The New Home

Finally, we are in California and on our first full day here, we found a place for Daivd and a wonderful new landlord who was willing to come into the office and do all the paperwork and background checks and enable David to have the keys to his new home today. After all our internet work ahead of time, we found this one the old fashioned way - we walked the streets in the neighborhood Daivd wanted to be in and looked for signs saying for rent. The new place is in a nice neighborhood in a quiet building and has a classic gas stove (which pleased David) and beautifully refinished wood floors, and new kitchen floor vinyl. The counters are 50's tile as is the bathroom. In one direction he has a little view of San Francisco and the bay bridge and in the other direction, he can see the Berkeley hills. He can walk to Lake Merritt and is only about two miles from work. It was a long day, but we got a lot done. . .

Salt, Salt Everywhere

David and I stayed last night in Salt Lake City, then went by the Great Salt Lake (by the way if you stop by the shores, it smells) and then we crossed the Great Salt Lake Desert and stopped at the Bonneville Salt Flats. There was a watery, salty slurry there that David walked out in. We collected a sample of salt. . . It was very impressive. It is like a SciFi scape.
There were very few creatures on todays trip. . . no praire dogs, only a few antelope, no deer, hardly any cows, and finally a few horses now that we are in Nevada. . .
A note to the Oregonians - the rest of the country likes manufactured homes a lot more than we do. They are all over the place. There are whole communities that have only mobile and manufactured homes. Of course they don't have trees and a few other things we have too, but still they do seem to love them.
Tomorrow is our last day of driving, Yeah! Oakland here we come. . .

Windmills

David and I drove across Wyoming today . . . Dave was quite taken with several windmill fields we found. It seemed a little unusual, since Wyoming didn't seem like it was doing a lot of the standard environmental stuff like recycling. . . Well, we stopped at a view point and hanging up on their bulletin board was an article telling about the Windmills, and telling us that they product power that is sold to Oregon. Pacific Corp gets it first, then Bonneville then Eugene Power and Electric. They said the mills in that group provide enough energy to power a city of 47,000 people. And it was only 180 windmills! Why aren't we all doing this?
On to Nevada . . .

Wyoming

Today's drive was kinder and gentler. We started earlier and made better time. In spite of everything else at the Bate's motel last night, our stay included a free breakfast at the attached restaurant. Apart from the fact that the place was deserted except for the cook, waitress and David and I, the breakfast was quite good. Mine was an egg, a stick of bacon and two pieces of French Toast made from homemade raisin bread. It was a delicious surprise. There are many interesting things to be seen in Nebraska, we couldn't stop, but Buffalo Bill's Ranch was one I'd like to see sometime. They also have a huge Bison Bone Pile dig. And there was the military vehicle museum that was visible from the road. . . and that's just to name a few. David is quite taken with the Rocky Mountains (and associated lesser ranges) . He marvels quite loudly about it on an ongoing basis. He is also quite happy to be back in the west.
Tonight we are in a small but charming hotel and are anticipating a good nights rest. . .
On to Utah!

Bates Hotel

We have just stayed in our first scary hotel. . . David was worried our car would be gone in the morning. We went to the entrance they told us to use, and as I was getting out our card key, David noticed the hole where the lock should be. . . and went in. Our room had a connecting door to the next room which provided the perfect sound conduit for the guy next door who watched TV until 7 am ! Needless to say, we are anxious to get out of here. . .
Regarding the previously mentioned legless chair - it is still in service with David' s roommate Brandon, who is attending summer school at Purdue (Boiler Up!). The chair is a regular upholstered chair. . . On to Laramie!

Goodbyes Are Hard to Do

Today we said goodbye to Indiana and Purdue. . . David was a little sad as were his friends. We managed to pack his storage shed and apartment stuff into a 5 by 8 U-haul trailer. We did have to leave the legless chair and his TV. The cost to ship the TV would have been more than the cost of buying a new one. We threw one desk into the dumpster outside the apartment, and then after packing, went to the Stewart Center to copy some stuff David needed to send to Oakland in the hopes of prequalifying for an apartment (you know, the one we will attempt to rent on a three-day holiday weekend). Anyway, we had parked on the street near the apartment and did our business, and as we returned to the car, we saw a pickup truck (complete with rebel flag) pulling out of David's former alley and hauling the desk parts. It drove to a house a few doors down the street.. We were happy to see the desk would live again. . .

