On the road again...

Redwoods Day 1

2010-08-04T21:10:00.000-07:00

Leaving Weed, CA at 9:15am well ahead of schedule. An hours drive to Redding,CA and leaving interstate for 2 lane roads. More twists and sharp turns for the 140 miles (3-4 hours just drive time for that 140 miles on route 299) from Redding to Arcata than Loveland, CO along the Big Thompson to Estes Park- makes that drive seem like a cake walk.
Several great rest stops along the way- Josh and I have lunch at one of them. Little towns along the 299 route here have life sized wooden carvings of bigfoot on the side of the road (like the bear carvings we see so often) some tall and wookie looking and some more short and rotund. The biggest collection is in the town of Willow Creek where they have a Bigfoot museum - (I didn’t see this museum part until looking on the map later that night- darn!)
The temp in Weed at 9am was 81, 85 degrees in Redding an hour later & south. Stayed in the mid 80’s until about a half hour from the coast, then the temp dropped to 61 in a flash! Sunny skies were replaced by clouds that obscured the treetops: they were so low.
Arrive at 2:22 pm in Arcata, CA visitor info office.
Mileage: 3335.5 (and our hotel address tonight is 3535!)
Get ideas of the forest layout and ranger stations.

Then drive up the exciting Route 101 north! Stop at the entrance to the Redwood National & State Park - which is where the ocean meets the park. Jeff gets out and attunes with the ocean and waves here. Around the time of touching the cool water and seeing the low clouds, Jeff connects deeper with the sea and sky.

Then onto the "Lady Bird Johnson Grove" of redwoods. Some were 12’ across and 200-300+ feet high. The forest is magical. And 52 degrees in mid afternoon! Ranger said that when the town of Redding gets that hot, which it has been all summer, it pulls the water in from the ocean and blankets the forest here. Some of the trees are well over 1,000 years old. Their bark is up to 1 foot thick. Beautiful rainforest effect: misty, cool and an air of something primeval -before the advent of humans here.
Drive up to another Visitor office for input and trail info. Then drive back an hour or so to Arcata to spend the night.

Ashland, OR

2010-08-03T21:50:00.001-07:00

There is a wonderful park in the town of Ashland that people from all over come to enjoy. There are people picnicking, playing the violin, lounging on the grass, kids playing on cool equipment. A creek runs through it with duck ponds and people walking through the stream like it was a walkway.

In downtown area is a historic and high end hotel and nice small businesses on the streets. NO CHAIN STORES to be found here except Starbucks!

A natural spring serves the town. It has many minerals in it and tastes a bit like an alka-selzer becasue the water in naturally alkaline. In the middle of town they have fountains where you can try this water. (regular city water is treated and does not have the same taste but I believe it has most of the mineral content.) The fountains run non-stop and have a 'ball of water' at the top that you drink instead of a stream of water. See 1" white ball on top of the dark 'fountain head' pipe, this is the water bubbling with air.

The people are friendly and down to earth. Feels a bit like Boulder CO.

Yreka Gold! 3 million!

2010-08-03T21:32:00.000-07:00

So Jeff & Josh head out for Yreka (pronounced 'why-reka')CA on their way to Ashland OR. Here they stop at a small town court house, with the usual suspects just outside of any courthouse. 5 feet from the front door and through a standard checkpoint is around 3 million dollars of gold and gold nuggets- called "The Million Dollar Display" in the 90's - it has since tripled its value. All in a glass case about 10 ft wide. Amazing and it all came from this county. Actually over 300 million dollars (by todays standard) have come from this one county, including digs today.

Day of Rest

2010-08-02T22:22:00.000-07:00

Even God rested on the 7th day. So did Jeff & Josh. We spent the day integrating new found energy from the Mountain out our window. Catching up on the blog after 7 days of no writing, sleeping in, etc. Josh did his favorite 'activity' watching Top Gear episodes on You Tube.
Venture out only for food...and a brilliant sunset show.

JC leaves for CT, Josh & Jeff paddle wheel

2010-08-01T17:29:00.000-07:00

Jocelyne gets a call around 7am local time. Her father not doing well. She decides to fly back and see him. She books a flight out of San Francisco about 5+ hours away. She leaves the boys by 11 am.

