Day 40 (Friday, July 15, 2016)

We are home.  :)

We were up very early as we wanted to get home shortly after lunch.  We breakfasted at the hotel and hit the road.  We did about six hours up the 55, then the 57, then headed east on the 64.  We loaded up for fuel for the last time in Missouri-it was the cheapest gas yet on our trip ($1.75 per gallon!).  The highest we paid was in British Columbia right after Fort Nelson, and although they did not have it posted, with the exchange rate and price per liter, we paid close to $7 per gallon, definitely a little gouging going on there!! Maybe.  California was actually in the $2 to $3 dollar range as was Alaska.

We made a quick stop in Spencer County at a rest area, just for the heck of it.  Actually, we had to make a pit stop for a restroom break!!   We couldn’t make it home!  We probably hadn’t stopped there since it first opened in 1978!

We hit the driveway of home at 1:30 PM, same time on the clock we left 40 days before! 

If you are interested, here are some some stats for June 6-July 15.

*40 days and 40 nights

*12,862 miles of driving (254 hours of windshield time = 10 ½ days at the wheel)

*~2,000 miles on the ferry

*23 states (four new ones for Cheryl and two for Andrew) and three provinces in Canada

*26 nights on the ground in a tent (air mattress!)

*+1 night on the air mattress in Max’s apartment (Urbana, IL)

*Four nights on the ferry (Inner passage between Haines, Alaska and Bellingham, Washington)

*Two nights in worker’s dorm/camps (Coldfoot and Deadhorse, both in Alaska)

*One night at the Begle residence (Houston, Texas)

*Five nights in hotels using points (Anchorage, Alaska, Portland, Oregon, Oakdale, California, Colorado Springs, Colorado, and West Memphis, Arkansas)

*And our final night, back home again in Kyana.

*We had some great hikes, bikes, and kayaks.

The majority of our time we were about 4’ apart from each other, driving, sleeping, and sightseeing.  We did spread out a bit when hiking, biking, and kayaking, but not by much or not for long. 

FINIS.

And we could and will do it again, in a heartbeat. :)  Soulmates on a journey that only strengthened the bonds.  :)  Really.  

Day 39 (Thursday, July 14, 2016)

We woke up to a great “BB- cooked breakfast of biscuits and gravy with an egg on top(!) and “caravanned” with the Begles (albeit a Chevy truck followed by a Ford truck) up to Memphis-about another 600 miles and ten more hours on the road.  It actually took a little longer due to traffic in Baton Rouge and rain (actually RAIN!) through big stretches of Mississippi (HARD rain with high winds, three storms total with very limited visibility each time!).

We got to Memphis around 7:30 and stopped to visit the gates of Graceland and say hello to Elvis (BB and Eileen’s first time!!).  We then traveled to a hotel just across the river in Arkansas before heading down to Beale Street.  We met up with some of BB and Eileen’s softball era friends (daughters played college ball together at Lipscomb) that live near Memphis.  

When in Memphis, you eat ribs and greens, so we did at the Blues City Café.  YUMMY!  While also in Memphis, you stop in to a blues club and enjoy the music, so we headed to BB King’s Blues Club.  The band there did a fantastic version, with an amazing guitar solo, of “Purple Rain” which warranted a slow dance. J 

We wandered down to another club and caught another act called Mississippi Bigfoot!  The lead singer did a GREAT Janis Joplin, among others.  We had great seats and stayed until they were finished for the night.  

The food, atmosphere, and music of Beale Street is right up there with the other natural wonders we saw on our journey.  We headed back across the river to the hotel for our final night “on the road.”

Day 38 (Wednesday, July 13, 2016)

It was a drive day, as we needed to get to Houston at a decent hour.  The tent was just as easy to take down as it was to set up!  It was a cool 72 when we were ready to take off about 8.  Texas has speed limits of 75 on two lane highways!!  Zip, Zip, Zip!  It was a bit nerve-wracking at times and Andrew did the driving as he was in the zone!

