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Our Big Trip Across the Western US - September 2015

With a 10 1/2 hour drive in front of us on Monday and the fact that there are two very serious football fans in the group we decided before we had left home that Sunday would be a day of rest at Brian’s place. We began our day with a great Sunday morning brunch prepared by our chefs, Brian and Sandy. The football games begin in the middle of the morning here with the Pacific Time zone so after brunch the fans took their places, and it turned into a real electronic media effort to get all the game results as they came in.

At one point there was a game streaming on the laptop computer as well as one on the big TV. I did see a smart phone involved when other information was needed quickly. We tease about the game mania, but they do love the sport and we didn’t mind as there was still plenty of conversation between plays.

The other news of the day was the heat! San Francisco is having an unusual warm spell and very little fog to cool things down. And to top that off, Brian’s place doesn’t have air conditioning because for the most part it is not needed. But it would have been nice today. The positive thing about this unusual weather is that the views out Brian’s deck are fantastic. This picture is looking to the southeast where you can see the Tiberon peninsula and Angel Island beyond it (the second peak).

From the same picture (above) is a close-up of the houseboats located on the other side of US Highway 101 southeast of Brian’s place. Look closely, some of these homes use the hull of the barge they are constructed on as living quarters, a half basement of sorts.

Looking to the northeast there is a business that offers helicopter and sea plane rides. We could hear both aircraft taking off so we made an effort to catch both of them landing. The helicopter lands behind the small grove of trees so all we could see is its approach to the landing site.

We thought the seaplane would be easier to capture as it landed but there is a row of trees blocking its landing place as well. Both aircraft did make a great show on a hot afternoon.

Tomorrow Gary will join us in the car as we begin our journey north and then east to Burns, Oregon and then Missoula, Montana. Our visit with Brian was all we had hoped for and meeting Filaree was a real pleasure. We hate to leave but there are more miles ahead of us and we are starting to think about home.

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