A mid-winter trip across the country

After driving over 6500 miles in the past month, to a lot of the country, I have to say that we didn't experience the "crumbling infrastructure" of the country.  It appears to us that there is a LOT of road and bridge building all across the country.  My unofficial truck count is way up and things seem to be booming everywhere.

First stop, visiting my family in Los Angeles area.  Pretty area with lots of sunshine and an interesting little farm in the middle of the asphalt jungle.

Enjoyed a great visit with my sister and niece and family.

On to Georgia, where we enjoyed views every day from the house.

Sunrise in the morning. Wheel line over the peanut field outlined against the morning sun coming up. 

(East view)

• Sunsets and lake views from the front of the house.

(West view)

We enjoyed watching the bass fishermen boiling up and down the lake on Saturdays for tournaments.  It sure felt like Spring!

Lots of blooms and warm sunny days made me anxious to get home and get the garden planted.  It was warming up nicely in Washington when we left in the middle of January, and I usually plant peas in February.

Then we took a trip to Florida and visited our good friends Patti and Fran where it felt like summer.  I was really ready to get home!

OK I get it - it's still winter.  Too many years without snow has left us expecting early springs every year.  The sun is shining, and it's beautiful, but it doesn't look like I'll be planting peas yet.

Tripping across the U.S.A. (again)

Twice a year, Ron and I drive across the country.  Usually we take the "short" way - or what we call the "Northern Route".  However, last year when we were driving two cars, we ran into snow, sleet, ice, wind, and overall miserable driving conditions.  Since we were leaving about two weeks earlier this year and the weather forecast looked a bit formidable for the I-90 corridor, we decided to take the "southern route".  This one takes us all the way across the southern tier of states on I-20 and I-10, and then straight up I-5.  The overall trip is about 500 miles further this way, but we can be pretty sure if we see snow it will only be for a few miles in the Siskiyous in northern California and Oregon.

 

It's coming back to us why we avoid this route. 

Palo Verde trees are in bloom and beautiful in Arizona.

The dessert is at its most vibrant.

 

So a lot of the trip is much more interesting on the southern route at this time of year.

 

Love the rock formations of Arizona.

 

We smelt this coming for about 5 miles before we got to it in California.

Now this is dedication to protecting a crop!

Many different crops for hundreds of miles in Southern California, from citrus, to nuts, to row crops.

Olives,

Pistachios, and much more!

We've missed all the California agriculture.  I love to see things growing, and California is the growing capital of the country.  Forty years ago, I took an Environmental Studies course, and the underlying theme then was how limiting a factor water was and would increasingly be in the future.

 

 

The future is here.  We saw signs all over California about water, and the last wheel line we saw was somewhere in Alabama.  

 We saw our first white mountain when we were a little south of Redding, and Mt Shasta was gorgeous as we went further north.

I have been missing mountains!



Saratoga, Wyoming

We love hot springs!  So when we are traveling, we always try to include at least one hot spring stop.  On our trip across the U.S.A. this fall, we have been fortunate enough to have two such stops.  The first we enjoyed while we were staying at a VRBO loft in Missoula (171639)


Tonight, we are at Saratoga WY at the Saratoga Hot Springs Resort and Spa.  (370861).  We have stopped at Saratoga Hot Springs hobo pool several times.  It is about 20 miles off I-80 and well worth the slight detour.  The hobo pool was donated to the town of Saratoga with the proviso that no fee ever be charged to people using the pool.  Located on the banks of the North Platte River, the pool is very hot - last time we stopped, we couldn't even get in the pool.  There were a few hardy souls who were lobster red anywhere the water had touched their bodies.  We did find a place in the river where the hot water flows from the pools that was comfortably warm, so it wasn't a wasted trip.  


This year, Saratoga fell on a spot where we wanted to stop for the night, so I clicked on the Wyoming map on VRBO.com, and found this resort listed.  We planned to stay two days, but the second day was booked solid, so we settled for one day.

This place is absolutely beautiful.  The main pool is about 95 degrees, with the teepees in the background each over a smaller pool. The smaller pools average 105 degrees.

The room is modest, but there are so many interesting lounge areas and places to spread out that even with a fully booked resort, we never felt crowded.

The entire resort is western themed, with some very interesting furniture, lamps, shelves, and even coat racks.  There are at least 4 different rooms with huge stone fireplaces and comfortable lounge chairs.

Chess anyone?  This cowboy and Indian chess set has huge hand- carved pieces.

