Finally Home

3,182 miles later we finally made it home Friday night at 8:45 p.m. Good old Iowa humidity awaited us. I've already started a load of laundry and Jim is still sleeping. First day back activities will include laundry, laundry, laundry and mowing the lawn which hasn't been done for a couple of weeks, oh and cleaning out the car from the moutain of pamphlets we picked up along the way. If anyone wants to plan a trip out west, let me know, we probably have a pamphlet or 3 or 100 to help you.

Drive, Drive, Drive

Today was a long day of traveling, about 500 miles. And we lost an hour changing time zones again. We didn't stop and see anything new today. Rather we took a trip down memory lane. In 1995 Jim and I both made separate trips to the Black Hills. Mine was the one we relived. While eating lunch at a rest stop in South Dakota, I said, "I think this is the rest stop the boys and I pulled into when we had car trouble coming home" and sure enough it was. When starting back home with my oldsmobile and fold down camper the water pump went bad. We pulled into this rest area. I remember calling Carl VanDerKamp at the Coop Station in Prairie City from my bag (cell) phone in the car. What do I do? Turn the heater on, it will help cool the engine and try to limp to the next town. So down the road we started. We didn't make it to the next town which was Wall. Sitting along the side of the road, I just remember a car stopping to help. It was some family heading to Ohio for a religious meeting (I had never heard of their group). They offered to take me to the next exit to get something to pour into something (that's been 14 years of memory which elapses me) the problem was they only had room for one person. I'll never forget, I had to make the decision to leave my children on the side of the road. I probably lectured them to stay in the locked car and not open the windows for anyone. We went less than 10 miles got something and headed back to the car. My heart was beating wildly praying the boys would still be there. They were. I always said, God watches out for women and children. The boys would have been 12 and 14. We poured the liquid into the car and limped to Wall. A gas station right off the exit told me where to go in town to find a mechanic. He said he would work on it the next day. Luckily there was a camp ground just a few blocks away. We went and unhooked and drove the car back to the shop. That night we walked around Wall Drug. I remember making spaghetti that night in the camper. Funny what a person remembers. David? Do you remember any of this? The lady that owned the campground was a widow and she was worried I wouldn't have enough money to make it home and wanted to give me money, but I assured her I had a credit card and would be fine. So today, while we didn't go to Wall Drug I drove right to the mechanic's shop and the campground. They're both still there.

Tonight we are in Mitchell, SD, the Corn Palace town. I also remembered the campground along the Interstate at Mitchell the boys and I stayed at. On that trip we had a cassette tape to listen to while driving through SD we had picked up at a Rest Area when first entering SD. When we returned home, I told Jim and Barb about the cassette tape because they were leaving the next week for the Black Hills. They also listened to the tape while driving across SD. But they didn't have car trouble. Lucky them.

No pictures were taken today, just the memories in our minds. But I've included pictures of Old Faithful, and the canyon at yellowstone and an archway in Jackson Hole made entirely of antlers.

Tomorrow we will finally make it to Laura Ingalls Wilder's home in DeSmet (stop laughing and making fun of us) and then home.

Wednesday July 22nd

Today we left Yellowstone. Made a few stops along the way. In 1959 there was an earthquake near Yellowstone that sunk the ground in a given area up to 21 feet. Water in a nearby lake tilted 19 feet and campgrounds nearby began to flood. This all happened at 11:30 p.m. We visited that area. Then on down the road to the Battle Field of Little Big Horn. These white stones are all over the area marking where a U.S. soldier died. Granite markers mark where Indians died. A vast barren area but interesting. What amazes me about the west is the lack of humidity. It was in the 80's today and very tolerable and tonight it will be a wonderful 40-50's and will feel great. I love this climate. Tonight we are sleeping in Sheridan, WY. Tomorrow takes us across South Dakota. Haven't decided if we're going to stop at Mt. Rushmore again as we've both been there before, but it is such a neat place and we'll be so close. The last destination before Prairie City is De Smet, SD. I know some of you are already laughing, but we are Laura Ingalls Wilder fans and we won't be this cloase again for who knows when.

