My brain

I read this post today and loved it - a very apt description of my brain written by another, perhaps distant cousin of my brain.

What My Brain and Fox News Have In Common

Enjoy!

Happy Veteran's Day!

11-11-11... a fun date to say and write. :)

Attended a Veteran's Day Prayer service at the school this morning. The kids all wore their scout uniforms (poor Ryan was at least a foot taller than all of the others - even the boys his age!) and lined the aisle for the Marine Corps Honor Guard who presented the colors.

Near the end of the service, they asked the Veterans in attendance to stand. Normally, I am one to just sit quietly, preferring to be anonymous. However, I knew that my kids were there watching and would want to know why I didn't stand up. How can I teach them that it is important to honor and respect veterans while at the same time saying that I don't want to be recognized. Just all the OTHER veterans... So in a moment of Mommy sacrifice, I stood up. I looked around. There were about 10 of us in attendance. I was the youngest by far and the only woman. Sheesh - now I really want to sit down. Those old guys are the real, true veterans. They really sacrificed and served. I stood my ground though, trying to be a good example and hoping my kids were paying attention!

I have decided that I am definitely more comfortable in the support role when it comes Veterans Day and honoring our veterans and active duty armed forces members. I can be the family of one who serves. I can be the strong silent support. I can advocate for those who (have) serve(d) to be recognized. Just don't go eye-balling me! I am but a shadow...

Looking Back again

Here's a link to my post at the 5-year anniversary of 9-11. I have to say, not much has changed. I still cry every time I think about it. So much loss and tragedy and sadness. I have to change the radio station in the car whenever they have someone on telling what they remember from that day.

Denial... still going strong!

Looking Back

Soccer today. Currently Felisa appears to be playing as a one-girl team. Where are the rest of the Cheetah Girls? They're on the field but not even moving!

In other news, this place is freezing! We're getting better about dressing in layers and bringing a jacket or sweatshirt. What I think we need now is a blanket or two alwaysin the car for days such as this.

Okay I suppose I should get back to watching the game now...

Day 20 – Saturday – August 6, 2011

0600 Wake up.

0615 Wake up the girls.

0630 Breakfast

0722 All loaded and ready to go.

0724 Leaving hotel.

0730 Stop for gas. $3.48/gallon

0751 Make it to I-15 South.  257 miles to Los Angeles

0803 Passing a prison next to the Gold Strike Casino

0812 California!  Two casinos and an outlet mall at the state line (on the Nevada side!)

0825 Cresting a mountain pass – 4,730 feet

0853 Baker, CA – Gateway to Death Valley and the Mojave Desert

0900 Zzyzx Road.  Really?  Who named this road?

0930 See a closed water park.  Ryan thinks it’s weird to see a water park in the desert that isn’t open.

0934 Whew – we passed our agricultural inspection.

0940 Ghost Town Road

0945 Made it to Barstow.  Elevation, 2,170 feet.  Current temperature, 84 degrees

0953 Stop for gas in Lenwood. 

1014 Leaving  Lenwood after also stopping at McD’s for drinks.

1035 Victorville.  The kids are hungry so we stop at In-n-Out Burger.  Yum!  Welcome back to California!

1055 Leaving Victorville

1110 Ron called to see where we are.  He is still at the airport in San Francisco.  Who will get there first?

1158 Pasadena

12:10 p.m. Burbank

12:14 p.m. On 101 North – our first LA traffic jam.  Oh yay.

12:40 p.m. Agora Hills

1:05 p.m. Conejo.  Another traffic jam.

1:36 p.m. Pacific Ocean!

1:40 p.m. Another traffic jam!  Ugh!

2:11 p.m. Santa Barbara, elevation 33 feet

2:15 p.m.  Potty and snack break at McD’s in Carpenteria

2:46 p.m.  Need a break from driving.  Way too many traffic jams today.  Stop at Mission Santa Barbara to stretch our legs.

3:00 p.m. See Lake Cachuma

3:08 p.m. Ron called – he beat us home.

3:14 p.m. Santa Ynez River

3:28 p.m. Lots of vineyards out here.

3:32 p.m. Los Alamos, CA

3:45 p.m. Santa Maria – getting close

3:53 p.m. See a sign for Arroyo Grande – only 12 more miles!

4:03 p.m. Exiting in Arroyo Grande

4:11 p.m.  Home sweet new home!  Ending mileage is 91,358 which makes our total trip mileage just 4,474 miles.  I think this is our shortest Big Trip ever.

Day 19

Day 19 – Friday – August 5, 2011

0500 Wake up. Darby is looking at me. Might as well just forget the alarm and get up now. Once again, the time change helps!

0525 Stop in the lobby to get coffee after walking Darby. The coffee is bad. Over all I am NOT impressed with this hotel.

0540 Sunrise

0545 Shower. Good to have water pressure again.

0600 Wake the kids up.

0629 Leaving hotel. Stop next door at Jack in the Box for breakfast.

0647 Looking for a Grand Canyon sign. We’re lost! You would think they would have better signs for something as famous as the Grand Canyon!

0650 Finally figure out where we’re going. We are the only car on the road at the moment.

0745 Grand Canyon entrance gate

0752 Stop at Mather’s Point overlook and visitor’s center. Walk along the rim trail and take lots of pictures. The lighting isn’t as good as I hoped but the view is amazing! It’s so vast that it’s really hard to tell how big it is – no scale references like at Royal Gorge where you have the bridge over the river and the people walking below. Never less – I have finally seen the Grand Canyon! Woohoo!

