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.

Road Trip to Indiana

Lyle and I are headed to Indiana this weekend to host the Sonlight booth at the Fort Wayne Area Homeschool Resource Expo this Saturday, May 16.

We'll be driving to this event. Maybe I can post some pictures along the way, though we won't have a lot of time for sight-seeing.

I know! I can keep tallies! That's always fun. I don't know if anyone else is interested in my tallies, but they amuse me.

Stay tuned.

Homeschool Convention Season 2015

This weekend started my 16th season as a Sonlight Convention Representative. I was at the Home Instruction Ministries Spring Curriculum Fair in Loveland, Colorado. This is my 6th year to be at this event, and I always love starting off the season here, because it's small and friendly... and now that we live in Colorado, close to home.

Sonlight is celebrating their 25th anniversary this year, so our booths have a new look with a blue and silver color scheme. Actually, we are trying several new things this year so it was interesting to see how they worked out... some better than others.

I have a break of a few weeks between conventions before my travel starts in late April. Here's my convention schedule for the rest of the season:

• April 29. IDEA Curriculum Fair. Kenai, Alaska.
• April 30 - May 1. IDEA Curriculum Fair. Anchorage, Alaska.
• May 4 - 5. IDEA Curriculum Fair. Fairbanks, Alaska.
• May 16. FWAHS Resource Expo. Fort Wayne, Indiana.
• May 21-23. FPEA Homeschool Convention. Kissemmee, Florida.
• May 28-30. TTD-CHEO Homeschool Convention. Sandusky, Ohio.
• June 19-20. OCEAN Homeschool Conference. Portland, Oregon.

I'll be flying to most of these events, but Lyle and I plan to drive to the one in Indiana. Yay! Road trip! Flying in and out doesn't allow for much sight-seeing, but I'll try to post something interesting from each trip. After all, life is an adventure regardless of how you travel.

44 Years Ago

About lunchtime today, I got an interesting text message from one of my aunts. She asked if I knew the address of the house my family lived in back in 1969.

I was 3.

Now... I do have a pretty good memory. And I remember quite a few things from when I was 3. But the address of the house we lived in is not one of them.

Another aunt and uncle were trying to find the house, but couldn't remember the address. I suggested asking Mother. They had already done that. She didn't remember either.

We moved away from there that year and don't really have connections there anymore, so I couldn't figure out why they wanted to know.

As it happens, this particular aunt is my Dad's sister. She visited my parents there as a young single lady in 1969. And this particular uncle is my Mother's brother. He was in college there in 1969. And so... my parents played matchmaker. Uncle Keith and Aunt 'Nette had their first date from our house in that small Indiana town 44 years ago today.

 I wasn't much help on their search. All I could remember was that our house had a big front porch and an upstairs. I remember playing on the porch with my twin sisters and baby brother.

Sometimes teen girls from our church would come and take us for a walk.

Later my aunt texted back that they had found the house! I guess they kinda knew the neighborhood well enough to drive around until they found it. So they got an address.

I immediately headed for Google Earth and found a picture of the house as it is now. I thought it was interesting to see how the street and sloping driveway match in the pictures. The tree is different... and a building is gone.

And those sweet little tots? Well, we're all middle-aged now.

Ain't technology grand? Betcha they couldn't done this 44 years ago!

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!

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.