2,924 miles total

What a great trip.  We didn’t drive nearly as many miles as we usually do on road trips through the West but then again, we drove zero miles, or almost zero, 0n five days.  

We managed to get one more breakfast at the Cowpoke Cafe in Lovelock NV and then buzzed home stopping only for gas and potty.   I was supposed to stop at Nation’s at the Nut Tree exit so Bob could get a lemon cream pie but we were listening to the last of our second book on tape of the trip (more about those in a second) and I was so engrossed — as was he, umm — that we were at Travis Air Force base before we realized I had passed it by….. 

Very happy dog met us!! Lots of purring and licking.  Tomatoes, zucchini, flowers, herbs, olive trees all look good.  House cool and neat.  Didn’t take long to unpack the car; brought home four bottles of wine from the original case.   About three loads of laundry….  All is well. 

Some random things that didn’t make it in the daily posts…..

Books on tape:   We both love Stuart Woods’ novels.  They aren’t great literature but they are immensely entertaining, laugh out loud funny sometimes, and good mystery-ish stories.  Our favorites star Stone Barrington who is an ex-NYPD detective, attorney, and randy bon-vivant in Manhatten always with a beautiful woman (or three or six) on his arm/ in his bed.  He eats and drinks Extremely well.  Elaine’s in NYC is his regular hang-out (as it was Stuart Woods) and it will be interesting to see how her passing and its closing are handled.   We listened to the two most recent this trip and have completed the entire Stone Barrington series and also listened to a few of Woods’ Ed Eagle series.  They are easy to listen to and don’t require too much thought or concentration so perfect for long drives and getting ‘lost in your mind’.

The Missoni for Target tangent:   When we were at the bar at the Ore House in Durango CO, there was a couple seated next to us who were in town for a wedding (live in Pueblo CO).  When the guy, who was next to me, went to the loo, I told the woman I liked her dress (I didn’t; I am not a fan of Missoni stripes and zigzags but had a hunch it was Target because… well, she was at the bar at the Ore House… yet I didn’t want to be rude…)  Anyway, she was quite proud that she got it online the day Missoni for Target launched.  She said she had a Target account already and was signed in at midnight; the site was slow and it took about 10 minutes for the dress she wanted to be in her shopping cart but that completing the transaction was quick.   She went to bed and when she signed on again in the morning, everything was sold out.

We are at the bar at Brunelleschi’s in Aspen the next night and the manager/hostess had on the same dress.  When she was chatting up Frank, the local who brought in his bottle of wine (grrrr), she was telling him about her experience on the Target site; it took her two slow hours but she got two dresses, one for her sister.   

(When I was a teenager and we lived on Old State Road in Berwyn PA, one of my steady weekend night gigs was babysitting the baby of the Orr’s who lived across the street.  My Dad used to get a kick out of saying to people, “Sharon is spending the evening at the Orr House.”   Guess you had to be there…. )