0930 Leaving Grand Canyon. Things are getting busy. Good thing we came early!

0944 Horse trailer full of aluminum cans. No horse.

1009 Sheep

1032 Back to I-40 where we started this morning.

1049 Ryan spots a cowboy. A real cowboy – riding a horse – and tending the cattle. Cool!

1155 Kingman, AZ

12:00 p.m. Lunch break at Sonic

12:20 p.m. Gas, $3.39/gallon

1:26 p.m. Stop at the scenic overlook. I thought it was the Colorado River but it was actually Lake Mojave. Almost to Hoover Dam and the new bridge! Current temperature, 103 degrees.

Wait – what was that? Was that the bridge? But I couldn’t see anything! I couldn’t see the bridge or the dam or the river or anything! Waa! I want my money back!!!

Decide to exit and drive across the dam so we can actually see it and see the bridge from below. Cross back to Arizona and then back to Nevada once more.

2:00 p.m. Leaving Hoover Dam.

2:01 p.m. Lake view overlook – Lake Mead. Current temperature, 107 degrees!

2:10 p.m. Boulder City. Driving around and showing the kids my old house, old school, etc.

2:45 p.m. Dairy Queen for ice cream.

3:10 p.m. Holiday Inn Express in Henderson.

5:00 p.m. Can’t go swimming yet – someone had an accident in the pool.

6:30 p.m. Dinner at Sunset Station Casino buffet. Good thing we beat the crowd – the line is long when we leave.

After dinner we go to the pool. It is still very warm out here.

For one last field trip of the day – a drive down the Las Vegas Strip. Lots of lights and oh so many people! It has been a long time since I’ve been here. It seems so much more over the top than before.

10:30 p.m. Back at the hotel. Current temperature, 91 degrees.

Day 18

Day 18 – Thursday – August 4, 2011

0606 Wake up. Shower. Fold the laundry.

0705 Get the kids up.

Finish packing and loading then take final pictures before we leave. It is one tight squeeze with the addition of another passenger – Grandma Racinez!

0752 Leave. Current temperature is 62 degrees.

0758 National Guard Armory. Tank parked outside.

0807 Rio Grande River in Bernalillo

0814 Twisters for breakfast burritos. Yum!

0816 Starbucks drive-thru for coffee

0837 See a VW bug lowrider. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that before!

0842 I-40 West

0845 Rio Grande River in Albuquerque

0943 Grants, NM. Gas, $3.57/gallon. Some guy comes up begging for money – some sob story about trying to get back to the reservation. He was perfectly polite until I gave him $5. Then he turned tail and practically ran away. I am completely annoyed that he didn’t have the decency to say thank you. I doubt his story was true anyway but sheesh –use your manners! I yelled, “You’re welcome” at his back as he trotted off into the horizon.

0957 Exit the interstate, headed to El Morro National Monument. Lots of black lava rocks along the roadside.

1020 Continental Divide, elevation 7,882 feet

1038 El Morro visitor’s center. Bought our new annual park pass.

1132 Leaving El Morro

12:05 p.m. Zuni Indian Pueblo.

12:21 p.m. Arizona! Time change.

1157 Sanders, AZ – back to I-40

12:10 p.m. Lunch stop –Subway at the gas station in Navajo, AZ. Not much out here and we need to eat before we hit Petrified Forest.

12:47 p.m. Petrified Forest National Park

12:55 p.m. Leaving Petrified Forest/Painted Desert visitor’s center

1:26 p.m. old Route 66 monument

1:35 p.m. Santa Fe Railroad

1:36 p.m. Puerco River

1:46 p.m. Newspaper Rock
1:58 p.m. Agate Bridge

2:05 p.m. Crystal Forest. Darby refuses to get out of the car. I think he’s tired and his feet hurt from the hot ground out here. So we leave him in the car with the windows down while we take a couple quick pictures.

2:24 p.m. Leaving the park.

2:37 p.m. Little Colorado River

2:40 p.m. Holbrook, AZ – back on I-40 again

2:50 p.m. McD’s for iced coffee

2:59 p.m. Cholla Power Plant

3:38 p.m. Canyon Diablo

3:58 p.m. Flagstaff, AZ – looking for a gas station and find Jack in the Box. Stop for a snack.

4:20 p.m. Gas, $3.49/gallon

4:37 p.m. Arizona Divide 7,335 feet

4:51 p.m. Guy on a bike pulling a trailer filled with scrap wood/lumber.

4:53 p.m. Field filled with yellow wildflowers

5:00 p.m. Holiday Inn, Williams, AZ There is something wrong with the wells in town so the water is icky.

5:55 p.m. Dinner at the Singing Pig. Got to sit outside in a covered porch-swing-picnic-table. Live music. Good food. Friendly owners.

Back at the hotel, things are getting busy. We’d better head out early in the morning to beat the crowd!

There were some inconsiderate teens at the pool which made it not much fun. Be aware of your surroundings, people, and have a little consideration for others!!!

Swim then shower then off to bed early. Lights out a 9:15 in my room (not sure about Grandma and the girls) which is even easier to do with the time change today.

