Along the Trail

Just like the Pony Express rider pictured above, neither rain nor sleet nor snow nor hail could keep us from moving directly north through Nevada's east side yesterday along HWY 93.

There were moments though, when the temperature dropped to 33 and the car started sliding off the shoulder of the road in some gummy slush.

That one was pretty scary, but the Suburu corrected itself and we lived to tell about it.  Quite a contrast in days from the time we left the ET Highway geocaching crew above, donned in shorts and tennis shoes to the scary moment on Conner Pass.

The jackets and sweaters came on, and driving speed went from 80 to 40 along with temps descending by about 30 degrees.

We did encounter snow, sleet and rain, but we covered nearly 600 miles in the process.  

Meanwhile over on the Extraterrestrial highway, our geocaching friends started their three-day marathon to find either 2,000 or 2,400 caches over a 250-mile stretch of road.

I saw a photo this morning, indicating they found more caches----an owl met its match with the front end of their van. 

And, with the photo above, I must point out that Bill met one of the "legends" of geocaching.  That would be the famous "Moun10 Bike" aka John Stanley of Seattle.  He's along with Annie on the ET trail, and he's the guy at the right.  

His family has a cabin at Priest Lake,and when Bill first started geocaching, he, like his geocaching friends, felt like he'd found gold whenever he ran across a Moun10 Bike cache in that area.  

Last year, Moun10 Bike, who also works at Groundspeak, Inc.,  accompanied Annie on her geocaching trip to Morocco, and, according to their friend Lynn who also went along, had to be coaxed to ride the camel.  Of course, Lynn told me Annie needed coaxing too, a fact I find hard to believe.

Anyway, as we travel today, we hope to see updates on the geocachers marathon trip of repetitiveness and crazy adventures. 

Bill and I did stop a few times yesterday, including long enough to take a few photos at the Pony Express rest stop.  Now, we all know the riders didn't have time to take photos during their rest stops; they simply had to move on.  And, our stop was along their pathway from Missouri to the West Coast.

Today we're expecting a lot more opportunities for getting out of the car and snapping photos, as we're headed up through Sun Valley and Challis.  It should be a beautiful trip.  

Tomorrow we're taking a side trip to one of my most favorite old West towns----Wisdom.  That's where we'll meet my forever friend Susie Baldwin and her husband who are also road tripping.  They were coming to Sandpoint but ran short on time, so we'll meet them on the road.

Lots of fun ahead, and so far, the trip has gone well.

Happy Monday.