Sweet Home Indiana

At long last we are Indiana again. . . We have been observing the fact that deer get hit very often on the highway in Ohio. Today we saw six- 5 in Ohio and 1 in Indiana. We are thinking we won't drive too much after dark. We are pretty sure the deer mill about on the highway at night.
We said goodbye to the South Street Smoke House this afternoon, and it seems to have upset David's stomach. He cancelled dinner as a result. My stomach was feeling fine till that happened. I'm staying in the Purdue Union Hotel. I think the hospitality students get to practice on real people by having the student union offer rooms. I have to say it is nicer than a lot of the hotels we've been in lately. It has a really nice botanical print of a Magnolia on the wall.
In spite of David's ailment, he packed his house up this afternoon. Tomorrow we go to the storage shed. If all goes well, we will hit the road in the afternoon and hope to make it to Coralville, IA. . . Left Coast here we come.
And, yes Karen, I will come home eventually . . . and I will see you at the gym - speaking of which, I ran my 30 minutes on a really sorry treadmill in the Baytown Inn in Columbus. It had a flat place so every little bit it would sort of stutter, which would make me stumble. . .
I discovered the Wendy's new fruit plate last night. If you haven't tried it yet, you might like it. . . the fruit was fresh and the dip in the middle was yogurt. . .

Leaving DC

We left DC behind today and headed west. . . One last comment on DC - we were approached by several homeless women while we were on our walkabout. . . and I have to say - they are cleaner, and better dressed than their counterparts in Portland. . . the ladies I talked to were clean, well dressed (think wool skirt and clean shirt) and one was selling newspapers published by the homeless population, to make money to help feed her dog, who was also clean. . . they also didn't appear to be zoned out on drugs. . . it made me wonder . . .

Magical History Tour

So, to set the stage properly . . . Tommy's lake house was Jack's part of the trip, Williamsburg was my part of the trip and yes, we let David plan Washington DC. Yesterday was easy - we went to David Wu's office and then had a tour of the capitol building with a very knowledgeable and overachieving MIT bound high school senior. The Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill is definitely the most delux place we will stay on this trip. Each bed has four down pillows and a down comforter, and my personal favorite, a pillow top mattress. But I digress . . .
David decided Saturday would be devoted to a walking tour of the Capitol. . . We left the hotel at about 10:30 am (sans breakfast) and other than 10 minutes in a Starbucks two hours later and about 20 minutes at a Baja Fresh around 3:00, we walked until a few minutes before 7:00 pm. Around 5pm I started whining openly. Jack only whined behind David's back. I tried to explain that I was by any measure, middle aged and his dad was flirting with Senior Citizen status, but it fell on deaf ears. And then an hour and a half later, we walked about four blocks to dinner!
Needless to say, my feet are tired.
I queried the boys about what they were most amazed about in DC. David was impressed that it was a regular city with regular stuff in and around the White house and the other special buildings. Jack was once again in awe of the real live Declaration of Independance, and Constitution. For most of the tour, I thought I would say that the Lincoln Memorial was my most amazing sight. I had missed it on my previous visit. . . but then toward the end of our tour I saw what was truly the most amazing sight. We were sitting on a bench on one of the many greenways, and were watching the pigeons and squirrels, when David pointed out a marvel of nature. There was an albino squirrel! He was complete with red eyes and everything. Well, I just have to say it was a wonder.
Tomorrow, we mail Jack back to PDX and David and I begin the drive home to Indiana. . .

Apricot Pork and Apple Crisp

It's been a busy day of touring through the historic villige of Williamsburg, VA. Men, women and children spend years in this idyllic burg cycling through a period of the 18th century over and over again. Gunsmiths, cobblers, clothing makers, and others spend careers hovering in a time that is over 200 years past. The village is maginficent in its replcation of this long-past but clearly not-forgotten era. History buffs and lay-people alike can enjoy the festive atmosphere of this constant re-creation. At great last we have experienced what has been touted as the must-see sight of Virginia, and now we can move on to more political pastures in Washington D.C. Tomorrow we will begin the Congressional leg of our journey to visit the much adored Representative David Wu. Please feel free to share any stories or comments related to either Williamsburg or Congress. Happy Thursday!

Arlene (or is it...?)

Mystery Fish

I just wanted to make an additional comment about our Virginia visit. Today we went on a boat ride on a nice lake. Our first boat stop was at the boat fuel station. Jan said lets get out and look at the carp. We got out and walked along the side of the dock (the store actually) and there were a few large carp and David and I marveled, then Jan said, to come around to the side where the carp really were. It was very wacky. There were more than a hundred carp (by my quick count) squeezed into a space between two dock segments, all with their mouths open at the surface begging. A sign said they liked popcorn, so we went into the store and bought a cup of popcorn and it was amazing. The fish were climbing on each others backs to get the popcorn. These fish were in the neighborhood of a foot long, so it was an amazing sight. A couple of ducks joined in the fun, pushing the fish around. Jan told us about a time when a poodle fell in among the fish and her daughter jumped in and saved it. If it were me, I'm afraid it would have been good bye poodle. The carp looked at us with their fishy eyes too . . . it was a creepy.

