Day 2 - 7/25/12 - Glenns Ferry Idaho to Alpine Wyoming

Travel day two - 283 miles

Redtail sightings - Lost count at about 13

The dogs are officially on a hunger strike; I am sure they are pretty distraught about being cooped up in the truck with that squirmy little mini-human that pulls their hair. I know that everyone will survive, so I figured we will just save on dog food for a while.

Snake River as we leave Glenn's Ferry

We hit the road leaving Glenn’s Ferry, Stan and the Idaho winery. I still can’t believe Scott found an RV park with a winery, so kind of him to think of me. Scott and I have been lucky enough to live close to some of the nation’s best wine country- Napa, Sonoma and the lovely hidden gems of the Amador and Eldorado counties- home of my infamous fall from the trailer stairs with a case of wine in my hands; my sister Kelly lovingly retells that story every time she can. We had regular visits to the wine country with our great friends, Bill and Krista Wilhoyte, too much wine equals too much fun. These trips will be sorely missed.  Actually, just as sad is how incredibly difficult it is to access wines in Pennsylvania. I doubt any other state has crazier alcohol rules. My understanding is you can buy wine or beer in quantities of a 4.7289 ounces or less at the special secret entrance of very select stores where you have to traverse an obstacle course and then correctly answer a 2 page questionnaire about Pennsylvania sports teams. Guess I will have to stock up as we cross the country. Anyway, I digress.

As we leave the RV park we are again reminded that with the truck and trailer we can’t very easily pull over to snap pictures, some moments are best described by a picture rather than someone’s retelling. Case in point- as we are leaving the rv park we pass a herd of cows, one of those cows was getting a drink from a tall sprinkler by placing his entire mouth over the sprinkler and the water sprayed out from underneath his flapping lips. This was actually quite entertaining to see; but I am sure as you read about this it’s really not that entertaining…

Most of this day is spent driving east through southern Idaho; much of it along the Snake River. When we first head out, the area is actually quite picturesque farm country. For those fans of the movie Napoleon Dynamite (how could you not be?) they pretty much nailed the depiction if Idaho, “I caught you a delicious bass” that bass could have been from the Snake River and yes I googled that and there are bass in the Snake River... The River is really amazing and I had no idea how far it stretched and into such gorgeous country. We also finally spotted multiple Redtail Hawks. By about number 6 it had (apparently) become a competition between Scott and I, I was winning royally. There were some questionable bird sightings, unless both parties can verify, it does not count. We are heading west on 84 and pass by several dairy farms, Scott, in his most scholarly voice, explains that smells are to be appreciated as you get a much better feel for the area. I was getting much more of a feel for these areas than I needed.

Katelyn is still being a wonderful traveler and while sitting in her car seat has even flung some cheerios in the direction of the starving dogs. We had hit a few thunders storms and she seemed very interested in those, being Nevadans, a nice rain storm (or any rain storm) is really a novelty. The truck needs some fuel and we make a quick stop at a large Indian Casino, Resort, Grocery store, Coffee house and gas station, but no fireworks!?!?! Where are you supposed to pick up some whistlin' bungholes, spleen splitters, whisker biscuits, honkey lighters, hoosker doos, hoosker don'ts, cherry bombs, nipsy daisers, with or without the scooter stick, or one single whistlin' kitty chaser? I even thought we could pick up my Uncle William’s favorite firework of all time, the Spin Doctor, but no luck.

Break at Registry Rock Park

Registry rock

Signatures and dates of settlers on the Oregon Trail

We are due for a break and stopped at an area called Registry rock. Settlers who were traveling along the Oregon Trail stopped in this area and signed and dated a large rock before they moved on. We went and visited the rock and it was so interesting to see this names and dates. It was certainly humbling.
When we get tired of living in a trailer on the road I can consider that I don’t have to make the decision to barbecue one of my dogs for food to survive (Oliver would certainly go first). We also crossed over the highway to check out an area called Massacre rock. You never assume that something positive happened at a place called massacre rock. Sadly we thought for sure that the poor souls who joyously carved their names into Register rock met their demise at Massacre rock.  Actually it was a lovely area and we had a great view of the Snake River and the valley it was traveling through. Apparently it was called Massacre rocks undeservingly; the settlers were so concerned about the narrow canyons they had to travel through that they were just sure they would be ambushed, but there are no actual reports anyone ever was.

Enjoying Massacre rocks area, sounds like an oxymoron.

