Well...

I know I've been lax lately in writing and there are many adventures to catch you all up on but there won't be any new ones. The time has come and I am back in New Jersey for new adventures of life here.




Trailer less now I made it from Orlando home in 3 days which could easily have been a two day drive but had stops to make. Got in yesterday after lunch with sister in DC. Before that I stopped for the night in Richmond to visit with Jess and Mike and new baby Braden (see above for cuteness).

Taylor is parked at a storage facility in Orlando waiting for Uncle Greg to come back down and take a trip to the Keys for the winter. Greg came for a few days this past weekend and we went through the basics of Taylor 101 and saw the Space Shuttle Endeavor launch on the 14th.

The bright light is the rocket booster just after ignition, the white circle in the top left is the just-past-full moon. We watched from across the water about 10-12 miles away and heard the take off a full minute after I took this picture. I couldn't have planned this if I tried, a last minute fantastic way to end the trailer leg of the trip.

Before that I was in Panama City Beach camped at St Andrews State Park. My friend Pat came for a few days and we had intense games of Scrabble , great finds at the dollar store and general chilling by the fire time. A relaxing last few days in the Chuck Taylor.

The week before I was in Biloxi doing Habitat - spent that time siding (a big puzzle), a little roofing and insulation (absolutely no fun - very itchy). It was a good week at Grand Island National Seashore and I ended it with some fellow volunteers with a night of bowling and a brief trip to the Casinos, Biloxi has been called the "Redneck Riviera."

And I think that catches us up to where I last posted. Those are very brief descriptions of the last few weeks but that's the short version of it all. There may be another post trip posting with some grand summaries and lessons learned. But should I get distracted and this be the last one, I want to say thanks to everyone who came on the journey and to everyone who supported me along the way in various ways. It was a lot easier to travel alone knowing how much love and support I had behind me.

Cheers!
Kelly

Election Night Buzz

It's an exciting day. I can't imagine being in a more red state with my blue liberal politics. Mississippi. I have moved on from the build in Louisianna. We finished up over the course of the week, it looks like a house. Kind of cool. Had a nice dinner and said farewell to the work crew.

The Habitat CARE-A-VANNERS crew, Bayou Blue Louisianna

L to R: Bill, Peggy and Bandit, Steve and Jan, Yours Truly, Gwen and Lowell, Jan and Less, Steve, Mike, Roseanne and George

Aunt Jo came to visit for a weekend in Louisiana and got to hammer some nails in. We went to the Voodoo Experience, which was really just a music festival and saw Lil' Wayne. That was an experience for sure. We had good coffee, went to Bourbon Street for a quick walk. It was a short visit but good to spend some time with my Aunt Johanna.

Well Obama is in the lead at the moment but I am not counting my chickens until I hear them clucking. Mississippi, shockingly, went McCain. I am out near Biloxi in Ocean Springs doing a week of Habitat here.

Spent the weekend near New Orleans at Bayou Segnette State Park. Liz came to visit and we had adventures galore. Saw aligators and snakes, drunk people and interesting costumes on Bourbon Street on Halloween. Definitely an interesting place to spend that holiday.

It was time to move on after 2 weeks there. Some interesting social issues that the experience brought to my attention. That is a bit too much to blog at this point but the epiphany I've been searching for came but I can tell you it was a different experience that I was expecting.

Gots to run.

Cheers,
Kelly

The Build

I arrived in Gray Louisianna on October 16th. Making the 5 hour drive from Houston that day. A last minute spur of the moment change of plans and I got a (relatively) cheap flight home for the weekend.

Went for a hike in my favorite woods at Ramapo Reservation, had good dinner with the family, played games, went to church, had a nice fall bike ride...lovely weekend home.

Came back Monday early to start work. I arrived at lunch time to find the crew in full swing (literally), hammers going. I got set up with Gwen and Jan who were working on framing a wall. I learned about crowning the studs and getting the frame squared up. There were maybe 15 other people about doing all kinds of things.

