This update has been a long time coming, hasn’t it? I know a few of you have been waiting to hear how the trip is going so I’ll try to recap the last six days and share a few photos. About the photos – this has been a driving trip to get from point A to point B. Because of that most of my photos were taken from a moving truck through dirty windows. Most of them weren’t worth sharing here but I think I have a few you will enjoy.

We got a late start leaving home on Tuesday because our internet service stopped working. We thought it might be an easy fix and decided to take care of it before we left. After a lot of time on the phone with the cable company it was decided that a service tech would need to come to the house. Something for me to do as soon as I get home.

This first picture was taken just before we crossed over Hoover Dam and shows just how low the water has gotten in the reservoir. That white band should all be under water.

These photos show the progress of the bypass bridge at the dam. How would you like to have to work up there in that swinging cage?

We spent the night in Las Vegas where we enjoyed our favorite buffet and played a while on the slot machines. I had a lucky night and actually made a profit. Recliner Man wasn’t as lucky but at least he had a good meal.

We left Vegas and headed south. About 30 miles from Barstow CA the truck (or as I like to call it, the 18 year old piece of crap) starting having trouble. The engine starting running really rough and the faster Recliner Man tried to make it go, the slower it went. In true man fashion he solved the problem by driving in the shoulder just long enough for the engine to show signs of recovery and then zipping back into the fast and heavy traffic. In true woman fashion, I kept saying “Just pull over and call AAA!” After several repeats of this, and a very scary moment when it all but died in the passing lane, he finally got over to the shoulder again and it really did die. Just as I thought he was ready to call AAA he did the man’s number two thing on the list of what to do with a broken car. He turned the key and tried several times ot get it started again. Finally he called AAA and had a long conversation with them trying to figure out where the heck we were. At one point he told them, “there is nothing around us but desert”, and he was right. Luckily I noticed a small sign off in the distance and with the telephoto lens on the camera we were able to read it. It gave enough landmark info for a tow truck driver to find us 45 minutes later. The truck driver had a thermometer and told us the road side temperature was 130 degrees!

We spent a few more hours sitting in a Starbucks at Barstow while the fuel pump was being replaced on the truck.

Then it was further south to  Bakersfield CA before heading north to Visalia CA, where we stayed the night.

The next morning we headed for Sequoia National Park.

And then on to Yosemite National Park.

It’s a beautiful park and we stopped a few time to look and even to walk back to a waterfall. Along the way we saw a few deer.

We drove very long days in the 18  year old POC. By the time we stopped my joints were yelling at me and I was dealing with hearing loss. It is very loud in that truck, especially near the passenger window. It is probably a good thing the radio wasn’t working or I would have had to deal with it blaring to be heard over the other noise. But wait, there’s more! I swear the truck likes me even less than I like it because it spent all those days trying to strangle me.

This isn’t a flattering picture but at this point all I want is for someone to feel a little of my pain and sympathize with me. OK, enough of the pity party. I’ll wrap this up with another pretty picture, this time of Mt. Shasta.

We arrived at our Oregon destination around 10:30pm on Friday. Recliner Man has a furnished apartment provided by his employer for the four months he will be up here. It’s pretty nice and I’ll be staying here till the 7th.  Till then The Boy is taking care of Abbey for me. I miss them both very much and can’t wait to get back home.