especially its connection with Mississippi River traffic.  A highlight of the museum was an exhibition of Original Norman Rockwell illustrations used in an edition of both Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.  Rockwell came to Hannibal to get his inspiration and donated these drawings to the museum later on. 

We then walked over to Mark Twain (or really Samuel Clemens) boyhood home.  We also visited the home of Twain’s boyhood friend who became the inspiration for Huck Finn.  They did a good job of restoring the buildings and providing really good interpretation.

We also each took our turn white washing the picket fence as that happened in Tom Sawyer.  We had to take that photo.

Dick was drawn away, just as people had been at Twain’s time, to the sound of the calliope music.  He was transported back into time thinking of how people would have been drawn out of the town to greet the riverboat as it pulled up to the landing.  He could especially picture this; because he had the opportunity in 1968 to take a weeklong riverboat cruise on the Delta Queen with his grandfather.  In each town, the calliope would play and the people would appear.  Dick started to stand right by the calliope player and talk with him as he played.  He lost time of how many times he did that.  This was an extra sweet experience as those memories came flooding back.

Then in the car, and on to the next site:  Mark Twain’s birthplace, 40 miles west of Hannibal.  You really had to want to get there; it was pretty much out in the boondocks in Florida, MO.

To our surprise, we found the Mark Twain Shrine, which had been built around the cabin in which Samuel Clemens had been born.  We enjoyed another great movie, and seeing some furniture that had originally been in the Clemens’s home in Hartford.  We also learned that Samuel Clemens served for about 2 weeks in a Missouri militia, which all retreated and when home.  They did this when they heard that US Grant was coming to attack the militia.  Maybe that was a really good decision.  Twain said that he knew more about retreating than the guy who invented retreating.  This area was the very first that Grant was in command during the Civil War.

Patti was also interested in seeing that Mark Twain had written a book about Christina Science and seemed well acquainted with Mary Bake Eddy.  Fascinating.

As we were driving west across Missouri, we were struck by how stunted the corn was and even saw some fields had already been harvested obviously with no corn to sell, but needing to get it out of the field.  Sad to see this farmland in such a dried up state.

Late afternoon took us to St. Joseph Missouri and The Pony Express Museum.  The Pony Express was started in 1861?, just as the Civil War was looming. They were instrumental in providing timely information to California which resulted in CA voting for Lincoln in 1 860.  Lincoln's presidential victory was reported by Pony Express to the East Coast.  

 Previous to the Pony Express, news could reach CAL in a matter of three months or more.  The pony Express entrepreneurs promised they could get news passed by a serious of relay riders to CA in only 10 days.  There were about 80 riders who braved the heat of summer and the snows of winter, attacks by outlaws and Native Americans.  The advertisement called for young men, orphans preferred.  The riders ranged in age from 11 to 40 years old, most of them being late teens.  Letters and information got to the end of the railroad or telegraph lines in St. Josephs, and then were sent off, with return mail; coming back the other direction. 

This was state of the art communication for about 19 months, until the transcontinental telegraph was completed and it became outmoded.  BUT, the carrying of letters was not replaced until the completion of the transcontinental railroad.

We very much enjoyed learning more details about this venture, and found, not to our surprise at this point, that there were connection to the Civil War with the Pony Express, including many of the riders becoming soldiers for both the North and the South.

Traveling just a few miles south and crossing into Kansas at Atchison Kansas, we saw signs for Amelia Earhart’s birthplace.  This fit with our study of flight and the Wright Brothers, so we took a quick detour to view her grandparent’s lovely home overlooking the Missouri River.  Although the home (now a museum) was not open, we enjoyed looking at the dedication tiles from various members of the Ninety-Nines, a women’s pilot organization of which Amelia Earhart was the first president.   

We again had the opportunity to watch a beautiful sunset.  Of course we had to comment on how we were driving off into the sunset.  We slept that evening in the coolness of night at a rest area in western Kansas.

August 5, Bellbrook OH to Hannibal MO

We got up to rumbling thunder, and packed the car up just as the rain was beginning.  Goodbyes to John and Sajona, with thanks for all of their hospitality.

We drove around 45 minutes to the home of Jeanie, Dick’s former wife with whom he has been able to maintain a really nice friendship.  We were sorry to have missed seeing her husband who had to work that day.  Jeannie had prepared a delicious brunch for us and we had a very enjoyable time catching up on family, travel and news. Jeanie has two really nice golden retrievers who were very affectionate.  A nice visit, and then we were off into the rain.

