Day 6 - Log for April 1st in Fruita, just outside of Grand Junction

Monument RV Resort
April 1 - Setting Up and Checking Out the Area

WOW talk about a good night’s sleep, I was dead to the world until I woke up with the sun streaming into our windows at 7:30 am.
From what I can see, there are a bunch of others here as well.

But quiet time in these campgrounds are from 10 pm to 8 am, so I am going to upload a bunch of pictures from yesterday and the day before, I know you all are wanting to see what we are doing. I am using a 3.4 MegaPixel (MP) Nikon camera that we got three or four years ago when we went to the Grand Canyon. We have three batteries, wide angle lens, and other accessories for it. - Sidebar - I thought I lost the accessories a couple of months ago and I bought my own camera, a Canon 3.3 MP camera and got batteries. When we were getting ready for the trip, I found the accessories again and so we brought his camera.

Today is going to be a hiking day; we are going to check out Colorado National Monument which is right down the street from us. We just have to cross the Colorado River and then we are there.

But first, I went over to pay up for the weekend, we are at spot #18, which is great, because it is right across from the bathrooms and there is a high fence behind us. The woman at the counter was very nice, and she gave us a discount, after I got a card (called Good Sam Club.) So that was cool. I also picked up a bunch of brochures about all the things that we can do out here, including going dinosaur digging. I don’t think Sasha would do that, but there is a dinosaur museum a block away from the campground.

I then went back over to the truck and made breakfast for Sasha and I while Sasha took a shower in their bathrooms, and he came back raving about the showers, the bathroom, and the whole park. He absolutely loves it. I must say, I do agree with him. They just renovated the bathrooms and the showers look better than ours do at home, with pink-red tiles 15” tiles, soap in the bathroom and hand dryers as well.

Once we had breakfast, I went to take a shower and then we got ready to go to the Monument. No more jeans, we switched to khakis and long sleeve cool mesh Travel Smith shirts. These shirts are great; they have vents and can be converted to short sleeves. My pants also came from Travel Smith and they can be converted to shorts. Travel Smith is a great place for traveling clothes, but can be a little expensive.

Pictures: First and formost, even though we have been in Colorado since Tuesday, March 29th, we have not really visited parks or seen real nature, until now. So these first pictures are from our visit to Colorado National Monument, a true treasure that should be seen by all who are able to walk. It IS better than the Grand Canyon in that there are less crowds and just as much to see. Plus, it is in the Dinosaur Triangle, three points that have had many sighting of dinosaur digs, footprints and quarries. Hopefully we'll see some of that soon.

We started out on the road at 1 pm, a little late start, but again we are on vacation, so I think it is allowed. We crossed over the Colorado River, although narrow, is still fast moving, probably because of the snow melt. We then went to the Monument. There is a 23 mile Rim Rock Drive road from west to east, starting in Fruita and ending at Grand Junction. The west side is more concentrated with overlooks, campgrounds, and the visitor center. The east side has less drop-offs but still gorgeous views. You actually go 4 miles into the park before you get to the visitor’s center and have to pay. So we saw a lot beforehand. We checked out a few views and took lots of pictures (I know, I know, I’ll have them up real soon!) But please check out the link that I have of road (see above) as you can get an idea of the views. For the engineers out there, this road was developed in the early 1900s and paved during the Depression by Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC.) CCC made several of the trails that we took as well. There are at least 3 tunnels through the rock at the park. We checked out the campgrounds here, not like where we are now, but suitable for living in the park.

We then went to the Visitor Center, and got a Golden Eagle Pass which is different from a National Parks Pass, ours is $65 which is a year’s pass to National parks, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U. S. Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management parks. So more parks and a little more money. I think it is great, and that we should do this every year. Giving money to parks is a great idea, and so I bought a few more things at the visitor center, including a couple of maps, information on the geology and history of the park and the general area, including Grand Junction.

(picture of Sasha at Independence Monument)

From the Visitor center, we went to Otto’s Trail, which took us to Independence Monument, a place where John Otto, (the man responsible for making this place a national monument) got married. He used to climb the monolith and place an enormous flag at the top for special holidays. We are just in awe of this area; we think it is almost better than Grand Canyon. It is just as pretty, but there are fewer crowds. Actually, there are no crowds and no commercialism, probably because it is a monument, not a national park.

