Technical Difficulties...

We left Wellington, UT on Wednesday (Nov 12^th) headed to Salt Lake City.  The colours were absolutely gorgeous, particularly through the Provo area – beautiful reds, browns and oranges.  We drove through Salt Lake City and stopped at Ogden about 2 pm.  It was cold, but not as cold as Denver got!  The cats went out briefly as there really wasn’t a good place to take them – there were a lot of dogs running around loose in that community!  We left the cats in the trailer and ran errands, got some groceries and wine, then headed back home. 

 

It was COLD in the trailer – with 2 heaters going, plus the propane furnace running – so John headed back out and bought 2 more heaters!  Ahhhh.... much better...

There's lots of snow in the mountains...

That night, my computer crashed.  I had no track mouse on my laptop at all and was trying to trouble shoot the problem with keyboard commands – to no avail.  I called my nephew, Nathen, and he talked me through some diagnostics but really couldn’t do much without being able to see what was going on.  I contacted a web-based company called Thumbtack that sends out service requests to computer gurus around the United States, depending on their specialties, and crossed my fingers.  I received 2 replies and contracted a fellow out of San Diego, CA.

Thursday (Nov 13^th) we awoke to snow.  Sammy was not happy, but Tawny took it all in stride and had a good romp through the campground.  

John was more in Sammy's camp... he was not happy to see the snow we've been trying to stay ahead of.  We are now dry camping - no water in the trailer at all (other than in jugs).  It makes for a whole new experience!

 I spent most of Thursday trying to fix my computer, with help from my online Techie, Jeff.  He was not able to take remote control of my computer due to the lack of mouse and the difficulty in navigating through icons on the desktop and drop down boxes using keyboard commands!!  I finally borrowed a wireless mouse from the campground office, backed up my computer and then promptly lost control of my keyboard!  I’m not kidding!!!  So I had a mouse but no keyboard!!!!  Somehow I finally restored the system to 2 days previous, prior to a major Windows software upgrade… and got my keyboard back but still no mouse (other than my borrowed external mouse, which worked great). So, off I went to Wal-Mart to get my own external mouse and keyboard, in case the laptop keyboard died again.  I have not been able to connect to the internet since then, but the computer itself seems to be working fine… for now...

 Along with the laptop crash, our GPS (lovingly referred to as "the Bitch") died.  The charger piece on the back of the GPS broke and we were no longer able to charge her.  We were unsuccessful sourcing the piece online, so I called Garmin who informed me we were off warranty (duh).  Nevertheless, the help lady (named Dawn!) took pity on us and agreed to send the part out to us (for free!) if we could give her an address to ship to.    Hmmm.... not wanting to stay in Utah while the storm caught up to us, we made an alternate plan....

Our new GPS - Tawny!!!  She's a very vocal co-pilot!!!
"Are you sure we're going the right way?"

Utah was getting colder and colder, and heading north to Idaho was not a good option to get home due to the Canadian cold front still giving them grief, so we left Friday morning (Nov 14^th) and drove a long day west to get to Battle Mountain, Nevada for the night.  It was MUCH warmer there - and no snow!  

Gorgeous Nevada sunset

We loved our overnight stay in Battle Mountain.  The RV park had the most amazing pet area - it was a whole field behind the campground, really, and the cats loved it. We'll have to remember this place...

Saturday (Nov 15th) we continued our trek west, stopping in Lovelock, Nevada for a kitty walk.  It is the coolest place - the central square near the Court House has multiple chains covered in metal locks.



As the tradition goes, lovers go to Lovelock to forever "lock their love".  They fasten a lock on one of the chains, throw away the key and thus unite their love for eternity.

Lovely fall colours in Lovelock, NV

We drove through Reno, NV and then South Lake Tahoe, enjoying the beautiful autumn colours.  The road was very windy, however, and Sammy got car sick... only the 2nd time that has ever happened.  Poor fella...

We really missed the Bitch!  Apparently we could have taken another route that wasn't so windy - it didn't look that bad on the map!

"What do you mean this is the end of the property??"

We crossed over into California and got into El Dorado Hills, near Sacramento, just after dark.  We’re staying with my aunt, Lisa (uncle Jim is back in Washington where we saw him in early October!) and I have computer privileges here (!) so I can finally catch up on blogging.  The weather has been glorious and warm since we got here; it’s hard to imagine it can be so beautiful and warm here and so cold everywhere else!  The cats are thoroughly enjoying this stop.

Sweetie, the Peacock, aka Birdzilla

There are 10 or so feral cats that roam the property, but they leave Sam & Tawny alone (and vice versa). We have seen wild turkeys, large deer and Sweetie, the resident peacock… he is gorgeous!!  Sammy is terrified of the deer, but quite intrigued by the peacock.  Tawny wants to chase EVERYthing she sees... we have to keep a tight leash on that little one.

The cats spent a couple of hours every day outside, exploring the property.  There is no cactus and no snow here... they are loving California!

Kerry and Tiff

Monday (Nov 17^th) my cousin, Tiffani, and her hubby, Kerry, came up from Sacramento and had lunch with us in the trailer.  We had a lovely visit with good food and California bubby!  

Tonight we’re having dinner with cousin Jared and his family near Folsom, CA.  And tomorrow we plan to head north to continue our trek home.

If I have to blog from my phone, there will be no pictures, but I'll catch up when we get back to Calgary.  The adventure continues...