Day 1 was a bit confusing to me, seemed to be inefficient and I wasn't quite sure how it all got done. But the flow came to me, you really just insert yourself where needed. Being flexible and asking how can I help will get you something to do from whoever looks busy. I had to just take a chill pill and realize it's okay if the house isn't built in a day, that it was just as important to have everyone involved and contributing than "efficiency."

This development was land bought by, I want to say Oprah's Miracle Network and the first 30 houses were paid for and completely stocked after Katrina. Best part, the street is named after Bon Jovi. Assuming he helped out on this too. They now have nearly 75 houses and it's the traditional Habitat model, familys have to show need, income (in a certain range) and put in "sweat" equity on either their house or other houses being built.

Well Day 1 I joined Mike another volunteer to experience some local Cajun music, it was a group of seniors jamming at the National Historical Site in Thibidoux. Had some decent pizza and beer after where we ran into the two Americorps volunteers Lee-Shin and Matt, and the Habitat site supervisor, Kai.

The next day Lowell took charge and wrote out instruction on how to put on the top plate and listed out the days activites which was helpful. So I learned out to put on a top plate which is the wood that holds all the frames of the walls together, ties them to the outside of the house.

Wednesday the house looked like this...

Mainly the group is retired folks who have done the RV Care-A-Vanner builds before. There is Linda, a single mom taking a break from Manhattan on a long deserved road trip, Mike the retired electrical engineer from West Virginia, Janet and Steve, Steve's sister Crystal and the other couples who are just inspiring and great.

Will give more next time, but need to get some rest. I can't keep up with these folks...hard work days...but it's a good tired. A really good tired. I'll take a picture in the morning of what the house looks like now 2 days later. It's amazing.

Cheers!
Kelly

The Battle

Well I'm still in Texas. Scheduled to leave tomorrow for Louisanna making my way towards New Orleans area by the 19th for some Habitat work I'm very excited for.


I didn't quite plan on being at Lockhart State Park for so long but a few delays...well really just one delay and it came from Monday night after doing some laundry. I discovered...somehow...fleas in the trailer. The next 2 days were spent engaged in chemical warfare against the little creatures. Loads of laundry later, a day trip to San Antonio to get my camera cleaned (fuzzy spots on all my pictures) and I was back in action.

I made my way across to Houston area and have been camped out at Brazos Bend State Park. I had dinner with some Linde folks on Friday, enjoying some margaritas and thoughts other than my own. Spent the weekend exploring the park, saw armadillos and went to the George Observatory at night to see the moons of Jupiter. Really. 4 of them.

There is apparently a 3000 year old hurricane on Saturn that is 3 times the size of Earth. Kind of puts it all in perspective. Granted the planet is a giant ball of liquid hydrogen. Makes me realize how absolutely unfriendly the universe is and how delicate our existence is at all.

The last few days been puttering around Houston area. Last night I went to see the journalist Robin Wright speak at the Junior League as part of the World Affairs Council of Houston. She has travelled and reported from the middle east for over 30 years and provided some unique insights and thoughts about the challenges in the region.

With the financial crisis in full bloom and the panic over it, it worries me a bit that the other issues get swept under the table. It's a big down, a correction, it will come back up. I say everyone unplug the TV, stop watching the news, and open up a book. I know there are people immediately impacted by this downturn in a really bad way. Like all things though it will come back, this is temporary. It may take awhile but it will. Maybe I'm just an optimist living in the woods right now but what other choice is there but to hope for the best?

I've been doing my part, at 900 Gallons of gas so far - I have certainly been putting my money back into the economy. :)

Hope everyone is well. Looking forward to getting my hands dirty next week for the Habitat work.

Cheers!
Kelly

The Catch

Click on the title to see the video of Peter catching the human projectile called Kelly...

https://www.t-mobilepictures.com/myalbum/photos/photo35/66/0f/d0bc37a28d40.gif

For some reason that is not working try clicking on this link to see it...

Ready...HEP!!!

