New stuff!

Check on Day Ten, Day Eleven, and Day Twelve posts (below).  I've done a little catching up.

Blog capabilities

I didn't realize until just now that if you click on some of the pictures in the blog, you can see a huge copy of said picture.  I'm not sure what I've done to give some pictures that capability but not all of them.  Anyone want to clue me in?

Day Twelve

Moving time: 10 hours 22 minutes

Miles traveled: 630.9

Max speed 82.8 mph

Clinton, Missouri, to Carol's house in Alabama!

Gas Springfield, Missouri $3.369/gallon:  the winner!

You know how you're driving down the interstate and in some places, if you veer off the road a little, there are rumble strips to alert you?  We noticed in Bono, Arkansas, that the lines sing.  We don't know what engineering has created this and would love to hear from someone who knows.

Gas Memphis, Tennessee $3.639/gallon

We saw a sign for a Used Car Factory Outlet, perhaps in Jasper, Alabama.  Unless there is something I don't understand about this, this is just wrong.

Drive through Walker County, Alabama, and you pass about eight different Bingo parlors in the space of about ten miles.  Must be something about the gambling laws in that county.  I'll research it later.

We'd always read that along the entire stretch of I-65, the Alford Avenue exit was at the highest elevation.  Nigel checked for us:  922 feet.  We're dizzy!

David took this skyline picture as we arrived in our hometown.

And I took this picture when we arrived:  mine and David's bedroom at Carol's where we'll get to sleep for three nights before making the ten-hour drive back to Virginia.  It's a familiar, warm and beautiful sight!

Master Points

Aaron and Gus have confessed to me that on this trip they are competing to see who earns the most Master Points. Master Points, they tell me, are earned as follows:

1.  A child asks a parent for something.

2.  The parent refuses.

3.  The child persists.

4.  The parent gives in.

The bratty child in our example has thus earned a Master Point.  Now this is a common scenario:

1.  A child asks me for something.

2.  I refuse.

3.  The child persists.

4.  I say, "You're not getting any Master Points from me!"

Needless to say, my children do not like this scenario.

Day Eleven

Today was Limon, Colorado, to Clinton, Missouri.  Our goal now is just driving.

In Colorado, the general feeling was that once you past the Rocky Mountains coming back east, the scenery just isn't near as interesting.

Gas in Colby, Kansas $3.699/gallon.

We saw a wonderful field of sunflowers, but I think I was driving and we didn't get a picture.

Right now I cannot remember what interstate we were on, but we were in Kansas, around exit 215 and there were all these windmills.  But they weren't turning!  It was very windy outside, so I'm very puzzled about this.

Gas in Junction City, Kansas $3.759/gallon

Lunch was at an unimpressive fast food Taco Tapatio in Kansas.

The boys finished Holes and then I watched What's Eating Gilbert Grape with them.

Max speed 83.7 mph

Moving time 8 hours and 48 minutes

Miles traveled 596

I like this picture of Aaron in the car.

Eleven Down, One to Go

Tomorrow is the last day. Farewell, blog.

Day Ten

Moab, Utah, to Limon, Colorado.

Before we left Moab, we did a little shopping.  I think the coolest purchase was Gus's souvenir t-shirt that reads NEW YORK LONDON PARIS TOKYO MOAB.  It's very Gus, and he's been to all those places!

This was mainly a travel day.  Yet, it wasn't lacking in beautiful sights.  You don't have to go to a national park to see amazing things.  With the exception of a picture taken in a rest area, all of todays photographs were taken through the windshield or window of our van.  My main thought is just that life outside the car window isn't supposed to look like this.  We didn't need much entertainment in the car.

  

     

One of our early coffee stops was in Palisade, Colorado.  We stopped at the Slice o Life Bakery.  Palisade seems like such a charming little place.  The bakery had a sign up advertising the upcoming peach festival.  Actually, it was a sign asking for peach-themed photos for a contest associated with the festival that caught my attention.  And the bakery was in on the peach biz, too:  Mary's Famous Peach Cheesecake, Palisade Peach Newton, Palisade Peach Kuchen, Homemade Peach with Honey Ice Cream Sandwiches with ice cream between two cookies, Peach Cinnamon Roll, and Palisade Peach Pie were among their selections.

A stop for gas in Gypsum, Colorado, was interesting.  Gas was $4.119/gallon.  Not so interesting.  But as we were about to leave, this guy asked me if we could jumpstart his car.  He was from Ohio and had decided to drive to California for vacation.  He started out with several hundred dollars.  On his trip, something happened to his car battery.  It would no longer hold a charge.  Every time he stopped the car, he had to get a jumpstart.  Something else had gone wrong (I don't remember what) with his car.  He was mostly out of cash (said he "got robbed" in Vegas), had just a hundred on a debit card, never made it to California, and was just trying to make it back home to Ohio.  We helped him out.  Poor guy!

We had fun with Nigel (the GPS) watching the changes in elevation.  I think we reached 12,300 feet, a new high for all of us.  We were quite surprised when we stopped at a rest area at Vail Pass to eat a picnic lunch.  Elevation 10,600 feet.  It was raining and 56 degrees F.  Quite a change from 97 degrees F when we left Moab.  The rest area was completely deserted, had an enclosed area where we could eat out of the rain, and a beautiful view of snow-edged mountains.  It was a lovely serendipitous moment.

 

Activities in the car, besides staring out the windows, were 2 rounds of Millionaire, storytime where I read from Over the Edge : Death in the Grand Canyon, and the boys watching most of Holes.  I think we could have driven longer, but rain and high winds in the dark finally forced us to quit for the night.

Moving time 7 hours 11 minutes

Max speed 81.1 mph

Miles traveled 446.7