Not in Kansas anymore...

Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion here.... went in search of the Great Wizard... Jack needed some courage and I need to find my way back home.... but we didn't find him.. Kansas City tried to kick our butts.. they had hail the size of tennis balls.. Tried to bring one back for ya'll to see but it melted... Guess I should have put it in the cooler instead of my pocket.. wink wink.. We did find us a new pet though.. a giant mouse...Guess I'll name him ToTo... that ol storm was nipping at our ankles as we barreled our way out of Kansas... Drove over to Illinois.. and then set our sites on Dale, Indiana...  Just made me miss my momma more... although we wound up not staying there...  Camping out for awhile.. may not be able to reach us via cell phone or computer...but wanted to let you all know we didn't blow away...  Be home in a few days... Mom let me know what time Linda is planning on having the party for the baby so I can call and at least feel like I'm there with you all...Just call and leave it on voicemail.. and which phone you want me to call....ok... I'll probably be crying... just want to hear his little voice...  Signing off... Dorothy, Cowardly Lion and ToTo...   sniff sniff....

Lions and Tigers and Bears oh my...

Seen a cup in a store today that says what happens in Nebraska stays in Nebraska... because nothing ever happens here.... Seems to fit my impression of Nebraska.. We did stop at a museum.. The road leading up to it reminded me of the movie Children of the Corn.. That movie used to scare the crap out of me when I was little.. seems so silly now... but anyway I didn't stick around long enough today just in case any of those blond headed kids were hiding around somewhere...  Well, I at least got to get my pic with a bear and got to keep all my body parts... He was a little scary though..  

We got a room earlier tonight.. usually drive till late.. Made Jack help me unload the WHOLE car.. he seems to think I can't reload it any better.. but he's coming around to my way of thinking.. I am a woman ya know.. we do everything better...lol He's laying over here with the GPS... I'm beginning to think they need the room to themselves... ;o) 

Mother, not to worry you .. but looks like we may be hitting into Kansas right about the time the tornadoes are expected to hit.. We are trying to work around it.. but should something happen you know what my wishes are.... lol  I'm just saying.... well you know.wink wink... But hopefully everything will be ok... We will be extra careful... I give you my word...  Tell Linda I'm making Jack stop over in L'vlle to see the Waverly Hills Sanatorium... wish she was here with me to hold my hand...  I'll be skeered...  if a ghost touches me Jack will be carrying me back to the car.. (he says he doesn't believe in ghosts.. I told him its those who don't believe that they get... )  We'll see which one hightails it out of there first...


MIL called this morning at 6 am... says she will break our legs if we ever mention going on vacation again..  Lol.... Both of our momma's are worrywarts ....  Next time, I'm going by plane..or firing my driver.. anyone up for a trip to the city... I've played cowboys and indians enough already... 


Oh we did go thrift shopping today... I bought the cutest little suitcase for my art stuff.... for only 1.95... I'd show ya a pic of it but you would probably laugh... (as if you haven't laughed at us enough all week)  You all are welcome to leave comments over here as well as Facebook... I try to keep both updated but its hard to do... Well grandpa has fallen asleep and his girlfriend has hushed giving directions .... Oh I almost forgot.. she gave us directions today (going to the thrift shop) and we wound up going the wrong direction on a one way street...  I think she may be coming down with something.. hope its not contagious...  LOL  Talk to you guys later.. Sleep tight... we're almost home...

On the road again...

Monday May 10,

       Drove all day and night ... thru Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, and now in Nebraska... trying to stay ahead of snow storm and behind tornadoes.... Jack has me on a pee schedule... next he'll have me in diapers... that's ok though... I grounded him from GPS after finding him in bathroom with it .... don't know what in the world is wrong with that man...  lol  Hopefully the rest of the journey will be more soothing... getting on each others nerves... lol   Talk to you all soon... hitting the road again.. 

Every... thing... is....normal.... have ....not .....been .....abducted

Homeward Bound

Left California and made  a stop over in Donner's Pass.. which everyone should remember was where the Donner Party in 1846 was unable to make it thru to CA because of snow and the 81 emigrants were reduced to 45 emigrants.. some known to have been eaten by the others...  Its actually a very cute skiing/resort town now.. Jack wanted to stop because he said I  had that hungry look in my eye and he was getting skeered... ;o)

  We are crossing  the Nevada desert, which is called the 40 mile desert where a lot of  people have died on the California Trail.. For it to be a desert  we encountered a lot of rain... and one of the prettiest rainbows that I watched for a long time from my car window... We came upon two prisons way out in nowhere.. and signs clearly stating along the interstate PRISON AREA HITCHHIKING PROHIBITED Emergency Stopping Only... so Jack stopped and picked up a hitchhiker.. who are we to follow rules.. 

