Road trip 2019
This year, our
road trip; adventure included friends and family. Our grandson, Aaron and our son, Eric decided
to tag along to help drive the more than 2000 miles to Missouri. We decided to leave in the late evening and
drive all night. Aaron said he loved
driving at that time, so we agreed to pack and go.
I do miss
driving; always loved to drive the highways.
My vision loss has eliminated that from my life so now I just go along
for the ride. 
It was about
10:00 pm, the end of April, when we took to the road. I had climbed into one of the two back seats
behind the driver and adjusted my pillow to get comfortable. No sooner had we merged onto the interstate, I
fell asleep. I remember waking up in Pendleton
as we refueled, asking where we were. Back
on the road and back to sleep I next recall waking up and asking the same
question. Someone said we were on the
other side of Boise.
The first
formation I wanted to point out to everyone was an oddity rock formation known
as "the devil’s slide". It is a granite
rock formation that looks like a spine running down the side of a steep
hillside towards the highway. The two
prominent vertical formations, running parallel to each other were separated by
a few feet of normal hillside, resembling a gigantic slide.
The countryside
was gorgeous as we cruised through Utah and into Wyoming. One could see a myriad of pronghorn, deer and
small animals along the many miles of flat and level. One could also see a familiar sighting of the
illusive coyote, looking for his next meal.
We pulled off
the highway in Green River, Wyoming, a little town and rented a motel for the
night. Huge, massive monolith rocks
dotted the steep hills and two of them rested on the hilltop behind our
motel. Aaron and I decided to ascend the
ridge and take a closer look. The huge
rocks appeared to have been hewn from an even larger mountain by God.
As we neared
these monoliths, they became larger than life.
We were impressed. The walk up
onto this ridge was certainly worth the effort.
As we headed out
the next morning towards Colorado, the mountaintops began to show signs of a
dusting of fresh snow. A couple of days before
we arrived here, a freak snowstorm dumped ten to twelve inches of new snow onto
the roads and caused a few traffic problems.
Fortunately, today was clear as was the interstate.
We began to see
more and more snow as we continued into Colorado. Our destination was Estes Park, a gorgeous
town in the mountains. Estes Park is
7,500 feet above sea level. We had reserved a condominium in this little resort
town and planned to do some sightseeing for a few days. Remnants of snow lingered in town, including
the decks of outdoor patios at the resort.
I released the leash from my Guide Dog’s neck collar and let him run in
the snow on our deck. He was funny and
showed his enjoyment of the white slush.
We entered the
condo and discovered it was much too small for our needs. We checked with the office and found they had
other condos available. Debby got on the
phone with the main office with Worldmark and changed our reservations to a
much better unit.
The next morning
we met a driver out front at
0530 and readied ourselves for a guided tour of
the area. We wanted to go out and find
some large game animals. Jared was an
apt guide. He certainly knew his stuff
and knew exactly where and when to go for the best viewing. We spent the next 3 or 4 hours going from one
area to another to find a different animal.
We were able to get close enough for good photos. We were able to get close to Moose, deer,
elk, big horn sheep and wild turkeys.
One gobbler in particular was still trying to impress the ladies, even
though mating season was just about to end; this big fellow still put on a show
by puffing up, dragging his wings and strutting his stuff. A couple of ladies showed up to check him out. He looked pretty snazzy but the ladies were
not interested and trotted off back into the brush. All this happened right beside our vehicle on
the road. Tom didn’t care that we were
snapping pictures. Maybe he liked being
on camera!
0530 and readied ourselves for a guided tour of
the area. We wanted to go out and find
some large game animals. Jared was an
apt guide. He certainly knew his stuff
and knew exactly where and when to go for the best viewing. We spent the next 3 or 4 hours going from one
area to another to find a different animal.
We were able to get close enough for good photos. We were able to get close to Moose, deer,
elk, big horn sheep and wild turkeys.