Day 17

Day 17 – Wednesday – August 3, 2011

0645 Darby wakes me up. I didn’t sleep well last night. First I couldn’t fall asleep and then I had crazy dreams.

Coffee.

0700 Bella is up. Ryan and Felisa are sleeping in.

0900 Utility transfer requests for the old house are complete.

0930 I need to quit wasting time and update my blog!

0945 The kids are treasure hunting in the garage again.

0950 Refill Darby’s water again – now we’re having the opposite water problem. He keeps drinking it faster than I can fill it!

0951 Take pictures of the kids with all the spears and swords they found in the garage.

Head into town with Grandma. Stop at Sonic and Starbucks and the bank.

Back home the kids are all still playing.

Raining! Again! It must be monsoon season or something.

Day 16

Day 16 – Tuesday – August 2, 2011

0630 Wake up. Put Darby out. Felisa is awake already. She never wakes up this early at home… must be because she wants to play with Philip.

Elena and I went on another field trip today. This time we went to Staples for school supplies, Weck’s for brunch (yum!) and then the mall. I went to Barnes and Noble while she went to Sephora. We checked out the new Coach store then it was time to head back.

After lunch, Ryan and I went to see the last Harry Potter movie. The movie was good and the snake only creeped me out a little bit. The previews were worse than the movie by far. Apparently people who go to Harry Potter also like to see creepy scary movies. Ick!

After the movie, we stopped by Walmart to get a birthday present for Seth. We picked out a small cops and robbers lego set which he liked a lot. Felisa and Philip helped him put it together.

For dinner we had Grandma’s noodles – yum! After dinner I surfed Etsy looking for some cool whimsical state maps art. Julie’s travel pictures that she had hanging at her place inspired me to want to do the same. Then I saw a cool map gallery wall online and thought I could maybe combine the two ideas.

Bedtime except that I forgot I had some bills to pay. I got distracted looking at new rustic western furniture online so did that for a long time. Then finally I paid the bills. I probably should have done the bills first because then I would’ve remembered that we have no money for new furniture!

11:45 p.m. Lights out.

Day 15

Day 15 – Monday – August 1, 2011

0630 Wake up. Let Darby out. The coffee hasn’t been made yet so I go back to bed and read for awhile.

Eventually I get up and get showered. Then Elena and I head out for a field trip to Starbucks and Walmart.

When we get back I hang out with Mark for awhile but then he falls asleep so I have no choice but to go lie down next to him on the bed while he sleeps. I wouldn’t want him to roll off now would I?

1:20 p.m. Vic’s Tree Service calls. I give them my mailing address for the bill. Unfortunately the phone call woke Mark up.

Grandma went to the store. The six biggest kids stayed here with me and Mark went home with Elena while we waited for her to come back.

3:40 p.m. Finally time to hit the pool. It started raining about 30 minutes in. The kids didn’t mind the rain so we stayed until we saw lightning/heard thunder.

4:35 p.m. Stormed out at the pool – heading back home.

7:00 p.m. Finally the barbeque is ready to eat. Yum – I was starving!

After dinner I finished my book.

8:30 p.m. Bedtime. Felisa wants to sleep on the floor for some reason tonight. I found some blankets and pillows for her to use. Darby decided that he wanted to use Felisa’s blanket to sleep on. I told them they had to work it out!

In other news today, Ryan lost 1 ½ teeth. I think that marks the end of his baby teeth. Guess my baby’s not a baby anymore…

Day 14

Day 14 – Sunday – July 31, 2011

0330 Darby wakes me up. He’s bumping into the closed doors in the dark. Guess he wants to go out. Once we get outside, I can hear coyotes howling. Then they all start yipping and it sounds like they are getting closer. Yikes! I grab Darby and go back inside. Of course now I’m wide awake so I read for awhile.

0500 Finally ready to go back to sleep.

0815 Wake up.

0935 Leaving for mass. Two moms and 7 kids.

1115 Mass is over. That was a really long homily! Interesting, but long.

1140 Back home. Darby doesn’t want to eat or drink today.

12:00 p.m. Pizza leftovers for lunch.

Elena and I hang out all afternoon with Mark and Bella while the other kids play and play.

6:00 p.m. Grandma and Grandpa are finally back. They had to go to Los Alamos again today to finish at the house and turn the keys over to the tenants. Elena made spaghetti for dinner.

After dinner the kids play more.

9:00 p.m. Bedtime. I finished my first book earlier and am starting my second book now.

Day 13

Day 13 – Saturday – July 30, 2011

0621 Get up. Put Darby out. Start the coffee. Shower. Straighten up the car a bit and get ready to reload.

0805 Wake up Felisa and Ryan. Bella was already awake.

0908 Car is loaded. Pictures are taken. We are ready to go.

0913 The girls are putting dates on their new little calendars. Which reminds me – we missed Seth’s birthday last week. Oops! Guess we’ll get him something when we get there.

0915 Starbucks Drive Thru

0922 Good-bye, Pikes Peak. I’m going to miss you!

0950 Thinking about Brandee… Interesting how people’s lives are often nothing like what you imagine.

1013 Sonic in Pueblo West. Excruciatingly slow service!

1026 Eating my breakfast burrito. Not sure why it took so many years for this inspiration to strike, but putting green chiles on the burrito instead of jalapenos is much yummier! Of course, this won’t work at every Sonic but at least at the locations with green chile cheeseburgers on the menu!

