Journal Entry #5 - Rock Spring WY to North Platte NE

Tuesday  9/3/2002

Day Five

     Rock Spring Wyoming to North Platte, NE
     Starting mileage 89260 / Ending mileage 89745

Got up early as planned, 6:00 am. Someone (*Tessa) peed on the green carpet and once again the wet vac came to the rescue. David had cereal & I had a bagel with my new honey on it. Yum! We’re out of milk and have built up a shopping list, so the plan is to stop a little early today, possibly Kimball, Nebraska, and grocery shop. Also, stop in at a library to check email. *Note: get some postcards!

Departed at 7:15 am. Took a picture of the “Weather Rock”.

At 8:36am, passed a sign that said Continental Divide 6930 elevation. At 9:14am “Continental Divide / 7000”. Stopped in Rawlins for a break & also some McDonald’s breakfast. Then on to Cheyenne. The landscape is so monotonous that I have difficulty not nodding off. When we drove by Laramie it didn’t look too hospitable, but the area around Cheyenne has more trees & greenery. We stopped @ 12:30 to fuel up and have PB&J, chips & pop. Also looking forward to some of the brownies we made Sunday night. Back on the road by 12:50.


This morning we played the Trivial Pursuit game that Sharon and Ray gave us. I rolled a die to see which category to choose, then read the question. We both took a guess before checking the answer. We won’t be on Jeopardy any time soon… The cell phone has been on “Extended Service” and “Roam” yesterday pm and so far today.


We decided Kimball, NE isn’t far enough due to our early start, so our new destination is Ogallala. Hit a rest stop in Chappell @ 3:00. Hot, dry winds that are fun to walk around in, but that been making the driving fairly difficult for David. He’s had to keep the speed @55, and both hands on the wheel as the rig shimmies around. Speaking of rough driving, since Boise, ID and on we’ve encountered a lot of rough roadway – the misaligned cement pad type. Very annoying to drive on, and some of the rivets in the bike rack David built popped out. 

(1460 miles total at 3:45pm)

Well, 4:24pm just became 5:24pm as we entered “Central Time Zone”. Now we’ll be on the road even “later” than normal especially since we decided to bypass Ogallala and push on to the KOA in Gothenburg, @ 50mi east of N. Platte.

(*Stinky cow place west of Ogallala has us worried about staying near the stench)

Okay, now we’ve decided to stop at a private campground (Holiday Park) in North Platte, so that we can find a grocery store. We pulled in @ 6:30 (central time) After setup, dog walk, spaghetti & red wine dinner, we headed into “town”. Debated shopping at Wal-Mart (so many reasons) but pulled in since it was handy. Nice “food center” with prices noticeably lower than back home. We were pleased to see a liquor isle, so we don’t have to make a separate stop. The prices were so extremely low, even on excellent brands, so we stocked up a little. Then, off to fuel up so our morning will be errand-free (except for getting a USA Today). Even at 8:30pm, it’s in the mid-70’s and we’re wearing shorts & short sleeves. No cable at the campground, so we’ll just go back & lounge until bed.

Fuel: Rock Spring, WY  21 gal / $28 / 215 miles

Fuel: Cheyenne, WY  23.5 gal / $31.00 / 256.5 miles

Fuel: N Platte, NE  25.1 gal / $34.75 / 221 miles

*Tessa is a black lab/border collie/? mix that we adopted from the pound in 2001

End of Entry

Three, Two, One...LIFTOFF!

All three little ones have left the nest! 

Yesterday evening, I was complimenting Andre the Second on his excellent fathering skills, when suddenly one of the dark gray babies took his first short flight out of the nest and down to the cage floor! Nobody panicked; Deuce and I just waited while the little guy/gal got its bearings and starting hopping around. I called David in the room, and we watched together as it got braver, and started trying to hop up on the lowest perch.


There's a flat rock in the cage that Deuce (and all the previous adults) sits on once in awhile to sharpen his beak or reach into the grass garden (I'll explain later when it goes back in the cage). I moved that rock near the lowest perch to be used as a step stool, and it didn't take long for the little one to figure it out. In two minutes s/he was up on the low rung, and within twenty minutes s/he was spotted up on the top rung trying to preen just like daddy!

