whaddya know - we circumvented Lake Michigan

Leaving Michelle’s, we decided to hit Trader Joe’s and stock up on organics before we left Illinois.  It was raining and it should have occurred to me that going to TJ’s in a 5000ft rig was probably an idea best forgotten.  Course, it did occurr to me, but only much later in hindsight.

I didn’t have too much trouble going down the narrow two lane streets.  I did 25mph but didn’t hold up traffic.  I didn’t have too much trouble making turns left and right.  I didn’t have too much trouble making a 3 point turn (instead of a U-turn).  I DID, however, have a LOT of trouble when I made the mistake of entering the TJ’s parking lot. 

I knew it; driving forward, I was thinking, "there is NO WAY I can back out of here" but onward I went, as I really had no other choice.  I had NO idea HOW I was going to get out of there until Jamie spied what looked like a back entrance to the store.  I figured we were in for a penny/ in for a pound, and getting out of where I was headed seemed no less possible than getting out of where I was…  I double parked along the back of TJ’s completely blocking the road.  I POWER shopped and ran out in less than 10 minutes.  Jamie ran the kids into the store (to pee; he didn’t want to leave the rig idling in the middle of the road (back of the store or not)).  He said that there was no way that HE was going to drive it out if someone appeared, but simply to tell them that his wife was shopping and SHE would drive it out. 

I got out (I honestly don’t know how, because I had to back up blind to avoid the damn Hummer) and heart pounding, decided to wait at a mortuary for Jamie and the kids.  I figured it would have a larger turn-around area as hearses are long vehicles…

As soon as I approached the covered entrance, I knew I was in trouble.  Two black cloaked men ran out and said, "you’ve got to get OUT of here - we have someone coming (course, if it was a hearse, the dead guy isn’t going to be complaining, is he?)".  I almost cried.  I had no choice other than to back up around a pile of construction in a "S" to the back lot.  I really thought that there was no way I could do it, but little by little (with the black cloaks hurrying me along) with Jamie walking around and giving me distances, I made the backwards "S" and we got the hell out of dodge.

Back to Neenah and completed the circumvention of Lake Michigan.  Weesh!

This will be really boring to anyone but family; pictures of the kids in the snow. 

Turkey day

US Turkey Day (to differentiate from Canadian turkey day) was spent in fine fashion.  Helping Michelle and Liz (her SIL) prepare the feast, nursing Ellen and watching the kids play in the snow.  We gorged ourselves quite well and really, I have nothing else to add.  Must be the triptowhatever in the turkey.  ZZZZZzzzzzzzz  Instead of prose, I propse pictures…

Illinois

It was wonderful to see Michelle and the kids again, as she rushed them off to school (half day) and she headed for the gym.  When we woke to clear skies and warm (for Illinois) temperatures, we felt a bit foolish for our marathon drive the night before.  Even Michelle doubted it would snow, though she did hear it had been snowing in Chicago.

Soon rain filled the skies and quickly it turned to snow.  The kids were quite disappointed when it didn’t stick and we hung around Michelle’s gorgeous house and ocassionally watched the snow melt on the ground.  It wasn’t long, however, before the snow "stuck" and we began to envision a white Thanksgiving.  I started taking picture after picture of the rig; each time thinking, "this is the MOST snow we’ll see now".  By dark, we had snow.  At nightfall, we had a LOT of snow!

Onway, MI

Does one little city deserve a whole post?  I suppose it does.  It is a tiny city, but it is where we got our home.  Back in California; when we were trying to decide which travel trailer to purchase, Jamie was pretty sold on the Keystone Laredo 284BHS.  We saw one in Martinez and while we weren’t excited by the sticker price (they would only go down to $23K) he liked the unit.  I called around the country looking for a better deal and spoke with Cliff at Brewbaker’s in Onaway Michigan.  He had (still does :)) a Laredo and said if we decided on something else, to give him a call and he’d see if he could get it for us.  When we decided on the Ameri-Camp travel trailer, I called him and he got one $8000.00 less than we could get anywhere else. 

We got to Onaway early in the morning and spent the day going over all the trailer features and learned how everything worked while Cliff took our van to the mechanic to have a new hitch, electrical cabling and brake controller installed.  First pic of the trailer and Jamie’s ass  We’re still thinking of upgrading the Hayes to a Jordan (this will only make sense to the RV folk…).  Brewbakers gave us a nice conversion van to drive around in while ours was in the shop.  When night came and still no van, Sammy Brewbaker arranged for us to spend the night in the adjacent motel.  We never had to ask; he simply arranged it all.  We had planned to spend the night in the trailer, but Sammy thought it would be too cold.  I am still touched at his thoughtfulness.

