The FINAL Leg

Piper is on her way and so are we! I was always planning to be back on the PNW for a family reunion at Seaside, OR on Sept 5th, but now I want to get back to the Seattle area and get myself a bit organized before this trip. So Lambert and I are heading home! We still have a couple of visits planned along the way, one in Boise to visit a girlfriend that recently moved to that area and another in the Tri-Cities to see an old friend and neighbor! Since we are already south, the quickest way is to go through Wyoming, the southern part of the state. A drive I have never done before; if I had been farther north, I would have gone through Montana, but I have driven that path many times!

Our first stop is in the Black Hills, a KOA near Hot Springs, SD. It was a bit dusty, though it was a great stop. Only an hour from dropping off Piper at the airport. We got ourselves settled in, no dog park, so a lot of walking, which is always nice after driving and driving and driving! It was a quick stay, there’s lots of open southern Wyoming roads calling our name! We are on a mission, now… Boise, here we come… in a few days!

Our next stop is Casper, WY. It’s a little over a three hour drive, hopefully we can find some fun or interesting places to stop… NOPE. There is NOTHING in southern Wyoming, except wind, road work and trucks; trucks driving WAY TOO FAST! I made a reservation prior to leaving Hot Springs so thankfully I wasn’t searching for a place to stay!

The park was in a weird location; there was a machine type shop right next to it, with lights a blazing, but it was also on the Platte River so walking was lovely. This was another quick stop and I soon realized that this whole next drive, to get to Boise, was not going to be the best. I couldn’t find any parks for the next night’s stay, so decided to just get up and drive. There are a couple of towns along the way, but it looks to be a pretty lonely drive!

Casper, WY is near Evansville, which is where I thought we were, but the address said Casper. The town I am hoping to make it to next is Evanston, Wy. What’s with the Evans? I googled it, no apparent reason. So this is going to be a long ass drive! Sometimes we are in the van for many hours, but with places to stop and walk, or sights to see. This was not the case for these drives…. awful! There is NOTHING to see, the landscape is amazing in some places and flat as hell in others, and the wind is obnoxious and scary! I doubt I will ever venture to southern Wyoming again!

We made it to the town of Evanston! Now, time to find a decent hotel. We basically had two choices, drove by the first one, nope… on to the next, it will do. There is no restaurant in the hotel and nowhere that looks appealing to eat, so I asked the front desk about the park we passed on the way into town. It’s a state park and they said it was lovely… and it was perfect! The park was huge with lots of walking trails and BISON! We enjoyed a great walk, watching the bison and a quick dinner in the van (for me) Lambert of course prefers to eat el fresco!

We have plans to stop and see The Van Pattens in the Boise area. A couple more nights before we’re there. Once we ‘turn’ the corner into Utah, I regret for a minute that I have plans; this part of Utah is amazing, well, most of Utah is pretty amazing! Add it to my list of places to revisit. Our next stop is Jerome ID. I am so happy that the landscape and wind has changed, AHHHH… But nope… As soon as we get into Idaho we’re back to FLAT and WIND with nowhere to stop. It is pretty amazing, the uniqueness of all the areas we have seen so far. Generally there have been areas to stop, rest areas even, but this drive does not have much to offer! Jerome, here we come! I need to stop driving, my white knuckles are going mad!

I never wanted to see a campground more than I did today! Thank you Jerome KOA! There’s not a lot of grass, but I could care less right now! There were TWO dog parks so Lambert is in puppy heaven! They also have an ice cream social, and offered vegan ice cream, unfortunately, we lost track of time… not unusual! My van is soooooo dirty! So I spend some time researching where to wash it, or even better, GET it washed! I found one and they have a location in Jerome! I reached out to them and the Jerome one won’t work, but there is one in Nampa ID, so we will go tomorrow! Back in Max’s old stomping grounds. I do love the Boise area and I am looking forward to seeing it again!

