May 30, 2011

Trip East 2011

I've been home in NH for a week now and I think I've recovered from the trip. We ended up not doing the sight seeing that we had planned on and made a hurried trip from Colorado onwards.

Western skies can be ever so dramatic with the distant mountains.




We spent one night on the trip in the smallest Motel room I've ever seen. The shower was 2'x2' and there was about 2' all around a king sized bed - real upscale 1950's motel on old US highway - it had a phone in the bathroom!




When we checked in I asked about WiFi and this was what I was handed for the passcode. It was bigger than the room!





We meandered from AZ, through western New Mexico and Colorado. I thoroughly enjoyed Gallup.

























The going up was fine, however the going down did get quite interesting at times.




















In Grand Junction, Colorado, our trip took a drastic turn. Just coming out of miles & miles of nothing but beautiful river scenery we crossed a set of RR tracks ... and an un-marked "Whoop-di-doo"! Up went the trailer, down came the trailer, sideways went the trailer and screeched flat. Tow truck and U-Haul to the rescue. As my Son aptly put it, "A U-Box tow moter putting a U-made trailer into a U-Haul box!"

We had only 7 days to get the U-Haul to NH or pay extra. As this made the tow at the outside limits of what the Element could handle, we opted to hot foot it home via the shortest route.





That meant over the Rockies rather than around them. Whew, twice over 10,000 ft and icy cold snow!








In St Joseph, MO, I discovered the original home station of the Pony Express. " The Pony Express was in service from April 1860 to November 1861. Its primary mission was to deliver mail and news between St. Joseph, Missouri, and San Francisco, California."









Found this stone cutter in the Midwest. I've never seen an establishment that had this many samples on view. What you see here is only one quarter of what was in the yard. Wonder if he made that many errors, or expected a lot of people with the same names to come in and buy carved rocks?








Loved this auto transporter. Pull up behind him and pretend you're driving something more exotic than a Honda Element.













I'd almost like to collect small town libraries and old court houses. This Library was most elegant with all of it's copper details.








So now I'm sitting here in NH looking at a yard that has grass high enough to lose a 3 yr. old in it. Everything is green and much more humid than the AZ desert. I did get in early enough to enjoy the last of the daffodils and the lilacs are blooming. I'm trying to make a list of house things I need to get done this summer. Meanwhile the ants and spiders are well on their way to taking over inside.

2 comments:

  1. That's what I have been waiting for! Pictures of your travels. For taking the shortest route it was still quite a adventure. I think I would hire a neighborhood kid to move the lawn and call the bug man. Glad your home safe and sound.

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  2. Glad to see you made it back. Just in time for perfect weather. Finally.

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