Josh and Jeff decide to go out on one of the local lakes called Siskiyou, about 10-15 minutes outside of the town of Mt. Shasta. There at the popular beach for families they rent a paddle wheel boat at Josh's insistence. He wanted to try it out for the first time. About half way out Josh started using only one leg and hence recieved the name 'one legged lebowitz' and lots of pirate talk for the rest of the tour. (Josh alternated legs) Great view of the lake here, kids swam and boated like adults. Fun place! Water clean and cool.

Lake Shasta caverns

2010-07-31T17:10:00.000-07:00

3 J’s go to Shasta lake caverns. Boat tour across Lake Shasta (45 min drive form town of Mt. Shasta) for 15 minutes.

Upon landing we took a tour bus up 800 ft to the caverns. For an hour tour we go through the caves and we all enjoy it. I take lots of pics. Moist and in the 70’s inside with the humidity, even though the real temp was in the 50’s.

Great living rocks like stalactites and spaghetti formations. Some quite large- one caverns was 180' high inside and loaded with formations.

On the road up, squirrels have become smart and roll pine cones in front of the tires to crush them and thus reveal the pine nuts. Tour operators decide to avoid the cones to save their tires. Squirrels step up and roll out cones right before the moving vehicles can swerve.

Shasta Jeff alone, Josh & Jocelyne pyramid

2010-07-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

Jeff gets up early and hikes up to around the 10,000 ft mark by himself going up to 'horse camp' and the natural spring there. He brings a taste down to Josh and Jocelyne later. At 'horse camp' there are families and elderly people who hiked the 1.6 miles up to taste the water or base camp for a hike the next day to the summit. Great stone cabin up here. 2 weeks earlier the cabin and spring had 5+ feet of snow on and around them.
Jocelyne and Josh stay in town and go to the Crystal Tones store and play more crystal bowls. The shopkeeper plays some new bowls for them. Later the dynamic duo go to a pyramid near the mountain for some inspiration/guidance/attunements.

Mt. Shasta

2010-07-29T16:31:00.000-07:00

We Slept very little. Felt energized thru the evening though. Woke up at 1:30am feeling I had gotten a full nights sleep. Quiet all around us.
Elevation in town is around 4,000 ft. It's 48 degrees out this morn! Cold!
We drive up Mtn (20 minutes from the town of Mt. Shasta) to various spots and take photos. The energy here is unprecedented in its heart opening qualities. At 7,000 ft we stop to get out and hike a little, do some meditations. Josh does great hiking, while Jocelyne's feet keep getting tangled up with each other.
Then we drive up to the end of the road at 8,000 ft. There is a labyrinth up there at this flat spot. The peak is 14,179 ft above sea level. To summit takes some expertise and leaving your base camp early (usually around 3:30 am for most climbers so they can make it back to base before sundown).
At the 8,000 ft flat spot, we get out out crystal bowls and play them for awhile. A group of people gather to bask in the sun and sound while we play.
During lunch at 8,000 ft. Josh got a call from his father, you can see him on the phone trying to describe his lunch environment.

Klamath Falls & Crater Lake

2010-07-28T16:06:00.000-07:00

Talk at Info center in Klamath Falls OR and decide to go to Crater Lake. Gorgeous Blues like you will see no where else. This is the deepest lake in the United States and you have to drive up 1000 ft just to see it. The reason it is so blue is that all the other colors are absorbed at certain depths- leaving only the blue. A blue that can only be appreciated when viewing directly.

The crate was formed originally as volcano 10,000 plus years ago. It blew off its head, then filled with water. No water leaves this crater except by evaporation and only fills by rain/snow. Stays about the same depth year after year. A new cap started to form later and is now called "Wizard Island" Boat tours take you there IF you can climb down the 1.1 mile steep face to the dock!

Local ground squirrels are quite friendly and will come up to your hands or feet.

A complete driving circle around the crater takes about 2 1/2 hours to all day.

After the crater, we drive 3 hours to the Mount Shasta area to Weed, CA. As we see the mountain it captures us. When I get into town of Weed and look at the Mountain I feel overwhelmed with energy. Its awesome! Heart centered and great. Check into our hotel and feel the energy all night. Room 114 pet friendly-last room avail. But the most spacious room we have been in- 2 queens, full desk and 4 arm chairs in a good sized living area.

