Song lyrics that say 'Road Trip'

God is great.

Beer is good

and people are crazy

(Billy Currington)

___________________

Ain’t no rhyme or reason

No complicated meaning

Ain’t no need to over think it

Let go, laughing

Life don’t go quite like you planned it

We try so hard to understand it

The irrefutable, indisputable fact is

Yeah, the irrefutable, indisputable, absoluteable, totally beautiful fact is

Pshhhhh, it happens

(Sugarland)

NOTICE

We learned something on this trip and we feel that we really must pass this information on to anyone who may be reading this blog, if only as a public service.

There has been a lot of 'evidence' offered to us, and it is an untruth.

Even though...

...a friend's son swore he saw one in his back yard (we believe the picture offered as proof had been heavily photoshopped).

...my cousin said that they are ALWAYS around

...my sister claims to have one as a pet named Alphonse

...a man said that he had a near miss just scant minutes after we passed the VERY same place

...every province and state indicated their existence and

...many hotels had a 'gottagettagund' variety,

please be advised that

the MOOSE IS A MYTH!

The missing post

Gosh, where did the last week disappear to? We are home and back into the routine of work and cooking and physio and everything else that just seems to take up days. That little taste of retirement--I could handle it!

We left Illinois, and spent the next night here. It was a pretty quiet night, but the place was quite interesting. For one thing, the lady who runs it is a flautist, who used to work for interesting people like this guy. But she has also spent considerable time in Zimbabwe, which holds a particular fascination for me. Her living room is full of great cds, some movies and several pieces of Zimbabwe sculptures and handicrafts, all of which she sells on behalf of the artists. There were some gorgeous pieces, one of which is carved in ironwood--a jaguar about to make his move on a hippo in the water. That piece now resides on our fireplace mantle.

After Ohio, we shopped. Outlet mall shopping is fun! And it is perhaps a little too easy to indulge. Nonetheless, we made the most of it, and I am pleased to say that two/thirds of our Christmas shopping is not only purchased but wrapped.

The only other events really were fighting with the duct tape holding our sunroof on. The heat was so intense that the glue on the tape kept melting away, basically, leaving a funny whistle noise and the potential for the whole entire thing to come right off, taking out whoever or whatever would be in its path. Yeah, that was as fun as it sounds.

And all too soon, yet not soon enough we were home. Our cat missed us, the magic painter was here to transform the guest room, and the hot hot weather has followed us here.

It was a GREAT trip. A really wonderful time, and I hope we take more road trips in the future.

But, it is as always, great to be home too.

one of the longest days

Well, because I didn't sleep last night, we slept in this morning....and because we slept in this morning, we missed breakfast at the hotel...and because we missed breakfast at the hotel, we had to have breakfast at IHOP.

Thank heavens the very sugary lady at IHOP had the great idea of giving us coffee to go!

And because we had breakfast at IHOP, we left very late. And because we left late, we weren't prepared for how long the traffic delays would be. And because of traffic delays we didn't get around to having dinner until about 930.

We had dinner at Jonah's restaurant in Peoria, Illinois. It had the potential to be great. Admittedly, the food was pretty good. But the enjoyment of that was downgraded significantly by the very rushed service. We knew that they were closing soon, but if you are going to let people in the door, offer them a full menu, upgrade their drink order to a full bottle of wine--then for heaven's sake, treat them the same as a guest in a 7. Every bit of the meal was rushed, and (pet peeve coming out here) they couldn't wait until we left to start vacuuming. I hate vacuum harmonics on top of classical music. If we had known it would be like that, we would have ordered completely differently. If they had suggested we could have a more leisurely meal in the lounge, we would have. If they said the kitchen was closing, we would have made different choices. Heck, we play fair in the sandbox.

We paid the same as someone else who had been there earlier...and it wasn't a cheap meal. So rushed was the service that we had salads served before appetizers were finished, main course served before salad was started, and then the laughable offer of dessert. It was so clear that they wanted us out of there...we weren't going to order dessert. Worse still, when we said that--the server made no offer of anything to appease us.

So in my opinion, even if the fish was good (and it wasn't bad...but it wasn't great either), but the service sucks, then the whole thing is a waste of money.

Or, I could be grouchy because I didn't get any sleep last night!

one more thing...

Is there anything as lovely as a deer and two fawn

running across the prairie?

No, not really!

Unless of course you are talking about

a solitary bison on a grassland hill.

And could I capture any of that on film?

Not a chance.

Sleepless in Sioux City

AARGH

It's 3:30 a.m. and I haven't been to sleep yet. I get into a few nights like this. The good news is that it is a driving day tomorrow and I can sleep in the car.

So instead of snoozing, let me remind myself about the day we just had. It started out in the best way. We ate breakfast at Baker's Bakery in Custer, South Dakota. I had seen reviews of this place online, and it was recommended by many. So, we went and I must say that it lived up to the reviews it had. This was one of the best breakfasts we have had on this trip.

It started out with a breakfast burrito--sans green sauce. It was spicy (but not hot), and soooooo good. First we shared the burrito and then we shared the cinnamon bun. I confess that when I took the first bite, I was transported back to a time when I was oh so small, and visiting my grandparents. The bakery in their town made the BEST cinnamon buns, and it had been my intent to visit there for a trip down memory lane. That didn't happen because of my brother's heart attack.

Baker's Bakery made up for all that! This bun was all caramelly nutty bad-for-me goodness, and it is the closest thing I ever had to one from Grandma's house. And because it was so tasty, and not cloyingly sweet, we decided that we would take two donuts for lunch. Oh yeah, it was a real nutritious day! I'm going to have to work on that when I get home or risk my brother's fate.

After indulging, we went looking for animals, with some success. First, we saw a buffalo, who was lumbering along the road. He touched the mirror on my side and he was so close I could have kissed him. I resisted that.

Then we saw a herd of burros. They were intermingled with stupid people. I mean really, the burros look tame, and they were obviously begging for food. But is it wise to stand in the way of one's hind legs just because you want a picture of the baby? One lady actually knelt down to pet the baby, and her backpack kept hitting the burro behind her. She didn't even notice when he stamped his feet. Me? I got out of there. After I took my own picture of the baby. But I have 18x zoom on my camera!

We saw lots of deer and antelope play too, and it was all-in-all a lovely little excursion. It was however, just the beginning of our drive. We had a long way to go.

On the way, we saw this.

And now, here I am, sleepless in Sioux City. It's now 3:43. Just in case you wondered how long it took me to type this.

God Carving Mountains

I am feeling very insignificant lately.

Today we went on a scenic drive that quite frankly took us completely by surprise. It's because we didn't do a lot of research before coming here--our plans have been quite fluid, and there have been a lot of changes. So today we grabbed a map that outlined five scenic drives of the Custer National Park area, and we picked one.

It was beautiful. Lots of trees, some wildlife, a few creeks, a couple of rock formations. But nothing, and I do mean nothing, prepared me for what was to come. We had just approached it through a 'one lane tunnel', and I think that was part of the surprise was because we didn't know it was coming. I can't capture it on film in a way that shows the emotion behind it. This huge cathedral of granite formations met us, in an area that had been cleared to allow perhaps a dozen cars to park and the 'one-lane' traffic to pass through the tunnel.

Logan Pass was stunning. Devil's Tower was ethereal. But the Needle's Eye made me cry.

Good work, God!