Drive to Jackson Hole.

Good ride with great scenery.  Left Laramie at 3:30 and arrived in Jackson about noon.

Went by a memorial to the Pony Express Station at Big Sandy.

Had some pretty views of the river while driving through the Bridger 

teton National Forest.

 View of Jackson Square as I drove by. It was exciting to be back in Jackson Hole. Notice the elk horn arch.

Entrance to the Elk Refuge, a block from Chad and Corrie's home.

Chad and Corrie were glad to see me.

So was Celia.

3rd Leg of my Farewell Tour. Laramie, Wyoming to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Less than 400 miles. That is only an eight hour drive. It will seem like a day off. It sure is a pretty ride. A lot of the ride between Rock Springs and Jackson you are driving in the Bridger Wilderness Area

The President and the Old Prunepicker visited Colorado today!

President Obama and I were in Colorado today. I just drove through but Obama had business. I saw lots of smoke. From a hundred miles east of Denver to Laramie was smokey. It is a terrible fire. I saw hand painted signs thanking the firefighters.

I drove the back way into Laramie to bypass Cheyenne. Drove by this Post Office at Virginia Dale, Colorado that was for sale. Cafe included.

Left Sterling at 3:30 and arrived in Laramie about 12 hours later. A lot of the freeway that I drove had a speed limit of 75 MPH, You can cover a lot of ground quickly at that speed. This leg was 550 miles.

I drove by a Cracker Barrel north of Denver that Jackie and I had visited with our fifth wheel trailer some 15 years ago.

2nd leg of Farewell Tour of the West Coast. Sterling, Kansas to Laramie, Wyoming.

Shorter leg today. Only 577 miles. I hope that the only thing that I see of the forest fires in Colorado is of smoke far away.

Sterling, Kansas. Two nights and one day.

Sterling is NW of Wichita. It was founded in 1872. Pop 2500. I think the pop was higher in the old days. It once had an opera house. I am staying at the Prairie Garden Bed and Breakfast. I have a lovely room and was served a delicious breakfast. The house was built in 1879. Very distinguished and nice house. The B and B is owned and operated by Nancy Ann and Hank Schichtle. I think that I have a daughter named Nancy Ann.

John Snyder and his two daughters Tracy and Nikki were fellow guests at the Prairie Garden. They are in the middle of a little bike ride from Boston, Massachusetts to Palo Alto, California. They resumed their journey this morning.

A couple of blocks from the Prairie Garden is Sterling Lake. In 1955 the movie "Picnic" was filmed here. It starred William Holden and Kim Novak. Very pretty lake with a nice swimming pool next to it.

This guy lives on the Lake. A lady comes and feeds him everyday. The Lake is deep. It used to be a gravel pit. There are two RR box cars in it. They were accidentally dumped there. They say that they are catfish hotels.

This is down town Sterling. The corner of Broadway and Main. You just can not get more downtown than Broadway and Main.

This is my favorite restaurant in Sterling. It might be the only restaurant in Sterling.

Sterling College is a Presbyterian  College founded in 1879. It has a lovely campus. The newspaper mentioned that two new English teachers were recently hired at the Sterling High School. They were both graduates of Sterling College.

I drove out to Alden. Alden is much smaller than Sterling and is about 15 miles away, This whole area is wonderful looking farmland sprinkled with oil wells.

My Mother's family and my Father's family had farms in this area. Dad and Mom met, got married, and moved to California in 1905. This is the area were they were raised. I am descended from Kansas farmers. Kansas is a lovely place. It was hot. My car thermometer said 108. I longed for cool Louisiana at only 99!

I visited the Alden Cemetery.

My Fathers parents are buried here and also a brother of my Mother. (Knowlton).

The Knowltons moved here from Michigan and the Monsons from Kentucky. I believe they were homesteaders. 

Trip report on first leg of my Farewell Tour.

The trip was a walk down memory lane like most of my trips. Oilfield work and RVing with Jackie. First was places I visited when working for Superior Oil. Such as Whitesboro, Texas. And Lindsey and Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. In Whitesboro I went into the very same Dairy Queen that I visited in the 1980s. It looked like a new toilet however.