1033 Tie-dye grenade decal on the SUV in front of me. The colors are pretty but not what I would expect to find on a hand grenade. I wonder what the message is exactly.

1039 Evraz billboard. Rocky Mountain Steel company. Which is the logo that was on the Frisbee Dad gave to Bella. Now we know what Evraz is.

1100 Rest stop.

1121 Cows.

1126 Call from Grandma D. Said the yardwork was done and it looks good. Nice to know things are still happening when we are away. She talked to the girls for a while.

1142 A rock formation that looks like a lizard with a spiky back.

1156 Trinidad. Sign warns us to watch for wildlife on the road.

1158 Ron called.

12:11 p.m. New Mexico. Raton Pass. Now for a little social studies lesson, compliments of Wikipedia…
Raton Pass (7834 feet or 2388 meters elevation) is a mountain pass on the Santa Fe Trail along the Colorado-New Mexico border in the United States. Raton Pass is a federally designated National Historic Landmark. Ratón is Spanish for "mouse."
The pass is located on the eastern side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains between Trinidad, Colorado and Raton, New Mexico, approximately 100 miles (160 km) northeast of Santa Fe. The pass crosses the line of volcanic mesas that extends east from the Sangre de Cristo Mountains along the state line, and furnishes the most direct land route between the valley of the Arkansas River to the north and the upper valley of the Canadian River, leading to Santa Fe, to the south.
12:18 p.m. Capulin Volcano National Monument. Sounds interesting. Maybe we should go there one day.

1219 Traffic jam at Raton exit. Good thing I wasn’t planning to stop here.

12:40 p.m. A flipped car on the highway. Looks very recent. Very scary. Lots of people helping already and I have no special skills to offer. Say a prayer and slowly ease past the scene.

12:51 p.m. Ambulance headed north from Springer. Wonder if it’s headed to the accident scene.

1:13 p.m. Sheep in Wagon Mound.

1:17 p.m. Antelope

1:50 p.m. Las Vegas. Stop at Taco Bell. Darby is going on strike and refuses to get back in the car.

2:00 p.m. Leaving Taco Bell. Darby actually bites at the bag, trying to eat the tacos. Bad dog!

2:02 p.m. Stop next door at Sonic for a cherry limeade. It’s happy hour so my drink is half price!

2:12 p.m. Stop for gas, $3.69/gallon. There are lots of motorcyclists in town today. Buddy is not very happy about this.

2:20 p.m. Darby is still not cooperating. He won’t move all the way into his spot in the middle and is crowding Ryan’s feet and legs. What has gotten into that guy today?

2:36 p.m. Amtrak – passenger train headed north.

2:40 p.m. Pecos River

2:41 p.m. Looks like rain up ahead.

2:47 p.m. Motorcyclists have pulled over to put on rain gear.

2:48 p.m. Lightning and another motorcyclist gearing up.

2:49 p.m. Buddy is in timeout for trying to eat Darby’s food. He’s cheering about being in shotgun so I put him on his head. Then he starts cheering about riding upside-down shotgun. That dog is trouble! Since he’s having too much fun being punished I send him back to Felisa. How’s that for punishment – the fun is over!!!

2:51 p.m. Raining

2:57 p.m. Pecos National Historical Park. Another interesting sounding spot.

3:08 p.m. 63 degrees. It has gone down 20 degrees after the rain. Much more refreshing than the east coast where it usually becomes a sauna after the rain.

3:26 p.m. Back up to 83 degrees. No rain here!

3:38 p.m. Stoneartistas.com stone carving. I’ll have to look that one up but not sure we have room in the van for a giant carved rock!

3:45 p.m. Rio Grande River

4:02 p.m. We’re here but no one is home! All the doors are locked so we go to Elena’s to get a key.

Dinner is pizza from Dion’s. Very yummy.

Lots of thunderstorms roll through in the evening. The cousins are all happy to be together again.

And finally… bedtime!

Day 12

Day 12 – Friday – July 29, 2011

Breakfast with Brandee, a friend from high school. We brought our youngest girls along so they can entertain each other while we talk.

Next up – errands. We went to the bank to deposit the kids’ piggy bank money (I was going to do it before we left but never got around to it), Costco (why not?), and Smashburger (again!). This time I had the Colorado Dog… delicious!!! Definitely my favorite thing to order there. Yesterday I had a burger, which was good, but this was yummy!

When we got back I walked Darby while the kids continued their mission to turn into Wii-heads.

Dinner at Saltgrass steakhouse. Another friend, Jason, that I had been trying unsuccessfully to meet up with, was heading out while we were waiting for a table so I at least got to see him for a minute!

After dinner we went to Borders to check out the going out of business sale. Each of the kids got a book. Felisa picked out our calendar for next year. I was voting for frogs but we ended up with something else.

9:47 p.m. I have decided that the kids need to go to bed right now!!!

