Travel Stats for Tuesday/Wednesday

Continuing this week's whirlwind travelogue...

Time in Missouri with family for Dad Cook's funeral: not quite 21 hours.
Departed Missouri Military Cemetery at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri: 1:45 p.m. CDT on Tuesday.
Hours driven: 27.5
Hours slept: 3.5
Miles driven: 1,783 miles [I drove twice coming home for a total of about 200 miles while Lyle slept a little more. Otherwise, he did all the driving.]
Average speed: 64.4 mph
Fuel mileage: 33.4 mpg
States: Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho
Time zones: 3
Wildlife spotted: Not much on the way home. Saw a dead skunk on the road, but I guess roadkill doesn't exactly count as wildlife, though, does it? Saw a squirrel at a rest area.
Weather: rain in Missouri for about the first 6 hours yesterday afternoon, very cold with snow on the ground in South Dakota through the night, snow flurries in eastern Montana this morning, warm and sunny across central and western Montana this afternoon.
Audio books: finished The Racketeer, started Forbidden by Ted Dekker.
Car Talk podcast: 2 episodes
Other audio: Sunday's sermon from our home church, Sirius radio channels-- Road Dog, Radio Classics, Laugh USA, Enlighten.
Arrived home: 7:00 p.m. PDT on Wednesday.
Thursday's destination: Redmond, Washington for the Christian Heritage conference.

Travel Stats for Monday

Departed Sioux Falls, South Dakota: 7:30 a.m. CDT
Hours driven: 9.5
Miles driven: 592
Average speed: 62.3 mph
Fuel mileage: 35.2 mpg
States: South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri (also within spitting distance of Nebraska and Kansas)
Time zones: 1
Wildlife spotted: rabbit... cows, horses... oh, wait! Those aren't wildlife. Never mind.
Weather: rain, sunshine
Audio book: continuing The Racketeer until the battery died on my MP3 player
Car Talk podcast: 1 episode
Arrived Rolla, Missouri: 5:00 p.m. CDT.
Tuesday's destination: unknown (will be headed back home, after the funeral, as far as we can go before we need to stop to sleep)

Travel Stats for Sunday

Here's a map of our route for the first part of this week. And because these are the kinds of stats Lyle likes to have a record of...

Departed Post Falls, Idaho: 9:00 p.m. PDT

Hours driven: 18

Hours slept: 4

Miles driven: 1,200

Average speed (not counting sleep time): 66.7 mph

Fuel (not gas) mileage: 34.8 mpg

States: Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota

Time zones: 3

Wildlife spotted: deer, antelope, brown bunnies

Weather: rain, snow flurries, sunshine

Audio book: The Racketeer by John Grisham

Car Talk podcast: 1 episode

Arrived Sioux Falls, South Dakota: 9:00 p.m. CDT.

Monday's destination: Rolla, Missouri.

Good-night, John Boy!

Sunshine...

... on the South Dakota prairie. Still driving...

It's Snowing...

...near Livingston, Montana. Just flurries. The road is clear and dry. Making good time.

Wheat Montana

Breakfast time! Today's destination: Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

On the Road Again

My travel season is getting ready to ramp up with several homeschool convention trips in the next two months. Additionally, we have an extra, unexpected trip this week. My father-in-law passed away, so we are getting ready to make a very fast trip to Missouri for the funeral.

As usual, I'll be blogging about our travels along the way, but I expect a lot of the pictures will be taken out the car window as we drive along. No time for leisurely stops and sight-seeing.

Life is always an adventure, isn't it?

Tunnel of Gold - review

Tunnel of Gold is the second installment in Susan K. Marlow's Goldtown Adventure series for tweens. Twelve-year-old Jem is caught in the thick of things when trouble erupts in Goldtown with a disagreement between the rich mine owner and the Chinese immigrants over the rights to a previously abandoned mine. Jem, his younger sister Ellie, and greenhorn cousin Nathan, are trying to do what they can to help the sheriff-- Jem's pa. Then along comes a new boy. Chad Carter is the son of an out-of-town investor who is in Goldtown on business. When Chad learns the whole story, he joins with the other kids in their efforts to save the town.

Fans of Susan's previous series will recognize Chad's name as the older brother of Andi Carter--the main character in Circle C Adventures. It was neat to think about this story taking place 16 years earlier, before Andi was born, when her father was still alive and her brother was a kid.

Susan's books are well-written and engaging, even for us "kids" who are a "little" older than her target demographic. She offers lapbooks and free study guides to go along with each title which makes them great for homeschoolers. The third book in this series, Canyon of Danger, will be out in the fall. You can read my review of the first book, Badge of Honor, here.

Today I'm Praying for...

...my father-in-law who had a stroke a few days ago.

...my uncle who is in the hospital.

...a friend's sister who lost her baby yesterday.

Join me?

Artsy Collections

It's been awhile since I've showed you what I've been up to on Etsy. Just this past week some of the items from my shop have been featured in several beautiful treasury collections. It's always so fun to see the variety of beautiful items available on Etsy. Sometimes things pop up in treasury collections that I would have never thought to search for. Check out all the neat products that have been assembled with my very own washcloths and mug cozies in these collections:

Forest Cotton

Denim Blues

shades of blue

lemon up

Gifts for her ~ Sage Green

 Bright and Mellow Yellow

Chicken Update #4

I'm told it's past time for an update on The Girls. Looking back at the previous update, I have to agree. These little biddies are growing and changing practically before our very eyes!

 They moved from their brooder to their coop last weekend. This morning when I went out to check on them, they were cuddled together in one of the nesting boxes.

 As soon as they saw me they decided it was time for breakfast. So they headed out the door and down the ramp to the feeding trough.

They are curious little things. So much fun to watch and talk to. They move around so fast that it's hard to get a good picture of all four of them at once.

Early Spring

Our beautiful spring weather continues. Easter was a bright, sunny day with balmy temperatures. A lovely day for worshiping, relaxing, and fun family activities. We opted not to go to the early service or breakfast at church, due to the long hours Lyle had worked last week. After putting in 77 hours, he decided that it might be wise to sleep in a bit.

Late in the evening we went for a walk in Falls Park. I thought we might see some ducklings, but maybe it's still a little early for babies yet. We'll be sure to check back soon.

 But look here! See the tiny yellow flowers in the grass? Spring is officially here! (Still no blooms in my yard... but Falls Park is only about 2 miles away, so it can't be long.)

 Lots of water flowing over the dam, but it's still not at full capacity. One side of the gates was not completely open. I expect the snow on the mountains will be melting pretty quickly now, if the sunny days we're enjoying continue.

Happy Spring!