Trip Log - Days 5 & 6

Last Night After Fireworks

7/5/07
7:25 AM – We are up and ready to go! We stayed up long enough to see the fireworks last night. Right before time for them to start we walked up to the truck stop to use the bathroom. At 9:30 we stepped outside and could see them over the roof of the factory across the street, but had to walk down to the middle of the entrance driveway to be able to see them completely. Spent the next half hour watching one of the prettiest fireworks displays I’ve ever seen. Every truck that came in or out thought we were crazy until they realized what we were doing. Some even drove around behind us so they didn’t block our view. Pretty soon there were several others standing out there watching them too – Thanks Crissy!!! It started raining right after it was over and we ran back to the truck to sleep, right before the bottom fell out. It did sound nice on the top of our truck while we fell asleep. It also was a good thing we stood out in the lot to watch the fireworks or Carl wouldn’t have seen the sign saying, “Turn Right to I-70.” He said he would have just gone back out the way we came in, which was left.

8:30 AM – We are already unloaded and on are way to Cheyenne, WY. The company we delivered to had a slogan on their sign; “We go to extra effort.” I would agree, Carl backed into their yard and walked in to let them know we were there. As he walked in the door, the guy said, “You have 4 poles for us?” Carl said, “Yes.” Then he told Carl to go get them unstrapped and he would be right out to unload him. That was so nice for a change.

12:15 PM – We have delivered to Cheyenne. Right before we arrived, Carl was informed he needed to do a random alcohol test. I always tease him that they choose him because they know he will pass it. There was a place in Cheyenne he could have it done, so we went there. A nice big Wal-Mart was across the street, so we parked in their lot. Carl walked to the doctors office and I walked up to the Wal-Mart (imagine that). While shopping I found a blue jersey quilt for the truck. The blanket Carl’s been using is just too scratchy. While I was in the store I met a cute old lady, Eileen, who makes crosses from plastic canvas and ¼” wide ribbon. I was looking for silver ribbon for the Christmas ornaments I have been crocheting. While I was standing at the ribbon section she just pulled out a plastic sandwich bag with about 20 finished crosses in it and asked me if I would like one. I picked out a Kelly green cross and made a big deal about how nice it was. I told her I lived in Illinois and that is where it would end up. She told me she was born and raised in Cedar Rapids, IA. I found it very interesting that she had made 400 of these for her Granddaughter to give to fellow campers at a church camp she had gone too. She asked if I had a daughter and when I said yes, she wanted me to pick one out for her too. She told me that she had a head injury a few years ago and wasn’t expected to live. Feels she is thanking God on some level by making these crosses and that it keeps her busy too. I continued shopping and when Carl was finished he called my cell phone so that I could meet him out at the truck. It was a long way from the store. While on the phone Eileen saw me and asked if the person on the phone would want one of her crosses. I told her I would love a pink one for my Granddaughter, so she picked out one of her pink ones and gave it to me.

2:00 PM – We stopped in Laramie, WY for lunch at the Iron Skillet Restaurant in the Petro truck stop. I just couldn’t wait until we got to Little America. It is another 180 miles.

6:00 PM – We have finally arrived at the truck stop in Little America, WY. Driving across Wyoming we saw some gorgeous views. Views of the mountains were amazing. We bought fuel and got a shower here. I don’t really want to know what we spent for these showers, they feel better not knowing. They had advertised 50 cent ice cream cones on billboards for several miles before we got there, so after our showers we walked over and got vanilla ice cream. While stopped, Carl took Phoenix for a walk and she saw a rabbit. He said as soon as she saw it she tried to chase it. At least as far as the leash would let her!



7:50 PM – We are on our way again, heading towards Donnelly, ID. On our way we drove through a little town in the mountains called Kemmerer. The sign coming into town said they were home to J.C. Penny’s mother store and museum. Mom if you are ever in Wyoming I know you will want to visit this town!

Later – While driving through the mountains we saw lots of deer crossing signs with a picture of a deer. Of course you watch for deer anywhere in the evenings, but especially in the mountains. We came up to a sign with two flashing yellow lights on it that was really scary. It said Deer Crossing next 6 miles – Must be a serious problem!!! Later we saw a sign that said Migrating Deer Crossing next 1 mile. It got worse. The next sign said Elk Migration next 12 miles, right outside Georgetown, ID. Carl liked the mountain in this next picture. It was right behind a fuel stop.



11:00 PM – Arrived in McCammon, ID and were just too tired to continue, so we stopped at a little fuel stop with a dirt lot and went to bed. It had only been dark here for about an hour, but our bodies are on central time. We were too tired to even eat dinner.


7/6/07
6:30 AM – When Carl woke up and started to put on his clothes I had been awake for about 30 minutes already. The bunk isn’t as comfortable as my new mattress at home. I asked him what he was doing and when he told me going in to the bathroom, I asked him if he just wanted to stay up because I couldn’t sleep any more anyway. He was pleasantly surprised; I’m sure he never expected me to get up so early. This will also insure we make it to Donnelly, ID early enough to unload. We originally thought the delivery was in Downey, ID (spelled wrong on his paperwork). Donnelly is over 7 hours further than Downey. This makes a big difference.

12:00 Noon – We finally stopped at a truck stop in South Boise, ID and fixed sandwiches for lunch. I was starving after skipping dinner last night. I fixed a peanut butter and banana and Carl fixed an egg salad sandwich. As soon as we leave here we will be looking for ID-55 N that will take us to Donnelley, ID.

Later – Words cannot describe the beautiful scenery that we saw today while driving up ID-55, so I decided to fill this part mostly with pictures instead. Even the pictures don’t really do it justice. One of the hills had a downhill grade of 7% over 5 miles long. They had 4 different runaway ramps spaced out over these 5 miles. If that wasn’t enough to worry about there were warning signs; Watch for Rocks next 20 miles, Watch for Stock and Open Range.









3:30 PM – We found the place to deliver in Donnelly, way out on a dead end dirt road. It was terribly hot (107°). When driving in I saw the biggest Dandelions I have ever seen, as big as a baseball. There were also tiny Dandelions that were pure white and fluffy, and the size of a small cotton ball.



4:00 PM – While leaving Donnelley we were finally able to get into a Post Office to mail the package to Austin. Hope he gets it in time for his birthday. We are now on our way to Washington State.

5:30 PM – We drove through a little town that had signs up advertising a Quilt Show in the old courthouse building. We kept watching thinking we might stop since we don’t need to be anywhere until Monday morning. We found it, but would have to walk 3 or 4 blocks to get to it from where we could park the truck. At 107° nothing looks interesting enough to get out and walk that far in the heat.

7:00 PM – We finally made it to Oregon, just barely. We stopped in Ontario, OR at a Pilot fuel stop. The next big truck stop is still a couple hours up the road and we are very tired and hungry. They only have an Arby’s here so we were going to walk over to the Sizzler across the street. On our way up to the corner I spotted a local family restaurant right next door with a couple old people walking in for dinner and suggested we try that instead of fighting four lanes of traffic to get across the road and walk two more blocks down to the Sizzler. I am so glad we did, the food was delicious and the service was exceptional.

9:30 PM – It is so hot outside still that we are running the truck and the generator to help cool the truck enough to sleep. I’m finishing up this blog for the last couple of days while Carl eats Ben 'n Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream and then we are going straight to bed.