There were lots of ranches on our journey today, all different sizes, with the gated entries that a person associates with ranches, and with names like the “Double D” and the “Triple S.”  Ranches were mostly of the cows and/or horses variety, but some hay fields, cropland, and a few oil rigs thrown in for good measure.  Several fields were FILLED with oil rigs, the rigs looking like giant praying mantises bobbing their heads up and down, like those “birds” that dipped and dipped up and down into water (surely some remember those!)!! The smell was extremely gassy as we drove by.  It was so strong I can’t imagine how those people that live there do it!  They really have to be used to it.

We passed fields of windmills and a field of adorable goats, along with subtle changes in the landscape—less flat and more of the flat-topped hills, sort of like Utah, and back to flat again!  We went through small towns and larger ones, and a city or two before dropping into Houston. 

Houston is a very large city; Andrew says it is one of the largest geographically, as it is really spread out.  AND, of course, with cities of this size, there are a zillion lanes of traffic to weave through.  It wasn't as congested as I thought it would be, but then again, Andrew was driving.  :)  Texas is a also pretty hot and humid state!  The temperature rose above 90 early and stayed that way for most of the evening nearing 100.  Apparently that is pretty normal for July.

Brian and Eileen were home and we sat to visit a bit before heading to a restaurant we'd missed the last time we were here, as we had an earlier flight to catch than our traveling companions and had to head to the airport.  Andrew and I shared a swordfish special  and grabbed a taste of Brian's flounder and Eileen's tuna and there were all truly AMAZING!  We then adjourned to a neighboring restaurant for a rooftop view and cheesecake!  This second restaurant hosted a celebration with Astronaut Alan Shepard Jr.  in 2011 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first American in space!  

As we drove past the Johnson Space Center we saw the 747 that actually transported the shuttles from the East coast to the West, with a mock-up of a space shuttle (Houston wasn’t “awarded” a real one when they were decommissioned.).

We went back to their house to ready for our final two legs of the journey home.  We did watch a few episodes of “The Ranch.”  We rarely if ever watch TV, and this show had some really funny moments! 

We get to sleep in a most comfortable bed and take a wonderfully hot shower, before we take off around 8 in the AM.   

Day 37 (Tuesday, July 12, 2016)

After a fortifying breakfast courtesy of the hotel we were on our way.  It is so hard to believe we are heading into our final days of our 40 days and 40 nights.  It feels like a flash!  We could just extend it another 40 days?!?!

We had planned on driving, driving, and more driving today.  BUT we got sidetracked, and that is okay as that is what vacations are for! 

We got a notch in our belt of states we haven’t been in yet by driving into New Mexico.  It is truly enchanting!  It is, but that is also what the state sign says when you enter:  Welcome to New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment.  The sign also features hot peppers.  :)

There is so much open space.  You can drive forever in one direction and you can’t even see where it ends.  There are intersections that used to be towns, with abandoned buildings, where people attempted to etch a life in all of this barrenness.  There are pastures upon pastures of cows and horses.  There must be ranch houses somewhere but the space is so expansive you just can’t see any signs of life beyond the animals.  We did encounter a new sign to watch for bears crossing the road.  Most signs regarding bears was to just watch for them; this one was more specific, to watch for them crossing the road.  :)

Our first distraction was a volcano, and its surrounding “field” of volcanoes.  We debated about stopping because we knew it would be a delay, but it was a VOLCANO!!  And volcanoes are just intriguing in general.  We followed the signs and paid our entrance fee to the Capulin Volcano National Monument.  When we saw it from the main road we wondered if we could actually drive up on it as it “looked” like a road was spirally around it.  Well, you can drive up and park, and then walk INTO a crater!  And also AROUND the crater!  We actually walked down into the “vent” which had been plugged up for a long time by solid lava and looked UP.  It is hard to capture in pictures and words; the crater is about 100’ DOWN from where we parked our truck, about a quarter of a mile walk (fairly steep coming back up!).  The “rim” itself is about 1450’ wide, with the “tall” end about 415’ above the bottom of the crater.  The trail around the rim is about 1 mile around, with some of it pretty steep, but the VIEWS!!  WOW!  You could see forever, in that you couldn’t even see where it ended.  It just blurred into the horizon and sky.  You could see mounds of former volcanoes, and smaller craters, everything went on and on!  A delay well worth it!  Plus we did get some hiking in. :)

