Trip to Minot, North Dakota

Continuing on to Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone, and then home.

June 13- 26, 2009

Saturday 6/13/09 I left Colorado Springs at 6 AM - an hour earlier than I had planned. Last night Judy found out that her flight had been canceled and she and the kids were put on an earlier flight for Kentucky! But no one had called her!!! This isn't an unusual occurrence - this has happened to me at least three times - most recently on my trip to Panama when they even changed the airport and didn't bother calling me! So much for good airline service. Well at least they found out before they arrived at the airport but it meant I got up at 5 AM because I wanted to say good-bye to them before they left. So I loaded up and left at 6 for Nebraska. The problem I first had was getting on the highway (24) that I wanted. Colorado Springs has the worst signage that I have ever seen and I've had trouble there before. Fortunately I had a map and could find the names of the streets as I drove through downtown CS because the highway number 24 was not written on any of the streets! Finally I got on 24 out of town and headed to Limon. Then I really enjoyed the drive - the scenery was beautiful – all during the day - probably more so than usual because the recent rains made everything so very green. I loved looking at the miles and miles of farmland with all the neat and tidy homesteads along the highway. This area is all high prairie and was mostly started as dry farming. I enjoyed imagining what it looked like a hundred or more years ago when the early settlers first arrived to choose their 160 acres. It is hard to put myself in their place to see how they could pick such a barren place with such high hopes of making a living! Of course even before then there were many Native Americans living in the area and even that is hard to picture. Most of the area is just miles and miles of flat prairie - with occasionally clumps of trees indicating water of either a spring or creek but the area is very dry. I continued along highway 70 so I could go to Burlington - a town on the eastern edge of Colorado. There they have the Kit Carson County Carousel - built in 1905. Out of some 4000 built in that era only about 150 remain and this is one of them. It didn't open until 11:00 and since I was there at 9 I didn't get to ride it. But it was in a building with a large window so at least I got a look at it. I love carousels. Burlington downtown is rather run down - a lot of empty and run down buildings. I saw very few people out and about in the town. They also have a historic town - built and furnished from one hundred or more years ago but they need to work on keeping the town alive. Several of the old towns I drove through on this trip seemed almost empty - no one was around.

I continued on in to Kansas on 70 turning north at Oakley on 83 north, which goes to Minot. I haven't been in Kansas since 1961 when my mother and I drove from the East coast across the county. Aside from the new Eisenhower interstate I don't think Kansas has changed much since then - at least not from what I could see. I do remember from 1961 how flat Kansas was but this western part had more rolling hills than just flat. Not much in the way of hills but not totally flat. But you could see for miles and miles in all direction. All the area was farmed - lots of "fruited plains" and "wheat fields waving". The fields were in all stages - some just recently harvested, some just plowed, and some actually growing new plants. I even saw one farm rolling up the rolls of wheat. All the bales I saw were cylinders - not the rectangles we have in California. I loved watching field after field rolling past me with the occasional farmhouse. I can't help thinking that people living out there are different from those of us who live with neighbors close enough to talk to over the fence. I was thinking that I could talk to five different families from my back yard and five from my front porch. How different to have to drive 5 miles to see someone other than those who live with you. I loved thinking about these things as I drove by. I especially thought about my grandparents who drove along this area from Kansas to Colorado 95 years ago with my mother who was a baby at the time. What a rich history our nation has in this area which I have lived vicariously from family stories and books written by people like Laura Ingalls Wilder. I think I find this area all so intriguing because I don't actually know it like I know the rest of my family history that took place in San Francisco where I grew up.

When I turned off of highway 70 to go north on 83 I had a brief stomach churning moment when I looked at the long empty road ahead of me but I continued on and enjoyed every moment. I didn't even want to listen to music or a book because I was enjoying the scenery so. Eventually I crossed the border into Nebraska - a new state for me! When David and I first retired we started a list of states we visited - hoping someday to visit all 50 states and most of the National Parks. I think he would be glad I was going on a trip like this and continuing my exploration of the United States. Of course I spent some time thinking about him and how much I missed him.

