The Real Trip – Finally

Well, our second night as cozy campers. Alice is down in the family room watching TV, so I thought I’d head up to the study and do the blog entry. Yestewrday we left Quick and made it over the Applachains (lots of snow on top, but the roads were clear) and even passed a semi that wasn’t parked (Ha! Take that Rubber Duck!). Today we toured Yorktown and Jamestown, so we can keep current on history. Tomorrow on to MacKay NWR and thousands of snow geese, or so the book says. Fortunately Harry had a backyard feeder, so I did manage a few bird shots…. (OOPS, forgot how to upload photos..)

Wild Wonderful (Snowy) West Virginia! Dec. 29th, 2009

A belated Merry Christmas to you all.  We arrived in WV on Monday, December 21st.  As we drove into the Charleston area it was evident how much the area was effected by the snowstorm.  Downed trees lay across power and phone lines.  My parents and their neighbors had been without power and phones for several days.  Their lights came back on Sunday at about 9:30 pm and had phone service Monday evening.  There are still residents in rural WV and VA without both.    We spent a relaxing Christmas with family enjoying each others company and the great home cooked food!  Pete photographed the many birds and squirrels that reside in the orchard behind my parents house.  Abby, the dog, thinks that she has died on gone to “Almost Heaven . . . WV”  There are some many new thing to explore and do. We just hope she behaves, she was discovered sleeping on the couch this morning and is now banned to the basement at night. 

We are off to Colonial Williamsburg, VA tomorrow for our history fix.  They should still have their beautiful Christmas decorations up.

Kentuckiana!!!

Never heard if Kentuckiana . . . neither had we  . . . but it is the place where Shannon and Rob live . . .  Kentucky/Indiana.   We are having a fun visit with Shannon and have met her frisky, friendly pack of two.  There is Rudder, a lab rottweiler mix, and Willow, a nine month old golden doodle.  Abby is doing her best to keep up.  Today is Sunday, so you know where Pete and Shannon are . . . watching football.  Rob is in New York state visiting his son and has hit the weather you have been watching and reading about.  He will drive back tomorrow and take off with Shannon for Florida Tuesday. 

There were dry roads yesterday but we know that the Charleston, WV area was hammered.  We have not been able to reach Alice’s parents and are assuming that they are without both phones and power.   The internet and television are providing us with weather  information before taking off but nothing can prepare us for driving winding narrow road to Quick, WV.  (Take me home country roads)   Towing a trailer makes a “White Christmas” less desireable!

A Winter Wonderland in Illinois

Sitting in the motel room watching the Montana Grizzlies vs Villanova Game.  Looks like just luck  ran out for the Griz and for us.  Peeked out the window and it’s becoming a winter wonderland out there.   If things are too snowy tomorrow we will stay put.  Our next stop is Shannon’s in Crandall, IN  just outside to Louisville.  From there we head to WV who is in the path of a historic snow storm that is hitting the Southeast!

A big thanks to Terri and Bob Weselmann for having us as their guests last night in Northwood, Iowa.   It was a fun visit and a delicious pheasant dinner.  Pete has declared Terri “The Queen of Apple Pie” and he certainly has enough pieces under his belt to judge!

On the Road Again . . . and again and again!

Day two of the our driving marathon and just so you know there will be no cross continent records set.  Pulling a camper trailer, even the size of ours, changes the whole trip dynamic.  There are two things that standout . . . the speed you travel (we can hit 62 but only if it’s flat, honestly 55 our new favorite number on cruise control) . . .  and the gas mileage.  We are trying to remind ourselves it’s okay since our carbon footprint over the years has been relatively small . . . so there must be reserves in the “enviroment bank” to draw upon  . . . right?

Here is a brief update of the cross-country odyssey:

Day One:  Dillon, MT –  Gillette, WY  As a passenger Alice was so teenager like with all of her electronic toys:  the Garmin, the cell phone  (texting and talking with friends), and plugging  her iPod into the stereo with her music.   (Pete lost all of his CDs so there was no John Denver! )  Even worse was the Sirius Satellite Radio wasn’t working so Pete was stuck with Alice’s tunes!!!!!  You do know there is a generation gap between these two when it comes to music and the electronic thing. 

Day Two:  Gillette, WY – Sioux Falls, SD  We pretty much were in the right hand lane the whole day which tells you that everything and I do mean everything passed us. Stopped at Wall Drug for soup and pie.  It is a much different place in December.   We drove 8:00 am to 7:30 pm.  Thank goodness for books on tape.  A plus to getting terrible gas mileage, you can stretch your legs more often.

Abby, the dog, has been a great traveler.  This is a first!!!!  She has just made a nest in the back seat and rides there like a pro.

Heading to Northwood, IA tomorrow.  Not sure if we can make it to Shannon’s by day four or not. 

   

The Takeoff

Well, tomorrow is it. We’ve loaded the trailer (which didn’t take long), cleaned the house (which took considerably longer) and said our goodbyes. We’re going to leave at 6 and go as far as we can on I-90. The weather looks reasonable, and I think we’ll be able to avoid snow. We’re staying with Bob and Terri Weselmann in Iowa and Shannon in Indiana. Hopefully we’ll be at Alices folks about Day 5. We’re pretty excited and anxious to get going – looking forward to lots of adventures and new things to photograph. We’ll post something every couple of days so keep checking in.