Thursday - Yay we are in Eastern Time Zone.

Changing time zones is tough, easier going west than coming back east!  

Lenny was very happy with our campground- right along Sugar Creek. Would be a nice place to come back and kayak. 

We have about 8 hours to get home. 

The last two hours are the LONGEST ones!  

Great trip. Wonderful memories. Thanks for driving Bill Shuffstall and putting up with your two women!  

Wednesday- another long day

Today is another long day of driving (and sleeping for the dogs). 

Seeing the same landscape that we saw except nowit's  eastbound   Still enjoy seeing the big blue and white sky with the green crops. 

We've had almost all blue skies for 3 weeks. Missed the rain and hailstorm in Yosemite by a day. Bill had some rain as they were backpacking but Linda and I had all sun and blue skies. 

Going to try to make it to Crawfordsville which is just west of Indianapolis. Then we'll have about 8 hrs left for Thursday till we are home. 

Stopped at a Loves truck stop and saw this carving called Lonesome Wrangler. It was carved out  of cedar for their first truck stop in Oklahoma. 

Made it to Crawfordsville Sugar Creek Campground. 

Tuesday - hoping to get across Nebraska

Up early and on the road by 6:30. Hoping we can make itt across Nebraska today. 

Actually made it to west of Des Moines Iowa. Bill is terry up the road. 

Found a nice campground called Timberline. Had our first fire of the trip. Woohoo roasted wieners and s'mores!

Night

Monday - A visit to Fort Bridger and a quilt shop

Definitely cooler here at Ft Bridger today .. 72 degrees and supposed to get down to 55 degrees. 

Our campground was right next to Ft Bridger so we  over there and toured the fort and buildings. 

Ft.  Bridger was first established as a emigrant supply stop along the Oregon Trail in 1843.  Then it was obtained by the Mormons in 1850s and finally a military outpost in 1858. The fort was abandoned in 1890. 

Then there just happened to be a quilt shop in this little town of Lyman. It was one of the nicest quilt shops Lin and I have ever visited. Lots of finished quilts with kits made up. Yes, we found things to buy!  Could have spent much more time there but we were afraid we'd get left behind. 

We made it to Cheyenne, Wyoming and stayed in A. B. RV Park. We stayed there last fall and liked the staff and the park. Their BBQ place was open so we took advantage of it for dinner. Liked it so much, we bought some sauce to take home!  

Still cool here. We'll take it. Good sleeping weather. 

We have about 22 hours till we are home. We'll have some lONG days. 

Sunday - visit the California Trail Interpretive Center in Elko

Before we keep heading east, we made two stops. One to Walmart for embroidery thread so I can keep sewing and two to the California Trail Interpretive Centre. 

If you're out West on I80, you should stop here. Really helps you imagine the hardships these people and animals endured. Very well done. 

Look at the size of the sage. 

Here is a wildlife bridge. These folk take their wildlife very seriously. 

Next stop was the salt flats outside of Salt Lake City. 

Stopped for the night at Ft Bridger RV Park so we can go to the fort tomorrow morning. 

Sunday - visit the California Trail Interpretive Center in Elko

Before we keep heading east, we made two stops. One to Walmart for embroidery thread so I can keep sewing and two to the California Trail Interpretive Centre. 

Saturday - heading east. Goodbye Cali.

After a relaxing wake up and walk around the campground, we took off for Elko NV. Good size town for this part of the world. Staying at Iron Horse RV park. Lenny met a friend at the dog park and played with a mini Australian shepherd for about 30 minutes. 

Ate out for the first time in awhile. The Pizza Barn was packed but had good. 

Lots of granite mountains. Not too much grows on them. 

Night view from our campground. 

Friday - Leaving Yosemite

Decided to pull out early but had to wait for Carl and John to get back from their last night backpacking. Found a campground in Truckee, CA. Didn't want to go that far because we didn't leave till about 3:30 but that was the only place we could find. It was the weekend so Tahoe was full up. 

We drove around Lake Tahoe. Did not realize how huge the lake was. 

Look at these beautiful mountains with snow still on them. Also notice the clouds. These are the most clouds we've seeen in 2 weeks. 

Coachland RV Park was our place to rest for the night. Very nice campground. Cute little tiny houses interspersed with campers. 

That's it for today. 

Thursday - Hiking the Tuolomne Grove

Since dogs aren't allowed on most trails in Yosemite, Linda and I were excited to find they could hike in Tuolomne Grove. This is another grove of majestic Sequoias. The hike was about 2.5 miles, all downhill for 1 mile, then a loop to see the trees and then the trek back up. Glad we did it early morning. 

.this is one of the fallen ones. Don't you wonder what kind of sound that would be as it's falling?!

