In Portland

Well, we made it to Portland today after an overnight in a Motel 6 in Pendleton, Oregon. Pam and I have been sharing the cost of the lodgings and I took the Motel 6! Cheapest one we stayed in all week - lucky for me. Pendleton is a very neat old town, and we had the best meal of our whole week. Northwest Salmon and a great Oregon salad. We are going to take my car to the shop tomorrow for service, and have lunch with mine and Pam's friend, Leslie, and her precious little girl, Addi. They have made me feel so welcome in Portland. I have a lot to do before I move in my apartment. I don't start my rent until September 1 and I probably won't move everything in until after Labor Day. I am glad to be at Pam's and this is the end of the blog. I will keep up with everybody through Facebook and e-mail.

In Pendleton, Oregon

We left Lava Hot Springs this morning, and we were ready. It was good place to hang out for a few days, but it was time to go. We have had quite an adventure, but I miss my dogs and my friends and mom is ready to get settled into Portland. We probably could have made it all the way, but we were tired and so was the car. At our last fill up spot, we noticed the Corolla was making a weird knocking noise. When we checked the oil, the dipstick came up dry! Yikes! We filled it with 3 quarts and decided only to go as far as Pendleton. No worries, we think she's fine, just exhausted. She's getting a checkup on our return.

We had a great dinner at Hamley's Steakhouse. Mom and I shared a Salmon entree and had a great Oregon salad with a variety of greens (yea, no iceberg lettuce!), hazelnuts, and marionberry vinaigrette. Fabulously Oregon! Tomorrow....HOME!

Soak, Massage, Read, Relax....Ahhhhh

That's what today has been all about. Our journey is almost done, but today there was no driving, no alarm clocks, just relaxing-soaks and reading throughout the day, early afternoon massages, and then dinner at the Chuckwagon (I know it doesn't sound that great, but we had some great trout and potatoes.). Mom keeps beating me at backgammon, but I keep trying.

Tomorrow we have to get back in the car again, and I'm ready to get out of Idaho. I think we've exhausted the things to do in Lava Hot Springs anyway. I don't know where we'll end up between here and Portland, but most likely La Grande or Pendleton. Stay tuned.

Lava Hot Springs, ID

I don't know why Pam wants my ugly face in her videos - but oh, well. We are in a cool bed and breakfast in Lava Hot Springs and we soaked in one of the hot springs on their property. They have 5 or 6 hot springs. Today we are going to have massages - ahh! Tomorrow we start on our way to Portland. Since it would take us about 12 hours to get to Portland, we are going to stop somewhere on the way - probably about half way. Food is still a challenge. Vegetarian and/or fish choices are limited. For that we will be glad to get to Portland. It has been a fun trip and a good time for Pam and I to be together.

Arrival in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho

Boulder-Day 2

We had another great day in Boulder-shopping, eating, and sightseeing. Some of you know how much I love the literary work of the Beat Poets. Well, Naropa University is here and right next to our hotel. Naropa is a "Buddhist inspired, contemplative education" university. Allen Ginsberg was instrumental in starting the school and the emphasis is on peace and the environment. I was pretty excited to be on campus. Otherwise in Boulder, the day was absolutely perfect weather-wise and the food....fantastic. Trout tacos at lunch were the highlight and everyone at Zolo's Grill was so friendly and cool. We had the pool to ourselves when we got back to the hotel and then we took a soak. Mom kicked my butt at travel backgammon, and after Chinese delivery, we are settling in and will get ready in the morning to move on to Lava Hot Springs, Idaho.

Ahhh....Boulder

The Midwest is behind us and we are happy about it. We arrived in Boulder, Colorado this afternoon around 5 and took a walk to the Pearl St Mall and had some dinner at the Lazy Dog Grill. Tonight, the vegetables were real vegetables and the salmon was delicious. Afterwards, we took a soak at the whirlpool at the hotel, and came back to the room to relax. Tomorrow, we have another day in Boulder. We are going to try to make the Asian Cultural Festival here in town. It's going to be nice to have a day off the road.