Next morning, our van was ready; we watched the van being hitched to the trailer and after a couple runs around the block by mom, dad climbed in and I pulled her out of the dealership.  We had planned to spend the night along the lake in lower Michigan or go visit Vicky (neopagan) in Lansing, but hearing the forecast for snow the next day, we decided to make a marathon driving session and push on to my sister’s (about an hour north of Chicago).  We spent about an hour at Target in Grand Rapids (actually, a town south of there) letting the kids get some energy out and buying a DVD (Veggietales).  I figured they just might need something to get them through the evening. 
We left Target (and Grand Rapids) about 9pm, picked up an hour once we crossed into Illinois (and promptly left it on I80 while we waited, parked on the freeway in construction traffic at midnight) and hit Aunty Michelle’s about 2am.  It was a VERY LONG day.

wisconsin to michigan (UP)

We found the sun!!!  Woke this morning to ice on the car for the first time; I guess we found the  humidity also.    Arrived late last night (around 5:30) and we’ll never start late in the day again.  Made the day seem incredibly long.  Kids had a blast at Grandma Elinor’s and were having so much fun playing that we couldn’t bear to break up their play and put them down until after 10pm.  Ellen was not ready to go to sleep and I actually fell asleep before she did.  Had a really nice visit with Elinor and emailed Dan some pictures (he’s down in the Gulf overseeing repair from the damage of a hurricane).  

Didn’t get on the road until 8:30 (ugh!) and while I’d like to make it to St. Ignace or Mackinaw City (great, incredible hotels at really low prices) since we’ll be driving along the shore of Lake Michigan, the going will be slow.  We’ll see how far we get.  If absolutely nothing else, we’ll have a pretty trip especially since the sun seems to be sticking around.  Kids are cranky and annoying each other.  Listening to NPR for the first time…  "Sweet Home Alabama" on the radio (hey, up here they call THIS the bay area also - Green Bay Area) and it occurs to me (as it does each time I hear this song) that Alabama has neither Sweet nor Home connotations for me.  I lived there for 4 years in the early 70’s and have no sweet or home memories of the gawd forsaken state. 

Jamie promised me rolling hills in northern Wisconsin, but we’re seeing farms and dairies up close.  LOTs of dairies and numerous billboards for cheese.  I think that maybe Iowa and Wisconsin got exchanged because we had wonderful rolling hills in Iowa (going up 35) and it is flatter than a pancake here along 41 (heading for the top of Lake Michigan) in northern Wisconsin.  Eeeep!  I must have forgotten that Wisconsin had cheese because here is yet another gigantic billboard announcing CHEESE so’s I don’t forget again. Driving along the coast of upper Lake Michigan, we are surrounded alternately by forest and wide open shoreline.  These lakeside homes must be incredible in the summer months and this route must be congested as hell.  This is a great time of year to be traveling through; no tourists (save ourselves), no traffic, blue sky, beautiful deep blue lake and water as far as the eye can see.  I don’t think we’d do well in a landlocked area; we are all drawn to water.  

"They" always say how resilient kids are and it is so encouraging to see it in action.  We started by selling the house and moving the family to my sister’s guesthouse (500 sq ft) and they rolled with that.  Then we moved out of that "home" and their world consisted of sitting in a car all day and playing in a pool every evening.  They have completely rolled and accepted each change that came into their lives (though we wouldn’t have attempted this trip if they weren’t so able to adjust) and thrived. 

Sissy is always very interested to know where we’re going and where we are (even if the answer is "St. Ignace" and "10th Ave") even though I can’t imagine any of hte answers make any sense to her.  As long as Ellen gets "nipsea" a few times a day she is happy.  The boys are quite content to play in the evening and listen to tapes all day.  I think they’ve exhausted all the books I got them, "The Theif Lord", "Oliver Twist", "Black Beauty", "A Wrinkle in Time", and the "Chronicles of Narnia".  I know I bought them "Inkheart" but haven’t been able to find it lately.  A favorite new game is for one of the four kids to think of a painful event, announce it to the others, "what if a car ran over my foot?" and the others will answer in unison, "EXCRUCIATING; very painful!"