The scenery changed as I headed into Nebraska. The first "large" town was McCook and I stopped there for a snack. It was a pretty busy town but from there to North Platte was again very little populated but what a beautiful drive that was. The hills and valleys were much more pronounced - the highway was like a roller coaster. The views were incredibly beautiful - green fields and valleys with green bushes and trees in clumps and spread out along with various wild flowers. The farm homes were all well cared for - many painted white - crisp and clean. Lots of cows in the fields along with young calves and houses with colts. It was really a beautiful drive. I was happy to cross and see the Platte River - I've heard and read so much about this area - especially in relationship to birds. The trip from North Platte to Valentine was flatter and plainer but still attractive and all went well until I was 25 miles south of Valentine.

I suddenly realized that the sky was very black - it was about 4:00. I turned on the local radio and Valentine was 70 degrees with a few drizzle but there was a storm and tornado warning. And then suddenly I was in the storm! I didn't know what to do. The rain came down more than I've ever seen before - certainly more than I have ever driven in. I didn't want to pull over because there was no place to pull over and besides if hail started I'd probably be worse off. I slowed down and kept driving and praying. There wasn't a lot of traffic - more coming south than going north! One truck did pass me even though I was going about 50 miles per hour. I could see enough to keep going but I was very tense. I had to remind myself to breathe! Eventually I notice that in front of me the sky was less black so I took hope and kept going until I eventually reached my hotel. I could hardly stand up when I got out of the car! And it was hard to talk when I went in. 3 guys on motorcycles came in behind me but they were coming from the North. They said I did the right thing - you have to keep going. Well now I'm in the hotel room and I can hear the wind blowing outside but no rain. The weather channel keeps having alerts so I turned it off. There still is a tornado warning as well as a storm warning but it is about 11 miles south and east from here. So hopefully by morning I'll be able to leave and be away from the danger. I have loved this trip up to this point. So I'm not going to think about this any more. I'm pleased I was able to make it this far on my own. When I crossed into Nebraska today I stopped and thought how far away from "home" I was and I thought about the fact that I got here all on my own! What an adventure.

Sunday 6/14/09 Today I crossed the Missouri River - how exciting that was. The River is so much a part of our history and well known through song and story. I even walked a bit on the Lewis and Clark trial - great day. I left Valentine this morning about 7:00. It was really stormy last night - when I went to bed it was still lots of thunder and lightening with a possible tornado. I just finally turned off the weather channel and went to bed. Fortunately I slept very soundly. When I got up it wasn't raining but when I loaded the car it was pouring so I got soaking wet. But I was driving north and the storm was going south so eventually I was out of the rain and for the rest of the day I had sunny and clear weather. The trip was beautiful. When I first entered South Dakota (another new state!) The rolling hills and fields were so green and lovely. The homesteads were less picturesque at first being mostly trailer homes but before long the farms were spread out and just like the pictures one would expect of beautiful farm homes. I saw lots of birds some of which I was able to identify as I drove past. It was especially neat to see some Upland Sandpipers and also the Bobolinks. These are birds I don't see in California. The prairie potholes were full of water and in each pond there were always a pair or two of ducks. I'm not sure of all the kinds I saw but I know there were mallards and canvasbacks. I drove through Pierre - the capital city of South Dakota and found it a rather neat town. Kenneth's friend (Mike) had told me to be sure to follow the speed limits and I was glad I did - I saw several police cars sitting on side streets waiting for speeders. Highway 83 sometimes goes right through the middle of the town. 83 is a north/south highway but it goes east and west often and often has several other numbers. But fortunately it was well numbered and I was always given a warning before I had to turn (although going at 65 miles an hour some of the turns were pretty quick!) I arrived in the Bismarck area and had just pulled off to a rest stop when Lennie called to tell me she was at the airport. So I picked her up and we continued on to Minot. We drove through green plains and saw some birds to start our North Dakota bird list. We arrived at our hotel by 4 or so, checked in, went downstairs for the social hour and met some fellow birders. Nancy Hay was here so we talk to her and met her friend Annemarie and had a good dinner and then went to bed by 8:00.