Next was lunch and a little time relaxing beside the South Fork of the Tuolumne river. 

Drove around at some of the other RV Campgrounds in case we come back. 

The back to our campground to cook dinner, another foil pack - chicken Parmesan with zucchini (see Jean, I'm even using the buggers out here). 

Got a call from the backpackers. Bill and Winter were coming back tonight. John and Carl were staying out one more night. Oh the stories and pics we will hear tonight. 

Thursday - Hiking the Tuolomne Grove

Since dogs aren't allowed on most trails in Yosemite, Linda and I were excited to find they could hike in Tuolomne Grove. This is another grove of majestic Sequoias. The hike was about 2.5 miles, all downhill for 1 mile, then a loop to see the trees and then the trek back up. Glad we did it early morning. 

.this is one of the fallen ones. Don't you wonder what kind of sound that would be as it's falling?!

Next was lunch and a little time relaxing beside the South Fork of the Tuolumne river. 

Drove around at some of the other RV Campgrounds in case we come back. 

The back to our campground to cook dinner, another foil pack - chicken Parmesan with zucchini (see Jean, I'm even using the buggers out here). 

Got a call from the backpackers. Bill and Winter were coming back tonight. John and Carl were staying out one more night. Oh the stories and pics we will hear tonight. 

Thursday - Hiking the Tuolomne Grove

Since dogs aren't allowed on most trails in Yosemite, Linda and I were excited to find they could hike in Tuolomne Grove. This is another grove of majestic Sequoias. The hike was about 2.5 miles, all downhill for 1 mile, then a loop to see the trees and then the trek back up. Glad we did it early morning. 

.this is one of the fallen ones. Don't you wonder what kind of sound that would be as it's falling?!

Next was lunch and a little time relaxing beside the South Fork of the Tuolumne river. 

Drove around at some of the other RV Campgrounds in case we come back. 

The back to our campground to cook dinner, another foil pack - chicken Parmesan with zucchini (see Jean, I'm even using the buggers out here). 

Got a call from the backpackers. Bill and Winter were coming back tonight. John and Carl were staying out one more night. Oh the stories and pics we will hear tonight. 

Wednesday - Exploring Northern Yosemite.

Today we decided to head north to Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. This reservoir plays a very import part in water delivery in the state of CA. On a daily basis, it Provo high quality drinking water to 2.6 million residents and businesses in several counties in the Bay Area and Groveland. It's all gravity driven, no pumps. 

On the way back we stopped at Southern Tuolomne River to get our feet wet, play a Little Rock and have a picnic lunch. Relaxing. 

On the way back, these are a few of the things we saw. One is a burned out area to give you an idea of what that looks like. This wasn't part of this years Fire though. 

Driving down into the reservoir. Beautiful granite mountains. 

We drove down a hollow to Greeley Hill just to see where another laundry place was. It's 30 muvdrive frombour campground. That's the closest one. Look what we got to see. 

Since we were so success with our last foil packed dinner, we tried another one - BBQ chicken with asparagus and zucchini. It was good too. I had been all bummed out because we couldn't have a fire but with the little grill, we can still make them AND no dishes to wash!  

As we were taking a hike around the campground, we saw this gorgeous Yosemite sunset. Goodnight all. 

Tuesday - Lin and I set out to explore quilt shops.

Today was the most slow-paced day we've had. We got up and made eggs and bacon, took the dogs on a small hike. Then headed north to Sonora to find a quilt shop. Of course we found some things to buy.

Next had to get some laundry done so we waited for that to finish. The dogs were allowed inside so we just sat on comfy chairs and read our books. 

The town of Sonora is really a fun and vibrant town. Nice shops, lots of people and no parking for the big truck so we just drove through and wished we could stop and shop. Although, the temp was 101 so you really couldn't stay outside long. Yes it's dry heat but it's still hot. 

On the way back, we stopped in Jamestown, another little historic downtown. And what do you know, there was a quilt shop there, too. And they let Lenny and Reuben come inside so of course we could shop longer. They were both on their best behavior so the owners loved them. 

You need to understand that to drive the 15 or so miles to Sonora, it took us about 45 minutes. Had to go over a HUGE mountain on a windy, twisty road. So one wouldn't make that trip too often. Saw some different countryside though and found a beautiful lake that we can go swimming with the dogs IF we want to take that twisty, turny road again. If we are desperate to cool off we just may!

After a delicious dinner of salmon and asparagus wrapped in foil and grilled, we went into town for the law officers day. They were showing people what they use for search and rescue there ... horses, dogs, drones. Quite interesting. 

Back to the camper to play some Cribbage. 

No pics today. Can't believe it.