We drove through rain for a couple hours, and then things began to dry up, and by the time we left Indiana we were driving under pretty fair skies.  Indiana passed without much excitement, and so did much of Illinois.  Because we were able to gain a little time, we were able to make a stop in Springfield IL.  Springfield was the Home of Abraham Lincoln when he was a congressman, had run for the Senate and was elected as president.   We got to see the outside of the home where he and his family lived for many years.  We watched an excellent National Park service video about the life of Lincoln in Springfield.  Again, it was touching to think we were walking around in the area where Lincoln walked many times.

Then it was just an hour and a half to Hannibal Missouri, just on the western side of the Mississippi River—the first time we have been west of it since the second week of July when we crossed into Vicksburg, MS.  We had dinner and settled in to catch up on our blogging and watch some more Olympics.  We really have had the sense that we are on our way home now heading ever westward.

August 4, Bellbrook OH

Slept in until nearly 9.  Half the day is gone.  A great night’s sleep.  Nice to have some morning time for a leisurely breakfast and more Olympics.

Around noon, we set off, first to go to our great nephew, Christopher’s, band car wash.  It was truly a band car wash in action, with the drum line set up right on the edge of the street to pull in business. 

Christopher made sure the car was correctly washed.

Then we went to visit some of the Wright Brother sites. The National Park sites of the Wright Brothers are collectively called The Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park. 

Clearly, from the Dayton Ohio perspective, this is where aviation was born.  This is where the Wright Brothers conceptualized and constructed their flying machines and where they really learned to fly.  While they acknowledged the first flights at Kitty Hawk, that location was clearly presented a matter of convenience of conditions.  Dayton at the turn of the 20^th century was a center of innovation with more patents per capita than any other community in the United States.

First stop was the Visitor’s Center and Wright Brother’s Bike Shop.  This visitor’s center is primarily focused on the Wright Brothers, but also an interpretive center for Paul Lawrence Dunbar, an extremely famous African American poetry and writer who lived at the same time as The Wrights, and graduated from High School with Orville.  The Wright Brothers, in their print shop business published Dunbar’s first newspaper. In their printing business, which they operated for many years before getting into the bike shop business, the brothers demonstrated their inventive mechanical ability by building their own printing press. It was also interesting to learn that they got their mechanical and mathematics abilities form their mother, not their father who was a minister. The second floor of the building housing the visitor’s center was the actual location of their printing press. 

Nearly next door to this was one of the locations that he brothers used for a bicycle shop.   We spent some time with a great park ranger who really helped bring alive how building and repairing high level custom bikes was instrumental to how they designed and constructed their airplanes.  We saw a wonderful exhibit that identified where various bicycle parts were used on the planes.  And the machine shop that was required for their bike business taught them how to manufacture the parts need for their planes.  The bikes they built and sold would sell for the equivalent of $3,000 in today’s money.

We had a nice light lunch near the sparklingly new minor league baseball filed in downtown Dayton.  Because Dick lived in Dayton for 20 years, he was very interested in how the city has changed.

The next site was the Wright memorial on the edge of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (named in part for the Wright Brothers, and Patterson who started National Cash Register Company.)  Near the monument was a great little visitor’s center.  The highlight there was a flight simulator where, with some quick instruction, Patti and Dick had the chance to crash a Wright Flier twice.  We hoped we would have improved but others were waiting for their turn.  Apparently it is harder that it would seem to fly these. 

The final Wright Brother’s site we had time to see was the Huffman Prairie where the Wright Brothers really learned how to fly in something other than just a straight line.  It was powerful to stand on that flied with a replica hangar building and catapult.  The catapult was powered by a large weight that was dropped within a frame pyramid, launching the plane down a rail and into the air.  We stood there and reflected about how the world would change due to what was accomplished on and above this modest looking field.  We learned that Orville Wright lived to see Chuck Yeager break the sound barrier, using the basic principles that the wright Brothers had identified and put into practice.

Then we had to turn from history, because there was a big family dinner planned at our niece’s house.  We so appreciated that all of John’s part of the family gathered for much of the evening to welcome us back to Ohio and learn about our travels.  We both had many wonderful conversations and interactions with the family young and old.  It was really fun to be together.

Patti especially enjoyed some imaginative play with 7-year-old Elena where they took on many enemies and took them out with sleep darts.

We appreciated how complicated it was for all the busy folks to get together, and it was great eating and wonderful company.

Back to John and Sajona’s for more late night Olympics.  We watched some of the swimming, which was terrific.

August 3, Wellsboro PA to Kenton OH to Bellbrook OH

Up early and Betty baked us homemade blueberry muffins with the blueberries we picked yesterday.  Can’t get fresher that that!

