There's no place like home...A new adventure begins!

We are back and have spent a few days recuperating! We really did miss our home and our shower. It's amazing how big a house seems when you've been living in 80 square feet for 21 days! Sasha is absolutley in heaven, now that she's back home - she's such a homebody! We go next Tuesday, July 1, to find out if we are having a boy or girl, so I guess next month will be another whole new adventure! We'll let you know as soon as we can! I might even be a cornball and post the picture...I'll have to think about that though...

Zombies, Cannibals, Werewolves, and Vampires

Patrick- We stayed in a nice campground in Little Rock that even had an ice cream shop in it. So of course we ate a cone that night. We left and headed to Tuscalusa, AL to visit our good friends Buddy and Alison. It was only a 5 hour drive, so that was a piece of cake for us nation-wide travelers. We pulled into our camp site and we just loved it. It was cheap, shady, quiet, and by a lake. It was out in the middle of nowhere. It was a 20 minute drive to Tuscalusa. So we put the camper up, got all settled in, and headed to Tuscalusa to meet up with Buddy and Alison.
While I was driving, January was reading the flier from the campground. It said that the campground gets locked up at 10:00. So, January called to see if we could get the code or a key or anything, just making sure we could get back into the park. The guy stated again on the phone that the park gets locked at 10:00. So January asked what we needed to do, and he said he guessed we could park a car on the inside and the outside so we could get back to our camper, because he was not coming back to unlock it. January informed him that we did not have 2 vehicles and that she surely did not ask him to come back and unlock it. She let him know that every campground has an alternate entry or code after a certain time. He told her they were a Federal campground and we had just better bring a flashlight. This guy apparently does not know who my wife is. So when she got off the phone she was "a little fired up". She informed me that we will be driving to our camper no matter if the gate is locked or open. I just went along with it. The bad thing was that our camper was like 2 miles from the entrance. O well, we just kept on to town.
We met up with Buddy and Alison and got to see Shelton State (the college he coaches softball at), their home, and then we went out to eat at a cool little college town burger joint. It was great. We left their home at 9:40, giving us exactly 20 minutes to get there. According to the GPS we were to arrive at 10:02, so I started hauling tail. Remember, we were driving back in the boonies, and the roads were very curvy. January wanted me to slow down. She was not worried at all, but of course, I was. I did not want to walk 2 miles back to the camper with a pregnant angry woman. As we were pulling in, the Park Ranger was pulling out. Thankfully the gate was open. I was so glad, we made it.
Now is when our minds start wandering. Yes, there were other campers, but we never saw any real people, except the lady I paid my money to at the entrance earlier that day. We started wondering why they locked up the place from 10:00 to 7:00 in the morning. They can't do that. What if people need to get out for an emergency? I started thinking, is this like the Hotel California, where we will never leave. January started informing me that they were probably cannibals and were going to eat us, so she made me get the machete out of the truck and sleep beside it. She was getting all freaked out and said she was not going to be able to sleep. I mean, she actually said she wanted to pack up and leave right then. (January: The reason we didn't see any people was because the cannibals there ate everyone...and they were locking us in to eat us!!! AND our camper is part tent so the werewolves, who were also vampires (like in Van Helsing) would claw right into the canvas and suck our blood - maybe before the cannibals got to us to finish us off!!! I'm sure those kinds of scary beings have it all worked out!) I told her we would be OK. Well, it was about 2 minutes after she said she would not be able to sleep, that I heard her snorring. I on the other hand, laid there all night and did not sleep at all. Not even a little bit. I was not even worried like January was. So, at 6:00 I made her get up so we could leave as soon as they opened the place at 7:00. We pulled out of the exit at 6:56, passing the Park Ranger again, I guess he was opening it up, and he gave us a big wave goodbye. The more I thought about it, the stranger it got. How could we pass the Ranger 2 different times, unless he knew when we were arriving and leaving? Maybe that is not that weird, but I think it is. Finally we left that place and headed home.

