Well, we made 3/4 of the way through Nevada today. We are staying at the Gold Country Inn in downtown Eureka, NV. It's a very nice and clean, modern hotel with all the usual amenities afforded by HI Express or La Quinta Inn. This is a real old west town with the Owl Saloon two doors up. We must try to get up there for supper. It is quite chilly here and we have the heat on. Can you believe it? Early October and we have the heat on??? Our drive today was totally monotonous, as the terrain was the same all the way here. There are lots of cattle ranches out here and they are 1,000+ acres each. That's about the only living thing we have seen today except for tumble weeds and desert flowers. I am posting the pictures from Lake Tahoe, as the Nixsters all have fond memories of our times there. It has really grown up there and there is actually a golf course there, now, behind Harrahs and Harrys!!! Of course at every intersection of this dismal U.S. Highway 50, there is a saloon/casino. They really like their gambling out here. Thankfully, we couldn't care less. Keeps our money in our pockets!! Tomorrow, we get into Utah and will explore Monument Valley, Zion National Park and Joshua Tree National Park. We will stay somewhere close to the 4 corners so that we can go to there and get some good vibes. Then on to Albuquerque, NM for the end of the hot balloon races! Will post more tomorrow. Tonight we are chillaxin'

I sit here in Joe and Linda's kitchen counter and write about our wonderful weekend. A trip to wine country and the Alameda Flower Farm were the high points of the day, but watching Bama play and spending time with family, Jesse and Samantha, Joe and Carolina and Andy and Peyton were just wonderful. John made his famous spaghetti for us with fresh vegetables purchased at the farmer's market at Davis Ranch on Jackson highway. Yummy! White corn, bell pepper, mushrooms, zuchinni, onions and garlic. We went wild. Linda bought a corn stalk for her backyard to add a little fall feel for the area. We enjoyed a wonderful supper with Joe, Linda, Joey and Carolina and then Linda's niece, Chrissy, stopped by for dessert and a night cap. Lots of visiting and lots of laughter. What a wonderful time!!! Today, Joe made more grits!!! YAY. Carolina had brought some smoked salmon muffins last night and we warmed them for our breakfast. We had an 11:04 tee time at Ancil Hoffman golf course and managed to make 5 holes before the rains came! We aniticipated the rain and took two vehicles. Linda and I bolted and went to Folsom to the Charming Charlie store. OMG!! Inexpensive tops, jewelry, purses and scarves in every color of the rainbow and more! I snagged two tops, jewelry to match and an extra set of earrings, just because!!! Now we are chillaxin' knowing that we have plenty of leftovers so nobody has to cook tonight. Linda is chaperoning a field trip for Peyton's class to some defunct mine, so she has to go in early, but Joe is going to work from home and will be here when we get ready to head to Utah!!! My good friend, Metha Cannon and her husband are at Death Valley today and will be until Tuesday, so we may try to hook up with them for lunch or dinner, but they are going back up to Vegas and we may cross paths somewhere along the way. I don't have any pictures from the golf course, but I think Linda has posted them. More later tomorrow!

We're here! Fair Oaks, CA with Joe and Linda Nix, Peyton James. Taking time to update my blog before the big birthday bash for Andy Nix. Can't believe he's 30. Gosh all mighty how times flies. I am going to digress to tell you about our day yesterday. We stayed in Red Bluff, CA, which is about 45 miles west of Lassen Volcano National Park, and drove over to the park, through miles and miles of forest. Beautiful scenery and a lovely drive, not crowded, and very pleasant. We were amazed at the grandeur and the difference in terrain around every corner. We thoroughly amazed and astounded at this phenomenon of mud pots and sulfur ponds. This is a most beautiful area of our great nation. Every American should try to see our great country.

