How we installed a wooden ceiling when our lath and plaster one fell

We live in a home built originally around 1948, and some of the rooms have the original lath and plaster walls and ceilings.  In an area like ours, with lots of shrink/swell to the soil and the occasional earthquake, that seems to be a recipe for cracks.
Ever since the Napa quake, a crack in our dining room ceiling had been slowly expanding.  We were at a loss as to what to do about it.  The attic is full of blown in insulation, and the dining room is in the center of the house and one side of it is actually a hall to the bedrooms and bathroom.  We shifted the table out of the fall zone, put our electronics charging area into another room and dithered about what to do.
Finally, before dawn on the morning of July 4 we were wakened early by a loud CRASH.  My poor husband jumped out of bed wondering if a car had hit the house, but I said "the ceiling fell down"  Sure enough:

 Since we had plans to go to a friends house for July 4th fun, and were leaving the next day for a week at the beach, we sprang into action and Ted did a quick repair job with plastic, duct tape and wooden battens.
 

 

 This held till we got back from vacation, but then it was clear we could no longer postpone the inevitable, we had to make a decision and repair the ceiling.  It was clear that with the unstable nature of the plaster, we would have to do a complete demo of the ceiling and take the plaster off the lath.  Because our actic is full of blown in insulation, we did not want to also remove the lath, which is nailed directly to the roof joists.  Plus it was very hot, we had to use the air conditioning while the ceiling was being repaired.

If we wanted to do the job ourselves materials would have to be something that could be handled by one pretty strong man and one not so strong woman.  That meant nailing drywall to the ceiling was out of the question: way to heavy to handle for me, plus the surface it would be nailed to was totally uneven.  We had tossed around the idea of wood for our cracked ceilings ever since we moved into the house 30 years ago, and that was the only possiblity that seemed like it would work.  Looked around the internet and got some ideas and then it was off to the hardward store. We discovered some light weight 3 ply plywood made of some sort of tropical hardwood, and very thin and lightweight planking (4" by 5/16" by 8') in knotty pine or red cedar, made by Pine Ridge. We choose the pine.

Pine Ridge wood planking

We had two days of demoing seperated by trash pickup: Plastic sheeting around all the doorways to contain dust, a bit of collateral damage to the baseboards and window moldings unfortunately. The location of the joists was marked on the wall before the plywood was installed. Plywood was attached to joists with screws.  Once all the plywood was up we drew the location of the joists onto the plywood with a straightedge. The wood planks supposedly can be blind nailed, but the wood is so thin, we decided to face nail to the joists. For nailing we used a pneumatic finishing nailer. That was really the only possible way to do it. Had a few problems with the brads because we didn't read the directions to discover there are many different varieties of nails and you have to get exactly the right ones!

Ceiling partially demoed, first 4 ft of plywood installed, bats hold plastic and plaster in place, tape holds plastic to plywood.

We put three coats of polyurethane on the planks before installing them, using a wire shelf unit turned sideways as a drying rack.  We did not stain the wood, wanting to keep the ceiling as light as possible and suspecting that the pine would darken with age anyway. Installing the planks was a two person job.  The ceiling is 10 ft wide, but the joists are placed at 16 inch spacings, and the planks were 8 ft long. Each plank was first trial fitted, marked so it could be cut at the midpoint of a joist, and then taken outside to be cut with the electric saw. Then back inside, put adhesive on the back of the plank with a caulk gun, fit in place, I held it while Ted put on his safety gear, picked up the gun, I put on my safety gear and then we had to force out the warp as the board was nailed in place.  We staggered the board lengths, but lengths were constrained by the placements of the joists.  We had gotten 10% overage and we had just enough to finish the project.    We caulked the edge of the room between the walls and lath before installing each plank. Once all the planks were up we filled the nail holes and put another coat of poly over the ceiling.

First ranks of wood ceiling planks installed over plywood, extra backing boards were put above plywood to stabilize area surrounding the LED cans.

After much debate we repainted the room cottage rose white, aka beige.  We bought narrow crown molding to conceal the rough edge between the walls and the ceiling.  This we also installed with the nail gun, although one web site we looked at said not to.  We tested the gun on a piece of scrap and there was no problem with splitting.

Finished wooden ceiling.

