The Home Stretch

Lois and I left Alpine, Texas on Wednesday morning and drove East through some desolate areas of West Texas. The vegetation was sparse, but the rains had made it green and beautiful. We made one stop at Langtry, Texas, at the small but well-done Judge Roy Bean Visitor Center. Judge Bean was the famous hanging judge who dispensed "law west of the Pecos." More impressive than the buildings at the center was the cactus garden.

We had lunch West of Del Rio at a roadside park overlooking the Pecos River at its confluence with the Rio Grande. This was one of those unexpected sights that we've had so many of on our trip.

After driving through Uvalde (home town of Cactus Jack Garner, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and Vice President under Franklin Roosevelt), we stopped in the small town of Castroville, on the western fringe of San Antonio. We spent a pleasant evening at a city RV park listening to the reports of Tropical Storm and then Hurricane Humberto, which was predicted to hit Houston that same night. We were making plans to bypass Houston, but were surprised the next morning when we woke up and heard that Humberto had made a right turn and produced only light rain in Houston.

Thursday morning, after a stop at an Alsatian bakery in Castroville, we bypassed San Antonio and drove to Houston on U.S. Highway 90A. We had made a reservation at an RV Park just South of downtown Houston, and we trusted Niles to lead us to the spot. He did a good job in getting us there, even though he had us entering and exiting about a half dozen freeways and tollways in the process. We arrived mid-afternoon and contacted Lois' sister Barbara, who had planned to take off work when we got there. Barbara drove over to the RV park, and we had a nice visit before we all went to our friends Weir and Candy Kyle's for dinner. Barbara asked me how long I had known Weir, and I said that I really didn't know that there was a time that I didn't know him. We grew up together in Mississippi and have been close friends since the first grade if not before.

We had a marvelous visit with Weir and Candy and enjoyed a gourmet meal of cedar plank grilled salmon with all the trimmings. At the end of the evening, Barbara drove back to her condo and Weir and Candy drove Lois and me back to our motor home. What a lovely evening we had. Good friends, good food, and lots of laughter.

Friday morning, we abandoned our "no interstates" rule, and drove East out of Houston on I-10. We stayed on 10 across southern Louisiana to Baton Rouge, where we got on I-12 to I-59, where we turned to the Northeast through Hattiesburg to Meridian, MS. We had planned to stay in Hattiesburg, but decided to drive on to Meridian, since we were making good time and it would mean an earlier arrival at home on Saturday.

Saturday morning, we continued to Tuscaloosa and Birmingham on I-20/59 and then turned East toward home on I-20. We arrived at home around 2:30 and spent the rest of the afternoon unloading the motor home and unpacking. It's amazing how much gear we had packed in the motor home three months ago when we left home and how much stuff we had accumulated on the way. We were exhausted when we got unloaded and had most of the stuff put away.

Today was a busy day with church at Midway in the morning, lunch with our friends Jim and Patti, and a three hour ordeal of washing the motor home this afternoon.

I'm still thinking about how the trip has affected me. I know that it was everything that I had expected and more. I also know that it won't be long before I'm ready to go again. In a few days, however, I want to add one more post to my journal after I've processed more of the impressions.

More later

Heading Home

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Lois and I worked really hard getting the cabin ready for the winter and packing the motor home for the trip home. Our friends John and Ferne came up from Santa Fe on Friday and helped immensely. John and I (but mostly John) were able to cap the water line in the cellar that led to the damaged faucet in the bathtub so we didn't have to shut off the hot water in the rest of the cabin. That will be a big help until we are able to repair or replace the damaged faucet. John also took on the task of looking for parts to fix the faucet. I've had so many friends helping me with cabin projects that I'm beginning to feel a bit like Tom Sawyer. The photos show some of the inside of the cabin as we were working toward getting it ready to close up.