We commented that we should have bought a national park pass.  We visited a few while on our journey.  This year is the 100^th anniversary of the national park system, and all 4^th graders, and whoever are with them, get in free to ALL national parks.  The family we camped next to outside of Yosemite knew they were going to be camping all summer and decided to tour as many national parks as they could.  They “borrowed” their 10 year old nephew so they literally got in free to all of the parks.  He was taking part in the Junior Ranger program and earning badges along the way.  They said he was having the best time and loved learning so much about each of the parks. 

We are truly in the land of cowboys, as evidenced by everyone driving trucks, wearing cowboy hats and boots, ranch upon ranch of livestock, and silos that were ginormous!  Extremely ginormous, and not just one or two, but every so many miles!  The crop circles created by the irrigation systems became more frequent once we entered Oklahoma, another notch for our belt. 

Andrew actually studied the map and found if we took a side road, we could stand where Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma meet up.  So we did and we stood on the exact spot, surround by fields in all three states.  Andrew actually lay down so he could be touching each part!  Several trucks drove by, smiling and probably wondering why there were strangers standing near the intersection in the road, as not that many people would think that was even worth stopping for (but we did!), but just waving and driving on.  We drove along the panhandle of Oklahoma a bit before heading back into Texas.  That was our second so-worth-it delay.  A notch and another LIFE® card. We sure have accumulated tons of those this trip!

We were in Masterton when the truck's outside temperature indicator registered 102.  We’d been really spoiled with our journey with the highest temperature actually being 75 when we camped on the Arctic Circle, and then the mid-80s in Yosemite.    We miss those 50s and 60s from the California coast!  We witnessed the most exquisite rainbow that was so vibrant-each color so strong and individual(usually the colors sort of blend upon each other!) and then it doubled, and then, as one went away, the remaining one became a full ½ circle!  We drove through a rain, then hail, ending in rain storm all the while aiming for the blue sky on the horizon.

Landing in Lubbock right about 8, we searched and found the final resting place of Buddy Holly.  It was a simple memorial, placed flat in the ground, with flowers, pennies, and guitar picks from those pausing to pay their respects.  We drove into town and stopped at the Buddy Holly Plaza; there is a life-size statue of Buddy there as part of a music venue and museum of sorts.  We were too late to enter the buildings, but shared a few peaceful moments there. 

A local microbrewery offered a bowl of soup (green chili/cheddar) before we headed to a KOA for the night.  We set up our tent, the easiest set up thus far.  We didn’t have to set out a tarp under the tent, or put on a rain fly, or use a heavy blanket or insulator mats as it was dry and warm when we finally crawled in.  Ninety degrees to be exact, at 11 PM.  :)

Tomorrow is a drive day, all the way to Houston!  Begles, here we come! 

Day 36 (Monday, July 11, 2016)

We drove and drove and drove.  Our goal was the Denver suburb of Golden where we were going to meet Kim and Bryon and their families for supper. 

We ended the night before thinking we were in the foothills of the mountains, but we still had 300 miles to go.  We drove through different ranges but mostly canyons; we stopped and gawked at the “Salt Wash” and other vistas.  We went by canyon lands and Arches National Park.  The canyon landscape is another kind of beautiful, the colors and vastness and deepness.

The Colorado River snaked its way along the road, curving back and forth, sometimes on the left side of the road and sometimes on the right, at times seemingly going the “wrong” way.  We were heading down a steep grade while it was traveling downstream in the other direction—an optical illusion!

