The Great Salt Lake

In trying to capture the memories for ourselves through this blog, the first 156 photos have been time consuming to go through. We aren't the best photographers so it is sorting through some not-so-good shots.

This is dusk after leaving the mountains and valleys of Salt Lake City and moving out into the far west. This the the famous Great Salt Lake. Learn about it at
http://utah.com/stateparks/great_salt_lake_facts.htm

We saw the Morton Salt Factory further west. See the salt logo from the circular box? The next factory had a huge salt pile. Some of us don't use Morton's any longer but I found it interesting to see how and where it all comes from. - Karen

"Lookout" - still more to see - Utah

We never take pictures of ourselves but we tried to remember to capture ourselves as much as the scenery. The horse and owner we saw from afar was so beautiful to see and it reminded us of the horses we miss at home. We decided to say hi. I didn't catch her name but she lives in Idaho and was traveling home from Indiana. She is a traveling nurse. She takes her cat and horse wherever she goes. My sister explained they take jobs where they are needed. She must be provided with housing, in whatever state she ends up in, to house a horse and cat. It sounded like a neat life.

The green hills are on the south side of the highway, opposite the trains and rocky hills from the last post. So enjoyable to see the green of spring and early summer in the desert. - Karen

Utah - entering rest stop and lookout

We saw such beautiful rocks at this lookout. We were so small in all its greatness. Brian snapped a lot of shots of this area for great ideas in creating landscape for his model railroad. The trains looked like models against the huge rocks. We found animals, (horses and cows) amongst the rocks and tracks. barely visible.

On the road

Well we are packed in. I am trying to blog but it wasn't successful for much of the trip due to lack of internet connection. Did we overpack? Yes probably brought twice what we used, except lacking warm enough clothes, it seems. Always surrounded with coolers of foods to snack on - we kept making cocoa, sunflower butter, raw honey fudge. Brian's listening to Harry Potter book on tape and Tracy started a sequel to Peter Pan but went back to check out the original book.

Remember "Where' Waldo" or Highlights magazine finding the items in the picture. I could set that game up for you looking at the picture of Tracy's book. Start by finding the dog - do you see him? He is so used to traveling in the car almost daily and days on end he finds his spot and spreads out until he starts to own the whole seat - per Tracy. Windmills were put up since we were last here. - Karen

Heading out of Wyoming

Coming out of Wyoming, just looking at the magnitude of the rocks reminds us how wonderfully vast and huge our beautiful universe is and we were again wanting to capture the beauty. The tunnels - Gregg loves - are on the way out and into Utah. Alot of this area we have photographed over and over and filled the "my pictures" file on the computer with due to the 10 or more trips driving out to Salt Lake City, Utah for a week trip or a month long with Gregg's job. Wonderful memories and yet the beauty is still breathtaking in person each time. The weather seemed grandeur in the mountains so we captured alot of storm clouds. - Karen

We finally found "The Mine"

Is this The Mine? For many many years, while traveling with Gregg to Utah for work, we searched for this mine. We would head off the highway hoping to get close to it, but not quite finding it or not being able to see much. The antelope always would stop to stare wondering why we were venturing into their area.

Brian loves mines and open pit mines best of all. Well here it was, right on the highway. Is it the one - only our friend Cameron could tell us for sure, since he travels here for Caterpillar to check on the big rigs. We saw the sign and the large (so much larger up close of course) dump trucks as they came around the corner and then disappeared into the earth. The sign had the coolest description. Explosions in Use: Blast warning at 5 minutes before blast. A wail siren will be sounded for 10 seconds. At 2 minutes before detonation a 2 tone siren will be sounded. At 30 seconds before the blast a yelp siren will be sounded. After the blast the area will be cleared by mine personnel to assure the area is safe to reenter. We didn't get to experience all that excitement. Wow, would it have been cool.

