Wheels

           Oh my . . . lots of thoughts here.  Let’s start with road trips.  Growing up, our family did a lot of Sunday drives and camping trips.  We had one camping trip that was several weeks long.

       The year was 1976, the bicentennial of our nation.  The last bale of hay went into the barn (that tells you it was July).  The next day, we pulled out of the driveway with our tent trailer.  I think our first night was spent in Spokane with Uncle Vic.  We then continued on Highway 2 towards Glacier National Park.  We had a flat tire on the tent trailer and the nearest place that could fix it (on a weekend) was in Missoula, Montana (we were in Kalispell).  So, we headed south to get the tire, then back north.  Only made it to Hungry Horse just outside of Glacier (west side).  Next day, we entered the park.  Oh oh . . . we are too long.  Had to leave the trailer behind.  So we only went halfway.  I can remember seeing The Weeping Wall.  The road was very narrow.  Remember seeing several motor homes hitting their mirrors on the rock walls.  Once we reached the summit area, we turned around and went back to get our trailer then drove around the park.  We continued across Montana into North Dakota when we turned south to go to Herriod, South Dakota.  Mom had a classmate that lived here.  We stayed on their ranch for several days.  I can’t remember if we did Theodore Roosevelt National Park (before it was a park) before getting to Herriod or if we did it afterwards.  I just remember us driving through it.  We also did the Badlands (before it was a national park).  I remember us staying the night in Pierre (after Herriod).  It was pouring down rain and lots of thunder and lightening.  The next day we went to Mt. Rushmore.  We then continued on into Wyoming to see Bighorn National Forest and Yellowstone National Park.  We spent several days at Yellowstone touring the park.  We then went on to Oregon and stayed a few days with another of mom’s classmate in Prineville before heading home.  I think we were gone for at least three weeks.

       I have done other road trips after reaching adulthood – some were for genealogy like flying to Kentucky (1982) and staying with family for about two weeks driving all over the area in Pike County and flying to Iowa with my aunt (1984) to do research in Fayette County and visit with family for about a week.  I also flew to South Dakota to stay with a former classmate for about a week (1980).  My aunt & I also drove down the Oregon coast after looking for headstones in a cemetery in Warrenton, Oregon (either in 1981 or 1983).

       Of course, after I married my husband, we went on several trips – the first was our honeymoon.  We drove down the Oregon Coast all the way to Disneyland in California.  Spent three days at Disneyland, then a day at Knottsberry Farm and a day at Universal Studios before driving back home.  We’ve done several other road trips and cruises that are written up in my blog.

·      2014 Vacation Road Trip

·      2015 Our Caribbean Cruise Vacation

o  Boston

o  Sea Days before Puerto Rico

o  Puerto Rico

o  Sea Day & Bonaire

o  Curacao

o  Aruba

o  Jamaica

o  Grand Cayman

o  Cozumel, Mexico

o  New Orleans

·      2021 Retirement Road Trip – Route 66

·      2022 Cruising Alaska

·      2023 New England/Canada Cruise

·      2024 Panama Canal Cruise

·      2025 Road Trip – Historic Lincoln Hwy (not finalized)

Hmm . . . I can see some road trips missing that I haven’t written up (at least in my blog).

·      2008 Train Mountain, Chiloquin OR

·      2009 Washington areas

·      2010 Everett/Marysville/Washington Coast into Oregon.  We also had a flight to Chicago to see our son graduate from Navy Boot Camp.

·      2011 Flight to South Carolina

·      2013 National Park tour including Craters of the Moon, spending time with family in Colorado, Garden of the Gods, 4 Corners, Arches National Park, Great Salt Lake and Bonneville Salt Flats.

·      2016 Flight to Virginia – drove to Washington DC, then to Pennsylvania before flying home.

·      2017 Bellingham loop

·      2018 Another Caribbean cruise

·      2019 Another National Park tour including Craters of the Moon, Yellowstone, and Canyonlands.

      We also did a Columbia River road trip with my parents when our son was in grade school.  We drove to the beginning of the River in British Columbia, Canada.  The plan was to follow it all the way to the mouth at the Pacific Ocean.  Storms in Grand Coulee prevented us in completing the trip (although we did continue to at least Portland).  We finished it up a year later by starting in Portland and then went down the Oregon coast.

       Oh, besides road trips, I do have mechanics in the family.  My brother was a heavy duty diesel mechanic.  My dad was a mechanic in the National Guard as well as spending 37 years driving school bus.  And his dad also did mechanical work for Weyerhaueser.