Annie's Van-Ventures: 2023

Day 19 Lava Hot Springs, Idaho

A beautiful sunrise this morning.

After a wild night, I hit the road about 4 am. It was still sprinkling lightly but nothing compared to the day before.

I have to say, as flat and boring as Wyoming was, Idaho is spectacular!
The rolling hills covered in snow were breath-taking, as were the rock formations.

I wish I could have stopped to take photos, but again, no pull-outs. I snapped this while driving.

Tonight I'm at Lava Hot Springs.

I took a dip in the springs for about an hour, then nabbed a steak dinner. Now I'm in my hotel room catching up on email and getting ready to turn in.

Tomorrow I hope to make Ontario Oregon where there is a rest stop that allows overnight camping. I was hoping to make it home in two days but I just don't think I have any more 7 to 8 hour drives in me. So I'll take 2.5 days and go easy on myself.

Day 18 Wamsutter, Wyoming

Holy HELL!

I just went through the scariest storm I've ever seen in my 70 years!

I drove into the biggest, blackest cloud with giant lightning flashing all around. Suddenly the sky opened and on this 75 mph freeway, I could not see where I was. The rain was falling so hard I literally was blinded. I could not see the road. I could not see the white line. I could not see the truck in front of me. I had to slow down to about 40 mph and pray nobody would rear end me - but I guess they were all in the same boat.

Luckily it was only a few miles from my stop for the night, a Love's Gas Station, where I'm hunkered down in my van, with wind battering the sides. This is the craziest weather I've ever been in.

I looked at the forecast and this is supposed to let up by about 1 am and the sun is supposed to shine. I was REALLY worried it would bring a tornado and there's no place to hide, but the weather app says no ... just serious thunder and lightning storms until the wee hours.

I'm not even going to go into the station. I'm putting on my jammies and getting under the covers and staying dry.

And tomorrow I'm treating myself after all this craziness. I'm going to stay at Lava Hot Springs, where I can soak in the hot water and maybe even drum up a massage. I am definitely looking forward to that!

Above is the storm I drove into. The photo doesn't do it justice.

Three more days to home.

Where are my ruby slippers?

Day 17 Grand Island, Nebraska

I wondered why they called it Grand Island, so I looked it up, and Holy HECK!
No tornadoes, no tornadoes, no tornadoes!

https://visitgrandisland.com/about/grand-island-history.html

I told a lady yesterday,
"I'm from Oregon.
We have volcanoes but they only erupt
about every 500 years!"

Anyway, that's where I stopped today about 1:30 pm,
having started around 4 am this morning.
I'm POOPED!
Got myself a nice hotel room at the Ramada Inn
and I'm treating myself to a steak
in their Bar/Grill tonight at 5 pm.
I'm a happy girl.

Here is a photo of the pond where I stayed last night:

The ducks and geese were going nuts
because of a dog swimming nearby.

Today's scenery was simply stunning.
Green, green, and more GREEN fields, forests, trees,
ponds and more green.
I would have loved to take photos,
but there is, again, no place to pull over.

The dirt here is the blackest I've ever seen!
It must grow very good food!

And the cows must be SO happy!
Lots of fat. green green grass for them to eat.
I only saw one small feedlot.
Can't wait to taste that steak tonight!

Happy Cows!

Black black dirt!

The excitement for today was being run off the road,
literally,
by a giant semi truck.
I was passing and I guess he didn't see me.
I had to swerve into the grassy median and brake hard
so he didn't hit me.
Good thing I got those new tires before I left
because I could have easily lost control in that wet grass.
Funny how all those driving class lessons
come back to you in an emergency.
It sure got my heart beating!

I have a few choice words for that guy, but I won't put them here.
The truck in front of him had just passed him
and I guess it made him mad so he swung into my lane
to pass THAT truck.
If I hadn't been paying attention,
he would have squished me.
I think he probably came within less than a foot of my van.

Jerk!
I tried to take a photo to report him but couldn't get close enough.

I'm not sure where I'm going tomorrow.

I'd love to make it to Salt Lake,

but

11 hours is just too far for me,

so I'll have to find a place maybe 6 hours from here.

I think I'll plan on stopping at the Loves at Laramie, Wyoming.

I may end up driving further but that is a good goal.

That way I can stay later here and eat my free buffet breakfast!

Yay!

Looks like it's going to be Tuesday or maybe even Wednesday

before I can make it home.

I'm hoping the weather holds.

