Mockingbird Hill Cottage

We’re home. We arrived here around 3:00 yesterday afternoon.

What an incredible adventure we’ve had! I’m so proud of the way we did it: 10 days to cross the country, taking our time, not planning too much, being open to new experiences and being willing to stop and stay a while when something or some place spoke to us. I wouldn’t have done it any other way. We had such a wonderful time and we met so many interesting people.

I thought I might share some photos over the next few days of places we visited. The last time I posted was several days ago – there just wasn’t time to write a blog post after a full day of driving. I  found Instagram to be a better vehicle for posting on the fly.

I want to thank everyone who offered to take us out to dinner or grab a cup of coffee or offered us a place to stay. You are all so generous and kind. As much as we would have loved to meet you all, we did have to reach our cottage by a certain date and we had a lot of miles to cover. (I have to prep for my next stint at Hartford Stage, which starts in a few weeks.)

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts and sure hope that we can do it again, stopping to meet you along the way.

Corn everywhere. Green, beautiful – we saw it in Nebraska and all over Iowa.  Nebraska was lovely. We made a special stop in Omaha for Don. He lived there for a few years when he was much younger and there was a special place, dear to his heart, that he wanted to see. That was a high point for him. It was very moving.

The night before we headed into Iowa, I remembered that there was some town that was known for antiques, so I googled it and came up with ‘Walnut, IA.’ So we made plans to stop there. It was a Sunday, so not all of the shops were open, but we had a bite to eat and explored the shops that were open and they were wonderful.

As we were driving into town, a lady who was all dressed up for church, carrying her Bible, flashed a big smile and waved at us. (I’m a Midwestern girl and recognized that Midwestern friendliness!)

They’re in the process of doing some work on the sidewalks. Love this brick street.

The restaurant where we stopped for a bite to eat.

One shop had tons of Roseville. But it was pricey. Nevertheless, I drooled a little. Okay…a lot.

I loved this shop. I could have gone nuts here! Full of wonderful finds (including really pretty clothing for women.)

This bird cage was the largest I’ve ever seen on a stand. It’s huge!

I found these there:

Had to, simply had to, have them.

We were leaving a restaurant when this happened. Some Jimmy Buffett fans were traveling back to Iowa from Chicago, where they had just seen him in concert. (I believe reader Kathy also went to that concert.) Anyway, they saw Don’s shirt and the rest is history. Such fun ladies. The lady on the left is doing ‘fins’ which I now understand as I’ve become acquainted with all things Jimmy Buffett through Escape to Margaritaville. They wanted to know all about the musical and we wanted to hear about the concert, so we had a great conversation.

Throughout the trip, we met people who shared their stories with us. I am in awe of the resilience and strength and humor and goodness that we found in just about every person we met along this journey. The connections are everything, aren’t they?

More tomorrow. I will now be back to posting every day and replying to your comments. Don’t forget Monday’s book review! I’m picking the winner tomorrow.

Happy Thursday.

If it’s Friday (I’m writing this on Friday) it must be…what? Oh yes, Wyoming, nearly Nebraska. I last wrote you in Nevada, I think, and since then we’ve moved on to Utah and Wyoming.

I’d never been to Utah before and let me tell you, I was stunned by its beauty. First up was the Great Salt Lake Desert, which is what remains of the Bonneville Salt Lake of thousand of years ago. I’d heard of the famous Bonneville Salt Flats of land/speed record fame, but I had no idea that the white salt becomes the landscape as far as the eye can see.

It’s other-worldly in its beauty. Almost as if it’s another planet – this combination of salt and mountains. Truly amazing.

And then on to the Great Salt Lake and Salt Lake City – both of which are stunning.

As we drove on, drinking in the beauty of the Wasatch mountains, we started to look for a place to stay and ended up in Coalville, not far from the border with Wyoming.

This morning, as we drove onward, we were staggered by these red rocks.

Simply beautiful. Utah is gorgeous and I’ve only seen Northern Utah. I can only imagine what the rest of the state is like.

On to Wyoming.

Mountains, hills, cattle, a huge, open expanse as far as the eye can see. And lots of wind turbines. They were so striking on the horizon. Big, white turbines, like sculptures off in the distance.

We stopped at a little town called Green River to grab a quick bite to eat. Green River is known for mining and is also ‘the train town’ because of the many freight trains that pass through. We had  quick bite to eat and then walked over toward the river.

You can see a train off in the distance.

Truly stunning. We loved Green River.

Later in the day, we needed some lunch and Don stopped at a tiny, tiny little town called Wamsutter. We figured we’d have to grab something at the gas station but there was a sign for a Mexican restaurant, so we went in. Best mexican food I’ve ever had. Don feels the same. It was so good! Thank you to Lulu, the owner, who cooked our food and made the best guacamole ever!

Then endless driving until we reached Laramie and Cheyenne. Both towns have such a rich history in terms of the West, but as we drove through them, we realized they are now cities, sort of indistinguishable from other cities and they could never match our Wild West fantasies.

We’re now staying outside of Cheyenne and we’ll cross into Nebraska early tomorrow morning. Once we hit Iowa, I know I’ll be eager to get home. I’ve been through Iowa and every other state that we have to drive through after Iowa countless times. Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and Nebraska are new-to-me states.

Quick story. The other morning, as we were having breakfast before heading to Sacramento, a man approached our table. The slogan on Don’s t-shirt reminded the man of a documentary he had just seen on his local PBS station (about Route 66). We asked him to sit down with us and his wife joined us, as well. They had already eaten and were on their way to a family reunion in Oregon. Such a lovely couple. Ray told me he was born on October 30, 1938. That was the night that the radio version of War of the Worlds aired. He wasn’t due until November, but his mom was so scared by Orson Welles’ radio play that she went into labor!

We’ve met some lovely people on the road.

Happy Saturday.