Practice Flight

Legs up...hands off...catch...if you clicked on the video above you will see the cell phone movie capture of Kelly's first flight. Going where no Visconti has gone before, circus school. Though if you know my family you might find it hard to believe. :)

I've got to say 29 has set the standard for birthdays, first the Grand Canyon and then trapeze lessons. Liz came for the weekend to Austin TX and had a birthday adventure planned for Saturday.
A few days ago I got, "Are you afraid of heights?" Hmmm...no, but I am not interested in bungee jumping or sky diving. The day before I got was "pack clothes for hiking, swimming, and sort of tight but not too tight...yoga like clothes." Hmmm....okay. Saturday morning 8 am we were off and as we were driving she asked for my insurance card to fill out the accident waiver. Hmmm...okay.

Well about an hour later we pulled up to this very nice spa called The Crossings in the suburbs of Austin and as we drove to the entrance I saw it...the trapeeze...we were going flying.

The company is called the Trapeze Experience and they travel around the country set up for a few months at different locations and offer the chance to try out your inner circus performer.

http://www.trapeze-experience.com/

Peter has been doing this for 20-25 years and he was great, as well as his staff. They were all very friendly and supportive. It was completely safe and I was only scared a few times. Like the first time I jumped off the platform hoping I would be able to hold onto the bar and follow the commands to do the knee hang. Well I did hold on and fumble through it and even if I hadn't there are safety lines and a bouncy net that was fun in itself.


It was great and thoroughly enjoyable and yes a little scary and thrilling all at the same time. The first time I went when I came down I was physically shaking from the adrenaline rush. Fantastic! There are few things in life that really get that feeling for you and this one is in a very safe environment. Anyone interested? They are up in the Hamptons over the summers...

It was a small class but the other ladies had all done it before and were working other tricks so it was great to see what else you could learn.


Liz's Catch! NICE! First time...

Liz kicked butt and could do the knee hang trick no problem by the second try, took me a few more but we were working up to doing a "catch" where Peter actually gripped the wrists and through the air you fly. I just missed the first time, we touched hands but didn't connect. But they gave me another go and he was there and off I went. Like the circus. Cool.


We spent the rest of the day reliving the experience and chilling in the spa, yoga class and then to the Clay Pit for dinner. Great Indian food - experienced the downtown Austin vibe, saw Lance Armstrong's bar called "Six" (six tour de france wins), Oilcan Henrys and made our way back to the state park I am camped out at.

I've got to say the State Parks have been the winners for places to stay. Without fail great facilities, actual nature setting and nice people. Minimal services like laundry and internet but in a place like Austin there is not shortage of those things.

The Austin experience has been great, this very oddly placed liberal center of this conservative state. I'll be here for a few days figuring out my next move. Come October 19th I'll be in New Orleans area doing some Habitat work...very excited for that...

Cheers and happy flying...
Kelly

The Birthday Adventure

Well I have had many interesting ways of celebrating my birthday, a hotel bar in Texas, a suprise party, a party in New York that was more quiet than expected, dinner and bocci ball, and many others. But 29 was a good one.

Spent the day seeing the Grand Canyon with my mom, which was breathtaking, the sheer size of it is unmatched. Momma has dropped in for a few days of the adventure. Picked her up in the wild world of Las Vegas and drove across Route 66 to the Grand Canyon. Heading off today into Phoenix area and then she is off back to the Garden State.

To get to Vegas I drove across California. From the Redwoods through SF area, to Yosemite and across the pretty rural growing area of the state into the Mojave Desert. Stayed one night in Barstow.

Amazing a week ago I was in sweatshirts and pants on the cool Oregon coast and now I am sweating to the oldies in the hot southwest deserts...

That's all for now, just a quick update to say thank you for all the birthday wishes and thank you to the universe for another year here...

Cheers.

Kelly

Seattle

Insert this entry before the Oregon one...

The time between Mt Rainier and the escapades there and Portland was time in the Seattle area. Before going home for 2 weeks for 2 weddings, Liz and I spent a few days in Seattle. We walked around the downtown and saw the fish get thrown, stayed at a funky hotel, took a ferry to Bainbridge Island, went on a "relaxing" bike ride, and then my first sailboat cruise which I enjoyed a lot, saw the space needle and the entire city at night.

