Hey all, we had some rude neighbors at the motel last night in Boise. They arrived after midnight and were very boisterous. Their conversation was as loud as if it were 2 in the afternoon! We wondered why some people are so thoughtless. Their children were wide awake, chattering and running between rooms that were across the hall from each other, so the door opened and shut 20 times! This particular motel was the first one of the trip that did not have carpet, so the sound was not muffled at all. On top of that they were the next room over! I had taken some Valerian Root so I was mostly knocked out, but Thea finally got up and knocked loudly on the door and repeated three times to them, “Please hold it down! We are trying to sleep!” A man’s voice finally said, “No problem”, but it took several minutes to get the kids settled down. Fortunately we fell back to sleep rather quickly only to be awakened by the jets taking off at the very nearby airport. Argh! As the night turned into day, the also very nearby freeway got busier by the minute. Then the guy above us clumped back and forth a thousand times in his size 18 work boots before he finally came downstairs and left. We finally threw in the towel and got up, showered and headed out. Enough already! We were going to see what time we got to Moses Lake and possibly stay there and drive the final stretch to Chelan in the morning. When we came south from Pendleton the passes over the Blues were difficult for snow and many trucks. Today was sunny and dry and the scenery had awakened into bloom! It was perfect! Traffic seemed light and since my balloon was popped yesterday, I set the cruise to 6 over, but we still made excellent time. We were in the Tri-cities by 2:00. Well heck, we’re only 3 hours from Chelan if that, so let’s just go all the way today. Why suffer another night in a possibly crappy motel. I thinks that’s what I’m most tired of; is motel accommodations. There were a few that were actually very nice, but why roll the dice when we are so close to our own bed in Chelan. It was also good to be back on familiar soil. Eastern Oregon has some very beautiful places this time of year. The change from southern Idaho was very pleasant. Pastoral and relaxing apply. Then there’s Washington. You know, we live in a pretty, pretty place on this planet! We still chose new roads for our journey from Pasco to Chelan. 395 runs through some wonderful farm and cow country. We ended up in Moses Lake on north 17 and continued up to Ephrata, turned west to Quincy. From there on we were back on familiar roads. Today was so nice and the scenery looked especially sweet to us. Even though we have seen them many times, The Palisades were as majestic as much of what we’ve seen the past few weeks. Washington is a good place to be. It’s good to be home! Very good! We will stay downtown for a few hours so Jake can have his youth group up to the house tonight and not have Ma and Pa cramp his style. We are anxious to see our kitty, Race and Sadie Beaty, our sweet little doggy. Weird how you miss those critters. I’m sure she’ll pee all over the place when she sees us! We’ll take tomorrow off, just veg and relax. Sunday will find us at church with Jake and then the last 5 hours to the house. It’s been an absolutely terrific trip and we’d do it again in a heartbeat! Maybe we’ll wait awhile though and let it all sink in. We traveled through 15 states and put a little more than 6,000 miles behind us! Whoa! We took three or four hundred photos and saw so many incredible sights and it will take a while to absorb it all. Oh, by the way, we stopped talking with the twang about an hour into New Mexico. In case you wondered. Thanks to those of you followed us along the way. Hope you got a good taste of our adventure and enjoyed it with us. Till next time, love you and stay safe.