Diesel in Michigan continues to amaze me.  For the first time ever we’ve found diesel cheaper than supreme.  Everywhere else in the country it

has been the most expensive grade, but consistently since we've been in Michigan, it is cheaper than WI (2.09) and only the 3rd most expensive grade. 

Since midday yesterday, we’ve been surrounded by hunters.  Along each and every highway, freeway, county and state road there are minivans and trucks pulled in clumps and figures in impossibly bright orange vests, jackets, bib overalls stalking their prey with even more impossibly gigantic rifles.  I am finding myself sickened by the sight but also recognize the need to feed the family over the winter.  I wonder how many of these hunters are filling their freezers for the winter.  We also get to see the results of the hunt; a pickup hauling a dead animal; all four legs completely straight and stiff sticking up into the air from the back of the truck bed.  Here is a picture of one lucky hunter (deer not so lucky) that I accidentally got as we came to the toll plaza to cross Mackinaw Bridge (over from the UP to "mainland?" Michigan).

Wisconsin

Woke really late (8:30 central) and actually woke the kids up as they could have slept longer.  had breakfast in the hotel restaurant (kids ate free but it was still $20 for the 6 of us).  Sausage was deep fried (??!!), potatoes were deep fried (???!!!)),  and I think they would have deep fried the coffee (Folgers, of course) if they could have.  Kids have adjourned to the pool; it is 11am and they are still swimming.  They made friends with a family of 3 boys and I’m watching them while their parents stink up the (indoor) pool area with smoke.  We found the green.  As we passed into Wisconsin (La Crosse) we found emerald green fields.  First green of the trip.  I think it is safe to put the sunglasses away; we haven’t needed them since we spent a couple hours in western Utah.  It has been threatening rain all day but so far, no rain.  We’re heading towards Oshkosh on route 21 and it is rather scenic.  Lots of river and waterway; some hills; quaint little towns (though they would look much more quaint in anyt other season).  the wind in Minnesota was fierce and bitter cold.  Fuel prices have also increased; we spent 2.07 for diesel in Minnesota and here in Wisconsin it is up to 2.17.  I’d had hopes it would continue to decrease and maybe closer to a large town it will.  We left the Holiday Inn (smokehouse) about 11:45 and will be getting into Neenah rather late - after 5pm, I’d guess.

Pikey has been enjoying "The Theif Lord" and this afternoon we listened to "Henry and Beezus".  Starting late has made for a long day in the car.  I thought it would be an even tradeoff, but today’s late start and 350 miles feels much longer than yesterday’s early start and 460 miles.  It is 4:45; we still have a good 45 mintues or more left to the day and
it is dark.

Iowa to Wisconsin

I think my brain died.  Rain rain rain rain.  Nebraska, Iowa.  Rain.  We hit the largest town so far - Des Moines.  It stretched for quite a ways.  I think the largest town off 80 since California.  Nebraska was just as flat as feared and we started the day with a lovely bruhaha.  We got breakfast coupons (one of the reasons we stayed at the hotel we did) and got them to go for the kids.  Boys were miffed (and probably cranky from lack of sleep) when they got in the car.  We were all cranky and sleepy and about 10 minutes down the road errupted in fighting (between mom and dad after jesse and pike started hitting each other).  Ellen was awakened and everyone was in a particularly SOUR mood.  Headed down the road and everyone fell asleep (except the drivers) and as the miles passed so did the anger.  Kids slept for a good hour or more.  We stopped in Des Moines as instructed by CompUSA where they could not fix the missing PG DN key on my laptop (only 3 weeks old) and we spent an hour there bitching and bemoaning.  Nursed Ellen in the store and freaked the entire store population of employees (there must have been 3 employees for each customer).  Noone said a thing but they all came by; one by one or in pairs to check out the strangeness.   We left I80 behind and headed up 35 to eventually (tomorrow) pick up I90. 

