Back in February,
I talked about my impending retirement. My retirement date was set for July
while I was in Missouri but I was asked to stay longer and before I left to
return to California in July, I had agreed to stay until September. As
September approached, I was asked if I wanted to stay longer. I hesitated…my
staff is ready to take over and I certainly don’t want to stand in the way of
any promotions. I would only stay if my managers below me felt, strongly, that
they would benefit by me staying for a while longer. So I sat down with them
and asked for their honest opinion. I was surprised to hear that they felt they
would benefit from me staying. I told my boss I would agree to stay until mid-March,
the 1 year anniversary of my last pay raise, as that would benefit me in
retirement, but not any longer and please don’t ask again. I also said I would
need October and November off. They quickly agreed. One time, my boss asked if
I wanted to stay longer….I just walked out of his office.
Dirk and I had
made plans for my return to Missouri by driving the northern route and seeing
areas neither of us had been in. One of our main goals was to see Mount
Rushmore. A good friend had me all freaked out over driving in the north at this
time of year. He didn’t like the idea because there can be early blizzards and
he knows I am ill prepared to handle inclement weather. The more he talked
about it, the more nervous I became. Dirk told me if I was that worried, we
could always take the southern route and do the northern another time. But I
started thinking…could it get that bad at the beginning of October? I checked
the weather and yes, it can snow, but with it being an El Nino year, they
weren’t expecting an early snow. So we went with the thought that we would
watch the weather reports and turn south if needed.
I was anxious to
start my vacation. I really miss writing this blog. Funny, it wasn’t something
I had even considered until Dirk mentioned that he thought I would enjoy it. My
main goal was just to get out and see things rather than sit around the house.
Work has been
hectic and like my spring trip, I had to work up until the last moment so I was
pretty stressed trying to get things wrapped up before my vacation time. Dirk
arrived on September 30th and I was nervous as I drove to the
airport to pick him up. Some of the pictures I will be sharing, and I guess I
should have made this clear during my trip back to California, will be Dirk’s.
When my son,
Daniel, heard that Dirk was coming back out to California, he asked if they
could go beer tasting and David quickly joined in. Although I don’t drink beer,
they all invited me to go but I didn’t let that fool me….*points at
self*…designated driver!
On October 1st,
we all drove down to Petaluma to visit the Lagunitas Brewery. Daniel had been
here before and when the server came up, he immediately asked for a “around the
world”. I found out quickly that is a sample of almost all the beers they make.
Missing is about 7 others, which the guys ordered before long. 
After a bite to
eat and some heavy discussion on what’s the best Lagunitas beer, all the
samples were gone and we move on to the Petaluma Hills Brewing Company, just
across the street. Again, the boys share a “flight” of their beers declaring
the hoppier beers their least favorite. This place has a dart board and these
girls we met at Lagunitas and followed over challenged the guys to a guys vs.
girls game. The guys easily won.
And because enough
beer hadn’t been experienced, I took Dirk to Dragas Brewing Company in Rocklin
the next day. Here he was drinking alone although I have tried every beer he
and the boys have had the last couple of days. Beer has one really
insurmountable problem for me….it tastes like beer…yuck. I do have to say that
if I was forced to drink a beer, it would have to be a darker one.
Our real trip started
the next day. I again used RoadTrippers because I had such a good time using
the app during my spring trip. Again, I didn’t pick any place more than 5 miles
off my route. Well, except for Mt. Rushmore which is the same thing I did with
the Grand Canyon. Some places are just worth it.
Day 1….
403 miles from
Roseville, California to Elko, Nevada
Dirk and I made it
about 2 miles before we made our first stop. We needed to make sure that Dirk
got at least one trip in to In N’ Out Burgers before leaving California.
As before, several
of my stops along the way will be covered in separate blogs but I will note
when that happens.
