(track 1)
Judy:
This must be the microphone over here. And we’re having a party at Cindy Ann and Steven’s house. It’s a nice going away party and the whole family seems to be here, except right now there’s not all of us here at the table and we’ve got some lovely gifts and I’m going to take this recording and make a tape of our trip so we can share all our wonderful adventures with people.
Win:
Well, that’s the end of that tape.
Judy:
Ok, we’re getting our stuff organized here and we’re getting the kitchen box all packed up and getting the boys organized its about quarter to three in the afternoon and goodness knows if were going to get all packed up tonight or not. We hope to get the car packed, I’ll let you know.
Well, it’s very cold out, it’s about 9:30 and we’re getting the things packed up. It’s breezy put and we’re getting ready to go. Ok, it’s 9:46 and we just pulled out of the driveway.
Mary Harriett:
First stop, liquor store.
Judy:
Oh yes, we have to stop at the liquor store to get some sweet vermouth. We’ve got, how many? Three bottles, four bottles of scotch, so we definitely have to the have a bottle of vermouth to go with that. It’s now 7 minutes after 10, we’re starting out again after going back for the book that contains all the information we need for various places.
Mary Harriett:
You had to put that in.
Judy:
It’s 12:20, we’re stopping for lunch at JeJu’s, which looks like an Italian Mafia place. Couldn’t eat there, it’s a catering place. We’re going down the road to a diner that he recommended. Probably all in the same family. (cackling…) Well, we’ve apparently crossed NJ. Now we’re heading up over the bridge that goes across the Delaware River, and we’ll soon be in PA. And it’s only 1:50. Here we are the first night in the Park Inn. We had long conversations with Carol and then George came home and after awhile we all went out to a diner for some dinner. Ate too much. Had chicken croquettes. George paid. Now we’re getting ready for bed.
Here we are in the Amish country looking for a fabric store. Lots of quilts for sale. There’s the public library. We passed several buggies and one just went by, didn’t pass us on the road, but went across our path.
(track 2)
Here we are at a fabric store. Well, we've been on the road now for about an hour and a half heading, well, we’re almost into Gettysburg. It’s very misty out, not really a hard rain, but a constant. cloud, low misty day, but fortunately it doesn’t block the view of some of the nice country we’ve been going through, some of the beautiful homes we’ve seen - stone structures, the old PA barns, but we notice the lack of the hex signs that you usually associate with those PA barns with the overhang. Saint Elizabeth Ann
Well, we just passed over the MD line. We’re now in MD. And we’re looking, we see that there’s a monument or memorial or some national shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton and we’re thinking of stopping and getting a postcard to send to Linda.
Well, here we are in Staunton VA and we’re staying at a Best Western motel and it’s very nice. We’re going now to have supper at Mrs. Rowe’s, which is right next door. It looks like a much better place than we had last night, who knows.
Well, here we are, we’re headed out of Staunton on 81, the big highway, down to Roanoke.
Mary Harriett:
With all the trucks.
Judy:
Yep, all the trucks are on the road with us today, but it’s quarter to 10 and we did have a lot of fog this morning, so we couldn’t have started out too early anyway. But it’s now a nice sunny day and it’s supposed to get up in the 70’s. And there’s a big bird flying up overhead. What is that?
Mary Harriett:
It’s probably a buzzard. (gap) And I cannot pay that money to walk down there to see this arch (cackling) and I can remember Rhoda Gardner saying “It’s beautiful, it’s unusual.” And I get there and I just cannot make myself.
Judy:
What’s the fee?
Mary Harriett:
It’s only $10. and you know, I mean, you go down, and I’m sure… but $10! I think that’s a lot.
Judy:
Yes, for just looking at a pile of rocks.
Mary Harriett:
Isn’t that the funniest thing?
Judy:
We’re stopping in the Roanoke Library to get some information. It’s twenty after eleven. Well, we just stopped and got gas in Wyattville. It’s now 5:00. We decided we didn’t want to stay in Roanoke tonight. We’d seen all we wanted to see in Roanoke. There’s a whole gaggle of police cars there. It’s hard to tell, they don’t post the speed limit signs very often along the highway here so we just sort of guess that they seem to stick to around 60 to 65 so we assume that that’s what the speed limit is so the police are pretty much in evidence. We’ve seen a lot lot cows today. No sheep to speak of, though. You’d think they would have a few sheep on their farms, too. Because they’ve got lamb on the markets, or in the restaurant, at least they’ve got lamb on the menu.
(track 3)
Last night we opened our first bottle of scotch and had a little scotch before we settled down to watch TV. So if we don’t drink any more than that, it ought to last us the whole trip. Three bottles of scotch that we’ve got.
Well, we’re staying tonight in a Holiday Inn, very nice place, in Bristol. We had dinner here, but we’ve got to be a little more frugal than this. We brought up a couple of oranges and our oatmeal, so tomorrow morning we’ll just have our oatmeal and we’ll have our breakfast right here in the room and then we’ll take off, headed for Knoxville.
Mary Harriett:
Four. Four sugars. we’ll take that with us.
Judy:
We got a lot.
Mary Harriett:
It is sugar, oh and creamer.
Judy:
Well, it’s a nice day. Almost 9:00. We’re waiting until the traffic slows up before we start on our way to. Where are we going today?
Mary Harriett:
Norris.
Judy:
Yes, Norris, in TN, so it’s only a stone’s throw to the border right from here, so it shouldn’t take us more than an hour or so to get there. And we’ll probably send the whole day there. (birdsong) Hear the bird singing? We’re at the museum of Appalachia, right North of Knoxville. We’ve already made our reservation for tonight. We’re staying at the Best Western just down the road. Here we are looking at Wilson’s barn and we’ve got 5, 6 turkeys out here and 4, looks like varieties of chickens. And now this guy is just spreading his tail out, strutting around. Oh, here comes another chicken. The animals are all around here, just roaming around. We have maybe 2 dozen sheep walking around, some lambs.Some are brown, some are white. We’ve seen guinea and peacocks.
Mary Harriett:
This is the first time I’ve seen turkeys like this and they do look like Indian headdresses.
Judy (to turkey):
Ooh, you've ruffled all your feathers out there. (gobbling) They’re all coming over here like they're going to challenge us.
Well, here we are in Harrison’s for dinner and we just ordered our dinner and our beer and our waiter insisted on seeing some picture ID to prove that we could legally get the beer. Well, here it is about 9:20 and we’re headed, instead of going into Knoxville, for the day, we heard when we were eating breakfast that there’s a quilt show in Pigeon Forge. So we decided we’d backtrack a little ways and go to see the quilt show at Pigeon Forge and then, if we have time on our way back down, we might see some of Knoxville. We really hadn’t had a lot that we were going to see in Knoxville anyway.
Mary Harriett:
What’s that?
Judy:
It looks like some kind of an exercise thing.
Mary Harriett:
Maybe that’s one of those dog parks. Did you ever see those dog trials and so on where they have to go up and over tunnels and so forth.