Driving through Southern Oregon

2010-07-27T16:00:00.000-07:00

Leave our nice place and head out on 2 lane highways for the day. We drive 356 miles through twisty -turney roads. Lunch in Hilander (Burns, OR) at a nice Chinese place. When passing an RV today I then saw the biggest Eagle I have seen in 10 years. He was perched on a telephone pole with his side/back to me. It was 3+ feet from head to tail. I thought it was a vulture at first til I saw the head, then knew it was an eagle. Immediately after we saw a flying eagle and a flying hawk.

Growing onions and other crops everywhere around here.

Drove past Alkali lakes and took photos. Many were dry, and they all smell slightly of rotting eggs.

Left Ontario around 10:45am Mtn time and got to Klamath Falls OR about 7pm Pac time. Over an 8 hour driving day with no interstate. We are very tired the last hour.

This part of Oregon is still the high desert (much like nevada) to the south of our road and then more green and mountainous to the north- we drove along this edge to avoid the high temps (114+ F) in northern Nevada this week.

Driving day: from Utah through Idaho to Oregon

2010-07-26T22:00:00.000-07:00

Leaving Oden, Utah very hot. Stopped by Dragonfly Health Food Store to drop off Biomat books/brochures. They also promote yoga/dance, holistic health. Visit them at www.DragonflyHealthFoods.com We had lunch there. The place is painted in several bright colors - the kind I love to wear! (Jocelyne).
Beautiful driving weather although we noticed a dark cloud most of the day and it was as if we drove around it. Thanks for that!
Key words/signs today: Summit, Independence, Eagle, Echo, Four Winds, Bliss, Pioneer, Knight Transportation, Sinclair (French word translation - free of sin). In true history, the Sinclair family was part of the Royal blood line. Some referred to us as pioneers following our bliss and setting fears aside. As we arrived in Oregon and stopped at the rest area, we read about the Oregon Trail reminded of how challenging some trails can be while others breeze right through to the golden days.

Warning: "Dust Storm area". I believe it with big open spaces and large areas of dry land.
Ate at 'Garden of Eden' in Idaho. '7th Heaven' was a sign by the highway.

Getting easier and faster to pack/unpack.
Over 12 miles of freshly poured black tar. Josh and I used cotton cloth as a mask to shield to strong odor. Jeff said "What smell?" (joking)
Staying at a Holiday Inn Express. The hotel clerk was impressed to log in a zip code starting with '0' - we still use our Manchester address until such time as our permanent address is known to us.
Driving miles: 365 miles
Total from CT: 2,254 miles

Did you eat your vegies?

2010-07-25T21:15:00.001-07:00

hi ...did you know that vegies grown very big out west??? Remember eat your vegies!!!

R & R in Ogden

2010-07-25T10:51:00.000-07:00

Sleep in again til 9ish, even though we were awake earlier. Jocelyne is up early doing yoga quietly - it feels so good to stretch! Then catch up on work, phone calls, this blog which we haven't written in since the 4th of July and so on. We've been busy enjoying things! We have had internet connections most everywhere we've been and we also have our own internet via verizon to hook up all 3 computers to when privacy is needed. We just haven't had the time to devote to the blog til now yet jot down notes every day. We are alive and well, quite well actually while parts of the U.S. are going through floods, power outages, high heat indexes etc.
It's 99 degrees here in Ogden but that's like 85 in CT or Iowa. Humidity is low here. Skies are clear and we go for walks in the morn and at night in the cool of the day (say 65).
Still unable to upload pictures to this site. We have taken loads of them and will find a way to share some of them.

I (Jocelyne) called a former teacher who lives in Idaho. Unfortunately she will be at a daylong spa as we drive near her place tomorrow. It was great to reconnect even by phone. She is gifting us with a 3 hour seminar to release issues based on the story of genesis pushing away the trust between man and woman. It actually has been quite smooth driving our own vehicle and managing to communicate our needs as we travel hundreds of miles...at times there is no phone connection even though our vehicles are visible to one another.