We got away about 9:30 this morning and headed north towards Salt Lake City. After talking about it we decided to turn west on I-80 which would take us right by the Bonneville Salt Flats. Cool! Maybe I’d get a chance to wind it up. I’d really like to see what 160 mph feels like. I’d have Thea take a picture of the speedometer to show and tell. The road from Salt Lake to Bonneville is right at 99 miles. 55 of that is as straight as an arrow. It crosses the salt flats at the south and west of the Great Salt Lake. The road is raised about 4 feet above the salt and has maybe a 4 foot wide shoulder. Along the edge people have used rocks to form words and pictures and of course Bobby loves Mary kind of thing. We couldn’t figure out where they got all those rocks! We didn’t see any along the road. There were several places where cars and trucks had run off into the salt and when it’s wet or even damp, they got good and stuck! At the far end, just before you cross into Nevada, you come to the turn that takes you out onto the National Speedway. I was really getting pumped about it! We ran down this narrow road with salt on both sides again and it was apparent that in some places it was firm enough to support a vehicle. All of a sudden the pavement stops and you are out on the salt. We stopped in time and found the sign explaining that the salt was liable to be soft and that the Department of the Interior will prepare the flats for speed trial in early summer once it dries completely. Well shoot! The salt was still real wavy from the winter winds as it dried and had not been smoothed yet. Well shoot! We did drive out onto the salt a ways and took some pictures, but we did not get the chance to get up any speed. It was just too bumpy. Well shoot! It was still really cool to be out on that huge expanse of salt. When they do grade it, it’s a path 80 feet wide and 10 miles long. Wouldn’t that be cool!? Maybe another day. So we continued on into Nevada intending to turn north at Wells and heading north into Idaho from there. Wells is about 70 miles in and right inside the Nevada line you cross over a small mountain range and end up on a high plateau. We spotted a nice antelope buck laying about 50 feet off the road on a small rise, just watching the traffic pass by. I think he might have been counting cars. He looked so casual. The road out of the mountains were long down hill stretches that crossed the valley to the next rise on the far side. (See photo)Just before we came down from the second mountain pass into Wells, we got tagged by the Nevada State Patrol. He got 2 of us at once. Well shoot! He was very amiable and said he understood the urge to cover some ground on such an open and straight road, but there is a speed limit and I was going too fast to ignore. He reduced it some to save us some fundage. He really was quite a friendly fellow. I thanked him and away we went. I set the cruise at 76 to be safe and sailed down the road. We decided to push on to Elko and then head north on Nevada 225 into Idaho instead of turning at Wells. That might have been a mistake. Maybe 10 minutes later my radar detector went off and I saw a Sheriff going the opposite direction and then the radar thing turned off. Next thing I see is that same Sheriff coming up behind us with his lights flashing. It couldn’t be me he’s after, I checked and we were doing 76 in a 75. I pulled over and he did to. What!? He came up slowly with his hand on his side arm. I rolled down the window and asked him the speed limit in the area. He said it was 75, but that I was doing 90! I exclaimed, “No way!” He got a bit excited and told me to watch my attitude. I asked him how he’d react if he was accused of doing 90 when he was really doing 76? To make a long story short, he let me go after trying to say that my speedometer was incorrect and needed to be checked by the dealer. I told him that I had just been sighted for speed and the speed that officer had claimed I was doing was right on. I questioned his unit’s accuracy when he was moving and so was I. He admitted that it might be faulty and that he believed that I believed I was not speeding…..? Huh? Anyway we shook hands and away we went. He was part of a drug task force patrolling I-80. We did see 2 different vehicles pulled over and being searched by at least 6 officers each. We got off the beaten path and 225north was virtually empty! We wound north up past the Wild Horse reservoir and peaked at the dam before we started down the other side. The rocks were very cool. Some looked like the guy on Fantastic Four and there were many huge clumps that we thought looked like piles of Dinosaur poop! It was unique to the area. We hadn’t seen anything like it on this trip and we’ve seen a lot of different rocks, believe me! It was a great road that wound down the valley between the steep rocky cliffs with 25 mph suggested almost the whole way. They were very tight curves for about 10 miles. It was as fun as the road out of Branson in Missouri. I went a bit faster than 25. We finally crossed into Idaho at the Duck Indian Reservation. That side of the mountains was an immense high plain that seemed to go on forever. Soon we realized that the grassy plain had turned into marshland that disappeared into the far distance. Then we dropped off that high plateau and onto another that again seemed to go on and on. It was like coming down a series of 10 mile long flat steps onto the next one to the north. On the far north horizon we could see a mountain range with snow capped peaks. It was the lower end of the Saw Tooth Range where you’ll find the Sun Valley Ski Resort. We drove on for miles and then again dropped off onto another, yet lower plateau. It was cool to break out of a short winding canyon and see the next expanse of grassy plains open up before us. Cool! We finally got into civilization after about 86 miles of Idaho travel. We had not seen another vehicle going north and only 3 or 4 going south in all that distance. We got into Mountain Home and intended to find a room, but didn’t see anything that looked appealing. We found I-84 and pushed on to Boise where we found several choices. The time was 8:00 PM. The time changed in Nevada to Pacific Time and then back to Mountain Time in Idaho. It was a long day and the traffic stop popped my balloon. I’ll get over it….all is well. I just wish my radar detector would have said something! Tomorrow we’re thinking we’ll be back on Washington soil. Woohoo! Only a couple more days and we’ll be home. It will be good to be home.

