Home again

We got back home at noon today. Its good to be home, but its cold at 58 deg and was raining south of Seattle, big surprise.

It was good to see family again and in some cases for the first time. We enjoyed ourselves. We put 6963 miles on the truck and went through/across 16 states. (I counted WI in that total but I'm on the fence about counting it as we just drove through Prairie du Chine and never got out of the car before heading back to IA for lunch.) I also kept track of the fuel cost but am not brave enough to total it up just now.

This is a beautiful and big country and even though we were on the road for 5 weeks, we only saw a tiny fraction of it.

Reno

Today is our 1st anniversary. We went to Reno checked out a couple of fabric stores and had lunch and did a bit of gambling at the Silver Legacy. I lost $20 and Scott came out $18 ahead. We leave in the morning for home.

Petroglyphs

Petroglyphs made 2,000-10,000 yrs ago at Grimes Point outside of Fallon, NV.

Hawthorne, NV

Left Williams, AZ just before 7am. This is a picture of Walker lake north of Hawthorne, NV with a dust storm on the far shore. I'm surprised at how clear the lake is looking considering all the dust that blows around. The lake is pretty, the only bright color in this land of browns and beiges. Lots of dust storms coming up highway 95.

Walking below the rim of the canyon

I don't do well with heights but I've always wanted to walk down into the Grand Canyon. Today we went to the Bright Angel trail. We started down and I needed to hold Scott's hand. At the first turn in the trail I saw out over the canyon and there was no guard rail and I froze up. Had to stand there for a minute to get my courage up to walk the (very) short distance back.

Scott continued down and I hung out at the rim thinking if I didn't go down there I'd always regret it. People were coming back dusty, sweaty and smiling and it made me want to try again. So when Scott came back up I told him I wanted to try to walk down again and after a drink we started back down. I was still holding his hand, but I had my big girl panties on this time. After that first turn the trail widened and I was doing better. We didn't walk the 1.5 mi to the first station, but I was happy with the distance we traveled and I came back up dusty, sweaty and smiling.

Beer tasting

We had burgers and beer at Cruisers Cafe in Williams, AZ. It is 50s themed. We got a tasting platter of the beers from Grand Canyon Brewery which is next door. We weren't that impressed with the flavors but the sunset amber was good. Unfortunately they didn't have any of the raspberry wheat which is what I wanted to try. The bathroom stall walls are made from tailgates of old Chevys.

Grand Canyon and Solar Eclipse

The Grand Canyon is Awesome!! It is so big that looking out at it, it seemed 2 dimensional. We're going back out tomorrow evening for sunset shots.

The solar eclipse shadow is a pin hole made through a lightweight piece of card stock. I photographed the shadow against the truck. It was hard to get into focus.

...And the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet...

Perpetuating Oklahoma stereotypes one flat wheat field at a time.

The wind is knocking the fifth wheel around a bit but at least its 75 deg and the heat hasn't come up yet. Left OKC at 8.30 and hope to make it to Albuquerque at least. By car it's an 8 hour drive but when hauling a camper we have to stop to fill up every 200 miles so we figure it may take us 10 hrs to get out there.

See you at the Grand Canyon.

Museum of Osteology

This is one of the coolest museums in Oklahoma.

J. J. McAlester house

J. J. McAlester founded the town back in 1889 or thereabouts and this was his house. He had a mercantile a block west of the house and would walk home carrying cash. His wife would post herself at the top floor window with a shotgun every evening ready to pick off anyone who may threaten him. The house is privately owned and in beautiful condition. The current owners do open it to the public a couple times a year.