Last two Days

Baci and I at the entrance to our new state.

Indiana

Kentucky

West Virginia

Ok - so the last two days of our trip got left off the blog. This was totally unintentional. We stayed in a cheaper hotel our last night on the road and the internet went down. Then once we arrived here in Virginia life got hectic in a way it hasn't in years. I am very thankful the first few days are over.

Day six of our trip was our time from Ohmaha Nebraska to Charleston West Virginia. We went into a total of six states this day so most of the pictures are of state lines. We had a hard time getting all of them as there was delay on the camera. I have to say that Kentucky was my favorite. I wish had the time to explore this state. It was beautiful with the white fences and the horses. There were also Civil War stuff all over these states so it was frustrating to have to drive right by it all. Still it was a good day. We ended at the captial of West Virginia, Charleston. This is a small town on the banks of a river. It has some sweet parts but is over all not too impressive. We stayed at a Days Inn that is in the process of a remodel but not quite there. The very kind lady at the front desk had no front teeth so I felt like I was back in MS. We decided to go into town for dinner and found a French restaurant. Now it was quite an experience being in an empty French restaruant in the heart of the south being served by a gay Southerner. He was rather flamboyant to say the least. But the food was good and he messed up on our bill more than once so we got off cheaper than it should have been. We did try to corret this but he seemed confused so we moved on.

The last day was a race to meet the men. My dad was in Richmond VA and really wanted to meet up with us. He is traveling to England for two weeks so we thought it would be good for him to see mom. It meant driving hard in the morning to meet him in the afternoon. He gave us partial directions and told us to call him once we got close. We called and called when we got there but he wouldn't pick up. He finally called us and we met up after 45 minutes of wandering Richmond to find him. I got ahold of his phone to find it was on low and he couldn't hear it ringing or telling him that there were messages. We decided to go get icecream as it was hot. Howerver Baci needed to come with us. We got directions parked the car and started walking. We were told it was three blocks. It turned out to be 8 and I was carrying Baci the whole time. It was a busy street and she was spooked by the sounds so I gained a few claw marks. She liked the ice cream parlour and was content to sit in the window catching flies and watching people go by. Needless to say a cat on a leash is a conversation starter. We said goodbye to Dad and drove to meet up with Ben. He wasn't home to meet us as he was at work. I am realizing this is something I will have to get used to this year. He works all the time. But he is still happy energetic Ben so life is good.

I don't think Baci or I are too impressed with Virginia so far. It has been hot and humid and stressful. She has to live in a shed at the moment and we have thunderstorms every afternoon which scare the living daylights out of her and give me weird headaches.

Mom had to leave Saturday so I said a tearful fairwell to her. Now it is time to find a home, job and church so life here can move forward. It would also be nice to get Baci out of the shed. Thanks for reading.

Day Five St. Louis

Old home in Boonville.

Mom and her friend we found at the Arch




The old Courthouse

Our rest stop lunch. Notice the hilarious bathroom area.



We are now over two thirds of the way to my new home. Mom has been a fantastic help mate on this trip. We started the day with breakfast and another dip in the hot tub. My back is beginning to feel like normal so I could do more of the driving today.

We drove from Omaha, Nebraska to St. Louis, Missouri. It was a good trip. We made a stop for lunch at a rest stop. I added pictures of us with Baci on a leash because I always feel like an idiot and wanted to share the moment with you. While eating lunch a little boy came over to see Baci. He brings over his 4 siblings. They all chatter and tell us about their life. They lived in a two bedroom apt. in Colorado and are moving to North Carolina but they have no home and no job. They seemed to be a religious group of some sort as the little girls all wore dresses with shorts under them. The mom also wore a dress and boots. It was obvious they were dirt poor and driving old rickety cars across country. It broke my heart. They had fun with the cat so I guess that is good.

We drove on and stopped for a quick drive through tour of Boonville. This was the place where the first battle of the Civil war happened in MO. They had some amazing homes.

Finally we got to St. Louis and were able to get down to the Arch. We got there at sunset and it was spectacular. We also saw a video on how it was made. They showed the workers up at the top with no hard hats and no harnesses, and this was only in the 1960's. Wow life has changed. Oh and to show you small the world is, Mom ran into a friend from Mariposa at the Arch!! What are the chances?!?

On to West Virginia tomorrow.

Day Four the Heartland

Crabby Baci

South Dakota Farmland

Ohmaha



Well last night after I wrote the blog I got hit by some sort of nerve thing on my back. It made today a bit more painful but after sitting all day like a prim and proper lady and eating Advil I am feeling better. Also mom drove a lot today and we were able to get to the hot tub. It feels good to almost be back to normal.