One gobbler in particular was still trying to impress the ladies, even
though mating season was just about to end; this big fellow still put on a show
by puffing up, dragging his wings and strutting his stuff. A couple of ladies showed up to check him out. He looked pretty snazzy but the ladies were
not interested and trotted off back into the brush. All this happened right beside our vehicle on
the road. Tom didn’t care that we were
snapping pictures. Maybe he liked being
on camera!
We occasionally
found ourselves over the 8,000 foot level.
I could tell that my heart was having problems as I became exhausted;
like I had been working! Nevertheless, I
made the best of it and enjoyed the resort, especially the outside hot
tub! I would often take Toronto out for
a walk. Eric, Aaron and I asked around
and got directions to the best BBQ place in town. It was real close to our resort. We had a spread of food that actually lasted
three meals! Elk roamed the town like
bums looking for a handout. Their hair
was shedding its winter coat and they looked pretty gnarly. They often stopped traffic and took up most
of the road.
On our last
morning when we were checking out, I took Toronto out for his morning
constitutional and noticed the big trash can next to the office had been turned
over and dumped. The lady in the office
who had worked the night shift said it was not uncommon for a bear roaming
around at night would check out the trash cans.
She had seen this one on the security camera.
It felt good to
descend back down off the mountains to a more comfortable elevation. We had skirted around Denver and descended
from Estes Park and were well on our way towards the Kansas border.
Sightseeing
Kansas is pretty cool. You don’t even
have to get off the interstate to see most of Kansas; it’s so flat out
there! There’s a lot of farmland in
western Kansas. The crops were looking
good, especially the sunflower fields; quite yellow!
We made our way to Branson, Missouri where we
have family, stopping only to stretch our legs and take a personal break or
refuel. Aaron’s mom drove up from Tulsa
to pick up Aaron for a few days’ visiting.
The rest of us remained in Branson.
In a few days, Eric flew back to Portland to get back to work.
We visited a
couple of Fried Chicken and Barbeque joints.
Ron took me to a local Botanical Gardens place. It was very nice. Toronto liked it.
The morning we took
off for Texas, early rush hour traffic was heavy. We entered a road construction area and a
couple of traffic lanes were closed off, guarded by those large white and
orange barrels that could have been filled with water or sand. Lucky for us they weren’t! As we merged onto the freeway, a large semi-truck
was taking up the lane to our left and the barrels were merging into our lane
from the right. Ron thought he could put
the pedal to the metal and scoot around the semi on his right. Not a good idea! He was driving his wife’s little 4 cylinder
and it had no get up and go like his truck.
He sideswiped a couple of those barrels and almost got knocked into the
right side of that semi. That would not
have turned out too well for us! I’m
sure the truck driver was not happy as we cut him off out of necessity. I kept kidding Ron that Nancy was going to
get him for denting up her new car! The
rest of the trip into Waco was uneventful.
We met up with the girls and found a burger joint to have lunch. Afterwards, Ron and Nancy headed back to
Arkansas in her car. I kept an eye out
to see if the fur was going to start flying but apparently she didn’t see the
damage.
With my
daughter, Ami and family, in our Sienna, we headed for our motel waiting in
Abilene.
In Abilene, we
met up with Daniel and his girlfriend, Cloe to see the campus and find out what
was happening. The ACU campus is very
nice! We also attended a dinner for the
graduating class of 2019. It was a very
nice event and we met many of Daniel’s teachers and friends.
The next day,
the graduation was in a huge facility.
We were high up in the south end of this north bound oval stadium, back
up there in the nose bleed section.
There were many people in attendance!
This place was amazingly huge, but most every seat taken! It was fun to watch Ami as her son graduated
from this famous university.
Early the next
morning, we all packed and loaded up for a quick trip to the Dallas
airport. Ami and family would be flying
back to Portland but we were continuing our road trip. Ami dove the long busy highway to the
terminal. We dropped them off and said
our goodbyes. Debby got behind the
drivers wheel and we took the interstate to Oklahoma City.
We arrived at
the Memorial Drive church of Christ in Oklahoma City just in time for church
services to begin. There, we met up with
our son, Matthew and spend the rest of the day with him. We drove over to our good friend’s house,
Brian and Sharon, where we would start a couple of days. Sharon was currently in Portland and we
didn’t get to see her on this trip.