We then went on Coke’s Trail, a short jaunt to a cave. As we did not have flashlights, we did not go in all the way to see where it leads. I think we might do that again to see what it looks like. But the trail was washed out, so we took a shortcut and went back onto the road and hiked back the short distance to our truck.

We had an epiphany at that point, as it was around 4:30 and we felt that we had hardly seen the park at all. We decided then and there that we were going to stay at the campground until Wednesday, or Thursday and then go back to Five Star to get a check up with the camper and then go home. We were planning to go to Dinosaur National Monument, but it is too much, we can take a day trip but not overnight.

After Coke’s Trail (which was so short), we decided to go on CCC trail, a 1.5 mile trail that took us up to the mesa top. We were kinda bummed; it took us 20 to 25 minutes to get to the top while the brochure stated that it should only take 15 minutes. My guess is that we are not in the shape we thought we would be, but that is the way it goes. Of course, going down we did it in 15 minutes or so. From there, it was becoming dusk, and I was very hungry, we had had breakfast, but our lunch was a Cliff bar - unbelievably delicious as they are - and lots of water, but still, I was hungry. So we finished up the drive through the park, we did stop one more time to take pictures and we took a picture on the way down, but then we went into Grand Junction.

We went back over the Colorado River again, and came into the town of Grand Junction. After seeing information on websites, it is always interesting to see the real thing. I think that Grand Junction is a happening town for out here, but you can see homeless or downtrodden people in this town (we came in from the back end or west end I think) and where we parked, there were some people fighting outside of a bar (don’t worry, they were not near us, but we could here them fighting.) It is part college town, part ski area town, and part big town feel.

What I did like was all the restaurants that they had, so you could pick and choose. I found one restaurant from the brochure I had picked up before called “The Winery.” Sasha was like, it will be snooty and are we “dressed for dinner?” But it was not. It was nice, but expensive. I said to Sash, “it was less expensive than the last tank of diesel, so chill, dude.” We had wine from this area, a cabernet sauvignon (1999) from Canyon Wind. We are going to have to take a winery tour, there are over two dozen wineries in the area. Anyway, I had steak and Sasha had lamb chops. We sat right in front of the kitchen, which normally is a bad spot, but the two chefs were cooking out in the open, so we were able to watch the show that they were putting on. It was fun to watch them cook and Sasha kept asking them questions about what they were preparing, as well as them making sure our meal was perfect. It was so nice and the people here are great. We then went home and went to sleep in the shadows of the mountains and the Monument.

-Sidebar- when we came back to the camp, someone had taken our spot that we had paid for, so we had to go to the next spot over. We were a little annoyed but there was nothing that we could do about it. See April 2 for the resolution.

Day 5 - Log for March 31 at Colorado Springs to Grand Junction CO

Day 5 Colorado Springs to Grand Junction
Out of the Snow and into the Desert!

We got up early (ok I woke up early and played on the computer for an hour before shutting it down because of low power.) We then started moving around and Sasha went out to the campground bathrooms; when he came back in, he told me that when we had hooked up the power last night, the plug was loose and that was why we did not have any electrical power last night. So we plugged in the laptop and cell phones to charge them up.

Last night was COLD so we had the heat up high, thereby making us wonder how much propane we had available. We realized that we need a blanket at least to keep us warmer. Sasha first used the kitchen to boil water and made me hot chocolate and he had coffee. Then it was my turn at the kitchen, to make hot oatmeal for breakfast. We had gotten a covered pot yesterday so I washed it and used it for breakfast. I have to remember that the sink is not as large as ours at home as I splashed our blanket on the bed. But making breakfast was pretty easy and before long, we were eating.

We had decided before breakfast that we were going to stay at the campground for another day. But when Sasha had powered up the computer, he checked the weather for Colorado Springs vs. Grand Junction and found Grand Junction was 50 F today, almost 30 degrees warmer than where we were. And it was supposed to go to 7 F this evening at Colorado Springs. That helped decide it for us. We started moving quicker and got on the road by 12:45 pm to go to Bed, Bath & Beyond, (using the internet, my computer and the GPS system I was able to figure out which store was the closest) where we got fleece blanket, a down comforter (for inside the duvet), a mixing spoon (I used a plastic spoon for mixing the oatmeal, which slightly melted as I was cooking), and a soap dish for when we go to campgrounds and I need to bring in my soap. The things you learn while camping! Got lunch at Chipotle, a Mexican restaurant similar to Baja Fresh but with bigger proportions.

Then we headed out to Grand Junction at 2 pm.