Monday, 6/15/09 What a wonderful day of birding today. We were up at 3:30 for a 4:30 departure. The whole conference was divided into 3 groups so there were 30 people on each bus and we each went to a different area. We went to the Turtle Mountain area up near the northern border. We took about an hour and a half to get there and started our day off with a wonderful drumming/booming ruffed grouse. Oh my what a view we had. We continued the day in various areas and different habitat, pine forest, aspen, lakes, and grassland and prairie. It was a beautiful day and we saw about 80 species of birds. It was surprising how well such a large group worked and we all saw most of the birds. It was a polite group too. We were supplied with plenty of water and a very generous lunch. We got back to Minot at 4:00 so we had two hours to get ready for a six o'clock dinner. We went down a little early and had a social drink and talked to some more people. It is rather fun to get to meet people from all over the U.S. It was funny because before we went down I told Lennie that there was this guy from New York City that looked so familiar but I couldn't place him. At dinner Nancy and I sat next to him and he asked us if we had been to Attu! That is where I had met him before - so we had a fun discussion remembering that wonderful trip. After dinner Ron Martin - who lives here in North Dakota and is in charge of much of the birding - gave us a presentation of the breeding birds of the state. It was most interesting - east meets west very clearly here along the Missouri River line and there are even lots of hybrids along this line. The state has several major birding populations and it was fun to learn a bit about the habitat of the state. So off to bed for another early morning.

Tuesday, 6/16/09 Up at 3:30 for a 4:30 departure to Garrison Dam area. Unfortunately it was raining when we arrived an hour later but not a windy rain. We stopped at a rest stopped and waited a while under a picnic roof and then we continued on birding with our rain clothes and umbrellas. It wasn't too bad and we did see lots of new birds. So far I haven't seen any new "life birds" but of course they are all new state birds since I've never been to North Dakota before. As usual the scenery was lovely and interesting - lots of green prairie and farms. We even saw some missile silos - interesting to think of living near all of those. Also some of the fields had oil pumps in them. No. Dakota has some oil and the challenge is to collect the oil and use the energy without damaging the environment. Every new tower, pipe and road affects many aspects of the environment. There is even a problem with trying to use the wind of the prairie as energy. First of all there is a concern that the wind is actually decreasing and then again the towers and roads make a different. It isn't a simple solution and the welfare of the people living in the area must also be included. San Francisco has more people than the whole state of North Dakota! I just find the whole exposure to this new environment so interesting. We had a rather exciting time towards the end of our trip when our bus suddenly lost traction going up a muddy road and we came very close to going into the ditch. Two of our leaders got out and carefully directed and gave some help to our excellent driver who eventually got us back on a firmer part of the road where he had to back up for a mile or so to find a place to turn around and go back. We were lucky because it would have been a very long walk to get so help. We got back a little after 1:00 and got ready for a 2:00 "workshop" by Jon Dunn. He is an "expert" on sparrows and wrote "THE" book on sparrows. It was very interesting but so much information. We enjoyed a good dinner and met some new people. It is fun to hear other people's stories and birding experiences. It seems to be a nice group. I'm enjoying myself.

Wednesday 6/17/09 Today we had a slightly later start not having to leave until 5:15 so we slept until 4:00 AM! We went north of Minot to the Salyer National Wildlife Refuge. Another beautiful and green spot - lots of marshes and ponds. And today for extra excitement I finally got a new life bird - two actually. A LeConte's Sparrow was my 600th ABA bird - I finally have a respectable number on my life list. Sprague's Pipit was my 601st bird and what fun that was. Instead of seeing this Pipit on the ground we saw it in the sky - way up in the sky. Our leaders heard the bird first and then we saw it flying up high. The fun part was that there were two males and they started a territorial fight and fought each other going round and round as they headed straight down to the ground - stopped for a bit and then back up they went. We all got very good a satisfying looks at them. I also got good looks of two different LeConte’s sparrows. The first one was nest building and flew back and forth and I was lucky enough to keep it in view as it flew. The second one later in the day was in a bush and was steady enough for good scope looks. The day continued well with good weather, good company, and good and plenty food. We had time to clean up before dinner, had a drink and fun chats with some of our new friends and enjoyed another good dinner. Ted Floyd gave us an entertaining talk about night birding - I sure would love to be out some night and hear the migrating birds. So off to bed for one more day of birding.

