April 2
Gotta share another interestingly named place with you: Wamsutter, doesn't sound native-origin to me, so who came up with a name like that? By the way, I let you in on a secret: Bliss, Paradise (Valley) and Eden are all located in Idaho...
Lots of driving today, after sitting in a traffic jam for two hours because a truck got out of control on the very icy road just after Rawlin. Conditions got better almost right after that and really good once we got to the Snake River.
April 3
We stopped for sightseeing one last time today, in Baker City, OR, for the Oregon Trail Interpretive Centre. We have been following the Oregon Trail pretty much since Independence. Or should I say the Interstate did....!? The Center was phenomenal! For the first time ever, I felt I didn't have enough time in a museum setting and wished I could have red all their displays. They made it that interesting! They asked the visitor questions, among others, such as: if you are a blacksmith, would you take your tools on the journey? Answer is no, because your tools would weigh 1000 lbs, for which you would need a second wagon; apart from the cost, who would drive it? Many more such questions that really got you involved. Lots of diary excerpts, too. Some reminded me of living on a boat ;-), reference being the bread baking, the laundry and general cleaning... ;-) We will sure be back and can only recommend visiting the centre to everybody. We even saw some original wagon ruts - from over 150 years ago! The Oregon Trail started in the 1840s just South of Kansas City in Independence. It took those guys up to 6 months to make it into Oregon with 1 in 10 people dying on the trail. About 300.000 people made the attempt in a 10 year time frame (of course the emigration didn't stop after ten years, it went on for decades). All because of some political scheme that promised people the land of milk and honey (not true) and free farm land (true)- so that the area would be populated to take it away from the British...Emigrants also wanted to escape the Cholera on the East Coast (many brought it with them, though) and later the Civil War.
We are back in spring, by the way. Lawns are a lush green and leaves are sprouting. It's a beautiful, sunny day. The air is so fresh, clean and not too crisp. I love it. Can't wait to get that at home. Can't wait to get back to Beautiful British Columbia!
April 4
The area around Bellevue must have been the furthest along into spring of all the places we've seen on our trip back. We are on the 1pm ferry, enjoying the Pacific Buffet. Another 1 1/2 hrs and we'll be home. It feels so good to be back. It's again a beautiful day. The ferry is going by the beautiful sceneries of the Gulf Islands. It's during moments like these that I ask myself, why did we ever leave? Well, it's great to go away, but it's always as least as great to come home.
Friday, April 4, 2014
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Mar 30 - Apr 1, 2014
Mar 30 - You know what it's like when you come to a place you've never been before and you instantly like it - or not?! When we drove through Salt Lake City, UT, on the way South, I instantly liked it. Birmingham, AL, also seemed a especially nice place to live. Well, Memphis, TN, was the opposite. At least the part we saw I didn't like at all. Elvis Presley Blvd., of all places, was one of the worst commercial roads we've seen on this trip, with one cheap, greasy, chain restaurant besides the next. And this is where Graceland is located. I can only belief the area looked much different when Elvis was still alive. Graceland was named after the prior owner's aunt, Grace. Elvis bought it at age 22 for just over 100,000$. It looks nice from the outside. To appreciate the inside, you must like the seventies. It was certainly interesting, to say the least, with some weird concepts such as the mirror encased stair to the basement, the jungle room, the blue and yellow entertainment room. It seemed to be a place for family and company, so I hope Elvis was happy there.
The same day, I also visited Laura Ingalls Wilder's home in Mansfield, MO. Very different place, and more to my liking. Mostly homemade furniture, very low counter tops because Almanzo and Laura were both smaller than me, it started out with one room and then added rooms whenever they could afford it. This was the place where Laura wrote her famous "Little House" books and it felt special to see her desk.
Mar 31 only consisted of driving, and it wasn't nice driving. It had gotten really cold over night and the wind was blowing with up to 40knots - on the open prairies! The motor home swayed right and left all the time and we had to go much slower than usual. It got down to -8 degrees Celsius that night and we were grateful for the heater. Our winter clothes have since been unpacked.