If you click on the pictures and enlarge them they aren't as blurry looking. Again the photos don't capture the awe we experienced. The last photo is difficult to see but it is the huge boom to pick up rock (Ursa Major or Ursa Minor) and the one on the right is the drill to place the explosives in the ground - per Gregg. We felt like kids straining our necks to see what all the big people get to see, bummer.... Cool stuff anyway. Brings us back to the movies Brian watched when he was little "I dig dirt" and all the huge rigs. - Karen

Wick/Beumee Wildlife Habitat - Rest Area

Between Laramie and Rawlins near Arlington, Wyoming, we stopped at the Wick/Beumee Wildlife Management Area. Eighteen thousand acres near Elk Mountain and Medicine Bow Mountain. The area is home to winter grazing for elk. The other animals that also inhabit this area are coyote, grouse, mountain lion, beaver, weasel, mink, black bear, marmots, bobcat and prairie dog, waterfowl as well, there are lakes and streams throughout. The area is closed in the winter to protect the elk but open to camping in the summer. The temps dropped considerably and wind and rain picked up. We realized the planned temps of highs in the 80's and lows in the 60's "predicted" may not be the case. At this point we realized we didn't have enough warm clothes. Check out this place at http://gf.state.wy.us/accessto/whmas/wick.asp The link isn't working so if you would like to look at it you need to type in the link in your browser.
Scroll down below the maps on the site and see the text.

Heading to Wyoming

Throughout the trip we kept trying to capture the beauty and the awe (yet 1/2 the trip we used a very old camera). Between Fort Collins and Cheyenne, areas along the Colorado Rockies we saw so many horse ranches. We kept picturing our future land and our own horses and house we would be living in. Some were homes that we saw and some we created in our unlimited imaginations.

Colorado to Wyoming

Brian took a picture of the buffalo atop the mountain.

KOA Campsite in Fort Collins Colorado

Our first campsite was Fort Collins, Colorado. One of our favorite towns in the day, not much to see at 3am. We got out and the mosquitoes were swarming us. We hadn't seen that many and so large since the Minnesota days. We thought they were bad at home - nothing compared to this. We found arriving at this hour to set up camp (which happening frequently) required quiet so we weren't always able to pump up mattresses. Better connection to nature on the hard ground right? We barely saw the KOA, we woke very early for a 12 -14 hour drive and packing up camp was very time consuming. Wow didn't plan that into this week. Tracy saw several bunnies playing and a huge herds of horses up over a hill not far away. The outdoor gazebo was really nice with sinks to do our dishes. I noticed at several campsites. I am not used to hearing traffic ever at home so the freeway noise was very loud to me.

Storm Chasers

Right after we practiced being storm chasers in Grand Island, watching and seeing what we remember from Discovery channels Storm Chasers show, we meet REAL LIVE Storm Chasers.


We pulled into Elm Creek, Nebraska to get gas and potty break, we see several people with laptops on their hoods of the cars and trucks. We are curious and then we realize who they were. We went to talk to them and they shared everything about what they do and how they became storm chasers.

Several of the adults started at about age 10 or 11. They followed and learned from other adults documenting on video cameras what they see. They then contact the authorities or new stations who would want this information. Often times they see the storm before the National Weather Service ever knows the storm has developed. Away from the freeway, Nebraska becomes more hilly and much harder to maneuver making travel to track storms more difficult. The chasers find it an enjoyable hobby because they love weather. They aren't interested or have a need to find severe weather or destruction, it is the peace and beauty of nature after the storm passes, they love. There was a 19yo (son of one of the chasers) who was in college to be a meteorologist. They desire to be behind the storm rather than having it head toward them.

The current storm they were tracking was just north of us and more were developing from the west. It wasn't the same one we just went by in Grand Island. The night was busy and they expected to be out all night. The websites we use at home to track weather when our weather radio alarm goes off frequently is one they use as well http://www.noaa.gov/ They also suggested http://www.sbc.noaa.gov/ which is more detailed but may need more research and learning to understand all the tracking information. They showed us several videos of the storms they just saw and encouraged us to find others in our area to learn from if we were ever interested in being a storm chaser. They said the Discovery Channel crew was out in the area the week before and they were able to meet them. What an absolute treat to meet someone who follows their passions and helps so many people stay safe. It was a shared family adventure and interest as well. Another website to check out is http://www.stormchasers.com/ - Karen

Grand Island, Nebraska

As we are driving along northern Missouri, clipped the corner of Iowa in our path, to make our way through Lincoln Nebraska. Most of our travels the first day was rain and storms. In Grand Island, Nebraska we hit this storm. The wall cloud came first and then the tornados started to form and drop slightly. We felt like amateur Storm Chasers/Spotters. This storm was north of the freeway but checking radar there were many around. - Karen

Blog delays

Hello All,

We are back on our blog posting and seem to finally have a internet connection for more than 2 miles in the rural areas. Our blog was to be posted daily, we had hoped, so you could follow our journey. Well, that didn't work, due to time, internet connection which was non-existent in all the mountainous regions we were in. If there was ever a town to get internet, it was 3am and we had a tent to set up or sleep which we got little of. We will try and share all the fun we had and all we saw. We took hundreds of pictures. Enjoy our journey. Although it won't be as good as we experienced being in the beauty, you will see some of it.

