-you see your first Waffle House -you drive through Christian County -you see mega church...after mega church -you spy your first Confederate flag -you see the 10 commandments in neon in front of a motel -the Bible is open to the motel housekeeper's favorite passage in your room -everything is fried on the dinner buffet, including okra and catfish -the front garden statuary outside the trailer includes two toilet bowls planted with plastic flowers -the lawn sprinkler at the motel is a cow with the water coming out of the udder -you can't find an NPR station This is too much fun and I could just keep it up for another two days but enough - more interesting things to write about. Saturday, June 6 Up early to get to the Truman Library. It is a ... read more

Another long driving day - about 450 miles - across Colorado into Kansas...and then more Kansas...and then more Kansas. It's true what they say about Kansas - it just keeps going on forever and is so very flat. We're in Abilene tonight, all tucked up in the newest, spiffiest hotel in town, the Holiday Inn Express. Lots of fields of amber waving grain, grain elevators every few miles, oil wells pumping, cows, horses, and just a picture of middle America. Some of the sitings- -signs alternately saying Jesus Loves You and Abortion Is Murder every few miles -a large billboard saying Jesus Restores, Pornography Destroys...right next to an adult store -signs for a local zoo featuring a six legged steer, a five legged cow and other assorted oddities - we're wondering about inbreeding... Abilene seems to ... read more

Another spectacular day. We started out early in the morning about 7 a.m. with a hike up the Emerald Pools trail in Zion - and when I say up I mean up! There are three sets of pools that are formed from runoff from the porous limestone cliffs and you climb like a mountain goat to all three of them. Our reward was being about the only hikers on the trail and then a serene breakfast at the top pool which we had to ourselves. And yes, Lauren, both your father and mother made it up with no problems - how much harder could Katahdin be?!!! A gorgeous drive from Zion to Bryce, climbing through the high plateaus of Utah and enjoying a thunderous late spring rainstorm. We even saw some buffalo on the drive. Bryce ... read more

Day 2 of the road trip and we're still talking to each other! We did about 450 miles yesterday from Sacramento to Death Valley and about 150 today to Las Vegas. Friday, MaY 29, 2009 The drive over 50 to South Lake Tahoe and then over the Monitor Pass through Markleeville was gorgeous with the high alpine meadows, craggy peaks...and being pretty much the only car on the road at times. Ah, the joys of off season retirement travel! With Steve's back we're being careful about stopping every couple of hours to stretch, eat, relax and so the day passed very quickly. Heading south on 395 Steve felt the yearning to pull off and fish...but the river was running so fiercely you would have been swept away in moments. He shared memories of his fishing trip ... read more

The countdown begins...4 more days to the start of the road trip. Steve and I are negotiating all the "stuff" we need to bring. He says you know you're getting older when it takes longer to organize your pills than to pack your bag for a trip! Well, at least good living through chemistry is keeping us going. Lauren's room looks like a staging area for an invasion...perhaps that's what we're doing. This is a trip that we've thought about for so long it's hard to believe that it's here. I remember two years ago in Maine thinking that I had only more summer when I had to eak out a few weeks and then it would all summer on the dock - those two years went fast...and in some ways could have gone even faster.... ... read more