We found a quaint Health Food Store/Restaurant in town and had a wonderful lunch there. We walked to the Perry's Ogden Egyptian Theater. Although it was closed today as most places are on Sunday in this mostly Mormon town, we enjoyed the outside of the building's architecture. http://www.utah.com/ogden/egyptian-theater.htm

There seems to be a recurring "EGYPTIAN" theme ... hummm

staying in Ogden Utah

2010-07-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

We decide to stay a few days here in Ogden and catch up on our rest. Deep energy flows seem to be running through us, coupled with the near full moon approaching this Sunday. Jeff is up and awake with the frequencies coming through from 3am til 5:30am making his system 'reset'. Jocelyne goes to sleep with a headache (a rarity these days).

We sleep in today and part of the afternoon after breakfast. Jocelyne is up early though and does all of our laundry. Blessings to her for that! Then we just hang out in the old downtown taking photos of life size horse statues that are painted with many designs from B/W spirals to complicated dinosaur or galaxy scenes.
We 3 are a bit out of sorts and feel we must ground the new enrgies coming into us at this time.
We have seen more pregnant young women with 1-3 children in tow than I have ever seen in my life outside of the deep south. Happy people, or so they seem. Is it this area or are we being mirrored something that is pregnant within us ready to deliver soon with a new life around the corner?

By around 7pm we all start to feel a little less 'out there' and more grounded.
We set up our projector and watch the movie "Bruce Almighty" tonight.

Driving thru Utah

2010-07-23T18:51:00.000-07:00

Today we left Grand Junction Colorado around 10:30am. Beautiful clouds. Driving along I-70 West is like cruising through a mini version of the Grand Canyon. You can see old Reef areas from when this part of the country was under water. Rocks vary in red, whites, grays, greens and yellow colors in varying layers. The wide open spaces make Jeff feel expansive and for Jocelyne the same areas feel desolate until large rock formations are visible and bigger than life. There are areas where there are no towns/services for 100 miles. And few, if any plants, with dry areas for many miles.
Stop at a rest area about 30 minutes east of Salina, Utah. Total mileage so far: 1855.5 (note the repeating 5's)
555= hold on cuz things are about to change!
Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah were easy to drive through on route I-15 North even though there was a lot of construction. Once we got onto I-15 North then the green plants started to come back with the sage brush and yucca.
Today we thought we were traveling 6 driving hours and 350 miles. It ended up being 400 miles and 6+ hours of drive time. Including time out of the car from hotel to hotel was 9 hours. Much longer day than intended. We made it to our hotel just at 7pm, right in time for a our conference call as Josh was happy to check out sports car videos on his laptop. Long day!

Colorado Springs to Grand Junction, CO

2010-07-22T19:03:00.000-07:00

Wake up in Co. Springs @ the Travel Lodge. Head out around 10 am to Castle Rock. (about an hour). Stop at Library for directions to the Cherokee Castle. A castle that was imported from England (block by block)over 100 years ago. It went into to a ranch called Daniels Park and was originally Highlands Ranch - a ranch many miles across and is now a suburb of 100,000 people just south of Denver. We need an appointment, so we cancel that idea. Alternate plan is we Go to Wolfensberger and 105 "Sanctuary" along a scenic route. Great views etc. Then take Jocelyne and Josh to Bee Rock for a minor attunement for them.
Then drive up Sante Fe (stopped in Sedalia for 10 minutes waiting for a coal train to pass by) to 470 and have lunch in Idaho Springs. Good fajitas.
mileage so far: Idaho Springs 1461 miles
Driving along I-70 West from Denver is well worth the time. You can see spectacular views of mountains up close and far away with snow on them in the middle of July.
Driving thru Glennwood springs area it rained on us. This is unnerving for Jocelyne as we are suspended above the canyon about 100' to 800' for 10 miles or so on a 'bridge' that contours the river below. She makes sure to follow the speed limit feeling more safe.
Make it to Grand Junction around 7:30pm to the Clarion hotel – nice place and reasonable $89. It's 92 degrees here at 7:30pm. When we get out of the car, both Jocelyne and I feel ‘tingley’ all over like a very fine vibration, more intense on the feet.
Total miles for trip: 1672 mi
5hrs just in the car (left hotel at 10 am and arrived next hotel at 7:30pm with excursions on the way)
320 travel miles today

Garden of the Gods

2010-07-21T19:17:00.000-07:00

Go to Air Force Academy chapel but it's closed. It's a huge piece of gorgeous metal and stained glass architecture. We at least get to see the outside. Eat at Whole foods and Josh has TOFU that he likes. On and off light rain today.
Humidity is high today, quite unusual for Colorado. Locals say it has been quite rainy this year (reminds me of 1995 when it rained a lot that summer and plants grew that I had not seen before or since.) Very little snow on the mountain peaks for summer. I have never seen it this 'light' on the mountains before. There is snow but very little. Josh and Jocelyne are pleased at the site of the mountains..very peaceful feeling.