S/he still ran the whole "feed me" routine with the beak in the air, but Deuce has recently stopped eating much from the treat plate, so David guesses that he's weaning them off soft food. I still put in chopped up kale and chard (from the garden) and a couple chopped up grapes (from the fridge, haha) because Deuce needs that for himself. Later that evening the little one went to bed in the nest, and Deuce topped off the slumber party, not ready for an empty nest just yet.

Last night David greeted me after work (and my 70-minute commute) with more big news: he'd seen all three fledglings [young birds with developed flight feathers] sitting on the top perch with Deuce! I got to see it for myself this morning before work. I was so enthralled watching the avian show, that I completely forgot it was a mandatory hair washing day (I had a coconut oil treatment in, and it looked gross!), and had to stick my head in the utility sink, wash, rinse, towel, scrunch and run! 

Time flies when you're watching the birth of flight!

Jounal Entry #4 - Mountain Home ID to Rock Spring WY

Monday  9/2/2002

Day Four

    ID to UT to Rock Spring, Wyoming
    Starting mileage 88802 / Ending mileage 89260

Left the KOA @ 8:00 am. Breakdown went smoothly & we started out wearing shorts! Due to poor signage we went the wrong way onto 84 and lost time & miles looking for an exit to turn around. We didn’t see one for too long & David was pretty steamed, so we opted to chance a u-turn across the median on an “emergency” road. I was ready to tell any cop that showed up that David’s blood pressure counted as an emergency… 

While this was going on I chatted with my Dad on the phone – he’s feeling all better after his travel & food poisoning. Had to get my sister’s correct ph# - I’ve been dialing their 2nd line. I called & left a message, then they called back but we only got a couple shouted minutes in before the line went dead.

It’s 12:55 and we’re stopping for fuel & lunch in Tremonton, Utah. Finished dog walk & *kitter break (in the back of the truck with water & a litter box) & making ham sandwiches, then back on the road with our food at 1:16pm. Remembered to put the *“old camera” up front. 

Stopped for a potty break @ 2:20, then back on the road headed for Rock Spring, Wyoming. David has been amazed by the number of 5th wheels & travel trailers pulling something behind: boats & utility trailers, etc. Seems like some drivers are overconfident of their skills.

Arrived Rock Spring KOA @ 5 pm. Temperature still close to 90°, with no clouds except some smoke from a distant fire. Nice “corral” for the dogs to potty off-leash, but the KOA is basically all gravel. Going to bed early to rest from all the driving.

Fuel: Mt Home, ID 20 gal / $32.78 / 240 miles

Fuel: Tremonton, UT 20.6 gal / $31.00 / 220 miles


*kitter: Just one of the cat's many nicknames; more on that later...

*Old camera: SLR, as opposed to our digital camera

End of Entry

Journal Entry #3 - Moses Lake WA to Mountain Home ID

Sunday  9/1/2002

Day Three

    WA to OR to Mountain Home, Idaho (near Boise)
    Starting mileage 88405 / Ending mileage 88802

Left Moses Lake at 8:30am. The campground was bustling with activity by 7:00, children & dogs everywhere. After a light breakfast, pack-up, and a dog walk we were ready to go.

Entered Oregon at 10:27am, (88508 mileage) stopped at Berringer Farms produce stand near Hermiston. Root beer, strawberry smoothie, a Walla Walla onion & a nectarine, and some fresh honey. Then on past Pendleton and in to LaGrande for fuel & lunch. 

*Pav got two giant thorns right in his right eyeball but seemed okay after we plucked them out.

We made ham sandwiches, chips & pop to go & hit the road (driving while writing this….)

Except for one potty stop, we came straight to this KOA past Boise. David says there are no apparent problems with the engine (inj. Tube) now – yeah! Arrived at 6:00pm. The KOA sites are clean & spacious, but fairly barren. No matter, we’re leaving tomorrow morning.

Had chicken, mashed & corn for dinner. Beautiful warm temp – ate outside. Pink skies at sunset. Pav’s eye still looks ok.

Fuel: LaGrande, OR 19.75 gal / $30 / 190 miles on tank

*Pav: a retired racing greyhound we had adopted in 1992

End of Entry

Now They Look Like Birds, Not Dinosaurs

   Deuce is still pulling 24/7 solo duty with his babies, and doing a great job. The threesome stay huddled in the nest, but no longer resemble Jurassic Park velociraptor dinos. They have fluffy starter feathers, and are beginning to get the classic zebra finch speckled tail. 