We went through many different ecosystems and environments. Just going across the state of Colorado we saw more and took more pictures than going from Sterling, Virginia to eastern Colorado. It is a wonderful state and I figure we will be coming here more often. These were all taken March 31st.
<<<<<-------- Here is Garden of the Gods, a state park right outside of Colorado Springs. As it was snowing, cold and windy and we wanted to get to Grand Junction before night-time, we did not get to the park. So this was outside of the truck window as we were going past.

This picture is when we were out of Colorado Springs on the way to Grand Junction. As you can see, very dark skies and there was snow falling. ----->>>>>>>

<<<<<<------------ Route 24 West-bound out of Colorado Springs.

----->>>>>>>>
Normally, I would not put this picture in, however, I am not a spice person like my husband and he wanted to have burritos from Chipotle, like I talked about above. The burrito is huge even in this picture, where I have reduced the size down to 14%. I told him that this was the last burrito for me on this trip!

<<<<<-------- The hills and high plains, with snow.

Wilkerson Pass at an elevation 9507 at 333 pm 22 F took picture as we were checking out the plains area. We took a bunch of pictures before this, but there is such the contrast, we were in the mountains with snow swirling around us and now we are down in the plains (high plains at 8909 elevation) and now snow, slightly sunny conditions. Amazing - we actually have a bar, but internet access goes in and out through this area. I guess most people do ranching around here, and do things with tourists, because I can not see what else would be done around here. We are on Route 24, and it is a little windy. We keep having to put on the sun glasses and then take them off as it is partly cloudy but very bright.

<<<<<<<<-------------

I'm a little cold on the way to the continental divide.

Unbelievable, we have several bars for the internet and I am on Cellular One for my cell phone and Sasha’s phone has no service. 28 F, elevation 8900 ft ASL, around 4 pm. We are starting to go up in elevation bit more now. Just saw our first Bison on this trip but it was too far away for a picture. Supposedly Bison meat is great to eat because it is leaner but still good but I don’t know for sure. Most of the area that we are going through does not have any homes or trailers, just lots of land.

Most excellent mountains all visible from the road.--->>>>

Starting to snow again, looks like we are going right into a serious snow area, lights on safety (fogs too!)

We went to a little overpass to get a couple of pictures of Mt Columbia and other mountains, as well as to see the plains a little more then went over the Arkansas river which was moving fast. Passed a prison right before Buena Vista, pretty nice views for prison people!

<<<<----------------Sasha at Collegiate Peaks overlook outside of Buena Vista.

Went through the town of Leadville, hit an elevation of 10,000 ft ASL. 22 F at 516 pm. Very historical little town with Victorian buildings and almost dirt roads. Victorian and Gregorian buildings very quaint, with mining museum. First sign of something urban - Family Dollar and Safeway. Took pic of interesting sign.-------------->>>>>>>
Just passed a place to do dogsled or snowmobiling.

<<<<---------Sasha on the Continental Divide with truck. In case you can not see it, the elevation is 10,424 and we are at the Tennessee Pass. Why it is called that, I have no idea. But there was snow here and to the right of the picture was the entrance to a ski area.

Coming on now to the continental divide: it is 534 pm, at an elevation of 10,428 ft ASL. Temp: 19 F. No bars. Cold and windy, we took a picture or two with the sign. The continental divide is pretty cool anyway, one side the rivers flow to the west, and the other side rivers flow to the east. I do not believe that there is any river on the continental divide, as it would get totally confused. There is blue skies to the east and clouds (probably snow too) to the west, north and south. Ski Cooper, a national forest and ski area is right here as well. We also just saw a transit bus go by.

We are back to snow at 5:50pm.

And then out it. Only blue skies ahead, Baby! We went past a mountain that Sasha had skied on.

<<<--------- OK it looks like our dashboard, but look closely in the snow, those are houses. The mining town of Gilman is on the side of the mountain. I turned on the flash to really get a good picture and ended up flashing Sasha instead. On very twisty roads as we go up. Got up to 9200 ft ASL and then went down to 7915 ft ASL at Minturn. Most of Minturn is very cute, with an old town ski town feeling. We went past a mining town on the mountain, called Gilman. We now have great internet service: 4 bars and full service with my cell phone.