We drove from Rapid City SD to Omaha Nebraska today. The first two hours were dull and brought back memories of driving through northern Texas. Then we hit the farm land. It was much better. We pretty much drove all day as there was nothing to see other than farms:). Baci was really crabby for a few hours until we finally got her to take a BIG drink and then she settled back to her normal happy self.

The BEST part of today was Omaha. I thought it would be a dump but it was really nice. It was the hub of trade between East and West in the days of the RR. They kept the old buildings around and are renovating them. We were able to find a great hotel for the night. We then walked around old town and found a yummy dinner. We came home and hit the hot tub and now we are hitting the hay:).

Day Three of Mom and Me:)

Today we decided to have a short day but it was so hot outside that it felt long. We got up and realized we had to go get breakfast as Motel 6 is not fancy enough to offer that. Mom and I have been pondering the days of $29.99 rooms. It seems all the motels and hotels are really pricey and some offer very little for the amount. Anyways we had breakfast at Perkins. Perkins is becoming a bit of a joke for us as when we ask people where to eat they get all excited about a local Perkins and tell us to go there. For those of you who don't know Perkins, it is like Dennys so we aren't sure what the thrill is other than the fact that these are small towns and they are excited to have a chain restaurant.

We drove through the town of Sheridan on our way out of town and headed East once more. We stopped at Buffalo for a coffee and it was well worth it. It felt like a traditional western town much more so than some that are making themselves out to be one.

We phoned ahead to make sure that we had a hotel for the night and drove quickly to Rapid City SD. We dropped Baci off in the room as it was over 100 degrees and she couldn't be left in the car at all. We then drove to Mt. Rushmore and saw the monument. It feels a lot more built up than when I saw it as a 10 year old. We went out for Mongolian grill which was truly yummy and now we spent the night working on computer stuff.

Day Two

A crazy guard and her prisoner.

The Montana Prison Museum

General Custer's death site.

Grave markers of fallen soldiers.

Goodbye Montana - beautiful sunset.

We drove from Missoula Montana to Sheridan, Wyoming. It was incredible weather and also wonderful scenery. We started the day with a two mile walk. We had a nice breakfast at the hotel and then hit the road. Somehow we don't get on the road until 10:00. We drove to Deer Lodge MT where we stopped to see the local museum. It was an old prison that housed a prison museum and a antique car museum. We didn't get to look around the inside because we couldn't leave Baci in the car. We did get some shots outside and explored the gift shop. It had a summary of the prison so was pretty good. They used to take groups of 75 prisoners out to work the RR with three unarmed guards and none would try to escape.

We then drove onto Boseman where we had lunch on a MacDonalds lawn. Baci loved getting out the car and listening to the birds. She will even walk a bit on her leash.

We were thinking of staying the night in a small town on the border of a Indian Reservation. The town was dinky and the motel a bit icky so we kept going. The lucky thing was the icky motel gave us some great advice about the local Historical Park. It was the Battleground of Little Bighorn. We hit it at 6:15. After 6pm it is free and the sunlight was fabulous so timing was perfect. Mom loved learning some US history and I have to admit it was strange to feel the fear and anger that was once unbundant on these beautiful hills. Oh the things every good country has done.

We were now exhausted but there was nowhere to really stay the night. We drove on to Sheridan and found a Motel 6. We had a nice dinner down at the historical inn that was dedicated to Buffalo Bill.

We came back to the room to see Baci laying on her back with her feet in the air recovering from the excitement of her day.

Mom and Mo's Excellent Adventure - Day One

Mom was a saint and flew up to Seattle on Wednesday to help me finish cleaning house and then drive with me to VA. We spent two crazy days rushing all over Seattle doing errands and the rest of the time scrubbing the house like mad women. The last night we met up with Jessi for dinner. It sure was hard to say goodbye to her. It hasn't quite hit me that I will once again be long distance from her.

Today we found that our hotel in Seattle was right next door to AAA. We were able to get a whole pile of books and maps for our trip. Then right next door was a coffee shop so that I could celebrate my last good Seattle Latte.

We drove from Seattle to Missoula Montana today about 500 miles so it was a good day. We entertained each other by whitening our teeth and listening to a book on CD that Ben had bought me. Baci has decided that she LOVES mom and spends the day licking her arm as we drive:).

We found a great Italian place for dinner and had a fabulous meal. It was such a warm nice evening that we walked the streets for a little while before heading back to the hotel. We are now in the hotel getting ready for a good night's sleep. More adventures coming tomorrow.

Our teeth whitening job and how Baci likes to sit.



If you look closely you can see the Idaho sign. We missed Montana.



Our lovely dinner!!