   What's really neat is that two of them are a darkish gray, and one is almost silver, so it will be fun to watch them grow and change. Apparently the males are not born with the trademark orange spot on the cheeks, so we won't know for some time what combination of genders we have. Guess I'll wait to decorate the nursery...

Journal Entry #2 - Moses Lake WA

Saturday  8/31/2002

Day Two

Moses Lake, WA
Starting mileage 88386 / Ending mileage 88386 



Didn’t sleep too well last night, but no surprise. The dogs got David up at 6:00am and he did the feed & walk routine. Then back to bed until 8:00. Haven’t done much all day. Took a 15-20 minute bike ride around 3:00 – I love my new bike! Finally getting better at changing gears and shifting in advance.

The campground is packed; kind of unusual for this particular park. Last year there was all kinds of room. Talked to my Dad today. They arrived home yesterday & he said he got food poisoning after lunch at a Mexican restaurant. I’m not planning to call my sister until tomorrow to make sure there’s enough minutes left on the cell phone long distance plan.

@ 5:00 pm we were trying to sit outside and read, and were barraged with barking dogs, screaming kids, and misc. ignorant adult behavior. We decided to leave tomorrow, Sunday, instead of Monday morning since we’re not “relaxing” that much. Actually we’re not very uptight, so we’d just rather hit the road. David is a little apprehensive about the truck since we no longer have a spare tube. (Took a trip into town, nothing avail at the Ford dealership).

We had yakisoba w/veggies for dinner & fume blanc. Then a dog walk and then a bike ride to the “family center”. A couple kids were using the ping pong table, so we went to the “adult lounge/rec room” and played pool instead. We’re not very good at pool, but it’s fun.

We plan to pre-pack tonight and depart @ 8:00 am tomorrow, with a destination of Boise, Idaho.


(David’s allergies have flared up here.)

End of Entry

Journal Entry #1 - Auburn to Moses Lake WA

First, Some Ground Rules

1.  Some names and places will be censured (by me) to protect privacy, be tactful, and/or avoid legal trouble, but I plan to make it obvious and not be sneaky about it.

 2.  Journal entries are being transcribed from handwritten originals, with all attempts to keep the original form intact. I may do a little digital spit 'n shine with italics or bolding, but expect to find misspellings, odd punctuation, run-on sentences, unfinished sentences, etc. Let's face it, I am Easily Distracted by Almost Anything so sometimes I just wander off and leave things hanging.

 3.  I will be posting photos, but I just HAD to get this first entry out there!  

Next, Some Background

I don't want to spoil any future reveals, but a few facts might help make things more interesting to read:

1. Our possible future home was my childhood home in Ohio, still owned by the family that had purchased it from my parents back in the 80's. We had been in contact by letter recently, but only social pleasantries--NO mention of acquiring the house, since it wasn't actually up for sale...

2. We sold our print shop business. 

3. We put our house on the market and went through the usual rigmarole associated with that, eventually getting a serious offer.

4. For this first part of the travel saga, we were driving a 13 year old Ford diesel pickup truck and pulling a 30-foot travel trailer. In the capped truck bed were three dogs (Pav--greyhound; Vince--mutt; Tessa--mutt) and one cat (Tig).

In Conclusion, The Beginning

Journal Entry #1

Friday 8/30/2002

Day One

Auburn to Moses Lake, WA
Starting mileage 88219 / Ending mileage 88386 

Today is the day we left home to head east & look for a new house. 

Two hours before departure, Sue, our real estate agent, stopped by with paperwork regarding “conditions” from the prospective house buyers. After reviewing the inspectors report from Thursday, the buyers asked for a $3500 concession concerning the siding, but no other conditions. We accepted, so the sale is official! Sue will take care of the details, escrow, etc.

We left our house at 1:30 pm and headed for *Moses Lake.  36 miles from our destination, David noticed a vibration & I saw excess exhaust/smoke. We pulled off on an exit & David replaced a fuel injector tube (just happened to have a spare). I watered the dogs & took pictures… 

Then onward, until David realized that the brake connectors (some wiring thing) had come loose, and had to get out again. Then onward, and into the campground. Setup, beers, steak, rice, champagne, dog walk, and Star Trek. Then, a shrill noise. Ah-h, the LP leak detector. David hits the reset button but only a few moments until: SHREE-E-E-E-EE!