We are now on I-70 at 6:18pm.
<<<<<------ Going down the mountainon the way to Grand Junction. We went to a car wash place in Silt, so that Sasha could wash the junk off of the car and camper. Got to Grand Junction and gassed up (gosh and golly, the prices are high - $2.38 for gallon of diesel, our highest price yet.) Sasha had a little problem at the tank, I guess when it is later at night, the establishment only lets people fill up $75 worth of gas, and then we have to do a separate transaction. I guess, even here, they are afraid people will leave without paying but the transaction was pay at the pump so I do not understand it. So Sasha had to do a separate transaction for $5 more - holy moly, $80 at the pump…traveling is great, gas prices are not.

Notice the blue skies ahead! That is where we are headed.Towards Grand Junction. ---------------->>>>>>

We got to the Monument RV Park that we are staying at, the owners are not in the office (it is 10 pm, understandable,) and they have a deposit window. The place is beautiful, even at night. We are near the Colorado River, but also close to town, and the Shower and bathroom are fabulous. You don’t think of these things when you are traveling in hotels and motels, but you REALLY do think of it when you are camping. The showers look beautiful; we will see how they work tomorrow. Sasha got the camper set up while I put down the deposit and reserved our space. I was exhausted, even though we did not exercise or do any physical activity, but we went up and down in elevation (we are now at 4400 ft ASL) and Sasha says that he has a headache from the elevation. I think I am tired from the taking off and putting on so many layers of clothing and fighting against the wind when we were walking around to get stuff…who knows, but I’m sure I will be rested for tomorrow’s adventures.

Day 4 - Log for March 30, 2005 - Wal-Mart in Thorton, CO - to Colorado Springs CO

March 30, 2005 From Walmart to Colorado Springs

Our Campground at Walmart in Thorton, CO; Our Campgroundwas Wal-Mart parking lot,they have a policy that you can stay overnightand we figured we were going to buy things that evening so we stayed and bought.

Another view of Camp Wal-Mart with Wal-Mart in the background.You can see that there are other campers around. This first night was spent a little wobbly as Sasha was still getting used to putting down the jacks.

One call to Five Star RV and we learned that up means down and down means up on the jack remote control. Confused yet? This is why I have Sasha do this part, I would be totally frustrated and confused. -Sidebar- The reason that we use jacks while parked is to stablize the camper as you go from side to side and in and around the camper. As there was a lot of wind that night, having it stablized makes it more like a house and less like a boat on the high seas.

Unmade Bed - no we did not sleep in it like that, we had gotten sheets at Wal-Mart

We are going to leave the Wal-Mart area soon but we need to get a few more things that we could not get or find last night. We went to Wal-Mart, then had lunch at Tacocita (an Mexican American restaurant that we could see out our windows last night), grocery shopping at King Soopers, wine shopping at Applejacks and then on the road to Aurora, CO to air up the tires to 110 psi (Sasha said we needed hi powered air pumps like those in truck stops.

So we went to Flying J in Aurora. While Sasha was airing up the tires, I was finding a place for us to stay the night. I found Goldfield RV Campground which is just a little outside of Garden of the Gods state park. We started on the road to Goldfield at 4 pm from Aurora. On the way I took pictures of the countryside; it started to flurry for a bit, we are starting to go up in elevation: 7100. Temp 43 F. There is snow on the mountains but it has stopped snowing on the road here. It is amazing, looks like suburban area on one side and ranches on the other and then surrounded by mountains…So cool. I could understand why people do not want to leave here, it is very beautiful, yet can still be urban. I have full bars for the internet. The road is kind of bouncy, especially with the camper on now.

On the outskirts of Colorado Springs already gone down to 41 F, elevation 6599 ft ASL.

Here we are at Goldfield RV area.This was before it snowed. Sasha had learned about the jacks at this point which was great as there were high gust of wind that night into morning.

Sasha was able to figure out how to hook up to the power as you see in the forground.

But like I stated before (see next post), we were really on battery power as the power cord was loose from the plug. So that night we did not use the lights too much. And I was o

nly able to use the laptop for an hour that morning before my batteries went dead. Afterwards, we were able to recharge before the snows came in.

We got to the Campground, interesting, not at the park but just down the road apiece. More of an urban campground, but they have showers and power hook ups that we are going to use. I still have 4 bars for internet so I will use the T-Mobile rather than pay $4 a day for internet access. That is cheap though if I wanted faster speeds I would go for it.

