You know you’re almost when…you get to Baker, CA, and stop in at The Mad Greek diner for some treats.  Crazy place, good food and wacky decor as you’ll see.

See, the decor is well, umm, ahh....

"Sgt. Urbanski I know you've been in the car forever, but do you think climbing up the statue is a good idea?"

Hmm, wondering who else had the climbing idea, too??

Back in the car to the destination du jour…some lil town in southeastern CA…for the night.

Pack up one more time…and let’s head home.  The last leg of our trip seemed long, maybe because it was mostly on Highway 5 and that’s a familiar sight.  We were certain that there more no more SUP’rtunities for this trip….WHEN….we saw this one lil sign and waterway.

SUP'rtunity!!! One last time for the trip...

Next stop:  Home Sweet Home…as Michael would say Bed Sweet Bed…those hotel/motel beds are an interesting sort…some of ‘em will last a lifetime as they’re like a board!

The first of the many Utah state signs...

Now, this is some distraction from the miles of ribbons of highway!

Knaab, UT…who would have thought of such a name for a lil town…with some delicious treats!

Who can resist?? Not Sgt. Urbanski and The Monroe's!

Goldie Locks (a.k.a. Mia) and the three bears of sorts!

Sgt. Urbanski and Mia are all smiles with full bellies...

Slowly but surely we are truly heading West to go home, we’re back on our time zone, that’s progress!

Here’s some more photos on our way West:Click to view slideshow.

Moving westward...AZ

Just look up...but keep your eyes on the road, Michael!

Can't think of a more creative word than...WOW! Just let the photo speak the other 999 words.....

We came through the latter part of our drive through the Navajo Nation in the dark and didn’t see the last 60 miles or so coming in to the Lake Powell area.  The next morning we awoke to see magnificent beauty ALL OVER, every direction.  A landscape that left us speechless and Kelly clicking with her camera.

We enjoyed a delicious breakfast and then headed out on our SUP boards for a day of paddle.  The water was like glass, the weather getting hot and the sky’s blue and dotted with just the right amount of clouds.

Michael and Mia making progress to other side to explore.

We paddled and paddled across the lake to get to one of the many inlets, and it was amazing and still calm.

Look at the size of those rocks compared to Mia!

…and more…

Kelly's paddle and explorin' about...

After a nice exploration and we started to think about heading back to the dock…and the winds picked up and up and up…the winds came up to over 25 m.p.h. out of what seemed to be no where.  We tried to fight it, but the waves came up and it was apparent we were stuck.  We approached a kind boating family…and they put our boards on the boat and took us back to the marina, our starting point.  Lesson learned….we’d love to go back, but renting a house boat to get to and fro to the beautiful inlets!

Here’s the photo shoot…Click to view slideshow.

Another time zone...and sign to prove it!

And yet another state sign...getting closer to CA!

We all had a preconceived notion of catus, arid land, heat and blue, blue sky….and no water in sight…when we considered New Mexico…just a place to drive through to get to Lake Powell.  Boy ‘o boy, were we wrong!  New Mexico is beautiful, many sights to see…and filled with lakes and SUP’rtunities galore.

We first “landed” at Brantly Lake..and then heard about The Bottomless Lakes up by Roswell.  Well, since pictures over a 1000 words, we’ll stop typing and play the slide show–a definite must-see-again state!

We stopped in this lil’ town called Sonora in search of a bit of food…and we found a patriotic town with a great deal of pride and respect for its troops.  On lamp posts throughout the town, there were banners hanging with the individual names of locals who are serving our country.  It was very touching.

God Bless Our Troops.

Pecos is a strange ‘lil town, down on its luck, but has a Wally World..go figure…  In our circle searching (literally) for a grocery store, we did come across this beautiful American flag painted on an abandoned building.

A building in Pecos.

Next stop, driving north through New Mexico to Albuquerque.

Our view from our room....SUP'rtunity!

“Wow, look at the river!  Last one in’s a rotten egg!” called out Sgt. Urbanski.  The sun was out, skies were clear and the SUP’rtunity was just right.

Sgt. Urbanski and Mia waiting to SUP!

Sgt. Urbanski and Kelly SUP'ing the Comal River at sunset.

Michael and Mia paddling up the Comal River, just around the corner would be lots of people in tubes!

Mia and Kelly coming back down the Comal...goin' with the flow!

The next morning we awoke to clouds, clouds…and likely a whole lotta’ rain for the day.  But as bad as that might sound, it really turned out great—apparently many who would want to come to Schlitterbahn on  a warm day (making very, very long lines for everything) don’t like to be like a duck in the pouring rain!

The place was practically empty and the lines were short…and we were prepared with rain/splash gear and were totally comfortable all day long.

Wow, look at all those waterslides!

There are so many fun photos for our day together on the slide, that it’s best shown as a slideshow….

Thanks for the GREAT ideas on SUP'rtunities in downtown!

We called ahead to learn about SUP’rtunities in Austin, and Andy from Austin Paddle was so very generous with sharing all the right places to paddle.  His kindness and interest  in our fun made our SUPday in Austin just perfect.  Be sure to contact Austin Paddle when you’re in Austin!

Austin was our first paddle experience within  a downtown setting and we enjoyed many, many photo ops!

We were rewarded with a great place after a bit of circle searching.

We were greated by Austin's City Gang....of begging, no make that demanding, ducks. There were relentless and not fearful of people in the least.

"Wow, look at this! This is just beautiful!"

Kelly and Mia and the reflections

Michael with downtown in the background

The three of us together!

Mia's paddle confidence is wonderfully captured in this reflection.

Time for a rest in the shade, this heat and humidity is pretty high...even at 9 a.m.

Those are a few of the favorite photos and here’s the slide show.  R, if you’re reading this, wanna check out Austin next year?Click to view slideshow.

We drove from Pensacola to Orange, Texas,  and sat in many miles of traffic…but now we’ve made it to the great state of Texas!

Jason, Da Quilt, Kelly, Sgt. Urbanski and Mia

We had a great time visiting with Jason and being a small part of your day.  Enjoy your quilt and thank you for the donation to our favorite charity, www.soldiersangels.org.

Jason and Sgt. Urbanski with Jason's Pillow To Hold Onto

Next stop, Cracker Barrel with Sgt. Urbanski–makes us think of the wonderful time we had together with the Urbanski’s last summer!

The Monroe Family and Sgt. Urbanski at Cracker Barrel!

Mia and Sgt. Urbanski rockin' at Cracker Barrell!!

Then the journey west to Pensacola…that’s a long trip with miles and miles….and miles of road….We stopped at Walton Beach (I hope that’s its correct name!)…and it surely was amazing, beautiful and sad because of the effects of the oil spill.

What a beautiful treasure!

Kelly befriended a “look-out” friend, Jon!  She climbed up on a lifeguard lookout post and joined Jon…and then had to have lots of help getting back down!

Here’s a photo of all us after the “help” from Michael to get down….

Here's Jon! We met when Kelly climbed up a lifeguard tower to take photos....and, well the getting down wasn't, um, so easy!

And a photo of the three of us…

We took turns with a family taking eachother's photos--Thank YOU!

Here’s a slide of the day…Click to view slideshow.