Thursday 6/18/09 What a beautiful day we had. We went to Lostwood and Des Lacs NWR. The rolling hills of the prairie we saw were incredibly beautiful. In addition I saw another new ABA bird - the Baird's Sparrow - #602. What a lot of fun that was. (When I got home and did my bird list I discovered that the Sedge Wren I saw yesterday was also a new ABA bird.) In addition to all the wonderful birds we saw today we also saw a family of coyotes with about 8 pups as well as lots of young Richardson ground squirrels. We also saw lots of baby chicks, geese, hawks, godwits, pipits, plovers, shovelers, plus others I can't remember. It was a wonderful day in many ways. We had great group leaders and such a nice group. I feel like I am leaving some good friends. I definitely would go on a trip like this again. We had a good dinner with all the usual thanks and highlights of the trips. Now Lennie and I are on to our exciting journey across six Western states. I saw 124 bird species in this area, four of them new ABA birds.

Friday 6/19. We left early this morning driving west and then south. We drove through both the North and the South portions of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It was absolutely beautiful with bison, wild horses, and views. No wonder Roosevelt loved the place so much he bought and ran a ranch in this area called the badlands. What he learned here helped him become interested in conservation of the land. This is a park I would love to spend more time visiting. While here we saw a road sign saying that the work was being done with the stimulus money. We eventually saw 3 such signs for roadwork. So far only one half of one percent of the money has been given out. We stopped to see the monument to the geographic center of the United States. The actual center is twenty miles outside of Belle Fouche but the very impressive monument is in the town. This center includes Hawaii and Alaska, for the 48 states the center is in Kansas, We continued driving south and arrived in Rapid City for our overnight stay – drove 571 miles today – our longest driving day.

Saturday 6/20 Today we drove to Wall Drug Store –the place that made a go of it in 1936 by offering free ice water. Now it is a booming tourist attraction with thousands of visitors a year. We walked around and checked it all out, took a ride on the jackalope and then continued on to The Badlands National Park. We drove the loop through the park and stopped at most of the lookouts and gazed on the most amazing scenery. The various formations have to be seen, as they are almost indescribable. Such amazing colors and vistas and starkness. I could have visited here longer. There is an underground launch control center and a missile silo from the Minuteman missiles. History as I remember it! But we had to leave as we had a lot more to see. We drove back to Rapid City to visit a museum there called “The Journey”. They had displays showing time in the Dakotas from ancient prehistoric times, through the American Indian times, through the early pioneer timess A very well put together museum but we only looked at the surface. It is a museum worthy of many hours and days to absorb it all. Just as we left and headed for Mt. Rushmore it started raining and raining even more as we drove over the hills. Both of us were a little worried thinking the same thing – Mt. Rushmore was our main attraction for planning this trip but as we got closer to the monument the rain stopped and we had a glorious visit there. It looks just like all the photos but is so much more impressive to see in person. We took lots of photos and walked on the trail that goes closer to the monument. It was absolutely wonderful. I loved the statement telling of the Meaning of Mount Rushmore. “The four American Presidents carved into the granite of Mount Rushmore were chosen by the sculptor to commemorate the founding, growth, preservation, and development of the United States. They symbolize the principles of liberty and freedom on which the nation was founded….” It is good to be reminded what a great nation we live in. The park area is quite built up with places to eat and shop but it was nicely done and has a nice museum. The walkway to the monument was lined with the flags of each state – four to a post. We thought there would be 52 and found Washington DC and Guam (a territory). But there were actually 56 flags in order to include 2 other territories (American Samoa and Virgin Islands) and 2 commonwealths (Puerto Rico and Northern Mariana Islands). Finally we left this wonderful place and headed for Custer State Park. This was another beautiful park with much different scenery and a very interesting road with lots of one-lane tunnels and corkscrew (or pig tail) roads and bridges through the park. We took the Iron Mountain road where each tunnel framed one of the president’s head on the monument. Along this road we were stopped by the “begging burros”. They are “wild” burros that try to get drivers to feed them. It was fun to drive – we would have enjoyed more time in that park but it was late in the day and we were tired so we headed to the town of Custer where we had a very nice motel and walked to a restaurant with an excellent dinner – we both had steak. Drove 265 miles today.