We can recommend all of the VRBO.com places we have stayed so far:

McCall Idaho - Listing 149397

Missoula, MT - Listing 171639

Idaho Falls, ID- Listing 304070

Saratoga, WY - Listing 370861

To access any VRBO listing, go to VRBO.com 

Idaho Falls

Our poor little car is really looking piggy.  We are going to try to find a car wash tomorrow!  It is definitely still bug season everywhere we have been traveling.  Today our journey took us another 400 miles to Idaho Falls, ID where we had a condo reserved.

The scenery was mostly open prairie, with lots of antelope along the edges.  

We did pass Clark Reservoir about midway through the prairie.

Then we came to Idaho Falls, a really pretty town that mixes historical with progressive new buildings and old statues 

with new sculptures in roundabouts.

The white building in the background is the Mormon Temple.

One of the many benches in the riverfront park in Idaho Falls.

Our condo is a single story triplex, with a full kitchen, dining room, 

living room, 

three bedrooms, a laundry room, and a jacuzzi on the patio.  Nicely located on the edge of town where it is quiet, but close to everything.

Three or four couples could be very comfortable here!  This VRBO thing is really working well!

On To Missoula

Our adventure with our VRBO.com trip across the country began in earnest today.  After two days with family in Tonasket, WA, we headed to our first vrbo booking - a condo in downtown Missoula.






The clouds began to roll in on Sunday night, and Monday started out with clouds.  However, most of our drive across Washington, Idaho and into Montana today was sunny and warm.


There are many options for a route from Tonasket to Missoula.  Our GPS has one opinion, we had another.  After a futile attempt to turn us around and get us to I-90 asap, it finally gave up and started figuring out turns to Republic.

The drive is scenic whether we chose the highest mountain pass in the state (Sherman Pass - Highway 20) or took Highway 21to the Keller Ferry where we could connect to Highway 2.  We chose Highway 21, which really bothered Ms. GPS.  She tried for the entire drive from Republic to Keller to turn us around.  

Highway 21 is lightly traveled so we saw wild turkeys on the road, deer right next to the road, and beautiful views of the river for the entire trip.
By 9 a.m., we were at the ferry dock, where we could see the ferry on the other side of the lake.

On the other side, the GPS finally sorted out where we were and shaved 60 miles off our estimated route to Missoula.

Lake Roosevelt that we had just crossed on the free ferry in the distance.  We gained about 2000 feet in elevation as we drove the winding road from the lake to Wilbur, on Highway 2.

On I-90 out of Spokane, the views of Lake Couer d'Alene stayed with us for many miles.  Then we came to the Clark Fork river and crossed it at least a dozen times as it winds along between Idaho and Missoula.

We arrived at our condo for the next two days around 4 p.m.  Ross, the owner, met us and gave us a tour and all the keys we needed.  The condo is on the top floor of the Wilma Theater building and overlooks the Clark Fork river and park.  

There is an elevator as well as stairs to the 8th floor.  We took the elevator.
The condo is tiny - 400 square feet - but is clean and nicely equipped.  Since it is in the middle of the historic district, many shops and restaurants are within walking distance.

The view from the condo windows is really fantastic.  Wireless internet, full cable TV, and a small washer/dryer all make it very convenient.  

Day One - North Cascades Highway

We got a late start because of a plumbing problem with our well.  In the middle of the night, we realized we had no water.  We stumbled in the dark under a beautiful starry sky down to the well house, where we discovered a lake!  The pump was still running so we turned that off and went back to bed to let the water recede.  Fortunately, this happened while we were still here, and we were able to replace the broken valve in the morning and still be on the road by about 11 a.m.

First stop, Henry Miller Steelhead Park in Rockport.

Nice clean restrooms, interesting artifacts.  It is a great place to rest for a minute in the middle of a long road trip.

At Rockport, we turned onto the North Cascade highway.  We followed the beautiful green Skagit River up into the mountains.

If you take the N Cascade Highway, be sure to stop at the Gorge Creek Falls.  There is a parking lot and a walkway next to the road and the views are spectacular.  We have been this way many times without stopping, but it is worth the stop.

The waters are a beautiful emerald green in all the waters across the mountains.

The overlook of Diablo Lake shows geology and development of the lake system.

We had a late lunch at Duck Brand in Winthrop.  The food was delicious, service slow, and yellow jackets plentiful, so kind of a mixed bag.

 My amazing hunter of a sister-in-law with her trophy buck from last years' hunt.

My brother David, and sister-in-law Barb

We ended our first day with our son and his family in the Aeneas Valley just outside Tonasket.  275 miles so far