Day 11

Day 11 – Thursday – July 28, 2011

0615 Wake up.

0730 Coffee. Breakfast. Shower. Kids are playing Wii of course.

1030 Gutter guys are here to fix the downspout.

1134 Dad leaves for his class.

1146 We head out to Smashburger for lunch. Quite delicious, just as we remembered!

12:45 p.m. At Target to get some dog food. Which they do not have. But we did get: Broncos t-shirts for the kids, new goggles for the kids, school uniform gear, a solar lantern for our new porch – all on my ticket. Ryan spent ALL his money to get a new 3DS. Bella used part of her birthday Target card to buy another Selena Gomez CD.

2:30 p.m. Back at the house. Darby needs a walk so we decide to explore the open area behind Grandpa’s house. Ryan got cactus-ed, ouch! And Darby stepped on an ant hill (so we all ran for our lives!!!). Quite the little adventure.

Back at the house it was time for more Wii while I got sucked in by the Oregon Trail game on Facebook and did a few blog updates.

5:20 p.m. Grandpa is home from school. We go out to dinner at TGIFridays.

After dinner, gas for $3.39/gallon.

7:40 p.m. Off to meet Travis for drinks at the Buffalo Wild Wings place. It was pretty loud in there but we did more talking in the parking lot before we left.

10:06 p.m. Home! Made it before the door was locked… The kids got busted. Ryan was still up playing Wii. Claims he didn’t know it was so late… Everyone go to bed right now!!!

Day 10

Day 10 – Wednesday – July 27, 2011

0610 It’s time to get up. I can’t sleep anymore. The sun is up and my body is still on Central time. I let Darby out to go potty and he comes back with another rawhide!

I drink coffee, check my email, etc. A nice lazy morning.

0710 Dad is up.

0730 The kids are up. They eat breakfast and then are back on the Wii again.

After lazing around for a while it’s time to go on our field trip for the day. I move all the stuff from the front passenger seat into the back where the luggage was so that Dad can ride with us in the same car.

0959 Leave for the chiropractor’s office and our hike.

1013 Oh look – a Schlotsky’s! Maybe we should have lunch before our hike.

1015 Arrive at the chiropractor’s office just on time for Dad’s appointment.

1020 We are all roaming up and down the sidewalk with Darby while we wait for Dad. I suddenly realize that Schlotsky’s might be closed. It is only 1020 – not exactly lunch time. 

1028 Dad is done.

1030 Schlotsky’s is open! They open at 1030 and we are the first customers! Two other guys come in a few minutes after us so clearly I’m not the only crazy person who eats lunch at 1030.

1105 Darby gets to try out the new collapsible water bowl that Dad bought for him. He likes it!

1139 Arrive at Seven Falls.

1242 We are done at the falls. Whew! 185 steps to the eagle’s nest viewing platform (we skipped those and rode the elevator up and back but Ryan ran back down when we were done). The website said that dogs are allowed but I was envisioning stairs not Cliffside ladders. There is no way Darby can go up with us. So I guess that means we won’t be hiking either since the trails start at the top of the 224 stairs that go up along the falls. Darby and Grandpa waited at the bottom. Bella did the first half of the stairs then went back down to wait. Apparently she doesn’t love the water enough to be willing to climb all the way to the top.
Our favorite parts:
Ryan – the stairs. All of them!
Bella- the water
Felisa – the view
Grandpa – the nice cool cave path to the elevator
Sheila – the scenery
Darby – the elevator

On our way back from the falls, we decide to take the scenic route through Garden of the Gods. First we drive through Old Colorado City. Then I make a wrong turn (was it my fault or was it Grandpa’s fault? We may never know!) so we end up going through Manitou Springs as well. The scenic scenic route! Garden of the Gods was pretty busy so no one wanted to stop. Bella had fallen asleep of course anyway. She missed the firemen that we saw arriving to rescue a stranded rock climber. Ryan and Felisa easily noticed the signs that said No Rock Climbing. Guess those climbers don’t know how to read, right? Rock Ledge Ranch was open though so I decided to stop there since we hadn’t done that part of the park before.

1:26 p.m. Rock Ledge Ranch. Part of the ranch has farm animals. Darby was very interested in the pigs and the chickens. A few baby chicks kept coming out from holes in the bottom of the fence but they all went back in rather than running away. The demonstration at the blacksmith shop was interesting too. The men working there had made some cool stuff.

2:37 p.m. Stop at Sonic for a snack.

When we get back there is some loud mountain thunder (it’s just louder out here!) and a little bit of rain. Any guesses what the kids were doing? Did you guess play Wii?

5:10 p.m. Dinner at 3 Margaritas with Shannon and Dana.

After dinner, Dana introduces us to one of her family traditions – ice block sledding. Sounds strange but turned out to be a lot of fun.

After sledding, back to Grandpa’s so the kids could shower off all the dirt and grass stains. I did laundry also – lots of grass to wash out!

10:00 p.m. Update Facebook and then bedtime!

Day 9

Day 9 – Tuesday – July 26, 2011

0630 Darby wakes me up. Get dressed, walk Darby, get my coffee and check emails, etc.

0740 Wake kids up.

0805 Breakfast

0837 A call from Vic’s Tree Service to see if we still want the cherry tree trimmed.

0843 Leaving the hotel.

0911 A train blasts his horn. Yikes! What is it with these trains trying to give me heart attack?!

0916 A train pulling mostly cars of automobiles.

0924 An ambulance passes us.

0931 A six engine train. The train before this one had one engine and just three cars. There sure are a lot of trains on the tracks today.