How do we pass the
time? Like our trip back out west in July, we listened to the Audiobook: The
Lincoln Lawyer (2nd in the series). Besides the audiobook, Dirk is a
master at sending out SnapChats or FaceBook entries showing the countryside,
making offhand comments, or more funny, lip syncing. I’ve tried to include a
few of those in this entry. Someone once told him that he can’t SnapChat and
drive. I responded that he SnapChats, I drive and our biggest danger is me
laughing us off the road.
I’ve always been
curious about the flumes that you can see from I-80. I know some look real old
and I can see they are often still filled with water, but where did they come
from? I have found they were originally built by miners who needed the water to
use in mining for gold. Some have been modernized in order to supply water to several
communities down the hill. As one person put it, they “leak spectacularly” in
the winter, something California desperately needs right now.
The weather has
been really warm but at Dirk’s warning, I have brought some of my warmest
clothes. Funny about California and the cold. Our answer to warm clothes is to
put long sleeves on the same clothes we wear during the summer, so you’ll have
thin material, but with long sleeves. But I’ll tell you what, when we got out
of the car above Donner Lake, the wind took my breath away….brrrr! What did I
get myself into?
One of the places I had on my itinerary from RoadTrippers had been Lovelock, Nevada but then I felt silly enough that I removed it. In the end, we did make a short stop there. There are several ideas of how the custom started but I like this one...ASerbian woman who died of a broken heart when her lover went away to fight in WWI and fell in love with another woan. It was said that lovers would go to the bridge where the two used to meet and attach a lock on the bridge to "lock their love" for all eternity. In the 2000's, the practice spread worldwide, but Lovelock, Nevada is one place where people are encouraged to come. Their motto is "lock your love in Lovelock". Catchy, huh?
The locks are placed on several different types of public places with bridges being a favorite. Many municipalities are trying to discourage people from doing this saying the weight of the locks harms structures. In Paris, the collapse of a bridges parapet is blamed on the weight of these locks. But it is a cute idea and one that is embraced by people everywhere.
"Lovers Lock Welcome to Lovelock, where friends, family and lovers come to forever lock their love. In 2006, Lovelock adopted the ancient Chinese custom of symbolically locking one's love on a never-ending chain. It is said that love will endure as long as the lock remains on the chain."
No one knows how or when the custom begam, but the lock-laden chains common in the Yellow Mountains and at the Great Wall of China have begun to sappear elsewhere in the world. Thousands of simple metal locks adorn chains and fences, placed with care by people wishing to symbolize their enduring love."
"Fasten a lock on the chain and throw away the key, thus uniting your love for eternity."
One of the places I had on my itinerary from RoadTrippers had been Lovelock, Nevada but then I felt silly enough that I removed it. In the end, we did make a short stop there. There are several ideas of how the custom started but I like this one...ASerbian woman who died of a broken heart when her lover went away to fight in WWI and fell in love with another woan. It was said that lovers would go to the bridge where the two used to meet and attach a lock on the bridge to "lock their love" for all eternity. In the 2000's, the practice spread worldwide, but Lovelock, Nevada is one place where people are encouraged to come. Their motto is "lock your love in Lovelock". Catchy, huh?
The locks are placed on several different types of public places with bridges being a favorite. Many municipalities are trying to discourage people from doing this saying the weight of the locks harms structures. In Paris, the collapse of a bridges parapet is blamed on the weight of these locks. But it is a cute idea and one that is embraced by people everywhere.
"Lovers Lock Welcome to Lovelock, where friends, family and lovers come to forever lock their love. In 2006, Lovelock adopted the ancient Chinese custom of symbolically locking one's love on a never-ending chain. It is said that love will endure as long as the lock remains on the chain."
No one knows how or when the custom begam, but the lock-laden chains common in the Yellow Mountains and at the Great Wall of China have begun to sappear elsewhere in the world. Thousands of simple metal locks adorn chains and fences, placed with care by people wishing to symbolize their enduring love."
"Fasten a lock on the chain and throw away the key, thus uniting your love for eternity."
