Home Sweet Home... For Now

This morning Zoey and I took a walk along the lake shore at Senca Lake. I found a place with out poison ivy for her to access the water. It was steep and she was tentative, but she could not resist jumping in when I threw her favorite tennis ball bone in the water. She had to retrieve it.

remember the painted ponies? http://www.trailofpaintedponies.com/au-tale-trail.htm It was a big fundraiser that started in Santa Fe with life sized fiberglass horses painted by different artists then auctioned off. Well here is a painted deer, auction as part of a fund raiser for an art school in New York... What's next? painted caribou?

Once I got off the interstate in New York it started to feel like home or at least familiar. I lived in upstate New York for a year after college when I volunteered with the Student Conservation Association doing trail crew and environmental education. New York has many small economically depressed towns. The Streets are lined with rundown Victorian houses, Brick storefronts and other old buildings.

Zoey sat up when she could tell we were slowing down after we got off the interstate. She had a look around. I wonder what she thought of this lush green environment with rolling hills and big lazy rivers. When she realized she was not getting out of the car she curled back up and went back to sleep.

It was about 3 pm when we crossed the Vermont state line. We made our up route 22A, not the most direct route, but it was scenic, Rolling hills with views into the Champlain valley, open farmland dotted by trees and the occasional barn and old farm house The Valley bordered on the west by the Adirondack mountains, and on the east by the Green mountains. Home at last. I wish I had batteries in my little camera so I could snap photos of this beautiful lush green landscape for all of you back in New Mexico.

When we arrived at my grandmothers farm in Bristol, Zoey was not out of the car 5 minutes before she discovered the stream. I think she has found paradise, a stream, a pond, woodchucks and ducks to chase and green grass to run and play in.

I got my car about half way unloaded but now I need to figure out where to put everything while family from out of town are visiting.

Road trip to Vermont days 2 and 3

Yesterday was a long day. I drove from Stroud Oklahoma to Terre Haute Indiana. I got a late start to the day. I was planning to Geocache, so I looked up some caches along the way. But the day got off to a rainy start. No wonder they have problems with flooding in this part of the country, it really pours! In fact I got held up in Springfield MO due to 4" of water on the interstate and a truck that hydroplaned off the road into the median into a few feet of water. I stopped and ate lunch at a truck stop and by the time I got back on the road the water had gone down enough for my little car to pass through. Because I got a late start in the morning I just kept driving. I did not want to stay in a big city because I have so much stuff in and on my car. so I kept driving, past St. Louis until I could not drive anymore. I pulled in to an Econolodge. The place was packed there was even a FEMA truck parked there, I guess to deal with the Flooding along the Mississippi. I was exhausted and I was worried about my car. I did not sleep well. All night I had the feeling like something was crawling on my skin and bitting me. Was it bed bugs? When I did finally fall asleep I was awakened by a loud down pour. More rain, and boy was it coming down.

Five hours later I dragged myself out of bed to check out and get back on the road. When I went to check out they asked how my stay was, I mentioned how it felt like something was bitting me... she did not charge me for the room. A free nights stay in a crapy Motel. I am making up for it tonight, after another long day of driving I am staying at the Ramada on Seneca Lake in Geneva New York. I did not quite make it all the way to Syracuse today. Nothing too eventful today. I was expecting rain all day... but mostly I had nice weather, only a few sprinkles when I got to New York. The highlight of the day was eating black raspberries growing at a reststop in Pennsyvania. Zoey watched me pick and eat them, then she decided she could help herself to some of the berries lower on the bush. It is funny they way pets learn from thier owners.

I have been keeping an eye out for road kill and wildlife. In OK there were many armadillos and porcupine along the sides of the road. In Ohio there were a lot of deer. In New York the road medians are home to Woodchuck and deer. A woodchuck is like a very fat lonely prairie dog. they are in the same family, but woodchucks are HUGE, and they do not live in colonies. In the evening the deer like to sneak out at you... which is one reason I do not like to drive after dark on long road trips like this.

I ended the day looking for a place to stay as the sun was setting and light rain was falling giving rise to a rainbow.

Day one of the Road trip to Vermont

After days of promising I would be ready to leave tomorrow. Tomorrow finaly came. After boxing up and shipping everything that I thought would be useful in Alaska I still had a lot left over. After several trips to the thrift store I started to pack my car.

Was there still room for Zoey? Just barely.

I have so much stuff in and on my car that my stuts are maxed out. I upped the air pressure in my tires to 40 lbs.

So Friday Morning I hit the road. I took I-40 West. They sky was overcast and it was a cool morning. I snapped photos as I made my way along. At first I was nervous travling with all of this stuff in my car, but soon I got used to the way my car handled with this load.

I made my way through big sky county and the bible belt of Texas.

You know you are in the Bible belt when you see the world's largest cross.

Things were going great. I even got 25 mi/gal on my first tank of gas.

Then the wind kicked up. No wonder they have so many wind farms out here!

Zoey Needed a break, so we found the K-9 Rest Area.

Finaly time for a long rest...