Well, I am here! It's a bit surreal, and my brain feels a little soupy and fuzzy. I have only every been here during my yearly vacations, so my mind is doing the whole "July, yet not July. Whaa?????" Yeah. The last I left you, my gentle readers, I was working out various aspects of the trip, and still in my apartment. I found a single mom with three kids that needed furniture, so she took the rest of what I had. My landlord found tennants willing to paint, so that saved me a heap of last minute work. Dad came back down and helped me wash the walls. TSP doesn't even remove kerosene smoke. Go figure! So, we did the best we could. After a long last night on the 31st, I was fed a wonderful breakfast by my dear friend Ruth, then gathered up the kitties and headed to Seattle. Smudge, Misty and Pug didn't care for 4 hours in cat cages, but other than the occasional outburst (Pug would rattle his cage bars like an inmate), they did well. They also behaved very nicely at my parent's house. Misty, who I worried about the most, was a big trooper! She was the first to explore and discover the upstairs. She loved going up to see if Dad was watching TV. If he was, she would pounce on his lap as if it were her last chance, and sleep as long as he would let her. Then he would carry her down to my room and set her on the bed. She is the master manipulator! LOL! Dad rigged up a great setup in the car to separate the front from the back, and all three occupants settled in quite nicely. They spent most of the time sleeping. Occasionally Pug would place himself so he could look out the front window between the two seats. Then he would talk to us for a bit. Misty liked peeking out the side windows, and occasionally would view the scenery by looking over the driver's left shoulder. Despite the good riding behavior, I know they are all glad to not be back in the car today. Bill was a great companion. He loves to drive, so he did most of it, and we chatted like gangbusters. We also sang horribly together and made really bad jokes. It was a fabulous trip in all, even if the days were long and our butts were flat and sore every night. He likes it here in New York State, and Diana likes him and has already extended him the invite to show up and stick around whenever he'd like. The scenery was amazing! I think I want to live in west Montana next. It was so stunning I could barely peel my eyes from the scenery. I-90 may not offer the best view, but It offered me more than I had seen before. I crossed the Missisippi, got a tour of the navy pier in Chicago, saw Lake Erie, Lake Michigan, beautiful high country and barren desert. Spotted lots of cows, ground hogs, hawks and beautiful antelopes. Bill has seen many of the places we drove through. He could even say, "Hey. There is this great resturaunt up here that I eat at whenever I head out this way. Lets do lunch there!" Um, can you say awesome? Yeah. Me too! Now I will spend a couple days showing Bill around, and then I will start job hunting. He is thinking about driving to New York since he is so close. Me, I will rent him the car and wave goodbye. I am a country girl at heart, and I want to sit here on the sunporch for the last few weeks of fall and listen to the crickets sing to me with their New York accents. To each their own.