Headed Home

For the last two days we drove and drove and drove. We spent the night in Durango,CO and toured the historic city. We had a great dinner at one of the oldest restaurants in Durango called Francisco's. It was yummy! Last night we stayed in Amarillo, TX by the "Big Texan" the famous place that gives you a free 72 oz. steak if you can eat it all in an hour - We didn't even attempt that!!! Today we drove through Oklahoma City and saw Bricktowne which was really cool! We also saw the largest cross int he Western Hemisphere located in Broome, TX. Tonight we are staying in Little Rock, AR...

Mesa "Ver D"

Patrick - We left Moab and traveled two and a half hours to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. Apparently January and I say it wrong, because we thought Verde was the spanish word for green, but they call it "Ver D" instead of the spanish word "Vaird A". I just wrote it like that so you can tell how I am saying it. This is where the Anasazi, also called Ancient Puebloan Indians built homes inside the mountains. They were absolutely amazing. They had to climb down sheer rock just to get to their homes. We got to climb down stairs and up ladders to get to their homes. While climbing up the ladder, we noticed a woman wearing a spaghetti strap shirt that had underarm hair twice as long as mine. I am serious. It was crazy. We stayed the night in Durango, Colorado.

Our Final Jeep Day

We saved the best for last. We arrived at Fins & Things about 9:30AM and before we even got into the trail good things got scary...Fins are long segments of slickrock that slope down steeply on either side of a narrow trail at the top. The trail can also incline or decline very steeply. Patrick's skills were tested over and over today as he chose his "line" up the rock and kept the jeep from sliding. One of the worst climbs was an incline of jagged rock shelves with loose sand and gravel on them. Once we cleared one shelf and started up another the tires began spinning and we fishtailed side to side to try to clear another shelf...Scary! We finally made it up! Near the end of the trail Dad (driving the jeep in front of us and guiding us down the rock drop-offs we couldn't see from the jeep) chose a line down a steep rocky drop-off before we knew what was happening BOTH of his back tires were OFF of the rock-Me and Patrick screamed at the top of our lungs!!!! Of course he was laughing when he got out...I about had heart failure...And No, I didn't get a picture, unfortunately!

Seven Mile Rim & Uranium Arch

This morning we ate breakfast at the Jailhouse Cafe. It was the original Jailhouse in Moab and now serves breakfast every morning, except Tuesday (In case you get the urge to eat there yesterday like we did...and then have your hopes dashed by the "Closed" sign hanging on the gate.) After yummy whole-grain waffles with fresh fruit and lots of syrup we hit the trail! 7 Mile Rim is the name, extreme jeeping is our game!!!! Enter Patrick - There were some hard spots today, some down and ups, and Uranium Arch was scary because we almost fell off. It was one of the things I said I didn't want to do, so of course we went. We survived...I'm learning how to climb down rock and tomorrow will be my biggest challenge. Today I learned to go straight up and straight down without going at an angle, keeping the break steady, walking the jeep down the rock, and that the jeep is capable of doing a lot...A lot of prayers were said today.

Famous Last Words

Today we toured Arches National Park...most of the park is paved roads with views of famous formations like Balancing Rock and the 3 Gossips. Some formations you have to hike to like Delicate Arch - Tons of formations in Arches have been in commercials and on T.V. We hiked up to Delicate Arch - It is a pretty strenuous hike in some areas, but completely worth the torture! Sasha actually went on this hike with us...but Patrick ended up carrying her on his shoulder a lot of the way. After the hike, we went out of Arches the back way. Patrick has been driving on the trails because Aunt Molly and Ronny have been riding with Dad and Mom...when he agreed to drive he said the only two trails he DID NOT want to do were the bike trail out of Arches and Uranium Arch on 7 Mile Rim Trail. Well we headed out of Arches and started up the bike trail...He drove it like a champ! Very impressive!

This is a hold-up pard'ner...