Out on the
flatlands of Nevada, you can see very far in the distance. We could see a storm
and every change in the road moved us closer and more in line with the storm. I
couldn’t tell if I was seeing virga or whether we were driving into a
rainstorm. Then the rain hit but thankfully, the sky looked worse than it
actually was.
Day 2…
413 miles from Elko,
Nevada to Rock Springs, Wyoming
I had wanted to
drive by “Wendover Will” but when I told Dirk about him, the name was changed
to “Bendover Bill”, leading to lots of jokes in the car and on FaceBook.
“Wendover Will
Reclaims Skyline Once Again. Wendover will has been greeting travelers to
Wendover since 1952. His name comes from the founder of the State Line Hotel
& Casino, Mr. William “Bill” Smith, who started the State Line Service, a
cobble stone service station, on the Utah/Nevada border in 1926. Prior to
Wendover Will arriving, visitors were greeted by a shimmering light atop a tall
pole that provided a signal of sorts to weary travelers crossing the Great
Basin Desert that they were within reach of this small but important oasis on
Highway 40 called Wendover. With gaming legalized in the State of Nevada in
1931, State Line Service grew into the State Line Hotel & Casino, a company
which until its sale in 2002 to the Wendover Nugget Hotel & Casino, was on
record as the single longest held gaming license in Nevada. As this growth took
place, in 1952 after 26 years that light atop the pole was retired making way
for what has become a community and state icon, Wendover Will.”
“Wendover Will was
given to the City of West Wendover by Wendover Nugget Hotel & Casino in
2004 and now he once again stands tall representing to all, the heritage of our
community as “this is the place where the west begins”.
“This monument is
hereby dedicated in loving memory to two important and founding members of our
community, William “Bill” and Anna Smith.”
I thought wow,
that has to be one of the longest dedications I’ve ever run across until I read
a couple across the street…Across the street stood a couple of monuments to the
“Victory Highway” of which you can read about in a separate blog. It didn’t
start out that way but once I started in on it and saw how significant it was
to the area, I decided it deserved its own blog.
From Wendover Will
we moved on to the historic Wendover Airfield, which must be its own blog…this
is the airfield that trained the crew of the Enola Gay prior to their bombing
mission to Japan.
Our next place on
the itinerary was the Bonneville Salt Flats. Honestly, we almost didn’t go. I
had already done some research and knew nothing was going on at the speedway
but I am so glad we did. The place was amazing, and yes…another blog.
The day was coming
to an end as we approached the next thing on our itinerary…Fort Bridger
Historic Site. When we pulled into the area, it had already closed to car
traffic. The side gate for pedestrians was still open so we wandered around as
much as we could in the dark.
Because we didn’t
really get to look at the place, I didn’t think I could do it justice with a
blog, but wanted to include a few pictures. The place was originally a fur
trading outpost established by Jim Bridger. It became a vital resupply place
for emigrants traveling on the Oregon / California / Mormon trails. In 1858,
the U.S. Army established a military post here after retreating Mormon’s had
burned the original fort. The fort was a major stopping point during the Pony
Express’ short-lived existence. The building of the Union Pacific Railroad made
the fort a lot less isolated and ended up being the reason Fort Bridger and
other forts in the west were closed by the end of the century.
“Fort Bridger
established 1858 as a military post, also Pony Express station and on the old
Oregon Trail”
Day 3…
329 miles from Rock
Springs, Wyoming to Lusk, Wyoming
I have to say, apologizing
to the people in the mid-west, as much as people complain about the flatness
and the “sameness” of the southwest, I found most of the land in Wyoming and
Nebraska to be exceedingly boring.
Now that I’ve been
doing this blog for a while, I am seeing the connection in historic sites, such
as the beginning of the Pony Express in St. Joseph, Missouri and the end of the
route in Old Sacramento.
