Well, the road trip is over and it will soon be time to put shoe to pedal.

Just shy of 4,000 miles added to the odometer of the old Chevy Express.  We are in Vista, California visiting with our long-time and good, and good-time friends Jack and Chris Kilby and their daughter, Fiona.  How did we get here? Sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale . . . . .

We skipped out of town (the town of Hampden, Maine that is) on January 29th.  What better way to begin a trip than a two day visit with each of my brother Ed and sister-in law Linda and brother Paul and sister-in-law Gail, all in New Jersey?  By hitting the lotto for a couple mill, that's what!   But we didn't so I suppose the visits were the next best thing.  We made an early celebration of Ed's 70th birthday.  Ed is a little sensitive about this milestone, his 70th birthday, so I won't spend much time dwelling on the fact that he is 70, just the mention that we celebrated his 70th birthday.  Having exhausted their patience and having eaten most of their food it was then time to move on.

And move on we did-to Indianapolis, Indiana to pick up the camper we had purchased.  This little baby, a mere 14 feet in length but containing more amenities than our house will now be married to the van for the rest of the trip.



Here's our home-away-from-home at the Continental Divide

Then on to Bay, Missouri to visit our good friend Scott Ruffner. (Notice how many good friends we have?)  Okay, first of all, who names a town in Missouri "Bay"?  Not an ocean or other major body of water to be found.  They should have named it "Hay", maybe a misspelling?  Well, anyway, we visited Scott at the farm he owns there, previously owned by his grandparents.  Prior to our exhausting his patience and food Scott graciously toured us around Bay and neighboring Hermann where his mother lives.  This area was settled by Germans to whom we owe a debt of gratitude on two accounts: coming to our rescue during the Civil War and keeping us well plied with wine through the years.  But seriously,  look up Hermann, Missouri to learn a greatly under appreciated chapter/part of this country's history. 

Man, that's one big hole.  Ever hear of the Grand Canyon?   How does one manage to be an American, advanced in years, and not having visited the Grand Canyon?  Well, we seemed to have  up to this point.  Too bad, but glad to have corrected that now.  Can't describe it in words, can't depict it with photos so I won't try.  See it when you can.  Anyone want to hike rim-to-rim with me?  It's now on my bucket list.

The main reason that I wanted to visit Hoover Dam was so I could make "dam" jokes.  Imagine, they beat me to it.  But I got to tell you, it's one heck of an engineering feat and like the Grand Canyon well worth seeing.
 
But perhaps the crown jewel of our drive was a visit to the world's largest thermometer in Baker, California.  We tore out of town before either of us got a cold; wouldn't want to see the doctor coming with that baby!

So we're here in Vista visiting the Kilbys and having a great old time.  We caught up with the Thompsons (the Thompsons?  See earlier post.)  As kindly as they could, the Kilbys have told us that we have exhausted their patience and finished the last of their food so we're headed out tomorrow to begin our ride.

Oh, yeah, one other thing: I have now corrected a shortcoming of my prior blog.  I have completed the profile information on the sidebar.  You have to dig a little once you click on the bar but well worth it if you are desperate to know more about me.