Then we were officially back into the “traditional” mountains.  The mountains changed their look.  The striations were different, their color more diverse and the layering of said colors.  Some layers were horizontal to the road, others at angles.  The ranges of colors varied from browns, reds, blacks, whites, and shades in between.  Some mountains were covered with scraggly trees, some bare, some just tinted green with new growth of the summer.  Some mountains looked just like sand dunes, the rock crumbled around their bases.  We had traffic congestion and encountered those irritating drivers that still zip down around you even though the signs say to merge right long before then.  We spent time in tunnels through those areas we could not cross, one such tunnel where the railroad was “under” the road, or at least it appeared to be!  The rail followed the road and then it curved towards the ONE tunnel entrance and then curved back out again upon exiting the tunnel. 

When signs said “falling rock” you literally crossed your fingers when you went past those cliffs.  Some of those rock faces looked like they were just hanging on by a thread!  Piles and piles of rock of all shapes and sizes make up the landscapes. 

We drove by a huge lake (Sevier Lake) that looked like it might have been much larger.  It turns out it is usually “dry” as many of the tributaries that feed it are diverted for water, and has been completely dry in its history.  It is also one where it salinity is really high, higher than an ocean’s.

We saw several signs referencing Gerald Ford and wandered why.   Gerald was apparently an avid skier!  He first “discovered” Vail in the late 1960s and loved skiing there so much he bought a house.  His vice-presidency and presidency brought even more fame to the area.

Andrew enjoys driving so he did all of it today.  I spent time looking at mountains and deserts and finishing the book I was reading, “Changes” by Jim Butcher.  HOLY COW!  It is one of the Dresden books and I was completely caught off guard by what happened in that book, and it ended so I really, really, really want to read the next one.  It is a pretty addictive series (Harry is a private investigator and wizard. J), so I can only read a couple and then I have to put them down for a while or I wouldn’t do anything else but read.  I have that kind of addiction to really good books!  

One thing I HAD to do before I returned home was to get my hair looked at.  Full disclosure:  I have been coloring my hair for a LONG time and it has to be done frequently now as it is, for the most part, literally all gray.  Being gone from home for 40 days doesn’t help my “schedule,” and we have a wedding to attend on Saturday and I needed to make sure my hair was done before then.  Vanity.  It's all it really is.  I am just not ready to look into a mirror and not recognize myself because my hair is gray.  Someday, yes, maybe.  But I have never been be completely gray as I’ve been coloring it since it was just individual gray hairs, so it would be like looking at a stranger!  So, to find someplace to do this.  We got to Golden a bit early for this reason and I knew it would take a couple of hours.  I had to call seven different places to find someone that had an opening for a "walk-in"!  Then I was thinking, “I hope whoever I get is good!!”  Not a lot of places were even open as it was Monday, but we drove a short distance and Heidi worked her magic.  I have been wearing a hat most days to keep the sun off of my nose/face so it has been flat and hat-shaped.  She said actually part of the flatness is due to lack of humidity.  She colored and toned and trimmed and then actually kept it straight when she syled it.  It is a bit darker than what I have been doing lately, but my hair had really faded due to the things it’s been through, mostly campsite showers' varying mineral content and sweat from hiking and biking.  It feels really good, but a good cut and color will do that to you!  Andrew also got his buzzed off to nearly bald level while we were there.  He was ready to go bald but then he'd have aw white head with a tan face!

My family was already at the restaurant when we arrived.  Everyone looked great.  It is hard to believe how grown up Kim’s kids are.  When we saw them last, little Aspen literally took a running leap and launched herself at John-Paul (To luck he was quick and caught her!).  That was about 10 ½ years ago.  Tre is now going to be a junior in high school, Trent a freshman, and “little” Aspen an eighth grader!  Kim looked the same--how can that be!! Still great!  We also met her boyfriend Mitch and his two kids, their ages between Kim’s kids!

