Life happens when you are making plans. I had to wait over a week for my medications. That took 2.5 days from our trip. So, yesterday we traveled to Fargo and visited family in the evening. Today we traveled to Billings MT via I94. This was faster since we did not have time for sights in SD. We took a couple of pictures along the way. Some of the vistas are great. Could not get photos of the birds of prey.
today our start temp was in the 60's. It hit 94 on the drive. Overcast it dropped to 83. I was able to drive about 400 miles. I had to pull over and let Jan drive while I took two short naps. The sun got to me each time.
I feel like we were planning a trip to Mars. Our mini van was loaded to the windows. A suit case for Jan, one for me, one for meds and supplements. And one just for overnight things. Baileys house, bed, toys, food, dishes and other items. induction cooker, pots, and pans. Condiments, knives, forks, spoons, plates, and bowls were also brought.
Bailey has been travelling well. She has a pot under the center console, we added wool bedding and a pillow for her head. She tends to unplog our GPS.
A desktop computer, 2 laptops, a tablet and two Raspberry pi processors. My handtalkie radio for emergencies. Threebooks on cd to listen to on the road.
Hope you have a great trip Joe :D
After resting a bit last night, I was able to get time in on the hotel tredmill. After driving through part of Yellowstone today, we will stay in Idaho tonight.
We brought audio books on CD and computer. Jan has some books with so she can read those to me as I drive. We may have to start getting audio books from the library for me. My dyslexia is worse since sjogrens and much worse in a flair.
Joe - sounds so very great. Hoping you and your family have a great trip.
Keep us posted!
Sending positive thoughts for a great, uneventful trip for you!
Hope you have a great trip! Sound well prepared anyway! :)
Have a great trip, Joe!
We were not able to get a handicap room last night. I miss my shower chair and wand. I am ready for bed after a regular shower.
Our van needs to be repacked today. All suit cases and cooler came in last night. Jan s computer and my tablet. One of the two recliners so I could sleep also.
Moving out of your comfort zone, seeing others, and traveling can be therapeutic. Too much sun is a challenge. Hmmm, how would a vampire travel. By night but could not see sights.
On the road again!
Sounds like an 'adventure', Joe.
Audio books are a basic part of my life. I can peruse the library stock on line, reserve AND renew on line, and the books are waiting on a special shelf in the library for me.
I self check out electronically with a scanner, and only have to go inside the library to GET the audio books, return at the drop box.
We always get a ton before we travel since we have to BOTH like the book.
You can play them at home on your lap top, of course!
We have so many wonderful options.
Keep posting about your trip. We are all enjoying it!
Hugs, Elaine
Thanks for bringing us along on the road trip, Joe! Enjoy the island.
Hello Joe and Jan..Hope you are having fun.
We just arrived home late last evening .. we logged a bit more than 2,200 miles of winding mountain roads, towns and highway.
Barely read the book I brought. We mostly chit-chat on our way.. a lot of .. oohhs, aahhs. Look at that, pull over. LOL.
Sounds like Bailey needs his/her own luggage trailer like they have for motorcycles?
We were thinking of getting or renting a trailer for DH's motorcycle ( for a future trip)
We only packed lite.. two duffle bags and my coffeemaker. And a really great small travel pillow I found just before we left.
Looking forward to following your trip.. Thank you.
I am glad you both are enjoying your trip. I am enjoying reading about it. Thank you both for sharing with us.
susanep :)
I love audiobooks and listen to them in the kitchen and in the car. Once in awhile, I get both the ebook and the audiobook and Whispersync keeps my place in both.
The audio ebooks from the library can be downloaded anywhere you have a connection, but disappear after 2-3 weeks. The books on CDs can be copied and then they're yours forever. I always have a few on my phone for backups.
My car radio died, so I got a little square bluetooth speaker from costco and can listen to audiobooks from my phone in the car again.
Your trip sounds like such fun. I'm so ready for a road trip! And think how wonderful your house will be when you get back home. The "easy" life!
We made it to Pocatello to night.we passed quickly through Yellowstone. The ranger gave me a free pass for the rest of my life.we took the bear pass in and west enterance out. Top speed 45mph in Yellowstone. 20 mph on most switch backs in bear pass.
When Jan was driving in Yellowstone, I did a lot of drive by shooting (of pictures). We will have to go back to see classic sights.
Bailey is doing better with travel.
tomorrow is a push for Reno.
I hope everyone is having a great summer. Keep out of the sun as much as you can.
Thanks for taking us along!
Enjoy!
Sharon
Thanks for the play by play, Joe. So glad that you have been able to make the trip. If you are pooped when you get home it wo'nt all be the traveling. Hauling all the darn stuff we need when we have chronic disease is the pits. Even an overnight trip can be daunting.
