Been Back From My LA Trip A Week

StepMom01bOr so. Been so busy ‘catching up” around the house that I haven’t taken the time to update. I know you missed me!

My Step-Mom’s funeral went well; I thought. I wasn’t the only white guy there but I did feel like the gray-headed step-child I was. Oh, everyone was friendly; but a little stand-off-ish. Sorta. Which I understood since most of them had never seen me nor had they heard about me. They even asked me to talk! (Forgot half of what I was gonna say though.)

Took off from Chino and drove the coast to San Diego. Something I hadn’t done in over 20 years. Was nice. Stopped and visited with my brother-in-law in Santee, Ca. It was hot and we sat outside at COSTCO and watched the girls. God.

So, Day 1 was Home to Redding (where the horizon was on fire!). Day 2 Redding to Bakersfield. Day 3 (Saturday) was Bakersfield to Chino and the Funeral. (Got the LAST empty motel room in the area. $100!) Day 4 was Chino to LA to San Diego to Santee to March AFB up by Riverside. (Nice room and the quietest night of them all.) Day 5 was March AFB to Beaver, Utah. Day 6 was Beaver to SLC to Boise to Ontario, (Or?) Day 7 was Ontario to Home. 3100+ Miles! Phew!

stairwalk1cAll by myself too. Which sucked. Big Time. Trips are Way Much Better with SWMBO along. Especially while staying in strange motel rooms!

Not a whole heck of a lot going on around here since I got back. Tending the garden and picking things that are ripe. Peas are just about finished up. Green beans are done for the year and in the freezer. Maters are just really starting to come in and already we’re having problems getting rid of them. (Next year NO cherry tomato’s unless SWMBO really wants them. But will do slicing maters.)

Hot these past couple of days. Like in excess of 95 degrees. Nice!

Warranty finally expired on my laptop so I loaded it with Linux Mint 19 Xfce and set it up for SWMBO to use. Transferred all her shit from her laptop to the “new” one and it’s in her room ready to be used. I like it; but the truth is that if SHE doesn’t like it, well, the old laptop is still available. And will be for at least the next week “just in case!”

Got my DNA results from Ancestry. I’m about as plain vanilla White Boy as you can get. Which has got to be disappointing for SWMBO. She was hoping something would show up that’d make it easier to track my family. Doesn’t look like it did.

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WhooEeeeee Hot today. Nice. Nice nice. Picked a hatful of blackberry’s and was sweating like a, well, pig? (Do pigs sweat?) So I’m taking a break before heading out for some more.


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Ok. I Be Back. 5500 Miles. Still Tired.

Splash02bWe left my Uncle’s in Texas early Wednesday morning. Made it to Eufaula, OK and managed to get only slightly lost. Checked into a campground and had that Sweet Young Thing I’m married to send me the name of the graveyard my grandparents are buried in. Off we went. WAY too many graves for me to get out and walk around searching. Week long job there. So we didn’t see the gravesites.

Got on the road early Thursday morning. Got a bit turned around trying to avoid any Toll Road; and wound up on the major toll road going across Oklahoma. Did get to see Muskogee and Tulsa. Barely had enough cash on hand to pay the 1st toll. (So we stopped and got some. Cash.) Got to Hwy-35 North, which turned to 135 North, which turned to 81 North, until we got to I-80. Surprised it took only about 4 hours to get from I-70 to I-80. Made a left and got all the way to Kearney before we had to stop for the night.

Up early Friday and back on the road. Kearney to Evanston. Realize that it’s been mostly FLAT country from Eufaula to Evanston. Boring! Didn’t start to get interesting until we got to western Wyoming. That’s when it started to look like “The West.” Cool!

Got up early (again) Saturday morning and hit the road. Took less than a couple of hours to reach the back canyon to Ogden, Utah. Took 15 North to I-84 West. OMG, what a ride! Boise was a total cluster-fuck traffic wise.

