Day 39: July 16, 2026 Parawan, UT to Oceanside,CA

 

The next morning we were awake early again. Going to bed exhausted at 8:00 means we were awake well before the sun came up. No use waiting longer. Let's hit the road and get home earlier in the day.

One of the most beautiful parts of today's  drive was going through the Virgin River Canyon. We always look forward to this stretch since we often use I-15 in coming or going on our trips east. This is in a really small corner of northwest Arizona. Such amazing rock formations. How they ever got a road through there is astounding. As the gorge narrowed, they had to put the road on a bridge over the river.  But, after this short visit to Arizona. we were on to Nevada and the desert.

We’ve been to Las Vegas many times in the past and didn’t regret not having time to stop there this time. It no longer holds attraction for us and we just wanted to get home. Once into California we drove across the hot desert. We passed the tall thermometer at Baker where our car said it was 100. The thermometer is 134 feet tall, a reference to the world's hottest temperature set at Death Valley just a short distance to the north,

As we were driving the past two days, we’ve been listening to a Nevada Barr murder mystery set in Yosemite National Park. This gave us something fun to concentrate on as we were driving. Driving! Driving!

And we were so pleased to pull in at home at a little after one in the afternoon. This trip ended a little differently than we had planned. But we were glad to be home safe and sound even if it was a few days early. There is indeed no place like home

Day 38: July 15, 2026 Belgrade MT to Parowan UT

 

So now we were in a big push to just get home. We woke up two days in a row and were on the road shortly after 6 AM. Today would be a 700 mile drive.

From just west of Belgrade Montana untill about 15 miles from our home we would be driving south on a single highway, Interstate 15.  Two more long days of driving, and then we would be home.

The drive had some beautiful times. Montana of course had mountains. We drove through Idaho for a short amount of time. During that time we were able to take a brief look at the backside of the Grand Tetons mountains. This was a place that we had planned to go and just soak in and enjoy a couple of days camping in the beautiful mountains. No camping for us on this trip. Only driving. But Dick was glad to at least have a glimpse from the backside of these mountains, which are so dear to him.

Getting down into Utah we drove through Salt Lake City and a number of the beautiful places in Utah that we had visited in the past. No stopping and visiting this time. At about 6 o’clock in the evening, we stopped at Parawan. This is a smaller town near many of the beautiful national parks, such as Zion. We had driven a long day and were tired And, we were glad to have beaten a serious rain storm in time to check into our hotel. We just unloaded our overnight bags from the car and then went to Paco‘s Diner where we had some good comfort food while we watched the rain come dumping down.

Dick had driven through some rain earlier in the day, but this was an intense storm. Then as quickly as possible, we headed off to bed because we had another long day to drive in the morning.

day 37 July 14, 2026 Dickinson, North Dakota to Belgrade, Montana

The reason we had traveled this northern route was we wanted to go see the new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library that just had opened on July 4th This is a very fine new really ecologically-built center focusing on Teddy Roosevelt’s life and presidency in the early 1900’s.

We had planned on spending a full morning there, with an extra tour. We made a decision to make a brief stop where we got to see some of the highlights. Patti stayed away from the crowds and wore her N95 mask and was careful. But it was a much briefer stop. Patti‘s energy wouldn’t have held up for anything more.

If you ever get a chance, we would recommend this museum. There was lots of really interesting, interactive screen experiences and photos that you could do. We skipped all of that, not wanting to touch anything. But we enjoyed learning more about this progressive president who single-handedly created so many national monuments., and wildlife and birds sanctuaries around the country. He was a great outdoor person, and worked on many progressive causes. 

One of the highlights was a chance to talk with Roosevelt. It was an amazing experience in what AI can do. We had a chance to ask questions. The image of the president would ponder for a moment and then answer the question. He would not answer a question about today's political situation but would talk about the values and principles that should guide leadership of the country. It was clear that, if TR was alive today, he would be dismayed at the direction of the country. We would have liked to stayed longer for more conversation but Patti's energy level said it was nearly time to leave.

After this stop, we headed down the road. We would spend most of the day driving across Montana enjoying the flat farm and ranching land and then the beautiful mountains. We felt sad that we were not going to have time available to stop and enjoy them.

We were grateful to get to our funky little hotel, almost a hostel in a small town in Montana. We had protein shakes for dinner and went to bed at 8 o’clock. Life on the road when you’re sick has some times that are kind of dull. We slept as much as we could, however, because tomorrow would be a very long driving day.

Day 36: July 13, 2026 Minneapolis MN to Dickenson ND

Today we would be leaving the Twin Cities and starting our journey home headed west. We loaded up the car early and headed down the road. Our plan was to drive across the northern tier of states with a particular stop at the new Theodore Roosevelt Library and Museum in southwestern North Dakota.

By this point, Patti was feeling increasingly sick with a worse cough. It came to our attention that although Patti had tested negative for Covid and flu A and B, another respiratory virus that was  going around was RSV. We pulled into a CVS pharmacy in St. Cloud Minnesota that had a little medical waiting area. Both Patti and Dick bought the quick tests, took them and waited the 15 minutes to see the results.  Dick came out negative for all of the above. Patti still tested negative for Covid and for both flus, but positive for RSV.

We had both agreed if either of us tested positive with one of these illnesses, we would need to just cut our trip short and make a more direct route home. So that became the new plan.

We went into a Denny’s dinner over lunch, and canceled several hotel reservations. Dick did a great job of making a new plan how we could get home in four days. What this would mean is skipping some beautiful countryside, as well as not camping in the Grand Teton National Park. Bu,t Patti was really feeling the cough was quite nasty and we should just go home.

So, we drove across North Dakota, enjoying the changing landscape there and ended up the night at a little hotel. Patti is now in a pattern of a number of nights that were really interrupted by deep chest coughing. Not super sick. But wanting to be taking care of herself and getting home. The trip had changed. While we were driving the temperature kept rising. We ended the day at 106 degrees. What a difference air conditioning makes.

Day 35 July 12, 2026 Minneapolis MN

We would spend today with two sets of long time friends.  In the morning, we had breakfast with Ruth and Phylis, friends of Patti from seminary over 40 years ago.  We have followed each other's ups and downs in life, and it is always a good thing when we can spend time together.

It was a lovely morning to eat out in their backyard and  enjoy all of the wonderful trees and plants they had grown in the years since they moved to this house. Their  home is also so lovely, filled with stained glass art that Ruth created throughout many years.   The time was sweet, with catching up, telling tales of our lives.  We all reflected in the importance of savoring the time together as friends and in our relationships as the blessings that they are, because life passes along so quickly.  We wished we could stay longer, but it was time to go.

Because ,we then had our next dear long time friends to spend the afternoon with: Mary and Mary'n.  We went to a fun air conditioned place for lunch.  The temperature outside was getting hotter and hotter.  Cool inside was feeling great.

We spend a nice chunk of time also reflecting on life, relationships, family, health and what we are all spending out time doing.  The conversation was deep and also filled with laughter.  Their home is also filled with lovely artwork that Mary'n has created.  We were interested in hearing about the new art project that Mary'n was working on.  It will be fun to see it when we are next together.

Again, we wished we could stay longer, or lived closer, but the time had come to leave.  We have found, for sure, that  it is possible to keep up long time friendships, but it is important to sometimes be in the same place.  So nice that this trip gave us several opportunities for this.