The last 300 miles home were very different from the 300 or so miles
over the Icefield Parkway or those up on the quiet roads up in
Canada. It's always like this, once we reach the point of saying
"enough, time to go home" it seems to take ages to actually get
there. The interstates are not really camera friendly and so my hand
has, for the first time in 3 weeks, not been clutched and ready to
snap away and it sat and sulked on the floor for a good many miles.
I cannot make up my mind whether its "only been three weeks" or "it's
been three weeks already!". We have seen so much in a short time and
the trip was initially only to see the northern lights, if we were
lucky......... I try to sit and remember everything we saw in the
Badlands - that beautiful pink and white mixture of ground, arranged
in a way that could only bring oohs and aahs, then everything in
Yellowstone National Park.......... now that was truly amazing! We
knew it was a special place, but wow - we were really bowled over by
just how much there was to see. Just driving around that side of the
country is wonderful and special too without having to be in an
official park of any kind. It is beautiful in a way that really is
indescribable. The feeling of going into Canada, leaving the USA is
always a good one too - still makes my palms sweat when having to
deal with the INS but I find myself wanting to thum my nose at the
immigration officer. After all the years I fought to stay in this
country, its good to be able to leave and come back when I want to.
We were on new roads going into Canada this time which was really
great and we passed through some really lovely little towns where we
could just see that the people there are very special. Cardston was
definitely one of those. You can see by the type of businesses, how
they are dressed up and generally the care of the main road of town.
Heading up onto that Icefield Parkway was...........well, there is no
other way to say it but - crazily exciting! I found myself sitting
forward in my chair, extra camera batteries ready and having to force
my mouth closed at times. That is really one beautiful place and one
that I could visit again - even after going through twice in three
weeks! Maybe some day we will catch it on a sunny day.
And we watched the weather - rain, cloudy, rain, cold, cloudy and
added to that was the natural tiredness of driving all day long......
and sometimes I would wonder if we even had a chance to see those
northern lights at all! And when they happened, yes - that orchestra
plays over and over in my mind. I simply loved it and apart from all
the other feelings and wishes and dreams that I sent out on those
lights, seeing them again has made me want to see them again! Yup - I
will be watching for a good solar storm and then we will head north
again. They really worked a number on my soul. We were so incredibly
fortunate that everything worked out the way it did - the weather, the
lights and the time. If we had not seen them in Dawson Creek, we
would probably have driven further north, but the weather was not
going to play along and our chances were almost nil from then on. The
next day, about 200 miles south of Dawson Creek someone there said
they had also seen the lights, but that they were only the white,
whispy, cloudy type..... How fortunate we we!
The opal mines - now that was a disappointment - but even if we had
found the road to go there, there was no way we could have done it.
We could not have left the doglets in that place, even for 10 minutes,
let alone a few hours while we mined, and we did not know if they
could come with us either. So, maybe thats something for another
time. But I am really not sure if I want to camp where people look
like droids with no emotions...........
Driving west to east across Kansas yesterday seemed to go on forever
and the wind played havoc with the motor home causing Frank to
literally wrestle with the wheel all day long. The wind also has an
effect on Sophie - she just will not walk in it! She gets outside,
and plops her tiny behind firmly on the ground and literally has to be
dragged along, leaving long ruts in anything but grass. After a
little while she will lift herself enough to pee, but only just.
Allie does not give a hoot and stands there, almost vibrating with
readiness to go walking. So most of the time we each have one doglet,
one of us trying to get Allie to slow down and the other trying to get
Sophie to take a single step - it gets interesting when we hook them
on the same leash and let them go!
Yesterday morning we decided to take the interstates home...........
through Kansas City and St Louis. And then the rain got heavier, the
wind blew harder and my resolve got weaker and right at the last road
south, I told Frank to turn right! Right? Yup - off the
interstate.......... No Kansas City or St Louis for me! Not this
time. Not ever, if I can help it. Yup - I am a wuss, a chicken and
all that - but...........even narrow, winding farm roads in the rain
are better than the insanity of rush hour city driving. So after
screaming through Kansas as fast as we could, on both interstates and
small roads, with the only really memorable thing being a turn sign in
the middle of a cornfield, we spent the night in Missouri last night.
The wind howled and it was lovely to have all the windows open and
hear the wind swish through the mosquito blinds, such a change from
the nights of cold feet and heaters not so long ago.
In our minds we have been headed home since not being able to get to
the opal mine. We had wanted to head south but Hurricane Ike put that
in the box for us. Looking at the weather all around - well, it just
seemed to be the right time to head home again. A few weeks back we
saw a sign that read: "Act your Wage". Well, maybe it's time for us
to do just that for a little while again and save up for another trip
somewhere. As we tootle down this interstate we are already talking
about 'where to' next.
Every day has been an adventure - something to see, something to smile
about and something to cause me to think and dream and love even
deeper than I did the day before. In ordinary days, in ordinary times
we let so much slip by unnoticed. I know I do this all the time. And
after each trip, I try to hold on to the magic, the different type of
seeing things for as long as I can. Typing these emails to you all
has definitely given me reason to look at things differently too - in
more detail and almost like taking a visual photograph. I do write
down little reminders in a book I have right next to me, but then I
have trouble reading my scrawl later.
There are so many places that I am incredibly grateful not to have
grown up in, so many towns that have seen better times and so many
different ways of living. Its interesting that the further west we
were, it seemed as if people are more willing to be adventerous with
their houses and gardens, not always succeeding to my taste, but
always interesting and fun. I loved looking at the gardens, the
decorations and the different personalities displayed on the outside
of people's homes. I am again stunned at the number of rusted, old,
broken, unused derelict cars and motor homes and houses around the
country.... This is all just another reminder of just how fortunate I
feel we are.
So, after 7300 miles, about the same number of photographs, through
some of the most beautiful places on the continent, with numerous
lovely Frank cooked meals, chilled wine, very well behaved doglets and
three wonder filled weeks, the Wheelie House has stopped for a while.
We cruised gently past Soddy Lake, with the lights glistening in dead
calm waters, the sun just set behind the hillside and really happy to
be home for a while again.
The doglets are thrilled too - they screamed around the house like two
insane gremlins, then Allie found our bed and curled up with a grin.
Sophie still has not stopped running and playing and its been 3 hours
now!
A word on Blondie......... she put us on tiny roads, took us places we
should not have seen, frustrated the heck out of me, made us laugh and
shake our heads and even as we were coming over the mountain on the
last stretch home, she tried to put us over the edge at every
opportunity. Even though she did great through Nashville this
evening, I have decided to store her in a cupboard with a big bottle
of brown hair color!
A really big thank you to you all - your comments and information
along the way was great :) You all made me see things I might not
have noticed before and through this helped make this trip really
wonderful and yes, wonder-filled.
One day closer to the next adventure ................
love and light
Annie
I will put the final photographs in the albums tomorrow.
Picture link: http://photobucket.com/annieb
http://livingwithcml.blogspot.com
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