Saturday, November 12, 2016

The Robertsons Hit the Road!

Ah, what a long time since I've posted to my blog. I suppose the full name may no longer be relevant, since I haven't been on chemo in over 6 years. I still quilt and I still have my quiet times. Things just aren't as stressed as they were when I started this blog. No more cancer, a few more years added to my age, several relatives have gone on to heaven, family has grown, etc, etc. You can fill in any number of blanks, they will apply to me.

Mainly, I want to talk today about the vacation of a lifetime Mike and I took in October. We had always dreamed of a trip like this and we finally were able to do it. We left on Tuesday, October 4, 2016, and drove for sixteen days and covered over 6,000 miles to view national monuments, historical places, and the most beautiful places in the United States.

We drove through Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, California, Arizone, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and back home.

We visited the Badlands of South Dakota,


Mount Rushmore,



Yellowstone,


Grand Tetons,



Giant Redwood Forest,



Sequoia Forest,


Grand Canyon,


 and then drove three days to get home! lol

We saw herds of buffalo, thousands of antelope, hundreds of prairie dogs, big horn sheep, and I know I'm leaving out some kind of wildlife, and we saw (and smelled) hundreds of dead skunks!

There were thousands of windmills "planted" in windmill farms. These things are massive!! Still wonder how the electricty gets from the middle of the desert to the homes. That's another blog for another day.

I can remember all the beautiful sights we saw, I just can't remember all the beds we slept in! Actually, if I look at the credit card statement, I can. We had vowed not to drive after dark so as the evening approached, we began looking for a nice motel. The places we stayed in were always very nice and predominantly very affordable. Restaurants recommended by desk clerks were generally very good places for suppers. Breakfast for the most part were free in the motels. We stayed in a couple of podunk towns, Wall, South Dakota and Williams Arizona, and also in large towns, Reno, Nevada and Sacramento, California, just to name a few.

And everyone knows you can't go anywhere without seeing someone from home. We met a woman from Savannah, TN in Williams Arizona on a train we rode to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. She was working on the train and had lived in Arizona for four years. She knew where our son's physical therapy clinic was in Savannah and described it to me! How funny is that?!

Oh, there is so much more to tell. I kept a journal of almost everything we saw and did. I wouldn't take anything for the opportunity we had to do this. I don't see us doing this again but it sure was a fun trip.