This was at an overlook rest stop.
Thank goodness I didn't have to use the restroom,
 as they just kept streaming out of that bus.
 It was almost like clowns piling out of a tiny car.

Overlook of Snake River

From Idaho Falls we head east to Alpine, Wyoming where our final destination is. We are still following the Snake River, which clearly does a big business with rafting and fly fishing. As we get closer to the Wyoming border we drive through an area called Swan Valley. It was a beautiful green valley along the river; we immediately decided this was on our short list of places to retire.

Swan Valley and our retirement home

As I am sure handling the harsh winters in that area while in our golden years would be a piece of cake; I think it would keep us young, I have heard once or twice “He who cuts his own wood warms himself twice” thank you to the Smith-DeArrieta clan for that one (and many others). Again, I ramble.

We crossed into Wyoming and almost immediately enter Alpine. It’s a tiny mountain town about 40 miles southwest of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It seemed like a good landing spot since our plan was to spend the next day exploring in Jackson Hole and The Teton National Park. We pull into the RV Park; it could not have been soon enough for Ms. Katelyn who made it clear she was done with the days travels. We manage to circle the park twice looking for the office, not realizing that the office was a folding chair sitting outside with some papers being held down by a rock. The camp host popped out of her 70’s era conversion van, with “rollin’ lightly” emblazoned on the back, this is Wyoming, I have no idea what that actually references. She helps us get settled in and we finally decompress from our day on the road. 

Enjoying a piece of Nevada while in Wyoming

The terrible view from our campground

Day 1 - 7/24/12 - On the road - Reno, NV to Glenns Ferry, ID

I am very excited about blogging our trip, but this was a much larger undertaking than I had assumed. Apparently our gypsy traveler lifestyle does not lend itself to the power, internets and or time to blog quite as often as I had hoped. Plus I am incredibly wordy (I take the promise to no be wordy back) and I like to describe every last detail. So I have come to the conclusion that I can't blog everyday, but I will be sure to update all of our adventures as often as I can.


Travel day 1 - 520 Miles.
Redtail hawk sightings - 1

Katelyn and the hounds about to hit the road

The “plan” was to be up by 4:30am and on the road by 5:00. Somehow we also thought that we would be able to keep Katelyn asleep this entire time, get her strapped in her car seat and on the road without her waking up. That plan was dead on arrival; apparently the sounds of a sonic care tooth brush can wake a nine month old and apparently those sounds are very upsetting. Oh well, she got to spend cuddle time with her Grammie and Gramps while we loaded up. We do our very sad goodbyes with Grammie and Gramps, these are the moments you are glad your children are so young and you know this isn’t as painful to them as it is to you, that would be so much harder. Jump into the truck and we are ready to hit the road. But of course things can’t go that smoothly, we suddenly realize we don’t have the GPS. Frantically digging through the truck and the trailer it’s finally found (Where I said it would be in the first place, but we won’t discuss this)

Lovely goodbye gift from the Northern Nevada Sky

Rest stop break 

Finally on the road we head east on I80, I realize very quickly that I still cannot read in the car. We make it to Winnemucca, Nevada and I am overjoyed with excitement because there is a sign for a Taco Time! Sadly it’s about 8 in the morning, I would eat Taco Time at 8am; I was just sure it was closed. I do spend the next few minutes trying to find the next closest Taco Time, 200 miles away in Salt Lake. We stop at the rest stop just past Winnemucca, where Katelyn enjoys her very first rest stop pants change and a lovely breakfast on top of a bird poop covered picnic table. The dogs get to stretch their legs as well. We hit the road again and not five minutes after leaving the rest stop, Katelyn gets her watery red-eyed look, which only means one thing. Find the next stop and she enjoys yet another rest stop pants change, I also spot a lucky penny and grab it as I have been told they may actually bring some good, as well as gross highway rest stop germs; Hopefully more of one than the other.

"Here I am!"

Katelyn playing "Where's Katleyn?"

Wild Horse Reservoir, Nevada 

We notice on the highway there are huge trucks covered in graphics and banners heading west and we realized these are the drag race teams heading to Sonoma for the National drag races this weekend. We have some close friends, Mike and Matty who head to those races each year. Katelyn is being such a trooper this entire time; it was well after ten before I had to break out the cheerios. About 40 miles south of Elko, Nevada Oliver, aka the Godfather, decided he needed a better view and used the arm rest to look out the window (he is short in stature). The arm rests contain the window controls. Suddenly the window is completely rolled down and Oliver has half his body hanging out the window as we travel at about 65 mph down the highway, he was quickly flung back into the truck and we are utilizing the window locks now.