On Saturday, I put up most of the security shutters and finished on Sunday afternoon. I also drained the hot water heaters, shut off all the water, put RV anti-freeze in all of the drains, shut off electricity and propane, and made the place as secure as possible. We spent the night in our motor home on Sunday, finished up a couple of last minute items early Monday morning and headed out a little after 9:00 a.m.

After dropping off our rental car in Santa Fe, we continued South on US 285 through Clines Corners, Encino and Vaughn, NM, to Roswell. We stopped early, and I phoned in for a committee meeting at Midway UMC, our home church in Douglasville, GA. While I was on the phone (sitting in a parking lot at WalMart), Lois did a little grocery shopping. After the meeting, we drove through Roswell and found an RV park on the south side, where we set up camp for the night. The weather was a little threatening, but I was able to grill some hamburgers outside, and we even had our dinner on a picnic table beside the motor home. Soon afterward, however, the proverbial bottom dropped out, and it rained a lot for a long time. Some time during the night the rain stopped, but we could see evidence of high water all day today.

For some reason, we have a problem pulling out before 9:00 a.m., even when I get up around 6:30 a.m. This morning was no different. We left Roswell around nine with the intention of taking in Carlsbad Caverns by early afternoon and continuing on to Alpine, TX. We made good time to Carlsbad and arrived at the National Park around 11:30. That's where our plans went awry. The Park Service is doing extensive renovations on the Visitor Center, and the overnight storms had flooded some of the elevator shafts that lead down into the cave. Because of this, they were evacuating the caves about the time that we arrived and would be making a decision around 12:30 when they would start allowing more people into the cave. Since Lois and I both have been to Carlsbad multiple times, we decided that we would push on and not chance being delayed further with no assurance of entry at all.

We had lunch in the motor home, and reluctantly left Carlsbad a little after noon. We continued South under cloudy, windy skies and drove though Guadalupe Mountains NP. We made a couple of brief stops for pictures and a visit to the Visitors Center. Soon after crossing the Texas State Line, we turned South on Highway 54, one of the most desolate stretches I've ever seen. In almost 60 miles from the turn-off to Van Horn, we met exactly 6 cars. You could also see numerous spots where water had covered the road earlier in the day or yesterday. You should be able to tell from these pictures how the weather has been today. It only deteriorated the further South and East that we went, to the point that shortly before arriving in Alpine, we were driving through "pea soup" fog.

I deliberately routed us through Alpine because I found it to be such a neat little town when Lois and I visited Big Bend NP a couple of years ago. Thankfully it hasn't changed in the intervening years. When we got to town and located a campsite, we splurged and ate at the wonderful Edelweiss Restaurant and Brewery in the old Holland Hotel in downtown Alpine. What a treat! We were even seated right in front of a guitar-mandolin duo who begin playing Willie Nelson- style country songs soon after we started our meal. I don't see how life could get much better than eating a Zeguener Snitzle (sp?), drinking a beer brewed on-site, and hearing "Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind?"

Now we're wrapping up the day and making plans for the next couple of days. Tomorrow night we should be somewhere just West of San Antonio, and Thursday night we'll be in Houston where we've made plans to visit with Lois' sister Barbara and my childhood friend Weir Kyle.

More later.

News From Taos

I'm woefully negligent in posting my journal. The only excuse I have is that we've been extremely busy working on the cabin and entertaining guests over the Labor Day holidays.

When I last posted, Lois and I were in Vernal, UT, on our way to Taos. We left Vernal on August 25, made a quick visit to Dinosaur National Monument and then headed South on some lesser traveled roads in Western Colorado. By lunch we were in Grand Junction, CO, where we stopped for fast food, and then continued South-Southwest through some beautiful remote country. Except for a stop at a small family orchard, where I bought peaches for 50 cents a pound, we drove and drove. Our route was taking us close to Telluride, where we expected to stop for the night, but we were unable to find a campground with hookups. We considered dry camping at a Forest Service campground south of Telluride, but had second thoughts when we thought about how cold it would be in the morning.