The crown molding is slightly darker than the wood planks, but in real life it looks really great.  An added advantage of our new ceiling is we replaced the dorky old center light fixture with LEDs.  Downside of LEDs is they add static to the AM radio, which makes listening to the ballgame problematic unless we turn them off. We are very thrilled with the appearance of our new wooden ceiling.  In retrospect, we should have made a point to put more shims along the edges of the ceilings to get the faces of the planks to all line up. There are varying amounts of space (tiny but noticeable if you look) between the top of the crown molding and each plank end.

Reduce, Reuse, Recyle - Water! How we set up a gray water system to flush our toilet

It started with a couple of conversations.  Our neighbor was collecting her bath water and bucketing it through her house and outside onto her plants.  Another friend was collecting the water from his tub spigot that runs until the water gets hot enough to shower with and using it to water his plants.

This got me thinking.  I definitely don't want to lug 5 gallon buckets of water through our house to the yard, but our tub is a long way from the hot water heater, couldn't we collect the "warming up" water in a small bucket and use it to flush the toilet?  The toilet is right next to the tub.

And so began our adventure in water recycling.  The first thing we learned was that we couldn't flush the toilet efficiently by just pouring water into the bowl.  So Ted rooted around in the garage and located a bilge pump.  The bilge pump went into a reservoir in the end of the tub to which we added water collected in bowls from the sinks and tub.  A tube on the bilge pump went to the back of the tank. By pumping the bilge pump when we flushed the toilet, we were able to replace some of the water going into the tank.  But pumping the bilge pump was awkward and hard on our hands.  Our toilet uses 1.6 gallons a flush, and we figured out we were only putting in 0.5 gallons with the bilge pump.  But at least we had proof of concept.


Next we turned off the water at the tank supply hose and pumped all the water into the tank from the reservoir.  Waaay too much work.  So Ted went to Camping World and bought a DC pump ($75 pus tax, could probably be had for less).  He hooked this up with a switch and a battery and we were able to let the pump do the work.  Next step was to hook up the battery to a transformer we plugged into an electric outlet, so we didn't have to worry about recharging the battery.  We kept knocking the switch on/off junction box off the toilet tank, so the next improvement was putting the battery in the cabinet that is over the back of the toilet and fastening the switch junction box to the bottom of the cabinet.  This worked out great.  Flush the toilet, turn on the switch, watch till the water in the bowl was at the correct level, turn off the pump.  We fastened a piece of window screen over the hose end in the reservoir to make sure we didn't introduce crumbs that would keep the flapper from closing in the tank.  Plus we filtered all the water that went into the reservoir through a grease screen.

Early incarnation: reservoir in tub on left, pump and battery lost in the shadows on floor to left of toilet, supply hose from pump to back of tank on left side of tank behing flush knob, switch box for turning on pump sitting on toilet tank lid.

Since we are both home all day, we found we actually didn't have enough waste water from hand washing, produce rinsing, and shower warmup to supply all our toilet flushing needs.  Where to get more waste water?  How about the washing machine rinse water?  We collected our washing machine water and discovered our normal cycle produces about 14 gallons of waste water.  That is heavy.  Too heavy to be lugging from one side of the house to the other.  Rolling garbage can to the rescue.  We skip the first wash water and collect the rinse water, to make the rolling garbage can more moveable.  We move the pump intake hose from the resoirvoir in the tub and put it directly into the garbage can.  There is lint in that water, so we have to check the filter on the end of the hose occasionally to make sure it hasn't clogged.

One drawback to the whole system is that the pump is actually a bit slow.  We have to watch the fill level in the bowl and turn off the switch when the water level looks about right.  The toilet mechanism has a special hose that fills the bowl while water is running into the tank.  With our wastewater system, we had to run the pump until the the tank water overflows the standpipe and fills the bowl.  More than once we walked off while the fill was going on with the intention of coming right back, but forgot and drained our reservoir.  So Ted began to talk about installing a float switch that would turn off the pump automatically.

The problem was that the float switch amperages were too low to run the pump.   A conversation with our brotherinlaw brought the solution to this problem.  He took Ted down to the autopart store and they bought at $5 RS44 accessory relay and a $5 RS40 wiring socket.  Ted bought a 100V DC vertical water level sensor fish tank aquarium floating switch ($5 from Sears!!).  Out to the garage again and he fashioned a piece of plastic into a holder for the float switch.  He wired the float switch before the relay.  The float switch activates the relay and the relay activates the pump.