Made it as far as we could thru the rain... the lightning created a really spooky effect.. we bedded down for the night.. strange lights are in this area... couldn't make out what they were... lost track of time.. must stop and rest soon.. Feeling really strange.. gonna put our foil wrap hats on and get some sleep...

Wet at Yosemite

Hey guys and gals,

Jack and Kay here wishing all the mommys a happy mothers day!! We left Sequoia and the giant trees and made it to Yosemite !! We are running out of time so we are having to hit the major areas for pics and just driving through some of the others.

Bridal Veil Falls is just like a post card---Amazing!!!!! The El Capitan looked massive and majestic!! There are still roads closed for the winter with lots of trails, lookouts, etc not accessible. But the best part was the walk up to the falls itself... They should have put signs up with warnings of 100% precipitation... (or we could have read the brochures they gave us... duh).. Anyhow, you are so close to the falls itself that you are drenched... Makes for terrible hairdo's and bad photos the rest of the day.. Jack was making fun of my hair at Walmart because it had grown twice its usual size from all the moisture and bad case of frizzies... not funny.... Ok.. let me back up and say.. we have stayed in some great motels.. and some pretty bad ones.. last nights was the worst... We stayed at Best Budget Inn in Fresno... and I'm usually easy to satisfy but this place was awful... dirty.... no toilet paper..(thank goodness I took some from prior hotel) and stinks... PLUS.. I'm pretty sure either the dude a couple doors down was either running a drug cartel or a prostitution ring all night long.... I didn't rest much at all.... Jack just looked out and says a liquor store connects next to us... so that explains all the traffic all night long... geez... also the window in the bathroom doesn't even lock.... Jack jerry rigged it with a hanger so I wouldn't feel unsafe (yeah right).. Made him go to the car and get Dwayne's gun and my mace just for extra peace of mind... I'm gonna miss this place... (not this hotel) Yosemite & Sequoia.. but our journey must take us in the direction of good ol' Kentucky home.... but until we can get there we have 7 more states to go thru... Stay tuned for the next episode of Westward Bound... who knows where we will wind up... Love to all...

Left... Right... Arrive at destination... oh come on now..

First off let me just say... we could have never made it all the way here without the GPS.... I LOVE this device... and kudos to whoever invented it.... having said that... sometimes the old girl gets it wrong and takes us into the strangest places... Yesterday after visiting Sequoia National Park... we were EXHAUSTED... and just looking for a place to lay our heads.. so we put in for lodging.. and the GPS took us up and down streets that appeared to go no where... when we finally heard her announcement that we have "reached our destination".. we are sitting at a huge garbage truck place... its dark.. and spooky and I'm pretty sure we passed the Amittyville Horror house.. I attempted to take a pic but someone wouldn't stop the car... (Jack) we made it though... Back to yesterday's adventure.... I love this place... the road you take winds you up the side of a huge mountain with nothing to stop you from going over the edge in most places... the view was spectacular... It actually scared me(kay) more than the Grand Canyon.. and scaredy cat has decided he is not so sure about this trip... This is not the man I married 17 years ago... I don't know what happened but he didn't used to be so scared of heights... There is 4 ft of snow in places throughout the park.... deers stop right next to the car and don't seem to care.... Bears are out of hibernation but we haven't seen one yet.... If you are a nature lover like we are.. this place is worth seeing... you have such a variety of things to look at here... the mountains are spectacular, the water rapids are beautiful... and the trees.. there is no words to describe the feeling you get standing next to them.... I was surprised of how the trees feel to touch them... They are hairy and spongy like.... Kind of remind me of Mr Snuffleupagus on Sesame Street... (I know I'm deranged) I will post more pics later but for the time being heeeerrrrrreeee's Jackie....