So, as the shadows lengthened, we drove on South, hoping to find a good campground. As luck would have it, this led us to perhaps the most scenic campground of our entire trip. We reached Priest Gulch, north of Dolores, CO, shortly before dark and got one of the few remaining spots that backed up to the beautiful Dolores River. We quickly set up camp, and I cooked some sausages on the grill. We ate before a campfire with the river in the background. All in all, a delightful evening.

On Sunday, August 26, we drove south through Dolores to Cortez, NM, where we attended church services at Four Corners UMC, a lovely little Methodist Church in a pretty town. After Church, we had lunch and then drove to Mancos to the home of our friends Nicky and Trina Lindig. We had a nice visit with them for a couple of hours looking at their progress on their new workshop and planning their visit to Taos over Labor Day. Nicky was also kind enough to loan me some power tools so that I could get started on some projects that needed to be done at the cabin.

We left Mancos around 4:00 p.m., hoping that we would make it to Chama, NM, where we knew of several nice RV Parks. Despite the hour, I foolishly wanted to also explore a new route from Mancos back to Taos. So we turned South just West of Durango, CO, to Aztec, NM. In Aztec, we became temporarily disoriented. Notice I didn't say lost. Like most men, I'm never lost. I am, however, occasionally temporarily disoriented. After we oriented ourselves, with the help of Niles, we continued East. Here I made another slight error. To Niles' chagrin, I chose a highway which appeared to be a more direct route to US 64 than the one Niles was espousing. The highway I chose, however, soon deteriorated into little more than a dirt road with sandy fords over dry creek beds and signs warning of impassibility during inclement weather. Oh, did I mention that it was raining and getting dark?

Happily, we made it to US 64 with little more than a slight delay in our itinerary and a lost "hub cap" on the motor home. These misadventures, however, made us realize that we probably weren't going to make it to Chama in time to get a campsite, and since there were no closer campgrounds, we opted to stay at a motel for only the second time during our trip. This one was actually a casino on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation in Dulce, NM.

On Monday, August 27, we left Dulce early and drove into Chama, where we picked up tickets for the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad for September 4 for our friends Jim and Patti Howell from Georgia, and Lois and me. After leaving Chama, we drove straight down US 84 to Santa Fe and picked up a rental car we had reserved for our time in Taos. On the way back to Taos, we stopped by to visit our friend John Lovelace, who, with his wife Ferne, has made a couple of visits to our cabin since we left in July. At John's, we heard about the improvements that he had made to the cabin and discussed plans for further repairs and improvements.

We got to Taos late in the day and found all well at the cabin. We were thrilled with the new lights that John had installed in the living room and the kitchen. They make things much cheerier and brighter.

On Tuesday, we spent the day unpacking, working in the yard, and generally getting things in order after having been gone for six weeks. Wednesday, we made another trip to Santa Fe in the rental car and did some shopping for linens at Bed, Bath and Beyond, for lumber, etc., at Home Depot, and for good vittles at Trader Joes.

Thursday was spent installing new carpeting and blinds in the dining room/sun porch, more tree trimming, etc. I was able to accomplish my tree trimming much more quickly because of the reciprocating saw Nicky loaned me. Guys, if you don't have a reciprocating saw, get one. They're great!

Friday we spent on final preparations for the arrival of Jim and Patti. They had flown into Denver on Thursday and did some sightseeing on their way from Denver to Taos. We also were expecting the delivery of a new bed that we bought earlier in the week in Taos. Thankfully, the new bed, where we planned for Jim and Patti to sleep, arrived a couple of hours before they did, and we were able to make the bed before they arrived.

On Saturday, Jim and I went to the local Ace Hardware and lumber yard and picked up some lumber for some projects we were planning to work on. Luckily, Jim's rental car agency had upgraded him to a minivan, and we were able to take the seats out and haul 4 x 8 sheets of plywood and 8 foot 2 x 4's. Saturday afternoon we got started building interior security shutters for all of the windows in the cabin. I'll screw these shutters into the window frames before we leave next week so that burglars will have a harder time breaking into the cabin while we're gone for the winter.