I liked Seattle but I wanted to like it more than I did. I was hoping to really really like it. I feel like I had a superficial view of it, need more time to really see it.

The next 10 days or so I was home in NJ, spent some time with family and friends, went to 2 weddings, did a little real life stuff and basically enjoyed being stationary for awhile. I flew back to Seattle on a Monday - the truck didn't smell too bad from the basket of laundry that didn't get taken care of before I left. (wow talk about literally airing your dirty laundry here)

That night I went to get Taylor and had a cup of tea with Johnna, the friend of a friend who was kind enough to let me park the trailer for 10 days at her house. Her husband Roni was back in Israel and Joey, her 3 year old son from Taiwan was too excited to sleep. Theirs is a true multi-cultural family. We talked for quite sometime about her living in Israel and Italy, teaching, family.

It was a nice connection to make and I ended up spending the next 3 days there. I went for a bike ride and nearly gave myself a heart attack on this really steep hill, had dinner and some beers at the Redhook Brewery, took a day trip to Vancouver - which I did love. There is something about that city that appeals to me and nearly anyone who has ever been there. Water, lots of parks, it feels youthful and alive, lots of independent small businesses, and a nice skyline to boot. Very nice.

I am missing a lot of the details in it all but that was a good time of the trip and I want to remember it. And say thank you to my very gracious hosts. The universe will respond with what you need if you put it out there...

Photos aren't loading now so will just post as is and update later with visual aids.

Hope everyone is well out there.

Cheers.
Kelly

Route 101

After the night out in Portland with Justin sampling the local hmm "fare" (we drank only Oregon microbrews) and some good breakfast we picked up Taylor from the RV place.


Taylor had an examination to see why the grey water tank was leaking (grey water is the sink and shower water). After ripping out a wall they managed to find a crack in the top of the tank like I thought. The picture looked like a hole but it was tough to tell. Either way I need a new tank but it will take weeks to get one, so at the end of this when I'm parked somewhere for awhile that will all happen. There's a whole story about being open on Saturday but not actually working and possibly having to make it from Portland to Vegas in 3 days...but that didn't end up happening. So I'll skip the details.


We drove out to Newport OR on the coast, heading down Rte 5 we saw these huge plumes of smoke to the east. Forest fires. There were a bunch of them burning in that part of the state and it was wild to see the smoke rising from them so far away.

Took pictures of the sunset and saw some sea lions chilling on the bank. We thought they were seals but the signs everywhere down the road indicated sea lions. Had some dinner and promptly passed out. The next morning we woke up and went to the beach. It was empty and kind of cloudy but beautiful. Justin also has a camera and it was fun to walk the beach taking photos with him...

We split up after that him back to eastern oregon and me south. I stayed on the 101 after getting some really good driving information from the woman at the KOA we stayed at. The drive down the Oregon coast was probably my favorite drive so far.

I was relaxed, it was interesting, I stopped and took pictures. It was what I envisioned this trip to be all about. I made it all the way to the Redwood forest of Northern California feeling wonderfully alive and blessed.


Summarizing the rest of the way...


...stayed in the redwoods, the towns up that way are a bit sad and lost, did "tree" in a giant redwood tree, got the creeps driving through the rest of the mountains of northern california, hit the sonoma valley late and drove a winding narrow road to the campground on top a hill, saw the most stars I have seen to date on this trip and then took off for Yosemite in the morning...

Yosemite and the rest of California for another posting. Have to get geared up and off to Viva Las Vegas to pick up my moms for the Grand Canyon adventure...

Cheers!
Kelly

Off the Reservation...

I'll work backwards from where I am right now to where the adventure left off...right now I'm sitting at Mother's waiting for what better be a really good breakfast with my cousin Justin. They somehow passed my name on the wait list and 30 minutes became 60. Not really a big deal but just fit in with the theme of the past few days.

Lesson learned - ask for the second best breakfast place in town, because the best will have a really long wait...

"I touched a Glacier." - Justin's contribution to the blog, and it's true, he touched a glacier. Well we think it's a glacier, we named it the Boop Jemima Glacier (see photo).

