Geo: 38.8405, -97.6097Today marks the first day of our return home. It was a major moving day eastward. Because we were losing an hour today, we got up early and left at 7:00 AM and a very chilly 45 degrees. Knowing it would get very warm before the day was over, we were in shorts. Thank goodness for seat warmers. I will say, it didn't take long for the warm-up to begin. By 8:10 AM it was 70 degrees (of course we were moving out of the mountains during this time). By 9:15 it was 86 degrees and an hour later it was 90 degrees. We arrived in Salina, KS at a whopping 97 degrees, so we more than doubled the temperature in just a few hours. Wow!So, we began the day driving east on Rt. ... read more

Geo: 39.8917, -105.762We headed out this morning at 7:30 AM and 57 degrees with Colorado in our sights. We drove for three hours through southern Wyoming, and as we got further south, the topography got much more interesting than it was yesterday. As we have seen in the southwest, out of deserts rise great mesas, and we saw some today. They did not have the bright and variegated colors of the ones in the southwest…these were yellowish tan…but they look majestic nonetheless with the horizontal ridges at the top and sand falling away at the bottom. We left Wyoming and crossed the border into Colorado at 10:23 and it always feels good to be in this state…it is incredibly beautiful. Colorado gave to me a love for mountains and perhaps one day I will see the ... read more

Geo: 48.3615, -113.311Happy Birthday, Scott. After a great night's sleep in our cushy suite, we got up early and hit the road, headed to Glacier National Park in Montana. We left at 7:35 AM and a chilly 47 degrees and turned the car south toward the US border. I will say, it did warm up as the day progressed and by the time we arrived at our hotel, it was 86 degrees and a good time to zip the legs off of my hiking pants. The drive began through more flat yellow prairie land and as we moved south, suddenly there they were, on the distant horizon, in an early morning haze…the mountains. They began to rise ever so slowly as we drove southwest and I began to feel the anticipation and excitement. We saw small ... read more

Geo: 50.448, -104.595We left Winnipeg this morning at 8:10 AM and 66 degrees. Winnipeg is the capitol of Manitoba. Since our hotel was on the west side of the city, and we got in late last night in rush hour traffic, we never did get to the Legislative Building (we call them Capitol Buildings in the US), or into the city proper. Poor planning on our part. Heading east this morning was not in the plan, so we hit the road and pointed the car west. Most of the day we were in farm country…very flat farm country. Montana would call this "big sky" country. We saw more of the same thing that we saw yesterday…golden fields of wheat, dark green fields of soy beans, an occasional field of corn, one field of asparagus, many fields ... read more

Geo: 46.7945, -92.0937Long day. We left our Houghton hotel at 9:00 AM and 68 degrees and drove down to the city center to look around a bit more before heading north to see the rest of the Keweenaw Peninsula. After some starts and stops, trying to forge a plan, we drove across the bridge and headed north. The drive was a very pleasant one through small towns, harbors and villages and up narrow roads tight with trees that formed a canopy over the road, creating a tunnel for cars to pass through. I kept my eyes peeled into the woods looking for animals, but did not see any. I remember encountering a bear once or twice in our travels and was hoping to see one today, but it didn't happen.The road went through Keweenaw County, through ... read more