On the way Home

We finally made it to Belleville, Illinois. We stayed with my husband's parents for a few days. My father-in-law was nice of enough to take us to some small towns which included antique stores, quilt shops, and one rug hooking store. If you are a rug hooker or just like working with wool and you live near Lebanon, Illinois you must visit the Calico Moon. The downstairs is full of primitive decorations. Upstairs is full of beautiful wool, fabrics, patterns and many other primitive items. I wish I would have had more money. I did buy a rug hooking frame and a book. While visiting Illinois we also went to check out the giant catsup bottle water tower in Collinsville. We saw a story on the PBS tv channel one night that talked about the water tower and since we were going to be nearby we had to check it out.

I am sure many of you heard of the tornadoes in Joplin, Missouri. While we were staying at the in-laws house we experienced bad weather and the tornado sirens went off three times one day. It was scary to me since I have not ever heard them before. I kept a close look on the weather outdoors and on TV.

We enjoyed our visit and we really enjoyed mom-in-law's cooking. We had missed home cooking while on our trip. We hated that we couldn't spend more time with them but we wanted to get home before all those people took off for the Memorial Day weekend.

We traveled through the bottom portion of the state of Indiana.
Next state, Kentucky. Included is a photo of the city of Louisville, KY.
On through West Virginia. Getting closer to home.

This was a very long tunnel we had to travel through. I think it must have been at least a mile long through that mountain.

One more state!
Made it to North Carolina. We know when we see Pilot Mountain we are getting close to home.
We drove 7236 miles on this trip. We traveled through seventeen states. The most expensive gas we bought was $4.19 in California. The cheapest we saw gas was in Utah for $3.55.

Before we left home we got Roadside assistance which we never needed. We also took the car in for routine maintenance before we left. There were some things our mechanic caught and recommended we have done which we did so that we would not break down on the "loneliest road."

The trip was worth every penny we spent. I enjoyed the simpleness of living in the tent or cabin and not having to worry about a thing except getting to our next camp site.

We went to our public library before leaving and checked out audio books to listen while we drove those thousands of miles.

I took magazines and a book to read but only read one magazine. We were so busy seeing all the sights that by the time we set up camp we were ready to relax and go to sleep. I took embroidery with me but did not do a single stitch. I enjoyed spending 21 days with my husband.

We had the best time on this trip. God gave us great weather when we were scheduled to see the sights. He kept us from harm on the road. He kept our car running well too. We saw His hand in this whole trip and I am thankful for that. God is good!

I have one more post to share with the kids and the next one will be about some quilt shops I got to visit while on our trip.

Yesterday I caught up reading all the comments and checking on your blogs. Thanks so much for coming along on our trip with us.

Until the next post,

Carrie P.

Heading East

Next morning we left Salt Lake City, Utah. I really liked Utah. It is a beautiful state with lots of different countryside to see.
We drove through Wyoming. They got lots of snow. Along the highway we would see some fences which had big snow banks along the fences. I am not sure why the fences were built like they were but it was neat to see.
Next stop was Colorado. We camped in a cabin at a KOA. Here are a few sights from another great state.
Kansas had a flatter landscape at least the part we traveled through. We stopped at the visitor center and inside was this beautiful sunflower quilt. Lots of wheat was growing in the fields. We saw buffalo and I think the other animals were pronghorn antelope.
Next states, Missouri to Illinois to the In-laws house. By the time we got to Illinois it was dark. More photos to come.
With Passion,

Carrie P.

Next Stop! Salt Lake City

After we left the camp site we drove to Salt Lake City, Utah. We got to the camp ground and set up the tent. The air was crisp and cool. We wanted to take a look at down town Salt Lake City.
Salt Lake City is a beautiful city. The weather was great. Cool breeze and sunny. We were told by a waitress that they were getting late snows and some flooding from the snow on the mountains.
We went in to down town to see the Temple Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
The grounds were beautiful.
These Indian heads were on a lamp posts downtown.
Utah is called the Beehive state. You can read more here is you would like.
The architecture of some of the building was so interesting as you can see.
As I write this post I am actually at safe and sound at home. We got home last night. Unfortunately I did not have internet connections so I will be finishing up my posts for my kids. You are welcome to follow along. We had a fabulous time and I have more to share.