(track 4)
Judy:
No, I’ve never seen those.
Mary Harriett:
It looked about that size.
Judy:
Well, we’ll go to the quilt show and let you know if there’s anything worth raving about. We had thunder last night.
Mary Harriett:
And lightening.
Judy:
Well, we couldn’t see the lightening, but we heard the thunder. We certainly have had rain, but it’s just misty here now. And according to the weather forecaster, it should be moving out of this area by this morning. We didn’t get any of those severe storms that they were talking about in the other areas in the South here.
Well, it was an interesting quilt show. It’s in the convention center at the Ramada Inn here in Pigeon Forge. I bought some squares to put in Winsor’s new quilt. Now it’s a little after twelve, so we’ll be looking for a place to eat lunch. Well, we just had lunch in Shoney’s, after first going to Cracker Barrel where we would’ve had a 25-minute wait. And then going to across the street they had a smorgasbord - Duff’s Smorgasbord, but that was, you pay $9.99 for all you can eat and we didn’t want to eat that much. So we came on down here to Shoney’s and now it’s 1:38, so we’re ready to roll.
Ok, now we’re in Chattanooga and we’ve just checked into the Best Western here in Chattanooga and we’re going out to go to the Riverside Catfish Cafe, know for it’s..
Mary Harriett:
All you can eat catfish.
Judy:
And we’re here in the catfish restaurant, overlooking the TN River. Very popular place, very crowded. It’s right on the river, we were very fortunate. You can hear all the people in the background. We both ordered catfish, of course, but they also had frogs legs on the menu, which we didn’t order. No liquor license, but you know what we’ve got back in the car.
Well, we found out that the church service begins at 11:00 and it’s almost 10:30 now, and we’re getting the car reorganized. I found my camera. We still haven't found the batteries yet, or the postcards that we bought at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton’s shrine. Got to be in there somewhere, though. Then we’re going in to see the aquarium this afternoon after church and see a little bit of Chattanooga. Then take off for Birmingham.
Ok, here we are in the garage of the Chattanooga Choo Choo getting ready to take the shuttle bus up to the aquarium. We’re eating in Sticky Fingers.
Mary Harriett:
Linda and I went down to Krispy Kreme the day it opened. There were people in line at 4:00 in the morning.
Judy:
On my God.
Mary Harriett:
I suppose commuters who decided to go a half hour early.
Judy:
We just passed a thermometer that said 87 degrees. We just got out of the aquarium. It’s 4:30 and we’re headed back to our car. Well, we’ve just pulled onto interstate 59. We’re going through the NW corner of GA, we find out, so we aren't completely ignoring the state of GA in our travels. It’s quarter after 5, but as soon as we get into AL, we’ll have to change because AL is in Central. 1952. There’s a historical marker there.
Well, here we are in another Holiday Inn, in Trustville. It’s 5 minutes to 7, Central Standard Time. Well, we had quite an interesting day today, going into Birmingham. We went to the library and got on the internet. Got our messages and there was a gentleman sitting next to us and heard us say that we were going to Mobile AL tomorrow and he said he just come from Mobile AL. well he was one of these characters who was bearded and not quite as long-haired - didn’t have shoulder length long hair, but his beard was kinda curly and it was all held together under his chin with a rubber band. He was talking about, apparently he likes to line dancing and hang out in sports bars and was going up to Nashville from here. Bu later on when we were waiting for our trolley to come by, he came back and and told me he wasn’t going to Nashville. He found out the temperature was going into the 40’s so he was going to Atlanta from here. So we’re making friends all over the place here. Then we went on a trolley ride and went to a bank and had lunch at a Thai restaurant. And when we were coming out of the Thai restaurant, waiting to go across the street, there was a man.. We went by two people who were walking dogs, big dogs, and there was this man coming across the street with a seeing-eye dog was having trouble controlling his dog and he got over by us and he said “It’s obvious why I have this dog, because I’m completely blind, but some people have the god-damned dogs for pets.”
Then we went down to go to the art museum, but it’s closed on Mondays, so then we went on down a few more blocks and went on the other trolley ride. It went by the Civil Rights District and everybody that got on the trolley was talking to us and we had one really friendly fellow telling us his life story and asked us where we were from. We said NY and he said he used to hustle up there in the Port Authority in NYC and he looked the kind who could do that easily and then the bus driver left us off at the McWayne Center so we could go to the IMAX movie on Shackleton. It was a very exciting movie, 45 minutes, IMAX, impressive. And we got outside and apparently they lock up about the time when we left because this nice young man went out the door with us and we were discussing how we were going to get back up to the parking garage and he offered to call us the CAP, which we think might be the Center Area Partnership or Patrol and it’s like the CVS van was there for awhile in our area. They help motorists who are locked out of their car and have breakdowns and so forth, so when he got them on the phone, he said “Well, we have two elderly ladies who need a ride back from the McWayne Center back up to their parking garage.” So we waited about 5 minutes or so and this van came around and took us up to the parking garage and no charge, but we did give them a donation for the CAP. And we chuckled all the way about the two elderly ladies who needed a ride. Everybody’s been very, very friendly in Birmingham. We’ve had a delightful day. We’re eating in tonight. We stopped at a grocery store and got some rolls, mayonnaise, turkey and some chips, so we’re all set to rest and relax here this evening, and it’s about 7:00.
(track 6)
Well, it’s 9:30 and we’re getting ready to leave Trustville and head south to Mobile. Well, we’re stopping here in Montgomery AL. We’re going to take a trolley ride that will take us through the historic areas of Montgomery. It’s about quarter to 1. We just had lunch in the Farmer’s Market Cafe which was recommended by the young man who was driving the trolley around and he said this was very popular with local people and policemen come here to eat and it was very good, cafeteria style.
Mary Harriett:
Dinner for $6.52.
Judy:
We’re finding good places here. Well we’re on our way now. Temperature outside the van is 86 degrees.It’s 10 minutes to 6 and we’re here in our room in Mobile in the Holiday Inn. It’s not as nice as any of the others, we don’t have any chair, we don’t have a refrigerator.
Mary Harriett:
We don’t have a view.
Judy:
It’s a smoking room, but it’s $49 a night, so we’ll suffer.
Well, we started out about 9:30 this morning looking for a visitors center so we could get a map and tour guides and things like that of Mobile. We haven’t really gotten very far. It’s almost 11:00. We came across a visitors center, but we didn’t think it was the main one so we came back around and went to the library and not only were they not - didn’t have a lot of information for us about the visitors center but they don't even have access to email on the internet. So then we stopped down at the Chamber of Commerce and found out that the first visitors center that we went to, Fort Konde, is the visitors center for Mobile. Mary Harriett is now taking pictures of a typical house. Looks like we might get some rain this afternoon. We kind of wanted to get some information on tours and so forth to make our plans for the rest of the week.
Here we are in Oakley Manor.
