And Down The Stretch They Come...

Wait! What?!?! It's almost over? We get there tomorrow? It's funny how 750 miles can feel "close". It's 12:30pm and we are now traveling route 80 west toward Nevada. Big, beautiful mountains flank us to the left and right and the salt deposits sit at their feet creating an almost beachy look. Had I not taken the time to think about it (read as had Tad not told me) I would have thought it was sand or possibly snow if we were in a different time of year.















We took quite the tour of Utah on Wednesday which Jennie blogged and posted photos of. It was a great day of site seeing and a truly unique experience for a couple of kids from the east coast. I've noticed a lot of differences in the country as we pass from state to state, but one of the most noticeable is how open the land is as you get further west. Most highways in the northeast are surrounded by trees, shopping malls and power plants. There is no room from side to side. As we drove through PA and started to get into Ohio, things began to breathe a little. You could finally look a few miles into the distance. In Utah the view is only disrupted multiple miles away when a mountain stares back at you. The Turgeon's have one that stares at their house 24/7.

After our time in Moab, Canyonlands and Goblin Valley we began the trek north and west toward Salt Lake City where Tad, Jodi, Ruby, and Ella awaited our arrival. Stella and Avi kept their snouts in the air for a scent of Daisy too. Leo had no idea Sebastian was in UT and neither would get the chance to meet. We were given yet another beautiful sunset to capture as Salt Lake City's mountains appeared.



It was about 9:30pm when the Four Winds chugged up Fort Union Blvd. toward the Turgeon abode. We called Tad to let him know we'd be there within a minute and he walked outside to direct us into the driveway. I overshot the house, but that ended up being a good thing. The driveway could easily accommodate the 31 feet of the RV, but not until I swung the front of the ride into the mouth of the gate did we ever think it might be too wide. Jennie opened her window and pulled the side view into the RV. I did the same on the driver's side. Without this precaution we'd be mirror-less, the Turgeons would be fence-less or both.

Tad and I exchanged glances and a nod that said "let's do this". A bond between men that agrees to break stuff first and then assess the situation later. We slowly inched the front of the RV into the gate. It fits! Hmmmm, but what about that tree's low hanging branches? Or those low hanging wires bringing phone and electricity into the house? Too late now. Holding the wheel at 10 and 2 I just wanted to drive straight. CRUNCH. "Don't worry, we planned to take that branch down anyway" came from somewhere next to the vehicle. The RV then limboed below the wires and we settled into the spot. Our happiness turned to the reality that we'd somehow have to get the RV back out of the gate. We joked that we should just have a fence company ready for Friday and agreed to deal with the turning of the RV around tomorrow (yesterday).

Ella was fast asleep, but Tad welcomed us out of the RV as Jodi and Ruby walked toward us smiling. Stella and Avi's tails moved at a speed that could power a small boat and we let Daisy out to meet her new friends. Three beers were cracked, a glass of wine was poured and the 5 humans and 3 canines took a tour of the RV. After the tour, Jodi put Ruby to bed and Jennie, Tad and I caught up.















The night turned to early morning and we all retired for some much needed shut eye. The world of a 4 and 2 year old begins a bit earlier than a married couple with a penchant for sleeping in so we went Cousin Eddie and Catherine style from Christmas Vacation, plugged into the garage outlet and slept in the RV for the night.

We awoke on Thursday to a beautiful Utah morning. Tad and Jodi have a coffee grinder so we were able to finally make ourselves some Bean 'n Leaf House Blend. Yum! After taking some time to meet Ella, we decided to make our way to the dog pond. Tad, Jennie, Daisy, Stella, Avi and I piled into the Passat. Jodi, Ella and Ruby jumped in the truck since the girls had an ice cream making class to go to soon. We got to the pond, took off the leash and Daisy sprinted for the water. Without hesitation she jumped in, galloped around and had a ball. Tad would take a stick Stella retrieved, throw it in the water and the dogs would run after it. Repeat for about a half hour. Stella was the fastest both to and in the water every time. She'd run out, get to a point too deep to run and begin swimming. Daisy would do the same, but stop short of swimming. Avi, being the size of a football, would mostly stay in the shallow territory.































After the dog pond, Tad took us on a driving tour of the area. There are beautiful cliff side view points to stop at where we could see the different parts of town. We even saw a lady we can't seem to get away from.










































We stopped back at the house after our tour, grabbed our swimsuits, stopped off for Tex-Mex and met Jodi and the girls at Jodi's dad's house for some swimming. The house was beautifully landscaped and we found out that Jodi's dad does 95% of the work. I'm not talking a tree or two and some flowers. This is a full on green thumb paradise.

We ate our lunch and Jodi needed to leave to get to work. Tad, Jennie, Ruby, Ella and I stayed for another hour which mostly consisted of us playing shark. I was the shark and Ruby and Ella were my lunch. One area of the pool and Jennie (no matter where she was) were the safety zones. I'd pretend not to pay attention, they'd wander out into the pool and I'd swim toward them with my two hands forming a fin that stuck out of the water. Such a fun afternoon. Dogs got to swim, we got to swim and we still had the night in front of us.

But before we get into the night, there's still the task of figuring out how to get the RV out of the driveway tomorrow (today). We'd been surveying the scene for a while and decided that the RV could make the 3 point (more like 9 point) turn and in doing so we'd be able to pull the ride straight out of the driveway. It actually went very smoothly. I cut the wheels in the appropriate directions and followed Tad's verbal and visual commands so I didn't run into anything.

Salt Lake City has free music every Thursday during the summer. Tad drove us and the girls downtown while giving a more detailed tour of the areas we looked at from the cliffs earlier. We parked underground and then made our way up to the concert area. Tad took Ella while Jennie and I held Ruby's hand through the crowd. We found a nice quiet spot off to the side, grabbed some dinner and ate while we listened to the music.
















Jodi gave a call to say she was leaving work and we gathered our stuff to go have one last hang as a group before we all said goodnight and eventually goodbye.
















I woke up early today to see Tad off to work, we got ourselves together and made our way down the driveway to head back toward Rt. 215 and then 80. I did clip the gate on the way out, but luckily the fence didn't budge and it only ended in a dent in one of the storage doors in the back driver's side (no worries, Scott. it'll be fixed before we get back). We waved to the girls and Jodi one last time and we were on our way.

The Turgeons are such great hosts, their daughters are both beautiful and great to be around and our pets all got along wonderfully. Seeing familiar faces (Tad and Jodi) and meeting new ones (Ella and Ruby) made us feel at home. Pulling into the driveway you just felt "home". They made us feel welcomed and loved from the time we arrived until the time we left.
















We're about 300 miles east of Reno right now and have no specific planned stop time/place. We've crossed into the Pacific Time Zone and want to be into SF at or before noon tomorrow. We'll get to 24th street, drop our stuff at the apartment, and our friend Ken is going to take the ride with us to Novato, CA to drop the RV at the storage unit.

Until later...

Jimmy