We are so emotionally wrung out! Maybe you’ll understand after reading today’s events. We got away around the same time as usual and headed for the spot where the four state lines intersect. Right as we got onto the hiway, we saw a colony of prairie dogs which started the day off in a good way. They were just lazing around in the sun and going about their business. Cute little buggers! When we got to the entrance of the monument, there was a crowd and they wanted money just to see the spot. Not happening. We ran back into Colorado and then right back into Utah. We drove north through White Canyon which is the east end of Glen Canyon. I am really having trouble with a description of what we saw today. It just wouldn’t stop. It’s almost spiritual the beauty that is there. Every turn was so impressive that we actually choked up and tears ran down our cheeks several times. It was like listening to Mario Lanza or Richard Tucker with your eyes. Ma would have loved it! The day was glorious and the scenery was beyond expression. We had picked up a CD of Native American music in the visitors center at Marble Canyon on the way down a few weeks back. The flute with drums and chanting supported by symphony was haunting. The combination of music and spectacular scenery was almost more than we could take. “Wow” came out involuntarily a thousand times. We turned down a road that said it would become gravel for a few miles and would climb at a 15% grade with many switch-backs. It also warned about not trying it with a trailer or over 10,000 lbs GVW. What the heck; we could always turn back and I am adventurous so away we went. The road was gravel, but very smooth and it looked doable. As we climbed we began to wonder where the road could possibly go up this step cliff we were ascending. We drove at maybe 10 miles an hour and did stop for the view a couple times. We really had no trouble, but when we reached the top, we had climbed almost 2,000 vertical feet in 3 miles! We wondered who on earth built this road! It saved many extra miles, but it must have been a very tough job. Some of it was wash-board so the corners were paved to prevent crow-hopping on the decent and losing control. That would be disastrous. Once on top the terrain was still amazing. We were on top of a huge mesa that was covered with juniper and small pine trees. We came upon a sign that read, “Jacob’s Chair”. It’s the ‘chair’ looking formation beyond the cliffs in the foreground. We could see the black clouds in the distance, but didn’t know if the road would lead us into it or not. The road wound trough canyons and cliffs so high that it was like traveling in the bottom of the Grand Canyon. At one point we crossed the Colorado River and then climbed to a bluff overlooking the scene below. We walked out to the point and were overwhelmed with the sights all around us. Thea said that the many froms around us reminded her of huge mounds of carved fudge. It made her hungry for a brownie or hot fudge sundae. It did start to rain as we approached the town of Hanksville. It was a good time to stop for lunch so we pulled into a small cafe that bragged of buffalo burgers. That sounded good so we ordered. When we went to pay, they had lost the telephones and would not take our credit card. Hmmm. I’m glad we had plenty of fuel so we didn’t need to charge any there. We reluctantly left and saw another place just down the road. It was called Blondie’s and their phones were out as well, but would take a check from Washington. So we got some lunch and then needed to make some time, so we went north on east 24 that would connect to I-70 44 miles north. That road was nearly straight the entire way. I think there might have been 2 curves the whole distance. The road was good so I let the Vette roll out. We ran 44 miles in 24 minutes. You do the math. It was exhilarating. I- 70 was smooth and lacked much traffic, so we made good time there as well. Not as good as E-24 though. The road seemed to climb and climb and went through some more unbelievable scenery. It started to rain again and this time it got heavy. We crossed a pass that did not post a name, but the summit was 7,883 feet. Going down the other side made me cautious because it was very difficult to see through the down pour. It seemed like we descended for 35 or 40 miles. The mpg was way up today. That’s nice. Finally we connected with U-50 and then I-15 and arrived in Nephi right at 8 PM. We got a room at the same Motel 6 that we stayed at on the way though 3 weeks ago. When I opened the file for pictures, we had taken 84! Normally we get 10 to 15. I really wish I could include them all, but the blog site only allows 5 at a time. (Please click on each picture to see them better.) The whole day was sooo… amazing, incredible, spectacular, glorious, stupendous, not stupendous, but you get the idea. The camera did not even come close to the actual vistas and vast panoramas of what we saw. It was all too much! You really need to see this with your own eyes. We were humbled by it all. We wondered what forces created what we saw. If it was a vast plain, formed by a long time of sediment settling to the bottom of a sea or something that was eroded into the canyons and cliffs, where did all that was in-between go? Or was it when after the Flood the earth stretched to its present size and the low places formed and then erosion did its work? Maybe we can watch the “How the Earth Was Formed “video when we get to heaven and see for ourselves. It’s not a place we’d want to live, but it is worth seeing again and the next time we’ll have a better camera.