Man:
What’s the password?
Judy:
Hello.
Woman:
Let them in. (long passage of hard to hear conversation about a bell and a massive door)
Judy:
Well, we’re eating in tonight. We have some sandwich stuff and we’re doing the laundry. Mary Harriett is upstairs, waiting for the stuff to come out of the dryer. I came down to turn the phone on. It’s only 6:15 here, but it’s 7:15 in your part of the country. Found out that the public library here does not allow people to send out email, so if I send out an email, I’ll have to go to one of the college libraries around here.
It’s a sunny day out, looks nice out. It’s about 7:30, 7:40.
(track 7)
We’re getting dressed and getting ready to go on out. So much for the rain that they predicted for today. Looks like it’s going to be nice. Well, we had breakfast at Cracker Barrel and now we’re at SpringHill College and we’re going to the festival of flowers. Took us a bit of time ad a couple of wrong turns to get here. They're very lax in how they put up signs around here, but we did go by some beautiful, beautiful houses. And the azaleas are out. We saw dogwood that are out. We have a whole row of the live oak trees that are here with all those wonderful ferns that grow on them. It’s just beautiful. Cloudy, but it’s probably in the 60’s.
Here we are in the BBQ, the Brick Pit which is supposed to have the best BBQ in all of AL. So, we’ll see. We’ve ordered pulled pork and ribs.
Here we are. It’s 10:30 on Friday and we just finished breakfast at Crumbly’s Family restaurant. It’s a little square building where the good ol’ boys hang out for breakfast. We had a good breakfast and now we’re on our way to Bellingrath Gardens. We did stop at the post office and mailed a copy of (disjointed conversation) The lady just brought over Mary Harriett’s change, $7, so thats the kind of place we’re in. We’re in Theodore AL.
Mary Harriett:
Here we’re going to go in and fill up.
Judy:
We’ve done Bellingrath Gardens, it’s almost 2:00. We’re going to find a gas station to fill up the car and a restaurant to fill us up. Beautiful day.
Well, here we are, back in our hotel room, it’s almost 10:00. We’ve had quite a busy day. I guess we left you as we were leaving Bellinggraph Gardens and going down to Dauphin Island. We did get some gas before we ran out of gas. We were a little concerned about that. But we got down to Dauphin Island and drove around there. It was very flat. We took some pictures and went to the estuarium. Then we drove back up along Mobile Bay and found the restaurant we were looking for, called Nan-Sea. We had a very nice seafood dinner there. We left there around 6:00 and drove up to the SpringDale Mall and found the movie theatre and went to see A Beautiful Mind. And we stopped and got some ice. It’s quite chilly out.It was about 47 and it’s supposed to get down to 35 tonight. Which, of course, is nothing for us Northerners, but people are concerned about it down here.
Mary Harriett:
(reading a menu)
Judy:
We’re at the Yard Arm restaurant on the pier at Fair Hope AL and it really is right out here on the pier and across the bay we can see Mobile. There’s a lot of sailing ships. We went past a beautiful one.
(track 8)
Judy:
We went by a marina where they were giving sailing lessons and it looked like a very nice place in a beautiful neighborhood. So many elegant looking homes and all along the road, it was just lined with azaleas and the dogwoods were in blossom and it was just beautiful.
It’s about 10:00 on Saturday night and we’re getting our stuff organized to get out of here tomorrow. We won’t be sorry to leave this Holiday Inn. It’s the worst place we’ve stayed, but we keep saying, what can you expect for $49/night? We went down to the lounge and played Pounce and even the common room down there in the lounge was dirty. Didn’t look like it had been cleaned or picked up in awhile. So we’ll be on our way tomorrow. Planning to go to church in Hattiesburg and on to Natchez.
It’s Sunday morning at 8:10. We’ve eaten our breakfast here in our room. We had coffee and bought muffins yesterday. I’ve checked out and we’re just about packed and ready to go.
We’re in Hattiesburg, we found a Methodist Church. Getting ready to go in, we’ve got 10 minutes, 15 minutes before the service starts. It’s 9:30 and we’ve decided to leave Natchez and go up the Natchez Trace. There’s a few historic places that we’d like to stop along there and see. We decided we’d get on the road. None of the mansions.. You have to go on a tour and see 4 houses and because it’s the Spring Pilgrimage time. It’s $24 and you have to spend the whole morning, you can’t just go in one house. So we decided we’d hit the road and we’d be better off that way.
(birdsong) These are the birds long the Natchez Trace. We’re seeing lots of dogwood, red bud in blossom. I saw a different kind of trillium. And mayapple. It was a red trillium.
Mary Harriett:
Blue-eyed grass.
Judy:
Lovely, lovely road. Here we are, dining alfresco, from a meal we had at the Piggly Wiggly. I had fried chicken and black-eyed peas and greens and a little pieces of potato in there, cornbread. Mary Harriett had - there’s a couple of buzzards up there, over there. Are they buzzards or vultures? Vultures. The sun is finally shining down upon us, but it’s been a pretty cloudy day. We’re here by a little waterfall at a picnic table on the Natchez Trace. It’s about 1:35. I hear the traffic going by. It’s a very peaceful, serene, colorful place.
(track 9)
Judy:
I didn’t finish telling that Mary Harriett had tuna fish on crackers and pecan pie. And was it good?
Mary Harriett:
Not bad. The crust was so-so, but the inside was delicious.
Judy:
Well, we drove through Vicksburg and stopped at the information center and got a map and drove around the historic tour were really surprised at how hilly Vicksburg is. And the contrast was some were big houses, and big bed and breakfasts, but most of them were little houses, very close together. We were not terribly inspired by Vicksburg, so we decided to press on to Talulah LA. And we’re on our way now. It’s only 10 minutes to 5, but I’ve sat long enough in the car and I’m sure Mary Harriett has driven far enough. So we found out there’s a Day’s Inn in Talulah and a couple of truck stops to chose from for eateries. We stopped in Port Gibson and got our lunch in the Piggly Wiggly and found Bruce’s hot sauce, by the way, in the Piggly Wiggly and went along the Natchez Trace until we came to a picnic area and we stopped there. I guess I already talked to you at the picnic area.
It’s 9:45 here in Talulah LA and we’re finally on our way. The continental breakfast was not much. I had a bowl of Cheerios and a glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee, but all the other choices were that or Frosted Flakes or little tiny cinnamon rolls. Oh, isn’t that pretty. And a banana. Look at that, they have a little river right here and in the middle of the river, they have, like, you know, little Christmas tree things. The metal when it’s lit up, I’m sure it looks like a Christmas tree. Have them all along here, it’s very pretty. There’s ducks in the canal. We’re headed north on Rt 65. We got a call last night from Donald Hoose and we made some plans with him. That looks like an elm tree there. Talulah looks like a nice little town. We’re looking to see if there’s a bakery or something here, so that we can… Oh, there’s a little footbridge across this canal. Oh, what kind of church is that? It’s the First Baptist and there’s the Talulah high school. Oh, the dogwood is beautiful and there’s a red bud tree right down next to the water. And there looks like half a footbridge. Must be the people from that side didn’t want the people from this side coming over, so they took down half of the footbridge. And here’s the United Methodist Church - Mercy and Truth have met in Faith. Turn and Believe. They’ve got a bucket out here, alright. Gas is $1.24.09. Here’s a railroad crossing, right here in the middle of town and everybody seems to be going very slowly over it.