Sunday 6/21 We were up early and left by 7 for Crazy Horse. We were almost the first tourists there. They had a wonderful introductory film that talked about the start of the carving and the man and his family. What an inspiration that whole project is – to plan for something that is so immense that it seems impossible and then to keep working on something that you know will not be done in your lifetime. His children are continuing his project and it is all done with private donations. They have never accepted government money. Sometimes it is good to know there are people who “dream the impossible dream”. We then left here and drove north and then west and visited Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. In 1906 Theodore Roosevelt named this as the first national monument. This was also a very interesting place – a rock tower out in the middle of the plains. It is infamous for being significant in the 1977 movie “Close Encounter of the Third Kind”. It is also a popular climbing rock. The American Indians attribute some spiritual significance to the tower also and in June they try to have a voluntary ban on climbing. We walked around the base of the tower and enjoyed close looks at the tower, plus the forest and various birds. I often have interesting experiences when I talk to park rangers about birds. I asked the ranger what kinds of swifts were flying up there and he tried to convince me they were falcons! I told him there were about 50 of them and then he decided they had to be rock pigeons. I don’t know why people can’t admit they don’t know something instead of making up such ludicrous answers. We finally figured out the answer for ourselves because white-throated swifts were the only swifts in the area that fit the description! There were lots of people here – parking was at a premium – I don’t know if it was because it was Sunday, or a free entrance day, or because there was some kind of American Indian activity going on – probably all three. (Note that everywhere in our travels here – “native Americans” were referred to as “American Indians) Our drive to and from Devils Tower was just awesome – green green green. Driving towards Greybull we had the Big Horn Mountains in front of us. We drove up to 8 thousand feet and had wonderful views. The road seemed fine to us but we hit one section that had a huge area of up rooted and cut trees and it looked like they were building wider and more roads. It may have something to do with the lumber industry that is still healthy up here. We arrived at Greybull around 7:00 – we had decided to stay here because it was another hour to Cody but it wasn’t much of a town. This motel where we had made reservations was the only non Best Western motel we stayed in and confirmed my preference for Best Western. The clerk had given away our two queen beds to someone who had just called to make a reservation. Well I very politely told her she couldn’t do that as we had reserved a month ago with a credit card so eventually we got a room – very basic but it was clean. We were hungry but there wasn’t much in town so we went to a KOA campground where they had a restaurant and had the worse meal of the trip – but at least we didn’t have to go to bed hungry. We drove 425 miles today.