'Garden of the Gods' Day in Co. Springs. The stones here are spires or finger-like rock formations made of red rocks.

Notice the EYE between the two adjoining rocks (image on the left).

There is one called 'kissing camels' that is well known (image below).

Beautiful pathways and driving paths.

Josh is liking the trip. He is finding places in his body to store the memories of the mountains. Interesting...

Doing my best to lift the rock!!!

Rain, heavy rain, blinding rain

2010-07-20T23:11:00.000-07:00

Leave Estes Park around 5pm. with our mileage at 1191.5 MILES from CT.
About 8:30 pm arrive in Castle Rock for dinner and gas. Then very heavy rains around Larkspur through Monument Hill. The rains become so intense that we can not see much past our windshields. Water is splashing from under both sides of the car. There is no highway light. We pull off onto an off ramp to wait out the heaviest parts. Another hour or so later we arrive at our hotel.

Check into a dumpy looking Travel Lodge in the heavy rain. No details needed. We make it work and offer gratitude that we are out of the rain in at least comfortable beds.
Mileage so far: 1346 mi.
Today drove: 140 miles. Should have been a 2 1/2 hour (driving) trip that turned into a 4 hour drive plus 1 hour out of the car resting, eating. Long end of the day.

Rocky Mountain National Park

2010-07-19T23:15:00.000-07:00

Go to Rocky Mtn National Park near Estes Park. Great day driving through. Beautiful vistas. Josh really likes the Mtns. Since our arrival in Colorado, we have seen 2 double rainbows...an auspicious sign for certain! Notice the rainbow under Josh and Jeff's hands.At one of the rest stops there are 12 elk hanging out in the valley below us. We watch them while we have lunch. Josh particularly intrigued and uses binoculars for several hours.
At the tundra walk Josh, actually gets out at 12,075 feet and walks the half mile or so up to the rocks. We get a few sprinkles and then a rainbow as our treat for the walk. None of us get any altitude issues because we drank plenty of water and stayed a week at Denver's elevation.
Notice the flowers growing so close to the snow peak...

Jocelyne started noticing license plates from other states. She took photos of them and pretty soon there were 33 represented (of 50)... imagine that people from all over the US checking out the rocky mountains!

Celestial Seasonings Tour - Sunday

2010-07-18T23:19:00.000-07:00

Up early and stretched for a change – first time doing yoga in almost a week! Have a great English breakfast at the Hilltop Inn. A British B & B of sorts. We go to Best Buy to get a Cd for Josh and then on to the Celestial Seasonings ‘factory’ just outside of Boulder, Co. for a tour.

The 'mint room' was our favorite; stepping in your eyes begin to water, then they adjust and your sinuses fully open, even if you thought they already were! Jocelyne had fun taking photos of the artwork chosen for the tea packages.

I attuned to the bufffalo energy while in Colorado so here is the tea packaging of my choice whereas Josh preferred the rafting bear shown behind him ...

Did you know that the best antioxidant value is with white tea, then green then black teas? It was news to me (perhaps not to Jeff as he is a tea connoisseur).

Burst of heavy shower unexpected...Jocelyne ran to her car to close the windows completely while Jeff figured it would last a moment before the sun was shining again. It took about 10 minutes; enough time for Jocelyne to return to the factory slightly wet with umbrella in hand. It was fun running in the rain.
Then drive to Loveland,CO and spend night in a great room.