Mary Harriett:
I hope that truck gets off the track.
Judy:
Oh, I see, there’s a red light over on the other side. Kind of a funny place to have a traffic light, right on the other side of the railroad overpass.
(track 10)
Talulah was founded in 1852. There was a historical marker there.
Mary Harriett:
Wildlife Refuge.
Judy:
Yeah. Garden and Company store.
Mary Harriett:
They have a Piggly Wiggly.
Judy:
The temperature outside, by the way, is 49 degrees, a 30-degree drop in temperature since yesterday. So I’m glad I have my nice, fleecy orange shirt. Oh, the library’s right down there. And they have an IGA there. Well, we seem to be almost at the end of Talulah. Left lane ends. OK.
Mary Harriett:
Didn’t get any rain or thunderstorms last night.
Judy:
So it’s a dry - it’s kind of misty out. You can sort of feel the moisture. In Lake Providence and we stopped at the old Dutch Bakery, very nice little place. Mary Harriett got a cinnamon bun and some coffee. And we’re watching pigeons making holes in the wall. We just stopped at the AK visitors center and got a lot of information on wonderful places to see and visit in AK: Hot Springs, and we’re thinking about the Stuttgart Museum, Agriculture Museum and they also told us about a wonderful scenic route that takes us up to the northern part of AK.
Mary Harriett:
We may see a herd of elk. He saw a field with over a hundred in it, so we’re anxiously looking forward to that.
Judy:
We’re in the Catfish Buffet in Dumas AK. And we’re eating lunch here. We had a chicken fried steak sandwich. I had mine with fries, which are cold and how was your fried okra? And sweet tea. Well, we just took advantage of the restroom at the Piggly Wiggly. Have to find our way through all the - oops - We didn’t seem to find Bruce’s hot sauce, though. Well, AK, so far, is very flat and big long fields, long rows. And we understand they grow rice, soybeans, corn and cotton. So they think that right now they only might have planted is the rice. It’s too early for anything else. But there’s a lot of standing water. They must have gotten a lot of rain around here. It seems funny because we were just around a week and a half ago, in an area that they were complaining because they didn’t have enough water.
(track 11)
Mary Harriett:
Where was the Norris Dam?
Judy:
The Norris Dam in the TN Valley.
Mary Harriett:
Was 10’ below normal, this one is 10’ above normal.
Judy:
We’re getting ready to go in the Stuttgart Agriculture Museum. Well, we had the most interesting trip through the Agriculture Museum here in Stuttgart. We had a personalized tour and we saw all kinds of things. It was very interesting. The early settlers and what the prairie grass looked like, the flowers and all the artifacts. They also had a room that you could look at, that was devoted to the duck hunting where they had a simulated early morning duck hunting scene and they showed you the different kinds of ducks that are here in the area. And they have a duck calling contest the 3rd week in November and it’s a really affair here. The reason that the ducks are so drawn to the area are because of the rice production here. After the rice is harvested, the ducks come into the area to glean the fields, so then they’re here and then the duck hunters can - it’s apparently one of the best duck places in the world. But you can’t buy a duck hunter’s meal, because they don't allow the ducks to be sold to the restaurant trade. We spent at least an hour and a half in the museum and one of the women came and played the organ for us and another came and sang with a German song that was on a cylinder. They showed us all the farm machinery and they had a little set up where they showed the different kinds of shops they had in the early village and the ladies were very helpful. They kept giving us things. We have a sample soy bean stalk, 2 stalks of rice, we have postcards, we have a book on Stuttgart, we have directions on where to eat supper tonight, and how to get to a hotel. It’s really quite a - they were very friendly and very helpful. Mary Harriett’s getting gas. We can’t get over, the price has gone up. Now we did come to fuel stop where the gas was $1.29.09, but across the street at Shell, it’s $1.33.09 and up at the Texaco station its $1.39.09. So we think it’s amazing that the price of gas is so high here.
Ok, we’re eating in the Little Chef restaurant just down the road from us. We’re going to have catfish and they’re going to give us a couple of - as an appetizer - give us a couple of frog’s legs to try.
Mary Harriett:
I would say this matches the Riverside Catfish Cafe, if not even more tender and delicious.
Judy:
Ok, it’s almost 9:00 and we’re getting packed up and we’re almost ready to leave our motel in Stuttgart on our way to Hot Springs. We just went in the Stuttgart Public Library to check the email, now we’re going to get ice at the gas.
Mary Harriett:
Big ponds where they’re doing experiments, because those ponds were too small to have that chain or whatever it is to go across to keep the cormorants away, so they must also be doing work with some of the other farmers around.
(track 12)
Mary Harriett:
Very interesting.
Judy:
We just completed the tour of the Dumfrie? Derfy? Aquaculture Research. We got really the full tour. Bill G. showed us all around, showed us through the labs, talked about what they did and then got a car/van and drove us around the ponds where they do experiments with different fish. Told us a lot about the catfish industry here and we saw in a magazine where they had canned carp and were distributing it, but he said it wasn’t successful financially, so they really aren't doing it anymore, but he thought that carp was very good. Tilapia is a fish that they’re doing a lot of work with. He said it’s originally from the Mediterranean and they’re growing those on fish farms. And that’s a very good fish, too, but both the tilapia and the catfish are warm water fish and they’re good for this area in the South here.
Mary Harriett:
Tilapia have scales and accepted by the Jewish people and catfish have no scales, so for orthodox Jews, are not acceptable.
Judy:
So now we’re headed for Hot Springs. We just stopped at Sheridan on our way from Stuttgart to Hot Springs ad had our lunch at the Daisy Queen. We shared a taco salad and fried chicken. It was very good and cost $7 for the entire lunch. Well, here it is 3:30 and we haven’t quite gotten to Hot Springs yet. We did see a sign that said Lake Catherine State Campsite because the booklet said they had cabins for rent. Well, they do have cabins and they have one left for tonight, but it was $70. And you know it’s quite aways. It’s 11 miles from where we got off the road and we hadn’t even gotten to Hot Springs yet. (No, we don’t want to go there.) So we’d have to go back the 11 miles and then go another few miles to get to the center of Hot Springs. It had a bedroom, living room and kitchen, all linens and cookware and it looked like a lovely place. And they had a lot of campsites for tents and things like that. But it wasn’t in the best cards for us to stay here tonight, but we did take a few pictures, because after all, it’s Lake Catherine, with a “C” no less. So we’ll see what we can find when we get to Hot Springs. Hopefully, we’ll get there before it gets dark.
