Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Farewell, Oklahoma - Day 7 Finale'

Chris beat me up this morning!  Let me rephrase that...haha.  He was up and moving before me is what I mean to say.  haha   He still looked green around the gills, but at least he was moving.  There was frost on the windows when we went outside to load the car.  It was indeed cold! Here is a shot from the inside of the car.


I was trying to get the car to warm up while Chris was checking us out.



and the sun was beginning to rise in our rear view.  It was a shame that we would not be around to see it all.


We traveled until we needed gas and we were greeted by these dinosaurs.  I knew all of that poo was coming from somewhere! He was the biggest one.


fierce looking creature, ain't he...This was the smaller one cross the road.


After getting the gas that we needed, we saw a memorial that appeared to be for the 911 incident.  We didn't get out to look at it.  But the two taller pieces resembled the Twin Towers of NY.


We went a different way and came across a little town called Ellensburg.  It was very cute.  This is one of the historic buildings of the town.


and this is a shot of one of the main streets of the little town.


There was a bull sitting on  a park bench!  Now, there's something you don't see every day! haha


Traveling on......and passing through


After a longer day than the past two, we came upon the town of Oroville.  We have been through this town before.  The mural on the wall shows that this town was established in 1906.  So, it is now a whopping 108 years old.  Wow...I wonder if it remembers it's name....ha


We were also aware that once we crossed the border, prices were going to increase dramatically.  So, we made a trip inside to see if there was anything we needed to get that we could take back with us and not break the law.  Nope.


uh oh....somebody was turning green again and running out of stream.  I could tell.....poor thing.


We got the car topped off and headed for the Canadian border.


Which happen to be less than 3 blocks away.


Chris usually fills out the customs form.  I had a sneaky suspicion that I had done something wrong with it.  I guess I would find out soon.


                                      

Well, there was one tiny mistake, but we explained that I wasn't sure of how to answer.  It was fine.  I always tell the truth if they ask me something.  But I put the truth in the wrong place on the form!  smh...It was ok though.


On to Penticton, BC to visit with Chris's ailing mom at the hospital.


About an hour later, we arrived and she was glad to see us.  We didn't want to visit long as she was tired and so were we!  Plus both of us are still recovering from the plague!


We took turns kissing her good night and promising to see her the next day.

We are glad we had a chance to get here.  We were careful to kiss her on the forehead and not near her nose or mouth.
Now, we are trying to relax, make a last visit tomorrow and head for our own home which is another 6-7 hours away Friday morning.  Lots to do when we finally get home; turn on the electric, shop for food, make the bed, unpack all of the luggage.

Thanks for going with us and for all of the prayers and well wishes for our safe return and speedy recovery.  We appreciate your friendship!

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Farewell, Oklahoma - Day 6

5:00am came early again this morning.  Chris said he was starting to feel a bit better.  Probably because of all of the drugs I have been pushing on him, the fact that he went to sleep at 8:30 last night and my insistence that we cut the driving days short for a bit. We pulled out on time this morning at 6:00 which is our custom when we travel long distances.  He must be feeling better as he looks like a blur getting back to the car...ha

Now, you see him.....

Now, you don't! ha

Have I mentioned how much I am starting to hate "road food"?.....


We didn't go very far before we ran into some very dense fog.....It got really hairy there for a while as you literally could not see more than a few feet in front of you.


Although he still has a nasty cough, he had a bit more of his colour back.  So, that is good.


We headed toward Portland which was our destination yesterday.  This time we would keep going.  Today's destination is the Tri-Cities.


We stopped at a rest stop where the Multnomah Falls were just across the highway.  My camera didn't really capture the beautiful.  But it's not as pretty as Shannon Falls in Squamish, BC.

"Chico" was facing forward since he had been hanging up.  But I decided to turn in him around to keep Chris motivated in case I fell asleep...haha.  Ain't he cute!?
 

The mighty Columbia River.....:-)  (I think).

 We finally stopped in Kennewick, Washington for the evening after a 6 hour day of travel.  We also found out that Chris's Mom is in the hospital.  So, our plans to go right home have been delayed.  We do hope to be home by Friday though.  But, for now....it's mango-habanero chicken wings and artisan pizza for dinner and hopefully a good night's sleep.  We should be back in Canada tomorrow.



