ON THE BACK BURNER

Day 6. We are trucking along in Yakama, Washington. Over 3000 miles done. Today, we voted Utah one of the more beautiful states. I so wanted a baked Idaho potato, but for some reason, we never found a road stop that had them. Noodle wasn't sedated today. He was great until very late in the day when he really needed to GO. RIGHT NOW. After he did what he had to do, I gave him a little chew that helps with anxiety. Just in case.  Today on our continuing trip across the country, we saw fields of hops,vineyards , the wine industry has really taken hold here, apple trees , it is the Apple State, with the apple as the state emblem, and potatoes , Idaho spends a lot of money telling us that the best potatoes come from Idaho. Fields of potatoes. Fields of grape vines. Fields of apple trees and more potato fields then your eye can follow.  Snake River  crossed us several times. Which made us figure out why and how it got its name. And damn, we saw a hydro dam in Washington, just over the border from Oregon. We are still gaining and losing altitude,but the altitude isn't so great now. I think we are at about 4000 ft. now. We seemed to be getting behind a lot of heavy transport trucks, all of us in a single file. No passing .If you get behind a travel trailer, it is just as bad and you are in big trouble for many miles. No matter where are , the UPS truck is there and Amazon Prime is right behind. You can't miss the brown truck or the Amazon logo. I have to mention gas. I will never complain about the cost of gas in Venice.  Here , it is $ 3.59 a gallon. I am getting fantastic milage, considering that the car is 13 years old. Cruise control is a great fuel saver. My Grandson remembered that with the seats in their proper position, we would have the wells empty. You can pack a lot of stuff in those below seat wells. That is where the electronics go and the extra snacks that we can take out when the first batch is gone. And extra jackets and my hiking boots. We have this travel down to a science.  Snacks, bottled water,pre measured dehydrated dog food for Noodle, grapes,easy peel tangerines,trail mix,cheese sticks,dried fruit and home made jerky that I made , keeps the troops full. We eat a big breakfast and then don't eat a proper meal until we check into our motel.That seems to be working for us. We have made fantastic time. We have a three hour drive tomorrow and we are then at our final destination. We are planning a celebratory dinner with 9 Uchitelle's around whatever table is large enough to have us. I can't wait.

Who knew traveling could be so much fun. Part of the fun is seeing the interaction of my travel companions . I feel really lucky that we all get along so well, enjoy each other and laugh so hard that we have to make a pit stop. Noodle isn't the only one who has to GO. RIGHT NOW.

Kate Swinburne 19.05.2019 14:55

Good Morning Leona!
Your descriptions of our beautiful country are so vivid that we're all
sharing your wonderful adventure! Thanks Dude!🤗
Love from 724

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Latest comments

01.12 | 14:15

Safe travels. See you soon. sally

04.07 | 12:10

I read the last page first too. It’s a family curse.

22.05 | 12:38

so glad youre here mom!

29.08 | 17:45

Don't quite know how this got to me but it was on the top line of my computer (not in email) But I really enjoyed it. I truly admire you.