KathyKlatch

 His Fluffiness, Trooper, has been a real trouper on our trip. But sometimes a dog just has to cut loose and feel his oats (or kibble). Florida Dog loves his puppy bed, which Janice gave him, when he rides in the truck. Especially if he has his favorite toy, Blue.  Notice how clean Blue is in this picture. Obviously this is at the beginning of the trip. Florida Dog loves his camping buddy, Tess. Trooper with Pam and Tess Florida Dog got the Zoomies in the Holbrook, Arizona mud, wrapped the leash around himself and sat down. Florida Dog endured having the dried mud, from the above episode, cut out from between his pads and out of his pants and tail. Washing it out didn't "cut" it. Florida Dog also got the Zoomies the first time he walked in the snow. Photo taken about 30 seconds before Zoomies commenced. Nothing to cut out of his fur this time. Just needed the paws dried.  Florida Dog says, "So many smells, so little time." (Why is it that on a brisk morning, ...

Dave finds himself behind the wheel of his F-350 in a variety of situations. He does an incredible job handling all types of weather, traffic, and navigation errors (even spousal errors!). Here are a few:   Driving in the Rain In Oklahoma we hit a dangerous rainstorm that pounded the windshield so loudly we couldn’t listen to music or an audio book. Water was pouring down cement spillways on hills, giving the appearance of waterfalls. There was so much standing water in fields it resembled shallow lakes (or swamps if we had been in Florida). Water was rushing through culverts and ditches alongside the road like rivers. Having been raised in Florida, Dave has the usual summer afternoon thunderstorms as practice for this deluge, but for a moment I thought I saw Noah waving from the ark. By the way, the cows standing in the fields took no notice. They just kept on grazing. We also saw this curvy-road sign quite a bit, which we dubbed "Watch For Free-Range Cars."   Wat...

 Retraction  Dave says I wasn't actually jumping when I saw Half Dome at Valley View. I stand corrected on accuracy, but not on hyperbole. At least it made him laugh. Addition So what was the wildflower I photographed when Dave stopped on the twisty mountain road for me? Hairy Vetch. Sounds like something a cat would cough up.   The Best Laid Schemes o' Mice an' Men... As I mentioned, we planned our last day at YNP to hike to Mirror Lake and photograph Half Dome's reflection in the lake. Well, Robert Burns had it right back in the 1700's when he wrote, “The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley [often go astray].”  In other words, Murphy's Law...  Trail to Mirror Lake To get to Mirror Lake we took a Yosemite Area Rapid Transit System (YARTS) shuttle bus from a parking lot to the stop at the base of the trail to Mirror Lake. We had water and granola bars for this short hike, which the Yosemite Trail Planner said was 2 mile...

Wow!  “I have one word for this place. Wow!” That was Dave’s summary of our first day in Yosemite National Park, especially after seeing El Capitan in the morning sun. Others have described it in majestic terms, but I think Dave captured our feelings perfectly. On our first day we visited and/or photographed the following: Valley View On the way in, a turn-out on the Big Oak Flat Road (CA 120) gave us a stunning first view of Yosemite Valley. I had my iPhone zoomed in on this beautiful, roaring river. That may give you some idea of how high above the valley we were. Later I learned the waterfall in the picture is Bridalveil Fall. First look at Yosemite Valley and Merced River From our photo location, I saw Half Dome! I was literally jumping around with excitement! I stopped jumping and dancing and moved up the road a bit to take a better pic of Half Dome. And I saw El Capitan! More jumping and excitement! El Capitan (near) and Half Dome (far)   Cascade ...

Dinner and a Show Dave grilled burgers for dinner, and then we got a show. A man was helping his mother (named Teresa, haha, as he told bystanders many times) back her 5th wheel into a space three sites down from us. He’s giving directions in a voice loud enough for the entire campground to hear. His dialogue (and my thoughts):  “Back it up.” (Tell her something she doesn’t know.)  “Trust me, Mom.” (She’s heard that before - an hour before he needed bail money or the ER.)  “I know what’s on the other side of you.” (Yes, the picnic table. But WHERE on the other side is another story.)  “Now turn into it.” (This made sense to him, but not to her, nor to me.)  Also known as "Turn into it" or "Follow it in." Who knew? Not me. Not Mother Teresa.   “Wait a minute, Mom. Hey sir, would you mind moving your truck so my mom can turn into her site?” (Someone else also moved their truck, too. Coincidence?)  “Ma, you’re going to need to pull forward and try it agai...