Saturday evening, Nicky and Trina arrived with their friends, who were staying in a B&B in town. When we found out that Nicky and Trina were coming to Taos for the weekend, we encouraged them to stay with us, even if they were going to spend most of their time with their friends. It worked out beautifully. We got to see Nicky and Trina in the evenings and for breakfast, they got to meet Jim and Patti, and we all had a great time. Trina also kept bringing us delicious treats from Micheal's Bakery in Taos.

Sunday after Church at El Pueblito, Lois and Patti went shopping in Taos while Jim and I came back to the cabin and continued working on our projects. We were able to complete the security shutters, finish walling in a window on the back porch, and install a plywood sheet behind the glass panel on the front door for extra security. Jim is a hard worker and an excellent craftsman. Working together, we were able to accomplish an amazing amount in a day and a half.

Because we made so much progress on our projects, we declared Monday a play day, and took a tour with the ladies on the "High Road" between Santa Fe and Taos. The High Road traces an old highway that runs through pueblos and small Hispanic communities. Highlights of our tour were visits to Ortega's Weavers in Chimayo and the legendary shrine El Santuario de Chimayo. Believed to be built on sacred earth with miraculous healing powers, the shrine is probably the most visited church in New Mexico.

Tuesday morning we left early for Antonita, CO, for our trip on the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad. Although the trip started out slowly through rather monotonous high desert scenery, as the little train gained altitude, the scenery became more dramatic and more beautiful. Soon we were traveling through some of the most pristine alpine scenery in America. It took us almost three hours to reach Osier, CO, one of the highest points on the trip and our lunch stop. After lunch, we boarded another train which had come up from Chama, NM, and, after climbing to slightly over 10,000 feet, wound down the hill to Chama, arriving around 4:00 p.m. In Chama, we quickly boarded a bus which took us back to Antonito in about an hour, a trip that had taken us six hours by train. When we got to Antonito, we all agreed that the trip on the CTSR was well worth the fare and was one of the highlights of our summer.

Thursday morning, the ladies went to town to wash clothes (no washer and dryer in the cabin) and Jim and I tried to wrap up a couple of projects. One project was repair of a bathtub faucet in the main bathroom. Last week, I had ordered a faucet stem at the hardware store and they had called to tell me that it was in. Jim and I picked up the faucet stem and a few other supplies and thought it would be a simple project to replace the stem. Well, you know about the best laid plans of mice and men. We installed the new stem, but we had a sizable leak when we turned the water on. This lead us to believe that we needed to install a new seat, which was include with the new stem that we had bought. This is where things went awry. We had a heck of a time getting the seat out of the faucet, and when we did (mangling the seat in the process) it looked nothing like the seat that was included with the stem we had purchased. On another trip to Ace Hardware we got the bad news that they had never seen a seat like the one we had removed, and their books didn't have anything like it.

So now we're dealing with having to keep the hot water shut off in the main cabin until we can find a seat or until we can replace the entire faucet assembly (both of which will probably happen next summer). Thankfully, the guest cabin is on a separate hot water heater, and we also have hot water in the motor home. With everything that Jim and I accomplished, I'm not disappointed that one of our projects didn't turn out like we had hoped.

Yesterday afternoon, we took off and made the Enchanted Loop around northern New Mexico, including a stop for Patti at a quilting shop in Angel Fire, which she says was a great shop. We got back to Taos around dinner time, and Jim and Patti treated us to dinner an Graham's, a new restaurant just of the plaza, which was absolutely fabulous. The food was delicious, the service attentive and courteous, and the decor lovely. We'll look forward to more visits to Graham's when we come back to Taos next year.

This morning Jim and Patti left for Denver, where they have a flight back to Atlanta in the morning. We really hated to see them go. I can't imagine greater friends or house guests. We hope their visits to Taos will become an every summer event.