0938 Platte River

0945 Fort Kearny

1039 Leaving Fort Kearny.

1046 A swarm of large bugs flies right into my windshield. Thump, thump, THUMP! Yikes!

1049 Gas, $3.97. I don’t think so! That is not even close to the $3.69 price on the sign so we go to a different gas station.

1051 Lawnmower crossing in the crosswalk.

1053 Stop at Burger King. They do not have the pork sandwich I am looking for but they do still have breakfast food available. The guys working give me directions to find a Caribou Coffee shop nearby.

1102 Boogaarts Food Store. Really? A food store with a name that looks like boogers?

1105 Gas, $3.79/gallon. Clean windows too!

1124 I cannot find the coffee place. I am giving up and going back to the highway.

1126 Found it! It’s next to the gas station and across the street from Boogaarts. So that’s why I missed it the first time – I was distracted by the boogers!

1128 An older couple from out of state parks in the lot next to us. They have a hanging clothes rod in the back seat. I haven’t seen one of those in years. I commented on it and Felisa told me that Grandma Ford has one. I bet it’s the same one I remember from all those years ago!

12:00 p.m. Museum of Military Vehicles. Ryan wants to stop. I told him maybe next time.

12:21 p.m. Arrive at the Sod House Museum

12:50 p.m. Leaving the sod house. 258 miles to Grandpa Ford’s house… Our favorite parts of the museum:
Ryan-barbed wire statues
Felisa – how the walls are made of grass
Bella – the house
Sheila – the house

12:54 p.m. Platte River channel bridge – the water looks pretty high

1:11 p.m. North Platte Visitors Center sign – looks like a good place to visit on future drives.

1:23 p.m. South Platte River

1:25 p.m. Burger King in North Platte – pork sandwich, yum!

1:38 p.m. Felisa tells us that we have to be careful with Grandpa Ford. He’s a trickster grandpa!

1:39 p.m South Platte River

1:40 p.m. Darby ate one of Ryan’s chicken nuggets. Oops! Someone forgot to be careful and someone else got a treat as a result!

1:41 p.m. Truck of pigs pulled over by the police.

1:43 p.m. Haystacks! Very unusual – usually you see the rolls and occasionally the large bales.

1:52 p.m. Old West Vacation Trail… that sounds interesting. Might have to look it up!

2:01 p.m Mountain Time Zone

1:09 p.m. Fur Trade Museum, 170 miles. Apparently a little off our route but maybe something for another time…

1:13 p.m. Kenney Chesney’s bus just passed us going East. I wonder if he was really on board.

1:18 p.m. A news story about how the “Smurfs” are in danger of heatstroke during the movie premier event in New York City.

1:24 p.m. We are off the Oregon Trail.

1:45 p.m. Colorado

2:13 p.m. Thinking about what other stuff we can get rid off as we unpack.

2:36 p.m. I’m craving a wagon train book after all this Oregon trail following and pioneer site visiting.

2:38 p.m. I should call Scott to see if he’ll come down to the springs.

2:59 p.m. Jo recalculated… and on the very first try came up with the route I want to follow rather than trying to get my to u-turn my way back to her original route. Will wonders never cease!

3:01 p.m. No gas for 75 miles!!! Uh oh. Guess we’d better turn around and go back the other way for a couple miles before we get on this highway!

3:06 p.m. Gas, $3.64/gallon. It smells like stinky cows out here in Brush.

3:25 p.m. Big scary truck with an oversize load met us on the 2-lane highway. Yikes!

3:30 p.m. Did I hear that correctly? Is there a new Toby Keith CD coming out?

3:47 p.m. Lightning ahead

3:49 p.m. Last Chance, CO. Last chance for what?

3:52 p.m. Let It Rain is playing on the radio just as we appear to be heading into a rainstorm.

3:54 p.m. Ryan comments on how we are all alone out here in the prairie. No cars ahead of us nor behind.

4:00 p.m. Passing through a windfarm and there is more lightning.

4:11 p.m. There are signs posted that say No Snowplowing 7 p.m. – 5 a.m. I wonder why?

4:14 p.m. It’s raining!

4:22 p.m. Just as I think we are headed out the other side of the rain storm, it starts to rain even harder.

4:24 p.m. Minor flooding on the roads in Limon.

4:28 p.m. A mobile coffee shop trailer for sale. Anyone need a job?

4:29 p.m. Wet cows lined up along the fence, staring at me. What do they want???

4:33 p.m. A llama with a dangling lead rope is roaming the field. That seems dangerous to me. Isn’t he going to get caught on something?

4:43 p.m. Half of Ryan’s tooth fell out. Apparently the other half is still in his mouth, still hanging on.

4:47 p.m. Trucks with red flashing lights are driving on the other side of the highway. They don’t look like police or fire. I wonder why they have red lights. I thought those were only for official business.

4:52 p.m. El Paso County – yay!

5:05 p.m. I can see Pikes Peak – yay! We’re almost there!

5:26 p.m. Dad called. He’s home from school. What’s taking us so long?!

5:31 p.m. News story – about 240 Air Force Academy cadets have been quarantined with the flu. Because basic training isn’t hard enough already…

5:37 p.m. Academy Boulevard. The new Woodman Road overpass is finished – very fancy!

5:42 p.m. Made it to Grandpa’s house.

