Jen 'n' Ryan: Trip Update

I tried to send this as an email but it wouldn't let me send.

Hey all,

We are currently camped just North of Salt Lake City in Willard, Utah. We just got back from a swim in the Great Salt Lake. Which by the way is NOT salty water.

Ryan is cooking dinner and since I haven't been keeping everyone informed (it is not entirely my fault) I thought I would take a minute to update you.

~*~

We started off our trip July 16th from OKC to Woodward. Yes I know that isn't very far but we took roads that we hadn't taken before, just to shake things up a bit. Just before getting to Enid we had a blow out on the camper, not a big deal we will just put the spare on. Oops - It's flat. So we had to unhook the camper and leave it on the side of the road while we drove the truck the 10 miles on into town. Over $100 dollars later we are back on the road. We felt a little robbed but feel lucky that it was an easy fix.

Just west of Enid we saw the signs for the Historical Sod House in Aline, OK. We took the bait. It was an interesting little museum out in the middle of nowhere, we almost turned around. But just when we were sure that it was no longer there we saw a sign. The house is now inside another building. (Silly us, we saw the signs for a sod house and were looking for a sod house not a barn.) The historical society has built a small museum around the sod house and furnished it with artifacts, both in the building and in the house. It was a nice surprise.

At last we pulled into our favorite campsite, behind my parents house, just in time for dinner! We spent an entire week in Woodward. We celebrated my Papa's 77th Birthday; met my new nephew Ridge; played with Neely and Paxton; went to Fort Supply Lake and did some world class wakeboarding, and saw my other mom Annie; went to Boiling Springs State Park to see the boiling springs; went out to Alabaster Caverns State Park and took a tour of the cave; made it out to the farm to harass Alan, bug Lana about the new book (can't wait for our signed copy) and made sure that the new house and bunk house were up to par (They were!); and we went to the Woodward Elks Rodeo Dance with James and Jessica and saw Cristi. Whew!

On the 24th of July we left for Guymon and Goodwell. Yes, I know, still not very far but we wanted James and Jessica to go too and since they are not retired we had to wait for a weekend. It was worth it! Matt & Mindy brought Macie over (what a doll), Cameron got off work early and showed off his skill on the guitar, and Wayne and Richard made a batch of red pig...YUM! (Thanks guys.) We hung out at the shop like old times and then made a stop at Bob's. Quite a bit different than the one room little hole in the wall that it used to be. They have done some major remolding and fixing up. Then on Saturday Cameron made a feast for lunch while Jessica and Ryan took turns in the pool.

On the 25th we left from Cameron's place and headed to Black Mesa State Park. I have been there before but Ryan hadn't. We camped the night there and then on Sunday morning we checked out the petrified forest. M&M really enjoyed seeing evidence of his ancestors.

We then headed for Hwy 456 on Alan's recommendation. I had never been on a Hwy that just suddenly stopped being paved. It's interesting, to say the least, and probably would have been a little less scary if we hadn't been pulling the camper and if it hadn't rained cats and dogs the night before. I even had to get out of the truck and move rocks out of the road so we could pass. But Alan - You were right! The view was well worth it.

On the 27th we stayed in a little hippie town off the beaten path (Gardner, CO). We met several very interesting people, in fact everyone that we met lamented that we had just missed the 3 day Hippie Fest Celebrations - No I am not kidding. We even met a guy that asked us if we would move into town because they needed more kids. I don't know if this is something that all the locals feel or just this one, but someone should probably stop him. There is just something about an unbathed hippie with matted hair asking for your kids that puts people off about moving to town. Or maybe it is just us?!

We escaped Hippieville early on the 27th and put a full day of driving between us. Again, suckered in by a sign, promising things never before seen, we (Ryan) drove down a road that I couldn't find. According to all my maps it still doesn't exist. Beside the truck overheating, the road turning into a one lane dirt path, having NO IDEA where we were, and having to turn around and go back - It was fun. I got up close to several real life chipmunks and watched a bird the size of my thumb feed a nest full of hungry babies while M&M took a nap, Sissy chased everything that moved, and Ryan tinkered with the truck. That night we made camp just on the other side of Twin Lakes, CO. With an incredible view of the valley.

On the 28th we drove across Independence Pass per recommendation of Ashleigh. Gee thanks Ash! No it was a really pretty drive but I knew that it was a mistake when right off the bat we saw a sign that read "No vehicles over 35 feet". Well any of you that know Ryan, know that this sign was a dare - not a warning. It was Scary! The truck overheated halfway up and then again at the top. Having dumped all the water that we brought with us into the radiator halfway up we had none for the top. Ryan had to get a bucket and get water out of the melted snow on the mountain. Then on the downhill side the road is twisty, curvy, steep, and at some points one-laned. I am not kidding when I say that we were worried about crashing our house into the out crops on the mountain - several times. Then when we get to Ashleigh's she tells us that it is illegal to pull a trailer over the mountain and that we were lucky that we didn't get a $500 fine and turned back by the cops. I think that we were lucky to make it down alive and with our house intact!

We spent the rest of the 28th on into the 31st in Basalt, CO with Ashleigh and Tricia (Denny was gone for work). Ashleigh taxied us around and showed us all the sites. We saw Aspen, Snowmass, the Ruedi Reservoir, the Frying Pan River, the Aspen Yacht Club, some old mining ghost town, and lots of other places that we can't remember the names of but they were neat. While we were out exploring Ryan's computer got a nasty virus that completely locked it down. (Spyware Security Scan 2009 for all of you computer literate). It was so bad that it took Farr two days to cure. (Thanks again! We really appreciate you fixing the old thing, Ryan would never have been able to figure out a new one! At least not without a lot of suffering on my ears. We owe you!)

On Friday the 31st Ryan finally drug me away from Tricia, Oh yeah and Ashleigh. We made it exactly 15 miles north of Rifle, CO when the radiator decided that it was done. So at 4:45 on a Friday we started trying to get a hold of a radiator shop. We finally found one that would order us a new radiator on Monday. Yeah I said Monday. So for the next three days we camped out at mile marker 15 on Hwy 13. Out of the 900 people that passed us everyday; not one single person stopped to see if we needed help in three days. We did have a couple of people honk at us for being so inconsiderate as to break down on the side of the road instead of somewhere more convenient for them. Well the break would have been an excellent time to catch you all up on our trip and to make this a shorter email, except that we were conserving energy and couldn't use our computers, phone, or lights. Besides the Internet took 10 minutes just to get me a list of repair shops, it would have taken hours to type up any kind of email. Mile marker 15 would have been a nice place if the traffic wasn't literally inches outside our windows.

Monday afternoon we finally had a new radiator and was on the road again. We went to Dinosaur, CO home of the Dinosaur National Monument and saw the cave drawings ( the dinosaur excavation building was closed). And made camp at the KOA in Vernal, CO. Not a long trip, but we felt that we deserved clean clothes, hot showers, a pool, electricity, and a place to walk the dog. This morning, Tuesday August 4th, we finally made some miles, forced to get on the Interstate for more than ten miles since leaving OKC (until today we had traveled more miles on dirt roads than interstate!). The truck is doing great with the new radiator. And Ryan and I both agree that Utah is a great state to take a road trip through. It was a nice drive with the countryside changing into something different and more beautiful with every mile. We are spending the night here in Willard and hope to make it to Twin Falls or Boise by tomorrow evening.