Day of shifting energy

2010-07-17T23:26:00.000-07:00

We have discussions with our hostess and decide we are ready to move on. We have helped enough for now. So we start packing around 11:30 ish and we’re out before 2 pm. The 3 J's are very easy and understanding about whole situation. We know it's time to leave - been feeling it build for days, even though we don't have a clue what to do next. When its time, the universe pushes.
After lunch we go to library to discuss our itinerary. Get a local hotel called the Hilltop Inn in Broomfield (next to JeffCo airport). Quiet space with a British flair. Great room, spacious, CLEAN w/ fireplace and kitchenette. We dine on British fish and chips etc for dinner.
We 3 all feel more at peace here than the past week. Spend til 11:30pm talking over our longer term plans for our direction and Josh’s flight to Baltimore to spend time with his dad.
We read more about the shifting of the energy patterns in some emails for us (lightworkers in general) starting today and tomorrow. The shift these two days was about leaving the old behind and starting with the new. Well, it showed up in our lives quite clearly and almost unexpectedly with the speed at which it all occurred. Yet we were happy to follow the clues and on to more joy and happiness!

Dinner with an old friend

2010-07-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the hospitality of Anne & Joe and their daughter Rachel, our most recent home-dinner was at their Colorado home. We got to reminisce as Anne was in the bed next to me at St.Francis Hospital in Hartford, CT as we lay there on bedrest waiting for our babies' due date. It has been ages as Rachel is now attending college to become an Opera singer...all grown-up. Josh was very comfortable adding his sense of humor to the conversation.

Denver Art Museum - King Tut

2010-07-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

Denver Art Museum to see the King TUT exhibit. Good time. Outside the museum is a huge broom & dustpan. See how larege they are as I stand in front of them. Josh is even reading the plaques and seems interested. For lunch we go to a fancy rest. And Josh orders his own tomato sandwich and grilled asparagus ABOUT 3 inches thick – he’s quite happy about the whole thing. I have a tuna dish that is like sushi and a great pudding for dessert. Good living and eating again have almost returned to me. My guides say with 2 months or so but no definite dates.
We play with runes tonight. For Jeff personally he get's the Gateway rune reversed. It's bout his attitude during the process more than what is happening (it's more about the journey rather than the destination. Jeff feels he already ‘got that’- must just live it. For the 3 of us we got the Flow rune – "just do without thinking too much".

Boulder, CO

2010-07-11T23:58:00.000-07:00

Go to Boulder, Co. Have a great time wandering around Pearl Street Pedestrian Mall. We needed a break from 'working'.
Great street performers on the week-ends, wonderful weather and Mtns. as close as your hand. Josh is in awe at the sights of the huge mountains some covered with snow as we walk around in shorts and short sleeves shirts. Josh discovers Chipotle, a Mexican chain restaurant and NOW loves black bean barritos...another protein source for him. The staff gets to know us quickly as we return frequently, a change from Panera Bread. Went to a Boulder Teahouse for some iced tea..great environment...saw a young lady seemingly perfect for Josh - though he showed no interest!!!

miraculous help

2010-07-09T00:04:00.000-07:00

we have agreed to help our hostess clean up her space, so we begin by placing some articles outside on the driveway to give away. Within half an hour people start showing up and when we tell them the stuff is free we get rid of beds, frames, equipment, playhouses, etc, etc. About 3 rooms full of stuff in a matter of hours so that by the time a guy shows up to help us haul away stuff, 4 truckloads have already departed without us having to do the work! Our hostess was impressed, we did more in a few hours than she could do in months. Glad to help. We will continue to help clean and restructure her home over the next week...and spend some free time here and there to explore.

Leave Nebraska - enter Colorado

2010-07-08T23:51:00.000-07:00

Leave Kearney, NB around 10am. Go to a few tourist rest stops for info.
Go to Ogallala, NB for lunch and great pies (one for Jeff and one for Jocelyne)at a local eatery. We go to Petrified Wood Gallery. Amazing works of art. See www.petrifiedwoodgallery.com/
Arrive in Broomfield, Co around 7pm. We meet our hostess who has offered up her home to us for awhile and we have agreed to help her through her transition phase.
We found her extremely talkative, with very little focus feeling overwhelmed in her last 5 years since divorce. House was unkept. We felt like we were in 'Reality TV' back in the days of "The Odd Couple: Felix and Alex". Kids are fairly well adjusted though. Go to sleep late wondering what the heck we have gotten ourselves into.
Driving miles: 365 today

Leaving I.C. & later 'smelly spaces'

2010-07-07T23:42:00.000-07:00

Pick up our Biomats that we had lent out around 7:30 am.