Sounds like the weather has been good for you so far. Reno, you say, gambling in the plan me thinks!!! Win Big and have fun. Irish
Thanks so much for sharing your trip with us.
I like the beginning with description of all the meds and supplements. That is me for sure. I count out day by day according to breakfast, mid morning, lunch, dinner, bedtime. And put them all in snack baggies. It takes me a couple of hours counting them out and walking around the dining room table to put in daily packs. But it really is convenient that way.
Enjoy
Sallie
Too bad you aren't going through Boise I would tell you to stop and say hi 8)
Keep enjoying! I am taking a one week trip in August and hope to not have any flares! What breed is Bailey? My beagle, Ariel, is a great travel companion.
Bailey is a terrier that came from a shelter.
We are in Reno tonight. This puts us a day ahead of schedule. We have to see if we can arrive a day early at our nephew's in Clovis CA. While driving through Nevada, and parts of Montana and WY, you should bring your own roll of outhouse toilet paper. Some rest stops have no waist bins. And some are just spots to pull off the road.
I did not do well today with driving through NV. The sun and heat triggered a mild flair. Out of the 9 hours of drive time, Jan drove for about an hour. I slept. I should have let her drive the last hour but the flair kept me from understanding that.
we went to bed early last night so we could watch the fireworks. I listen to them and the music but could not get out of bed. Jan slept through everything. She had a very good night sleep. I woke at 3am local time and went back to sleep with the dawn chorus about 5:30. This is a typical pattern with some of my health issues. I do not remember the involved organs this event relates to.
We are heading from here to Clovis, CA. On 8th or 9th to Portland, OR. I am trying to decide about visiting Mount Shasta. Boise was not on this trips route. Sorry.
UGH to the sun.. you are not driving with the AC on even low with re-circulate?
Bailey sounds like a real trooper.
Pit stops.. hand sanitizer too.
Happy to hear from you.
We took a side trip today through Yosemite. We did a lot of drive by photo shooting. It is a holiday weekend so both parks were too full to stop any where.
Our drive through Yosemite reminded me of toadies wild ride. A number of trees were dead. I do not know why. Some were burned.
We drove from Clovis, CA to Medford, OR last night. The draught is very bad. Some lakes looked to have dropped 100 feet. There was road work on I5 in the mountains. Traffic was reduced to one lane on an inside curve with a steep drop in OR. Signs posted no shoulder. It had been raining an a semi was stalled. After 1/2 hour, Jan asked me to drive around the guard rail like another car did. Obviosly we made it but the tilt and gravel made it scary.
My days of drive by shooting are over. I did get some good photos but I also got an ear infection.
At the hotel, as we were loading in to rhe room, Bailey ran into the lobby (the way we came in). She wanted to go for a walk. She did not go poddy when she did. She just wanted her walk.A hotel clerk gave her a dog treat.
yesterday as we were leaving Salem OR, A tooth Shattered. This one did not have a root canal or crown. Today I got a temp crown and set an appointment for my dentist when I return.
We were driven to Tillimook today and saw the cheese factory there. On the way we stopped at a forest exhibit. Both were interesting stops. I had a roast beef and cheddar grilled cheese sandwich. They had very good Ice cream also.
Oh dear, Joe. You clearly KEPT BREATHING even after your tooth shattered! You got it taken care of and moved along. To a delicious meal even. We are nothing if not resourceful and brave. We've had to learn this over time.
And this AFTER an ear infection? Did you travel with antibiotics, too? Amazing.
You are serving as a reminder to all of us that our conditions don't have to make us prisoners if we are patient, plan well, and move at our own pace.
I'm having fun thinking of all the places you are visiting. And of faithful Bailey enjoying the trip with you.
Hugs, Elaine
Yesterday we had our train ride brunch. It was a slow ride on a rough set of track. It put my neckout so when we got back I had a migraine to deal with. The show was one I had seen before. The food was good.
In BC we found that there are some businesses that will not take our visa debit from the USA. Apparently, Some one has been making phoney Cards and sticking businesses with the bill. I heard mention of this when we were in CA. This may be part of the push to a chip card or a new currency. A personal check was okay.
$60 got us 1/2 a tank of gas. Today my daughter and I drive to Victoria. I hope to see a pen pal if he still is living. Our grand kids are enjoying the computer that we brought and the movies.
Bailey had sliped her collar a few times this past year and twice on this trip when something scared her, so she now has a harness.
Rain is in the forcast for the weekend. Hmmm, 3 kids and 4 adults in a two bedroom house...the computer games will be on.
Wow, Joe, your trip is an inspiration!
We are planning to fly to San Francisco in October, and rent a car. My husband has tons of family in the Northwest: San Francisco, Portland and Seattle.
So we will drive around in the San Francisco area and I have planned a side trip to Yosemite, to see the Sequoia Forest......
Then we will fly to Portland, rent a car again and visit family there and in Seattle, and then go to Vancouver.