Sequoia National Park

Getting ready to go to Sequoia National Park.. there is 4 feet of snow on the ground... bears are out of hibernation.. this is last stop before heading up... they aren't requiring chains on the tires yet.. hopefully we will make it thru .. You do realize all that is left to happen is alien abduction... stopping at Target in a minute to get me some reynold's wrap... with my luck I might as well wear it top to bottom ... ;o)

Our visit to London Bridge/California border crossing

OMG What a day... Woke up this morning in Kingman, Arizona... headed on west toward California.. I had read about the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City and wanted to stop there on our way.. it was well worth the extra 18 milles... The first real lake we've seen in awhile and a nice oasis from all this desert... we really enjoyed it..We originally was going to see Hoover Dam.. but found out they do inspections and didn't want to unload all our stuff.. (especially after we had to unload it 3 times already for the flat tire)... We then headed out toward Mojave, California... Lake Havisu isn't very far from the California border... So we crossed over into California and about a mile in.... low and behold there was officers to do all vehicle inspections... (Yikes) So anyway we wound up having personal property confiscated... looks like our vacation is going to be extended awhile.. (possibly 5 to 10) ..Angie (Sweet Cheeks) you may want to rethink your trip here...(My Sister) Ang.. I need to tell you something that only you would find the humor in... let me know if you are moved yet and have access to your email and I will email you.. don't want mom to know... so keep it quiet... lol I'm never coming out west again... after all that has happened all that is left is a snow storm or alien abduction... so I'm keeping my warm clothes close by and will sleep with my tin foil hat... P.S. Dave what's Dwayne H.'s phone number...

On the Edge of the Canyon

Hi everyone,

Jack and Kay here in Kingman, AZ . Spent yesterday at the Grand Canyon - - Awesome place!!!

I have decided that I am now officially afraid of heights--- and that Kay is certainly more insane than me!!! We had a hard X falling asleep, kept falling off the edge of the canyon!!! We need to find a new battery for the camera and then on to California. We will try to post again soon!!

Today is Monday... May 3... We spent the night at Muskogee, Oklahoma.. rested more last night..the cowpokes around here must be a little on the short side... just about had to get on my knees to take a shower.... :o) Left heading toward Oklahoma City... but didn't get very far.. maybe 5 miles down the road.. and some knucklehead hit something in the road and blew out a tire... So we wound up spending the morning getting it fixed... Back on the road again.... just went and visited the Route 66 Museum in Clinton, Oklahoma... it was pretty cool... but kind of left you feeling sad... Took lots of pictures.. will try to post some later... its hard to blog sitting in a car... The wind is getting strong here.. and there's a lot of flat land..hopefully no tornado's will come thru... Can't wait to get to Arizona... sick of driving/riding... Amarillo, Texas is next on our list... P.S. Roadkill out here consists of armadillo, coyote and raccoons... Jack says good stuff..mmmm mmmm (yuck a hillbilly, I am not)... Blog soon.. Kay & Knucklehead...

News Report from USA Today about the tornadoes that hit Arkansas

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/tornadoes/2010-05-01-arkansas-tornadoes_N.htm

Stopping in Lonoke, Arkansas so Jack can get him a friggin ice cream... We also stopped at Walmart here to get some food to take with us camping... BUT they aren't selling any food (refrigerated) because the electric was knocked out from all the tornado's that passed thru... can this trip get any more complicated... I haven't killed Jack yet so we must not be in too bad of a shape... although he is getting on my last nerve... lol Little Rock here we come...

Hey everyone,

This is Jack and Kay blogging from Days Inn, in Lexington,TN. We got here about 4am this morning after they reopened I40 west somewheres around 3am. We had rough weather but got a few hrs sleep here. We will be westward bound again in a few minutes. They just reported on tv a church floating away, news said perhaps a good time to skip church this morning!  One person drowned in their car last night... 5 deaths from the weather so far.... Hope everyone stays safe up there. TV is saying its historical flooding! I think we are past the danger now. Will post more when we can get some pavement behind us... Our hearts go out to those that have lost their lives and homes... so sad... :o(

News report from Tennessee... we were stranded in Dickson.. got out just in time...http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/weather/05/05/tennessee.flooding/

This is Jack & Kay.... its now 12 at night and we haven't gotten any further than Tennessee...stranded in Dave Melton's favorite state (kay's least favorite now)... in a little town called Dickson.. All roads headed west are flooded and shut down... hotels are booked.. raining cats and dogs.. and maybe a horse or two... Hopefully the rain will subside and we can continue west tomorrow... Pics are unavailable.. seeing how its impossible to take a picture in the middle of a downpour... Will keep you posted ... in the meantime shoot up a prayer for this poor homeless couple.... Much love to all J & K