Yesterday we met up at Mt. Hood at the Timberline lodge. He's out in eastern Oregon doing a training class for some super secret government thing out here for two weeks and was heading to Portland for the weekend.

In a million years if we had planned to get together or tried to go on vacation together it wouldn't have worked out so well. It was cool meeting him at the top of a mountain, seeing him perched on the rocks in the parking lot with a big smile when I pulled around the curve was a great welcome.

Mount Hood was cool, at first I was suprised at how dry it is, then I realized it's a volcano. Duh. Ash. But you can ski it year round. We walked for a bit across the ski slopes into the tree line and there was this tangible change in the environment. We went off the reservation. Lots of wildflowers and this great view of the Cascade Mountain range.

More to come on the rest of the Portland and prior Washington experience. Oh and I did make a day trip to Vancouver, BC. So stay tuned...

Cheers!

Kelly

The Evergreen State

The rest of the journey through Idaho was uneventful. Armed with tour advice from Meg, we crossed the border into Washington and I crossed another state off my list. Drove through Spokane (spo-can) and across the suprising nothing of Washington State. I guess my impression of the state was forest and mountains, not the vast flat land that we encountered. Like Colorado, most of the state is actually flat - you know except for the really big mountains.

The KOA I wanted to crash at was booked, so we reserved a spot at the Yakima KOA, which worked out better as it was close to a good entry point of Mt Rainier. So Liz plugged in the address for the Yakima KOA into the GPS and away we went.

Having missed a key turn from the Garmin along the way, the re-route took us through Connell, WA which looked like the most promising place to stop and eat anyway. It also provided me the best church sign I've ever seen. Fantastic. Timmy, this one's for you.

Continuing to follow the Garmin directions we ended up on this road not on the map and drove several miles along a large Deparment of Energy spot of land. Not exactly sure what it was but probably better I don't know.

The west part of Washington state rivals Idaho and Montana so far for nothing-ness but the sunset as we approached Yakima was the best I've seen so far on the trip.

The area around Yakima is full of vineyards and fruit orchards. Felt like we could have been in Greece or what I imagine the countryside of Italy to be like.

We got to the campground late that night and it was underwhelming even in the dark. It was the first cg (that's RV lingo for campground) I stayed in I was really disappointed in. No matter - once you are in the trailer the outside stuff doesn't really matter too much. The next morning we took off and headed for Mt. Rainier.

Mt Rainier National Park

The winding highway road to Mt. Rainier National Park gave me a glimpse of what was to come from Washington drivers. There were a ton of RV's heading back from the park the opposite way (it was Labor day) and all driving really fast on this winding road.

We entered the park on the southwest side and parked at the ranger station at the Ohanapecosh Visitor Center. The rangers were extremely friendly and helpful, we decided to forego driving up the winding steep road to higher elevations and just enjoy the forest around us.

We took the Silver Falls trail to the Grove of the Patriarchs Trail and saw these huge Red Cedar and Fir trees over 1000 years old. Pretty cool.

The forest had a very different feel than the parks we had been too, more dense, older - felt like a dinosaur might leap out at anytime. Must be just more rainfall and more consistent, Glacier and Yellowstone felt like more harsh environments.

After our hike we drove the rest of the way through the park, and after awhile thinking we had seen Mt Rainier, there was finally a break in the clouds and there it was in all its 14,000 feet of volcanic glory.

As the road was pretty steep and crowded I was going pretty slowly down the hills, apparently much to the distaste of my fellow drivers. I managed to pull off at one spot to let some cars pass and see if we could get a picture of the peak. During which time a nice young gentleman was kind enough to share his thoughts of me and my driving.

I have never in my life encountered such rudeness, and I've lived in NJ for most of it. It's the first time I ever been called a "F*ing Douche Bag" before - to my face anyway - complete with arm gestures out the window of the truck. Needless to say Washington drivers do NOT have a warm place in my heart...

However, the other people I've met here have softened that and we continued on to Winwoodville WA where the universe had found me a place to land my trailer while I was away...

That's more than enough for this post. Stay tuned for the rest of the Washington experience.

