November 21, 2011 - Can You Believe.....???

I'm sitting in one of the scroungiest, yet expensive, motel rooms in Ely, Nevada tonight. Don't always believe the reviews you read on line. This recommendation must have been written by the owner :-( We've never stayed in Ely before, but we wanted to break up our trip home so the drive wasn't so tiring. We usually drive about eleven hours the first day, and eight the second day. This time we decided to drive the approximately 8 hours to Ely today, three or so hours to Jackpot tomorrow, then 8 more hours home on Wednesday. Of course, we had to make sure we could reserve a room where pets are welcome, so I chose this one for the glowing recommendation.....HA! The first room they put us in turned out to have no cable connection on the TV, and no "free WIFI" as advertised. We had to pack up the dogs, their beds, the suitcase, Mr. Granny's freshly made cocktail and move to another room. At least this one didn't have a hole in the wall, and the closet door opens. I got an internet connection that lasted all of five minutes, so this may not get published tonight :-( :-(

(I'm already into double frowny faces, and I've just begun)

Maybe I should begin at the beginning...............

Two weeks after we arrived at our Arizona winter home, it sold! I didn't want to say anything until it was final, and the closing date had been set for December 5. However, both the buyer and we were receptive to an earlier closing date, which turned out to be today. The single, widowed lady fell in love with it at first sight, and would have written us a check right there and then if we hadn't had it listed with a real estate company. As it was, she made a cash offer that was acceptable to us. We didn't make money on the deal, but we had a winter home for seven years and we didn't take a loss on it. We just feel lucky that it sold in this bad economy. It's been on the market for nearly two years! She also bought the furniture, so we didn't have to rent a U-Haul to get it all home. The funny thing about the whole deal was that she actually lives less than five miles from us up in Washington (1200 miles from the AZ property)! She banks at the same credit union that we do, so the funds were withdrawn and deposited at the same bank. And.....her brother-in-law lives in LaGrande, OR. I mentioned we had lived in Baker City. Her b-in-l had (has) a Chevron service station in LaGrande. Mr. Granny had a Chevron service station in Baker City. We knew her brother-in-law well! REALLY small world.

Which brings us back to the trip home.

I've driven through Las Vegas at least twice a year for the last 12 years. No problems. This morning I missed the exit ramp to Interstate 15. I took the next exit, thinking it would eventually display a sign leading us back to the freeway. Nope. Not a single hint as to how to get back without heading south and retracing our route. We actually ended up 35 miles north of the city before stopping for directions. Directions were given to head back toward Vegas, and directions were followed. We ended up on a dead end street. We headed back to the main highway and took the next busy street heading east. Dead end. Back to the highway, inching closer and closer to Vegas, we came alongside a Nevada Highway Patrol car. I gestured for him to roll down his window, and hollered that we were lost and needed to get to I-15. He yelled back the directions (just two more blocks, turn east and it would take us right to the freeway). It only took us two hours of extra driving time to get back on the correct road toward home! The first time we drove through Vegas, Mr. Granny missed a turn and we got lost in a residential area. Our last trip through Vegas and I get lost. Now we're even!

We left the dogs in the motel room and drove to the business district for dinner tonight. We had stopped in Parker for a sausage biscuit at McDonald's at 8:30 this morning and, with our scenic tour of Vegas, had not stopped for lunch. By the time we arrived in Ely, we were starving! I downed a delicious dinner salad, a large salt baked potato with butter and sour cream, and two pork ribs from a barbecued half rack. I took out the leftovers and put them in with the frozen foods, so I'll have another treat once I arrive home. Mr. Granny had a huge breakfast for his dinner, for just $5. We'll definitely hit that place for breakfast tomorrow morning. We're ignoring our diets for these two days. After all, he's already lost 12 pounds and I'm down 16. It took me 2 1/2 months, it took him just 4 weeks. We'll get back "on the wagon" after Thanksgiving dinner at our daughter Amy's house.

Looks like I might be back on line for the moment, so I'd better get this published! Hopefully I'll be back soon, with my home connection and no more internet problems!