Monday 6/22 We left Greybull before 7 this morning so we just ate something from our cooler as nothing in the town opened before 7:00. When we got to Cody we stopped at a fast food place and got something more to eat including a cup of coffee. Then we entered Yellowstone. What a wonderful place! . (In 1872 Yellowstone was declared the first national park.) It is so beautiful with such a variety of scenes and habitats. I could easily spend a month there and never tire of the place. There were several places where roadwork was being done so we planned our drive through the park to avoid as little of that as possible. There is a road that covers the park – roughly in the shape of a figure 8 so we were able to drive that whole loop. We walked around the Sulphur Caldron area to see the amazing pots of bubbling mass – lots of steamy sulphur stuff. It was pretty cold this morning and we were glad to have some of our warm clothes. We drove by Yellowstone Lake – North American’s largest mountain lake. Over geological time it has drained into the Pacific Ocean and into the Arctic Ocean via Hudson Bay. Now it drains into the Atlantic via the Gulf of Mexico. We drove the north circle of the road never tiring of the vistas. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone was so impressive – the river some 1200 feet below and its width from 1500-4000 feet across. We saw two gorgeous waterfalls here and enjoyed the amazing colors of the canyon walls. We thought of eating lunch at Roosevelt lodge but it was half an hour wait so we had a picnic lunch instead. We continued driving around seeing a variety of scenes, birds, bison, and elk. Once I saw a bright yellow bird fly by while we were hiking and thought I knew what it was but wasn’t positive but some non-birders said oh we have a photo of it! It was a Western Tanager – they were pleased that we were so excited about their photo – how they every got it with their little camera was amazing. We completed the road drive and only had a 5-minute wait at the highway construction. I had a lot of stuff to read during the “30 minute” wait and I didn’t get any of it done! We stopped by “Old Faithful” but since we had just missed it we decided to come back in the morning. We went on into West Yellowstone for the night. We had a nice motel and an excellent dinner – made up for the dinner in Greybull. We had to walk around the town to find this place – which was crowded and had a 30-minute wait. So we sat at the bar and had a beer and talked to a local but even here we didn’t have to wait long only ten minutes. So since I spent some time here in Montana I have added another state to my list. I used to keep a list of the states I had visited with the goal of visiting all 50 – so I revived that list and added four from this trip – Nebraska, North and South Dakota, and Montana. I now have seen 31 states as an adult. I think I drove through a few states with my mother in 1961 but I have no photos and cannot remember anything about them so I didn’t add those states. We drove 283 miles today.

Tuesday 6/23 We left by about 7:30 this morning and entered Yellowstone again. We had a great start by seeing a Bald Eagle sitting on a nest. There were warning signs not to stop but we still had very good looks as we drove past. Then a little further on we saw a pair of Sandhill Crane – I love those birds. I was especially glad to see them as yesterday we had been told that there was one sitting on a nest out in the middle of the lake – but it was so far out I wasn’t sure and now I don’t have to use my imagination to say I saw them in the park. We drove straight to the “old Faithful” area and here we lucked out once again – only 20 minutes or so to wait and not a lot of people around, nothing like last night. We walked around the area looking at other geysers and then got back with front row seats to wait for the eruption. It certainly erupted within the 20 minute expected time span. We could even feel the spray; it was a lot of fun to watch – somewhat of a “required” sight when going to Yellowstone. We saw bison in a field very close to some steaming geysers. Then we continued on the road to Grand Teton National Park Much of this area was burned in the 1988 fire and it was interesting to see the regrowth of the trees in the past 20 years – it takes a long time at this elevation to grow. We crossed the continental divide three times on the way to Grand Teton NP. We were planning on hiking some place in Grand Teton NP so we stopped in Colter Bay to get some maps. We did consider hiking around Jenny Lake but then we saw several suggested hikes on the wall and one was labeled: To see birds…. so that was the hike we took. It was near Colter Bay around two appropriately named lakes: “Swan Lake: and “Heron Lake”. It was a short 3-mile hike that was absolutely lovely. Mostly flat, in and out of shade and sun, trees and meadows. We did see some birds and particularly enjoyed a sapsucker with young. There were lots on Canada Geese in one pond – some with young. Before we went on the hike we had lunch at Colter Bay, it was really good. I had a buffalo burger that was good. Many of the Colter Bay buildings were built with the wood of other buildings that had to be torn down. It is an attractive area with a large marina for the boating on Jackson Lake. We felt like this lunch made up for our missed lunch yesterday. After our hike we continued down the road enjoying many amazing visits – the Tetons are beautiful mountains. We arrived to our motel in Jackson by 6:00 – really nice room but not worth the double price of all our other motels – clear case of Location! But we walked to a dinner place and had another excellent dinner – it might have been steak again. We have eaten well on most of this trip. We drove 138 miles for the day.

