African Safari

So I went to Africa for the weekend... um, I mean Sandusky, Ohio. It just seemed like Africa. Or at least a touristy facsimile of Africa.  The Teach Them Diligently conference was held at the Kalahari Resort, which has an African theme. It also features an indoor-outdoor water park. It is near Cedarpoint theme park, so I guess families in that part of the country go there on vacation.

The hotel and water park part of the resort were kinda cheesy, but the convention center itself was tastefully decorated with lots of African art and artifacts. It was interesting to just walk down the halls and see the various pieces.

 Sherry enjoys posing for silly pictures, so she took up with a couple of characters.

The conference went well. There were some slow times, but in general we were pretty steadily busy talking with homeschoolers.

Faux Africa aside, I was within 5 miles of Lake Erie and didn't even see it. We had planned to drive over to at least snap a few pictures on Saturday but it was pouring down rain, so we didn't. I changed planes in Nashville and Chicago and didn't see a bit of those cities, either. I guess you just have to find something interesting wherever you are, in case it doesn't work out to go out of your way for more sightseeing.

This concludes my ramblin' afield for May. I wonder what our next adventure will be?

And Back Again

It was a lovely weekend with lots of driving, which is the way we like it! We drove from St. Louis to Fort Wayne on Friday, stopping for a bit in Greenfield, Indiana where I have relatives. I knew I wouldn't have much time to visit, but I had hoped to at least have a chance to say hi.

As it happens, Friday was my aunt Rachel's birthday. I had texted her to see if we could meet for lunch. She was tied up with work that morning, so she wasn't sure if it would work out or not. I texted her when we got into town. She said it would be a little longer before she would be available, but for us to go ahead and eat lunch, and she would join us as quick as she could.

Lyle asked if I would rather eat at Wendy's or Taco Bell. "Eh. Doesn't matter. Taco Bell, I guess." So he pulled into Taco Bell. About then Rachel called to see where we were. She asked if I had talked to Aunt Dee, who also lives there. I told her I hadn't called her because I didn't know how long we would be there.

I hung up the phone and Lyle said, "Aunt Dee's right there." I looked up and sure enough. Can you believe she was just coming out of Taco Bell with her lunch in her hand? Her car was parked next to ours! I opened my door and said, "Lady! Hey, lady!" She did a double-take and said, "Oh, Karla! Don't scare me like that!"

It was so fun to get to see her. I told her what we were doing and invited her to take her lunch back into the restaurant and eat with us. So she did. I thought it was awfully nice of God to arrange that little meeting for us. If I had chosen Wendy's, or if we had been just 5 minutes later we would have missed her.

Rachel joined us a few minutes later. Then we stopped by their office on our way out of town to say hi to her husband and daughter. We hadn't seen any of them since 2008. That's just way too long.

We got to Fort Wayne in time to set up the Sonlight booth that evening.

Saturday was a busy day at the convention. We had pretty steady traffic through the booth and were definitely ready to put our feet up by the end of the day.

We drove part of the way home on Sunday and enjoyed a relaxing day off. Today was our main travel day. We had lovely weather all the way. We didn't stop much but appreciated the novelty of rolling farm-land scenery through Iowa and Nebraska.

And so, we made it safely home again.

Travel Stats: Day 9

My fans (a.k.a. my kids and my mother) are complaining because I haven't been keeping up with my blog. I hate to disappoint anyone, so here is today's update.

Departed Nashville, Tennessee: 9:08 p.m. CDT.
Hours driven: 19.5
Hours slept: 4.5 (in the car just east of St. Louis)
Miles driven: 1,332
Average speed: 68.3 mph
Fuel mileage: 36.4 mpg
States: Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota
Other VM Jetta wagons spotted: 1 (It was black. At a gas station. I asked Lyle if he sang the Veggie Tales song, I Like Your Car, to the other guy. He said no, but they did exchange pleasantries. I think he should have sung, don't you?)
Weather: overcast with scattered showers throughout the day
Audio book: The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn
Lum and Abner MP3: 1 episode
Also listened to: highlights from Indy 500 qualifying, Laugh USA, and enLighten on Sirius radio
Arrived Belle Fourche, South Dakota: 7:57 p.m. MDT.
Monday's destination: Home again!

