Day 3 stats

• Start: Twin Falls, ID
• Finish: Ouray, CO
• Miles: 597

Boy and I both agree Denny’s rocks. Boy, because he has discovered the fat dripping, artery choking, do these pants make my hips look big breakfast special known as gravy covered chicken fried stake, eggs over-easy, hash browns hot cakes with syrup and chocolate sauce as well as a vanilla milk shake. Yeah he’s a growing boy.

I like Denny’s for the people. Seems like whatever Denny’s we stop at… and Boy wants to stop at them all… people want to chat, hear about our adventure and tell us their tales. I wont lie, I’m a sucker for their biscuits and gravy with hash browns. I’m just growing. That makes 64 miles on the treadmill when I get back.

Between Denny’s we drove, we hydrated and we drove some more. Apparently it is orange barrel season and we found all the places the orange barrels were gathering for the rut. We also pickup enough bugs on the windshield that their weight was causing us to get even worse gas mileage.

After spending all day in the rig we came to the Green River in Utah. This land mark capped off a debate Boy and I had for the better part of a hundred miles; Examine and explain the merits of swimming in, the Ocean, a lake, a river or a pool. Boy was all over the lake. My vote was for the hot tube, so when we pulled up to the the boat ramp, I let Boy know he was on his own. It was 6:30 p.m. and the thermometer read 94 degrees.

By the time we got back on the road, now 7:45 p.m. we were still 198 miles from our destination. To pass the time Boy played solitaire announcing at each new game “this is the one I’m going to win” along with a card by card play description. He played for hours. He won once. We also put Boys Mac to use. Boy convinced me to buy the movie Wild Hogs the other day so we put it into the laptop and watch four other guys’ mid-life crisis. Mine is going so much better.

But we made it to Ouray, sometime after 1:30 a.m. but we made it. The next several days will be filled with trail runs where the pace is easy and the scenery magnificent. But for now it is time to call it a morning, three in the morning to be exact. What I wont endure to get these stories out.

Joyce: There were plenty of other crazy spinster aunts to choose from… it was your patients, understanding and tolerance of others, we want you to pass on.

Barbie: There is a lot of country to love. Hot as hell, dry as a bone, flat and filled with sage brush. What is not to love.

Day 2 Stats

• Start: Wilsonville, OR
• Finish: Twin Falls, ID
• Miles: 572

The crack of dawn departure came around 8:00 am as we left Club Killelea and jumped on the freeway out of town. The map took us right by Taylor Made Graphics so we stop in and said hello to Mike and Turner. Of course Mike had to tell Boy a few road trip horror stories from our child hood. Something about me punching his head, him crying and Nana yelling at him to quit fussing… Not exactly how I remember it but he sold it to Boy with conviction. Boy especially liked Mike’s best Nana imitation. Mike even through a little shirt swag our way so we would not have to do laundry for one more day.

Driving East on 84 you go by a number of incredible sights, Roster Rock State Park, Multnomah Falls, Bonneville Dam, and The Dalles.

But did we get out, see the sights, hike to the top, look over the edge, or even slow down to 35 mph…

NO… Boy was asleep like a rock through most of the first 150 miles. When he did wake, “Whats for lunch?” were his first words… Is that drool on his shirt?

  There are not a lot of twists, turns or road changes that you need to worry about when you drive to Idaho. In fact there were none. We started on 84 East and we are still on 84 East. The road is long, straight and hot. In the shade, at the rest stop, Hula Betty was starting to melt in the 93 degree weather. On the high side we saw 97. Thank god I have air conditioning. That was for my wife. Boy and I both look at each other when at 9:00 pm the temp read 85 and we thought how nice it was that it had finally cooled off.

Everyone knows Boy skates. In fact he starts to vibrate like a tuning folk if he is not riding his board at least once a day. Luckily, Boise has a skate park under the highway ramp. It was still hot but nothing was going to stop Boy from shredding the park. A couple of mini-ramps, a fun box and several rails set up for skaters, it was a little brick sitting ledge that he focused on to through down a back side boneless and tail slide.

Did I mention, even in Boise, ID you can find diversity in the people who live, work and play their. These women caught my eye as they walked by the skate park. Although I did not get a chance to talk with them, the waitresses at Denny’s were very chatty and wanted to know all about the tattoo.

Once Boy got that out of his system and at 90 some degrees it did not take long, we were back on the road. Loosing an hour to mountain time, our quest for a room in Twin Falls ended today’s drive just after 10:00 pm. Boy was making some speech about how he was going to swim in the pool all night… right after he rested for just a little bit. Is that drool on his shirt?

Joyce: we know you have the big love and we would never waste it on room and board. We simply put you as the kids guardian in the will. You should start praying we live forever.

John: Club Killelea is worth every penny. BTW: I’ll be sure to report that $110 to the IRS on my expense report.

Day 1 stats:

• Start: Poulsbo, WA.
• Finish: Willsonville, OR.
• Miles:  208

You find out how blessed you are with friends and family when you can arrive in Portland with no real notice, give a shot out and immediately have invites for dinner and a place to stay and everyone asking how we are.

It started when the skateboard deck that boy ordered showed up one day before the big trip (yesterday) and turned out to be the wrong size. His old deck had seen better days and he’s been riding hand-me-down decks from friends for a number of week. This was the board he planed to ride on the Ouray road trip adventure and he was now SOL with no deck to ride. What this meant was we had to find an 8.5 deck along the way, a tasks that we were not sure was even possible. We were prepared to stop at every skate shop along the way and that is a truck load of skate shops.

Turns out the first shop we dropped in on, The Department of Skateboarding, had a number of 8.5s and Boy found a $lave deck he liked. You know for everything else there really is master card.

Which bring us to how great our friends are. While Boy worked on gripping his deck and transferring hardware, I gave a shot out to Brad. The next thing I know the whole Day clan is rolling up at the Department to see how we are and hoping to watch Boy try out the new deck. Now to get here the Day clan piled in the car on a 90+ degree day and drove 30 minutes through the snow, up hill both ways fighting off the bears with their spiral notebooks, just for this meet up. They even followed us into North Portland, another 20 minutes to watch Boy shred it at Pier Park.

This is a Sunday, when they could be relaxing by a pool, watching a movie or playing ball, but instead they spent it with us, watching Boy skate, chatting and slugging down Burger Ville milkshakes just because we came into town. These are the friends Jimmy Buffet songs are written about and I’m lucky enough to have several… Of course we’ll find out if they can follow through on a promise. I asked for a family photo that could be posted. Regardless, I’m very lucky to have them in my life.

If that were not enough, I even have family, that when we called with a request for a place to stay, simply asked how we wanted our burger cooked and told us to meet them at the pool, where they had cold drinks waiting for us. When we rolled up… Mary, John, Gracie and Rosie welcomed us like the prodigal son, gave us a big howdy and told us to make ourselves at home. We did… you should see the mess Boy made.

It is easy to get caught up in the destination, the rig, the hoopla of the adventure and the buzz of the press… but it is important to remember the friends and family just out side the spot light who make us feel welcome with a bed for us to rest our head on and a warm smile to make us feel everything is all right.