Sasha and I set up camp, putting more things away and he went to take a hot shower. We decided, since we are paying for it, to use their systems rather than our. I also think we a still a little unsure about taking a shower in our own shower but we will do it this trip, I think. We also got a lot of literature on what happens in this area and we will probably eat some ham sandwiches, play cards and go to bed happy. We are starting out slowly but learning as we go along.

Day 3 - Log for March 29, 2005 - Getting the Camper!

Day 3 Brighton CO - Wal-Mart CO 80033

Picking up our camper at Five Star RV, the dealer we chose after a long and exhaustive search. They treated us right and we recommend them.

We got on the road to get the car and drop off the truck at Five Star at 9 am. Sasha had to leave me at Enterprise because the guy was not there at 9 am; he had to drop off a car to someone else. I talked to some retirees who pick up and drive cars and trucks to different Enterprise locations; they came from Cheyenne, WY. Once the guy came back, we looked over the car (a blue one) and I was off to find Sasha. Although I thought I was going the wrong way, a common problem for me without a compass, I managed to find him at the Five Star RV Center without getting too lost.

Picking up our camper at Five Star RV!

Once there, Sasha got a time frame of when we were supposed to come back ~3pm and we went to have Breakfast - Village Inn. Sasha said that there are a lot of Village Inns in Colorado, good places to get breakfast, lunch or dinner at any time of the day. We both had a more healthy breakfast of fake egg and veggie omelets, with fruit and whole grain pancakes. Very nice breakfast that was our lunch as well. After breakfast, we went back to the motel (Super 8) and I just paid a little more to have a 3 pm checkout.

Sasha and I snoozed for a little bit and then I did some work while Sasha snoozed for a little longer. We left the motel at 3pm where it was drizzling, and 60 F. At Five Star they did not have our truck ready yet so we went to Wal-Mart, and picked up bed-sheets and towels to match our colors in the camper. Then we went back to Village Inn and had an early dinner (I totally felt like the episode in Seinfield where he had dinner with his parents down in Florida at 5 pm - but we had “dinner” at 4 pm.) We brought in the laptop and Sasha surfed while I read.

Let's go inside...

Virgin kitchenette and Table Slide out!

1:00 am- got the necessities, including bottom sheet and extra pillows. Plus paper supplies, water, and some snacks. It took a while to get everything at Wal-Mart as it was so late at night; there was no one to help us find anything. I guess they do the shelf stocking at night and there were boxes everywhere. Very hard to get to things needed. And we could not find Blankets for the life of us. The guy stated that they don’t have winter coats either, so maybe they don’t have blankets when it is spring. Whatever.

(Sasha) Well, after picking up camper, the very "green" duo head to a local Wal Mart to stock up on supplies and provisions for the road ahead. We choose to shop at Wal Mart as they are "RV and camper friendly", allowing customers to overnight in their parking lots.

Not that we particularly like camping in a mega storeparking lot, but when it's 11 pm, dark and you're tired and just want to sleep, it sure is convenient in a pinch not to have to find the closest campground or public lands to "dry camp" or "boondock". And the price is right. In return, we dropped a couple hundred bucks with Sam Walton and patronized a local mexican restaurant in the same shopping center.

Day 2 - Log for March 28, 2005 - Going to Colorado & Getting Camper

Getting There

Going over the river (we think it is the Mississippi)

We had breakfast at the hotel’s next door neighbor: Ethan’s Place. We both had omelets - I asked for no hash browns and Sasha got a spicy omelet with hash browns. They got our order slightly mixed up with him getting my order with hash browns. He had started to put the salt and pepper on the omelet when I looked at mine and was like,”hey this is not ham?” He looked at his (which turned out to be mine) and we switched. Sasha said I should just order food like it is on the menu but I think that I should order it the way I want it, with or without whatever I want. Anyway, my breakfast was a little spicier than I normally have but it was a good breakfast for $13 (for us both) with tax and tip.

We got on the road at 10 am their time (our time 11 am). Sunny skies, with lots of wind, which has decreased our mileage by .1 (14.9 mpg average) but I still think it is better than most trucks. Elevation 520 feet ASL, internet connection at 3 bars and holding steady.

Yahoo, we are now in Missouri, took a couple of pictures of the Mississippi river as we crossed it. The road here is bumpy, elevation 470 f ASF. Sunny conditions windy, 60 F at 11 am. It looks greener here in MO. Internet connection is between two to five bars.

We are going to be going over the Missouri river and we will take pics of that. Just went over the River, most of the pics were of this casino American Casino which is on a river bed jutting out into the river - weird to see almost looks like a river boat but is a casino built on stilts : 11:15 am 500 feet ASL 63 F. sunny and nice. Road bouncy.