So we arrive back from jeeping around 5PM and it's time to clean up for our "Romantic River Boat Tour." We show up at 7PM with pre-purchased tickets in hand...We're greeted at the door by a guy decked out in cowboy attire...Ok, so this is a "Cowboy, Romantic River Boat Tour"...got it! He passes us off to Billy the Kid who proceeds to sit us down at lunchroom style seating...Yes, I'm talking about high school lunch room, with 400 other people, half of which were senior citizens doing their best to become intoxicated! Sound romantic yet? After the rest of the romantic couples are seated along with their obnoxious kids, door cowboy tells the crowd how to proceed through the food line starting with table 1 and working down the line. If you know my family, you know we're already leery of following 250 people down a food line they have all breathed on and quite possible touched...We await patiently and try to forgo thoughts of bacteria on the spoon handles and sneezes on the rolls. Just as our table is summoned, Cow "Boy" George races from across the room, faster than if he were on his horse "Lightning" and holds our table up...What? O.K. maybe the line is getting clogged and he is trying to let it thin out a bit...NO, to our dismay, and the other 60 people sitting at our table, George, with a flit of his hand allows the other 200 people at the OTHER END of the room to ascend upon the grub line! DID I MENTION I'M PREGNANT????? I was standing; already headed toward the lunch line, so why sit down? It's the perfect opportunity to confront Cowboy George. He didn't really have an explanation as to why he unjustly quarantined our table...As I continued to try to make sense of Cowboy George's non-explanation, Dad and Ronnie along with several furious women from our table also came to my side...Cowboy George didn't care...We were ready to string him up-It's a good thing there was no rope readily available...As we FINALLY got our food, a cowpoke server decided he would try to smooth out the feelings of 60+ furious people...He begins to do pervy napkin tricks...to MY MOM, no less!!!! Can you imagine??? We're ready to KILL these people and they think dirty napkin tricks will make us happy!!!! HOW ROMANTIC!!!! After the chow line altercation we were then herded to the "Romantic Boat". Through a curtain of mosquito birds, we boarded the love boat...for a light show on the river! The door cowboy narrated the trip up river for an hour...It was ok, he told us about the history of Moab and pointed out some features of the rock that we wouldn't have seen otherwise, and that was pretty neat...Then, just as the sun made it's final decent the light show began! From across the way lights flashed on from nowhere...Actually, wait, it was a truck with 10 big flood lights strapped to the top, driving on the road alongside the boat, shining them on the rocks! It was narrated by a deep booming voice that told us all about Brigham Young and his contribution to Utah...Don't get me wrong, I like history...but ROMANTIC???? Are you kidding? They did turn off the lights and played Chariots of Fire as we floated back down the river for an hour and looked at the 4 stars that were visible through the clouds...Maybe that was the romantic part, but me and Patrick just discussed the best methods for peeing over the side of the boat...Don't ask me why every entry has a potty story...it just happens!!! Finally we get back, get out of the mosquitoes, and call it a rootin' tootin' cowboy romantic boat tour night!!!!!

Hitting the Trails!