After Jim and Patti left, I wound up a couple of projects that we had not completed. One was trying to stop stop water damage from deep snow on the guest cabin. I was able to staple heavy plastic sheeting about three feet up the side of the cabin and continue the sheeting down into a trench that I dug the length of the cabin. I then covered the sheeting and filled the trench with gravel from some of the paths through the raised beds in the front yard. After this, I used some of the same heavy plastic and stapled it around the screen porch on the back of the cabin. Hopefully, this will keep snow from blowing in on the screen porch.

We're planning on leaving Taos on Monday and beginning our trip back home to Georgia. Until then, we'll be pretty well occupied preparing the cabin for the winter and getting the motor home ready for the trip back East.

More later

Grand Tetons and Points South

Since I last posted, Lois and I left Salmon, ID, on Wednesday morning and followed the Lemhi River South through some beautiful farm country to Idaho Highway 33. At Idaho 33, we turned West and drove to Rexburg, ID. Rexburg has been a familiar place name in my family for years. When my brothers and I were young we all heard tales of Rexburg from our father, who worked a season in a sugar beet processing plant in Rexburg in the late 1920's. When I worked in Yellowstone in 1968, my mother and father came to visit. While there, daddy made a day trip to Rexburg. I remember his saying how little Rexburg had changed in the 40 years since he worked there. If daddy could see Rexburg now, after another 40 years, I don't believe that he would talk about how little it has changed. Today's Rexburg is a modern small city complete with a big WalMart and all the other trappings of modern life.

From Rexburg, we drove West, watching thunderstorms in the mountains, and crossed the Tetons just south of Jackson, WY. From Jackson, we drove north to Moose, WY. After a quick visit to the new Visitors Center (where I took this picture of the resident moose),we drove to the home of our friends Ann and Lee Izard, who live in the park. We got in to their place around 4:00 p.m. and set up our motor home in their driveway. We chatted with Lee for a while until Ann got home from work. We continued talking and bringing each other up to date on the events in our families since we saw Lee and Ann last year. Ann prepared a tasty dinner, and we chilled out for the rest of the evening.

Thursday morning we got a rather late start, and drove to the Death Canyon trail head. Although the name sounds ominous, the trail that we took was an easy 2-mile loop which lead to an overlook of Phelps Lake, one of the many alpine lakes at the base of the Tetons.
After our hike, we returned to Lee and Ann's for lunch, where we visited a few minutes with Carolyn Richard, a friend of ours from Grand Canyon days. Then we rested a while, and took a walk in the vicinity of their house. We had planned to take the newly opened ferry across the Snake River, but it wasn't operating.Instead, we walked to the new Visitor Center which had just opened. Even though we had been there the day before, we spent quite a while taking in all of the exhibits that we hadn't taken the time to enjoy on our first visit. I'll have to say, the new Visitors Center at Grand Teton is the most impressive visitors center of any National Park which I've visited. On the way back to their house, we got a chance for a short visit with Mallory and Patrick, old friends of ours from Grand Canyon.

Thursday evening we had an early dinner at Dornan's, across the river from their house and then took a drive to try to spot some wildlife and take some sunset pictures. We did see a few elk and some bison, but the sunset was the real star of the evening. There were enough clouds and some smoke from forest fires on the Idaho side to make for some really beautiful shots.

This morning, I got up early and walked to the Chapel of the Transfiguration (maybe 1/4 mile) from their house to get some shots of the chapel and the mountains at sunrise. I remember vividly the chapel from a trip that Lois and I made to Grand Teton when we worked at Yellowstone 40 years ago. It's no less beautiful and inspiring today than it was 40 years ago.

Lee and Ann are such dear friends and gracious hosts that we hated to leave, but we left Grand Teton around 9:30 a.m. and drove South along the Snake River and then East on U.S. 30. Around noon, we made a quick stop at Fossil Butte National Monument and were really impressed with the volume, variety and intricacy of the fossils that have been discovered in that area. From Fossil Butte, we continued West until we intersected with I-80 a little West of Green River, WY. After a short drive East on I-90 to Rock Springs, we turned South again on U.S. 191, skirting the East side of Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. After climbing up to a high plateau, we continued South until we began our descent to the Flaming Gorge Dam. After crossing the dam, we climbed again over a pass until we descended to Vernal, UT, where we're spending the night.