Road is finally smoother than before. Or not, stopping at Flying J to get diesel. Got the diesel, Sasha stated that all the truckers were asking him questions about the truck, stuff like, 19” wheels (unusual for this truck) larger flares (things around the tire wheels) how is the 2005 running, etc. We are the “Talk of the Truck Stop.” I must say, these Flying Js are quite good, you have everything you could want (except fruit and veggies, I guess) that you can buy in their store, including books and CDs and DVDs. Got some dried fruit, sandwiches and drinks for the next leg of the road.

Fuel: 33.29 gallons, price 2.079 per gallon, amount: 69.21

Back on the road at 12:30 pm. sunny and 61 F. 850 Feet ASL elevation yet flat country with lots of farms and lots of trucks on the road.

Found a hotel and car rental place in Brighton, CO. Still bumpy road.

Just saw a B-1 flying overhead @ or near Aullville, MO. Boy, this state is long.

Just saw a Gap outlet; we must be close to Kansas City, more billboards showing. Three bars.

Hit some traffic just outside of Kansas City, there was an accident, someone managed to flip their car into a gully.

Horrible roads very bouncy. Through Kansas City.

Now in Kansas, KS sunny road bouncy, 72 F, 802 ft ASL. 3:18 pm. three Bars.

Just crossed over the Kansas river, at 3:47, very sunny, 74 F, 900 ft ASL. Those large columns in the background look like it might be granaries, but we are not sure. This was outside of Topeka, Kansas.

Went through Topeka KS, at 4:10 pm, sunny 75 F, 962 ft ASL elevation, bouncy roads, two bars.

Just went past several oil wells, we are near exit 316, cloudy skies, elevation 1317 ft ASL. Three bars.

6:52 pm we are near exit 189 and there is a beautiful sunset. At elevation 1865 my ears are popping. We are going to try to take a picture of this.

Stopped in Hays to get gas and food. 2142 feet, ASL dark and 7:30 pm. Lost internet connection.

7:58 pm back on the road - got Arby’s wraps for dinner, probably another 5 hours to hotel. 2081 ft elevation, 61 F no stars out, probably cloudy.

We are now in Colorado, it is now 9:00 (Mountain Time) 11:00 our time. Elevation is 3926 ft ASL, 52 F no stars so it is probably cloudy, and we keep going back and forth with this car, we pass him, and he passes us, very annoying. The road is bumpy and we have no internet connection. Sasha’s cell phone does not work, no bars, mine has a few and the service is Unicel.

We went to Limon in Colorado, and I played around with the internet until I got it up and running, 3 bars. We went to top off the tank and Sasha wanted to wash the car so that is what we are doing at 10:30 at night. The temp is around 60 F, no stars so cloudy skies and an elevation of unknown (5489 ft ASL) as the GPS is acquiring info right now. I will be driving in a bit to give Sasha a break. We are approximately 75 miles away from our destination tonight.

Arrived at Brighton CO at 12:30 am at the Super 8, dark and 50 F. Got a room reserved and brought everything in from the car (we will be dropping the truck off in the morning at Five Star RV Center and having them put the camper on. Sasha does not want us to have anything in the truck while they are doing that, which makes sense, but we were so tired from the road.) Asked for an 8 am wake-up call, we will pick up our rental car, drive down to Five Star and then come back to the hotel so that Sasha can snooze for a little longer.

Day 1 Log for March 27, 2005 - Going to Colorado & Getting Camper

Day 1: Sterling, VA - Greenville, IL

We took a picture of me in the car with the computer. Sasha and I got on the road at 10:45 am (almost two hours after our stated time for 9 am leaving) and I set up the GPS system on the computer and started trying to figure out our route- first it stated that we were going to Chicago, and then it was give us back routes. Ultimately, I will figure out how to use this program while on the road. There is slight drizzle as we are going through the Loudoun County countryside, taking Rt. 15 over the bridge on the way towards Frederick. Internet had Full bars Very bouncy road before the bridge.

In Maryland, saw a train while we were going over the Potomac River. Only two bars for internet in MD.

We just got onto Rt. 340 in MD not drizzling now. Exterior temperature is 47 F.

Just got on I-70 at 11:30 am, this is the road we will be on for most of the trip. Four bars as we are going through the hills of MD.

