Day 78 - 9,892 miles

We are home. Hooray! Thanks for all the prayers. We had a great time visiting a lot of you... friends and family in Florida, Alabama, Texas, Ohio, and New York. Will write more later. LOTS to unpack and plug in, reset, spider webs to break, etc. Looking forward to seeing most of you at church on Sunday. Hope you enjoyed the ride with us.

Ron

Day 77

Off this morning for Schenectady NY to visit/crash on my sister Claudette and Jim. Plan to be home tomorrow, Friday. Thanks for all the prayers. Will do a final blog later this week with summaries and links.

Day 73 - 9,072 miles

Drove across Indiana and most of Ohio. We are now sitting in Christina's livingroom. Nice to just sit, and let go of the wheel. Safe travels the entire way. God is good. Time to visit. Will write more in awhile. Just wanted all of you to know we arrived safely. Will be here until Thursday. Should get home Friday night.
Ron

Day 72 - 8,750 miles

Now in Terre Haute, IN. All is going as planned. Today we crossed both the Missouri River (twice) and the Mississippi River. Hope to be in Cuyahoga Falls, OH tomorrow to visit our daughter Christina and family for a few days. Happy Mother's Day Mom in Florida !

A morning's drive took us across Missouri and into Illinois


Huge fields like this filled the landscape of Illinois. This one is sporting wild mustard weed


Finally! The Indiana state line!


Another cozy cabin for the night

Day 71 - 8,302 miles - We are not in Kansas Anymore!

Routine fly through the Nation. We are now in a KOA cabin in Kansas City, MO. Another very windy day, both on the highway, and this location. Half way to Christina's. Should be there Sunday. Kansas is pretty flat. Speed limits are 70 mph. We were told that the speed limits were unposted, but found that not to be the case. HUGE fields of wheat. HUGE windmill projects. The Lord helped us through Kansas City, in Kansas, as the major 3 lane highway through the city was reduced to one lane, and multiple ramp exits were closed. Thus, there were many people like us unfamiliar with the norm. Had one near miss. Stopped in time, and so did the cars behind us. So we praise Him AGAIN for His safety and provision. Hope to get through Missouri, Illinois, and just into Indiana tomorrow. Terre Haute, IN is the next destination. We are now finally back to Central Time.


In between the big signs is the Missouri sign. Judy did great to get it in the middle of fast moving city traffic.


Wheat fields... acres and acres or miles and miles. Huge grain elevators as well.

Day 70 - 7,863 miles

Progress home. Today begins our official return trip home. Drove from Arches in Utah, through Colorado, into Kansas. The scenery across Colorado was spectacular! We took I 70 up into the western foothills and on through ski country - Steamboat Springs, Vail, Avon... all lovely and classy alpine communities. When we reached Vail Pass at over 10,000 feet, we thought we were at the top of the world, but we continued up further still until, in a blinding snowstorm, we reached the continental divide at 10 feet shy of being 12,000 feet . (twice the height of Mt. Washington) By the time we reached Denver we had come down almost 7000 feet! After that the land flattened out into the high plains, with fields stretching in every direction as far as the eye can see. We have settled into a cozy KOA cabin for the night, with wind howling so loud here, we keep wondering if a tornado is coming. According the The Weather Channel, this is normal wind for this area. Yuck. Back on the road in the morning.

Almost missed this sign!


Following the Colorado River upstream


Snow in the mountain passes


Kansas!

Day 68 & 69 - 7,309 miles

Arches National Park... Canyonland National Park... Dead Horse State Park... Kodachrome Basin State Park... all in Utah. We may have saved the best for last. Arches was a great place. It combined canyons, hoodoos, plateaus and ravines. We had planned to stay at this combined area for three days... HOWEVER, the wind was more than our little 6 man tent could handle. After a vigorous battle with winds sustained of 30 mph, and gusts up to 60 mph, her little heart gave out and collapsed... at about 11 pm. So we sprung it back out, only to hear bigger gusts a coming. We ended up being physical internal supports to the tent for about 2 hours. At that time, we went to plan B... evacuation to the Toyota. While Judy supported the tent poles from within, I packed as quickly as I could, everything into the car. We then took down the tent. Pulled the pegs. Rolled up the tent and tarp it was sitting on, and threw it into the car. Now what? Well, we sat in the car until sunrise, and left a day early... for, bigger winds were predicted for the next day. Besides this little setback, the views were terrific. See a few of them, enclosed. By the way, we have decided to cancel our efforts for Yellowstone, as the forecast is for snow, rain, ice, cold, winds, etc. for the 5 days we had planned. We are now on our return path home. Today we crossed Colorado and are now on that border, in Kansas. Winds are a howling here as well. But tonight, we are in a cabin, with wood frames, and a heater. Luxury !

"Balancing Rock" is actually about the size of 4 large homes



To get a better perspective, Ron is standing under the Balancing Rock


Roadway into Canyonlands... 4 wheel drive only


Notice the yellow jeep on the road... about the middle of the pic.


"Delicate Arch"


Two delicate people under an arch...



For those who don't know, "7" is my favorite number... completeness

Day 66 - Bryce Canyon National Park - 6748 miles

Welcome to Bryce Canyon. The home of the Hoodoos. A hoodoo is a pinnacle or odd shaped rock left standing by the forces of erosion. There are thousands of these rock formations, some several hundred feet high. We will be here for two days. Tuesday we leave for Canyonlands and Arches. Both are in southeast Utah. The next opportunity to email will be on May 7 from Pocatello, Idaho. So this is the last you'll hear from us for about 5 days. Hopefully we will be able to check emails in between, but the blog picture uploads take a lot of time. Today we are in a KOA log cabin, as the winds are howling at 28 mph constant, with gusts up to 47 mph. The temperature is right around 25F, making the wind chill around 0F. Too much fun for an evening in a tent. The weather gets better starting tomorrow. Woohoo! A reminder picture is that we are over 9000 feet in elevation. That is 3000 feet higher than Mt. Washington in NH. So there is lots of snow up here. Sure will be nice to get rid of these snowbanks.



Hoodoos. Thousands of them.





If you look closely, you'll see some tall Ponderosa pines in the middle of the picture. Not sure how tall those pines are, but it'll help you to get a perspective on the height of the hoodoos.


Hoodoo country... 3000 feet higher than Mt. Washington














Can you find the rock bridge in this picture?

Day 65 - Zion National Park - 6632 miles

Zion National Park is absolutely beautiful with its towering cliffs in various shades of red, pink, gray,and black, its swift running rivers, cottonwood trees in the valleys, oddly shaped hoodoos and strange rock formations. Our campsite has a gorgeous view on all sides. The weather has been clear and sunny, but windy and chilly at night. Yesterday we took the bus line up Zion Canyon, stopping in several places to hike the trails, take pictures, and just enjoy. In addition to the scenery, we saw deer browsing in the woods and we watched people rock climbing up shear rock faces some 2000 feet high. Will be leaving here tomorrow for Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah where we plan to spend 2 days. Colder there than here.











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