24 States in 27 Days - Day 27:

November 5th, 2012, Monday: For some reason, we both woke about 4:15am and decided to just get up. I took a couple of photos of our “camp” site, then a quick self portrait which was a mistake since the flash totally blinded us! ha. Brad drove and we hit the road at 4:45. It was still dark out and at a rest area east of Bend I took sunrise photos while Brad washed up.

I took over driving from there into Bend where we stopped for gas. After Dutch Bros coffees we continued west on hwy. 20 watching the sun warm up the gorgeous mountains, making us really happy to be back in beautiful Oregon! 

The light was stunning so we had to stop in Black Butte to shoot a few morning pics. 

We stopped again at the top of the pass for a snack break, mixing salsa with cottage cheese then took off again, as I fed the driver and tried to capture the brilliant gold maples tucked between the dark Douglas firs. Oregon was really putting on an amazing light show to welcome us home! 

We arrived in Corvallis around 10:00 am and went to pick up paintings before pulling into our driveway at 10:15. Yay! Home sweet home! The aroma of cedar greeted us in our driveway, and everything looked so green, but the sun had disappeared as we'd descended into the Willamette Valley, replaced by fog.

7,344 miles later....

We opened windows and doors to the house to air it out since the temperature was the same inside and out, then unloaded our truck - our home away from home. 

It has been 21 months since our road trip in 2012, and I hope some people have been reading along as I’ve slowly recapped our adventures, and to reward those that have joined us on this story of our trip I’d love to give away a 5x7 unframed photograph of one of the images we took during our trek across America. Please leave a comment on this post telling me which photo or day was your favorite, and after one week I’ll put the names in a hat and draw one and that person can pick their favorite photograph and I’ll mail it to them. If there are lots of comments I might even draw more than one! 

24 States in 27 Days - Day 26:

November 4th, 2012, Sunday: There wasn’t any ice on our windows this morning --- a gorgeous sunny day, but it was still quite chilly out. We used the last of our water to make coffee, and discovered we were also out of cocoa and cream. It felt like we truly were reaching the end of our road trip! 

Our plan was to check out Moab some more as we left the campground, so I was surprised and pleased when Brad decided he was ready to just take off, and turned north onto 191. The road was calling! 

We spotted a hot air balloon as we cruised along, and pulled over a couple of times to get some pics.

After a short jaunt on I-70, we exited onto hwy. 6/191, for a pit stop in the little town of Helper where we filtered water, and ate the leftover cornbread muffins. 

Soon after leaving Helper we turned onto hwy. 6 towards Provo Utah. In Provo we pulled into a McDonald’s parking lot to tap into their internet so I could check email and see when I needed to be home to retrieve paintings from an art show. Our deadline was noon the next day. After a grocery stop, we took off on I-15 north, and I helped direct Brad through the freeway maze of Provo, Orem, and Salt Lake City. We stopped for gas in Kaysville, just south of Ogden which had a nice rural feel to it compared to the Salt Lake area. 

Then we veered from I-15 onto I-84, a few miles from the Idaho border, and stopped at a rest area just south of the intersection with I-86 to make a quick pb & j. Quick because it was a nasty one! We then continued through Idaho, staying on the freeway until we came to Bliss where we had to do a quick drive through just so we could say we’d reached Bliss! 

After getting gas, we hopped back onto I-84, driving into the sunset. 

It was dark as we approached the Oregon sign and we passed it so fast, I wasn’t able to shoot a photo, so since we stopped for gas at the next exit, we decided we had to go back and try again. Hilariously, we did, heading east, back into Idaho just so we could take this last state entrance sign. We needed proof we were finally in our home state! 

We then looked for the hwy. 20/26 exit and began our backroad trek home. After a flurry of texts to family letting them know we were now in Oregon, Brad drove us off into the dark, while I worked on my laptop. Eventually Brad tired of peering into blackness for animals and was ready for a break, so he found a wide spot to pull over, I tucked things away and took over driving and was soon zooming west on hwy. 20 east of Burns. We pulled off at a brightly lit gas station to study the map together and spotted a rest area west of Burns and thought we’d try sleeping there. Arriving around 9:45, we parked in a quiet corner, quickly moved things into the cab, set the alarm for 6:00 am, then curled up in bed and almost instantly fell asleep. We heard a couple of trucks come and go but otherwise it was a very quiet campground. 

24 States in 27 Days - Day 25:

November 3rd, 2012, Saturday: We woke to another icy morning with frost inside our windows again. Burr! I was reluctant to get up. Peering around outside we saw little vegetation, just a few pines, juniper and sage brush. The lake was a very low reservoir and the sun was just starting to warm the rocky mountains across the way. Brad made coffee while I pulled out wool socks to wear like mittens

Using my neck warmer as an ear and head warmer... mmm, grateful for hot coffee! 

This sign cracked us up! 

On our way back to hwy. 64/84, we saw more deer. 

Out of curiosity, we’d clocked our milage---it was over 15 miles in to the campground - not the 7-10 I thought looking at the map the night before. 

We continued north on 84 into Colorado, stopping in Pagosa Springs where we discovered the coolest shop we’d seen yet this trip - Handcrafted Interiors. We had a great conversation with the owner, an amazing furniture artist with Oregon connections. 

After a nice break, we continued west past Chimney Rock on to Durango - a town Brad has always wanted to visit since it’s a popular destination for mountain bikers. When we parked I joked with Brad “you have an hour!” 