The drive from Tucumcari was pretty sweet. The traffic was very light and most of the trucks stayed in the outside lane. We knew we were climbing though, the air was noticeably thinner. There was some construction here and there, but we all moved right along. When we got to Clines Corners our suspicions were validated. Check the elevation on the wall at the store! It says 7,200 if you can't make it out. This store probably has the largest selection of stuff from New Mexico under one roof anywhere. It went on and on. Some of it was trinkets, but much of it was native creations. We did drop a few bucks there. New Mexico seems to take alot of pride in their state. Check out the cool overpasses. The inside has horses cast into the support surfaces. Double click the pictures to see them enlarged. The freeways are also all landscaped with cactus and multi-colored sand and stones. It's pretty cool. We made it to Albuquerque around lunch time and after a little screwing around trying to find our way back into “Old Town”, we finally recognized the area and found a parking spot. This time we could drive right into the square and not have to walk so far. Last time was a special weekend and the streets are blocked off to facilitate foot traffic. We were told that Tuesdays are usually the slow day and today was no exception. There were folks, but not the crowds that are surely coming in the next months. We had lunch at the same local café as before and it was as good as we remembered. It was perfect food, perfect timing and perfect quantity. Then we shopped around the square for a ring for me. I had seen a wonderful ring at the flea market in Tulsa and had to pass because I didn’t have enough cash. It was a Zuni inlay and felt so good on my hand. We figured we’d find another one on our way back though New Mexico, but alas, we did not. We looked and looked in several stores, but nothing jumped at me. Dang, I should have gone and got some cash in Tulsa shouldn’t I, yes I should-a. Too late, can’t go back now. We wanted to get up the hiway so we took off knowing that we’ll be back someday. I’m really drawn to this state. Driving up through the juniper landscape that turned into pine covered hills was so pleasant and visually appealing. We crossed the Great Divide at La Jara at 7,300 feet and the views were spectacular. We were going to stay at either Bloomfield or Farmington, but (we can hardly believe it ourselves) there was not one single room available in either town! There is a conference for the oil and gas company employees and owners this week. There are many natural gas and oil rigs along the way. So much for those plans! What do we do now!? Shiprock has no motels at all. Go back to Albuquerque? That’s almost 2 hours! We asked at a fuel stop and the girl behind the counter suggested that we push onto Cortez in the southeast corner of Colorado. We pushed on. The sights we saw are almost indescribable! Most of the landscape is very desolate, but….amazing! The distance is so huge and the mesas are, are, I don’t know, so incredible! Our pictures don’t even come close to seeing it with your own eyes. The Painted Desert has nothing on this place! We saw a storm way off to the west that was black and you could see the sheets of rain like curtains hanging from the bottom of the black clouds above. Some was not getting to the ground, but the darker curtains were. The area looked like it could use a good soaking. Although there isn’t much flora, so we wonder what would grow with water anyway. Like I said, the area is so desolate and that’s what our government gave to the Navajo people. I think they chose it though. To them it is sacred ground. I don’t know the reason but they are there and seem to be OK with it. The visuals of the area definitely give the impression that the Great Spirit has been a visitor there. It’s breathtaking! You should see Chimney Rock in person. Really! The rest of it is just as amazing. Do you get the idea that I’m taken by New Mexico? Well, I admit that I certainly am! I felt a serenity when we crossed the state line out of Texas and it hasn’t left. We’re staying at the Ute Mountain Casino and Hotel. It’s nice, but Oh My is it smokey. The room isn’t horrible, but the lobby is. We’ll retrace our steps back to the turn-off for the 4 state boundary intersection so we can stand in all 4 at once. Then it’s on to Salt Lake by way of Glen Canyon. More incredible sights! Oh Boy!