Travel Stats: Day 5

Departed Rolla, Missouri: 11:05 a.m. CDT
Hours driven: 5:05
Miles driven: 331
Average speed: 45.6 mph
Fuel mileage: 40.1 mpg
States: Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky
Wildlife spotted: toad, turtle, squirrel (we see more "dramatic" wildlife out west, I think!)
Other VM Jetta wagons spotted: 0
Weather: sunny and hot... and humid
Car Talk podcast: 1 episode
Rivers crossed: Mississippi, Ohio
Arrived Paducah, Kentucky: 4:10 p.m. CDT
Attended Wednesday night Bible study at the Nazarene church pastored by a college friend whom we hadn't seen in 29 years.
Thursday's destination: Nashville, Tennessee for the Teach Them Diligently convention.

Family Camp

For part of our vacation we wanted to attend an old-fashioned campmeeting like Lyle and I remember going to when we were kids. There aren't many around any more, but we had heard about Mode Camp in Illinois where some of our college friends attend, so we had made arrangements to spend a few days there.
The campground is somewhat primitive but it is nestled on a shady hillside in the middle of farm country... and the grounds were meticulously clean and well-maintained. It was a relaxing setting and we were made to feel very welcome!
The services were uplifting and inspiring. We were challenged and encouraged.

A Business Trip

The dog beat me to the front door at 5:30 yesterday morning when we heard the familiar diesel engine of our Dodge Ram pull into the driveway. Lyle had been gone since Friday, so we were eager to welcome him home. He came in, unpacked, took a shower, grabbed a cup of coffee and went to work. Nothing terribly unusual about that, except that he and his brother had been driving all night and all the previous day!

The print shop where Lyle works had bought a printing press on eBay. It was in Minneapolis. So he and his brother (owner of the shop) made arrangements to go pick it up the same weekend as the big printing trade show in Chicago. That would just work out great, of course! They could leave here at noon on Friday and by driving all night Friday night, and all night Monday night, attend the print show, pick up the printing press, and be back to work on Tuesday morning.

3,600+ miles in less than 4 days!

Middle-aged men, mind you! I think they are both crazy!

Here's the load they went after:
And here's how they got it off the truck:I hope the press works out well for them. I am grateful they made the trip safely!

State Thimbles

As promised, here is a picture of the thimbles I collected on our trip last week. Just thought I'd show them to you as part of Kelli's Show & Tell.

I have the thimbles lined up in the order I got them.

The first one is actually not a state thimble. I picked it up at a garage sale earlier this summer for a dime! After I noticed how well it fit in the tiny lower cubbies of my type case, I decided I'd like to collect more thimbles.

The second thimble is metal. I got it at WalMart in Butte, Montana, not realizing that the prettier ceramic thimbles would be available at gas station convenience stores along the way, at a cheaper price. Once I discovered that, I decided to focus my collection on that style of thimble. Which explains why I'm missing thimbles from Minnesota and North Dakota. The places we stopped in those states that had thimbles only had the more expensive/less attractive metal ones. I decided I could hunt for pretty ones from those states another time.

That's a pretty good start, don't you think? I will enjoy adding to my collection as we travel.

Of course, I'll probably add Idaho and Washington this weekend!

Home Again!

"Only" 10 hours in the car today. We were grateful to get home safely. We had a wonderful time but we're exhausted... and it's back to work tomorrow.

We enjoyed spectacular scenery as we hurtled across the country. I was surprised at some of the pictures I managed to take from the car at 70 mph!

I-90 weaving through the mountains of north Idaho.

"Purple mountains majesty."
Taken from the WalMart parking lot in Butte, Montana.

Somewhere in Wyoming.

There were several prairie dogs along the highway near a toll booth in Colorado.

Crossing the Mississippi River near St. Louis.

Driving past the Indianapolis Speedway.

Chicago skyline.

Sunset in North Dakota.