Yes, this is definitely different from the place where we were yesterday and this morning. You’ll think you were right up in the Adirondacks. It’s not high mountains, but it’s wooded and curvy roads and hilly, lot of streams and big trees.
Mary Harriett:
And now we’re back seeing the forsythias and the daffodils. We’ve come that far North.
Judy:
We did go by a Methodist camp ground called Camp Tanako. It would have been interesting to drive in there and see what kind of facilities they have. Probably a little higher class than the bungalows we have at Skye Farm.
Mary Harriett:
They have a soap dispenser in the shower, too.
(track 13)
Judy:
We’ve checked into the Happy Hollow Motel on Fountain Street in Hot Springs and probably the place is as old as I am, but it’s ok. It’s clean, we’ve got 3, no, we’ve got 4 chairs, closet, refrigerator and a TV and a coffee machine and a shower. It’s within walking distance to the night life district, historic district we’re going to walk to. And we’re facing a lovely mountain, a short mountain, where there’s a big tower on the top, trails all up and down it and you can drive up and there’s trails behind us. The lady who, when I called from the visitor’s center, to find out if she had a room available, she told me it was $44, well when we got here to check in Mary Harriett was going to present her credit card and she said she couldn't take the credit card because her machine wasn’t working, so we each gave her $20 bill and she said that was enough. So we thought that was pretty reasonable. We’re going out for awhile now and it’s a little after 5. (Should we take the phone?)
Well, this is our second attempt at Grannies restaurant here. We were ignored the first time. We’ll see how well we do this time. We got up and left and the other place we went in stopped serving just before we walked in, so we don’t know.
Well, this morning we got up about 7:30, 6:30. It was pretty noisy outside, so it woke us up. But we were on our way by 7:30, walking down to the bathhouse and we had a mineral bath and I had a massage and Mary Harriett had a pedicure. Well, when they finished with her pedicure, she had to wait for her toes to dry, so I walked up and got the car and drove down and picked her up and then we went to the Park Inn to have breakfast. Now it’s 10:30 and we’re getting ready to pack up.
Well, we came through the Ozark Wichita mountain ranges since we left Hot Springs and some very scenic views up there, but mostly Mary Harriett and I were looking at the road. A lot of switchbacks.
Mary Harriett:
A whole different AK. Woo, toughest driving so far.
Judy:
And it wasn’t just us, there were trucks on the road and even one place where the road was half washed away, but there we were. But now we’re on our way to Mountain Home. We’re going across very nice open farm land. Looks quite prosperous here.
Well, we’re in Mountain Home at Teal Point resort and they only had one big cabin left. Two bedroom, large unit which would have been $98 and so we came back into town and we’re at the Comfort Inn they have a coin operated laundry and it seems to be a very nice place. So we’re going out tonight to Fred’s and have our supper and do the laundry, play a few hands of cards, go to bed, get up early, have our Continental breakfast and head West to Grove.
Ok, it’s 8:20 and we’ve checked out of the Comfort Inn in Mountain Home and we’re ready to roll here the first order of business is to get some gas. Oh, I never looked for the paper either. Ok, we’re stopping at Sonics where you pull up and order your meal.
(track 14)
It’s like the old A & W. You pull up and order your meal and somebody brings it out. I’m having a cheeseburger, Mary Harriett is having a fish sandwich and we’re both having limeades. We’re in Rogers AK. We’re on our way to Grove OK.
(long discussion about dogs with Chris H.)
Here we are eating breakfast with Don and Chris at their lake house, looking out at a grey sky, but no rain. And this is Honey Creek that we’re looking at out here, just beautiful. Sea gulls, boats.
Chris:
We have had eagles. There’s been eagles over in the tree right over there on that point, that tall tree. And they have come swopping down right here by the house. Also last year we had a ..
Judy:
Do you worry about the dog? Well, the dog doesn’t go out that much, does she?
Chris:
Honey, if that eagle could lift her. (laughter) And we had an eagle in the tree out on the north side of the house eating a fish one day when we came down the driveway and we just parked our car and watched him eat. Finally flew away. Course, we didn't have a camera with us or anything. They are just so impressive. We just love to watch the eagles.
Judy:
Was it a Bald?
Chris:
Uh huh, with a white head, beautiful.
Judy:
We’ve been marveling at the H.’s house here. Mary Harriett and I have decided we’re going to move in here. And if they’re up at the lake house, we’ll be down here and if they want to come back, we’ll go up to the lake house and stay. It’s just incredible. I’ve got to take a lot of pictures just to show what the place looks like.
(track 15)
Well, we had a lovely Easter yesterday. Went to church and went out to brunch. Met the family, wonderful family, the children are all very handsome. And toured around Tulsa, went to a museum and saw a Grandma Moses exhibit. Came back here and met Shirley and Bill. Shirley is Don’s sister. Had a delicious meal and then played 31. And we’re in bed about 11:30 I guess. And now we’re ready for Monday. Mary Harriett is going to get the car serviced. And I don’t know what else we’ve got planned for today, but we’ll get organized and be ready to get out of here tomorrow.
We’re getting things organized here. It’s Tuesday morning, April 2nd. We’re getting some final things worked out here.
(Chris, Don, Judy and Mary Harriett discussing a map)
Chris:
OK, you started from where?
Judy:
Here, well I started from here. Then we went over to Lancaster PA, which is about in here, then we came down this way, right along next to the mountains. We stopped there in Staunton one night and came down through Roanoke. And then we went to Knoxville and Chattanooga and from there we Birmingham to Montgomery and then down to Mobile and Hattiesburg and Natchez. And here’s the Natchez Trace, that wavy line. Then we went over to Vicksburg and Talulah. And then we came up here.
Chris:
Talulah”s the gambling place?
Judy:
It’s just a little burg, very small.
Mary Harriett:
That’s where we ate in the truck stop.
Judy:
It’s off the big highway. You go off the big highway and there’s the motel. And then we went to Stuttgart, it’s someplace over here. And we went over to Hot Springs. And then up over the mountains, over here to Mountain Home. Then we came right over here to Grove.
Chris:
And know you’re here. Then you’re going to Ft Worth, San Antonio.
Judy:
Then we’re going over as far as, here, Ft Stockton. I figure that’s about as far as we want to go in a day. And then up here to Albuquerque/Santa Fe area. And then we gotta go to the Indian Mission over here.
Mary Harriett:
Farmington
Chris:
Where’s Farmington?
Mary Harriett:
It’s right here in the corner. Right in the Four Corners.
Judy:
And then we’ll go down here to Flagstaff or someplace in here so we can do the canyon. And then we’re going to come up this way and go over here and go over this road and up over those mountains. Look at that. We’ve got to go right over here to near Denver to Evergreen. But this is the Continental Divide, right here. And these are very tall and we’ll be up seven thousand feet.
Mary Harriett:
Well, you’ll be up more than seven thousand probably. And we’ll see what the altitude does.