Found the rain again in eastern Nebraska and it followed us all the way, getting heavier and heavier to Mason City Iowa.  We are absolutely in the middle of bumfuck (with a capital B and captial F) Iowa and the hotels are the most expensive yet.  Cigarette smoke abounds; from the swimming pool (indoor) to the restaurant; It never occurred to me that a family hotel (Holiday Inn) would allow so much cigarette smsoke.  Snob alert:  Coffee is advertised (with pride) as FOLGERS!!  Luckilly we brought our own from CA and brought it to the table along with soymilk. Between that and nursing Ellen, we’re the talk of the hotel.

nebraska

We have left the desert behind.  East of Cheyenne (but before Nebraska) we hit farmland and the trademark of the midwest; water towers.  What is it with those water towers?  We’re still at some elevation but a lot of the flat landscape has been converted to farmland.  We’re just now going through Pine Bluff and it looks like it will be the last bump in the landscape until the hills of Wisconsin.  Jamie promises hills in northern WI and I’m holding him to that.  All we can see for now is flat flat flat and the maps give us no reason to hope for anything different.  Straight lines abound on the maps.  We’ve changed our plans and have decided to bypass Sioux Falls and head straight for Michigan.  We are hoping to spend tonight in Grand Island, Nebraska; tomorrow in bumfuck Iowa; head up 35 to Minnesota and then 90 over to Wisconsin.  We’re thinking we’ll spend the 20th with Jamie’s mom in Wisconsin.

 

My blood seems to be getting thicker; as I loaded up the car this morning (another late start and we didn’t get on the road until 7:45) I told Jamie it was "much" warmer and I thought the glow plugs didn’t need to be warmed up as much (diesel engine).  It took a while to warm up the glow plugs though and we found the reason; it was 33 degrees.  It must have been in the 20’s or teens yesterday morning.  I can’t wait until we’re headed for Mexico.    Jamie watched the news last night and said it looked like a snowstorm would be hitting WI by the end of next week.  We hope to be in IL spending TDay with my sister (outside of Chicago) so there is a chance we could get snowed in.  Should be interesting… 

 

The rest areas seem to come much quicker here in Nebraska; up til now they’ve been every 100 miles or so, but we’ve already seen 2 in 45 minutes of driving.  About 100 miles into Nebraska and we have rain.  Better rain than snow; we’ve been gradually coming down in altitude since Cheyenne.  By the time we hit Omaha we’ll have come down 6000 ft.  Unlike the Sierras and west, the descent is very gradual so that you really don’t even notice it.  Obviously, no earthquakes out here or continental plates to bump up against each other.  Kids are doing well; we got up late (6:30) and so far no-one has taken a nap.  I think we might do better to get up much earlier; we have lots of books on tape and they play very well together, but still get bored.  I saw some laptop with pocket contraptions at Target in Cheyenne and I think I’ll try to get some for the girls.  They’d be able to draw and hopefully the toys will stop flying about the van.  

The rain makes it easy to see the screen; I should be grateful for that…one thing about towns in the midwest; when the town ends it is really over.  In the bay area, you can go from Grass Valley to San Jose (aobut 3 hours) with a couple small breaks in urbanization.  There are some fields outside of Davis and Vacaville but it is pretty much constant strip malls, auto malls, homes and business for hundreds of miles.  Out here the city ends abruptly and agriculture stretches for miles and miles and miles.  Stopped at a grocery store in North Platte (are there really only TWO in the whole town???) and it seems that the organic produce has come to an end.  We’ve been able to find organic carrots (at the least) up til now.  The prices are also quite high.  Convention produce out here is higher in price than organic produce in the Bay Area.

The girls never seem to tire of pretending they are Becca (cousin Becky from CA - 1 year old) or talking about her.  She is constantly in their thoughts.  I’m going to have to keep a camera at the ready; this is the 3rd time we’ve seen llamas on our trip - by the side of the road.  Last tank of gas got us 21.1mpg.  Almost to Kearny NE where we’ll spend the night at a really nice motel.  Outdoor, indoor and wading pools, free hot breakfast, whirlpool, large rooms, all for $62 (if we can believe the AAA tourbook).  Hee hee; we got it for $55.

Wyoming

Up at 6am and on the road by 7:20.  I’d packed the car the night before; it is breakfast (ad the kids eating it) that is taking so long.  Maybe I need to get them up at 6am instead of 6:15 so we can get on the road earlier…

 

I thought sure they’d all be sleeping by now, but as we descend off the buttes and plateaus of eastern WY; into fog and clouds, they are all still quite awake, but much crankier than usual.  We have 360+ miles to go today to get to Cheyenne, and I thought we’d need the extra hour.  It is rare to see a car on the road - we are surrounded by 18 wheel trucks all day long.  We are currently travelling through the fog of Little America WY; which is a shame because it was heavily promoted with billboards for the past 18 miles and now we can’t see what all the hullabaloo was about.  We are socked in; every morning since we started out journey we’ve managed to find fog along the route.  We saw our first trees today - we’ve been in high desert since Nevada (and we drove through the Sierras at night). 