Cheers,

Kelly

Glacier Continued...

- 9/10/08 -

It's interesting to go back and read the blog and how much different the entries are written post-haste vs in the heat of the moment. Right now I sit comfortably indoors as it pours outside in New Jersey. Yes I know a bit confusing...but the miracle of modern conveniences, the airplane, has brought me back home in 5 hours what took 3 weeks to travel by land.

Two weddings in two weekends brought me home for a brief visit. Taylor is at a friend of a friend's house outside Seattle and Chuck is eagerly waiting my return at Sea-Tac. So while home and with ample internet access I am catching up the blog with what I recall of the adventures. The tenor and emotion is a bit more detached as the tale is told with the passing of time...but perhaps you are getting a broader picture of it all...who knows? Just rambling.

Glacier - Day 3

We spent the day close to "home", just went a bit down the road to hike a trail by Lake McDonald. Tried to make it up to another lake that way but after a few hours and hitting mosquitos that couldn't have cared less about the Deep Woods Off we had showered in, a warning of bear "scat" down one trail from some fellow hikers, we turned around.

Lake McDonald - Glacier National Park

The rest of the afternoon passed relaxing by the lake, soaking in some peace, playing a little frisbee and then we went back to camp for a fantastic fire (thanks to the super dry wood from the place across the park) and excellent dinner. A great way to end this segment of the trip. Glacier was unbelievable, I'm going to vote my favorite place so far...

Westward Bound...

The next morning we took off and headed west, drove through some remote part of Montana and back through the pan-handle of Idaho. The drive on I-90 through the panhandle of Idaho is gorgeous. The road follows along a river there and we had an awesome lunch spot in LoLo National Forest watching the fisherman float down the river.

We stopped in Cour D'Alene, the largest city I think we had been to since Cheyenne for gas and encountered one of the more colorful moments of the trip.

It sounds harmless enough, a man and a woman doing some yard work on the edge of the gas station property, with their small dog standing guard. Really not much unique about that right? Well a few more details....

The woman was wearing, I'm not kidding a flourescent green bikini (top and bottom) pulling weeds in the middle of the city - no where near the water. The man was pretty hippy looking. But their dog had on a, I'm pretty confident in this, black and white polka dot tutu.


The photos don't do the scene justice, trust me, it was funny. Not something you expect to see when you pull up to a gas station off the highway. After a week of driving through some pretty rural areas we were just at the end of sanity and took endless amusement from the scene.

I'll leave Washington as the next posting, the last state on the journey so far...

Cheers!
Kelly

Big Sky Country

Well the next leg of the journey took us from Butte, MT to just below the Canadian border to Glacier National Park. We passed a ton of Cherry Orchards along Flathead Lake, a beautiful area.

After much deliberation we chose the best campsite C126 at Fish Creek CG and after a little McGuyver-ing, we settled in for the night.

The campground was beautiful, really right in the woods but not designed for RV life so much, which is actually okay, keeps it pretty quiet. After a smoky fire (man the wood has to be really dry) and some dinner we went for a walk around the camp by the lake enjoying our first night in the woods woods.

The first full day of Glacier we drove the Going to the Sun road, listed as one of the most scenic drives in the country and I have to agree. Our first real experience of the park was just breath taking. I can't count the number of times Liz or I said "Wow" only to turn a bend and say it again.

We stopped for lunch by the Weeping Wall, which is aptly named as the Glacier water run off seems to just seep through the rock wall and makes the mountain look like it is crying. The park is a series of mountains and lakes all carved by giant glaciers. You can see the difference in the forces that created these mountains versus some place like Teton.

Teton was formed by plates crashing together which forced the Tetons up and the valley floor down to create these really sharp peaks. Glacier you can see the sweeping path that carved out the landscape by the huge force of ice, pushing the dirt and rocks to form the smaller hills around the area and the pieces that fell off to form the lakes.

It looks and feels different. We hiked up to the lookout for "Hidden Lake", elevation something like 7,000 ft.

The Road brings access to a landscape many people would not get to see because it would take a week to hike up to these view points. For better or worse it is a different way of experiencing nature, and still a pretty scary road to drive...

