Day #2- Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head 6/9/22

 We woke up refreshed and happy after a great sleep in our cloud bed.  Loren ran down to the lobby in search of coffee.  The hotel apparently does not offer breakfast, so we got dressed to head out in search of java.  That is a sentence that is pretty ironic.  Having to search for coffee in Seattle?  Isn't that what this place is known for?  Starbucks can be found every 50 feet at home, yet none to be found in Seattle.  

We found a local bakery across the street and attempted to get coffee.  I guess the rest of Seattle had the same plan because the place had a line that stretched down the block.  We continued our search on a day that is exactly how I pictured Seattle- chilly and rainy.  We found coffee and had a great morning drinking coffee and exploring the neighborhood around our hotel.  

Seattle seems a lot like NYC- just cleaner and with less homeless people.  I always read in the news about the terrible homeless situation on the west coast.  We experienced that in California, but not here.  Everyone we see has on their backpack, rain gear, and busily walking to work or tourist-ing.  

The nice drizzle turned into pouring rain, so we came back to our cloud bed and just had a lazy day of reading and tv.  We were able to run thru the rain to a Japanese take away and brought some really yummy food back to our room.  We changed out of our wet clothes and into Hotel Andra robes.  Yep- this is vacation!

Day #1- Do You Know the Way to San Jose? 6/8/22

 WE ARE BACK!!  Welcome to our SUMMER 2022 travel blog!!  I took a new path last summer and created a website for our travel blog.  I decided to go back to the classic blog format this year due to the places we plan to visit.  I can use my phone to write the blog if we have wifi issues, which I am anticipating.  An exciting update was made to Blogger and it now allows pictures on each entry!  That new feature just brought together the narrative part with the picture part.  Now we can show pictures of what we are writing about.  

Ok, so today was a travel day.  I had been packed for way over a week.  I was super excited to pack into my new Friends suitcases!  Mom and dad were kind enough to chauffeur us to the airport.  ✈.  We checked our bags at curbside and waited for only about 5 minutes at security.  We were so very happy at not having to stand for hours in a security line, however, as soon as we stepped foot into the gate area, that happiness melted away- literally! 

 Apparently the AC was not working or was having trouble cooling on a 101 degree day.  We looked around and every person was using something to fan themselves- except for security.  They were just fine with their two huge fans (as you will see below).  Our flight was originally booked to have a layover in Vegas.  Sadly, we had a flight change and instead flew thru San Jose.  

We had a decent boarding spot and were able to have a good pick of seats.  We found a row that was not around others and parked ourselves.  I always take the window and Loren takes the aisle.  We do our best to make people NOT want to sit next to us.  We have pretended to sleep, we have pretended to be oblivious to the people looking for seats and dig through a bag on the middle seat.  We have pretended to be in an argument, and so on through our years of travel.  Luckily, no one wanted to sit by us.  We got all of our in flight activities out and were ready to be entertained.  Next thing I know I am being woken up with the pilot announcing we were approaching San Jose!

We go off the plane and walked the plank into the San Jose airport.  Loren says- "We got on in an airport and got off in a bus station!"  That statement summed up our experience at the San Jose airport!  🚌

I promised myself I would stay awake this time and watch a movie or something with Loren.  I accomplished my goal, but this time Loren was immediately snoring.  Our books and magazines and  games and puzzles were never touched.  Oh well, it made for a very quick trip.

We arrived in Seattle and actually had a really easy time getting our luggage, Uber, and hotel.  For whatever reason the hotel upgraded our room.  I am not sure what the difference would have been, but we are happy with Hotel Andra.  The beds are strange.  They are very very low to the ground.  The mattress is on a wooden stand, not bed springs.  The mattress is the softest we have ever felt in our entire life!  We may just stay in bed until we leave for the cruise!  The room has a stocked drink/snack mini bar.  Loren has been warned that his hands will be chopped off if he tries to sneak any snacks from the bar!  By the time we got to our room and got settled, we had limited choices for dinner.  We are right in the middle of downtown, so most restaurants were closed.  We ended up getting subs delivered from some near by pizza joint.   

We were scheduled to have our COVID test appointment tomorrow morning, but that appointment was made before we knew we would already be in Seattle.  We are not waking up at 4am to shove a stick up our nose!  We were able to reschedule for Friday.  

Off to sleep in our bed made of clouds.  Til tomorrow...stay tuned!

Day #33- Oh Give Me a Home

Where the buffalos roam?  Nope.  Not here.  Turns out, spiders must have roamed while we were gone.  We walked thru a few spider webs when we got home.  Not the best welcome, but it could have been worse. 