Reservoir in tub on left with supply hose that runs to pump, pump on floor by toilet with hose and old water filter spigot to direct  inflow to back of toilet tank.

Switch to pump and battery power supply for pump.

Water inlet from pump top left and float switch (tiny white thing) in black plastic holder upper right.

Now the whole thing is pretty painless.  As soon as you flush the toilet, the water level in the tank drops, and the float switch triggers the pump.  Water fills the tank from the PVC fitting in the center, and a small hose from the PVC fitting goes into the standpipe to fill the bowl.

Boston trip

Before I forget totally I should make some notes about our great trip to Boston in May.  We flew to Minneapolis and rented a car for the trip.  We spent May 20- May 28 with my Dad.  A few days in Port, getting the garden planted, and then up to Trout Lake, getting the garden planted (ha ha).  Towards the end of our time at Trout the mosquitos hatched, and they were the worst ever!  There was so much snow this past winter that every little dell was full of water.  LOTS of places for mosquitos to breed.

Saw many Trilliums across Wisconsin and Michigan.  These are at Power's Bluff in central Wisconsin.

Still very early spring in northern Wisconsin.

Managed to drag myself out of bed a little after 5 A.M. to take this picture, but the colors were aleady fading from their peak brilliancy by the time I talked myself into making the effort.  Eric has already left to go fishing, I think you can make out the motorboat trail across the lake.

From Trout we drove across the upper peninsula of Michigan, across the big Mac bridge, and spent the night with Ted's cousin Joanne, at her beautiful house.  Michigan was an eye opener, as all the parts we saw were very, very pretty.  From there it was a drive across Ontario, Canada, a stop at Niagara Falls, a visit to Aunt Nancy, and a quick side trip to Dale NY before spending the night at a Day's Inn in Weedsport. In the morning we pushed on to Boston, arriving 5 pm rush hour traffic on a Friday night.  Ted did a masterful job of navigating, and I of driving, and we finally reached Starbucks around 6 pm, to see our favorite barista for the first time in 9 months.  We were a bit shell shocked from the traffic, but she fixed us right up w/ some hot caffeinated drinks.

The Big Mac bridge.  This bridge is so long, high, and narrow.  Only 2 lanes in each direction.  Hard to find a coffee up there in the U.P., but did manage eventually to find a coffee shop in St. Ignace.

Took us a while to realize we were driving right by the town where cousin Joanne lived, but she was "batchin it" and delighted to host us for our totally out-of-the-blue visit.  We had last seen her in 1984 in Washington State, on another road trip!  Her yard is like something out of House Beautiful!

Wow!  Niagara Falls was so unbelievable.  The roar! The mist! The sheer volume of water going over the falls!  I wasn't at all tempted to get on a boat and get a closer look though.  There was the red raincoat boat and the blue raincoat boat.  There is a sidewalk all along the edge of the river on the Canada side, and you end up walking right up along the edge of the top of the falls.

Had only a little time to hunt up my relatives in the Dale Cemetery.  The beautiful old farmhouse my Mom grew up in has been torn down, which makes me feel pretty sad.

 F directed us to a nice woodsy walk, and we headed there for a leg stretch, sprinkles and all. We took this walk several times during our visit, sometimes just Ted and I, and other times with F and D, and enjoyed it every time.  Other highlights of our visit were trips to Plum Island, Cape Anne, and F's church to see her singing at her church job, and  a coffee tasting masterfully conducted by F!
We managed to have lobster rolls twice, once homemade and the other time boughten.  We spent a day on home repairs, achieved primarily by Ted, F, and D, while I did some gardening. Flew home from Boston via Mpls.  Returned the rental car at Logan International the morning after our arrival at F's.

It was a green, green, world in the woods in the eastern part of the country!  Here at the Breakhart Reservation

I loved the expression on this quaint building in Cambridge.  Just up the street from Doug's new church job.  We hung out while he auditioned, F was working.

Halibut Pt State Park on Cape Anne.  Ted seems to have dressed in rock-colored clothes!  And the weather!  Really, we had perfect weather for our entire trip!