We drove the rest of the length of the park and made it to Many Glaciers where we had been informed were more bears. At the visitor area there were rangers with scopes and a bunch of people all gathered around. The ranger had 2 focused on grizzlies up on the mountain, we got to see our first grizzly! From a very safe distance, perfect!

Very exciting day 1, totally pooped we ended up eating at Two Sisters Cafe (address, near Babb, MT) and making a slightly scary evening drive back to camp.

And that was all just Day 1! Will write some more later...

Cheers!

Kelly

Public Service Announcement

The last we left our fearless heros, Kelly and Liz were heading off to dance with wolves, or run from mountain lions or was it lie in the fetal position and pretend to be dead so the grizzlies don't eat them? I don't recall.

Actually last I wrote I was quite comfy having a chai latte at a nice little cafe in Jackson Hole. We bought some provisions at the organic store and took off for Montana. Having made the slight detour south to Jackson Hole, the best route appeared to be west into Idaho and north on I-15. Appeared to be. The first 5 miles of that drive were the scariest of my life, Teton Pass was a bear.

Now here's the PSA part

***For those who have never driven anything larger than say an SUV or Van, there is a HUGE difference between a 6% and 10% road grade. Just so all you car drivers out there know. The large vehicles going slowly on steep hills are not doing it to piss you off. They are either constrained by the size of the engine or they are being - careful and trying not to drive off a cliff. SO have a little patience and try not to ride up their bumper the whole way increasing the stress and potential death factor for them and for you exponentially.***

Not that I have any personal experience of this...now with that public safety announcement out of the way...

We drove through Swan Valley in Idaho which is really beautiful and made it to Idaho Falls. We got the spare tire fixed there for the trailer (a nail was the culprit) and bought cowboy hats.

We stopped in Spencer, ID "The Opal Capital of the United States" for gas and some friendly banter at the counter. From here we passed through the rest of "nowhere" Idaho into "nowhere" Montana. Missed the rodeo in Dillon and finally camped out at the KOA in Butte, Mt. Home of the "Our Lady of the Rockies." Was actually a cute little down. Small. Campground was nice, clean and easy.

That's all I can manage for tonight, will continue the thread through Montana to Glacier, back through Idaho and into Washington.

Cheers!

Kelly

Wyoming...Yeee Haaaw...

The Wyoming part of this trip has been the most...hmm...adventure so far. Flat tire, cracked holding tank, delayed flight, grizzly bears and okay there were no grizzly bears...but I did buy bear spray. That's a first.

I picked up Liz in Denver on Saturday where she was greeted by the Democratic National Party volunteers. What a warm welcome!

We made our way to Cheyenne to find a flat tire. Fortunately it was at the BOC/Linde distribution location and Chuck (no coincidence I believe) helped us change the tire and we made our way to Rawlins, WY.

After a somewhat crooked night's sleep we traveled across the very large and very empty state of Wyoming. A WHOLE lot of nothin'. The long and winding road over the mountains brought us to the most impressive Grand Teton National Park where we were for the last few days (see photo above for impressiveness).

We hiked, drove and boated around the park and made it up to Yellowstone to see the very on the beaten path Old Faithful. Even more impressive were all the other geysers and hot springs...felt like walking on Mars or something. One of the most unique landscapes I've ever seen.

After a brief stop in Jackson Hole to take a look at the leaking tank, and do nothing about it. We are re-fueling at the local organic grocery and making our way to Glacier for more wild adventures.

The music compilations have been a big help in filling in the void of the wide open spaces we've been driving. Much thanks to all the contributors.

Glacier National Park here we come! Wyoming will never be the same...

Cheers!

Kelly

Nebraska - The Big Suprise

Well I just spent the last few days in Nebraska, and I have to say something I didn't ever think I would say, I really liked it. Heather - one for your team, it's really not so bad. The state park facilities are awesome, really well done. I stayed yesterday at Lake McCounaghy and it was beautiful. Beaches and this stark landscape that was beautiful. And field after field of sunflowers. Enjoyed my time in the corn land. The day before I was in another state park between Omaha and Lincoln.