But I also see
connections in other things. For example, our stop at the Continental Divide in
New Mexico and then seeing signs declaring the same in Wyoming. I kept an eye
out for a marker but never found one. While trying to find something online, I
found that we were going through an area called the Great Divide Basin.
Remember the
continental divide is the point where water flows either to the Pacific or
Atlantic. Well, the Great Divide Basin is an area where none of the water
flows, directly or indirectly, to either ocean. It was a terrible obstacle for
the immigrants traveling west. Interesting how things can connect in one way or
another.
We stopped at the Wyoming
Frontier Prison. I knew that it had closed down sometime in September but
wanted to run by it. Glad that we did and I’ll talk a little about it in
another blog.
The landscape
between the two prisons included all this cross fencing; seeming to be randomly
placed. It took us most of the day to figure out that these are placed there to
stop some of the snowfall from the Interstate and the spacing of these also
cuts down the wind blowing across the Interstate.
I don’t think I
covered this before, but I’d really like someone to develop a “what’s that”
application for my phone. I can’t count how many times I’ve said to Dana or to
Dirk…hey, what’s that? And in case you’re wondering…you can’t Google “what’s
that” because you’ll get the definition of “that”. Dirk found you can ask
“what’s around me” and try to figure out what you’re looking at. But I want my
“what’s that” app!
Our next stop and
my next blog will be the Wyoming Territorial Frontier Prison. 
Traveling down
the highway I saw a sign for the “Oregon Trail Ruts” and decided I want to see
this. Before we got to it, another marker came up which also deals with the
Oregon Trail. I believe the markers are self-explanatory.
“The
Oregon Trail 1841 Cold Springs Camping Ground. Rifle pits on
brow of hill 500 feet north”
“Rifle
Pit Hill Rock quarries, visible from several points near this location, were
used beginning in 1849 to supply stone and lime for construction projects at
Fort Laramie, about 15-miles east. Workers in the quarries were protected by
soldiers stationed in fortified rifle pits dug into the crest of the low hill
to the northeast. Five such rifle pits, eighteen to twenty four inches deep,
form a well arranged defense perimeter.”
“The
rifle pits also overlook the Cold Spring campground, a popular camping and
watering place on the Oregon – California Trail (1841 – 1868). Another major
campground, known as Warm Spring is located on the far side of the ridge to the
south. Such springs were vital to emigrants traveling west. The North Platte
River, running high and muddy with Rocky Mountain snow melt, was not fit to
drink for man or east during the time of the year the annual emigration passed
this way. A still visible branch of the Oregon Trail is located about 500 feet
north of Cold Spring.”
“Other
major emigrant trail landmarks in the immediate area include the Oregon Trail
Ruts National Historic Site, Register Cliff State Historic Site and a
scattering of marked pioneer graves. The Oregon Trail Ruts, where wagon wheel
tracks are worn up to five feet deep in a soft sandstone ridge, are the
signature trail ruts of the entire Oregon – California – Mormon Trail system.
At Register Cliff, passing pioneers carved their signatures, hometown names and
the date of their passage into the face of a mile-long bluff beside the North
Platte River. Both places present strong visual evidence of the 500,000
westering pioneers who passed this way on their epic journey to Columbia River
farmlands, California gold fields and the religious freedom of the Great Salt
Lake valley. Access to all sites is well marked in the town of Guernsey.”
Driving further
out of our route than I had intended, we finally we arrived at the Oregon Trail
Ruts at nightfall but this time I wanted to see it so we hurriedly climbed to
the top of the monument. I’ll detail this in another blog.
Getting ready to
view this site, Dirk put on his new sweatshirt…over the seatbelt and for some
reason, this was really funny to me, and I burst into giggles.
Day 4…
283 miles from Lusk,
Wyoming to Alliance, Nebraska
We passed this old
place and both of us realized that it was a place begging to be photographed so
I turned around and went back. Glad I did. I love the one Dirk took.