There were tornadoes here yesterday, Joe said.

That scares the poop out of me!

Nauvoo is getting slammed

with thunder and lightning and rain right now.

Glad I got out of there!

Three more days...

Love,

Annie

Day 16 Nauvoo

Well, I made it to Nauvoo, just in time to find out there were tornado warnings ahead of me. This has been an interesting trip! :::laughing::: I've learned a LOT.

Nauvoo is hot and muggy and not a lot is open. No real restaurants and the one sandwich shop had a very long line and only served burgers and bits. So I decided to just eat on my own.

No grocery store here. I went to Dollar General and got some bologna and root beer and that's dinner. Honestly, I'm just ready to be home. I'm going to spend the night here, and head out early in the morning and am hoping to make it just past Lincoln, Nebraska tomorrow. I'm going to drive like a bat out of hell to get home.

No more sightseeing. I had plans to stop at other LDS stops, but have decided I don't need to. I just need to get home.

The campsite here is pretty and it's quiet.

If it cools down it should be a peaceful night.
There is a shower, which is a plus.

While driving on these crazy roads with no turnouts and no place to stop, I got an emergency phone call from Spain. My pilgrims were having trouble in Roncesvalles. Instead of the Municipal Albergue, where I generally put my group, I booked (and paid for) rooms in La Posada. Apparently, they couldn't find my reservation, which was made back in December/January and paid for.

The poor group leader was probably tired and frazzled, as can be understood. She is doing a great job. I remember my first time. It was overwhelming. But she's smart and she's done the trip before and she speaks Spanish, so all should go well the rest of the trip.

Anyway, I booked the group a triple and a quad at La Posada, one of the nicest hotels in the compound, which means 3 and 4 to a room which should be AWESOME compared to staying in the municipal albergue with 150 pilgrims. I guess some of them were disappointed they didn't have a private room, though I was clear on the hotel list and on the Facebook page. It is a pilgimage, after all - aren't you supposed to suffer by definition? With no bags to carry and private lodgings booked all the way, the rest of the trip will hopefully make them happy again. Hopefully, they'll be pleased with the rest of the lodgings.

Sometimes it just feels like for the $1/hour you make planning and planning and working on a trip like this, you just can't please people. It can be disheartening.

Well, that's all the news. I've had a heat wave, floods, and now I'm dodging tornadoes. Lots to tell my great grandchildren!

Stay safe!

Annie

Day 15 - Heading Home

Today is Thursday May 11 and I packed up and headed West this morning after breakfast with Joe and Rob.

Rob brought home "Gas Station Chicken" last night for dinner. He and Joe had been raving about it all week and I wonder if this is the same "Gas Station Chicken" that our friend Tony has been talking about? It was pretty darned good!

It was sad to leave after only a week, but I'm homesick and ready to be in my own bed. I also miss my garden and my house. I'm hoping we can fly Rob out sometime before Christmas to spend a weekend with the family. I sure do miss him. But I had a great time hanging out with him and Joe and listening to them play music. Joe and I spent an hour last night reminiscing about our Island days, laughing. It was a good time. I met Rob's new girlfriend, Karylynn - she's very nice.

Today I drove about 5 hours to a campground on the other side of Paducah, called Shawnee Forest Campground. ($40/night) There is a shower here, which will be nice for morning.

The drive was hard today between Chatworth and Nashville. It rained so hard I couldn't see and there is (literally) no place to pull over on those Tennessee and Georgia highways. Nothing resembling a pullout or a rest area. It's crazy. The roads just go on forever and ever. Passing Nashville was horrible - there was a car accident which held up traffic - and the traffic was thick and slow. I was happy to get around it. The rest of the way wasn't too bad but by then I was pooped so was happy to finally pull into my campground.

It's muggy and hot this afternoon, but there's a breeze and I found a place in partial shade. I hope it stays in the shade all afternoon. I'm thinking it will cool down tonight enough to get some sleep. I do have a small chargeable fan in case it doesn't.

Tomorrow I drive to Nauvoo, where I'll camp for two nights. I called to make reservations but it was too late. However, the lady said there were pull-in spots for $20 with hookups and if I leave early I'll get there early afternoon and should be ok. It's about another 5 hour drive.

I miss Rob already.

I wish he lived closer.

How did the pioneers do it... leave their families forever ?

I remember when I moved to the islands, my grandfather just mourned. He said, "I'll never see those little boys again!"

But he did... and I'm hoping at some point, Rob will live close again.

