9/30/2009 Mick & Tyler, My New Best Friends

Oh, 7 a.m. came early this morning. Neither one of us slept much last night due to the wind rockin’ our rig the way it did.

Lucky for us, everything that we could do last night to insure a quick getaway this morning was done. Within 30 minutes of rising, we were on the road.

So long Beaver, Utah. We didn’t get to see anything of ya!

Ah, but I did capture this sunrise coming over the mountains just before we pulled out.

I cannot decide which, of the two pictures I took, I like better. Fortunately, I’m the one who decides what gets put into this blog and I choose to post both of them.

We found I-15 south with no problem and we were on our way. Once again the sky was grabbing my attention.

Now this is something we don’t see on the East coast. A tractor and triple trailers. Every fourth or fifth OTR truck you see out here has two or three trailers attached to it.

As the day went on the scenery just got prettier and prettier.

I have NOT done anything to these pictures. They are just way I took them. I have NOT played with the color in any way at all.

We crossed over into Arizona for a whole twenty nine miles.

I don’t know how I missed it but I never did see the state line marker telling us we were in Nevada. Bob didn’t see it either so I’m thinking its missing in action.

The scenery is just getting more spectacular by the mile! Absolutely breathtaking! A sight everyone should see. I bet you are wondering where the pictures are aren’t you? Yeah,,,,well.

I put the camera up to take what I know would have been a fantastic picture. Probably so good that it could have taken first prize in a photo contest. It was going to be that good. Yeah….well.

I got the scene I wanted in the frame, I focused, I clicked,…NOTHING! What the ,,,,,,,????? I looked at the camera and saw that I had a dead battery pack. I thought about charging that darn thing last night because its been awhile since I’d done that. I even picked the camera up and looked at it but it was showing “all bars” so I let it go. Dummy ME! Yeah....well.

Of course I will never ever see scenery as spectacular as what we went through today again! Well, at least not until we come to Nevada from the north again.

Yep, we’re in Nevada. Vegas to be exact. We’ll be here for a week at Nellis Air Force Base. A chance to relax…. cheaply. Actually, its still too hot in southern Arizona so we’re going to stay here and ride it out for a bit.

So we got set up and as soon as I could I got on the computer and googled a local business for a nearby location. I have been thinking about this for over a year now and especially since I realized we were coming to Vegas. CAPRIOTTI’S! The best sub shop in all the land. Bar none. Second to none. Without a doubt the best!

I picked one of the twenty four Capriotti' stores in Vegas, (yes twenty four!) and called to see how far they were from Nellis. Ahhh, six miles, music to my ears! I was talking with the owner of the store and told him I had been looking forward to this sub for a long time. Of course it came out that I was from Delaware where this sub sandwich empire started and I found that he too was quite familiar with Delaware. Ok, subs for dinner!

Later on in the day I went to pick up dinner.

Mick, the owner, met me at the door and welcomed me inside. Oh, the smell! Heaven on earth, I’m tellin’ ya.

He said, all Delawareans get a free sub if they show me a Delaware driver’s license. OH NO! We’re registered in Texas now because we belong to Escapees and we changed everything to Livingston, Texas. Thank heaven I had on my Delaware T-shirt.

That’s Mick on the phone in the right side of the picture. I thought I had gotten him in the shot all the way. So sorry Mick, but I’ll get another chance because I will be back before the week’s over!

Mick introduced me to Tyler, the builder of our subs. My mouth watered with every piece of meat, slice of cheese and handful of tomatoes.

Tyler is one of the nicest young men I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in a long time.

True to form, a Capriotti’s sub isn’t just thrown together, its BUILT!

Layer by layer, each piece precisely placed….

Bob opted for his usual Italian and I had the famous turkey sub. No turkey roll lunch meat for this sub….REAL turkey only, picked right off the bones.

Perfection!

Cut in two….

….and wrapped just so…..

…..and handed over with a smile. Yep, PERFECTION!!!

