Corvallis, OR

Yeah, we are here! We have been for the week. We actually made it in with no more flat tires. Bryce has been working and the rest of us have been hanging out with my mom, my sister, and her kids. The cousins have been having a great time together. We went to a water park one day and the rest of the time have just been hanging out spending time together. We haven't been spending much time in the trailer. The cousins have been having lots of sleepovers with each other, even sleeping in the backyard in a tent together. We went out to dinner yesterday(8/19), it was Bryce's birthday. Happy Birthday!! We will be taking the trailer into a Keystone dealer here in Oregon while we are rafting for 4 days so they can go over the whole trailer. We told them that we did not feel safe heading out across the country with the trailer. We appreciate that they are committed to finding out what is going on with the trailer and the tires too. Today the cousins are coming over to the campground to go swimming and play a little mini golf. We plan on heading to the Oregon coast this weekend.

Idaho

OH MY GOSH! Guess what happened? Yes another blowout yesterday, brand new tires, same middle tire on the right side again. WHAT IS GOING ON??? We believe there is something wrong with this picture. Only minor damage, it ripped off the tire skirt (that's the piece over the tires to make it look nice). We spent 2 hours yesterday in Twin Falls, Idaho getting a new spare tire, and trying to figure out what was happening, but nobody knows. The guys at Commercial Tire in Twin Falls, helped us get back on the road free of charge. When the opportunity arises, we will pay it forward in some manner. We then end up pulling into our campground late at night. That's always fun. We are now contacting Keystone to discuss the issue with them. Our drives have now become extremely stressful. We sit there on pins and needles just waiting for the next blowout. We even went and had the trailer weighed at a scale to make sure we were not over the weight limit. Not even close to the limit they say this trailer should be able to carry. The kids have been very good considering they get stuck in the truck for longer than expected. 's too late for them to even run around. Needless to say they have a little pent up energy. Then when we get to the campground, I just can't wait to get to Corvallis, OR. At least we can be with family. Today we are headed into Corvallis, hopefully there will be no flat tires, but I am not very optimistic. I think Bryce and I will need some good full body massages, and soon.

Heading West

YEAH! We stayed in our camper last night in the parking lot of the place where it was repaired. It felt so good to be home. We are heading out today and going through Wyoming into Ogden Utah, where we will stay for the night. On Saturday we will head towards Baker City, Oregon. Here we will again stay for one night. On Sunday we will be going into Corvallis, Oregon and we will be here until the end of the month. I am excited about spending some time with my side of the family. We will also be white water rafting for my dad's 70th birthday the last weekend in August.

Leaving Colorado

Yes it is finally here. We will be leaving Colorado and head towards Oregon. We will be leaving on Friday, August 13th!!! We have loved Colorado, but are ready to get back into our own trailer with all of our stuff and be back on our journey. On Wednesday evening I got a chance to have dinner with some college buddies, Diana and Karen. It was fun catching up and seeing some good friends.

Silver Lake, Colorado

We are at a condo in Silver Lake Colorado. Bryce's rep Ford and his wife Debbie let us use it for a few days. It's absolutely beautiful here and there is a private lake for all the condo owners to use. The gang has been fishing everyday, all day if they could. Yesterday (Sat. 8/7) we hiked up to the St. Mary's Glacier. Once there we decided to hike all the way to the top of the glacier, WOW. We hiked on the glacier, it was funny being in shorts and hiking on ice. It took us about 1 1/2 hours to hike all the way to the top of the glacier, which ends up being around 12,000 - 13,000 feet above sea level. We had to stop often to catch our breath and to rest our legs. There were actually people snowboarding and skiing down the glacier. Coming down was interesting, it went faster, but it was also very slippery. The kids loved running, slipping, and then falling down. I had made it almost all the way off the glacier before, you guessed it, I fell. There was a waterfall at the bottom of the glacier were the ice was melting, this flowed into a small lake. We hiked around the lake and we had one brave soul of the group who decided to get into the glacier water, that would be Jake! He was so glad he was the only one who did it. He wanted to at least say he did it, and he did. We are so proud of him! The internet works slowly here so I will add pictures later! All in all our hike took us about 4 hours, what a great day! I still can't believe we hiked on a glacier

Denver Zoo

Then on Thursday, I took the kids to the Denver Zoo. It was very crowded. It took us about 30 minutes just to find a parking spot. It was a nice day and we were glad to be getting out of the hotel. We explored the whole zoo and saw all the different kinds of animals. It was a pleasant zoo and great compared to the Minnesota Zoo, but when you have been to the San Diego Zoo, it is really hard to find a zoo that even compares. All in all it was a fun day and later that night at about 11:30 P.M. we picked up Bryce from the airport. Needless to say we were a little tired the next morning. We had to get up early so we could pack up, yes we are finally leaving this hotel, but no the trailer is not yet fixed. We are going up 10,000 feet to stay in a condo that was given to us for the next 4 - 5 days in Silver Wood, Colorado. Thanks to Bryce's rep Ford and his wife Debbie.
I will add pictures as soon as I can.

Denver, CO

One advantage to the hotel is the swimming pool, my kids have been swimming almost everyday, okay so have I. We have just hung around the hotel for the last couple of days getting laundry done, getting Bryce to the airport to go to Utah, going to the park, and taking the kids to the Ferrari dealer.
Did I just say Ferrari dealer? Yes, my boys are really into cars, and sometimes Rees. We had seen the dealership off the freeway. So of course they asked if I could take the there. I was a little hesitant not knowing how they would like a mom bringing in her kids to look at some of the most expensive cars around. They were fantastic about it, they even let the kids sit in some of the cars. The dealership had Ferrari, Porsche, Maserati, and Bentley cars. I would not let my kids into the Bentley room or sit in them, I did not want anything to even remotely happen to one of those. One of our biggest running sayings is from the movies Cars when Luigi says in his Italian accent "A real Ferrari". Anyone who has seen the movie knows what I am talking about!
The photos are not loading this time, but I will add them as soon as I can.

Colorado Springs, Colorado

It is Sunday and we have decided to take a trip down to Colorado Springs. Along the way we decide to stop at the Air Force Academy! This was so COOL! Lots of great things to see, what a beautiful campus. We were all in awe of how big the planes were when we were next to them. Then we headed down to see the Garden of the Gods. We drove through this state park and stopped occasionally for pictures and to explore. It was a beautiful sight of rocks.

Golden, Colorado

Well it's Saturday and Bryce finally gets to come explore Colorado with us. Not to mention it gets a little old staying in a crowded hotel room for the day. We decided to head to Golden. Our first stop, the Coors Brewery - did you know it is the largest brewery in the world? We didn't, but the tour is free and you get 3 free beers at the end of the tour, can't beat that. These were no tiny beer samples either. It was a self guided tour with an audio set. It was very fascinating. We then headed up to Lookout Mountain where Buffalo Bill is buried. We toured the little museum, visited the grave, and looked out over 4 states, after all that is why Buffalo Bill wanted to be buried here. Lastly we headed to Heritage Square for an Alpine Slide ride and some shaved ice (Okoboji, Iowa still has the best shaved ice...so far)