Writing this, I notice that today is day #33.  That is the longest summer trip we have taken.  The drive from Arkansas seemed like nothing as we were quickly into Texas.  We made it from Dallas in record time thanks to there actually NOT being any traffic for once.  There was still construction, but the cars kept moving. 

We have been listening to Bobby Bones pod cast.  On the show, they have been doing a fantasy draft, but with subjects other than football such as best fast food, people named Chris, best country song...I decided to round out this summer of travel by Loren and I having our trip draft of favorite places.  If either of us have the same answer, only the person who says it gets to keep it.  So, here goes:

Loren
1.  Paracom Hotel- Pennsylvania
2.  McRaven House
3.  Roanoke Zoo

Erin
1.  Driving the Blueridge Parkway
2.  Myrtle's Plantation
3.  Jimmy Buffet Concert

That's the end of this summer.  As usual, we had an amazing and unforgettable adventure.  We count ourselves as some of the most fortunate people to have the jobs and finances to just take off for a month at a time.  It will be a year of waiting, but I'll be back, so stay tuned!

Day #32- Coal Miner's Daughter

We are back on Central Time and to celebrate, we woke up before 6am.  I'm kidding, it wasn't a purposeful wake up.  That's just what happened.  Yes, we could have gotten on the road that early, but I really wanted to go to Loretta Lynn's ranch.  We farted around for awhile including spending too much time at my new favorite place- The Flying J/Pilot travel center. 

I got an app on my phone when we first started traveling this year.  It gives 3¢ off each gallon of gas.  This isn't a bank breaker, but it adds up.  These travel centers are far from the old truck stops.  Bathrooms are clean, food choices are endless, and there is merchandise like a mall.  Texans are used to Buckees, but places like that are not found on the road outside of Texas.  We decided on Cinnabon for our breakfast, I made a yummy iced coffee, and we headed out for the ranch.

Times for the opening of the ranch shops, museums, and tours were very inconsistent.  I had read anywhere from 8-10.  We arrived about 8:30.  What we didn't know was that the ranch hosts a yearly motocross race.  People were already arriving with their RVs, campers, trailers...We got up to the gate and Loren told the guy we just wanted to look around and were not part of the event.  He sent us on and we drove 2 miles through the lush lands of the ranch.  A huge area of the ranch land had been turned into motorbike tracks and courses.  Hundreds of people were already camped and ready. 

We arrived at the old Western Town part of the ranch.  There was a beautiful river, gristmill, general store, post office- all the things that we would be expect to see.  An employee told us the buildings opened around 9ish, so we drove back across the bridge so we could park in front of the haunted plantation house to look around.  The home was fenced off so we couldn't get too close.  Just looking at it from a distance, the creepy vibe was definitely there.  The spirits were probably confused because this really looked like a town from the 1800s.

We were finally able to go into the gift shop.  It was connected to a Native American artifact museum that displayed relics really found on the land.  That led into a whole walk that was built like a coal mine.  Loren suspects that actual mines had much lower ceilings because he was able to stand up straight the entire time.  It was all very cool to see.  Loretta Lynn's music was playing and I just kept thinking my Grandma Angie was probably watching us explore this place.  I remember all of her old country records that she would play when I was little.  Sadly, as tours of the home did not start until 11, we decided we just needed to get on the road.  But, we got to see a place that I am sure most people have not.  Totally worth it. 

We drove to Hope, Arkansas for the night.  We did not want fast food for dinner, so I researched local restaurants with good reviews.  I found a Mexican restaurant called Amigo Juan Mexican Cafe.  The food was probably the best Mexican I have had since Lupe's in Nacogdoches.  I have searched for years to find comparable Mexican food to Lupe's.  Enchiladas y Mas comes close, but not quite. 

Well, tomorrow we are on our last leg, barring any unforeseen circumstances.  I will be writing the blog from our own bed.  As our 2019 blog comes to a close, stay tuned for one final entry tomorrow. 

Day #31- Coming on Strong Like a Hurricane

We had a lovely drive today.  Zero complaints.  No traffic, no construction, no wrecks, no fighting.  We started out nice and early and made it through Nashville between any sort of rush hours.

Traveling with Loren is like traveling with a small child that I have to keep entertained.  I am happy listening to music the whole way.  He has to be actively engaged in something.  He has his Game Boy and we listen to pod casts.  He discovered a new activity today.  Our new GPS, Turkleton, allows drivers to report all sorts of road hazards so that other travelers will be warned.  Anything from cops to something in the road to disabled vehicles.  Oh, but there is more.  If someone is driving like a jerk, that can be noted as well.  The app allows for a picture to be taken of the vehicle and a statement of their unsafe behaviors to be submitted.  So now, Loren carefully watched the roads and would threaten (not that they could hear him, but...) to tattle if they kept driving like maniacs.  One guy in a blue Jeep was so crazy that Loren could not even get a picture.  However, Karma got this man.  We later passed him stopped with two cop cars behind his vehicle and the man with his hands cuffed behind his back.  Sucks to be him. 

