Heading Home

The folks have been saying these long days riding in the car are good to help us get home faster. It's good we have been getting decent walks in between some long drive stretches.

We stopped in Cheyenne WY Sunday night and Winnemucca NV Monday night. A hot day Monday with temps in the 90's a good part of the day. That made the stops for gas and potty breaks rather uncomfortable. It did make getting back into the car much easier. 

Cheyenne had some cool old buildings.

This was a pub at one point but they moved around the corner.

This was a neat house that is now a B&B

There were also lots of those big ass wind turbines in the area. 

Tom says he has been surprised how many of those things we have seen. Given the constant wind in some of the areas we have been through it makes sense. We even saw one at a truck stop on 4 tractor trailers. The support on 2 semis and the blades on 2. Those were LOOONG loads.

We saw the Great Salt Lake on Monday (that's just dog snot on the window, ignore that smudge)

This is a shot of the area as we left Winnemucca NV. Greener than most of the area we came through Monday. 

HOLY CRAP WE JUST HIT SOMETHING!! Cindy said it was something called an "antelope." Had a death wish, whatever it was. Luckily it did NOT run straight across the road but veered when we got close, so it only grazed the side. Took off the passenger mirror and dented the panel behind the front wheel a bit. Passenger door makes this weird creaking sound as it opens now. 

The folks doctored up the exposed wires with band-aids and we were on our way again.

Some nice people stopped and picked up the mirror, and said the antelope ran off and jumped over the fence. 

I'm gonna guess it feels that one for a few days though, not to mention miss the hair it left behind in the car. It could have been much worse for everyone. Good evasive maneuvers by both parties!!

The rest of the trip was rather uneventful thank goodness. 

We saw some ponies in the Sheldon Wildlife Reserve in Nevada (maybe wild Mustangs, we didn't see any brands)

It was good to see Oregon (sorry not a great photo, but you get the idea)

 And some familiar landmarks:

Table Rock and pear trees in Southern Oregon

And especially good to see home.

And the other dogs...

Dip and Trixie glad to see us

Here is the summary of the return trip...began 6/6 and ended 6/10/2014

Overall: trip began 5/24 ended 6/10/2014 total miles, 7,002. 

Whew!! An epic journey to say the least.

Ponderings

This post is some thoughts by Cindy about this trip. 

We are winding down this epic journey across the country and back again. We are in our 17th day and should be home tomorrow night.

People thought I was nuts. Nuts for spending that much time with Tom in a car, nuts for wanting to take the dogs. 

Tom and I get along pretty well, more so when not at home, as we are out of our routines and both have to make adjustments. I wasn't worried about that aspect.

Pinch and Moose are ages 11 and 10 respectively, go to work with me every day and sack out most of the day, so I didn't think spending long days riding in the car was going to be an issue for them. It has not. Matter of fact, having them along forces us to stop and move around more than we probably would have (a good thing). The biggest issue has been planning our activities around pet friendly venues. However, having them with us has been much more of a pleasure than a hassle. I honestly believe they and me would have been much more distressed by leaving them home. Since Moose generally rides in either my lap or Tom's lap it might be that he isn't so sure about laying in his bed at the office when we get back to the normal routine.

We have seen a lot of varying country. I can honestly say I have enjoyed every part of it. We have let the road take us where it will and not really planned out more than the general direction of the trip for more than a day in advance. As a result we have eaten some great food, seen unusual things, and enjoyed each other's company in the process.

We have crossed some country where the winters are obviously intense, and others where the summers are. It is interesting and I'm sure there are things to enjoy about all of them. We feel fortunate we saw them at a relatively comfortable time of year.

The return trip to the west coast has been a push (which we knew it would), but even so has been enjoyable. 

This is a journey I have wanted to take for a couple of years and I am ever so glad we just bit the bullet and made the time to do it. IT HAS BEEN AWSOME.

I have to take some time here to thank everyone at my office for holding down the fort. Brenda, Kim, John and Patty, I'm talking to you!! I have not had one worry that I will have major fires to put out when I get back (I know there will be a few things, but nothing of dire consequence).

In addition, thanks to my cousin Ruth for stepping in pand house/dog sitting. The trip almost didn't happen until she agreed to do so.

