Week 5 - we apologise for the lateness of this weeks entry ... as you will see , things got a little hectic.
We stayed just outside of Salida in a town called Poncha Springs (unfortunately the master cylinder went on the Tahoe ... may have had something to do with the 10 mile down hill stretch from the Continental Divide. Fortunately we convinced the local Chevy dealer that this was covered by the warranty) We spent time hiking and riding.
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With Hooligan better and ready for action , Nic devoted a lot of time to him ...
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... unfortunately for Ian that meant he was neglected and got to spend more time with Sniff.
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We enjoyed our extra time in Colorado and have added it the list of "possible places to move to". Sunsets were particularly impressive ... but we had to leave and head to Kansas.
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Kansas was better than the stereotype suggests ... it was flatter than other places but still had some beautiful areas. Sniff and Finn spent time listening to Hooligans "amusing tales of trips accross America". The dogs didn't find the jokes very funny ...
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... however Hooligan thaught his stories were hilarious.
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Hooligan was not laughing in Colby Kansas. We arrived in the afternoon and Hooligan soon set about eating all the grass in sunshine. The weather took a turn for the worse during the night and soon it was pouring with rain ... by 5a.m. the rain was horizontal and freezing to the side of the bus on contact. We got up , fed Hooli a hot breakfast an headed east. This was one of the only instances of bad weather and was definitely the worst.
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During our last stop in Kansas we had a call from our lawyer to tell us that our "Greencard Interview" was scheduled for 10 days time. We were still around 1000 miles short of our destination , needed to book tickets and fly to San Jose for the interview and needed to find a house to buy. We had 10 days ... time to get moving. We found places for Hooligan to stay in the remaining States and started "upping" our daily travel time. The final stop in Kansas provided one of the best stops for Hooligan ...
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... Finnigan also enjoyed himself in the alfalfa fields.
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In Booneville Missouri we found a stable for Hooligan that ended up being a little further away from civilisation than we hoped. There was no nearby accomodation so we stayed in the barn with Hooligan.
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Missouri was also a beautiful state ... maybe not one we would live in but the countryside was great.
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Our next stop was Illinois where we decided to stay an extra day to ride and run in the Shawnee National Forrest.
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Shawnee proved to be a monumental place for Finnigan ... not having been a swimmer until this moment Finn had thaught Nic and Hooligan were going to cross a river. He jumped in and swam to the other side ... unfortunately when he reached the other side he had to come back as the trail did not go that way. He has not been in the water since (except when he had a bath in a Super Motel 8)
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Shawnee also provided a chance to stop and relax before the trip got really busy as we approached Ohio.
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