With Passion,

Carrie P.

Long Haul

I have a very slow connection tonight so I can not load too many pictures. I just thought I would share some photos as we drove through Nevada. The reason for the title, "long haul" was because when we left the Yosemite area three roads were closed because of snow. We had to take another road which made our day of driving 14 hours long. Here you can see how much snow we saw as we crossed the mountains.
Once we got in to Nevada we saw lots of different landscapes again.
I have enjoyed this trip so much because of the different landscapes. I would be sleepy while were driving but would not go to sleep because I didn't want to miss a thing.

Our destination was Wendover, Utah. After traveling on the "Loneliest Road." Really, it had a sign that let us know that we were on a long stretch of road. As you can see we are the only one on it. By the time we got the campsite it was dark. That "lonely road" was also dark and scary when you don't see a car for miles.
Once we set up camp we set up the tent and plopped into our cots. We slept pretty good. Most of these campsites we have camped at have been right next to the interstate. So we have had to really get used hearing semi trucks. A few of the campsites we have also had to deal with train horns at night.

Well, I am going to read a few emails before I go to bed.

Heading East,

Carrie P.

Postcards from Yosemite

We have reached Wellington, Colorado. It is windy and cold here too. It seems like Amarillo, Texas was the only warm place we ever felt. We only have a 10 more minutes here where WiFi is available. I don't really need to say much about the photos because they speak for themselves. Yosemite was awesome! We took hundreds of pictures. We spent the whole day enjoying the sights.

Until next time,

Carrie P.

Trip to San Francisco

We had another place to visit while we were in California.
We took a drive up the coast to San Francisco. As we stopped along the beach we came across this sign. Doesn't look like I want to go swimming there!
A surprise greeted as we drove further north. The Pigeon Point Lighthouse. We stopped to go have a closer look. We spoke with some men who knew the history of the lighthouse. You can not go into the lighthouse. There is work going on to restore it.
Some fascinating plants at the light house. California has so many different plants. My husband and I were suffering with allergies since we encountered the dust in Arizona.
Here is the San Francisco bridge that we had to see while in California. As you can see it was rainy and quite cold.
We decided to find a place to eat while we were on this side of bridge. We stopped at a small cafe. We both had soup and sandwich. The sandwiches were huge. I had to take other half of my veggie sandwich back with me to eat later. The hot chicken and rice soup was tasty and it warmed me up quite nicely.
From this side of the bridge we could see Alcatraz island. Alcatraz used to serve as a prison. The bridge you see behind the island is the Oakland San Francisco Bay Bridge. We did not go on it.
Here is the bridge going back to the San Francisco side. I wanted to go to China Town.
Here is one of the famous trolley cars.
A view of some of the steep streets.
Well, let me just say that San Francisco and China Town were so crowded. We couldn't find a parking place and it cost $17 to park in a lot. The streets were so confusing. So we decided to forget getting out to walk around the downtown and headed home.
We were exhausted when we got back to camp. It had been a nice day.

Next I will show photos from Yosemite.

Tonight we are in Salt Lake City, Utah. We are leaving in the morning and traveling across Wyoming. Our next stop will be Wellington, Colorado. It will take approximately 8 hours to get to our next destination. So I am off to sleep.

I am slowly reading your comments. It has been tricky with Internet connections. I am way behind on my posts of the trip but will continue to show you the trip as I can.

Off to bed,

Carrie P.

Bur Sur, California

One evening we decided to drive south on Highway 1 because as we were coming to our campsite we had to take a detour because of mud slides along some of the mountains. Enjoy the beautiful coastal photos.





With Passion,
Carrie P.