Not too many miles
later we got our first glimpse of the Crazy Horse Memorial…yes, yes…another blog.
Next was our drive
to Mt. Rushmore and what we both felt would be the highlight of our trip. On
the drive there, we passed some amazing rock formations and stopped to take
pictures. Dirk was facing a different direction and said something and I was
like…”what are you looking at?” He pointed, I looked in the direction he was
pointing and then back to him. His response? “I’m sorry if you can’t see the
majesty in this view.” I looked there again…and back at him…and got back in the
car. I like my rocks better.
Mt. Rushmore will
be covered in another blog but it is an amazing place to be.
Day 5…
397 miles from Alliance,
Nebraska to Lincoln, Nebraska
Our first stop was
in Alliance and I picked it because I knew Dirk would find it amusing…and he
did. I’ll be writing about Carhenge a little later.
This would be a great time to watch one of Dirk's Roadside Revelations…
After we visited Carhenge, I felt a big push to get through as much of Nebraska as we could. We had wanted to spend a couple of days in Kansas City and Dirk’s vacation was coming to an end. We really should have left California a day earlier. On the other hand, there really wasn’t much I wanted to see in Nebraska any way.
One of the
problems being the driver for an entire trip is getting tired.
Nebraska…flat…never changing…the mind wanders….and all of a sudden I hear my
tires hitting the ruts on the right hand side of the road…my eyes open and I
jerk the car back into the lane. It takes a while for your heart to stop
pounding when you realized that you had fallen asleep. It wasn’t very much longer
before we decided to stop and I slept like the dead that night.
Day 6…
205 miles from Lincoln,
Nebraska to Kansas City, Missouri
Day 6 found us
almost in Missouri and I was feeling pushed to get to Kansas City, but before
then we had several stops that I had been anticipating.
The first being
the Mayhew Cabin, which I will write about later. Our next stop was supposed to
be the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center just across the Missouri River.
Using our GPS, we made all the right turns and then the bridge over the river
was in front of us….closed and partly dismantled. We tried to find another way
over the river and finally gave up and put our next stop in the GPS knowing it
would have to take us over the river at some point. But it was too far from
where we needed to be so we decided to skip it.
Finally…Missouri.
Our first stop was what I thought would be a Pony Express stop. Actually the true
beginning of the Pony Express but our GPS brought us to the Patee House. It was
amazing the amount of stuff inside but we’ll get to that later.
Finally…Missouri.
Our first stop was what I thought would be a Pony Express stop. Actually the true
beginning of the Pony Express but our GPS brought us to the Patee House. It was
amazing the amount of stuff inside but we’ll get to that later.
One of the places
I was most looking forward to, and I’m not sure why, was the Glore Psychiatric
Museum…again, its own blog and probably the one I am going to be most
fascinated with researching.
Day 7…
213 miles from Kansas
City, Missouri to Hollister, Missouri
We got up at our
usual crack of dawn time…yeah, right. It’s funny but when we are reserving
hotels, we always make a big deal out of finding ones that serve some sort of
breakfast although we miss the times set for breakfast much more often than
hitting them.
When we got up,
there was an invoice from the hotel under the door and figured out we reserved
for 1 night instead of 2 so we’d have to find another place to stay for the
night if we wanted to stay in the area another day. Later in the day, we
decided to head home.
When we first
started planning for this trip Dirk has been excited to take me to a restaurant
called Fritz’s located in the Crown Center. He explained that his kids loved to
come here and he wanted me to see it.
To say this is a
place that kids like to come would be an understatement. I believe we may have
been the only table with no kids and it’s loud and busy. But the food is good
and it’s a fun place. You order your food by telephone and it’s delivered by
this elaborate choo-choo train system that runs through the restaurant.
The last stop on
our itinerary was the American Jazz Museum and this is a definite blog! So, I
am back in Missouri and when I return to California I will either have my son
David for company or it will be my first, of what I hope is many, solo trips
back and forth across the U.S.
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