Tomorrow, we plan on a short visit to Dinosaur National Monument and a drive into northwestern Colorado. We'll meander South, intersecting I-70 around Grand Junction. At that point, we'll make a decision whether we'll swing through Moab, UT on our way South or go down through Telluride and Dolores, CO. I don't think we can lose either way we go.

By the way, our daughter Elizabeth and son-in-law Steven are in South Africa for a visit as I write this. We've had e-mail that they are well and having a great time. They are keeping a journal which is far more literate and artistic than mine. Take a look, and I'm sure you'll agree.
http://schindleradventures.blogspot.com/

Glacier and Points South

Monday morning, Lois and I left the RV park outside of Glacier NP by 8:00 a.m., which is early for us. We had light rain most of the night and drove to the park under threatening skies. We went first to the campground inside the park at Apgar Village and found a vacant campsite. We then caught a shuttle bus to the park's new transit center where we waited about an hour for another shuttle bus to take us to Logan Pass, the high point on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. The scenery was really outstanding, but by the time we reached the pass, rain had set in, and the clouds were so low that many of the peaks surrounding the pass were obscured. We went inside the visitors center and found out that we had to wait outside for another shuttle bus to take us to St. Mary's, which is on the other side of the park. While waiting outside, the wind picked up to about 20 mph, and the rain changed to blowing sleet. We beat a hasty retreat to a shelter by the visitors center and went outside again only when we saw the bus coming.

The shuttle to St. Mary's was a bigger bus, and the weather on that side of the park had not yet deteriorated, so we could see more of the sights than we saw climbing up to Logan Pass. Still, we didn't get off the shuttle at any of the stops, because another wouldn't be along for 30 minutes and we didn't know how long the weather would hold up. So, I resorted to taking photos through a dirty window from a moving van. Still, I got a few decent pictures. Digital cameras with image stabilization are amazing and well worth the money.

Because it was so windy and cold, we spent only about 30 minutes in St. Mary's before we caught the van back up to Logans Pass. Logans Pass was still "socked in", so we got off one shuttle and right on another for the ride back down to Apgar. We got to the transit center about 3:30 and walked to the village, where we did a little shopping and browsing. Apgar is on Lake McDonald, which is bordered by some of the most dramatic mountains in North America. So while Lois finished shopping, I went down to the lake to take some pictures. The clouds were still around, but the rain had stopped, and I think I got some pretty nice shots.

Because of all our shuttle riding, we had missed lunch. This meant we were looking forward to an early dinner. So we walked back to our motor home in the campground, and cooked some burgers on the grill. After dinner, I walked back down to the lake to see if I could get some good sunset shots, but the clouds were still so heavy that sunset was essentially a non-event. This morning I tried again for sunrise, but with the same results.

All-in-all, our visit to Glacier was less than we had hoped for. Despite the weather, we could see enough, though, to tell that it's a fabulous place that we would like to visit again. Next time, we'll plan for more mobility and hope for clearer weather. It's hard to be too disappointed with the rain, however, because it helped a lot with the numerous forest fires which have been plaguing the area.

We left Glacier this morning around 8:00 a.m. and started driving South toward Missoula, MT. We skirted the east shore of Flathead Lake, a gorgeous lake ringed by mountains, which is billed as the largest fresh water, natural lake east of the Mississippi River. After Missoula, we continued South through Polson (where we shopped at the "Three Dog Down" factory outlet, and continued South into Idaho driving in the lovely Bitteroot Valley most of the way and the equally lovely Salmon River Valley the rest of the way. Tonight, we're camped on the banks of the Salmon in a commercial park in the quaint little town of Salmon, Idaho. Tomorrow, we'll veer Southeast and then turn east into Wyoming for a visit with our friends Lee and Ann Izard at Grand Teton NP. Ann worked with me at Grand Canyon, and she and Lee moved to Grand Teton a couple of years after I left. We're looking forward to seeing these good folks and revisiting what is truly one of the earth's special places.