We were there for less than five minutes when Darby came in from the backyard with a rawhide bone he had found. He seemed quite pleased with himself!

6:21 p.m. I go out to pick up Papa Murphy’s Pizza for dinner. Yummy! For whatever reason, I didn’t get to have any on our trip last summer.

The kids play Wii before and after dinner. Darby continues to find more and more bones but this time they are unidentifiable animal bones. We let him keep the rawhide but confiscate the others.

Time to watch the weekly episode of Scooby Doo (thanks for recording it for us!) and inflate the air mattress to get ready for bed.

10:00 p.m. Bedtime!

Day 8

Day 8 – Monday – July 25, 2011

0640 Wake up. Take Darby outside. Get dressed.

0705 Wake kids up. Get the car loaded and take our final pictures.

0805 Leaving Grandma’s house.

0806 Stop at the post office to mail the bills. There is fresh oil on the road. Don’t want to drive on that!

0813 See a truck full of pigs headed to you know where.

0818 Foggy out in the cornfields this morning.

0823 Hang a right at the corner of Corn and Soybean.

0824 Why does Jo like to drive the back roads through the corn fields?

0827 Still foggy.

0830 A gravel road? Really, Jo?

0839 Ryan sees a wolf (?)/coyote (?)/some sort of not-a-dog in the field.

0844 Crossing train tracks. See our first cows of the day in the field.

0846 Trivia on the radio… Apparently the average person has 12 different addresses in their life.

0850 See grave diggers working in the cemetery.

0858 Crossing the Mississippi River into Burlington, Iowa. That’s new bridge – very fancy. (a cable-stayed bridge) Burlington is a much bigger city than I was expecting.

0904 Gas, $3.59/gallon

0910 Stop at a very noisy McD’s (construction in the parking lot) for some iced coffee and a breakfast sandwich.

0919 Ethanol plant

0929 Racine Avenue… only one letter missing!

1011 Passed a farmhouse with a dj truck outside.

1015 American Gothic House. It’s a brown sign. I wonder if it means gothic as in architecture or gothic as in spooky.
1017 Darby really wants to help Ryan eat his beef jerky.

1023 Ottumwa, IA

1050 Albia, IA - potty break

1134 Text from Ron – the movers are at the new house and starting to unload.

1141 I am enjoying the rolling hills of Iowa. Very nice to look at.

1148 Pass a barn that has a yellow slide coming out the side.

12:00 p.m. Subway for lunch

12:13 p.m. Pass a daycare center/preschool. Why are all the playgrounds always out in the sun with no grass, no trees, no shade?

12:40 p.m. Searching for the Bridges of Madison County… see a sign for John Wayne’s birthplace.

12:55 p.m. Stop at the birthplace. Got a map of where the covered bridges are. There is one at the city park nearby. Apparently there is also a maze and a tower there at the park.

1:15 p.m. At the park. Take a picture by the bridge then the kids go through the hedge maze while I try to convince Darby to drink some water before he has a heat stroke.

1:40 p.m. We have found Clark Tower. Very cool! We also decided that the windy forested road through the park to the tower would also make a nice hike. While at the park, the kids defend Prince Cookie from the invading Ogre Army. Ryan killed 30 ogres, Bella killed 10, and Felisa killed 20. Now we must journey on to find another fortress for the Prince where the Ogres can’t find us.

1:54 p.m. Leaving the tower. Hot and sweaty but it was a lot of fun. Darby still won’t drink any water. Hopefully he’ll cool off quickly in the air conditioned car.

2:23 p.m. Stop at Hogback Bridge.

2:39 p.m. Call ahead to the hotel to make a reservation. Jo’s ETA to the hotel is 7 p.m.

2:50 p.m. Cow swimming hole

2:55 p.m. On I-80 West… off the back roads and onto the interstate

3:14 p.m. Antique Country Road… which reminds me – I forgot to look up the location of the American Pickers shop so that we could stop by.

3:20 p.m. Happy face water tower- Adair, IA

3:33 p.m. East Nishnabotna Creek… I wonder where that name comes from.

3:44 p.m. I keep feeling like I have driven this way before. And I’m sure I have at some point in my life. But when?

3:57 p.m. Rest Area 1 mile ahead. Then a sign for a Modern Rest Area 14 miles ahead. What’s the difference?

3:58 p.m. Oh, that’s the difference. The first (non-modern!) rest area is for parking only – no facilities.

3:59 p.m. Passed by a minivan from New York also with a roof-box.

4:03 p.m. Oh I think I remember – it must have been the year we went to Mount Rushmore. We drove east across South Dakota then dropped down through Iowa. So I’ve been here before, just headed in the other direction.

4:14 p.m. Union Pacific Railroad Museum – sounds interesting for a future stop.

4:26 p.m. Gas, $3.43/gallon

4:30 p.m. Once again Jo has led me on a wild goose chase where there is NO Starbucks!!! Grr!

4:41 p.m. Nebraska and the Missouri River

4:43 p.m. Oh yay. A traffic jam. Yuck!

4:59 p.m. Paypal offices

5:12 p.m. Platte River

5:14 p.m. I’m hungry. I’m thirsty. And it’s making me feel nauseous.

5:16 p.m. Lady Gaga is on the country radio station. Apparently one of her new songs, You and I, is about Nebraska where she is from.