Judy:
And then we’ll go over here to Salt Lake City.
(track 16)
That’s where Park City is. And we have to be up here in Seattle by May 8th. So either we can go over here and through Idaho up this way and then come up along the coast here. We’ll stay there in Seattle for a few days and then, and this is where that Port Townsend is, where we couldn’t get into. While we’re in Seattle, we’ll go over here and over to Victoria and back and then the place where we’re going to stay for that timeshare is right up here someplace. Right up near the border. Right over here, so it’s only an hour to Vancouver. Then we’ll come down here to Coeur d'Alene on the border between Idaho and …
Chris:
Now, see my cousin pronounces that Coeur d'Alene
Judy:
Coeur d'Alene. Ok, that’s right about in here. Then I wanted to come down here to Yellowstone. I wanted to come through Helena, because my granddaughter’s name is Helena, but I’m not sure we can. Here it is, Helena. But we got to get down there somehow, and then we’re going to go over - here’s South Dakota. We’re going to look around here. That’s where Mt Rushmore is and the Badlands. And then we’re going to come over to Mitchell SD, that’s where Win’s grandfather went to Mitchell SD and opened up a blacksmith shop, so we we’ve got to look for that.
Mary Harriett:
I was going to say, the only that I know of in Mitchell SD is the Corn Palace and why anybody would want to go just to see the Corn Palace is…. Yesterday in the jewelry store I was telling the girl, I said, because I had the other two little charms with me, and told her and she said “It sounds wonderful, are you going to hit all the states?”. I said “No, we’re going to miss Kansas.” and she said “I’m from Kansas and I don’t know why you would want to go there.”
Judy:
We’re going to go straight across here and somehow we’re going to get to someplace along here, is Prairie du Chien, we liked that name, too.
Mary Harriett:
Oh and Zona.
Judy:
Oh, yes, and then we’re coming over here to Madison WS. Her friend, Zona, is from that area and right along before you get to Madison, probably that little dot right there, they have some fabulous house and she has this whole book on this fabulous house and the collections. I ought to bring it in so she could look at it. And then we’re going to go up around Fond du Lac and up around the top of MI.
Mary Harriett:
The Upper Peninsula
Judy:
And then we’re going to go to Travers City and work our way down here to Dearborn. We didn’t want to go into Detroit, but when I was a kid, the Ford museum was there, of course, it’s still there today, but we went, and I just want to see what it looks like today. And then, she has a friend here in Pittsburgh. And we’re going to go there and see, they have redone that Falling Waters, Frank Lloyd Wright’s home. They have just reopened it and her friend is going to get us tickets to go there. Outside of Philadelphia, there’s a garden, Longwood and outside of Wilmington there’s another one. We’re going to go there.
Chris:
I think I might head on home and come back another day.
Judy:
Well, we’ve always been wanting to do that and we never did it, so we better do it.
Chris:
I’m telling you, from here to Fort Worth, that’s a nice day’s drive and then from there on down to there would be a nice day’s drive and then starting off on all of this… Now, what time is your phone going to be on? Will it be on the hours that it would be 7-9 in NY?
Mary Harriett:
No, it would be on 8-10 in NY, so it would be 7-9 here. Because it it’s 7 here, it’s 8 there, right?
(track 17)
Chris:
Ok, but then when you get out here
Mary Harriett:
Well, when we get out there it will be 5-7 and then it will still be 8-10 there.
Judy:
What a difference in temperature, I’ve got to get my socks and put them on.
Chris:
What a difference a day makes. Oh, my word. There’s a Frank Lloyd Wright house right here in Tulsa. And collections, Tiffany.
Judy:
It looks not too big in that picture, but it just goes on and on. It must take quite a while just to go through it.
Chris:
And silver.
Mary Harriett:
Zona hates to clean silver.
Chris:
This isn’t Zona’s house?
Mary Harriett:
No, Zona told us to go there. She’s been there several times and says it’s worth taking a zig or zag to get there to see it.
Chris:
Oh, the house here in town is a glass one, very modern looking. Oh, then back to silver. I’m just sick. I was mentioning to Mary Jane when we were there. She was talking about selling her silver tea set. I just couldn't imagine her doing that. My only concern was Mary Jane, don’t do that, keep it.
Mary Harriett:
I was wondering, there was something else. Seems to me, the first time we went there, that you and I went down. That time, did we sleep in the same room, or did you have a room and I had a room?
Judy:
I think we slept in the same room.
Mary Harriett:
Because I was going to say, I could’ve sworn when we were there before and slept in the same room that when we were there before, the other rooms had furniture.
Judy:
You’re right, I think so.
Mary Harriett:
So I was wondering, then you know, when you talked about her selling the tea set, whether they had to sell some of that stuff.
Judy:
Well, we’ve left Tulsa, we’re traveling down old route 66 on our way to OK City. After we get to OK City, then we’ll be traveling down 35, the big road. But right now we’re on old route 66. We passed what looked like some old cabins that were abandoned. Probably were roadside cabins at one time. And there are hills here in this part of OK. We haven’t reached the really flat area yet. And it’s very windy and it’s 10:40 and the temperature is 52 degrees. The sun was bright this morning and the sky was blue and all of a sudden the clouds came in. I thought we were going to be in 80 degree weather and here we are and it’s 52.
(track 18)
So we’ll see what it’s like when we get to Fort Worth.
Here we are at the Botanical Garden in Forth Worth. We’re in the Japanese garden and it’s gorgeous, just gorgeous. Little chilly today, but the garden is gorgeous.
Well, we’re leaving the Bowers house, it’s about quarter to 9. We’re headed to San Antonio. It’s cloudy, very cool, the temperature is 50 degrees.
We stopped in Austin at the Lady Bird Johnson Wild Flower Center, took a walk around there. It was very pleasant. Still only 63 degrees out, so it was rather cool. We’ve only got about 70 some miles to go to get to San Antonio and we’re going to stop at the next rest area to have a little something to eat out of the cooler and our grocery box.
Well, we’re still here in San Antonio. We’ve had our continental breakfast. It’s still cool and it’s drizzling rain now, we’re getting ready to go down to the center of town to the Texan Cultural Institute to look at some historical stuff and do the Riverwalk and have some lunch. then maybe go to the library and use their computer this afternoon.
Well, we’re getting ready to go out to breakfast, then we’ll pack up the car and then out to church and then North to Saint Angelo. It’s Sunday morning, April 7th and drizzling.
Well, we’re on our way. We went to a very large church this morning, the University United Methodist church in San Antonio. And the choir was beautiful and they had a bell choir. They had, how many would you say, six pastors? Just a very large church. I figured f there were 500 in the congregation last week in Tulsa, there must have been 700 in this one. And we’re on our way now, up North on route 87 on our way to Saint Angelo, but we’re nearing a town called Fredericksburg, which was settled by the Germans in the mid-1800s. We’ve been going past a lot of what look like ranch entrances. We’re going through the hill country. And you’d see a hill, and the hills are not exactly like our hills, but you’d see a hill and there’d be a big, big house, sitting on top of the hill. We got off the big highway, the big highway 10 which goes over to El Paso and we’re now traveling on a 4-lane highway, sort of the difference between going on the thruway and going on route 20.