Thrill-seekers, enthusiasts, and curious alike...pack your jeep, put on your sunscreen, buckle up and experience Moab off-road. We packed the jeep and were ready to go around 8:30AM - No sleeping in on this vacation! We have to bring 80-100 ounces of water per person, for the day so we don't get dehydrated. The first trails we hit were Dubinky Well, Spring Canyon Bottom, and Secret Spire. These trails are considered "Easy" because there are very few tough climbs involved. We encountered some great switchbacks and narrow roads that were pretty high up, but nothing we needed 4WD for...That's coming tomorrow! I managed to fall into a small plant with millions of small needles on it...I mean seriously, try peeing in the wilderness, downhill, scouting for bugs, keeping my pants dry and holding up my weight plus whatever my kid weighs, and then realizing Sasha is on the way to see what's going on...I just lost my focus and fell right over into the stupid plant! Thank God, my hand took the brunt of the abuse and once I got down the hill, Patrick and Dad help me pick at least 400 thorns out...Next we went down into a wash that, when raining, spills over into a deep canyon. You can literally climb down into the waterfall path and walk to the edge where it spills over the sheer canyon wall - One false move, and you're a gonner...We also stopped at the bat cave - you walk through the cave to see a great view, but you MUST keep your hands down at your sides so you don't touch any bat poop...Great cave and we didn't see any bats...We ate lunch at Secret Spire, which is a rock formation that is in the middle of nowhere, but is a must see! Patrick, Dad, and I did some rock climbing at this stop after lunch. We scouted out the trail we thought we should take and then sent Patrick down first!!!! Everything is MUCH steeper than it looks - to the eye or in pictures, but we made it and the climb was great! After lunch, we drove to Dead Horse Point which is paved and easy driving, just very high and AWESOME panaramic view. To the left you see ice blue lakes where minerals are mined. To the right you see the Colorado river snaking through all the deep canyons and crevices. Right out in front are the most amazing canyons, mesas, spires, and other crazy formations! I would tell you the story of Dead Horse Point, but it's pretty sad, so I think I'll refrain. Our last trail of the day was in the Dead Horse Canyon Area...on this trail is where you can see the leaning rock that was filmed for a Jeep commercial...We went under the rock and through the rest of the trail and came home to clean up for what our campground host called a "Romantic Boat Tour with Dinner on the Colorado River." I don't know what he calls "romantic", but if that was it...he CAN'T be married...

Veggie Burgers and Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

Not much to report on today. We ate at Zax again for lunch. Patrick actually ordered a veggie burger and liked it...My work is paying off! Mom, Dad, Molly, and Ronnie rolled into town late last night so we ate with them at lunch. We also picked up our jeeps so we can get an early start tomorrow...I guess the highlight of today was our meal at Red Cliff Ranch for Father's Day. I look forward to their Buttermilk Ranch dressing all year - and it did not disappoint! Yummy! We're turning in early so we are ready to go in the morning! Happy Father's Day!

We Have Arrived!

We finally made it to Moab today! YAY! It's HOT HOT HOT here and we like it better than all that snow...except I'm not so sure I will deal with the heat as well as I thought I would...We ate at Zax, an oven-fired pizza joint in town, and we're just blobbing in our camper trying to stay cool and rest before our jeeping adventures start! I'm adding a picture I took for Ches - he loves trains! I couldn't get the shot I wanted because we were driving down the road, but I think he'll appreciate it! :)

Mecca

Got up, drove an hour to Salt Lake City, got lost, saw the Mormon Mecca (Temple Plaza) and the state capitol, got our truck serviced at the most amazing dealership I've EVER seen in my life - complete with a restaurant to eat in while we waited, free drinks, free carwash, and awesome service! On our way to the dealership we passed the Bees Stadium...Yes, of course we stayed to watch the game...Do you remember who I'm traveling with??? Patrick knows a pitcher, Jason Bulger who plays for the Bees (Triple A team for the Los Angeles Angels) so he got a chance to catch up with him...He was very surprised to see Patrick. We even got free Bees T-Shirts...(Yay! We don't have to pay for Shannon's gift!!!!) It was a good stop and Salt Lake City is pretty neat to see!

Patrick's Day At Yellowstone

Today we saw Old Faithful! Thankfully it was on time, but we were 30 minutes early...since we didn't have a jacket, we froze to death!!! While we were freezing NO ONE was around. Finally 30 seconds before Old Faithful went off, a swarm of people came out - they must have known the exact minute it was going to erupt. It was beautiful! Next we waddled our frozen bodies to the General Store because we both had to tinkle...But of course, they were painting the Men's Room. So I waited. We left and toured Yellowstone. We saw buffalo, bear, deer, and a moose thing, but January calls everything a Llama...There were buffalo that walked in the middle of the road. January could have touched it with her hand. We saw Mud Volcanoes, Geysers, Hot Springs, Sulfer Pits, Waterfalls and other wild things that you don't see in Live Oak. While seeing one of the sights I got to relieve myself in a hole, uh, located in the restroom. Leaving Yellowstone was long and snowy. After Yellowstone, we traveled through Grand Teton National Park. Everything was beautiful, but it was covered with snow and ice. Then we drove 4 hours to get to our Campground in Evanston, WY.