April 1 - This morning, we visited Buffalo Bill's farm in North Platte, NE, but it was closed for the season. There was a little bit of snow on the ground; nice house telling from the outside. Pretty interesting guy, too! Started his career at age 11 as an ox-team driver and was the youngest Pony Express rider at age 14. He did lots more...
After that, we visited the world's largest rail yard, the Union Pacific's Bailey Yard, also located in North Platte. We enjoyed an overview from the Golden Spike Tower. One piece of information I thought was interesting was that, starting in the 1850s, orphans were brought from New York to the west with the so called "orphan trains", to be placed with farmers. Apparently, diseases, poverty and neglect had brought those children to the street where a minister realized the problem and created this solution. Guess you can see that I wasn't really interested in the rail yard, though it was an incredible sight.
One more tidbit from the road: in Sidney, NE, we got served Marshmallow Sauce for the sweet potato fries. Those Americans come up with ideas... ;-). I have to admit, though, that I quite liked the fried pickles we got in Alabama. Hit and miss, I guess.
Also, we've driven through or past some interestingly named places, such as Egypt, Amazonia, Pocahontas, Peculiar, Humansville, Hamburg or Oshtosh (not in that order). I liked "Bliss" the best, but that was on the way South.
Today, on April 1, we are headed towards Rock Springs, WY. Home is getting closer, but it's still more than 2000km away.
....
New comment hours later: at least that's what I thought at the time of writing, that we were going to Rock Springs. Well, not today. Got into a snow storm at Hanna, town of Elk Mountain. But around Rawlin, it got even worse. We decided to call it a day and booked a room in the Hampton Inn. Special treat, this is just so not the weather for sleeping in a motor home! So that's where we are now, hoping it'll be better again tomorrow, so that we can continue home.
The same day, I also visited Laura Ingalls Wilder's home in Mansfield, MO. Very different place, and more to my liking. Mostly homemade furniture, very low counter tops because Almanzo and Laura were both smaller than me, it started out with one room and then added rooms whenever they could afford it. This was the place where Laura wrote her famous "Little House" books and it felt special to see her desk.
Mar 31 only consisted of driving, and it wasn't nice driving. It had gotten really cold over night and the wind was blowing with up to 40knots - on the open prairies! The motor home swayed right and left all the time and we had to go much slower than usual. It got down to -8 degrees Celsius that night and we were grateful for the heater. Our winter clothes have since been unpacked.
April 1 - This morning, we visited Buffalo Bill's farm in North Platte, NE, but it was closed for the season. There was a little bit of snow on the ground; nice house telling from the outside. Pretty interesting guy, too! Started his career at age 11 as an ox-team driver and was the youngest Pony Express rider at age 14. He did lots more...
After that, we visited the world's largest rail yard, the Union Pacific's Bailey Yard, also located in North Platte. We enjoyed an overview from the Golden Spike Tower. One piece of information I thought was interesting was that, starting in the 1850s, orphans were brought from New York to the west with the so called "orphan trains", to be placed with farmers. Apparently, diseases, poverty and neglect had brought those children to the street where a minister realized the problem and created this solution. Guess you can see that I wasn't really interested in the rail yard, though it was an incredible sight.
One more tidbit from the road: in Sidney, NE, we got served Marshmallow Sauce for the sweet potato fries. Those Americans come up with ideas... ;-). I have to admit, though, that I quite liked the fried pickles we got in Alabama. Hit and miss, I guess.
Also, we've driven through or past some interestingly named places, such as Egypt, Amazonia, Pocahontas, Peculiar, Humansville, Hamburg or Oshtosh (not in that order). I liked "Bliss" the best, but that was on the way South.
Today, on April 1, we are headed towards Rock Springs, WY. Home is getting closer, but it's still more than 2000km away.
....
New comment hours later: at least that's what I thought at the time of writing, that we were going to Rock Springs. Well, not today. Got into a snow storm at Hanna, town of Elk Mountain. But around Rawlin, it got even worse. We decided to call it a day and booked a room in the Hampton Inn. Special treat, this is just so not the weather for sleeping in a motor home! So that's where we are now, hoping it'll be better again tomorrow, so that we can continue home.
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