Down on the southern end of Plum Island is a state park and a beautiful sandy spit.

Rain brings out a BIG spider- who knew?

Well we had our first rain since, well I don't even remember the last time it rained.  Oh yes, looking at my records I see F recorded rainfall on June 24th (0.3 inches?, we were out of state so didn't get to see it).  Before that it last rained on April 4th (.55 inches).  Anyway, we had quite a downpour on Saturday, getting 1.25 inches of rain in just a few hours.  But luckily the rain stopped in the afternoon and we were able to head out for our usual bike ride.  The weather was really nice, sunny, breezy, and in the 60's.

Pretty sure this is Hogna carolineanis wolf spider

On the way up the hill I had to stop because I saw an enormous spider in the road.  I thought at first it was a drowned tarantula, but a closer look convinced me it wasn't.  And its back was all bumpy, were those it's babies?  When Ted caught up to me I commandeered the camera for a picture.  Ted said he had seen one race across the road on his way up.  He kept warning me that they was really fast, but this beauty didn't move at all while I took her picture.  I debated putting my bike glove next to it for scale, but in the end I didn't.  This spider must have been almost 4 inches long including the legs.  Ted ended up prodding it off the road.

There were several active thunderstorms visible from the top of the hill.

Ted enjoys the cloud show

On Friday we ended up driving across the Bay Bridge on our way to the Peninsula.  I hadn't been over the new span of the Bay Bridge, so I was happy to get a chance to see it for myself.  It will be more striking I think when the old span is removed.  In the meantime, it is very attractive, with nice clean lines.  The sides are low enough that you can enjoy the view out over the water.

Driving over the new section of the Bay Bridge...

...And on to the beautiful old suspension section.

The Wall of Ancestors

Downstairs at my parents house is what F likes to refer to as "the wall of ancestors".  Unfortunately, most of them are my mother's ancestors, and she had a strong antipathy to geneology for some reason.  I think she felt it was a kind of puffery.  Anyway, she did annotate some of the pictures (not all unfortunately), and I took pictures of some of the old pictures when I was on my Wisconsin Road trip.  Somewhere my Dad has all the geneology known to the family, but in the meantime, this blog is a great place to keep my notes.

One of my Great-great-great-grandmothers, Mrs Alanson Miller (according to my mother's note on back) aka Lydia Mosher Miller 1798-1888, m. January 12, 1819.  Note this is really a drawing, not a photo. This is my mother's mother's great grandmother on her mother's side.

Russell Miller, 1825-1908, who is the father of my great grandmother Nettie Miller Whaley (1864-18 Sept 1941), was the son of Alanson Miller (1783-1856) and Lydia Mosher Miller, according to his obituary, so this must be Lydia Mosher Miller. Russell Miller also had a brother named Alanson Miller (just to make it really confusing).

The four Miller sisters.  Standing Alva, left to right Lewellyn, Emerett, and Nettie (the youngest).  Nettie married Hiram Benjamin Whaley in August 1888.

Great-great grandfather Ephraim Whaley 26 FEB 1800-Apr. 28, 1891. Married Marinda Swan, March 26, 1824.

Great-great grandmother, Marinda Swan Whaley, 1805-Dec. 9, 1876, married to Ephraim.  Marinda and Ephraim would have been my mother's mother's grandparents on her father's side.

Whaley siblings and spouses, from left Hiram Benjamin Whaley (1835 - 1896) and Nettie Miller Whaley (1864-1941) / Holsa Fuance and Roselle Whaley Faunce/ Darwin Swan and Carolyn Whaley Swan/ Albert Whaley and Sally Kelley Whaley . 
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Truckin' or To Wisconsin and Back Again, 2013 version

Back from another fantastic road trip, and I never even got through the first one from last year.  Here are our travel notes from my Samsung tablet illustrated with a few of the many pictures we took of all the fabulous things we saw along the way.  Hard to know where to stop adding photos.

Left home 2.24pm. Sunday 5.12.2013.