As Mick said, we got one of our subs on the house because we’re Delawarean’s, at heart, if not legally anymore. He also gave us two brownies but I have to admit I was sorry they didn’t have any Tastykakes. He was waiting for the next shipment to come in so I’m sure we’ll get some on our next trip to Capriotti’s because there surely will be one.

Bob enjoying his dinner!

The trip to Vegas is worth those subs alone! Mick, THANK YOU! Tyler, you make a mean sub buddy!

9/29/2009 Chillin’ in Beaver

Beaver Creek Canyon. It seems everything in this little town has one of those three words in it. We’re stayin’ in Beaver Creek Canyon Campground. If we’re in a canyon, I don’t know it. We haven’t seen a creek as yet and there isn’t a beaver in sight.

We’re stayin’ put today because it is oh so windy outside. We must be having gusts close to 40 – 45 mph. Not a day to stay on the road.

During a lull I went out to take some pictures.

Each site has a three sided structure with picnic table “built in” inside.

Some must be summer long residents, year after year, or maybe this is in fact home. I know this because their “little'” three sided structure has, shall we say, grown. The sliding glass doors were a dead giveaway too.

There is a Mexican restaurant on site but we didn’t eat there. I also thought $3.50 was a bit high for laundry, washing and drying, so I didn’t do that either.

We just chilled. All day.

We’re getting up early tomorrow and heading out. If we can get on the road by eight then we can beat the predicted winds further south. At least that’s what we’re hoping.

9/28/2009 We Don’t Do COLD!

We watched the weather yesterday and big changes in the weather are going to be happening in this area. Changes that we want no part of. We even heard the “S” word being bandied about. Oh no, we don’t do the white stuff. I can’t even type that word anymore!

So we’re gettin’ outta Dodge. Well, Salt Lake City anyway. We started to “breakin’ camp” and Nancy came over and was talking with Bob. She must looked around because I heard her say, “Are you leaving?” He explained that yes were because of the weather forecast. She and George had heard it too and weren’t too happy with it either but they aren’t in a position to leave as they have a weeklong family reunion going on.

So we finished up packing up and in the meantime George and Nancy had to go. BUT not before I was able to get a picture.

We’ll see these dear friends in November when they’ll be in Phoenix for the month. Plans are already in place to get together.

Here we are in our parking place in Richard’s RV Park.

One last look at the mountain across the valley.

I liked this birdhouse so of course had to snap a picture of it.

Hittin’ the road!

The Kennecott Copper Mine, off in the distance.

So we picked I-15 South heading towards Beaver, Utah.

Not too far down the road I snapped a picture of this “LaVon tree”.

Not only was the tree dead, my friend LaVon’s favorite kind, but everything surrounding it was dead too.

Further down the road we finally saw some color. The colors of autumn are showing here.

An even better look at the fall colors.

We’re in desert by now and even the fall colors are in abundance here.

We found the campground we’re going to be in for the next two nights with no problem. It was an easy run today and not tiring for Bob at all. We normally wouldn’t be staying two nights after an easy run but the winds are going to be picking up significantly and if we don’t have to drive in high winds then we don’t. No use in asking for trouble.

As promised, the winds picked up this evening so we’ll just stay here, nice and cozy and wait it out.

9/27/2009 We WERE Up On Time!

Bob and I were both up by seven this morning and dressed by 7:30. Ready to face the day, whatever it may bring.

Steve and Carol, our wonderful friends and hosts are leaving today on a vacation of their own. We got up early so that we could make sure we some time to spend together before they left. I know Carol had most of the packing done yesterday but there’s always last minute things to throw in and the house to get ready to leave so we laid low until 9:30 before heading over to the patio. We figured that would give us a half hour to an hour to visit before they left because they told us last night they would leave between ten and ten-thirty since they only had a five hour drive this first day.