From the Arch to the Truck Stop

We had a nice morning in St Louis, did our stretching and then walked around downtown and grabbed a bite. We waited a little too long to get to the Arch and didn't get to go up in, but got some awesome views from down below, and from the observation deck at the hotel. We went into the museum at the Arch, looked around awhile and then hit the road. We decided to press on further than Topeka so that we could get to Boulder tomorrow evening, so we drove and we drove and we drove. Kansas goes on forever and we stopped far short of the border in a truck stop layover called Salina (Sa-LIE-nuh). We priced hotels at our 3 options, and chose the Days Inn, but later laughed over the first question out of the mouth of the girl at the Holiday Inn Express, "Do you have a reservation?" Are you serious? I thought. Does anyone make a reservation here? It is definitely a place where people, including truckers, end up. I'm not sure anyone PLANS to come here. And, when we walked across the gas station parking lot to get to the 24/7 home cooked food place, I finally came to the realization that it is impossible to eat healthy on the road when one of the vegetables of the day was Macaroni and Cheese. After a good night's rest, hopefully, we will be on our way tomorrow. ON TO BOULDER!

From Bham to St. Louis

Pam mentioned Gloria, but not why she has become a real member of this trip. As those of you who have a GPS know, she talks to us. Whenever we got off the highway to get gas, eat, or use the bathroom, she got upset. "Turn left, turn left!!" We really expected her to curse us at some point. That kept us laughing. But the one that capped it was when I was in the bathroom (I always take her with me in my purse when I leave the car so nobody will take her). While I was in there, she said "losing satellite". I thought somebody was talking to me. Pam got so tickled when I told her and we just died laughing. We have wondered if some of them have men's voices - we know how men hate to take directions from women. But she really did her job when we got in St. Louis getting us to the hotel. I know I am going to love her in Portland and she will keep us on the right road to there (and keep us entertained at the same time). We haven't done anything in St. Louis yet. We plan to do the arch and some walking around the city this morning before we leave on our next leg.

Gloria gets us to St Louis

Okay, so the girl in the GPS had to have a name....G, G, Gloria. Then it was laugh after laugh. Here she is. More tomorrow about St. Louis.

Last Day in Alabama

Pam and I visited with the grandchildren and great-grand children today. Britany and Brandon (the grandchildren) look great and the great-grands are so cute. Kaya is Brandon's and she is about 10 months old. Cheyenne is Britany's and she is about 17 months old. We had so much fun playing with them and then took them to a restaurant for a little lunch. We are now headed to Niki's West, Pam's favorite place to eat when she comes to Birmingham - good southern cooking. Tomorrow we will start our journey West. Pam will do most of the driving and I will navigate with my new GPS that the church gave me as a going away gift. And away we go!

My Way East (and South)

I leave tomorrow to head to Alabama. It looks like my flight goes straight to Bham. The booking of this flight is a story in persistence. I went to Delta online and found a flight that was $118 one way to Bham. There wasn't a lot of information about the flight, so I decided to chat with a Delta agent to see where the layover was. Nothing goes from here to Bham direct. She told me Atlanta. As soon as I got the info, I tried to buy the ticket, but I had timed out and by the time I logged back in, it was gone. There was nothing under $265. We looked at Expedia, and it said the ticket at the cheap rate was there, but when I tried to buy it, same thing, no ticket for under $265. While I was on the phone with someone, mom persisted and got the fabulously inexpensive ticket on Priceline. Yippee! My only hope is there are no loop holes I find out about tomorrow. The traveling adventure begins.

Boxes coming in and Mom's house is empty

On Tuesday, I fly to Birmingham so we can begin our journey west. In the meantime, Mom has been packing things up in boxes and they are arriving, 3 or 4 a day, at my house. Her house is empty, or close, and she has signed the papers. We've been talking about our route(Mom got a GPS as a gift! We are stoked!)and so far, it looks like this...Bham to St Louis to Lawrence to ? to Boulder to Lava Hot Springs to Pendleton? to Portland. We might spend 2 nights in Boulder. Maybe, 2 nights in Lava Hot Springs? I bought some cool polarized sunglasses and I'm loading up books and music on my iPod. Today is laundry and the beginning of packing.

While in Portland...an aparment

One of the first things we did when mom got here was to look at apartments. Mom wanted to rent for awhile and think about buying. Leslie noticed some new apartments on 20th and Hawthorne and that's where we started. Mom loved them. I think she mostly loves that they are brand new and that she has a washer and dryer, but hey, that's cool. We saw a few, thought about it for a few days, and she went back and signed her lease. Apartment...check.

Planning...in progress

It was July 1st when mom began her vacation on the West Coast, first in San Francisco and then to Portland. It was on July 2nd that her house sold back in Alabama. She has to be out by August 7th. The plans begin.