We still have one more stay before we see the VanPattens, so I find a place just outside of Boise. We will have a leisurely morning because it is only a two hour drive and hopefully it will be less windy, with more sights to see. I am so excited to get the van washed too! The drive was nice and the weather was perfect, a little hot but not unbearable. We took our time, stopped to eat and then made it to Blue Beacon Truck Wash, I hope there is one in Seattle! It was so easy. I didn’t have to wait long, and then just pull in, we stay in the van and they do all the work. It was so clean, I was amazed! So much easier than trying to wash it myself!

The park is just outside of Boise and it is really clean! The dog park is likely one of the best yet, so we spend quite a bit of time there and meet lots of nice and friendly people! Lambert had a lot of puppy play time with other dogs and I got to hear some life stories. It’s kind of weird, sometimes no one approaches me at all and other times I get the life story! This has been a whirlwind of days, too much driving, not enough sight seeing but we made it and are looking forward to our visit!

We arrive at Tamber’s and let the dogs meet; MJ and Bradley, the same pups she had when we were neighbors. They moved from Duvall in 2015, so these guys are a bit older than Lambert and much tinier! All is good, dogs have sniffed and seem to be copasetic. Herb and Tamber recently moved from SoCal to the Boise area, new beautiful home and yard; so lovely! After catching up for a bit we headed out to a local restaurant for lunch and a cocktail. It was so wonderful to see her. FYI our kids, Max and Sam, ‘dated’ as little kids and were friends from elementary school through high school!

By the time we returned Herb was home and was a gracious host, making us more cocktails, dinner with great wine and lots of chats! Tamber set Lambert and I up like royalty; she even bought Lambert a toy and a chew bone. I apologized because he’s not much of a toy guy, but he showed me up and LOVED both, especially the chew toy! He also had a plush throw on the bed, just for him! So sweet! Her garden was beautiful and I was so happy that we were able to make the time to catch up!

I left fairly early in the morning to meet another old neighbor for lunch in Kennewick. This was always my half way stop when I went to see Max in Boise and I hadn’t seen Gayla in years! She and Bob lived next door for years, and they were not only good neighbors, they were always great friends. I was surprised that Bob wasn’t at lunch, but as we began talking I understood why, she and I had a LOT to talk about! They will be in Seattle for Thanksgiving, so I can catch up with Bob then! I am so happy that my life has allowed me to meet so many people and to maintain so many friendships. This trip validated that for me!

My last night… and I could not find a good place to stay, so I just kept driving! I ended up going all the way to Ellensburg and found a KOA there. By the time we got there it was fairly late. There were still a few logs in the back of the van, so I wanted to have ONE LAST FIRE. I love campfires! I kind of wanted a little celebration, so I headed to the mini mart nearby hoping to find a mini bottle of wine, but nope, so I settled on a white claw. Back at camp we made our fire, settled in with white claw in hand and took time to remember some of our favorite parts of the trip. Most of it was magical!

A few takeaways…

• Yes, I would do it again
  • With better planning and less clothes ( I brought way too many)
• On reflection it felt selfish. I am a mother, daughter, sister and more, yet when I was gone I didn’t have the day to day obligations of those roles. It was a great way to focus on my life and I am thankful to everyone that stepped up to fill in my roles, especially my sister! XOXO
• Thank you also to all the friends that checked in, sent me inspiring messages, joined me and allowed me to stop in to say hello, and many that took me in for a night or more! You mean the world to me! XOXO
• I of course need to thank Lambert! After I lost Thunder I didn’t see another dog in my future, I mean who could compare…. Well, Lambert isn’t Thunder, but he is an amazing companion. He kept me company, listened to me sing, listened to my audio books, accompanied me EVERYWHERE and forced me to walk and walk and walk!
• I did a lot of reflections, and reading. I listened to sooooo many audio books! I saw so many different things.
• States – so many states; 37! The interesting take-away for me was seeing the different parts of these states. So many of the ones I had visited before had either been for work or fun but usually I was just seeing major cities or attractions, not the small highways and scenery that I saw on this trip.
• Let me know if you want to take a trip! The van is up for rent on a couple of sights, but obviously reach out to me for ‘family and friends’ deals!