5:26 p.m. A car with a Broncos sticker. Go Broncos!

5:34 p.m. And now it’s the country version of Lady Gaga’s Born This Way

5:37 p.m. Sonic for dinner. Apparently the carhop is new. At least that’s what the manager told me when I had to go back in for the second time to get more stuff she had left out of our order.

6:01 p.m. Finally leaving Sonic.

6:17 p.m. A sign for the Keg Bar. Happy Hour is 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. That’s a long happy hour!

Driving through downtown Lincoln. It would’ve been much faster to go back the way we came to Sonic than to drive 8 miles across town. Thanks for nothing, Jo.

7:17 p.m. Plainsman Museum sign

7:31 p.m. Platte River

7:47 p.m. Hotel.

Uh oh – no pool at this hotel! But they do take dogs… sorry kids!

I take Darby for a walk while the kids watch tv. I call dad to check in for tomorrow.

9:30 p.m. Tell the kids to go to bed then I take a shower.

After my shower time to update my blog and pictures.

11:31 p.m. Bed time. I’m hungry and it’s late. 

Day 7

Day 7 – Sunday – July 24, 2011

0630 Darby wakes up. I ignore him until about 650 then I give up and take him outside. Then back downstairs to read until others wake up.

Coffee and breakfast.

Cartoon Network.

A thunderstorm rolls through so no trip to the park. Ron and Naomi don’t answer the phone so not sure if they have Tegan and Briley with them today. So looks like another quiet day around the house.

Lunch is ham salad, corn curls, cheese cubes, and Pringles. Donuts and thin mints for dessert.

I take Darby for a walk before it rains again, though it looks like the storm is headed out.

GSN.

The kids have decided to change Darby’s name to Rover, to see if it makes a difference. He seems to come (or not come!) to both names equally.

Lana came to visit again and brought me an iced coffee from McD’s. Buddy tried to drink it so I told him he would be grounded from pizza and cheeseburgers for a month if he drank my coffee. Then I had to put him in timeout while he settled down a bit.

We went to dinner at the Chinese buffet. Delicious as always. Black pepper chicken – yum! After dinner we went to Kmart. Lana needed more tape for her bandages. Grandma needed more milk (we used it all!). I needed some Kitchen Cooked potato chips (I’m pretty sure I can squeeze two bags into the car). Bella decided she needed a new shirt. Felisa bought a candy bar (couldn’t find any other cute clothes besides what Bella bought). Ryan used his money from Lana to buy some beef jerky for the road.

Once back at the house I straighten and re-arrange the car a bit. Darby gets in because he doesn’t want to get left behind. I told him we weren’t leaving yet but he didn’t believe me. Back inside to pack the bags then more GSN before bed.

Day 6

Day 6 – Saturday – July 23, 2011

0640 Darby wakes me up. Met the neighbor’s dog, Puddles, out in the backyard. Then back to bed to read while I wait for others to wake up.

0740 Girls are awake so we go upstairs. Coffee and breakfast.
Uncle Neal came by to visit so talked to him for a bit. Just as we are about to head out to the park, Ryan finally wakes up (10 a.m.!). I tell him to meet us there after he eats breakfast and gets dressed.

We only last about half an hour at the park because it is already hot and sticky. We spend the rest of the morning and afternoon inside with the a/c and the tv on.

2 p.m. Grandma goes to pick up Lana and bring her back for a visit. (She can’t drive with bandaged hands!)

Beef and noodles for dinner – yum! Then a little more GSN before Grandma takes Lana back home. Harry Potter is on tv but we’ve all seen it before and there are way too many commercials so we all give up and go to bed.

Day 5

Day 5 – Friday – July 22, 2011

0530 Wake up. I seriously need to figure out a better way to turn the alarm off on my cell phone. Walk Darby then get ready to go.

0605 Get Ryan up.

0610 Meet Mom and the girls at Bob Evans for breakfast.

0730 The kids go to the IRS building with Mom for a little field trip. I go back to the hotel to load the car and feed Darby.

0826 Leaving the IRS building, all passengers aboard.

0834 McD’s to get an iced coffee for the the road.

0847 See a deer in the bean field eating breakfast.

0904 Driving on Route 66.

0930 Done with our stop in Lincoln, IL. We saw the largest covered wagon (complete with an Abe Lincoln statue driving), the park where Lincoln used to play ball, and the Courthouse where he served as a lawyer.

0947 See a Kitchen Cooked truck. Yum! Can’t wait for some yummy potato chips!

1013 Dead tree- nice one!

1018 In the cornfields again. Almost miss a turn. I think the corn confuses Jo. We were lost in the cornfields last year too!

1022 We get a free car wash from the corn sprinklers! A feature only found on the back roads.

1029 The song about taking the back roads comes on the radio – perfect timing!

1041 Havana, IL – made it back to Hwy 136 and across the Illinois River.

1047 Ran over a giant fuzzy caterpillar. At least, I think that’s what it was.

1111 See two trains side by side on the tracks.

1113 One of the trains honks its horn. Yikes! That scared me!

1124 Interesting program on NPR about ants.

1128 Stop at Burger King in Macomb for lunch.

1145 Grandma’s house!

Darby and Lady are co-existing pretty well. We go to Ponderosa for dinner. Back home we watch America’s Favorite Videos.

9:00 p.m. Bedtime!