Arrived Donner rest area 4.15

Odd structure off Interstate 80 in Nevada

Gas at lovelock about 6.35. Dinner in winnemuca at a local pizza  joint. Several unrelated tables of men busy getting drunk and loud. Took about 45 min. Called oak tree inn in Elko and  made reservation. Heading to elko at 8.40 pm.  Arrived elko around 10.20pm. King bed 80 dollars.  Note that if we had reserved the room online it would have been cheaper, but they wouldn't give us the online rate at the desk and we were too tired to go elsewhere.  Ted complained about the bed the next morning, but I slept pretty well.

Monday. 5.13.2013

Leave Elko 9 am, 65 F, mile 440. Heading to city of rocks national preserve.  
10.26 am 75F left Wells after eating breakfast in city park, also topped off gas. 
Left I80 at Oasis. Took Hwy 233/ Utah 30 to northeast.  Drove across on north side of Great Salt Lake on Utah 30 to intersection with 42.  Went west on 42. Became Idaho81 at state line, turned due west at Bridge, across several of miles of dirt roads till we got to City of Rocks.  Visitor Center is at Almo, should have gone there first, too late by time we left City of Rocks.

Looking more or less south towards Great Salt Lake from Utah 30 at intersection with road to Kelton.

Only had time to visit the Circle Creek overlook and take a loop hike on the GeoWatt Trail, connecting to the Stripe Rock Loop Trail. Really pretty and interesting.  I would love to see more of the preserve.
Left city of rocks 4.30 pm miles 670.   

Upper Raft River Valley from Circle Creek overlook in City of Rocks National Preserve.

Along GeoWatt Trail City of Rocks National Preserve

Along GeoWatt Trail City of Rocks National Preserve

Tues 5.14.2013

Left Idaho falls 9.20 mile 837, 62F.
Stayed best western driftwood nr river.  Room nice, but 100 bucks.

Idaho Falls, apparently converted to a hydroelectric project many years ago.  Nice riverwalk trail as part of upgrade in the 80's.

Prev day got to city of rocks at 1.30pm ate lunch took loop hike. Left 4.30 pm as noted above. Drove to pocatello with short stop at register rock site. 
Ate at questionable taqueria but no ill effects. Stopped at fred meyer for salad fixings then got gas. Much indecision and time spent dinking around resulted in decision to head to Yellowstone nw entrance rather than try for Fossil Butte nm.  Got to idaho falls around 9.30pm. Some indecision as to room.
Arrived YNP from West Yellowstone entrance, Hwy 20.  Drive into park is along Madison River. Very pretty. Stopped at a small thermal, a waterfall, the Norris geyser basin,  mammoth hot springs.  Leaving plateau through golden gate spectacular. 

Norris Geyser Basin, Porcelain Basin

All entrances and exits from the Yellowstone Plateau are fantastic.  This is the Golden Gate.

We were shocked by Mammoth Hot Springs. Most of it is inactive and gray, but the few small areas that are active are very interesting and colorful.

Exited park from northeast entrance,through Silver Gate and Cooke City, Montana.  It was really snowy up there.  We went through Colter Pass and connected to Wyoming 296 aka Chief Joseph Scenic Byway.  This drive was spectacular!! The scenery was amazing.  The route was more or less deserted at that hour of the evening.

We stopped at a scenic overlook to photograph the amazing mountains we were driving into, and were surprised when we looked back at the way we had come to see these towering peaks.  How fun it would be to drive into the park through this entrance.  The tall spikey peak is Pilot Peak, elevation 11,708.

Some of Chief Joseph Scenic Byway. 

Arrived Cody 8.30 pm. Ate at Wyoming barbeque and chophouse. Slept at Holiday Inn Express, most expensive room of the trip I think, will have to check.

Weds 5.15.2013 
mileage 1119 9.15 am 59F.

Leaving Cody on hwy 120 towards Thermopolis.

1164 miles breakfast at very nice wayside,  On road again at 10.45 am.

Found nice small badlands along Hwy 431. 

Nice badlands along Hwy 431,
This wasn't marked on any map, but was signed and had a nice trail. 

No trail guides and so we  didn't hike there which might have been a mistake because we didn't hike all day. Just drove.  Drove through Bighorn Mtns on Hwy 16 east through Ten Sleep Canyon. Thought not as spectacular as rt 14 to the north that we took last year. 

Our lunch spot had a gorgeous view.  We snapped a photo of a couple that stopped while we were eating and they returned the favor.

