Day-1 Road Trip! Captiva or BUST!

Hi!  Thanks for coming back to read about my travels.   This one is a doozy!   Estimated to take
41-days, the red line is the trip OUT, the green, the trip BACK.   approx. 8,000 miles

It's been a very bittersweet preparation.    This is Mary's time of year.   Her birthday was two days
ago.   My(our) beloved Mary would've been 66.   She would've been there with Jeanette and Matt
to celebrate Cameron's first day of kindergarten.   She would've been in the middle of helping
plan Moms' weekend with the Go Away Girls.    My hope .. is that this monster road trip will help
me grieve and reconcile my ever present sadness and loneliness by visiting relatives and friends
and places.  Ft.Collins, Albuquerque, San Antonio, New Orleans, and beach time at Captiva, FL.
There may be a few hockey games to watch!  The trip back will have stops to visit and fellowship.

What a way to start the long drive!    80-miles of pretty, scenic .. Columbia River Gorge!

We are so lucky to have this stunning canyon in our backyard!  with .. many, many waterfalls!

Most of my route to Ft. Collins (to visit Jessie & Marty & hockey games) will be re-tracing the
Oregon Trail that emigrants walked and rode wagons back 175 years ago.   My first stop was at
Emigrant Springs State Heritage Area which is a little past Pendleton in the Blue Mountains.
In 1812 trappers and traders of the Astor overland expedition crossed the Blue Mountains in this
vicinity, thus establishing the route later used by Oregon Trail emigrants.   Here's my 'wagon' :

Further down the road I stopped in Baker City and walked around their historic downtown.
It was named after US Senator Edward D. Baker, the only sitting senator to be killed in a
military engagement (1861 Civil War).   Also near Baker is the National Historic Oregon Trail
Interpretive Center - it has excellent displays ..and.. outside you can sense history by seeing
still existing ruts made by the wagon wheels.

This picture is from my stop at Farewell Bend State Park on the Snake River.   The wagon
trains followed the Snake River through Idaho and Oregon for 330 miles then rested here,
and left the river to follow the Burnt River to head over to the Columbia River.
A beautiful park with camping and picnicking sites.   Kym and Larry camped and canoed
here several years back.    Here's a picture I took .. the park is to the left :

Here's a picture of the historical sign in the park :

Talk about weary traveler,  I headed east .. past Boise, Mountain Home, Twin Falls,
and .. 592 total miles later .. ended up in Heyburn, Idaho, which is just down the road
from the world's largest yogurt processing facility (Chobani .. 1,000 employees).

I continue trekking across Utah and Wyoming tomorrow, hoping to reach Ft. Collins,CO
by dinner time.

You DID want some history lessons, didn't you?