Leave Barb’s home around 9:30am for the road. Driving across Iowa & Nebraska. A few rain storms – short but heavy. Otherwise mid 70’s temps and mixed clouds with sun. Yesterday was over 100 degrees F in NYC, Philly, and Hartford areas. Staying cool here. Lunch at Quiznos in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Rain as we exited so we skipped doing some sound healing with the crystal bowls. Instead Jocelyne did 'toning' from the car.
Clouds were different today. Spectacular in many ways. Jocelyne talks to the clouds. We see more windmills in Iowa.
Stopped at a few rest stops and took photos. Made it to Kearney, Nebraska around 7pm. Check in and out of Ramada. Jocelyne wanted to check out a less expensive hotel but found out the fun way its worth the extra $10 for clean and non smelly. After dinner we checked into a different hotel called Wingate. We had to change rooms again from the smell of shampooed carpet that hadn’t dried yet. Did all this have to do with crossing the Racoon and Skunk rivers today? Something about self-respect today?

driving 430 miles today
6 1/2 car hours plus many hours out exploring, eating etc.

R & R

2010-07-06T23:40:00.000-07:00

The 3 J’s sleep in today til 9. Do some laundry and Jocelyne's car gets vapor locked. All is well after a check-up. We then go to Coral Ridge Mall browsing. Back to Jeff's sister Barb's home and do Scenar sessions. Oh, did we mention her cute cats?

Scenar sessions

2010-07-05T23:37:00.000-07:00

Jocelyne and Jeff do Scenar sessions on Jeff's family members. see some quick changes in one of them as he regains some feeling in both hands that he had not had in a few years. Watch a double-feature movies 'at home' from our collection "Music & Lyrics" & "Liar, Liar"...laughter!!!

Last Airbender

2010-07-04T20:17:00.000-07:00

Woke up back in Iowa city around 5 am. Stayed in bed til almost 9am half awake just trying to rest from all the driving. We do some healing treatments and scenar sessions on some relatives and then eat at a great Middle Eastern restaurant in Iowa city called ALI BABA. We feasted on great hummus, tabbouleh salad, schwarma and lentils topped off with a a mango drink.
Then we went to see the movie "The Last Airbender" The mall was basically closed this 4th of July holiday except for the theater. The movie plot line was good but the acting was below par for some of the characters. Its also part 1 of a series which I did not realize until I saw the beginning credits and it said "Book 1 Water". Overall we had a great experience in Stadium style seats and arm rests that folded back so we could snuggle.
Later that afternoon the storm clouds rolled in dark and heavy. It rained hard on two different occasions but no big deal.

Mason City II

2010-07-03T20:42:00.000-07:00

Spend the Day visiting with Jeff's father and sisters in Mason City,Iowa.
Eat 'chippermint' flavor homemade ice cream from the landmark Birdsell's ice cream parlor. Its been there since at least the early 60's as a family operated shop with unique flavors. Can you believe they had frogurt (frozen yogurt) flavors back in the late 60's? Its true.
Check out the dozen or so homes in Mason City that were designed by students of Frank Loyd Wright's "Prairie School" from the 30's and 40's.

diversion to Mason City, Iowa

2010-07-02T20:50:00.000-07:00

We drive north off interstate 80 for 3 hours to visit Jeff's father Charlie who just had a birthday the day before on July 1. Charlie was 83 that day and in reasonably good health despite some recent health challenges. We arrived in Mason City just around dinner time and meet up with Jeff's oldest sister and their father for a mini reunion. It's been 5 years since Jeff has seen these relatives. We laugh and joke around, tell embarrassing stories and all the changes that have happened to the small town we all once lived in. Charlie still does a few volunteer jobs at the Nature Center and local pre-school when he feels up to it.

