Road notes

Greetings from Nebraska! I am here visiting Cherie (one of my moms) and her husband, Steve. I made the drive in a speedy two days, thanks to low traffic and high speed limits. I love doing 80 on 80!

In addition to some stunning scenery, I saw a fair amount of wildlife on the drive, including deer, antelope, prairie dogs, and a coyote. I also found the fabled end of the rainbow, right there in Oregon! I came over the crest of a hill and there it was, slanting down onto the valley floor below.

Wyoming was gorgeous, as always, but spring has not yet sprung there. Or not spring as I define it, anyway! I'm sure the residents there are enjoying the relatively mild weather, but there was light snow in the foothills and an icy wind out of the north. Brrr!

Nebraska is better. They've had a lot of rain this year, so everything is amazingly green—it looks more like the Northwest than the plains. It is pleasantly warm (or pleasantly cool, depending on your perspective). Cherie and I just spent a lovely couple of hours sitting down by the pond, watching and listening to the very busy bird population. The orioles are here, and we spotted a red-headed woodpecker, and Big Chick, the resident great blue heron, put in an appearance.

Being busy with other things, Frank and the girls stayed home. Frank has a month left on his contract, and MJ and Chloe leave tomorrow to go over to Grand Coulee for an annual Canonica gathering, which means Frank will get a rare weekend to himself for Memorial Day. A nice treat!

Oh, one follow-up note: MJ, Chelsea, Megan, Alexis, Kyla, and Logan all had a fabulous time at the My Chemical Romance concert. I drove them down about 4 in the afternoon, being vaguely worried we were going too early. Not! There was a sizable crowd there by the time we drove up. Somehow they managed to locate Jesse, another of MJ's friends, so Logan wasn't all alone with his harem for long. The show let out about 10, so the kids who had school the next day weren't even all that late to bed.

I'm off to do some more relaxing! I'll post again in a few days. Or maybe not til I get home. We'll see how the spirit moves me.