We’re having a new experience here. We’ve been going along in this flat country just before we get to Saint Angelo and we’ve gone through some rainstorms and some dust storms and they’re incredible. You just cannot see through that dirt. It’s kind of scary, fortunately there’s not a lot of traffic on this road right now, but you can see the dust billowing up, coming from the left hand side of the road and you know you’re going to be driving through it.
Mary Harriett:
Hope we have some paint left on the car. I hope I still have a green car left.
Judy:
It’s very windy, too. Well, we’re in the carwash right at the moment, getting all that dirt washed off the car that hit the car yesterday when we went through the dust storm. It’s about quarter to 10 and as soon
(track 19)
as we get the car washed, we’ll be on our way to Amarillo, by way of Lubbock. I just wanted to remark that the place we ate in yesterday in Mason TX, they had a salad bar and on the instructions about getting the salad bar with your dinner, it said only one trip to the salad bar with an entree spelled “ontry”. Well, we’re getting ready to leave Amarillo. It’s 8:20, we’ve had our breakfast. It’s foggy out and it’s 47 degrees, they said on the television. So, we’re not running into a lot of warm weather down here.
Well, we’re about 50 miles from the New Mexican border. The fog has lifted somewhat, so you can see quite a distance, but it’s very flat here. We just went by what we figure must be a cattle feeding station. It was several acres and was just jammed full of cows, a lot of them. We’re hoping to get a picture of one of the big grain silos they have along the road here, they’re really huge. We can see some windmills, ordinary windmills in the distance. They have nice picnic areas along here. You know, it’s wide open here, so there’s no trees to put the picnic tables under, so they have little covers over the tops of the picnic tables.
We’re getting near the border now. We’re about 15 miles from the border now and all of a sudden we’ve had a change in the landscape. It’s no longer flat, it’s like you see in those Western movies with the, up - we’re going down a hill. Arroyos and flat hills.
Well, we stopped to look at an historic marker and it wasn’t there. Somebody stole the historic marker. There don’t see to be trees growing along here. We can see a lot of scrubby, like scrub oak and yucca, but no trees.
Mary Harriett:
And the ranch houses are a mile from the road. I don’t understand why. New Mexico, information center and rest area, one mile.
Judy:
Looks like we’re going out of TX and into NM. Encountering a little road construction here. And it’s extending on into, up , no it isn’t. Here we are in NM and the road building seems to be stopping. We’re still on interstate 40.
May 3rd, 2002 and we’re out on route 80 between Salt Lake City and Nevada and we’re almost to the Nevada border here. Boy, is this flat. We went by the Bonneville Salt Flats and it’s just as far as the eye can see it’s just sand and a little bit of water. It looks like the great salt lake has spread along here. What is interesting to me is as we’er going along here and looking at this sand, people have taken rocks and made like names and hearts things like that. It’s sort of putting graffiti on a wall, I guess. You’ve got all this
(track 20)
expansive sand and an occasional little cluster of rocks. Peace sign, I just saw a peace sign. There was a heart and somebody’s name. My goodness. Off in the distance, and you don’t know how many miles it is, you can see a little out cropping of mountains. Ahead of us, you can see mountains and to the South you can see a few mountains and even snow-capped mountains, but way off in the distance. We’re going on a straight line.
Well, we’ve been eating in the Peppermill hotel/casino buffet, which is absolutely marvelous. With the senior discount, we got a big slab of prime roast beef and fried chicken, potatoes, salads, bread, dessert, and we paid, together, our whole bill was $10.54.
Heading North out of Winnemucca, we had a wonderful breakfast in a place there in Winnemucca. And now we’re going along here and we see sand dunes. Very interesting. Mary Harriett’s pulling off the highway here so she can go and feel the sand over here.
Mary Harriett:
I could probably feel it right here.
Judy:
No you go across the road and feel it over there. Watch out, here comes a car.
Yes, she went across the road. Sheriff”s car just went by. I wonder if he is wondering why this woman is over there picking up a handful of sand. She’s coming around here by my window and she’s going to show me the sand here. Yes, by George, it’s just like what you’d find up there at Moody Beach. amazing, out here in Northern Nevada.
We’re going over state route 140. It’s a very long, straight line. We just passed three vehicles, two trucks and a pickup truck. But it’s one of those, you know, you can see for miles and miles. And again, we have snow-capped mountains you can see on the South side of us and in the distance on the North of us. So we’ll see what we have when we get to the horizon here. and it’s more sand here and it’s open range, but one side has a fence and the other side doesn’t. But there’s also, it looks like it might be salt. It looks very unappetizing.
Mary Harriett:
Here we are, on our way North, again.
Judy:
Yep, we’re on our way from Klamath Falls to Medford. It’s about quarter to 1 and oh my, look at all the cattle in the area. Wow, I’d say there were hundreds, over here on our left in this nice green field, all eating happily away there, grazing, some of them drinking water. Standing around chatting. There’s some horses on the the other side. And one of the impressive things about Klamath Falls, we went to the Methodist Church this morning and ate our lunch at the Klamath Grill.
(track 21)
Had potato pancakes, they were very good. Mary Harriett had buttermilk pancakes. But as you look out from Klamath, you can see Mt. Shasta, about 60 miles away, but it’s over 14,000 feet high, so it’s not a problem to see it. We’re going through a wooded area. Volcanic Legacy, Oregon Scenic Highway. We hope to see maybe some deer and antelope playing in the woods.
Well, we are about to see the end of US 20. We picked it up off route 5 at Albany, Oregon and we can see the Pacific Ocean in the distance, or, you know, right up here. There was a bit of a delay, just a few minutes, because a tank truck went off the road in front of us. But some kind-hearted soul directed our land of traffic right around, so we didn’t have to wait. We’re headed to Depot to the Sea Hags to have our noon meal, which is about 10 after 1 now.
Well, here we are in the state of Washington. And yesterday we were in Portland, did some touring around there and now we’re getting ready to leave and the sky is blue and it looks like were going to have a nice day. We’re going to see some lilacs this morning and then head up to Seattle.
Well, here we are in the theater. We’re coming to see Monsoon Wedding. Today Arlene went to Portland to go to the opera and Mary Harriett and I went on a cruise this afternoon around Lake Washington. Had dinner at Mama Leone’s?
Mary Harriett:
No, Lucia’s.
Judy:
Anyway it was delicious dinner in a small Italian restaurant in a little shopping center that we’re in. This is Saturday and it was very sunny today. We could actually see Mt Rainer.