We head into Elko, Nevada and see the stunning Ruby Mountains. Had I known how beautiful this area was I may have just made this our first stop. We grab some Taco Bell, as it’s the only place we can pull our rig into and head off to find a place to stop, eat and let dogs and babies get some exercise. We find a lovely church with a large lawn and figured it’s a church they are supposed to welcome everyone. We quickly realize with all the restriction signs it’s a Mormon church and they have lots of rules as to who can eat a Mexican Pizza on their lawn, we do not qualify. I am glad we didn’t as we decided to head north and stopped at the Wild Horse Reservoir. We had a lovely picnic lunch on the boat launch parking lot. Got a little exercise and then hit the road pretty quickly to avoid the thunderstorm that was fast approaching.

Parking lot picnic

Heading north from the reservoir we travel along the Humbolt river in the Humbolt-Toiyabe national forest, off to our left standing in the river is a gorgeous in-velvet buck. He gave us a glance and went back to his business. Some of the few drawbacks to traveling with the trailer is that you can’t just pull over to take pictures.  As we traveled into the Owyhee Indian reservation we see our very first Redtail Hawk. It is a Warren family tradition to count the Redtails, we were actually shocked that we had made it almost into southern Idaho and just had one Redtail sighting. We crossed into the lovely state of Idaho, I was informed it is also known as “The Gem State” just into the Duck Valley area we spotted a Coyote crossing into a canyon. That was about the extent of our wildlife sightings, other than what was “sleeping” on the side of the road.

Idaho grapes, they taste like potaoes    

Katelyn doing "piggy face" and making a mess

Not far into Idaho was our destination, Glenn’s Ferry. Somehow we managed to find a campground with a winery, totally Scott’s idea. We pulled into town and it’s a lovely farming community, Scott spotted the variety of tractors as if we were looking for Antelope, which we also were looking for but saw none.  We got settled in, with the help of Stan, 60-ish thinks he’s 30-ish, but gave us vouchers for free wine with dinner and we liked Stan. We headed over to the winery, which actually had some nice wines, who knew Idaho produced wine? All of the wines were from Idaho vines; nothing was imported from other areas. +We enjoyed our tasting then went to the restaurant were Katelyn entertained herself with bread, cheerios and pulling the waitresses shirt each time she came by. Dinner was ok, it wasn't a burrito supreme in a parking lot so we were happy. Stan had informed us that the pond on the golf course ++36 – (Katelyn just helped me type, seemed like I should leave it) was stocked with fish and open for fishing after 8. Scott was sure Katelyn would love that and we happened to have packed Grandpa Warren’s poles and tackle box in the trailer. We ventured to the pond, Dad and baby tried fishing for about 15 minutes and were unsuccessful. Fishing trip was over and we went back to the trailer for much needed sleep.

Day 1 - On the road, to be continued...

7/24/12

So our first day on the road is done, but with that 12 hour travel day came a very antsy and exhausted baby and two very rambunctious dogs. For those reasons, today's blog will be delayed until tomorrow morning once all the travelers have had sleep... Good night.

Last night in The Silver State - 7/23/12

As you all know we have made the very difficult, yet exciting, decision to pick up and move to The Keystone State (Pennsylvania for those not up on state nicknames) Pittsburgh to be exact, GO STEELERS! Scott and I have had the most amazing journey in this beautiful area but our world has changed so much now that we have become parents. There seems to be no better time than now to explore new places and better opportunities, as well as becoming a stronger support system for our family in other areas.

We have spent the last few days spending time with the wonderful friends we have acquired together and we are thankful this has been so difficult, as it has shown us what great people we have in our lives and the strength of those relationships.

Katelyn had a problem so we needed to leave Nevada...

Our darling little peanut, Katelyn (as well as Scott and I),  are so lucky to have the most amazing Nevada family, her Grammie and Gramps - that she adores, her Uncle Mike, her Uncle Richie and Cousin Blake. We all spent this evening together and it was a great reminder of how important family is, no matter how large or small. It also helped to solidify that distance will never change how important people are to you and those special memories you create will always be with you, distance will never keep us from creating new memories. We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful family here in Nevada, this will always be one of our homes and there is no changing that Ms. Katelyn was "Battle Born"