Home again, home again

 Eleven weeks, thirty-one states, five provinces, twenty-eight RV parks, two flights, one hotel, and 13,601 miles in Tom Dually, (10,060 miles towing Homer) we have returned home.  

To a jungle, including this lavender - it's all one plant!  It's now 25 years old and from the back is all woody and gnarly, but certainly impressive from the front.  Lavender all over town is gorgeous right now, with all the real horticulturists who trim it into the pretty round shape.  

 You do know that Sequim is the self-proclaimed Lavender Capital of North America.

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 The clematis arbor might be a little out of control.

 Same with the hardy kiwi.

 And Al's garden will take some work.

 Remember the blue star creeper I so painstakingly planted two years ago?  Except for all the dandelions that found their nasty way in there, it did quite well without any attention.

The hydrangeas didn't seem to miss us at all.
Isn't it curious that they grow about 25 feet away but have such different colors?
Welcome to garden chemistry.  

It's been a grand Alventure, but is nice to be home.  Meet me in the garden. 

So close

 Heading West from Salt Lake City Highway 80 goes right smack through the Bonneville Salt Flats.  It's impossible to describe and even kind of confusing to see.  It just doesn't seem right to have miles and miles of salt as far as the eye can see.  But there it is.

We happened upon real cowboys take a herd of cattle across the road.  I might be wrong but it appeared to be the grandpa, the dad, and the little kid ridin' and ropin'.  I love America!

Now we're in Bend for two nights, heading home tomorrow.  I hope we can remember the way. 

It's All Downhill From Here

We are frequent crossers of the Continental Divide.  According to the map, we also crossed it a third time, but there was no sign.  No wonder life is so confusing.  

Our long day of driving across Wyoming gave us lots of this.  

Pretty in a desert sort of way.

Cowboy Country

 Wyoming has a total population of 584,000 people.  Is your city bigger than that?

The average rainfall is less than 15 inches.

  A few minutes ago we got about 16 drops,  but enough to make this.  

Chicago has cows, San Francisco has hearts,   Lake Charles has gaters, and

 Cheyenne has cowboy boots.  

 The Capitol Building is under a three-year renovation project so we couldn't tour it, but did learn that the entire dome is covered with one ounce of gold.  Here is a picture of two domes.

This is from a museum display about the state fair.  Let's go.

Tidbits of information from the museum.  

Our next three days are just driving so don't be looking for much news. 

 Unless you care how often we stop to stretch and pee.   

It's the water

We're in Golden, Colorado, home of Coors, so it would be rude not to take the tour and learn all about Adolph and his family and accept their gracious free samples.

  Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week they are churning out the suds.

They only brew Coors here, but now that it is officially MillerCoors the list of beers under their umbrella is way long for me to type here.  Look it up.

 America's coal mines and railroads at work.

 America's future is safe in the hands and hearts of the Air Force Academy kids being

 groomed into officers.  Very impressive.  Especially when they line up to be marched to lunch.

On the drive back from Colorado Springs we hit one of the freak hail storms.  Al had never seen one before so was kind of stunned by the size and force of the chunks.  These were about the size of hazelnuts.  Like usual, the deluge came out of nowhere and was gone in just a few minutes, back to sunshine and flooded streets, but we survived.  Tom Dually wasn't quite so lucky and now has several  hail stone dents.  I can't seem to get a good picture of them so you'll have to imagine it.   Al says he won't get them fixed because it's kind of like a badge of courage and scars of battle.  

 We'll just see about that. 

Libarry times two

 We visited the Harry Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, MO (no pics) then made a stop at the Hallmark Crown Center.  Their company is smack downtown Kansas City with a nice little museum about their history and their artists.

  Here is yet another good thing that happened in 1948.

 More delicious barbecue.  Steak for me, ribs for Al.  

The Eisenhower Library and Museum is in Abilene, KS and we were driving right by, so why not.

This is his boyhood home.  Both museums were very informative about the man and more interesting history about our wonderful country, the war and post-war years.  How much will I remember?

Everything's up to date in Kansas City

 A good part of the day was spent in Hamilton, MO, where a clever family has transformed a sleepy little town into a quilters destination with eleven, yes, eleven shops filled with fabric and tools and books and even a room for the spouse to wait.  I was very restrained but got lots of inspiration. 

 And Al was very patient.  Yes, you heard me.  Al was very patient.

 They really know how to grow corn around here.

  Way over six feet high by the 11th of July.

 A few years ago Kansas City completely restored Union Station to its former glory 

and it truly is stunning, giving a glimpse into what rail travel was once like.

Did you know that the first Fred Harvey restaurant opened in Topeka in 1876?  By the late 1880s there was  one  every 100 miles along the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe. 

 That's a lot of girls.  Did they all sing and dance?

Now that song is whirling about in your head, isn't it?

One room is filled with several model train villages of different sizes, all with incredible detail.

  

Ninety!

Blame Al for the Tepfer picture being a little silly.

Ruby and her kids.

We had a very busy weekend in Minneapolis, celebrating Mom's birthday.  What an accomplishment.

She didn't want any hoopla or party, so we just shopped and ate.  Nothing wrong with that.

Calories don't count when you share, right?

The Mighty Mississippi is kind of tame as it runs between Minneapolis and St. Paul.

 My new favorite burger - with hashbrowns, bacon and a fried egg.  Just call the ambulance now.

 Kansas City!  We have now visited all fifty states.  And the District of Columbia, of course.

Can't be in KC without eating barbecue so the first thing we did was dash to the closest place.  

Is there a better way to escape the heat and humidity?