Tam's Think Tank » driving

10 Hours and Counting

tokenhippygirl — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 04:08:49 +0000

We are just about 10 hours from heading out on our journey toward Illinois and our little grandson (and his parents, let’s not forget). Wow. I can’t believe it’s here. We’ve been planning on this and for this for a long long time. Seems like it was so far away not that long ago… and again, here we are.

I don’t really know what to say other than… first stop, Pocatello Idaho, here we come.

Filed under: LiFe, Travel Tagged: driving, Illinois, moving, road trip, United States

Rifle, Colorado to Hays, Kansas

tokenhippygirl — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 05:07:23 +0000

It’s day three and here we are, safely ensconced in our hotel room in Hays, Kansas. It’s been a hell of a day. Started off pretty nice up in the Rockies, had a wonderful lunch time visit with a new old friend (Jan, it was lovely to meet you and put a face to all of the correspondence and commenting we’ve been up to for quite awhile now), and then… then… well… thunderstorms. Severe thunderstorms with lightning, pea sized hail coming down so hard it piled up an inch or two high on the highway, rain pounding down with it, cars driving so slow all with hazard lights on, and Kev and I just saying to each other… press on, if we can get ahead of it we are good to go. We pressed on… and we did. Scary moments for sure… not the least of which was when the emergency alert came over the radio that there was a tornado warning for our area. Both Kev and I started scanning like mad and planning where we would park and run if we had to try and get away from one. Like I said… some scary and nerve racking moments.

Then… well… we thought we were in the clear… literally. We made it through that storm and were heading full speed ahead toward what was supposed to be our stop for the night when I checked the weather up ahead. Low and behold there was another group of severe thunderstorms heading straight for Salina. They were bigger and looked much worse than what we’d driven through… so we made the decision. Turn around and head back to Hays, which was about 20 miles behind us, instead of motoring on to Salina, 78 miles ahead. We were done for the day. There was no way we wanted to be heading into all the lightning we say in that direction not being able to see anything else because it was now dark outside. I decided to forgo the reservation we had, forgo the money we’d lose, to keep our nerves better intact. Good decision. Oh, and the photos… I didn’t take any at all during the worst of it. None. I was too busy obsessing about what was going on around us to pick up my camera. I did take a 13 second video with my phone. I’ll try to post that as well.

Tomorrow we read there is the possibility of more severe thunderstorms ahead. Pretty much all the way to Champaign. And, we have further to drive than originally planned. I’m hoping for a more mellow drive… fingers crossed. Lets just get there already! LOL

Click to view slideshow.
Filed under: Family, Food, Friends, Photos, Travel Tagged: colorado, driving, Friends, hail, kansas, rain, rockies, severe thunderstorms, severe weather, tornado watch, Travel, traveling

First Stop Hood River

tokenhippygirl — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:27:54 +0000

First stop on the Parker sibling great American road trip… Oregon to Illinois… Finds outr intrepid adventurers in Hood River getting gas, a coffee refill, and subway healthy breakfast sandwichs. We are off to a great start folks…. And the sun is starting to peak through!

Filed under: Family, Food, Photos, Travel Tagged: Champaign, chicago, driving, hood river, Illinois, Travel, Urbana

the Lewis and Clark

tokenhippygirl — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:25:04 +0000

the Lewis and Clark, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

This week, while driving around, I snapped this one with my iphone camera. Not a bad pic for the iphone.

Posted in LiFe, Out and About, Photos Tagged: black and white photography, bridges, driving, iPhone camera, lewis and clark bridge, phone cameras, photography

Back at Work

tokenhippygirl — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:44:59 +0000

Back at Work, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Posted in LiFe, Oregon, Photos Tagged: camera phone, driving, driving photography, iPhone camera, Oregon, oregon photography, photography

Hay Fever

tokenhippygirl — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:53:55 +0000

Hay Fever, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Driving to work one day last week it was so gorgeous out. Really blue sky, a few clouds to offset the blue, and a recently hayed field. Haying was in full swing last week. I snapped this one with my phone as I drove past toward work. Love the smell of freshly cute hay.

Posted in LiFe, Photos Tagged: blue sky, driving, fields, hay fields, iPhone camera, photography

Driving

tokenhippygirl — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:02:23 +0000

Driving back from the outback with Liz and blogging from the iPhone. Tricky eh?

Posted in LiFe Tagged: blogging, driving, work

Lake Shasta

tokenhippygirl — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 02:49:37 +0000

Lake Shasta, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Karen took this one. I love the movement in it. Lake Shasta was lookin’ a bit low. Very low actually. Let’s hope for a lot of rain for that part of the country.

Posted in Family, Photos, Travel Tagged: driving, lake shasta, lakes, northern california, road trips, Travel, travel photography

Farmland

tokenhippygirl — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 02:47:15 +0000

Farmland, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Northern California is beautiful. Karen took this one.

Posted in Photos, Travel Tagged: barns, california, driving, mt. shasta, northern california, road trips, Travel, travel photography, traveling

On The Road

tokenhippygirl — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 22:23:50 +0000

On The Road, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Here I am… Working again. Driving behind log trucks running around
in the boonies.

Posted in LiFe, Oregon Tagged: back roads, driving, log truck, oregon roads, rural oregon