Just past Braddock Mountain 985 feet Above Sea Level (ASL) and our ears just popped.

Already I have to make a pit-stop, the caffeine I had this morning is making itself known. 11:40 gas prices: 2.11 for regular, 2.34 for diesel (what the truck takes.)

There seems to be a few more cars on the road than what we thought…People going to where they need or taking vacations like us? Who knows? But we are still moving at a good clip of 70 mph.

Just powered down and then turned the computer back on, the internet was not working, I believe, because of intense shaking when we were going over a bumpy patch. Working ok now, we are at an area where there is a red bar, means very slow connection. Slightly more drizzle-more like light rain. Now rain. Now a bit of fog and rain which makes this hard Sliding Hill with elevation of 1249 feet, ASL.

Saw a covered bridge going along Route 68.

Haystack Mountain 1240 feet ASL no internet service, had some problems with GPS and internet before this. Raining and my ears are popping again. Internet service goes in and out. Foggy again.

No more fog @1:20pm but it was slow going for a while there.

Back to fog again.

Out of fog again.

Woo Hoo, in West Virginia at 1:35 pm elevation 2381 ft. ASL, no rain actually sunny.

Raining again as we go onto I-79 to I-70. Elevation 1025 going over a river.

Woo hoo; we are now in Pennsylvania, 2:11 pm, going up in elevation, raining again.

Back on I-70 again at 2:40 pm slight rain and around 50 F outside. A few bars now.

We are now in West Virginia again for a short time, at 2:57 with rain, and elevation of 1330. We just checked online to find out what the diesel prices were in Flying J in Kirkersville, OH. $2.19 which is not bad, full bars for internet.

We are now in OH having gotten here at 3:09 pm with the rain, 815 ft elevation and on Rt. 470 going around Wheeling.

Back on 70

Making stop at Flying J to get diesel $77.33 35.15 gals 2.20 a gallon engine hours 92.8 mileage 3341.

http://www.greenvilleusa.org/events.htm to find hotels

Back on the road 5:35 pm spitting rain as we are going to Columbus OH; we are discussing whether to be at a super 8 or a best western, based on which one has a kitchen.

Looked at my cell phone and I have no service for the phone but do have service for the internet with T-Mobile. Interesting.

Just saw a sign for MI Homes-looks like they are building out here. MI Homes was the company that made our home and we don’t really see them in Virginia area anymore. Our guess is that it got too expensive to build out by us.

Seeing lots of farms and relatively flat land, we are at an elevation of 955 feet ASL. Sasha is happy, he hit 15 mpg on the truck, probably because he has the cruise control on. But this is pretty cool for a big truck. For some reason, I still do not have service with my phone. And we are almost in Indiana. What is it with Cingular?

We are out of Ohio and in Indiana, at 7:11 pm with no rain just cloudy, elevation at 1100 feet ASL, and an exterior temperature of 43 F.

It is very dark out here, can’t really see very much but the elevation is roughly the same as Ohio, at 960 but then it started to go up, to 1050 feet ASL. Yea! My phone is working again, strange service company but I am recharging it now.

Stopped and got dinner before we got into Indianapolis, went to Wendy’s 8 pm.

In downtown area of Indianapolis 8:40 - I keep wanting to say Annapolis!


We are out of Indianapolis now, trying to look for hotels close to St. Louis.

Yahoo, we are now in Illinois @ 9:43 pm, cloudy skies I guess, as it is dark and no stars visible. The elevation is 590 feet ASL; we just watched as a 18 wheeler and a SUV fought each other over a lane change, the 18-er was trying to move over to the right lane from the left lane and the SUV would not let him in the lane. Then the 18 wheeler passed another truck and then GOT off the highway speeding. Where are the cops when you need them to pull over the stupid people?

Oh, and the exterior temp is 44 F.

We are going to stay at Greenville, IL Best Western. It will be interesting to go to a Best Western; I have not been to one in years!

The road is very smooth here, I can type and there is hardly any bouncing. There still are a bunch of people on the road at this time of night.

Huge Cross on the side of the road and has lights on it or is lit? At exit 158 on I-70 in Illinois.
Day 1.5 (Night) stayed at a Best Western in Greenville, IL. The hotel was nice for $60 with a refrigerator. The shower is OK, but nice hot water and made for tall people. No stooping here. The beds were very comfy and they had free high speed internet access! Hilton and Marriott take note: Best Western free internet service is a great idea.