Today was a total travel day – 504 miles – except for brunch about 11:00 and a stop at the Sierra Trading Post Outlet in Meridian, ID. Our SIL, Blair, had told us about their outlets and even though we were there for an hour and I tried on tons of bargains, I came away with one pair of capri pants. I chalked it up to the fact that I really do have plenty of shoes and clothes plus I just don’t get into the shopping mode that much any more in Life 2.0.
We spent the first few hundred miles in eastern Oregon and at one time I asked Burl if he’d taken a wrong turn and gone to Arizona or New Mexico. I swear I’d seen this high dessert area before in the southwest part of our country. It was a sharp contrast from the Pacific coast area and the lush forest we saw yesterday in western Oregon.
As the day wore on, the temp climbed and we rode for several hours in temps of 95 and above. Reminded me of our Ride from Hell on the I-10 last year going from Palm Desert to Phoenix.
Days like today call for plenty of water breaks and lots of reading which took my mind off the uninteresting terrain and the hot breath of air. This morning I fed my brain candy with “Shopaholic Ties the Knot” which was pure fluff chick lit and took absolutely no grey matter to read – although I wasn’t totally sure of the outcome until close to the end.
This afternoon I delved into a book that was recommended to me by a friend in my Bible study class a few years ago – “90 Minutes in Heaven” by Don Piper. The author was at our church last fall but we were out of town so I missed his lecture and had been saving this book for when I could read it without interruption.
The book definitely garnered an “A” in my estimation and gave me plenty of food for thought about why I am here on earth, what’s my purpose, and what does God want from me. Heavy stuff that I can’t answer in just a few minutes but thoughts to savor and dwell on as I pray.
Tonight we’re in Burley, ID (appropriate name, don’t you think, for Burl?) and our hotel has a fitness room so I took advantage of the elliptical machine and treadmill. One thing I really, really miss while on vacation is that I’m not working out regularly. Can’t wait to get home and start hanging out at the gym again.
Tomorrow we’re going to Park City, UT so I can see Burl’s favorite place to ski – then we’ll get on I-80 and see how far we get across Wyoming. We’re <1500 miles from home and ready to just be there.
I’m also down to 4 books – I’ve read 10 so far and ditched a few that I didn’t like after I started them. Once I’m out of reading material, things will get ugly!
Aren’t you cutting your trip short? I expected back on the 9th of August. Did I write down the wrong date?