Wednesday 6/24 Left Jackson after 7 and headed towards Idaho. Today we stopped at Craters of the Moon National Monument. But before we got there we stopped for a few views and picked up a new trip bird along the way, a Common Loon. Again we had wonderful scenery. Along the way we drove past the Experimental Breeder Reactor where the first nuclear reactor to generate a usable amount of electricity was located. We drove through the town of Arco that bills itself as “the first city in the world to be lit by atomic power”. Along the way we saw lots of osprey, on nests on top of power poles and out fishing. We eventually reached the Monument. This area was of volcanic origin with lots of lava from long fissures called the Great Rift. It was a beautiful area in a much different way from the areas of green. We walked around a few trails and picked up a few new birds. Some of NASA’s Apollo Astronauts learned basic volcanic geology here in 1969 – before their moon missions. There is a lot here to learn. After we left here we continued on the road stopping at the Minidoka Internment National Monument. All that is there is a sign explaining the area – they plan some day to add artifacts to the area but just seeing the barren, sad, dry place is an emotional experience. How cruel it was to send all those American Citizens to such a deserted place during World War II. We continued on driving after changing our motel to Caldwell since we felt we could drive another hour. Along the way we did come to a couple more roadwork stops. One place we had to wait extra time because the guy’s radio wasn’t working so he couldn’t find out when the guy at the other end was stopping traffic on the one-way section of the road. He eventually got someone on his cell phone who told him a new radio was on its way. It was nice of the guy to keep us informed fof the reason for the delay and he kept apologizing. Before he got a radio a motorcycle stopped and told him the guy at the other end couldn’t reach him so he stopped his traffic to give us a turn. That was nice and good thinking. At another road work project we had to follow a pilot car on a one lane section – but when she turned left at a fork in the road we wanted to go right so I did but just then a guy there turned his sign to stop so I stopped. But it turned out he was puzzled – until he realized that he was just playing around with his sign and hadn’t meant to stop up. Probably funnier experiencing it than writing about it. Well we got to our motel (which was better than the one an hour earlier) and had dinner – just a Perkins but it was pretty good and just across the road from the motel. I finally had my chicken fried steak for the trip! We drove 471 miles for the day.

Thursday 6/25 We left at 7:50 this morning – we gained an hour in the time change and used it to sleep and relax. Once we figured out how to get on highway 20 we headed to Oregon. Other people must have had a similar problem because when we stopped at the visitor center to ask directions they had a map all ready for us. We were headed for Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which was a wonderful stop. Like many of the NWLR in Central California this area was set up to drive around the refuge on levees. There was a lot of marshland and some large ponds and streams so we saw a variety of ducks and many other wetland birds. It was a lovely drive and we could only do half of it in our allotted time. So after this we headed on to California and Alturas for the night. Still beautiful scenery but very different from the past scenes, farmland instead of prairie, taller trees, and mountains and more people. We are getting closer to home. We had a really good Italian type dinner tonight. We drove 455 miles today.

Friday 6/26 – Like a horse to the barn we are headed home. We didn’t stop at any of the possible sights – saved them for another day. We stopped at Vacaville – the old Nut Tree area – boy has that area changed, built up a lot but also going down hill some. We had a short lunch and got gas and headed for the Bay Area. We arrived in Palo Alto about 3:00 where Lennie unloaded her stuff and then I went on home, stopping at the grocery store first. I completely unloaded my car so I could take it in the next day to be cleaned. My yard was in good shape – lots of weeds but lots of fruit and vegetables. I love to travel but it always good to get home too. We drove 402 miles today. It was a great trip – we were good traveling companions and good drivers. We saw some incredibly beautiful places. What a beautiful country we live in. We drove a total of 3109 miles and I saw about 150 species of birds.