About

THIS IS A WORK OF SEMI-FICTION!
(or at least alternate reality)

I hesitated when Fran suggested I blog about our drive cross country. I write fiction, some humorous,  some not. After some thought I decided to write the story of our drive from California to Vermont with Rosie. The fictitious part is that Rosie was actually staying at the Lucky Dog “spa and retreat” in Loomis, California for the duration. I almost used the term “alternative facts” to describe this semi-accurate travel blog, but as a scientist I couldn’t lower myself to limbo into the mud under that bar. The facts are the facts, the places we go are where we go, I just wanted to share it with Rose. Like John Nash in “A Beautiful Mind” I see characters in my mind (Rosie.) Unlike John Nash,  I choose to interact with her. Oh, also unlike John Nash, I am not a genius.

Let’s be honest here. Rosie is a wonderful, intelligent, loving, devoted, energetic, cute and like most dogs a royal pain in the ass. But we love her and she is ours, or more correctly, we are hers. Rosie speaks a language that is entirely hers and for some reason only Fran and I understand or even hear it.

Travelling cross-country is always an adventure. While Rosie is a true California dog, albeit of Cuban descent, she was excited about visiting all the states in the US.

We are sort of free form travelling. We set a schedule before we left and wondered how long we would adhere to our calendar. The good news it that we left exactly on time. There was no bad news, except we changed the schedule in Reno. We decided stopping in Elko NV in the mid afternoon was unproductive so pressed on the Salt Lake City.

Here is the original schedule with changes struck and additions in red:

  • July 6 Friday, leave about 10:00 AM
  • Stop in Elko NV for the night
    • July 6 – Salt Lake City, or more accurately Tooele UT.
  • Drive to the Yellowstone National ParkSunday July 8
    • July 7 Saturday – Drive to Grand Tetons
  • SpendMonday July 9  in the Grand Tetons
  • July 8 Sunday – Grand Tetons  Float Trip Sunday, drive to Cody, WY
  • On the 10th visit both Bighorn and Devil’s Tower (may be a bit of a stretch)
    • July 9, Monday – Bighorn, Devil’s Tower, Mt. Rushmore
  • Mt. Rushmore on the 11th
    • July 10, Tuesday – Wind Cave – drive to Albert Lea MN
    • July 10, Tuesday Drive through Badlands National Park to Chicago
  • Minneapolis (maybe a Twins game?) on the 13th
  • Chicago on Saturday the 14th (White Sox? Chicago Art Institute?)
    • July 11, Wednesday – Drive to Chicago
    • July 12, Thursday – Art Institute, Architecture Boat Tour
    • July 13, Friday Drive to Cleveland Sunday the 15th (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, of course)
    • July 14 – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
  • Friends in Rochester NY on the 16th
  • July 15 Drive to Rochester
  • July 16 Drive to Utica – meet cousins
  • Cooperstown (Baseball Hall of Fame) and hopefully hooking up with Cousin Lanie on the 17th
    • July 17 Baseball Hall of Fame
  • Lake Dunmore from the 18th to 26th
  • NYC from the 27th to the 29th or 30th (Yankees and Broadway)
  • Drive home stopping as necessary but maybe a Cardinals game in St. Louis.