Let it rain, who cares, we need it everywhere in Florida. Tony, I am building a shrine to you for the Mother raspberry plant. Are you not going to grow them any more?? I am so excited that I will be meeting up with all my old and new gardening buds at the swap. It is going to be so much fun!! I just hope we have the sense to finally go home and not decide to sit forever comiserating while Ricky & Karen are getting tired of all of us invading their home, which is lovely!! Ricky's BBQ is OUTSTANDING, so if this is a first time for you, be prepared to enjoy his masterpiece! And then there is all the accoutrements everyone else brings. Talk about PIG OUT!! I am on the road tomorrow at 2 to spend the evening on the east coast with a very special friend. (please don't tell Lady I burnt the brownies today and threw them out-I never burn food!!) I completely forgot they were in the oven and went out to get my plants together. Sprinkle seedlings and get everything ready to pack in the car. See ya'all Sunday!! Drive safe everyone!

Ride my bike, ride my bike, ride my bike.... got to really ride my mtn bike a lot the next two weeks to get my legs into better shape for my big climb in the Virgin River Gorge. Got to climb up 2,000 ft or more elevation through cactus. Can't wait! The riding should make the scramble much easier. I want to drop a few pounds, but the ladies at work are such great cooks! I keep getting cookies, baked treats, potluck lunches, birthday party dinners, I hate to say no. Everyone is so nice. Don't want to hurt feelings.... also, who wants to turn down this awesome food? mmmm..... So, I am on the Bill Clinton diet: Eat Eat Eat junk food, then run, workout, and hope for a middle of the road result. Hey, Jennmonkey, have a blast! Oh, for the snow? See if your BF would want to stop in to a sporting goods store and "RENT" some snowshoes for the trip? Call around- you may spend about 8 - 12 dollars to rent them. Ever snowshoed? it's something different for sure.

I wish I'd seen this thread before posting mine! Yes, you can use a pressure cooker on the propane stove. I had a pressure cooker in my RV (and plan to put it in the camping equipment for this summer's trip). I have also used it on the white-gas stove (older Coleman model), when we were renovating the kitchen at home. We looked at those 12-volt refrigerators. My husband was annoyed that he got rid of his after leaving the trucking industry. Well, how could we know! Thanks for the tips on the newer ones. As far as camping reservations go: from experience, the national park campgrounds fill fast. Many of them are on the reservation system, and others (like in Arches) will require you to start trolling through the CG at daybreak, looking for departing campers. Our trip is about the same length as yours, though we are staying in motels and with friends and family instead of tent-camping. From experience with long trip tent camping, though, you'll want to get a motel room or find a truck stop with reasonably priced showers (bring shower shoes) every 3-4 days. Your trip sounds like a lot of fun -- we're heading from CA to ME via Orlando, FL, and back through MO (daughter, son-IL and new granddaughter live there). So we're going opposite of you, grin. I've placed a link to a great resource for road-trip planners. It's one of my favorite Internet sites. Donna Here is a link that might be useful: Road Trip America

we did not camp Grand Teton NP in the fall, but did volunteer there for the entire season in 2011. We worked at the visitors center at Flagg Ranch, and lived in our camper at Coulter Bay. That has to be our favorite "camping" trip ever. Let me make one comment about your photo of Mt. Moran. The pegmatite and limestone cap are to the right of the "skillet" in your photo...I believe your photo is inverted. The Pegmatyte (the dark nearly verticle stripe) that runs up to the top of the peak is a different kind of rock that filled a crack in the base rock while the mountain was still far below the surface, and the darker rock was molten. The tiny white line that touches the Pegmatyte at the top on the left is limestone that was above the rock of the mountain before it was lifted above the ground, and has not yet abraded away. The skillet is a patch of snow that usually does not melt in summer. I called it a guitar, because skillets are round, and its not. The rangers did not like me to do that, but I took a "volunteers privilege" and did it anyway.... Your photo brought back a summers worth of wnderful memories...Thank you. Bill