Drive back to Portland and fly home. Right now the entire trip is 20 days...but we are flexible and as I look at things to see in various places (on line of course) I can change the time frame.
We haven't booked the airline tickets or the cars yet. But we're getting near.
BEFORE that trip we are doing a 10 day trip from our home in Cary NC, to my high school's class reunion,, 55 years, in Lawrence Kansas.
We'll do a visit to Nashville, St Louis and on the return trip Louisville. That trip is scheduled to be 10 days, and it will all be driving: about 2250 miles round trip.
That first trip is scheduled for September and the second for October.
Joe, I think the dead trees are from 'burns' which are natural forest fires. There is re-growth, but some of the burned trees remain.
In 2005 we drove through several burned areas in Colorado. It is part of nature's way, some seeds actually only germinate when there is fire.
Nature is complicated and sometimes brutal.
But we carry on!
Hugs, Elaine
They said the dead trees were from disease.
I'm enjoying your trip!
Just read an article on how important it is to stop the car and get out at least once an hour. Avoids blot clots and other ills. Don't know if that's workable for you, but I thought I'd pass it on. Or you may already be doing that.
I stop every 1-2 hours for a bladder break, snack, gas, etc. I wear compression socks to help prevent issues with my legs.
My pen pal in Duncan was looking to see me. A couple of days before we arrived, he stopped responding to emails. On my trip to Victoria yesterday I stopped by his apartment to see him. The manager of the apartment said he did not live there. I stopped by the Moon cafe where he goes for brunch but they had no seen him. He said he was going to clinic for penicillin. He was 78 and took at least one tablet with him every where. My guess is that he passed on or is in a hospital.
I am enjoying your trip, Joe. Good that you are able to do it. I think when you get home you will sleep for a month and we won't hear a thing from you. Buuut, we will know what you are up to.
Glad that you are posting a little here and there about the highlights of the trip. Keep it up and thanks. Irish
Fabulous trip. Glad I got a chance to catch up on reading about it.
Angeldancer
We are home! Today is a day of rest and catchup. The 8 to 12 hour drive days did not allow recovery time. Few hotels that we stopped in had exercise equipment. There was a lot of road construction that slowed our progress. It would have been nice to pullover and sleep for a few hours a couple of times per day. Jan usually was able to drive when I could not.
Bailey was a great traveler. Jan took her for walks at every stop. Quick stops and sharp turns moved our load and put her in peril. Her safe place was under the console between our seats. She would turn the GPS off and unplug our cell phones. She would post her pillow, and pad under my feet from time to time. Dog toys would also appear. We had her bed, food, and water in the back.
If you can, step out of your comfort zone and take a trip with a friend.
We saw cathedral grove, bc; Jan had a spa day with our daughter. We got stuck in traffic going from seattle to Tacoma for several hours. Our GPS took us on a grand tour. I had fun talking with my aunt and cousin. We spent the night in Ellensberg, drove to Butte and spent a night before we drove to Bismarck for our last night on the road.
If you do take a trip, bring some one with you. Plan for shorter drives, like 300 miles per day. Most hotels have breakfast from 6 to 9 in the morning. Take lots of breaks. Bring freash water and snacks with you.
Welcome home, Joe. Thanks for inspiring me to take my own road trip.
Joe, I am so glad that you, Jan and the dog got home safely. I am also glad that you got to make this trip to see part of America and to get you out of the house!!! It was a good summer for it---at least it sure wasn't that hot around here.
Enjoyed the narrative of the journey and especially enjoyed hearing how your dog made herself at home and enjoyed the trip. She was so lucky that you took her with you. Rest up now!!!Irish
Dear Joe,
We live in NC, and we're going to a class reunion in Kansas. I started thinking we should just keep driving and go all the way West to CA, and back.
And then I did the map planning, and I saw day after day of 12 hour drives on the trip home. Those Western states are huge. I know, I grew up in Kansas, and lived in Texas for 4 years.....you can drive all day and still be in Kansas...what a drag.
So we're flying to SF, renting a car, doing family and touring, then flying to Portland, doing the same thing, with a drive to Seattle and Vancouver since they're very close, then back to Portland and home.
I applaud you and your wife and Bailey for making such a long trek.
I knew I just could not do it. I wanted to, but 30 years ago would have been the time to do it and we never had enough TIME to do it then.
Too soon old, too late smart, and wanting to travel long distances!
Hugs, Elaine
Caroline, some of our members live in the Seattle area. Ask them what time of day is not rush hour. It took us 4 hours to get from Seattle to Tacoma. The traffic was very heavy.
Thanks, Joe, for the tip.
It looks fast on the map. Who knew there was 'traffic' in Washington........I guess it's everywhere!
Hugs, Elaine
I'm glad you had a great trip Joe :)