Greetings to Everyone from sunny St. George, Utah. We left Green Bay at 4 AM on Friday, January 10. The temps had been been below zero for days. To say that we were anxious to get on our way would be an understatement! Our first day of driving-all 14 hours of it-was dreary, foggy, and rainy. Nothing terrible and actually ok for driving except for a short stretch in western Wisconsin and into Iowa that was pretty foggy. We were making such good time, and the sun came out later in the afternoon as we headed across Nebraska. Guess it inspired us to keep on trucking because it became clear we could make it to North Platte, Nebraska by 6:00. The good thing about it is that we knew that we could then make it to Scott and Sam's easily by Saturday afternoon. Except for the usual 70 MPH winds across Wyoming, the trip on Saturday was sunny, dry and warm by our standards with temps in the mid 40's. We arrived at Scott's right around 5:30. So good to see them all. They had a nice fire and some good wine to greet us. We settled in for the night there and all of us woke to howling winds during the night with snow pounding against the windows. It didn't look that bad when we got up in the morning, but when we finally got out of our jammies and the guys went to check things out, they reported more snow than they expected and most of all some pretty deep drifts. Scott decided to take his truck and drive down their driveway and out onto the long gravel road that leads from their property to the main highway. We were all watching out the window as he tried to blaze a trail. He made it about a quarter mile and then it was obvious he was stuck. Well, he decided he was going to need to try and plow the road for us to try and get out, and also to pull out his truck. The vehicle for the job was across the main highway and on up to their property where the cows are pastured-about 4 miles via the road. As we sat and tried to figure out what he would do, we saw him start walking. Only he was not walking back toward us, he was striking out through the hay fields that line the road aiming for their machine shop via the "cross country route"! We watched as he became just a speck trudging through the fields. It probably took him 30 minutes to get to the shop. We continued watching as he got in a farm truck and drove over to the ranch. About 45 minutes later we could see the small speck heading toward us that was the plow. It took him a long time to make it back up to where his truck was stuck. By this time Sam had headed out in her car to help with the whole process. Unbelievable. Between the two of them, they plowed the road, pulled his truck out of the snow drift-twice, moved our car all the way down the road to near the main highway so we would have an easy time getting out, and gotten both of their vehicles back up to the house. It was like watching a movie! We left there about 3 o'clock. We are continually amazed at how they just roll with the punches and deal with whatever comes their way. Their lives are so demanding. They are like pioneers out there!
Our drive down to St. George was much less eventful and we arrived about 6. We are staying in the very same condo as last year and it just felt like home when we walked in the door. We had taken quite a bit of food, but nothing fresh, so our gourmet supper ended up being pancakes and wine! Monday dawned beautifully sunny and as you can see in the picture of Bob and the right, got to about 55 by the afternoon. We went for a long walk in just our sweatshirts. We just keep smiling and smiling.
The weather forecast is for temps around 60-62 for the next three days. Of course, Bob is itching to break out the golf clubs, and we both are eager to explore more of this beautiful area. That is our plan for tomorrow.
Hope all of you back in Wisconsin have warmed a bit. Special shout out to Greg and Vanessa. They will be pretty darned excited themselves today as they leave tomorrow heading for their beloved Puerto Rico. They will REALLY be warm.
Hugs to you all.
Bob and Debbie
After breakfast this morning we headed back into the city for our scheduled tour of The Rock. The picture at the right was taken as we waited to board our ferry out to the island. As you can see, it was another beautiful day. The biggest difference is that the wind picked up considerably. You can see the whitecaps beginning to form on the water behind Bob. The picture at the top left is taken as we started our tour. Alcatraz began as a military encampment during Civil War days, and stayed a military prison for many years. But when it became a federal prison in the 1930's, Alcatraz must have been quite a place. We were given headsets with audio commentary as we walked through the corridors of the main cell block. It was so creepy. It has been left very much as it was the day in 1963 when the prison was closed and all the prisoners left. In 1969 a group of American Indians took over the island in protest of their treatment by the United States government. Some of them stayed on the island for more than a year. Once they were removed, the island was taken over by the national park system.
We headed back to our apartment and stopped at a small market on the way to buy a few things for supper. Only problem was that it was in the Greek neighborhood, so we had no idea what most of the things were. We settled for some ramen noodles and bread. Stopped at the nearby Chinese take out place for egg rolls. We topped it off with some wine and aged goat cheese we had purchased in Napa. Not too shabby.