He checks all possible sources, then drags out the toolbox & conducts surgery, while I take pictures… 
After checking the manual, we remove two butane lighters from the vicinity. Soon, again with the shrieking alarm. More wiring work, now all is silent except for the TV…

*Moses Lake: one of a few RV campgrounds of which we were members

End of Entry

Deer in the Headlights

Way to go, Tina. Invite several people (some you haven't seen in years and years) to read your digital musings--in fact, give them the means to be instantly alerted that you have had a thought. Then,

Exactly! Then what? It feels like my stockpile of blog ideas and must-shares just dried up and fell into the cracks of my keyboard. If I wasn't sure to be sued, I would attach a link to Billy Joel's song "Pressure"!

Bear with me--once I get started on The Journal entries, I'll remember why I threw this party in the first place.

The Journals are Coming! The Journals are Coming!

   I've decided to use this forum to begin publishing excerpts (or maybe even wholecerpts...) from my decade of journaling.
   Nothing too boring, and definitely nothing too private (not that I have much of that in my journals, because it's not my style, and because I think I secretly always believed that someday someone would invent a way for me to put my journal out in public, and a no-names policy is always a safe bet), but back to when I started my journal for our cross-country move from a Washington State suburb to Ohio farmland in 2002.
   A select few people have read pages from my notebooks, and their response was always positive and followed by requests to read more. And, due to my very poor short-term, mid-term and long-term memory, the entries can be somewhat informative when I have reason to flip back through. I have no illusions that what I post will create a ripple in the literary waters, but since I have no children to pass my stories along to, this seems like a reasonable substitute. And, just maybe, my words will entertain someone, somewhere, for just a little while.
   Well, there it is. A commitment into the digital ether, but a commitment nevertheless. If nobody minds, I will not be posting wall-to-wall journal entries, because there are alot of things going on around me every day that will insert themselves, I'm sure.

I CANNOT BELIEVE I ACCIDENTALLY DELETED THIS MORNING'S POST!

Rookie Mistake
I was fooling around with my blog on my mobile device, and when I thought I was deleting something else, I deleted my tribute post to Deuce. Well dammit, here it is again as best I remember--he deserves the effort:

Happy Father's Day to Deuce!
   Though his morning songs are sad and subdued since Bubbles died, Deuce (Andre the Second) has stepped up to the challenge of caring for his three babies. Three, plump little hatchlings sleep and wait for their next meal, and he seems to be bringing them on time as the little guys/gals are getting bigger every day.
   Deuce eats from the plate of chopped up kale, broccoli, grapes and boiled egg, then digests and rests before regurgitating into the upraised beaks. When I first posted this morning, I had not seen him enter the nest for the feeding, but later I did and it was funny to hear them get all excited.
   I am totally nominating Deuce for Fathers Day Father of the Day or whatever award fits, because I didn't hold out much hope that he would a) know what to do, and b) be able to do it all on his own.

BUBBLES IS DEAD

   Deuce, aka "Andre the Second" is a single father now, with three young ones to care for. I came home after work yesterday to find Bubbles deceased, and Deuce wandering aimlessly about.

   Now might be a good time to point out that Bubbles and Deuce are zebra finches who reside in a flight cage in my craft room. Andre and Crystal were the first two zebra finches my husband gave me for Christmas 2011, and I loved watching them. But, Andre died within the first year, and Crystal was matched with Andre II (which went fairly well) but then she died after about a year. Bubbles was a replacement for Crystal, and she and Deuce did the wild thing several times during their first meeting, eventually laying and sitting on a few eggs. Those were infertile, but Deuce had time to fuel his jets before the next round, and the wonder couple hatched three of five eggs just days ago. 

   No explanation for the deaths; they have seed, water, daylight, nests, companionship. Guess I'll focus on life, and hope Deuce can feed and care for them on his own.

Ready for the big reveal?

After hours of tinkering with my user name and blog title, I believe I will stop for now and start adding content. At one point I had six tabs open to research by thesaurus, dictionary, random word selections, etc, until this morning I screamed internally at myself "just choose something you idiot--no one cares!" So, that solved the dilemma of my user name...
As far as my title goes, it's been a few things since I started this process the other day, but after reading the hints about picking something true to your self that other people can relate to, I picked the one thing that I KNOW is true about myself: I am easily distracted by almost anything!

Here goes

Didn't want to leave my first page blank for long, but I need to learn more blogging rules before I dive in the deep. Then, I'll be back with some random scribbles.