Late March

On Monday Bryan and I continued north through the middle of Nevada. My plan was to stop for the night in Winnemucca, but the only Marriott between Las Vegas and Bend had no rooms available, so we drove late into the night and arrived in Bend after midnight, completing my 22nd drive across the country. 

 

Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning we took care of a few things in Bend, then took an Uber to the Redmond airport for our flight home. We flew United down to LA, where we caught a redeye to Orlando.

Thursday night Susan, Jenn, and I drove to Tampa to watch the Lightning play the Utah Hockey Club. Jenn got us seats pretty close to the ice. The Lightning won, 8 to 0. This weekend Susan and Jennifer flew to Dallas Texas for a book signing event.

Across the South

Earlier in the month, Bryan accepted a job in Bend. We debated renting a U-Haul truck and hauling all his stuff out before deciding to just drive his car out for now. Thursday morning we headed north and turned west on I-10. We stopped at the Buc-ee’s in Gulf Shores Alabama then turned northwest. We stayed in Hattiesburg Mississippi that night.

Friday morning we continued west across Louisiana and entered Texas. East of Dallas, we stopped at a Buc-ee’s where Buc-ee Beaver was making an appearance. We continued on to Fort Worth, where we stayed the night.

Yesterday morning, while Bryan and I drove northwest out of Texas, Jenn and Susan attended a book convention in Orlando. Jenn’s table was next to one of her favorite authors.

Last night Bryan and I stopped in Albuquerque New Mexico. We stayed at the Marriott. We don’t have as much status as we did last year, but we still got a room on the top floor, with a nice view of the city. 

Today we continued west into Arizona. I made Bryan get off the interstate in Winslow so I could stand on the corner. We drove another few hours west on I-40, then turned northwest and reached Las Vegas, where we stopped for the night.

Islands of Adventure

Yesterday afternoon Jenn, Susan, and I went to Universal’s Islands of Adventure. We made a lap around the park, having some snacks and riding some rides. I rode Spider-Man and Jenn and I rode VelociCoaster. This was only the second time I have ridden VelociCoaster. 

After browsing the shops in the Harry Potter area, Jenn and I rode Hagrid’s Magical Motorbike. While I have been on Hagrid’s a few times, in the past I’ve always sat on the bike and Jenn in the sidecar; this time we switched. 

Both VelociCoaster and Hagrid's are fun coasters, fast and with nice theming. As the sun went down, we wandered out of the park and through CitiWalk, then headed home.

Early March

For the first two weeks of March, I spent my days off working on the yards or doing projects at the houses. We also went to IKEA and bought some cabinets so Jenn could store the books she sells at conventions and book signings.

On the second Saturday of the month, Jennifer did a book signing at her Barnes & Noble, and Susan got Bryan and a friend into Epcot so they could check out the Flower & Garden Festival and ride the Guardians of the Galaxy coaster. This year the topiaries at the front of the park were characters from Moana.

This week I took a cruiser from Magic Kingdom to the campgrounds. Work continues to progress on the future Lakeshore Lodge.