After eating dinner, walking the dogs and cleaning up the dishes, we decided to sit on the screened-in porch and have dessert and an after dinner limoncello.

We turned off all the inside lights and lit the lantern on the porch. The dogs melted into contented piles around us. We sat listening to the trickle of water left over from our little shower that waited until we were home to really cut loose and rain.

Not long after we had all settled ourselves, we were treated to a coyote concert. The dogs don’t like it much. They prick up their ears and cock their heads from side to side listening. Is it friend or foe they seem to be asking?  They really don’t know quite what to make of the coyotes.

As we sit, the silence is absolute. The lack of sound is deafening to our ears. It’s a very strange sensation.

An owl starts hooting in the distance. Is it our owl, the one that has been here all the years that we have, or another? He keeps up his insistent song for ten minutes or so, but as the light fades deeper and deeper, from twilight to something beyond, we hear him no longer. It seems that he has found his bed too, as we must also soon.

It’s been quite a day, and I’m sure Bella will have at least one story to tell you tomorrow about her swimming activities. Gosh is that beaver pond cool!

Until tomorrow ...

I thought I would post a few photos from our morning walk. I am going to think of all our beetle-killed pines as just changing color for the season. If I think of it that way they don’t look quite so bad.

Bella liked the boggy area of our beaver pond (of course).

The aspen trees in the bottom of our woods are thick and lush. Some of them are so big we can’t get our arms around them.

The little aspens on our “avalanche slope” (as we like to call the huge hill that collects snow in the winter) are changing.

Alex trotting up the road on the last leg of the walk.

Alex and Bella on the road at our driveway. Not sure if you can see them in this photo, but the dark trees on the mountain across the way are all beetle-killed. It has really spread since last year. In my blog header you can see the same mountain as it was two years ago.

Bella says “are we there yet, wherever the heck we are going?” I’m a good traveler, mom!

After a relatively short day yesterday we arrived in Laramie about 12:30. We did our mega grocery shopping, getting groceries for meals for a week, then headed straight for the cabin. The drive in, on washboarded dirt roads, is pretty scenic. Lots of antelope and weird sandstone ridges and formations.

The western sky welcomed us with a pretty show of clouds. You don’t get skies like this in New Jersey!

The dogs and cats immediately knew where we were when we pulled into the driveway. They haven’t forgotten. After unloading all the groceries and all the things we had brought with us, we set to the task of putting it all away. Quite the chore but it has to be done first.

It was sad to see that the beetle kill is extensive in our pine forest. So many more trees have succumbed to the those beetle devils that are decimating the forests of Colorado. I’ll have photos later on.

The dogs enjoyed a walk to the bottom of our road before dinner. Here are Hailey and Bella.

We all need to adjust to the change in altitude. From nearly sea level to 8,600 feet above is quite a bit of change.

Here are Sam and eBay on top of the kitchen cabinets trying to decide which one is trespassing on the other’s territory. I think eBay had it staked out first.

And, our full moon last night, rising up over the trees.

It’s good to finally be here. It feels like home.

Today we put the “I” states behind us. The rest of Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, and we started tackling the huge state of Nebraska. We drove in rain and gray skies since just before Nebraska. Kind of strange since the last time we drove that stretch of road after over-nighting in Lincoln, we drove in driving rain and small hail. We’ve never stayed in Grand Island before and in pouring rain we were wondering just where “motel row” was since they are not clustered next to the exit.

We peered through the windshield trying to read the hotel signs and saw a flashing LED display saying “Pets Welcome” and pulled right in to the Rodeway Inn. All pets accepted with a credit card number in case of damage. For $60 a night we got free WiFi, a huge room, and a view of the lake behind. Just look at our view!

What a lucky break after 12 hard hours on the road! This hotel even has a little patio that overlooks the lake with a BBQ for hotel guest use. How cool! We won’t be using it tonight as the weather is not good, but what a lovely place. Plenty of room to walk the dogs too. A huge super WalMart just a block down the road yielded our bottle of wine and our Domino’s pizza is on they way as I type.

Here are the daily snaps:

Sunrise in my side mirror in Indiana.

Iowa barn.

We saw lots of wind turbine blades being transported headed East.

The great Mississippi.

Iowa cornfield.

Here is what all those wind turbine blades are all about.

Lots of mini wind farms in Iowa.

I don’t know if you are enjoying these views of America as we traverse this great country of ours, but I know I will look back and remember it fondly.

Here is Sam enjoying his view on the world tonight.

Tomorrow: destination CABIN.

Goal achieved today: Elkhart, Indiana. We left the house at 7:40 a.m. and pulled into the Ramada Inn at 7:20 p.m. The dogs and cats are just amazing travelers, and other than Bella slipping her collar two different times at two different rest areas and causing me heart failure, all has been good. She is the problem child.

We don’t usually admit to having cats when we check in. Our two cats are so good we just don’t feel we need to tell them. We cover the beds with sheets and our impact is minimal. At least we like to think so.

This Ramada is a great place. They take pets, have a great dog walking area, and there is a Bennigan’s Restaurant on the premises. No need to leave the dogs unattended in the room. Just walk to it and order. We always eat in with the crew in tow, and sometimes order Dominos Pizza since they deliver.

Here are a few road shot from today. I should have done more.

Del Water Gap:

And I few more miles down the road. I whipped out the camera at the last moment, so it’s a bit blurred. Hey, we were on the move!

And, what is with this pic halfway through Pennsylvania? I don’t think so folks! We just left there!

Well, it’s taken me about 45 minutes that could have been better spent just to upload all this nonsense you have just slogged through, and I know it’s not much. But it’s getting late, the dogs need to be taken outside for final pees and eBay is curled up on my pillow. She needs to move.

So, until tomorrow night. We have the rest of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and on in to as much of the big ole state of Nebraska that we can handle. Onward!