Could have spent another night or 2 at each park...but the road calls.

I am in Cheyenne tonight and picking up the next travel companion, Liz. We are off to the Grand Tetons and up to Glacier National Park. Internet may be sporadic so this blog may be even shorter than it already has been.

Hope all is well and will try to update again soon...

Cheers.
Kelly

Illinois-Wisconsin-Iowa

Yesterday I dropped Dan-O off at the airport, I will miss my first travel buddy. I didn't get to write so much while he was with me but we had many "great success" moments, saw some beautiful sites, interesting places and he was an understanding, flexible guinea pig who introduced me to some good new music too. Thanks for bravely being the first Dan. "Come on sucker, lick my battery."

I then managed to get myself a few hours of pure relaxation and had a wonderful massage. After a week of driving and the I know hard to believe, stress of this new adventure, my back was a giant knot. A Jamba Juice after that and some lunch and I was off to Wisconsin.

It was too brief but wonderful to see my former RNSDP, Timmy and family. Along the way I saw two towns that really stood out...

Harvard, IL - Home of Milk Day

Darien, WI - Home of Corn Fest

After having passed through the Tomato Capital of Canada last week, I think I've got a new list to keep...

It is really beautiful up there and it was really a great landing place to visit with Meg and her generous and fun family.


Meg's nephew Xavier was one of the highlights of the day. Last I saw him he was just a baby, but now he's a full grown toddler and a very cute one at that. This is his "signature look", let's call it Blue Steel if you will.

Another highlight, watching the fire department of Troy, WI practice loading up the water tanker from the nearby lake. :)

Thank you to the Zei family for the warm Wisconsin welcome and I am glad it all worked out. Lots of love to all of you.

Hitched up the trailer today with help from the campground crew and took off for Iowa. Staying outside Iowa City and have met some very nice campers here. Jane and Buzz have been full timers for 11 years and were very warm welcomers to my new temporary home.


First full solo flight = great success!! Bring on the corn...

Cheers!

Kelly

Da Bulls, Da Bears

Spent the weekend in Chicago...

...hit up the Art Institute, wandered a bit downtown, took photos of the fountain, saw a wedding party (actually 3 of them) with hot pink bridesmaids dresses and matching vests for the guys, watched Pinnapple Express, beat Dan mercilessly at Gameworks (just some of the time), got the oil changed and alignment done for Chuck, visited with Emily and Debbie, and now heading up to WI to visit some friends...

All in all the pit stop here has been a really good one, campground here is nice and quiet today. Heading off tomorrow through the great states of Iowa and Jewbraska, I mean Nebraska...

It's been good to be stationary for a few days but looking forward to moving on.

Cheers!

Kelly

Great Success!

Here's the Bridget Jones version of the trip so far:

miles travelled = 1013;
CD's listened to = 34;
logs burnt in campfires = 16;
construction zones passed through = 25;
palm trees made of christmas lights = 1;
states passed through = 6
borders crossed (barely) = 1
bugs sacrificed to chuck the truck = countless

It's been a good long week. We are now 50 miles northwest of Chicago. The road to here has been an interesting one.

In some respects I've been on the trip since Tuesday, making this Day #4 of travelling but in many others I've been on this trip for many months. The past few weeks have been the process of putting the pedal to the metal. These past few days, the rubber to the road.

The route so far has been NJ to Niagara to Detroit to Chicago, more or less. We will be in this site for a few days and I'll be able to write a bit more. The last few days have been filled with figuring out. Figuring out how to work the water, the waste, the electricity, how to back in (in the dark between two trees - thank you Jim and Nancy - see photo), hitching, un-hitching, leveling, cooking. That sound is okay right? Do you smell propane? Am I going to hit the "tree", "car", "insert object here"? But it's going and they are all interesting problems to have. It's been a very internalized process so far. Me and my brother Dan making it all work.

I'll have more details for where we've been but wanted to put something out there for curious minds who want to know. Hope everyone out there reading is doing well.

To borrow one from a cousin across the ocean...

Wheels Up!

Kelly