More later.

Rainy Days and Sundays

Today was one of the rare rainy days we've had on our trip. It started raining during the night last night, rained lightly almost all day, and is still raining now as I write. From what I hear, the area needs the rain to help put out some forest fires, but we're hoping that they taper off before tomorrow so that they won't interfere with our big sightseeing day in Glacier NP. We're camped tonight in a commercial RV park in Hungry Horse, MT (the name is much more exotic than the town appears to be) 10 or 15 miles from the park entrance. In the morning, we're planning on driving the motor home to the park and catching the park shuttle bus for the route over the "Going to the Sun Highway", which is touted by some as one of the most beautiful drives in the world. We have to take the shuttle bus because our motor home is prohibited from driving the narrow, winding mountain road.

Today was a fairly routine driving day, punctuated by an experience that we won't soon forget. Because it's Sunday (hence the clever title "Rainy Days and Sundays"), we planned to look for a Methodist church along the way so that we could attend services. We were on the northeast outskirts of Spokane, WA, about 9:45 when we had to stop for gas. Since it takes a while to fill a 55 gallon gas tank, I thought I would multitask and see if our GPS could find a Methodist Church in the vicinity. So I got back in the motor home and typed Methodist Church. It returned a whole list of Methodist churches, including one which was on our route about five miles from the gas station. It even gave us the church's phone number. I asked Lois to call the number to see if they were having a 10:00 a.m. service. She called, and according to their phone message, they were having a 10:00 a.m. service. After I completed filling the gas tank, I asked the GPS for directions, and we were on our merry way. We followed the directions to the letter, pulled into the church's parking lot a few minutes after ten and parked in the rear.

We didn't notice a sign outside the church but didn't think much about it. We walked quickly through the rain into the narthex, asked some young people we saw where the services were being held, walked into the sanctuary and, like all good Methodists, took a seat on the back row. We both noticed that the congregation was dressed much more formally than we were accustomed to seeing, especially in the West, but thought perhaps it was a Spokane thing. When we sat down, a young woman was standing at the pulpit giving a tearful testimony. Behind her, in what appeared to be the choir loft, several men, dressed in coats and ties, were sitting. This struck us as somewhat unusual, but again, we didn't think too much about it. However, when the young woman was followed by a man in a business suit who began to talk about "greetings from the Bishop", and "how well the stake was doing", we began to get suspicious. What really gave it away, however, was when he talked about reading from the Book of Morman. I whispered to Lois, "We're in a Mormon service." She asked if I wanted to leave, and I said yes. We quietly, but quickly exited. When we drove around in front of the church. sure enough, the engraved sign on the corner of the church building read, "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints."

For the next couple of hours, we chuckled about Niles, the voice of our GPS, leading us astray. I concluded that perhaps Niles is Morman and intentionally led us to his church in an effort to convert us. I think I'll offer Niles a cup of coffee in the morning just to check him out.

The rest of today's trip was less exciting but more scenic. Almost all the way across the panhandle of Idaho and for over 100 miles into Montana, the road follows scenic river valleys. The rain followed us most of the way, but we still saw some gorgeous sights and even got out to take a short hike from the highway to Kootenai Falls on the Kootenai River. The view of the falls and the walk across a narrow swinging bridge suspended 50 feet over the river were definitely worth the short hike in the rain.

Tonight we stopped in Kalispell, MT, for groceries, took advantage of the first RV park that we came to, had a nice spaghetti dinner in the motor home and will turn in early. If the weather cooperates, we're hoping tomorrow will be one of those memorable days spent admiring God's handiwork.

More later.