We’re sitting here in the line of traffic waiting to get on the ferry out of Edmonds and we’re going to Kingston. And we expect to be on, it’s 5:34 now. Do you have the telephone with you? It’s not quite time to turn it on. No, it should be, we should have it on at 5, right? 6,7,8…yeah. We are expecting to get on the 5:50 ferry and we’re heading to Port Angeles and we’ll stay in Port Angeles tonight.
Here we are eating lunch in the Bouchard Gardens, Blue Poppy Cafeteria, just surrounded by wonderful plants. It’s a beautiful day, we came over on the ferry. And we got to Victoria. The road starting over was a little bit rough, but we made it fine. Halfway over, it smoothed out, so it wasn’t so bad. We’re looking forward to touring the gardens now and staying overnight in Victoria. We’re in a pub for supper, most of the rest of the pub is down a level, a couple of steps, watching a hockey game and they get pretty rowdy now and then. Oh, they’re watching the playoff, between Toronto and Ontario.
(track 22)
and the crowd seems to be divided half and half. Of course, you realize we’re in Canada.
(some discussion on contents of pocketbook) So we’re here getting ready to leave and the sky is clear to the North and cloudy to the South and cloudy to the East, but we’re going West. We just had a wonderful lunch at the Chestnut Cafe Cottage and it was great. And it’s Wednesday.
Well, today is Friday and we left Arlene’s about 11:30 and stopped and got some groceries and headed North. Well, we got to this place called Mt Vernon and read in the tour book that it is the largest bulb growing area and so we pulled off and had lunch in a very nice, but rather expensive Calico Cottage and drove out here to look at the gardens and I mean there’s acres and acres and acres of tulip and daffodils, but it’s too late. About 2-3 weeks ago they would have been full of tulips, but they’re all gone now. But we did stop at the Rosen Garden and saw a few late tulips, but it’s a lovely area. They’ve got a lot of, looks like a nursery for trees and shrubs and vines and looked like some
Mary Harriett:
Every house is beautiful.
Judy:
Beautiful landscaping on the houses. Of course, the rhododendrons and the azaleas are out. Lovely little community here. So we’re glad we stopped and now it’s quarter after 3 and we’re heading up to our timeshare in Glacier.
Mary Harriett:
There’s a pink dogwood.
Judy: we’re getting ready to leave Snowwater in the rain. It’s been raining most of the time we’ve been here. It’s Wednesday morning, a little after 10. We’ve really done nothing here bu tread and rest, watched a couple of videos, 4 videos, as a matter of fact. And now we’re headed out towards better weather. Mary Harriett has a cold. We’re going to stop in the library and check our email, mail the package to Nancy for her birthday. And then we’ll be headed, hopefully we’ll get to Ellensburg if not beyond, and hopefully, into the sunshine.
Today’s the 24th, we’re at Michael B’s just finishing our breakfast. It’s 10:30 and it’s a beautiful sunny day and it’s actually warm enough to just wear a short sleeve shirt. But looking East, where we’re going, there’s clouds, but hopefully we won’t find snow. It said in the paper this morning, on Wednesday they had to close two of the passes into Yellowstone park because of the snow. So we don’t know what we’re going to find when we get there.
(track 23)
We just had lunch in Perkins in Missoula. It’s in a nice valley here, but it’s surrounded by snow-capped mountains. We haven’t run into any of the snow that’s fallen here recently, but maybe when we get closer to Yellowstone.
Well, we’re on our way to Yellowstone, we’re going across Montana, on I90 and it’s really spectacular to look at all sides; North, straight ahead of us, on the East, to the South and to the West behind us, you can see snow-capped mountains. The country we’re going through is very wide open, a lot of ranches and cattle and things like that. Not too close together. Well, it’s Memorial Day and we’re in Cody WY in the West Park Hospital. Mary Harriett has pneumonia. She’s going to be here for a few more days. We don’t know exactly how long, but she’s been getting good care, looking a lot better than she did yesterday. We’ll just hope that everything goes along alright.
I’m getting ready to check out of the Holiday Inn here. It’s Thursday morning. Mary Harriett was feeling much better yesterday and the colonoscopy was ok. The doctor didn’t find any cancer, which they sort of expected to. They removed a couple of polyps and they think they’ve corrected the problems that they found, so I’m going to go up there and check on how things are this morning and check into a new place. It’s warm today, it’s supposed to be 80. It’s quite unusual.
Now, Mrs. Matus, would you care to say anything about your stay in the hospital here in Cody?
Mary Harriett:
No, thank you. Not at all.
Judy:
There you have it, she doesn’t want to talk about her stay here in Cody in the hospital. Right now we’re enjoying the beautiful weather. It must have been in the 80s today with a beautiful blue sky with white, fluffy clouds and a little breeze. We’re sitting here, outside our little cottage, enjoying the fresh air and the barking dog and the noise of the traffic and watching the birds. So this is Friday, May 31st. We talked to Nancy, it was her birthday and we talked to John and we talked to Ann. So I think we made all the phone calls we needed to make. It’s interesting, we’re sitting under the quaking aspen and there’s ants going up and down the trees and they’re black ants in contrast to the very pale bark. It’s interesting.
Well, we’re packed up and ready to go and it’s five after nine. So we’re saying goodbye to the guest cottages, got to go over and pay the bill. Then we’re going over to see Dr. K. to see whether or not we get the OK to hit the road.
We spent the night in Gillette WY. We got a good long distance and stayed in a Quality Inn here. Just finished our continental breakfast and now we have to go find a battery for Mary Harriett’s camera. There’s a Walmart and a Kmart and a Radio Shack nearby, so we’ll do that.
(track 24)
It’s a gorgeous cool day, bright and sunny. I think we’ll be able to see Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse when we get there.
Albert Lee MN and it’s Thursday, June 6th. We’re getting ready to get on the road again. We just finished breakfast in Trumbles. We stayed in the Budget Host Inn last night. I had a very good night’s sleep. But I don’t think we’re going to make the 400 miles today that we made yesterday coming from Murdo SD. Yesterday we did go through Mitchell SD and saw the Corn Palace. We went by the sign that said this was where the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder, but we didn’t stop there, we just sort of drove by and appreciated the view as we were driving along, knowing that that was the view she must have written about, that kind of territory. We should make it to Wisconsin, a very nice day, probably in the 70’s by now. Doesn’t look like there’s a cloud in the sky.
We’re getting ready to check out of the motel here, in Portage Indiana and mapping out our route for the next couple of days. We found out there’s some Amish country here in Northern Indiana. So we’ll wend our way along route 20 this morning.
Ok, I think I’ve gotten things straightened out now. We’ve gotten to route 20 and Auburn and it’s almost 12:30, so it’s time to look for a little spot for lunch.
We just had a very nice lunch at a family restaurant in Auburn and now we’re going to let the car cool off a bit and get back on route 20. Well, now we’re on the part of route 20 that I know and love, east of Syracuse, east of Cazenovia, which is a very impressive town. A big 4-lane highway: 2 going east, 2 going west, pretty straight, but up and down hills.
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