Bryon and his wife Michelle and little one Lily also joined us.  Bryon also looks the same and Michelle brought us some pictures for us to keep-what a very thoughtful thing to do--of their wedding and of Lily.  Lily is the lucky recipient of the curly gene pool with the most amazing blond tight little curls.  I finally got to hold her and got a smile out of her before we left.  She is only 19 months old so I am good with a smile and quick hold.  We did get to visit for 2 ½ hours.  Thanks to the staff at the restaurant for letting us invade their space for that long. 

We said our goodbyes and let’s not wait another 10 years, before we headed south.  We need to get New Mexico checked off our state list.  We debated about setting up camp at this late hour, or a hotel using points.  We did stop at a campground but then opted to drive another 20 miles and use the points. 

One thing that keeps occurring to me and I don’t understand:  why do people shoot road signs?  So many signs, literally almost all of them on the roads that aren’t Interstate.   And it isn’t just in Colorado, but really every place we’ve been the signs have holes or bullet-shaped indentions.  It didn’t matter what kind of sign, there was no discrimination on whether it was a stop sign or a moose crossing sign…they were indented or holey.  Sigh.  

Day 35 (Sunday, July 10, 2016)

The wind bearing down on our tent during the night was amazingly weird!  I thought our tent was going to blow away, or at least our rain fly.  Thank goodness we stopped at a hardware store back in Pacifica and invested in the heavier tent stakes.  The ones that actually come with tents are ridiculously bendable!  The air smelled wonderfully of sage as the field behind us was sage and another bushy plant I didn’t recognize.

We didn’t leave real early as we had such a strenuous day the day before (hiking UP, remember, :)).  We took off and decided to give Mono Lake a quick explore.  The lake has what they call petrified springs in it and around it from when it was “fuller.”  Los Angeles apparently gets their water from the tributaries that feed this lake and the lake dropped dramatically as LA was diverting all this water; since it doesn’t drain, and was now literally only ½ full, it salinity jumped to now two times saltier than the Pacific.  Where the springs feed into the lake, the minerals solidify by building on each other, gradually creating these upward shapes called tufa towers.  They look like something from a science fiction movie!  They actually have an arrangement that LA can’t divert water away from the lake if it falls below a certain level.  It is very close to that number now.  The water was also home to a certain fly larva which feeds the zillions of birds that migrate through the area and was food for the original natives of the area.  Apparently tasty?  It was a nice hike from the parking lot to the lake and around.  The severe droughts of these past years isn’t helping the environmental health of this area.  

Then on the road again, destination somewhere between here and Denver!  Our entire drive today was through deserts.  There is amazing diversity in deserts. You’d think it just piles of sand everywhere, but that would not be a correct assumption!  Some are covered with sage and the other previously mentioned unknown round bush, some are brown grass, some short trees, lots of varying rocks, varying in size and color, and the sand apparent in all environs.  It is such a stark beauty.  We started the day in the eastern foothills of the Sierra Nevada’s and ended the day in the far western slopes of the Rockies. 

The world stretches for miles and miles of open space out here.  One stretch was 14 miles from 1 “hilltop” to the next…  the next stretch was another 16 miles!  We stopped in middle of the road and got out and took a picture of the long ribbon of highway behind us.  The next stretch of straight road went for over 21 miles with NO turns!  There was a sign when we left Tonopah, an old mining town, one of the few we passed through, stating that it was 163 miles until the next service station. We passed towns that used to be towns but are not abandoned houses and barns, unmended fence rows.  Crossroads that once boasted gas stations, rental cabins, and such also left behind in the sand. 