driving through Illinois

2010-07-01T20:56:00.000-07:00

Woke up feeling refreshed after our stay near the lake and head out on the open road again. Traffic is still amazing light. We pay our remaining tolls as we head into Illinois. (Tolls so far $13.50 for Ohio, $7.50 for Indiana). As we get about 30 miles form the southern part of Chicago, traffic begins to build up and we even have 6 lanes on each side. By the time we get to Joliet area we are stuck in traffic. Construction 'zone' with no construction. Just one open lane where there should be 2-3 open. It takes us over and hour to go less than 5 miles. We stop after wards and ask around and people think its due to a strike.
Back on the road again. Right before crossing the Mississippi river, we purchase some home made pies to bring with us and share for Jeff's father's birthday. Skies and weather still clear. As we reach the University of Iowas campus in Iowa City, we stop at the New Pioneer food co-op to get some organic food and healthy choices. Nice store.
We then meet up with two of Jeff's sisters and have dinner. We spend the night at Jeff's sister's place. Another 6+ hours drive today, but only about 280 miles. Beautiful temps and clear skies. couldn't ask for better conditions.

driving through Ohio and Indiana

2010-06-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

Driving through great scenaries of trees hugging the road to opening vistas of farmlands, occasional horses and lots of 18 wheelers. Here on Route 80 their are semi's, semi's with 2 trailers and some 'triples' with 3 trailers behind them. Only a few states allow these triples and most of I80 is this way. So far light traffic and only a few construction zones. We're breezing through. The skies are filled with mixed blues and patches of mostly white (multiple) cloud formations.
We are spending the night just east of Gary Indiana at a place called La Porte. We are staying right across from a gorgeous lake with interesting wildflowers a few miles off the interstate. Jocelyne found a great place and rate from a brochure at a rest stop - she opened the page to the perfect spot.

By the end of the day we drove about 350+ miles. That puts us about 860 miles west from Manchester, CT. We are right on schedule.

Driving Miss Daisy...

2010-06-29T16:27:00.001-07:00

Today we started out on our journey across the USA. Two cars, 3 J's and more boxes and stuff than 3 people need for a 2 month+ journey, but here we are - happy and joyful about our new adventure. Jocelyne and Josh in one car and Jeff in the other. We went across the Tappan Zee bridge into NY proper then through New Jersey on 287 avoiding all the NYC traffic. Then we drove onto interstate 80 west where we will be for many days. We drove all through PA today and we are spending the night on the Ohio border just east of Youngstown. The weather has been between 72 F and 84 F with mixed clouds and sun. Beautiful!
We've stayed at a few Holiday Inn Express's and they have been quite nice with breakfast and internet included. The one we stayed at in PA was particularly upgraded and felt more than an 'express' style.

Good - Bye to CT & Picking up Josh

2010-06-28T16:32:00.000-07:00

Jocelyne and Jeff said their "Goodbyes" to a few friends this morning and Jocelyne's sister 'Chantal's family. Then We had a nice lunch with Jocelyne's parents Alice and Armand in Bristol, CT. Said good bye to other siblings and headed to right before heading out to White Plains, NY to spend the night and be able to easily drive around NYC city traffic on Highway 287 the next day. (about 1 1/2 hours from Bristol).
In Ny we saw this really cool (except it was pink) mini-Cooper limo driving along the side of us. Only in America!
We were scheduled to pick up Josh (Jocelyne's youngest son) from NYC's La Guardia airport around 7:15pm. Due to some weather issues he was delayed at some other airports coming back from San Diego. We had no idea from moment to moment where he actually was - yet we trusted that all was fine. And it was - we finally saw him about 10:15pm and then drove to White Plains to spend the night. We got to bed shortly before midnight.

Repacking the cars

2010-06-27T17:37:00.000-07:00

Sunday.
Jocelyne ran errands and Jeff did some paperwork. We had a great lunch at Utsav, an Indian buffet in Vernon,CT.
Late that afternoon we repacked our cars so that we can actually see out our rear windows. That was a blessing in itself!
Around 6pm we made it to the Alliance for Holistic Living Open house/party. Wonderful seeing so many people that we had connected with over the years and saying our final goodbyes. Sad, yet sweet at the same time. Good people in Connecticut.

Tying up loose ends

2010-06-26T19:24:00.000-07:00

Saturday. Mostly run more errands. Return equipment. Take Biomat orders. stay up late - Jocelyne feel asleep at the computer while talking on the phone to someone around 10 or 11 pm. We have had a few late nights and early mornings. we like the Holiday Inn express we are staying at. Very convenient.