Today we drove through the Redwood National Park and stopped to have our picture made with Paul Bunyon and Babe. A nice couple agreed to take our picture if we reciprocated. Of course we did! We went in the gift shop and snagged a couple of tee shirts and a pin for my hat! Our goal today was to wind our way from McKinleyville, CA, which is on the coast, to Redding, CA where we will spend tonight and tomorrow night. The highway, CA 299, was a roller coaster ride through the Salmon Mountains, over Trinity River, Big French Creek and the Shasta-Trinity National Park. We were able to stop and get out to photograph the Whiskeytown reservoir. What a glorious albeit, slow ride. There was lots of construction going on a various points along the way and the most terrifying was the cleanup of a tremendous rock slide. The road was one lane and it was obvious that it had occurred not long before we got to that point. Tons of rocks were being held back by sturdy concrete barriers. Eeek! I am going to digress a bit here. There is a $1,000 fine posed in CA for littering, but hey, in Oregon, by George, you better not litter because the fine is $6,250!!! I wonder how they came up with that exact figure??? We don't litter and haven't since being teenagers and I am not sure that John Garner has ever littered in his life. He hasn't broken any law or rule in his entire life. I think it has to do with his mother, who was a force to be reckoned with!!! We are settled in our home away from home, the HI Express in Red Bluff, CA. Tomorrow we are going to visit the Lassen Volcanic National Park which is a day trip for us and then back here for a good nights rest and prepare for our trip to Sacramento, CA to spend the weekend with the California Nixes, Joe, Linda, their three sons and their significant others, Joe and Carolina Nix, Andy Nix and Jesse Nix, with his fiance Samantha Waller, who will be Samantha Nix as of next summer! Joe and Linda are planning on having a cook-out to welcome us to their home and also to celebrate Andy's birthday. We are so looking forward to this visit and we are going to stay the whole weekend as Joe has golf planned for Sunday. Yippee!! I think I covered all of our adventure up to now. Enjoy the pictures!

What a day today! We left The Elizabeth Street Inn at around 9 a.m. PST, headed south on the PCH. We had to make a quick stop at the Hi-School Pharmacy (??) for Benadryl, as my eyes were itching and my skin is so red and flaky. Not to spoil any vacay plan, I soldiered on with John at the helm and we saw some magnificent views of the Pacific Ocean and environs. We stopped at Seal Point and Cane Creek park to take pictures. The vibe here is so laid back. I love it and I wish we could summer here, late June to the end of September. There is no humidity, cool breezes and wonderful views at every turn. We were determined to make it here, Klamath, CA, at the mouth of Redwood National Park. These travel days are long and we just hunker down and do it, as we have certain goals for each day. Of course, after touring the Redwood Nat'l Park, we are going to figure out if we have time to go to the Lassen Volcano Nat'l Park on Thursday, which will give us the day Friday to make it to Sacramento to brother Joe's home for a weekend of family fun and recharging of batteries, both literal and figuratively!! We are nestled in at the Holiday Inn Express in Kalmath, CA, which is adjoined by the Native American Casino, as we are on the reservation. John has ordered Elk burgers for supper from the restaurant in the casino so we can chill and catch NCIS and Bull on tv! This has been a very cool day that is so good for the soul. The majesty of the trees and the excellent views of the Pacific Ocean are much to be admired. On our way here, we passed a dispensary of Marijuana. This is so different from Boulder. This outlet was on the 101 PCH and was nondescript. Out in the wilds of Southern Oregon and only a couple of cars in the lot. As I was photographing the signs for said dispensary, I overheard comments from two customers: Man 1: Here's my truck, man. Man 2: Far out. That is one cool truck, man. High much???? Very freaky. The whole state of Oregon is weird. They are very liberal about individual rights, but the homes and land around the coast are very seedy and low rent. I guess if folks stay high all the time, they don't take time to clean up their mess. Very strange.

Good morning America! We slept with the balcony door open and the breeze was invigorating and there are no bugs here. Seriously, no screens necessary. We are going to chill today and enjoy the see breezes and recharge our batteries. If we do get out, I will take more pictures and post them here. Here are photos from sunset and after last night. There were several people milling around the bonfire.

We arrived in Portland and what an unusual and funky place. Lots of homeless people, though, and we saw a row of tents pitched on the highway right of way, maybe a hundred, sort of a homeless camp. There were lots of pan handlers and forlorn and lost looking young people. We saw a group of protestors in a park, who apparently were against placing a pipeline on the Indian Reservation. I took a photo. We saw the original Doc Marten studio and the original Whole Foods! Finally we found Powell's bookstore, which is the largest bookstore in the country, maybe even the world! It consists of 4 stories and has any book you could ever want to read. I snagged a book that Nancy recommended, the latest Walt Longmire saga, "An Obvious Fact" which takes our heroes to Sturgis during the Harley Davidson throw down. Traveling from Portland to Newport, OR, which is on the coast, we saw lots of farms and vineyards, lots of canopy over the road, really a scenic drive. I couldn't get the book picture to rotate, sorry.