Went into Custer SD, bought dinner at Quiznos. Drove up to Wind Cave NP eating dinner as we drove. Planned to camp but campground was closed!  boo hoo. Was deja vu all over again as we ended up driving out of the Black Hills at dark under cloudy skies threatening rain. Just like last year! In Custer SP saw a very large bull elk posing on outcrop for phtographer.  We thought about camping but it is so complicated now.  No place to self register. Very confusing.  Touring Wind Cave would probably be a very nice thing to do, might have to try that another time.

Saw so many pronghorns on this trip, also buffalo, a few bighorned sheep (in YNP), bears, prairie dogs, elk, and many birds.  These are at Custer State Park.

Thursday 5.16.2013

1556 mi 8.25 am 70F 
Left Best Western in Rapid City on Rushmore Ave.  Stopped downtown to look at some of the presidents and high-five Jimmy Carter.  Drove through rain.  Overcast and slightly misty by time we reached Badlands NP.  Drove into eastern entrance from Cactus Flats since we were pressed for time.

Ate beakfast in pullout,  hiked Door Trail, Cliff Trail Nature Trail, also Saddle Pass Trail, which was very steep, up to junction on Castle Trail,  partway along Castle Trail to left.

Some colorful locoweed? on the Castle Trail.

Saddle Pass Trail is very steep!

Exited Badlands 1.12 pm, mileage 1648.

Got gas Mitchell SD, was most expensive gas of trip to date by about 94 cents compared to the cheapest gas we got in Rapid City.

Went for walk Luverne, MN on biketrail had dinner at Pizza Ranch.

Love this mural! Luverne MN

Reached AlbertLea 10.40 pm about, stayed in country inn and suites.

Friday 5.17.2013

Left 2090 mi 57f, 8.50 am

Breakfast at park in Faribault, MN, only second scarlet tanager I've ever seen!

Lunch w Barb M Chippewa Falls, mileage2280, arrived about 12.45pm, left about 3.30pm.

Me and Barb in Whitney's new house

In pe 6.07pm, mileage 2386, 57F

Had a great turkey dinner prepared by granddad

My hero!

Dad feeds peanut treat,  c&s, made in usa.
Stayed in PE several days to work on Dad's garden, he went into hospital feeling unwell early morning Tues, but checked out OK and was released in the evening.

Loon Lookout 2562 miles, 4 pm, 51 F, Weds May 22.

EXPENSES for the 2 of us

Gas $313.18
Hotels $456.14
Food $206.82

Dad and I watched this cute little sparrow creeping around in the grass one morning, finally decided it was a Savannah Sparrow

Eric came a couple of days after us and stayed an additional week after we left.

Taken from the boat on our Loon Ranger expedition, saw no nesting pairs and no territorial pairs either.  Extremely disappointing.

Got up at 5 am to capture the sunrise.  Took about a million pictures trying to capture it properly.

Return trip. Left Trout Lake Sunday morn May 26, temperature 60 F, odometer 43491, trip odometer 0.

Switch driver to EB and get gas at Edgar Cenex, 91 mi, 62 F, 11.22 am

Saw some Amish crossing hwy about 12.15

Stopped Mennominie rest stop 1.15 pm driver switch 190 miles

2.00 pm stopped for lunch at Dinos in Woodbury, guessing was about 245 mi, 58F.  lunch took about 35 min, then back on road. 35E was closed at some point so we had to go to 35W, then S on 35 to Albert Lea, where turned W onto I90, headed for Pipestone N M.

Stopped at rest stop north Albert Lea, nice sidewalk through woods, saw jack in the pulpits,  ted takes over driving about 4.15pm.

Needed gas and driver change so stopped briefly at Sherburn exit.

Gas was pricey, so only put in 3 gal. 5.50, about 420 mi, 54F, gray dim and misty.

Wanted to go to Pipestone n m, but at Luverne where filled tank at Shell station began to pour, continued on to Souix Falls, SD dinner at Pizza Ranch. Not as good as the one in Luvernne, MN, seemed to be adverse to putting vegies on the pizzas.  Ted thought the salad bar was better though I did not.  Shopped at Hy Vee. Continued to Mitchell,  SD, spent night at Best Western,  got in about 10.10 pm.