Time will tell.

That's all for now,

Happy to be heading home.

Love,

Annie

Day 9 - Chatsworth, Georgia

Doobies!

I stayed at Cracker Barrel last night -

I woke up this morning at 4:30 a.m. and hit the road.

It was a short 5 hour drive to Rob's work. I was SO happy to see him!

Rob's dad, Joe, met me and led me to Rob's house.

Rob got off about 3:30 and he's cooking some steaks for our dinner.

That's about it!

I'm happy I'm here - ready for a rest!

Happy Trails!

Annie

Day 8 - Jackson Tennessee

I got up early this morning and thought I would just drive for five hours but by the time I got to my destination it was only 11 AM so I just kept driving. I think I drove from 6 AM until 6 PM today with a couple of breaks in between.

I have stopped at Cracker Barrel tonight. I wasn’t really hungry but I’ve always wanted to try this place so I got their chicken and French toast dinner. I ate part of it and will have the rest for breakfast before I head out.

My son’s house is only four hours away so I will arrive there in the morning. I’ll be so happy to have a few days again of no driving.

The scenery in Missouri and Tennessee has just been gorgeous and the roads are really nice but again there are no rest stops which means you have to just keep driving between towns.

I stopped for breakfast at an Amish store. I had seen some signs along the way that said to share the road and the sign had a picture of a horse and buggy and I thought it was just an ad for the Amish store. After I had breakfast and was heading out, all of a sudden a horse and buggy pulled out into the lane next to me really fast. I don’t know where they were going, but they were all dressed in black and it was pretty exciting! I wish I could’ve gotten a photo, but I was going 70 miles an hour . I’m going to try to find a photo online so I can post one here.

The store was a lot of fun. They had a lot of bottled and canned goods as well as a lot of handmade items that were very nice. I bought a bottle of bacon jam, and a bottle of sorghum, which I love. There was a table full of men having their breakfast and one man and his two sons had their straw hats on, and their beards. I’ve never seen Amish people so it was interesting. The breakfast was really good. I had biscuits and gravy and strawberry jam.

I’m really excited to see Rob tomorrow. I miss him like crazy. It is also always a joy to see Rob’s dad. I love hanging out with them and listening to them play music.

OK that’s it for now I’m gonna try to read for about 10 minutes and probably fall asleep

Happy trails,

Annie

Day 7 - Harrisonville, Missouri

My cousins Doug and Vonda

Today was a beautiful drive through Oklahoma, Kansas,
and finally, Missouri.
Everything is green and pretty
and reminds me a lot of home.

I arrived at my cousin's house around noon.
It was SO good to see her.
We had a great visit last night with my Sissy (my mother's sister!)
I had to wear a mask into the facility so when I got in there,
I got close to her and said,
"Do you know who this is?"
She looked into my eyes and I dropped my mask
and she said,
"Yes! The little SH*T that caused me so much trouble!"

We laughed so hard at stories about our childhood
and all the trouble we got into.
She remembered every story.
It sure was good to spend some time with her.
We'll go again tonight for what will probably be our last visit,
which makes me sad.

After, they took me to have Mexican food for dinner.

SOOOOoooooo good!

Today we went to my cousin, Doug's house.
He has a beautiful garden!
He has peaches, pears, grapes, tomatoes, watermelon,
squash, pumpkins, canteloupes, potatoes and jalepeños.
It made me want to be home to get my garden going!
He explained to me how to put in a drip irrigation system
so I'm going to do that once I'm home.
I have better photos but I'm having trouble uploading them.

We came home and my cousin Perry visited.

I'm so upset that I didn't get a photo of us together.

Perry is a pastor.

I looked at the weather this morning
and there was a storm blowing in
(!!!)
so I thought I'd stay here an extra night.
But NOW it's saying tomorrow will be clear
so I'm going to head on to Rob's.
It will take 2.5 days to get there.
I'm hoping I can get ahead of the storm.

I'll tell you, again,
I'm feeling I bit off more than I could chew this trip.
I didn't realize how hard Covid had hit me.

When the doctor said I had Long Covid,
he wasn't kidding.

I'm just exhausted.

So I've made a decision to cut my trip short

and head home after visiting Rob.

I'm not sure WHICH route I'll take.

I see flood warnings in Nauvoo

which is where I was headed,

so honestly, I'll just go the safest way I can find

and get myself back home.

I'll be happy to be safe and sound,

and working in my garden.