Iowa

Rolling hills in Iowa.

Missouri Marble Sky

These are pictures of amazing clouds we saw on our trip.-Tracy

Along the ride through Missouri with on and off rain storms, we came across a sign that said "Walt Disney Home Museum" We couldn't stop, but thought it would be neat to know what his life was like in Missouri. This is the hometown biography:

www.disney.go.com/disneyatoz/familymuseum/collection/biography/marceline/ - Karen

First Restroom Stop

This is me ( Tracy) and our dog Skippers at a rest area in Barry IL. -Tracy
We left the flat terrain of central Illinois and moved into more hilly area of western Illinois. Having a late start, the pictures were slow to come, as internet was intermittent most of the first day. This was Historic Barry Illinois. Checking on the internet we found about 500 male residents, 700 female and recently had workshops on gravestone restoration. They are working on creating more of a historical area it seems. The trip gets more exciting as we go. We didn't get a photo of the 4 of us to start. We didn't look all that great the first day anyway. - Karen

We are off and running - yet hardly left

Welcome to our blog. This is our first attempt at blogging, posting photos and sharing thoughts and experiences. We may start out rough, stumbling our way through, yet as we get more comfortable and familiar, it could get better. The kids will do alot of the posting as we go. Gregg and I will chime in our experiences too. Hope you enjoy the trip with us.

We start our trip from our small farm in central Illinois heading to Central Point, Oregon. Central Point is close to the border of Oregon and California, near the town of Medford and Ashland. We will be stopping at many campgrounds along the way. I should add here, this is our first attempt at camping away from home. We spent the entire last month camping in our yard preparing for this trip. We have slept through strong storms and many many nights of unending rain, yet No Leaks!!! We took the tent down and back up in rain and know we can do it.

The coyotes howled, neighbor cat came over regularily to pick fights with our cat and we spent many nights doing bug checks only to find the loud buzzing of wings were thankfully between the no-see-um --(type of tiny bug) --proof screen and the rain fly. Deer showed up outside the tent and we held our breath, hoping the dog wouldn't bark sending the deer into the tent, in attempts to escape. He didn't and they moved on. The last night prior to packing the tent, two neighbor kittens showed up at 3am crying into the ground level window opening, wet, cold, hungry and thirsty. We put them in a barn, cared for them and got them back home the next day after a phone call. The tomcat visiting to fight seems to be very busy reproducing and acting as mom to the kittens we are told, since mom disappeared.

I think we are ready. We spent yesterday preparing the house and yard for all the caregivers of our animals, making travel foods and packing. While still up last night at 2am, planning to leave at 3am, that idea ended as we crashed and slept until 6am. Like I said, off and running but hardly left. We finally got going many many hours later, traveling through the very flat regions of Illinois heading into the rolling hills and valleys of west central Illinois.

You might ask what makes this journey a Raw Food Journey. We are headed to Central Point, Oregon for the Raw Union, http://www.rawunion.com/ . It is a raw/living food festival at an organic farm retreat center. We will see speakers, demos and try many new raw living foods. The event includes a wedding ceremony and reception for Matt Monarch and Angela Stokes of the Raw Food World TV show. You can see all the events planned at their website. We will be meeting many people we have conversed with online or read their work or tried their recipes. We are excited and can't wait to share with you what we experience.

We have been on a journey of health with raw vegan foods for 1 1/2 years. We have seen incredible weight loss, healing within our bodies and wonderful changes in our entire family. On this raw food journey we will also get to see parts of the country we haven't seen and meet others who share some similar choices in eating and lifestyle.

I hope you enjoy our trip.

Photos to follow. 1st rule of blogging - blog near a major town where you are apt to get a signal and continue to have one in the middle of your post.

Wishing you well

Leaving

Tomorrow we're leaving!!!!!