Monday 5.27.2013

591 miles Left Mitchell SD 8.30 am, , temp 60F.

Mi 659 left  10.40 am 67F after stop for breakfast at rest stop on Missouri river at Chamberlain, Lewis and Clark interpretive center and overlook nice, but area reeked of diesel fumes from idling trucks. Stop probably took close to 1 hr, but did walk about a bit and looked af exhibits

Chamberlain rest stop on I-90, Missouri River in background.

South Dakotans have fun with dinosaurs and skeletons...

Drove to Gordon NE,and ate lunch in same park as last year. Then drove to Scotts Bluff,  stopping at Carhenge in Alliance, NE. Were severe thunderstorms we skirted to N of as we drove between Alliance and Scotts Bluff.
At Scotts Bluff, time change, arrived w enough time to tour visitor center about 4.15. Then took lovely 3.2 mile round trip hike to top of bluff. got back down about 6 p.m. 

On Saddle Rock Trail

On Saddle Rock Trail

 Now on way to Cheyenne via 88 and la grange wy. Dinner Cheyenne, Chipotle near airport, very salty, don't eat there again. Exit 12 from i25, near big mall w lots dinner choices, I was interested in Penny's Diner which was across from mall, associated with Oak Tree Inn.

Reached Fort Collins probably about 9.30pm 1145 miles.

Stayed Fort Collins Kiva Inn, clove air freshener over powering for Liz, as was hum, on 2nd floor so aired out room by leaving window open all night, but after that stay Liz eyes got very scratchy.  From clove? or just too much driving with the air blowing on my eyes, though not a problem on way out.

Was nice hotel, good breakfast,  might stay again,  

May 28, Tues Left hotel 8.50 am 63F.

Spent day Rocky Mountain N P, driving hwy 34. Took 2 nice hikes, on two ends of same trail as it turned out.

Hiking Upper Beaver Meadows Trail which we did as an out and back

Hiking Ute Trail (turns out to be other end of Upper Beaver Meadows Trail). Saw many marmots.

Saw several moose on drive out of park

Miles 1929 steamboat springs 8 pm. Dinner qboda , stayed steamboat hotel,  62 w aaa discount, quiet would stay again. Gorgeous rainbow.

Left 8.30am 41F, raining, stopped Safeway,  leaving town 9am.

Stopped raining west of craig.

All across the country we saw beautiful lilacs.  They were blooming everywhere.  These in Hayden, CO (I think).

Had nice day in Dinosaur N M, flowers about peak,  went to the canyon area,  north of the S entrance. Visitor center S entrance closed except on weekends,  but bathrooms open.

Steamboat Rock from end of Harper Corner trail

Left south visitor center at 5.25 pm, 1522 miles,  64F.  had been cool all day, with showers to north and east.

Dinner in Vernal at Cafe Rio, next to Subway, south or east side of road. Very good. Eat there again.

5.29.2013 9:25 am mountain/ 8:25 pdt 60 F 
1840 mi, left Wendover after overnight stay at Quality Inn, reasonble room rate. Note that time zone changes at NV border. Arrived last night at about 11:45 pm mdt. EB had to drive through heavy rains in dark from Heber City over the pass to SLC which was no fun. Road work, lines on road almost invisible.  Got gas at exit 124 in SLC, This a good stop at that hour of night.

Another Pilot Peak, this one in Nevada

75 F, 1 pm PDT 1966 miles, leaving beautiful California Trail Interpretive Center, Elko,  NV  

Spent a lot of time at the California Trail California Trail Interpretive Center, Elko,  NV, indoors and out.

 Mi 2070 3.10 pm 72 F finished lunch at rest area just east of Winnemucca.

Gas at Lovelock.  4.25pm miles cleared by mistake at 2150. 45642 odometer,

45774 53 F 6.45pm to 7.55pm hike at Castle Peak trailhead.  Walking over a few remnant snow piles.

We saw lots of beautiful scenery on this trip, but I always think its hard to beat the Sierras.

Dinner in Auburn 9 pm from Subway ate in parking lot of Bel Air grocery. North of freeway on hwy 49. On road again at 9.40.

Used 1.39 GB of data on the jetpack.

Return 10.45 pm, end odometer 45898

So total miles return trip = 2150+(45898-45642)=2406