Decided to take the Columbia River Gorge route (I-84) rather than go the Yakima way cause it’s flatter. Meaning I should use less fuel. NOT. The head wind was SO BAD that, even though I filled the tank just before entering that Gorge, I got to a point where I had to use my 5-gal emergency fuel before getting out of the Gorge and to a place I could fill up again. At one point, the wind slapped me so hard that I went from 55 to 30 mph in about a second. I thought I’d run into something! It actually locked my chest belt! Fuck!

And, in the meantime, OnStar and I are calling RV Parks on the route. Everybody was full for the weekend. (Of course, anything even close to the water would be full for the weekend. WHAT was I thinking?!) We tried stopping at a rest stop and catching a short nap; but it was too hot (87 degrees) and I couldn’t sleep.

So, after filling up, we went on through Portland to I-5 North and stopped at the first Rest Stop north of Portland. Buttoned up the truck, climbed into the Caravan, went to sleep. I was surprised how quiet it got after midnight. Really. Truckes stopped. People set up their tent-trailers. It was as peaceful as any RV park.

Woke up at 0400 and got back on the road. Missed my coffee. Decided to go through Tacoma to stay on major roads. Worked out okay cause it was Sunday morning. No traffic to speak of.

Got home about 0800 Sunday morning. Nice! SWMBO was still in bed. Nice!

And Ive been busy since! (And now it’s Tuesday. Got tired and went to bed. That’s what I get for starting this late.)

So, got home, spent some time with my Lovely-Young-Bride of 30+ years until she went to Church. Got out and started cleaning the Caravan and doing some things around the house until an early bedtime.Went to bed kind of early and started getting a headache. Had it all night. Our bed is uncomfortable.

Yesterday, Mowed the Upper-front and front yards and walking path, weeded & watered the garden, started trip laundry, all my regular chores, picked and processed my green onions, cleaned out the truck, made a milk run, Scanned about 800 of my Mom’s pictures that I got from my Uncle. Stayed busy until bedtime. Wow!

Today it was dump run time; so I did. Other than that: Not much. Just feel like taking it easy. Watering the yard is about as active as I’ve gotten.

And for some reason my chest hurts.

BTW, y’all can look at my trip pictures on my Flickr.


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Cannot Remember What Day–3791 Miles

So tired. Got up at 0530, showered and on the road by 0630. Left Eufaula, somehow got on a toll road (or two). Headed West to Hwy-35 North which turned into 181 North, which in turn turned into 18 North to I-80 West. It took only about 4 hours to get from I-70 to I-80. Surprising.

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So, I’m outside Kearney, Nebraska at a $45/night “I’m So Tired” Campground. I’ve eaten and the Dog licked the bowl. We been for a couple of walks around. He finally pooped. (Which is important for a traveling dog!)

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Both of my feet are swollen. Sitting on my fat old ass too long today. Twelve hours. Still that long just to get to Ogden from here. Then the same (or maybe a bit more) to get home from there. Phew.


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Bloody Hell I Can Be Stupid

Left early this morning to go to Eufaula, Ok to visit my grandparents graves. By the time I did a 25 mile “side trip” through and around Paris, Tx I was totally turned around. Then, met I-40 40 miles EAST of where I wanted to be! All to NOT pay a toll. Jeesh!

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So I get to Eufaula, park the Caravan, go find the graveyard, and there are thousand(s ) of graves. And no directory. Trying to find where they’re buried I found pictures of their gravestones already on line, so, fuck it. It’s HOT out here, I’m tired, and the Dog hasn’t pooped yet. Yet.

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Back to the RV park. Found I had somehow pulled the emergency brake thingie on the Caravan out (I SWEAR everything was unhooked) and the wire broke; so I got to fix that. Now I’ve lost the cotter pin for the hitch grabber thingie. Cannot find it. Will make-do with another one until I can get to a RV shop. Or somewhere one can buy cotter pins of various sizes.

I think I should just head straight home.

But, Man, I saw a lot of back country America today!


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