We’d see cow crossing signs and no cows, horse crossing and no horses, deer and tractor crossings but not deer and tractors.  They do have “cattle guards” on the road so apparently there are cows crossing the roads at some points.  We did see finally cows grazing in the desert areas of Nevada.  We wondered how they could possibly survive on what was growing between the sage brush!  Perhaps their mountain views kept them happy or, more logically, they bring in hay.  Once we got closer to our destination for this evening, and the Interstate, we saw more and more cows and hayfields.  In order to actually produce hay, it has to be irrigated, so there are giant green circles of hay in the middle of brown.  (There is a LOT of brown in California, Nevada, and Utah thus far—unbelievable how brittle everything looks.)  One ranch went on for miles and miles, with cows just enjoying their evening sup.  Those fields were at the base of some of the uniquely colored Utah mountains.  What a view for those bovine! 

At one point we saw a mountain side that looked like it was a victim of a fire in recent past.  It was waving this way and that and looked like it had started up the mountain.  Andrew has sharp eyes and suddenly took a left turn.  It was not the victim of a fire after all, but an actually a giant lava bed. Yes, lava, as in volcano.  We drove a dirt road around the flow of black rocks (maybe 20 feet plus high at spots) for a few miles into the desert before turning around.  It was literally a “dust” road-it was too dry to be considered a dirt one.   Andrew “borrowed” a rock from the flow-the rocks we collect keep getting bigger.  The one yesterday from the top of Yosemite was heavy enough as Andrew lugged it down the 2800 vertical drop in his backpack…. Others from glaciers, Arctic Ocean, etc. add ballast to the truck as the trip rolls on.  Some people collect sea shells, others feathers, we collect rocks. 

We crossed through Nevada and are spending the night about ½ way through Utah in Salina (my 41^st state! I will add two more on Tuesday – New Mexico and Oklahoma – plus tomorrow will make Colorado an “official” counter as the only other time was just a previous layover point when flying back from San Francisco and I didn’t leave the airport -- as we zig zag our way down to Houston --- the New England states (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut) and Hawaii are yet to be conquered in future journeys).  The entire trip was mostly two lane highways – most of our trip since leaving Cordelane, Idaho has been two lane roads, other than a little from the Canada border down to Portland, and some while in San Francisco (more like 8+ lanes there sometimes :) ).  

Tomorrow we get on I-70 through the mountains into Denver, and most of rest of trip then home is via interstates.  The trip odometer rolled over the 10,00- mile mark today also (plus estimated ~2000 on the ferry).

Day 34 (Saturday, July 9, 2016)

Up and at ‘em!  We wanted to be at the park early enough to avoid the heat of the day and give us plenty of time to get our hike in.

We got a great parking spot next to a field containing several deer with their velvet antlers!  Many were traipsing onto the grass, right past the sign that says, “Give plants a chance-please don’t step off the path.”  

Andrew started our app we use when we hike, bike, or kayak and started at 8:30.  It went UP, and UP, and UP.  It was dry and sandy which made many parts of the trail very slippery.  I am a VERY slow hiker as I need to watch my footing so we had many pass us up.  Funny though, some of those speed demons we passed on later and we just passed each other.  Steady and slow!!  That’s me, and Andrew is great about walking just ahead and waiting on me.  There was a part of the trail that leveled out!! YES, I thought prematurely.  Another part went down, and I was confused by that too as our goal was way UP.  But we meandered back and forth for a zillion or more switchbacks, climbing rocks and rock steps, back and forth.  Finally someone heading down said it was only 45 minutes further!  That last part was pretty steep but the view of Yosemite Falls from above them was breathtaking!

I temporarily lost Andrew even though he had seen me pop up over the last crest and thought I had seen him.  I was walking and chatting with a gal from Australia who had been waiting on her sister about ½ hour!  We wandered over to the edge, my still looking for Andrew.  The views were amazing but at this point we couldn’t see any waterfalls, but we could hear them and feel the mist.  We turned and walked towards where we’d come as we thought perhaps we’d missed a trail marker.  A gentleman leading some friends told us to turn back around as the falls were definitely in that direction.  It turns out some people were standing directly in front of the sign pointing to the overlook.

