Blog Hiatus/Mavis News

Hi Everyone! I appreciate your continued patience with me. I haven't posted in a while as I now have a semi-regular job and unfortunately my laptop "blow'd up real good" as they used to say in the day. So, I've been doing what I can with what I got. In other news, my traveling companion Mavis is no longer with us. She was suffering from what we think is cancer and it necessitated me to plop my tush in a relatively stable environment for a couple of months while I treated her to a backyard full of yummy smells for her remaining days, courtesy of my mom's place in Pennsylvania. I had to put her down, and am constantly having to remind myself that it was for the best because she was, to her last day, entirely loving and trusting of me, even to the point where she wagged her tail for the vet who was there to do the deed. I miss her a lot.

I promise to post soon though. I have yet to share with you some of my favorite places on my trip, including new libraries!   

Thank Yous for the New Year

Happy New Year from Kelly & Mavis!

Many of you have wondered just what the heck happened to my blog updates.  In short, December was a very busy month and took me away from ready WiFi availability as well as my return to the Chicago area to see my friends and family for the holidays.  I have also been grappling with the fact that my travelling companion and fur baby, Mavis, has cancer and needs a more stable place to be for the time being. December was a challenge in all respects, but I am writing up my adventures that I took beforehand and will drop them into my blog periodically. Thank you for your continued support.  Speaking of which... 

Thanks are due to my friend and librarian, Cheryl Diane Collins for her financial support (and so much more).  Diane was and is my mentor in so many ways.  She was the first librarian that showed me the ins and outs on how to be an effective and caring person at the reference desk and has continued to be nothing but a wonderful friend and mentor. Diane has a whole phalanx of patrons and coworkers who love her unconditionally due to her stellar and unfortunately mostly unsung performance at the Forest Park Public Library.  I have to tell you, it's a hard act to follow.  It boggles the mind that she will be retiring at the end of this week after her service of more than a decade.  I love you, Diane, and enjoy your well-deserved retirement!

Additional thanks go to my friend Jacque Cunnigham who has generously contributed again to my project as well.  I can't do this without you!   

Quickies: Mavis and I Make it to the Pacific

So after what seemed like weeks of brown, dry, tumbleweed-laden desert, I crossed Oregon and went through the Willamette range.  Bang!  Just like that I saw green again, and lots of it.  Although I was amazed by the stark beauty of the volcanic area I had just passed though (otherworldly is a good word for it) my heart leapt when it saw the mountain peaks looming on the horizon.  It was a beautiful trip, one I highly recommend.  As some of you have picked up on, I tried to take U.S. Route 20 as far as I could from Chicago to the Pacific.  I failed in some instances by having to dip southward due to weather or just the need to see a more urban environment (the eastern slope of Colorado, for example).  But I made my way back to 20 and followed it through Oregon.  I ended up in Newport, Oregon.  End of the line.  Finis.  I found myself tearing up when I went over that last hill and saw the Pacific finally.  

Newport was lovely and had a public beach which was pet friendly.  Mavis went down with me and sniffed a bit.  I don't think she liked the roar of the ocean though.  I, however, was thrilled. I later found out that the many places in the town of Newport have municipal (free) wifi.  It was lovely.    

Gallery below: A.) Look! It's brown. With bits of dark green. But mostly brown.  B.) The ocean from the parking lot at the end of U.S. Route 20, next to Don Davis Park.  C.) Whale bones near the beach reminding people of Newport's past as a whaling town.  D.) A view from the beach to the houses perched on the cliffs above.  Lucky people.  E.) A poem inscribed on a Vietnam Veterens' memorial in Don Davis Park.  

Quickies: Mavis Enjoys the Sweet, Sweet Smell of Bison

Mavis can't see 'em, but likes being downwind of bison/buffalo.  Coincidentally, both of them enjoy eating grass.  Guess which one of them gets sick from it.

Camping at the Badlands National Park didn't cost me nuthin' not including my National Parks pass.  I didn't have running water and had to get to the campsite via a very-washboarded gravel road, but it was well worth it.  We were down from a prairie dog colony where we could hear the squeaks at night, and also had the company of two-to-three bison.  They blithely walked through the campground as if nothing was in their way, and you know, they were right!

Quickie: A Basset in Bassett

Mavis sniffs Bassett, Nebraska.  She thinks the spelling is incorrect, though.