Road Trippin'

Made it to Colorado and back; had a marvelous time. As I really couldn't stop and take a photo when we crossed a state line, I practiced drive-by photography with my steering wheel tripod usually set at an angle. :)

Crossing the Columbia River; I've always loved this big, long bridge!

Leaving Oregon - The little fat penguin on the dashboard has made this trip three years in a row!

We made it to Jerome where we took time to swim and soak in the hot tub before hitting the pillows. Up at five o'clock! As my mom says, "You gotta get up early if you're gonna have any fun!"

Utah

This tanker truck captured my attention as well as my curiosity.

We all agreed this was just plain strange to see in the middle of Utah where coffee is pretty much frowned upon. Actually it's strange, period! A gas truck advertising coffee on its way to a Pilot gas station? Was it really from Seattle's Best Coffee company headed east? Coffee? Coffee beans? Fuel - unleaded, leaded? We decided that if we ended up stopping at a Pilot Flying J Travel Center, we most definitely would not drink the coffee.

Colorful Colorado - almost didn't get this sign!

With 22+ hours and 1,468 miles behind us, we were getting incredibly excited. You see, we had picked up a "stowaway" in Portland. Her family believed she was on vacation in Canada; so they were rather surprised, to say the least ...

Our stowaway's mom, my niece, is the one in the white shirt. We were all laughing and crying and this is the only picture I got before all the tons of hugging started. We pulled off this surprise 100 percent. It was so cool! We delivered our special passenger back to Portland so she can start another year of college.