The overlook was a narrow rock stairway down just a bit, and if you wanted to see more you could butt slide across a very large slippery looking rock or you can take a narrow one-person rock step trail.  Andrew had resurfaced at this time and was very giddy and excited as he’d just come from the narrow trail.  His words were something like, it is a narrow trail for just one person and there is a handrail by the rock but the other side drops off and you have to do it!  So my Australian friend and I went down and took some pictures, opted NOT to do the butt sliding scenic view, and she went down to the trail first.  She opted not to go further, and I sort of agreed as I hadn’t seen it yet.  Once she was done and had come back up, and others came from her general direction, I got my chance to go down. I took some pictures, and then looked.  Hmmmm.  The rail was attached to the rock, the trail was one-person wide and I was one person, so I did it.  It was enough to make your stomach do a few twirls, but the view was worth it.  We were at the TOP of the UPPER Yosemite Falls!  And it only took use 3 ½ hours, from the parking lot.   We had brought a very basic snack up (banana and protein bar) so we sat down to rest, snack, and rehydrate.  It was pretty hot climbing up to this point.

We began our descent.  People we didn’t recognize were appearing to descend also.  Perhaps we just didn’t notice them.  It took us LONGER to get down!  The sand of the trail made going down even more slippery.  Many a hiker that looked like they hiked daily :) even had slippery moments.  I used my trusty walking sticks, and we did it, one slow step at a time.  

For a time we had a young man and his girlfriend hiking with us.  They were from New York and he was doing an internship with a start-up in San Francisco (Nylas?  Something to do with email, but I haven’t had a change to research it yet).  He attended MIT and would be going back for his senior year in the fall.  His gal was just visiting for the week and this was her first hike ever in her whole entire life!  What an indoctrination.  That is how we got to talking:  we passed each other several times, back and forth, on the way up and then encountered them again on the way down!  She was going back to school to start her Physician Assistant training.  He had a rainbow colored Mohawk! 

How long were we on this grand adventure?  By the time we go back to our truck, it was just short of 8 hours.  That does include a bathroom break before going up and a longer one after coming down due to the line, but we won’t discuss that here.  The time that was “suggested” for completing the trail says “6-8 hours.”  We feel we did pretty darn good considering we had parked a mile away.  The trail was 3.5 miles UP 2800 feet elevation change.  My only complaint are my toes.  My boots for some reason don’t like hikes over 7 miles and my socks get bunched up and so my toes were really cramping by the time we made it back to the truck.  I had a different set of insoles when we walked the bridges in San Fran so I also had a blister on one of them.  When we got our new bike hitch, I also got a new pair of insoles.  They were so much better but I think my sore toes today were sort of residual from our bridge hikes.  They didn’t get worse, but they were freshly irritated. 

We drove to the lodge to grab a bowl of soup; I had the black bean and vegetable soup while Andrew had the chili, and both were excellent.

It was time to say goodbye to Yosemite.  We went out a different way than we’ve ever done.  Yosemite is a HUGE park.  We drove literally two hours before we were out of the park.  The landscape changed and there were different colored rocks of the mountains, and grasses and meadows.  The rocks look like someone just set them here and there but there were left hodge podge by the glaciers.  We were tempted to kayak by a gorgeous lake we passed but I was just too tired to stop.  By this time it was 7.  We wanted to get out of the park and find a shower and a burger to replenish ourselves after our long hike. 

We lucked out to find a tent site, even though the office closed early.  We could fill out the form and leave it in their drop box for a night registration, but the showers required tokens which we couldn’t get until the office reopens at 9 am.  We got our tent set up in the windy area, next to a field at the base of a mountain.  I am going to miss these views!  Then we went to a local restaurant for a burger and a salad.

 

We are back to update the blog IYeah for Verizon LTE!) and hit the hay.  We are some tired peeps this evening.  Tomorrow we start the drive to Colorado to visit Kim and Bryon; we will be meeting them on Monday evening for supper.