It was great
visiting with our son and our friends.
Time went by quickly and it was time to head north. Back on the road we headed to9 Branson and
made it there in late evening. We
unpacked and remained here with Debby’s sisters and mom, catching up as we
could. We got to spend a day walking
around old downtown Branson on the new riverfront called, Branson Landing. It was very nice. We ate out at some of the local restaurants
and visit with other family. Debby’s
younger sister was in the process of opening up a new candle shop at Shepherd
of the Hills. It’s a gorgeous place
where visitors can come and be entertained with shows, events and
shopping.
As we neared
Memorial Day, it was time to pack up and head for Kansas. I was on my way to attend our 55th
high school reunion in Americus. It’s a
tiny town sporting 9 graduating from my 1964 senior class. I did not graduate from that school but my
heart has always rested there as if I did.
These kids were my friends and I wanted to be a part of their
reunion. As it worked out, with bad
weather, family illnesses, other family events and such, only 3 of us from the
1964 class were there. But it was still
a great visit with Joanne and rose!
On our way back
to Oklahoma City, we drove out of our way to stop off in Branson because other
family members had come into town and Debby wanted a family photo taken while
her mother is still able to do that. We
spent the night and had breakfast, visiting some more as we could. Then we loaded up and headed to Tulsa where
we met up with our daughter.
We had lunch
with Teresa before driving the two hours on to Oklahoma City. We, once again stayed with our friend,
Brian. Our friends from Portland, Greg
and Dottie, had been spending time with their grandchildren in a nearby town,
but were meeting up with us in OKC to drive back to Oregon with us. That evening, all of us went out to dinner
and including our son. We had a good
visit and met up with some old friends from Oklahoma Christian University that
we had known in Oregon. It was all good.
On the morrow,
we loaded up with Greg and Dottie and headed for Santa Fe where we would stay
in a condo a few days. We have always
liked Santa Fe. There’s something about
it that just makes you want to come back.
Our Worldmark condo was perfect.
We enjoyed going down town and into the town square to see the locals
tending their jewelry and crafts displays.
We went into the old mission church and really enjoyed the architecture. We enjoyed shopping and eating in the local
restaurants.
One of our
highlights was driving out to see Bandelier National Monument, an extinct
village of Indians who lived inside carved-out rooms in the huge sandstone
cliffs. They were known as cliff
dwellers. We walked the sprawling area
where many hundreds of these cliff dwellers made their home along the river.
We checked out
and continued our road trip north. We
were amazed at the many rock formations and cliffs that one could see from the
road. Amazing architecture by God, the
Grand Master.
We HAD to stop
at Four Corners, a tourist trap where four states intersect borders in one
strategic spot in the world. Here, one
can stand on the intersection of borders of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah. This is another place, out in the middle of
nowhere where you can visit one of the Indian’s selling their crafts and
jewelry.
We made our way
into Utah, driving through the amazingly beautiful and picturesque Glen
Canyon. It is amazing what erosion and
time has done to these colorful sandstone cliffs. We took many pictures and made memories.
Our next stop
was Zion National Park. This was another
location where we had a nice condo, courtesy of our Worldmark association
membership.
The girls wanted
to relax in the condo and visit the swimming pool and hot tub, so Greg and I
took off for a day of sightseeing the National Park. My handicap parking pass came in real handy
here as parking was scarce. With my
Guide Dog in tow, we boarded a park bus and visited a few hiking trails. It was crowded bit we had a great time seeing
unusual sights and water features, as created by God. It was a long day but we got to see much and
of course, took many awesome photos.
On our way out
of the park, heading back to our condo, we found a small café in the middle of
town that sold Bumble Berry Pie. We had
never tasted this superb treat and were excited to find it here. We bought a whole pie to take back to the
condo to go with that ice cream Debby had bought. Following a taco dinner, we had the pie and
ice cream for dessert. It was worth
every minute of waiting to taste this luscious treat. Bumble Berry pie is amazing!