I hope you all have enjoyed the adventures of Pinch and Moose. We are so glad they decided to allow us to come along!!!

The Midwest

We woke up in Adair IA in a wind turbine community. 

We did notice it was pretty windy in the night when we went out. 

We had passed a rest area just before stopping at Adair where one of these propellor blades was the entrance to the building. It looked like it was at least 5 stories high.

 Since we had travelled so long yesterday the folks promised a long walk, but we got right in the car :-(

However, mom wanted to stop early for lunch so we drove into Omaha NE and went to Upstream Brewing Co. in the market district. There was a lot going on so we got to bark at lots of dogs walking by. 

Dad felt only a little sheepish about beer at 11:30am :-P

Mom liked all the cool buildings.

Dad liked the fact there was lots of breweries and pubs. 

There was a beautiful lakeside park near the Missouri River partly on the Con Agra headquarters that we did get our long walk around (yeah!!).

Pinch almost got a squirrel...

And we saw a parade

A good long dog walk.

Pinch and I give Ohama NE a "good dog" rating. The folks said 2 thumbs up.

Then back on the road.

We drove through heavy rain and lightening in central and western Nebraska. 

This is with the wipers on high. 

The thunder didn't bother is because we couldn't hear it for the sound of the rain. When the rain lightened up it got very windy.

We made it to Cheyenne, WY. It was 45 degrees when we got here with a low of 37 expected. Too bad the folks shipped most of their warm clothes and jackets (ha ha, Pinch and I are doing fine). 

The folks had dinner at Steamboat Steak House. We got some leftovers, yum.

Heading home day 2

We left Cleveland and headed west on I-80. Tom only whined a little as else drove past Sandysky, OH (Cedar Point).

He was rewarded for his good behavior however since we stopped at a brewpub for lunch. 

Flossmoor IL near Chicago

Then we drove to Des Moines IA. We drove though rain for about 3 hours, but it cleared off just in time from see the sunset in Iowa...

The mirror shows what's behind us . 

 We had a room booked in near Des Moines in Ankeny at a Super 8, but found out when we got there they did not allow pets. This despite the fact they were listed in pet friendly travel listings. Apparently every one in the Midwest decided to stay in The Des Moines area because there were NO rooms other than smoking :-(

We kept driving, and found a room (at another Super 8) in a small community called Adair IA. Nothing fancy, but was very satisfactory, and welcome since it was 11pm when we got checked in. Quiet area even though it was right off I-80.

We were glad to get out of the car and stretch all 4 legs and get some dinner. Even though it's pretty comfy in the car...

It's good to walk around. Dad was glad to be there too.

Only 1,750 miles to go!!

First day heading home

More riding in the car for hours, heavy sigh. The folks say we are on our way home so it's all good. 

We traveled into Baltimore and made a stop near Ellicott City, then headed west. We made it all the way to Cleveland Ohio before stoping for the night.

Thursday in Baltimore

We kicked around Baltimore on Thursday and checked out a trail tha used to be a trolly line

I got to get macho on a dog walking by...

Then walked around Ellicott City, a nice town

We went to Fells Point and the folks had dinner and we watched lots of people walk by. We walked along the inner harbor. 

 And saw the Sigsbee where Kristen used to work.

St. Michaels MD

Wednesday we hung out at St. Michaels which is near where Mike Haddaway grew up in Claiborne MD.

Ava's Pizzaria and
Wine Bar in St. Michaels. Cool fountain from beer pulls and taps.

Kristen and Mike in St. Michaels

Muskrat Park in St. Michaels

Hanging out at the Lyon Distilling Company checking out their yummy rum

East Shore Brewing

Other forms of refreshment

A very dog friendly town with lots of trees (for shade), so even though it was quite warm we had lots of water and shade to walk in (a good thing).

We then went to Cap'n Norm and Barbara's house (Mike's parents' house) for dinner. We checked out the beach on the Eastern Bay (of the Chesapeake) and the dogs had big fun (again). Moose swam and swam.

Moose swimming in the Eastern Bay

Beach glass and oyster shell

Beach at Claiborne MD

Another good dog day.