See you on the road, folks!  
 

Monday, March 2, 2015

Farewell Oklahoma - Day 5

I was up before my alarm went off and wanted to start getting things ready so that it would not be so taxing for my Christo.  Poor thing.....:-(.  You know it's bad when you cough so much and so hard that your chest and ribs feel as if they are going to explode.  We got checked out and decided to see how far we could get today.


We were both coughing and feeling a bit miserable today.  But he was far worse than I was.  We stopped a couple of times to grab a sandwich that I made for us and to visit rest stop.  I thought this was one particularly pretty.  I need this in my backyard.  I would probably never leave home again if my house sat on that kind of landscape....:-).


My wooly man-moth was starting to turn green and develop dark circles around his eyes because of a lack of sleep.  It's hard to sleep when you keep coughing.......:-(



Fortunately, one of our stops was for the purpose of replenishing the meds that I had been giving him.  This time it included something for chest congestion.


It was supposed to be the non-drowsy kind and I believe it was.  But this particular flu bug or cold; if it is the same thing I had really wipes you out and you are suddenly exhausted from doing nothing at all.  I looked over in time to see him coughing so hard he appear to be about to pass out as he grabbed his chest.  That was it for me!  Next exit we were getting off for the day.  And somebody was going to bed until tomorrow!  I know it's only 12:00 noon, but still.........



 I hope to get us back to Canada some time tomorrow if he is well enough to travel.  Poor thing......:-(.  He got sick after taking care of me for three weeks.  I feel terrible for him.  Hopefully, we will see you on the road tomorrow.  Thanks for all of the prayers and well wishes.  This trip has been quite the challenge for both of us.


Sunday, March 1, 2015

Farewell, Oklahoma- Day 3 & 4

Not much happened yesterday.  It was a long day of driving with both of us feeling sick.  We did however make it to our destination which was to see our daughter for a quick visit and then continue on.  This blog post will be for the past two days since we were both too sick and tired to do anything last night.
I took this picture long after we had been on the road for a while.  


And after driving forever and then trying to find some place to eat dinner, we made our way to our hotel and off to visit with our daughter.


After a short visit, we decided to take in a movie with her and her friend and head back to the hotel for some much needed rest.


I don't believe I have ever heard of a movie theatre called "Rave", but here it is! ha  Feels wierd to go into a theatre and the clerk says "senior rate?"........WHAT!? especially after your hair was recently colored!.....haha.....smh...


I think somewhere along the line she got taller than me......:-).  It's better to think that she is taller than it is to think that I might be shrinking!  geeze.....We made our way back to the hotel for some much needed rest after our visit.


And this morning came super early!  Well, it was actually the same time as usual.  But by the time I woke up, Chris had the car almost completely loaded.  Poor baby......he's been sick for two days now.  We had been traveling a while again when I took this picture.  I'm always fascinated with the velvet hills of California.  They are sooo beautiful...


 This is kinda of an odd shot.  But I liked the bush.....so, there you go! ha



Quick rest stop and off we go again.....



More velvet.......:-).  Gotta love that!


 And I kid you not, we went just a short distance after admiring the beauty of those hills and it was like we stepped into another room!  It was suddenly FLAT with the only hills to be found were in the distant.


We caught a couple of showers along the way; which from the dust we had seen during our trip, they really needed it.


And then I remembered that yesterday, we noticed that one of the tires was low.  So, we stopped to take care of that and get back on the road again.


Who said you have to eat breakfast at IHOP?  Well, I did.  But who says you have to??  ....:-).


Our destination today is Redding, Ca.   I'm getting a bit better, while he is getting worse....So, this will be our stopping place and we will call it a 9 hour day instead of 12 hours.  Our bellies are full and we are ready to hit the road again.

  

Well, we finally  made it to Redding, CA.  Time for dinner and some rest!  We were going to stop along the way and see some friends in Oregon and family in Penticton, BC. But since we have both been ill, we don't want anyone else to get that way.   We are headed straight home from here.


Stay tuned!