So I’m walking over to the patio and Nancy comes out of her rig with coffee cup in hand and joins me. Neither Steve or Carol are out but I figured they were taking care of those last minute things. I could see from the patio that the drapes were drawn so I knew it wouldn’t be long before they came through the door to join us. Nancy and I chatted about how her family reunion is going and we covered the weather and I’m waiting and waiting for Carol to come out. I finally said something to Nancy, “I wonder what Carol’s doing, I see the drapes are drawn already. Nancy looks at me and says, “They left already.” What????? They left????? Nancy told me they left around nine. She went on to tell me that Carol said it didn’t look like she was going to get to say so long to us because we must still be in bed since there were no signs of life at our place. Oh no! We even got up early so we would make sure there was plenty of time to visit once their last minute chores were done. Oh no!

At this point Bob comes over and I tell him they already left. He just stood there dumbfounded. We are feeling really bad at this point because we didn’t even get to say thank YOU for letting us stay in Richard’s RV Park. And….(gasp) I didn’t get to take a picture of them!

Bob wondered back to our place, Nancy and I continue our talk until its time for her and George to take off and then I too head back to the rig.

It was such a beautiful day I just couldn’t stay inside. Bob got interested in a movie on TV so I took my book and phone and headed for the backyard and enjoyed the sunshine.

I had a nice long talk with my mom and forever friend, Cindy. I made a lot of headway into the book I’m reading and started the most amazing FARMER’S TAN! Like I need that!

I went back to the rig for a Pepsi and saw this movement out of the corner of my eye. I realized what it was and very slowly and quietly went into the rig. Once inside I picked up the camera and raced to the kitchen window.

Just babies……..

What BIG EARS!

After dinner Bob and I settled in for the rest of the night with TV remotes in our hands. He “downstairs” and me “upstairs”. One of my favorite shows started a new season tonight, Amazing Race. Thank heavens we have two TV’s!

Carol did call me this afternoon and I told her we up this morning when they left so we agreed next time I would open the door so she would know we were up and about. Lesson learned.

9/26/2009 SURPRISE!

I was up, but not really. I was just dozing off again when I heard the truck pull into the driveway. They were here!

I jumped out of bed and dressed in yesterday’s clothes, quickly brushed my teeth and ran my hands through my hair trying to re-style a not too bad case of bed head. Bob was already on the computer “downstairs”. He looked up when he heard me open the door and taking in that I was already dressed he asked, “Are they here?” I replied, “Yes, they just drove up” and with that he put the computer aside to join me in welcoming the new arrivals.

When I walked across the front lawn to where the newly arrived rig was getting situated, Steve looked at me and said, “She’s in the house with Carol” and off I went to the house. I walked in the front door without knocking and found them both in the long hallway looking at family pictures. Her back was to me and when she saw Carol smile she turned around and her jaw dropped to the floor when she saw me. She just stood there like that, not saying anything. It had to be a good 6 or 7 seconds before she could even move. Of all times for me not to have my camera! I could have kicked myself because the look on her face was absolutely priceless. We are reuniting with George and Nancy “Killer” Reid. Long time readers will recognize these names from Quail Run the year before last. Nancy became known as “Killer” during ping pong sessions and George is the guy who took me on the motorcycle ride. If you don’t remember that post you can read it here.

George and Nancy are two on my list of favorite people. I just love being with them.

Steve had emailed me a few weeks back that they were going to be here but at that time I thought we would have visited and been gone by the time they got here. Of course I hadn’t counted on two weeks in Great Falls, Montana but I’m really glad we got caught up there now since it gives us a chance to see these two again. They are staying at Steve and Carol’s while they attend a family reunion nearby. They won’t be at the house much because their kids are coming in from all over the country and this is the first time they’ve all been together in four years. I’ll cherish the few minutes we’ll have in the mornings before they leave and in the evenings when they return.

They’ll be here two weeks but we won’t be here that long. In fact, they’ll be by themselves because on Sunday Steve and Carol are going on vacation.