Don't tell PETA

O.K., so what we didn't tell you yesterday is that there are NO DOGS ALLOWED in the Old Faithful Inn. We were desperate for a warm safe place to stay and there was NO WAY we could leave Sasha in the truck all night. The temperature was 27 degrees before the sun went down. So, we stuffed her in a backpack...and I do mean STUFFED...She absolutely did not want to get in that bag and clawed and squirmed her way out several times before we successfully got the thing zipped! All was well, until she had to go to the bathroom at 2AM...Patrick, my hero, saved the day!!!! He stuffed her into the bag, walked down three flights of stairs, across 2 parking lots, in the snow, in frigid temperatures, to let Sasha go potty...basically he's Bear Grylls...

NO! We're Not Kidding!

After a chilly night we woke up and had a pancake breakfast at the campground! Yum! Yum! Today would be exciting,we would FINALLY make it to Yellowstone National Park to see Old Faithful and the other amazing and weird land features. An hour or so into the trip, we crossed some mountains that had leftover snow drifts in some areas...It was great! We got out and took some pictures and let Sasha touch the snow. It was amazing to realize that in just a days drive we went from HOT to winter wonderland! Boy, if we only knew what awaited us...We finally made it to the mountains just before Yellowstone and we started seeingsome hazy wind and what we thought was fog...several miles more and we were in full blown snow flurries. There was even snow on the ground and it was just beautiful! I was squealing with excitement!!!! We rounded the last curve and saw the entrance to the park! As we headed into the park we began to climb, climb, climb...the higher we got the harder it snowed and the higher and higher the snow got. We weren't just in leftover snow anymore this was a winter snowglobe complete with the icey lake. Excitement turned into panic as we realized we were driving in a very heavy snowstorm and the road ahead was covered with ice and snow - I stopped in the middle of the road and inched forward, we began to slide around and we endedup driving in the opposite lane toward what would be oncoming traffic if there were idiots like us trying to pull a camper in a blizzard. Just then as I was begining to hyperventilate I noticed a van in the rear view mirror. I stopped him and confirmed that he knew how to drive in this mess - He led us through the "blizzard" and horrible roads, off the mountain, and on into the park. Once the trauma was over we noticed how beautiful this place was. After every turn there were new unbelievable sites. As we looked for a campground, we noticed there were NO tents or pop-up campers...Why??? Because the snow was piled 2' high ontop of vehicles and motorhomes and another 16" is expected tonight...Now we are sitting in the ONLY room, $250...cough, gag...available at all 3 of the Old Faithful Lodging Options. The cool thing is we are on the 3rd floor of the Old Faithful Inn -You can see it on the Travel Channel - staring RIGHT AT OLD FAITHFUL!!!!!!!!! We prayed God would provide a room for us and He saved us 1 - and even threw in a great view!!!! So we are hoping to be on the move tomorrow, however we have been warned the snow may keep us here another day...We're planning to see the main features of the park tomorrow and then head south for summer weather, jeeping, hiking, and rock climbing!!!! Baby is doing good - is the size of a large mango - and has been practicing kick boxing, rock climbing, and sommersault skills!

What did we see today?

We drove for a million miles to see the badlands at Badlands National Park...From there we headed towards Mt. Rushmore on State Road 2 that was GRAVEL...This place is amazing! Rushmore was awesome! We took the "Presidentail Hike" around the monument and learned some pretty cool stuff, like, there is a room behind President Lincoln's head...Can you name all 4 presidents carved into the mountain???? From there we drove several more hours towards Yellowstone. We're staying in a great campground in Buffalo, WY tonight! We're exhausted! Signing out-

I'd like to check you for tics!!!