There is a Thousand Trails RV park in Lake Texoma that Jackie and I  were fond of. It was not much out of the way of my 650 mile trip so I drove through it for old times sake.

First leg of my Farewell Tour of the West Coast.

I am on my way to  Kansas. 654 miles from Ruston, Louisiana to Sterling, Kansas.  I will be back late in August.

Scratch from Tommy and Sausage Gravy from Bob at VFW this morning.

Another meal before I drive away in the morning on my Farewell Tour of the West Coast. Tommy used his charms on his daughter to get her to mix up a bucket of Scratch for me to eat on my trip. I tried it. Sure is good. Thanks to Tommy and his daughter Rena.

JD and and Bob served up some of Bob's Sausage Gravy on biscuits. Um um good!

I am going to miss the good food and good company at the Tuesday morning VFW breakfast.

Tuesday weigh in. 6/26/12

Barely increased my walking. 1/10 of a mile per day. Only 500 feet! Weight up a little. Too many farewell meals.

Date	Weight	Waist	Temp	BP High	BP Low	Pulse	Miles	Avg MPD
1/3/12	252	50.8	96.9	134	66	69	8.5
1/10/12	248	50.1	96.8	136	63	67	7.6
1/17/12	247.4	50.3	96.2	135	62	74	7.5
1/24/12	252.4	50.9	96.4	141	70	66	8
1/31/12	248.2	50.3	96.3	134	61	68	10.7
2/7/12	243.8	50.1	96.5	130	64	64	11.1
2/14/12	241.2	50.9	96.6	133	66	75	9.5
2/21/12	240.2	50.5	96.6	121	62	70	6.3
2/28/12	239.2	50.5	96.5	140	61	62	11.6
3/6/12	234.8	49.7	96.2	128	60	62	11.8
3/13/12	233	49.6	96.2	126	58	63	14.3
3/20/12	232.8	50.3	96.2	125	61	63	16
3/27/12	229	49.8	96.7	116	59	62	14
4/3/12	227.2	49.2	96.3	122	58	61	15.7
4/10/12	226.4	48.7	96.2	115	56	60	16.3
4/17/12	224	47.9	96.1	122	59	66	15.2
4/24/12	224.4	48.5	96.3	136	67	67	17.9
5/1/12	221.8	47.4	96.7	118	58	62	18.9	2.7
5/8/12	221	47.5	96.5	128	61	63	20	2.9
5/15/12	220.6	47.5	95.3	138	68	67	17	2.4
5/22/12							28.5	4.3
5/29/12							21.6	3.1
6/5/12	221.4	48.2	96.8	139	69	70	35.1	5
6/12/12	219.8	49.4	96.5	131	63	62	17.4	2.5
6/19/12	217.8	49.5	95.9	130	65	66	11.5	1.6
6/26/12	219.8	47.1	96.3	135	70	69	12.1	1.7

Skip and Carolyn at the Log Cabin.

Boy! I am really get fed before my trip. Invited Skip and Carolyn Russell to the Log Cabin last night. They are two dear friends and fellow grand parents. We attend the swim class together.

Skip participated in the recent move of my trailer from the Adams's old home to their new home. I am grateful to him for that and for being such a great guy!

Last walk with Rhonda.

Rhonda met me at the park this morning for one last walk before I leave on my trip Wednesday. I sure will miss her,  the guys at Jefferson Corner, the people in the swim class, the folks at the Senior Center Lunch, and my Louisiana relatives. The Adams, the Newberrys, and the Millers.

A little spike at the deer feeder.

Sure was exciting to see a deer at the Adams's deer feeder. It was about 11 am this Sunday. We hope that he grows a big rack. John feeds deer real good. The feeder is about fifty feet from the deck and can be seen quite well from inside the house. These pictures were taken from inside the house. We hope that the deer will get tame enough to move the feeder closer.

Ruston Peach Festival 2012.

I toured the Peach Festival yesterday. It sure was hot. I carried my combo walking stick/chair and sat down in the shade now and then. It reminded me of the walk Nancy and I took across Hyde Park.

There was the usual antique car show.

Yes. That is peach ice cream. The big chunk on the right is a piece of peach.