Our next stop
was a drive over to the Red Hills Desert Garden where one can see amazing
desert plants and flowers. It was well
done by a garden designer, for sure! We
took lots of pictures and spent much time walking the paved walkways that
intertwined in and out among the gorgeous desert plants.
After the few
days in Zion, we headed north for Cedar City, Utah. It was now June 1st. We have been away for a little more than a
month now, but there is still much to see.
So today was a day for a trip down memory lane for our friends. First, a drive over to Cedar City where Greg
explored his old home town and a visit to the mysterious Squaw Cave. 
We headed for a
memorial dedicated to some early wagon trainers who were massacred by a group
of Mormons who were bent to rob them.
The monument set in this huge meadow is called the Mountain Meadow
Massacre. Greg had recalled hearing
about this years ago and it was something worth visiting.
From here we
cruised through a tiny town and discovered "Tow-mater" was living here! He is the old pickup tow truck as depicted in
the cartoon movie, CARS.
On our way
northward we stopping in Dixie National Forest at Red Canyon to have a
picnic. The hills and rock formations
were amazing to see! We parked near the
restrooms so we could take a break. I
took Toronto over to a particular area so he could relieve himself. When I headed back towards the car, an old
woman was coming towards Toronto. I
pulled him aside off the sidewalk and stopped.
She kept heading for him. I asked
her to please not touch the dog as he is working. She walked very close to him and let the back
of her hand touch his nose. Without even
stopping she said, "He licked me". Ten
feet behind her, the woman’s husband followed.
As he went past, he apologized for her quietly said, "She don’t listen
to nobody!"
Our next stop
was the Bryce Canyon National Park. We
had never seen this canyon up to this point.
It was one of the most amazing formations I have ever seen. Looking down into this amazing canyon at the many "Hoodoo’s" standing like a crowd of people was striking! Apparently, these rock formations called,
"Hoodoo’s" are always moving from the winter snows causing them to shift a
little each year. There is no other
place in the world where I have seen such a vision.
We spent the day
driving into the Escalante National Monument.
We drove about 18 miles into Long Canyon to view amazing red sandstone cliffs
and wind sculpted formations of many sizes and shapes. Along the way to noticed
an opening in the tall cliffs so we stopped and took a hike. It was a gorgeous area of old trees and a huge crack in the cliff known as a slot canyon. Sculpted cliffs towered hundreds of feet above to expose a sliver of
daylight. This canyon was one that a
local had told us about when we stopped somewhere along the way. On our way back to the car, a couple of
local hikers came towards us and asked about our hike. One of them asked how we came to know about
this canyon. We said that a local store
keeper had told us about it. He wasn’t
too happy because the locals like to keep these kinds of gems a secret from
tourists, else they get overran and crowded.
Midway is a
beautiful little Swiss village with gorgeous homes and farms. Our condo was beautiful and spacious. We were able to get a great rest before the
next phase of our trip.
We took a drive
up to the top of a huge cinder cone called Veterans Memorial Mountain. Atop this perfect hill is a memorial where
every branch of service has been remembered, especially the heroes of this area
in all of the wars. It was well done and
sports a 360 degree view of the countryside and the gorgeous Wasatch
Mountains. We descended the spiral
driveway circumventing the hill several times before exiting the facility.
We drove over to
a cheese factory for a quick visit and to purchase some snacks. Their claim to fame was they made the best
cheese sandwich in the world. I’m not
really sure about the world, but we did order their cheese sandwich. I must say that it was the best I have ever
eaten anywhere!
Our stay was relaxing. Now we were ready to continue our journey
west towards home. As we drove along, we
saw many beautiful sights. Park City is
a beautiful city that hosts winter sports events in their beautiful mountains.
My old high school friend, Joanne, used to live
here. She had a beautiful home that
looked over to the ski slopes and down on Park City. Elk and deer used her back yard for a
migration route.
It was a long
drive to Portland but we managed to stay on the road, stopping occasionally for
fuel and food. We were like a tired
horse who could smell the barn! There
was only one thing on our minds and that was to get home as soon as possible! We often look back on the pictures we took
and of the amazing places we got to visit.
Road trips are nice.
