Joe's Retirement Travels

Bye .. Mountain Home, Idaho!     Thanks for having accommodations.     Just like you did for the Oregon Trail Pioneers.     I forgot to mention yesterday that while driving in those high altitudes of Wyoming it was 13-degrees!    Starting out this morning .. it was a 'balmy'  22 !!    Not quite Captiva-like.  :( This last post needs a few driving and mural pics.  Clear skies for the first part of the drive into Eastern Oregon : And, of course, we need some history information. and, from an emigrant's (Esther Belle .. ) perspective : another driving pic, looking towards the valley where Baker City is,    .. the Blue Mountains : and, thankfully - TODAY!  .. the elevation sign I passed on the road today said ...4,193 feet      yaaayyyy! Thought I'd take the Pendleton exit and explore.   Pendleton Round-Up  &  Pendleton Woolen Mills are what they're known for!     Here's an introductory history sign : I drove by the Pendleto

Thank You! Veterans, for your service.  Jim & Carol went up for the ceremony at the Avenue of Flags. It was held at one of the highest points in Thermopolis. Before that, they awoke at oh dark thirty with me and fed me and had coffee ready.  After hugs, I left. Took it easy going down the Wind River Canyon and out onto the flats heading towards Shoshoni.  Drove through Riverton and headed West..    Sun was just coming up, caught an interesting image : Sun was shining on the Owl Creek Mountains.   I should've noticed those foreboding clouds. It was lightly snowing. I returned to the car and continued West on Hwy.26, towards Dubois.   For .. 95-miles    drove on packed snow!  Oh Boy! .. what a ride!  Another [Kansas] white knuckle drive!  I stopped at a rest stop : a sign at this stop : I averaged 35-40 mph and took it real easy.   It was snowing lightly and clouds were low.   I could make out most of the prominent features of the landscape.    Finally

Hi from Thermopolis, Wyoming and the home of Jim & Carol!    Carol served a delicious breakfast casserole (sausage, eggs, cheese, bread, cream, half & half) and fruit and muffins and orange juice.  The day broke clear and sunny and COLD!  Jim had a list of 'must sees'. Neat metal street signs in town: (incl. moose,fish,buffalo, etc)  Black Butte in .. background. Drove to the entry to town to find the "Wedding of the Waters" sign at the start of the canyon : Early morning sun showcased some of the area's spectacular scenery : Jim then drove us to the downtown area to look at some buildings.  Here's the post office, built 1931. Jim and I went in to get the mail as Carol visited with a friend that had dogs that wanted her attention. When Jim & I came out, an old friend greeted the other .. "hey you senile old fart !!" ( missing you,  LarryJo  ! ) Here is the former Carnegie Library, built in 1919. Now ..

18-deg. to start in Ft.Collins!    brrrrrr  I haven't worn flip-flops or shorts in a week!   Why?   Oh yeah, I'm on a 'journey'.   Today I find out the deprivations and hardships the pioneers faced on the largest 'un-forced' migration in the history of the world when 400,000+ traveled across mid-America to the West.    But first, leave Colorado and enter Wyoming at their beautiful SE Wyoming Welcome Center! One of the first things you see is a wooly mammoth set of bones, highlighting dinosaur digs in Wyoming.   It's a life-sized Columbian mammoth cast similar to 11,600-year-old  "Dee" at the Tate Geological Museum in Casper. Don't be bashful!  Get out there and travel on the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System.   There's lots to see and do.    Most states have invested in building gorgeous welcome centers.   Here's a few more pic's : Getting back on I-25, I enjoyed the wide-prairie, wide-sky, and all of the diffe