Wow, did we sleep well last night! We didn’t even wake up until almost 9:00 so we missed breakfast. Oh, well, we have oatmeal with us and that always works. We hit the road and the black sky was hard to ignore. The rain started right as we got away. Fortunately the traffic was light so we didn’t have to contend with all the spray from the semis. We seemed to be passing the storm as it moved east and north. Finally we saw a few sun breaks with blue sky right behind the clouds. Alright! We came into Texas a few weeks ago quite a bit lower in the state on slower roads. We are getting anxious to get home so we stayed on I-40, which is mostly Route 66 in northern Texas. We thought Texas was flat then. Well we found out what flat really means! We could see forever! Montana has nothing on Texas or New Mexico. I kept the speed close to the limit (maybe just a little above) because last night, on the way home from the church in Chico, we got pulled over. Finally! I’ve been speeding for almost a month now and finally got tagged. Turns out the night speed is 65, not 70; give me a break! Well when the nice patrol officer found out that we were from Washington and probably didn’t know any better and were leaving the state the next day anyway, he let us go. He did give us a warning ticket which means if we get tagged again, we’ll be in double Dutch! So I cooled it today….Hmmph! (The lower pictures are of Texas and the upper are of New Mexico) Once we neared the border, the terrain started changing and right as we crossed into New Mexico the mesas began to appear all around us. At one point we dropped off the high plateau and into a long valley between two of those wonderful mesas. We are thinking that our favorite state of all is New Mexico. Something about the terrain and vistas is so cool! What a pretty place. We reset our clock back an hour, but 6 ½ hours in the saddle is long enough. We found a room and set up camp. We turned on the news only to find out that there is another severe storm warning in south east New Mexico; tornados again and hail like baseballs! Yikes! We seem to be guided right out of the dangers because that’s the route we were going to take until yesterday. God apparently wants us to get home with minimal damage. Thank You God for Your guidance! Tomorrow should be fun. We’ll turn at Albuquerque and head towards the northwest corner of the state. If we make it that far, there’s a town called Shiprock which has some spectacular rock formations that we just can’t miss. If not, then we’ll at least get to Farmington, which has its own special and unique sights to see and then on through Shiprock on Wednesday. The road to the area is another scenic route and should be beautiful and at some point crosses the southern end of the Great Divide. Cool! The road eventually crosses the intersection of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah. I’m told you can have one foot in 2 states and t’other foot in the other 2. If so, we’ll certainly get a picture of that! For now, so long, sleep well.

Today is Sunday. We headed for the New Beginnings church around 9 AM and got there plenty early. Service started at 10:00. I didn’t know what to expect; I’d only been to 2 other charismatic churches and was a bit wierded out to say the least. I’ve come a long way since then and I’m more willing to receive God’s grace in whatever form it takes. Besides, if God is using this fellow to heal people, I can use some healing; if I could breathe better, I’d welcome it. Dave Duell was raised on a cattle ranch in Colorado. It took until he was 30 to realize the salvation of Christ. It took another 10 years to realize that he had a gift to heal. Word has spread and the proof is in the pudding. People are actually having physical healing and it is documented by doctors who have treated them. Dave is now 70 years old and obviously is in touch with God. We never did talk to the doctors, so take it with a grain of salt if you wish. He seemed to know that something was up with both Thea and me. He hasn’t been to this church in a year so we could have easily been members, he wouldn’t have known anything about us. He asked me what my ailment was. I told him I had lung disease and he held me by my shoulders and made a quick motion with his hand and I felt like he’d punched me. It didn’t hurt, but it knocked me back into my chair. He had not punched me. I felt like a warm aura around my chest and that was it. I took some deep breaths and I guess we’ll see if it happens all at once or if it is a process that will take some time. Then he stood in front of Thea and asked her about her difficulty. She explained that she wanted her knees healed. He held her, made the big motion and she shot back into her chair. She didn’t feel anything at first, but he asked her to walk out and see if her knees felt any different. She says they suddenly felt very hot and tingly. That happened at 10:30 this morning and they are still hot tonight. Perhaps it is a process and time will tell. We were so taken with some of the people that when they invited us to lunch, we gladly accepted. We chatted with them for almost 2 hours and it was all good. Rose Drew is the lady from Starbucks that told us about Dave Duell coming, we met her husband, also named Dave, who is a manager for American Airlines and their daughter whose name is Amy. We met Dave Drew’s friend Tim and his friend, I’ve already forgotten his name; I’m terrible about that. He knows Don Francisco, a rather famous Christian singer who has been around for 20 or 30 years. It was just all good today. We came back to the motel to check on things, took a short nap and then went back tonight for another meeting at 6. Dave Duell is a very charismatic speaker and it was thought provoking and entertaining at the same time. Who’d-a-thunk that we’d be here in the small town of Chico, Texas experiencing a spiritual reviving like this? It makes us think that God has His hand on us all the time and arranged for us to be here. Some may think it’s just coincidence or BS, but we don’t and that’s all that matters. Believe what you want. We are feeling good about it all and will see how much healing actually happens. That’s it. Tomorrow we head back and hope to be in Chelan by Saturday and home by Sunday afternoon. I’ll continue to keep a record of what we find along the trail home. Later!