Long Day of Travel

Well, we left Lafayette behind yesterday. First we went to Jiffy Lube where they told us we needed a transmission service and to leave the car and come back in a half hour. We went to Starbucks for our appointed amount of time and returned, only to find that they hadn't done the service afterall because we had a rusty bolt that scared them. . . So much for our early start. After depositing Aunt Donna at the Indy airport, we headed for Virginia. Jack only allowed us the minimum amount of fluid required to sustain life, so as to limit our rest stops and it still took us until 11pm to arrive. Sitting for 14 hours in the back seat of a Jeep was a trial, but we made it. . .Tommy and Jan's lake house is really nice, so it was well worth the drive. We have a day of rest today and then hit the road again headed for historic Williamsburg. . .

On the Road Again

After a restful day yesterday cleaning the new graduate's apartment, we are hitting the road. I guess I'm glad he and his roommate cleaned before Aunt Donna and I did, because it's hard to imagine how it could have been a worse mess, but by all local accounts, it was.
We have ten hours of driving ahead of us so we are starting at the crack of dawn. Good bye Lafayette, Hello Roanoke!

Purdue Graduation

It's official! David is a Purdue Graduate!
It rained while we were inside the hall of music but not at all when we were outside. The ceremony was wonderful and full of lots of tradition. The speakers were lively and the marching well coreograhped. The Purdue School of Science Alumni put on a very nice reception with lots of food and key chains for the graduates and pins that said Purdue parents for the parents. We said good bye to David's advisor, Chriselda (who had thougtfully given each graduate a small present). She did a good job helping David make his way through Purdue.
Now we get a day of rest before we head East for a driving tour. . .

Graduation Eve

Today is our first full day in West Lafayette, Indiana. Things were going smoothly - we visited the quilt store, Quilters Harvest to say good bye . . . we will still see them at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, but it won't be the same as visiting their cool shop. We rented a trailer for our trek to Oakland a week from now, and we found the buildings we have to go to for Graduation events. Then the rain started. It wasn't the gentle continuous rain we are used to in Portland. This was huge rain and thunder and lightening. We got over an inch of rain in a couple of hours. And we lost power at our hotel. . . this made us wonder - if the power is out, do those striped cards we use instead of keys still work when there is no power? We didn't venture out until the power came on in any case. . . Cross your digits for us . . . we don't need rain on graduation day. . .

On the Road Again

I'm beginning my walk about of the USA . . . leaving PDX headed for West Lafayette . . . More later

That's Blog, not Blob

Today I found some pretty amazing pictures - I was trying to type "Mystery Blog" into google to see what I would find. Instead my left hand tricked my right hand by typing Blob and my right hand hit enter without realizing it. . . .well, you should do this and then look at the images tab. There an amazing array of mysterious blobs. Apparantly a number of them were actually decomposing whale parts, but they were amazing all the same. . .

Quilt Shop

I went to the quilt store in Tillamook yesterday. - Jane's Fabric Patch. . . I was searching for fabric that one of my characters in the quilt mystery is going to use. While there, two lovely ladies overheard me talking to the clerk and one thing led to another and they ended up taking my info and saying they were going to buy the block of the month quilt "Seams Like Murder" that I wrote the story for. . .
And My House Sold! Yeah!

House Mystery

Lydia and I are in Tillamook today. We are waiting to hear if we have an offer on the PDX house. Someone said they were going to make an offer, but so far I have heard nothing.
As for my writing, it always goes well in the country. My quilt mystery is starting to flow and I'm having fun creating new people and setting them in to motion in a fake community. This will be my first experience with creating my own universe. . .
On the local scene, there were four new calves at the dairy down the road yesterday. One had just popped out. . . they are very cute. . . Help keep their moms employed - Buy Tillamook Cheese!

Mystery Blog

This is an experiment to see if putting Mystery Blog in the title and body of the post causes any one to find the blog on their own.
This weekend I'm back in Portland and as much as I'm enjoying it, I haven't written a word since Thursday, so I have to make up for lost time today.
Saturday morning was marathon training and believe me it's starting to get hard now that we are inching closer to the ten mile mark. We walked around NW Portland before crossing the river and looping around a couple of bridges. They are both nice areas to walk in even if you aren't training for the Portland Marathon.
Kudos to Katy King for turning in her second book, which is a sequel to her very successful first book City of Suspects . Let's hope we see it in our local bookstores soon.
Also, Kudos to Susan Bucharest for her first prize win at the Northwest Quilters Show at the Washington County Fairgrounds. Her fairy tale quilt Turandot won a first place blue ribbon.
I'm looking for names that were both characteristic of the time, but slightly unusual for some characters in their 50's to 70's, so if you have any good ones, either post a comment or e-mail me.
I have to go take advantage of the fact that Portland has Starbucks. . . .