Trip Resumption

As Willie would say, we're "On the Road Again".

After a couple of weeks in Atlanta, where we roasted in 100 plus temperatures after having our central air go caplooey, we flew back to Seattle on Wednesday. Our next door neighbor and surrogate daughter, Jasenda, was kind enough to take us to the bus stop early Wednesday morning. We rode the the bus to the Five Points Marta Station and then the train to the airport. Steven and Elizabeth picked us up at the airport in Seattle, and we went directly to Safeco Field to see the Mariners play an afternoon game with the Minnesota Twins. Lance Barksdale, Major League umpire and son of our good friends Bob and Margaret Barksdale of Jackson, MS, was on First Base and was kind enough to get great tickets for the four of us. Although the Mariners lost, it was a fun afternoon.

After the game, we walked from the stadium to Steven and Elizabeth's apartment just west of downtown Seattle. The horizontal distance from the stadium to the apartment is not that bad--about a mile or mile and a half, I suspect--but the vertical distance is a killer. Luckily, Steven and Elizabeth have figured out which buildings in the downtown area have inside escalators that you can enter on one street and exit on a higher street. That saved us some pretty steep climbs.

Lois and I were bushed and jet-lagged after the game, since we had gotten up at 1:45 a.m. Pacific Time to make it to the airport, so we flaked out pretty early.

Thursday we were lazy for most of the day until we went shopping around noon. We bought some linens for the cabin in Taos and then went to Trader Joes for some essentials like chocolate chip cookies for Taos as well.

Thursday evening after work, Emily came by Steven and Elizabeth's. Elizabeth wanted to take some family pictures, since we all have not been together at one time for quite a while. We went to the roof of their apartment building, and Elizabeth took some pictures of the whole group, and I took some pictures of my three girls. Maybe Elizabeth will send me some of the pictures she took and I'll post one of those to the blog as well.

We had a good dinner at one of our traditional favorites, "Old Spaghetti Warehouse", and then Emily took Lois and me, along with a car load of luggage and linens to Port Townsend with her. For those not familiar with the Puget Sound area, this involves taking a ferry across the sound and driving a considerable distance, which Emily does every day. We got in around 11:00 p.m., and went right to bed in our motorhome, which we had left parked in Emily's yard.

Friday, we puttered around for most of the day repacking the motor home for our trip back east, dumping the holding tanks, etc., while Emily spent the day working from home. We had a nice lunch at a little restaurant down by the marina in Port Townsend. Late in the afternoon, Lois and I combined taking Emily's two boxers, Stella and Annie, for a walk with a trip to the local supermarket. They're active dogs, but a lot of fun.

This morning we left Port Townsend around 10:00 a.m., drove to the ferry which goes to Edmonds, WA, and went north from Edmonds to Everett, WA, where we picked up U.S. Highway 2 to head east. Highway 2, which runs from the west coast all the way to Bar Harbor, Maine, is one of the old transcontinental routes like Route 66. We're not going all the way to Bar Harbor this time, but will take it all the way to Glacier NP in Montana. The route from Everett through the Cascades was beautiful, but less so, I thought, than the Highway 20 route which we took west. We did stop for one beautiful waterfall alongside the road.

Leaving the Cascades, you drive along the Wenatchee River to its confluence with the Columbia through one of the most productive fruit growing regions in the country. Of course we had to stop for a basket of fresh fruit straight from the orchard which we enjoyed with our dinner tonight.

After leaving the Columbia valley, you're back in wheat growing country. Most of the wheat had been harvested between the time we went to Seattle and our return. Still the scenery is stunning. The rolling hills covered by golden wheat stubble in patterns left by the combines is really beautiful. We stopped several times for pictures along the way.

Tonight we're camped at a very small RV park in a very small town in Eastern Washington. When I turned my computer on, I was surprised to see that the RV park or someone nearby has an unsecured wireless network that I could access.

Tomorrow night at this time, we plan to be camped in or near Glacier NP.

More later.