While he shot photos of signs, I checked out the shops and galleries. After a little more than an hour, we both were happy to be on the road again - taking hwy. 160 to Cortez. We stopped nearby at a park with a small lake for a tailgate picnic while watching some geese. Turning onto hwy. 491 we soon crossed into Utah, where in Monticello we turned north on hwy. 191 - destination Moab. 

Shortly, we began to see lots of cool rock formations and I practiced my drive-by photography with the telephoto lens and the golden setting sunlight. 

Since I used to be a Wilson, we had to stop at Wilson Arch. 

We pulled into Moab about 6:15 and were blown away by how much larger the town seemed from what we remembered 21 years ago. After getting gas then a quick visit to the nearby bike shop, it was time to find a place for dinner. We ended up at Blu Pig BBQ since Brad had been craving ribs after our delicious meal in Nashville. It was a busy place, but we didn’t wait long before we were seated, then we shared a bowl of gumbo, pulled pork, ¼ rack of St. Louis ribs and coleslaw with a baked sweet potato. They’d forgotten to bring the corn muffins with our meal, so we decided to take them to go - 4 to make up for their mistake. Breakfast! From there we went in search of the campground a bike shop fella told us about. It was almost 9:00 and dark, which made it a little hard to find, but eventually we pulled into Goose Island campground. We drove clear through, ending up back at the beginning at the only empty site: #1. After we paid, we discovered a pay slip already attached to our site’s post, but as we looked closer at that receipt, it seemed kind of bogus, incorrectly filled out, dates changed, so we put ours up and hoped someone wouldn’t be showing up later to claim it. Tucked into our bed, we could hear noisy campers nearby, and every time a car drove past, I wondered if they’d pull into our site and boot us out! It was not a restful night, but we did eventually sleep. 

24 States in 27 Days - Day 23:

It's been a while since I've added another day of our 2012 cross country road trip adventure, and the thought crossed my mind when I realized it's been over a year since I started posting this journal of our travels, whether I should cointinue or not. Considering how some of my favorite photos are still to come, I had to keep going - especially since this was one of our favorite days! So, without further delay, here's the next installment, and a promise to finish this before 2014 is over. 

November 1st, 2012, Thursday: Waking to another blue sky, sunny day in Texas we enjoyed a decent continental breakfast downstairs then went back up the elevator to our room to shower, check email, and get ready to hit the trail. 

Texas

After a grocery run while in Amarillo, we continued west on I-40 through Texas and into New Mexico! Woot! 

West of Santa Rosa we exited onto hwy. 84 towards Las Vegas (we didn't know there was a Las Vegas in New Mexico - did you?) where we missed the turn onto hwy. 518 towards Taos and had to do a little backtracking. 

There we started climbing out of the flat grasslands into more mountainous, rocky terrain. Hello trees! We crossed over a couple of passes into Carson National forest where it was a lot cooler. 

There were a few glimpses of fall color, but most trees were already bare. We passed Sipapu ski resort area, then started dropping into the Taos valley. 

In Talpa we paused to take a photo of the decorated graves, remembering it was the Day of the Dead. 

We then turned onto hwy. 68, to Taos. 

It was interesting to see so many single story buildings, most in the southwestern adobe style. This route was Taos’s busy, commercial strip -  slow going, but soon we pulled into the town center. Finding a free parking lot, we stopped, tucked things away then put on another layer to go explore. It was 4:45ish and we could tell it was going to get cooler as the evening progressed. We wandered through the Taos Inn first, where we were given a tour of one of their unique rooms. It was cozy with a separate sitting area, fireplace, real low ceilings and door frames we had to duck under. We both agreed it’d be a fun place to stay some day. 

We walked into a nearby gallery where we chat with a very talkative fellow. He filled us in on the good places to camp and we were happy to hear most campgrounds in NM are free. After some window shopping we went into a cool vintage shop called Horse Feathers. There we met Lindsey, the owner. He was such a friendly fellow, we truly enjoyed our visit with him. He told us his favorite local restaurants to check out while Brad bought a spiffy western shirt. From there we walked up the block amazed by the color as the sunset bathed everything in a soft rosy glow. This is the southwestern light artists rave about! I was enamored, and wanted to start painting immediately, but had to settle for some quick pics with our small point and shoot camera. 

Once the sun was down we began to freeze, so we went back to the truck for warmer clothes. Hungry, we took off in search of the Guadalajara Grill, where Lindsey recommended we get the guacamole. We did along with ordering two chili rellenos to share. The guacamole was fabulous - everything is made on site. Delicious salsa too, a bit salty, but not too hot. However the chilies were HOT for me - I’m a wimp! They were quite large so we split them lengthwise and I was happy to see bits of cooked carrots and zucchini in with the cheese. They were tasty, but I liked the guacamole best. As we left we spotted the moon about to rise over the mountains, so I pulled out our telephoto lens and used the top of the truck cab as a tripod to shoot a bunch of photos. 

Since we weren’t through exploring Taos we decided to save some money and sleep in the Walmart parking lot. As soon as we bedded down about 9:30ish, almost immediately a street sweeper began to clean the parking lot. Oh joy. It zigged through the lot eventually shaking our truck as it buzzed multiple times past us. We wondered if it was trying to annoy us or trying to hurry and get through for us. Luckily we thought it was kind of comical, but finally it quit and we were able to sleep pretty well.