Previous Travelblog

Travelblog Archive

Current Travelblog

July 2007: From the Rocky Mountains to the West Coast

28-30 July 07: We have arrived back "home" in Brookings. Tom is just silly-happy here. We looked at two houses, made an offer on one, but didn't accept the counter-offer. We'll continue house-hunting after our trip to Eugene for satellite repairs. Summer sun has arrived and the temperatures are reaching mid-70's in the late afternoons then cooling down at night so we no longer need the very noisy air-conditioners. It just seems wrong to be here without Harry Cat running in and out. I enjoyed a late breakfast with friend Jeannine today as we caught up on news. I have accounted for 4 or 5 of the jetty cats. Someone has built them more permanent feeding shelters so I put some treats in one of them. Nephew Phillip is making new friends at the local bars in the harbor.

23 July 07: It's HOT, 105 F. in the shade according to our thermometer, and we're heading toward the Pacific Ocean. We arrived in CA today stopping overnight halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento. We passed Davis and Dixon, two of the hottest cities in the USA according to one CNN Special Report. It's good to see oleanders, orchards, and palm trees again. Nephew Phil has a summer cold which started out as a sore throat; I have a sore throat; so, Tom will probably have it tomorrow. He drove the entire distance today without explanation; guess he just got in a groove.

21 July 07: Still in Nevada just a short distance from CA ... We stopped to rest for the weekend at the Desert Rose RV Park in Fernley, NV. We ventured out to Pyramid Lake today for fishing and bird photography; however, our truck got stuck in the sand and we had to be rescued by two gents camping nearby so we aborted our mission. Need that 4-wheel drive! The Nevada desert seems never-ending and the monotony is broken-up only by distant dust devils, tumbleweed tossed along forever fences, infrequent mineral mines, and casinos inviting truckers 24/7 for drinks, games, and beautiful women. What about the female truckers? ;-) We saw miles and miles of charred territory and at least 5 active wildfires. Tis the season.

19 July 07: Moving on through Utah and Nevada; we'll be in CA tomorrow. It's hot.

15 July 07: We traveled west on Route 50 then Route 70 into Utah, land of rocky mountains eroding into sand piles and ancient grand castles crumbling into dirt. A few sunflowers brightened up the desert highway. The sagebrush is drying up and dieing waiting to be blown across the desert roads as tumbleweeds. The air temperature was 105 in the shade! As we left the nearby restaurant, we walked out into a furnace; the sun actually burned my legs as we walked back to the RV. We've stopped for the night at Green River, "Utah's Desert Treasure" and "watermelon capitol of the world." Many day trips into alien landscapes could be taken here if one can stand the burning desert sun.

14 July 07: We ventured out to Black Canyon NP one morning this week. Tom says, "Ooh, aah." Phillip says, "It's just a big hole in the ground." We'll be heading north then west tomorrow. We could not get a reservation for a week at any RV park near the Grand Tetons, so we'll pass them by this time and head on over to the coast to get out of this heat.

05 July 07: We have taken two trips to see ancestral puebloan cliff dwellings in Mesa Verda NP, a tourist trip into Durango, and we took a very long train ride from Durango to Silverton. Phil and I were going to drive into Durango to watch fireworks, but he decided to watch a marathon of The Sopranos instead. I am enjoying watching the birds in my outside aviary. Today, I can see five hungry mouths of baby swallows hanging over the edges of the nest. Soon, the hatchlings will just be too big to hang in there. Some will have to fly away or be pushed out of the nest. This afternoon, we have enjoyed watching lightning and hearing the raindrops; this area needs much rain. Phil came back from a short trip into Mancos saying that the town was on fire. He thinks that a lightning strike hit a dry field which had caught on fire very quickly. I will work on some photos over the next few days. Then on Sunday, we will be moving north to Montrose, CO.