The Wheels Keep Turning…

I started writing this on September 7th, and we have been on the road for 16 days. It is so hard to believe that we have come 2,151 miles. When we started, we had lots of plans and thoughts about what we would do, but we sure got put in our places and knocked down a few. We kept picking ourselves up and adapting, fixing things as they broke and keeping on. We are now 400 miles from our final destination, and it gets closer as the wheels keep turning. It is also hard to believe that I have managed to drive this distance, something I do not like to admit; I do not really like to drive. Driving is something that I do when I need to, and distance driving is something I avoid when I can, so this has been a real accomplishment! John has had to cope with the panic attack I had after a day of hills in Wyoming. I think, for the most part, I did ok.
On September 11th, we are on the road 20 days and 2371 miles from Selinsgrove. We are in California, 132 miles from Smithwoods RV Park at Dixon May County fairground. We spent two days in Sparks, Nevada, at Sparks Marina Campground, it was nice, but a lot of fake grass and smelly dog runs. Mandy and Bella gave it a thumbs down, but the fairgrounds at Dixon are lovely for a long walk in the grass.
We got up at 3 am this morning to go to the 40th Great Reno Balloon Race. We were surprised at the number of people that got up at that time to watch the balloon ascension, and there were balloons from everywhere, even one from Switzerland! I think there were 40 balloons in total. A very cool experience! The scenery on the way across California was beautiful, and we stopped at Donners Pass for a few minutes and got some cool pictures. We had a long slow crawl across a section of the mountains because a tractor-trailer had an accident on one of the curves, and we went for miles at 5 miles an hour. Another day and we should be at our destination and ready to start working among the Redwoods.