We were somewhere between Nashville and Memphis when we saw signs for a town called Hurricane Mills.  That name rung a bell, but we were not sure why.  We then saw signs saying "Loretta Lynn's Hurricane Mills" and we remembered!  Ghost Adventures had been here to investigate her haunted plantation home.  Since we had already been on the road for 7 hours, we decided to stop for the night...if the hotel would have us.  They let us in early and we started to plan our investigation.  Sadly, there are no night time tours.  It was already past time for the last plantation house tour and we were not really interested in the various other museums and buildings.  We decided to wait and check it all out in the morning.  While researching, I learned that Loretta Lynn owns this entire small town. 

We had a great meal at a place called the Log Cabin.  It was southern home cooking and has been in this town for a hundred years.  The side options were any delicious veggie you could imagine.  I had pot roast and Loren had a steak.  We plan to take a plantation tour tomorrow and then head closer to home...unless something else grabs us and wants us to visit.  As always, stay tuned!

Day #30- I'm Damn Sure Not Gonna Fight Tonight!

Texas Country singer Cody Johnson got it right when he sang the title of today's blog.  However, 30 days with pretty much only one person and countless hours in a small vehicle can wear on even the strongest relationships.  Loren and I rarely fight.  He screams and yells at the outside world plenty, but it is hardly ever directed at me.  Well, by the end of our drive today, I was a smart ass about something and he was a nut case about something (I am not being evasive here, I genuinely have no clue what set us off).  We decided it would be better if we stopped because someone was about to left on the side of the road to walk home.  We were fine by the time we checked into our trusty Econo Lodge.  I guess we just had some travel frustrations built up. 

Today was pretty smooth sailing, though.  I downloaded a new GPS called Waves.  The Google GPS lady has been awful this trip.  The new app had me laughing.  I set the voice to be Cookie Monster.   "C is for crash- look out!" 🤣. Then while playing with the app, Loren changed it to be a British guy whom we named Turkleton. 

We are almost in Tennessee.  I imagine we just have a night or two left on the road and then it will be home sweet home.  Who knows what we can get into during these last few days, so stay tuned!

Day #29- Mary Had a Little Lamb

We are in Maryland.  The song has nothing to do with anything other than yet another look into my weird brain.  Mary-Lamb, Mary-Land?  Ok, I'll stop. 
Anyway, here we are in Maryland.  Did we plan to stop here?  Nope.  Do things tend to work out the opposite of what we want?  Yes.  The traffic on this side of the country is far from being a lamb.  It is a beast.  First, the tolls.  Oh, those damn tolls!  Unlike the ticket drama in Pennsylvania, we didn't just get a ticket when we entered and pay when we exited.  No, these tolls were stops every few miles.  None were consistent.  One would be 75¢ while the next was $2.19 and the next $4.  None of this was reported in advance, so it was a surprise at each toll booth.  There was no flying thru the Easy Pass lane as those had gates down that would only open once the pass was read.  The pay lanes were cash only.  Yep, no cards allowed.  So, no cash?  You're screwed.  There were 10 booths at each stop, but only 2 open.  Each line was about 20 cars deep.  This is no exaggeration...we had driven 4 hours and the GPS said we had only gone 2 hours towards our destination.  We had been using our Roulette winnings, but that ran out.  We had to stop at a gas station to get more cash for the roads. 
Next, the construction.  We were paying our family fortune to drive roads with lanes closed and construction going on.  Which leads to the third problem.  Accidents.  The final straw was when we started hearing about a 45 minute delay.  That notice came through a good hour before we ever hit the delay.  It was still saying 45 minutes.  Then, as we sat there, it turned into indefinite road closure. 
Having no idea where we were, we exited and spent another good hour driving through some nowhere town looking for a hotel.  Everyone that was stuck on the highway was now in this town.  There were zero hotels.  Hotwire finally told us of one 7 miles away.  I booked it.  But guess what?  It was 7 miles down the closed highway!!  Loren finally got the GPS woman to give us an alternative route to the hotel, which took 27 minutes for 7 miles.  We finally pulled up to the hotel and were very pleasantly surprised that Hotwire had given us a nice Holiday Inn for very cheap. 
We settled in and tried to get ourselves ungrumpy.  We have decided to forgo any other adventures and just head for home.  I checked the routes and finally found one not full of construction.  It may not be the straighest path, but hopefully the least stressful.  Tomorrow we are Austin bound, so stay tuned!