Then the drive is on.  Not too far into our trek, we stopped at one of Dick’s favorite shopping places:  The Woolrich Factory Outlet store.  We love their fabulous warm and lovely clothes.  Did some nice shopping including buying one of their classic wool blankets.  Ready to cuddle up on the freezing California nights.

Then it was driving-on through Pennsylvania, and into Ohio.  As we went west, it got driver and drier.  Sad to see so much corn just drying up in the fields.

Today was Patti’s parents 55^th wedding anniversary, so she was glad for a phone call with them.  They are still happy and getting along after all those years.  Hoorah for happy marriages.

Patti was also realizing that on this trip she has now completed having gone to the last of the 50 states. Dick completed his a couple of years ago with Alaska and Oregon.  We both really value travel, and know that this country is so filled in every corner with beauty, history and really nice people.  A nice additional landmark to note.

We were able to arrive at our friend, Toni’s for a catch up visit and pizza.  This past February we had first met her in person at her wedding to one of Dick’s very best friends, Chuck.  Sadly, Chuck had died of liver cancer just two months later.  We had talked with her many times during those months.  We had again seen her at Chuck’s memorial service.  We had made the trip to Ohio for these ceremonies.  It was a treat to have time with this dear new friend and talk about how much we all miss Chuck.

After not nearly long enough, we had to hop in the care and travel southward.  We drove through the town of Urbana and saw the sign for the Johnny Appleseed Center and Museum.  Being who we are, we had to follow the signs.  Sure enough, on the college campus there was the museum, not open but we were able to look up a little info.  We knew that Johnny went through this area, because on Dick’s grandparent’s farm, there were apple trees that were said to have come from him.  Although we didn’t get to go in, we did see a buck deer eating apples that had fallen from the tree.  They seemed to be delicious, because he wasn’t going to stop eating just because we drove up in our car.

Then, around the bend we saw more deer, including five little fawns, and two mamas.  They posed and ate and we enjoyed the view.

It was getting late in the day.  One benefit from driving at this time is to see sunsets.  The blazing sun setting this day was so beautiful.

We arrive at Dick’s brother, John’s house, where he and his wife Sajona warmly greeted us.  Time for catching up on all of the news and the travels.  We also got the chance, finally to catch some more Olympics.  Going on a mega cross-country trip really cuts down on your TV watching! Fun to cheer on America!

Finally, lights out with no time that we HAD to get up in the morning.  Yha!

August 2, Toronto Ontario to Wellsburough PA

Early in the morning off, because another long days’ driving.  This time we need to cross back into the U.S.  We were able to do this in Niagara Falls with only a ten-minute wait when crossing the Rainbow Bridge, just downstream from the falls.  This gave us the chance to run around on the American Falls side.  Beautiful again?  You guessed it.  Pretty much any angle you can see and experience this falls, it is wonderful. 

From the American side, there are a couple of islands that are accessible, so you can get right to the lip of the falls form that side.  Powerful, strong, beautiful.  More photos!  Getting wet again.  Really a nice way to round out our Niagara experience.

Then we moved into a cross-country drive (literally, we were really driving through the COUNTY) through New York and Pennsylvania off to spend the night with dear old friends Gere, Betty, and Rowan.  They live in the lovely country of Northern Pennsylvania. 

While we waited in town for Gere to come guide us the last couple of miles in, we got to walk around the town square and see some great statutes, including one of Wynken, Blynken, and Nod (from the Eugene Field poem).  There was also a monument to Civil War soldiers from this area.  In the end, it is all about the Civil War wherever we go.  Okay, maybe not quite, but close.

The home they live in in is really interesting.  It was once a quilt shop and an ice cream and soda fountain.  They changed it into a home, but the fountain is still the centerpiece of their kitchen.  It took some creative furniture arranging, but it is a really amazing home.

Gere is Secretary of the General Conference of the United Methodist Church, a very important and influential position.  His work takes him around the world.  We got to catch up on all he was doing, as well as the rest of the family and tell them tales of our travels.  One of the new interests that daughter Rowan has is being a beekeeper.  She has a hive and is quickly learning the ins and outs of bees.  She was a wealth of information.

We got to go on a little trip to The Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.  A really pretty and very green tree-filled canyon area.  Gorgeous!  We soaked in the green, knowing that much of the rest of the country is in a drought.

On the way home, we stopped and all pitched in the to pick blueberries which were so ripe for the picking.  Of course, you have to eat a few as you are picking!

A lovely dinner was served, by kerosene lantern, and we talked late into the night.