5:45am and we're wide awake! The sun is already up and it's time to roll the camper down and get on the road. Our plan was to make it to Mt. Rushmore today, but after finding that campsites with only electricity there are $99/night we're stopping short at a state park on the border of Nebraska and South Dakota in Chadron. We will pay around $15/night there...and the camper will sleep the same either place!-We set up in Chadron State Park just in time for the rain to hit again...so we decided to settle in and watch a movie. Half way through Bourne Identity Patrick said "What is this?" I looked over and saw a HUGE tic on his arm!!!!! GROSS...it still gives me the shivers...

Joy came in the morning!!!

Sunday! Thank God we made it through the night. On our way into Lincoln to tour the city and get our tickets to the Lincoln Saltdog game we passed a huge freight trane interchange - OK so it wasn't a tornado I heard in the distance last night, but it could have been! We saw Haymarket Park where Patrick played in 2002, the home he stayed in, University of Nebraska campus and stadiums, the capitol building, the historic downtown area, and ate at Lazlo's; a really cute restaurant downtown. At the game, Patrick was happy to see Jeanette, the office manager for the Saltdogs and Mark Goodman a pitcher he played with in San Angelo, TX who was there running the video for the Saltdog game...small world! The game went into "overtime" - JUST KIDDING BASEBALL FANS - the game went into EXTRA INNINGS and we left before the end...I was starving and we had to get back to Sasha who was chilling back at the camper! No more rain and a peaceful night sleep awaited us!

It's a known fact that tornadoes sound like trains...

We pulled into Pawnee State Park in Lincoln, NE around 9:30 pm and still had to "set up camp". As soon as the camper was set up, the rains came...We went to sleep and I woke up about 1:30 am to booming thunder, flashing lighting, and hurricane force winds! The canvas on the camper was sucked upward by the wind, then pushed in by the wind...the top rocked side to side and the sound of a freight train was looming in the distance...I KNEW we were about to be blown away by a tornado and woke Patrick in a panic - He kindly rolled over and said "It's fine, go to sleep!" I kept "guard" for the rest of the night until about 6 am when the winds subsided...Oh sweet daylight!

That's the St. Louis Arch. The Gateway to the West.

Saturday we took off early to see the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. The arch is right beside the river...we found the river raging and part of the street almost cut off. The riverside walk, stairs, and statues were all under about 8'-10' of water...It was unbelieveable! We finally climbed the 200 or so stairs to the arch and got tickets to go up 630' to the top! In order to get to the top, we had to climb through a 2'x4' door to get into a barrel type capsule to ride to the top - I wasn't crazy about this and closed my eyes most of the ride up. Once we got to the top it was wild! You can see out for over 30 miles and can feel the arch swaying in the breeze. Less than 5 minutes up there and that barrel down was calling my name! Here are some pictures of the view from the top of the arch. This was just the begining of our day! We had to make it to Lincoln, Nebraska by nightfall; 8 hours away. As we passed through Kansas City, we saw the Kansas City Royals Stadium and the KC Chiefs Stadium.

Don't judge a book by it's cover...or a town by it's Name

Friday morning we headed toward St. Louis, Missouri. About 6 hours into the trip we got a warning call about tornadoes in the St. Louis area so we decided to stop short in Paducah, Kentucky...Sounds a little scary, but the town was actually amazing! We went downtown to the riverside and historic disctricts. Murals were painted along the seawall that was actually near an old fort used during the Civil War. We ate at a restaurant called Toucan's and walked/drove around the art district. The artists there are given a house for free by the City of Paducah if they commit to restoring the home and opening a gallery on the first floor. The rest of the home is theirs-most of the homes were 3 floors! Seems like a good deal to me! That night Sasha and her daddy surfed the web together!

Take me out the ball game...CLUB LEVEL!

First stop, Atlanta, Ga to see our friends Cody & Katie. They just moved into their new house, like 2 days ago and still set us up with an AWESOME bed and even let Sasha stay inside! They had some great connections and got us tickets to the Braves Game, Club Level! We saw Chipper Jones hit his 400th home run - and that's about all Katie and I saw because we had soooo much to catch up on!

Hitting the Road!

June 4th we're finally ready to get on the road with our camper in tow...This is going to be interesting!