East of Laramie we crossed the highest summit on I80 (8700ftish) and went a little higher to let the kids play in the snow.  They played for a good 30 minutes but Jamie and I were freezing (they had down and snow pants and boots; we were in cotton pants and sneakers) so we left.  It was a long driving day today and had we not stopped for snow fun (we drove around a bit finding the "best" place to play) we would have made Cheyenne by 2:30.  We got in a good 365 miles of travelling.  Boring boring flat high desert (we haven’t gone lower than 5000ft since we left CA, and stay in the 6-7000ft range) and I’m afraid that Nebraska isn’t going to be much different.  Well, I hope it will be less desert.  Tomorrow we hope to hit Costco in Omaha (we broke our only jar of organic peanut butter; spoiling the entire jar) at a rest stop today.  Not much to say.  Flat boring country…

Nevada to Utah

Listening to Mary Miche while coming out of Elko (if you haven’t heard Mary Miche, her Nature Nuts and Earth Songs albums are excellent).  Took a while for the glow plugs to warm up and the engine to start - barren wasteland so it seems - lots of dry brush and Sissy felt so sorry for the horses standing out in the bitter cold (well, bitter to we californicators).  Abruptly, we pass through a gap in and the Ruby Mountain range spread out before us.  Gigantic snow capped mountains surrounding this desert brush and basin.  Simply amazing.  Even the kids were awed.  Looking at the road stretching out before us, we’ll skirt the range, staying in the basin.  We’re hoping to get to Evanston WY today - only 300 miles. 

Everyone voted for a late start so they could avail themselves of the "expanded" breakfast at the Elko Comfort Inn.  In the past (Sacto) this has consisted of eggs, sausages, waffles (you make), juice, milk, coffee, pastries, muffins, etc.  Jamie thought the kids would sleep better (in the car) with a full belly, but it turned out they only got up an hour earlier than normal.  We’ll see how the day goes, but I think I prefer getting up early.  Jamie watched the kids (at the pool) yesterday while I got an Ethernet cable, some camcorder tapes and food.  got on the Internet at the hotel (very painless and fast) and picked up email.  Unfortunately, hotel was badly configured and their mail server kept bouning my sent mail. 

We’ve been finding diesel at about the same price all through CA (once we left the Bay Area) and NV - ranging from $2.21 to 2.31ish.  Coming into Elko, we found the cheapest gas we’ve seen in eons; $1.99 for unleaded.  Don’t remember the last time I saw gas under $2/gal… Sales taxes have steadily dropped since leaving CA - we pay 8.25%; it was lower in NV (don’t remember exactly), it is 6% in UT and 5% in WY (where we hope to spend the night).  This area seems so desolate because it is nothing but brush, fences, rocks, dirt and hills.  When a mountain range crops up, especially a snow capped one, it is even more spectacular due to the lack of competition from the surrounding desert.  We’re in the high desert though, so mountain ranges and mountain tops are seen at close proximity - your are meandering through the flat and bleak and the snow capped giants seem to rise abruptly; straight out of the desert.  Looking further on the maps, it looks like were at 6-6500 ft and the mountain tops are in the 10-11Kft  range.  We just hit a summit of 7000ft and did barely any climbing.  COming over the summit, we’re starting to descend into the clouds.  Yup; we’re in the HIGH desert.    Why do these desert towns spring up?  There is NOTHING there - no green; no river - was it a mining operation that precluded the town?  The road is so very straight - once on cruise control one can almost take a nap…

Ellen is like me - she is asleep now (about 30 min after getting on the road) - she can sleep anywhere.  Pike and Sissy rarely sleep in the car.  Jesse and Pike are also asleep and although I hate to admit it, Jamie might have a point about filling their bellies (though Ellen ate almost nothing at  bfast) before putting them in the car.  All four are asleep and it has been quiet with no fighting for over an hour.  About to cross into Utah…  The AAA map shows this route (80 ) as scenic, but Jamie and I are scratching our heads - where is the scenery?  Flatter than NV; no sagebrush to break up the flat; pools of water (salt lake?) merges the sky and ground into one.  I wonder if it will get more  scenic towards SLC or is this simply a bad joke.  The high Nevada desert was much prettier than this…