George and Nancy left to go watch one of their grandchildren play in sports and Carol and I took off for Walmart and the veggie stand. Carol is very lucky to have such a nice vegetable/fruit stand close by. I wanted to get more corn and tomatoes for Bob and I to have for dinner the next two nights or so.

Bales of hay, for decorating I am assuming, mums and pumpkins were all in display outside.

Its quite warm here today so it doesn’t feel like fall is in the air as yet.

Huge boxes of pumpkins waiting to be turned into pies and jack-o-lanterns.

Bob took advantage of the quiet and spent some time in his reclining lawn chair.

After his nap we FINALLY got our States Visited Map caught up. I can’t believe we are just now adding Alaska to our map!

Then Montana had to be added.

Now our map is current. Its really getting filled in.

For dinner we got pizzas from Papa Murphy’s. You tell them what you want and they make them to order then you pick up and take it home. Raw. Not cooked. You bake it yourself. I had seen these shops in our travels but I had no idea that they didn’t bake them. As it turned out they are very reasonable priced and were good tasting!

Evening brought TV with Carol and Steve after it got too dark for the patio. When George and Nancy returned Carol and I went to their rig to visit for a while.

I have to say, if ever in the area, you sure can’t beat Richard’s RV Park!

9/25/2009 So Long Friends…Hello Friends!

As much as we hated to move on so soon, we wanted to get to Utah before friends Steve and Carol take off on a vacation of their own.

Reluctantly, we said, “So long, see you in November at Quail Run” to our wonderful hosts Don and Billee.

So at just minutes before nine we took off for Utah. Once again, we pretty much had the road to ourselves most of the way. We think the key is to get on the road AT or AFTER nine. It sure seems to work for us.

The countryside in some areas are starting to take on color.

These birds were in abundance as the farmer worked his farm. I don’t know if they are after worms or seed but they seem to getting their fill whatever it is.

As we got further down the road, over the Utah border, darn the sign came to fast I couldn’t get a picture of it, we could see smoke off in the distance. We could tell it was two separate fires.

By the time we got closer it had even spread to more than just the two. We figured out by now that it was brush fires.

As we got along side of the fires we could see the fire engine but they weren’t doing anything. I guess they were ready to spring into action should it start moving towards buildings but in the meantime they were letting it burn itself out.

We made it the rest of the way to SLC without incident. We were happy to see that all the construction around Steve and Carol’s place was done and a very nice road in place complete with turning lanes.

We were here shortly after one and immediately went to the patio to have a beer and a Pepsi before setting up “camp”. Oh how we looked forward to this view.

After getting set up we met Steve and Carol once again on the patio to catch up even more. If you remember from last year this is where we left our rig when we flew home to Delaware and then stayed on for another week when we returned six weeks later.

Soon four tummies were rumbling and it was time to get dinner made. I had four thawed chicken breasts so Steve grilled those and we had some of that great Utah corn on the cob and Utah tomatoes. We put a few other things on the table and we had a Feast, with a capital F. I had been “tasting” that corn ever since I knew we were coming through Utah and it did not disappoint me one bit. It was just as good as i remembered.

After everything was cleaned up from dinner we all retreated to their large covered patio again.

The sun had cast its color on the mountain across the way.

We sat and talked about the winter seasons of the past two years and the season that we’ll share coming up in Quail Run. We sat there until it was not quite light and not quite dark and watched the lights of the suburbs in the shallow valley below come on. Headlights, streetlights, parking lot lights, house lights, all like electric polka dots in the dusky evening. There was one bright light that caught my attention that kept going on and off with no regularity or rhythm. I finally figured out that it was a bright light that was on the other side of the Interstate and it blinked “off” every time a tractor trailer passed, blocking my view. It was like watching a lightning bug or firefly on steroids.

It was soon time for everyone to go in to their own places. Time to call it a night.

We are so thankful for friends like Steve and Carol.