Here We Are

In case you've forgotten what we look like, here we are.

Yellowstone

We have just completed almost 2 days at Yellowstone. I think we saw virtually everything we wanted to. When you think of Yellowstone, what's the first thing you think of...........Old Faithful. We went, we waited an hour for it to go off. It was OK but we agree the thing we liked the most was the Canyon and the waterfalls. The park as a whole is amazing! We saw lots of buffalo and that was great until we were within 14 miles of our hotel and it took 90 minutes to drive that 14 miles because of buffalo on the road (or so we were told by the on coming traffic). Ruined the evening of shopping and the IMAX that I had planned.

Grand Tetons

Sunday and Monday brought us to the Grand Teton National Park. There is just no way a picture can capture the beauty and majesty of the landscape. I just want to sit and stare at them forever. We have seen elk, but we can see those locally at the Neal Smith Wildlife preserve so when we saw a crowd gathered in one location, we decided to check it out. Lucky us, a mother moose and her calf.

Sunday, July 19

Now that I have hopefully turned my picture so it won't be sidewise in this blog, here is a picture of my niece Angela and her faithful companion Maggie. This picture was taken in her front lawn. The big rock at the top is called castle rock. Deer come down almost daily and right into her front yard, which doesn't make her happy because they have eaten her pine tree. She'll replace it and attempt to deer proof it. Thanks Angela for being our tour guide. I LOVE YOUR HOUSE! Hated leaving you behind.

Vacation Days 2&3

Day two was strictly a traveling day, the rest of the way across Nebraska and most of the way across Wyoming. Arrived in Green River where my niece Angela lives. She took us to a very nice up scale restaurant on Friday night. Saturday she was out tour guide, drove our car and we went along for the ride. She took us through Flaming Gorge National Forest. We felt very fortunate that we were able to see Big Horn Sheep. A ranger pointed them out to us at a visitor's center and there were babies! Also took a tour of the damn. Green River is the cleanest river. You can see through the water and watch the fish. Jim is ready to come fishing here. The scenery changes constantly so there is no one picture to depict the entire area. Well worth the visit! It is hot but only 8-12% humidity, very tolerable. Tomorrow we leave for Jackson and the Tetons.

Vacation Day 1

I remember as a kid hating the drive across Nebraska, such a boring place. But as an adult, so far I'd have to say it's kind of like driving across Iowa. I guess I don't view Iowa as bad as Nebraska because it's home. Highlight of today's trip was the Arch at Kearney. Didn't even know it existed until we saw the movie "About Schmidt". It was worth the drive across Nebraska and the fee to go in. We spent two hours there. Kudos to Nebraska for a job well done. Tonight we're in Ogallala and tomorrow we land in Green River, Wyoming. On the downside, I couldn't get the Wifi in this motel to work untiil now, 5:00 a.m. and it has been raining and hailing outside. Sorry for the sideways picture. I seem to be having trouble remembering how to turn those.

New Family Member

Yesterday Buster arrived to David and Alicia's house. He is an 8 week old basset. He chews on everything and sometimes walks on his ears. Very cute! !

Holiday Weekend

Our July 4 started on the 2nd when we took the camper to the State Fairgrounds. During the state fair it is arm pit to arm pit camping, but not true otherwise. We had wide open spaces. We found a great spot to watch the Des Moines Pops Concert fireworks without having to deal with the crowd and traffic of 125,000 people. Saturday we stayed with Payton and Finley while their parents went to the 35/80 concert. We all enjoyed a trip to the Heritage Carousel at Union Park and Grandpa and Payton had a scary ride down the rocket slide.

With the weather being so perfect, we picked a great night to drive to Webster City to see our grandson, Dalton, play in his last game for the season. These eleven year olds only play four innings and some play different positions each inning. Dalton started out as catcher, moved to pitcher, then second base and finally first base. He scored a run and caught a pop fly. They were leading 6-1 but in the end tied 6-6.