REST STOPS!!!  Sissy had to take a pee so we stopped at a rest stop - what a GREAT idea!!!  It was  on the edge of a wild horse range and while I thought Sissy would be so excited to possibly see wild  horses, she was very disappointed when she realized that she wasn’t going to see them up close.  We stopped for a good hour; the boys climbed cliffs and they all ran around.  After the bitter cold of Elko we were warm at the rest stop, but it soon turned quite cold.  Our blood simply must be too thin.  We’ve got to get to Mexico before it freezes!    After the rest stop, the landscape began to get prettier.  As we got closer to SLC, the landscape began ;to resemble northern Nevada again; scrub (but interspersed with pools of water) and mountain ranges. 

Unfortunately, it is very hazy in Utah today.  We’ve had constant haze since we crossed the border and it doesn’t look to change.  It is a shame, because without the haze, it looks liike it could be very
pretty.  It is odd to see the horizontal strata in the mountains compared to the vertical and diagonal you see in California (earthquake country).  We’re starting to see trees again.  As you come into SLC from the west (on 80) there are large mounts and flats of jet black material.  I think it is dirt - it looks like dirt (and there are trucks and dozers moving it around) but Jamie thinks it is coal.  Any ideas?
It is off to the right (as you’re going east) near Lake Point.

SF Bay Area to Winnemuca

Having a laptop sure is nice.  I’m typing this whilst drinking semi-decent coffee courtesy of Java Joe’s in Lovelock (we had to drive through town TWICE to find the place) and Jamie is driving.  The girls are playing "Catie and Becca" (these are two of their cousins from Fremont CA).  The boys are alternately listening to books on tape and irritating the girls.  We left Fremont at about 1pm yesterday; headed to Jamie’s shop (The Missing Link in Berkeley) to say the last goodbyes and then hit the storage unitl  We got the crap we needed out of the storage unit and dropped off more crap - making the crap load in the van about even.  We’re stuffed to the gills with crap in the van. 

We left the Bay Area about 4:45 and really thought we wouldn’t get much past Sacto before the kids led a mutiny and made us abort for the night.  We hoped to get to Reno and when we got as far as Grass Valley I checked the AAA guide and picked the Atlantis Casino for our destination as they had an indoor pool and looked reasonable.  We got a room for $44/night and the place was an incredibnle lugsury.  Sissy (Felicity) fell in LOVE with Reno - the bright neon everywhere and she was loathe to leave.  The room was gigantic - usually there is no walking space with the 2 queens and the boys on the floor, but there was a LOT of space in the room.  The bathroom was gigantic also and after the kids had a soak in the outdoor hottub and the indoor pool, the girls decided to take a bath.. Needless
to say, we didn’t get anyone to bed before 11pm. 

Once the girls were down, Jamie woke the boys and took them down to the casino.  They came back to the room at about 1am wideeyed and excited by their trip to the bright lights and noise (and smoke, I might add; it is a shock to be confronted with so much smoke after coming from CA).  Jamie and I got up at 5am, packed up the room and kids and were out of the hotel by 6am.  We learned a lot - to pack everything up before we go to bed; to grind coffee before we go to bed and to know where the freeway is.  We got turned around in the predawn lack of light and ended very south of Reno before turning around and getting back to the freeway.  Kids took about 30 min for all 4 to go back to sleep, but everyone was up by 7:30.  Stopped in Loveluck for coffee (for me and jamie) and bagels for the kids.  We’re heading to Winnemucka now (9:15am) for breakfast and phone calls.  We’re hoping to hit Utah by the end of the day, but since hitting the road at 6:30am, we’ve stopped for coffee, bagels and now a potty break.

Snow is lovely on the surrounding mountains, but it is FLAT FLAT FLAT in this desert and as we’re still high up (after passing through the Sierras last night) it is cold.  There is ice on the grill of the van
that has not yet thawed.  No more typing for me `- my hand is full of ellen’s banana recection…
We’re surrounded by high snow capped mountains as we travel through this valley.  Peaks in the 800-10000 ft range.  Thank goodness for the mountains because the landscape is absolutely bleak.  Flat brush; few cars and hazy sky.  We’re at Winnemucca now…