Weekend Road Trip

We spent all day Friday and Sunday driving so we could be in Nampa, Idaho for my parents' 50th anniversary celebration on Saturday.

It took us just over 13 hours to get there. We averaged 66 mph with 5 stops on Friday, so it was a long day in the car. Lyle did all the driving. The girls were content with their earbuds in the back seat. The dog and the guinea pig went along, too, and rode in the back of our Jetta wagon. We put our car-top carrier on for luggage.

Laura and I entertained ourselves as we drove along by snapping pictures, posting them to Instagram and Facebook, and texting them to friends and family.

I love the scenery out west!

On Saturday we all gathered in my brother's yard for family pictures.

My sister is the "real" photographer in the family, and she took the portraits.

Me? I snapped a few shots of the men with their heads under the 1949 Chevy pickup...

...and one of the yard, just because I thought it was so pretty with the morning sunlight streaming through the trees.

 That afternoon we had a "party" with cake, family trivia games, and a slide-show of family pictures over the years. It was a fun day.

On Sunday morning we started home again.

We stopped to stretch our legs at Shoshone Falls in Twin Falls, Idaho...

...and then headed on down the road, through the salt flats of Utah...

...and through the mountains of western Colorado...

...and made it safely home again.

It was a good trip.

Moving Day 2

 It was 4 degrees below zero when we left Bozeman this morning just before sunrise. We were a little concerned that one or more of our vehicles wouldn't start in such cold temperatures, but everything started right up so were off to a good start. We wonder if any of our belongings were ruined by such extreme conditions, but obviously we couldn't carry everything into the hotel!

I did carry in my pet house-plant which I've had for more than 40 years. Unfortunately, I didn't realize I should cover it just to carry it across the parking lot. Today it's looking pretty traumatized. Most of the leaves have turned black and limp. But it's a hardy little thing and has survived many hardships over the years, so I'm hopeful the root is still alive and it will come back. We'll see.

 Many of you have told us that you are praying for us. I can't tell you how much that means to us. We haven't run into any precipitation so far, though there has been wind, blowing snow, and ice. However, we can sense your prayers. Every time I start feeling nervous about the road conditions I can almost feel the angels all around us! So... THANK YOU for praying!

Laura took this panoramic shot of our little convoy at one of gas stops. It's not exactly been a fun trip, but we are making it okay. It's definitely an adventure!

Later this week I hope to share more of the details of how God has been working in our lives to lead us to this move.

Tomorrow's destination: Our new home in Highlands Ranch, Colorado!

Travel Stats: Day 10

Departed Belle Fourche, South Dakota: 7:45 a.m. MDT
Hours driven: 10:40
Miles driven: 791
Average speed: 74.1 mph
Fuel mileage: 32.4 mpg
States: South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho
Other VW Jetta wagons spotted: 2 (white, black)
Weather: heavy rains and wind through Wyoming and eastern Montana, which made it a little scary passing semis on the two-lane
Read-Aloud: the first few chapters of Trim, Healthy Mama by Serene Allison and Pearl Barrett
Car Talk podcast: 2 episodes
Also listened to: yesterday's sermon
Arrived home: 6:00 p.m. PDT

Happy to be safely home! I'll post a trip wrap-up next, just for the record.

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!

Road Trip Wrap-Up

 We traveled approximately 4,100 miles in 9 days. That averages out to 450 miles a day, but of course, the distances were different each day. Monday and Friday were the only days we didn't travel.

 Yesterday was our longest day on the road, from Casper, Wyoming to Post Falls, Idaho. It was 811 miles and took us about 13.5 hours. Lyle did all the driving the entire trip. It's his Thing, you know. Because we were pulling a trailer, he tried to keep the speed at 65mph or under. That was hard for him.

 I love traveling through the western states and watching the scenery gradually change. It is so unpopulated and the wide open road beckons. Every couple hours I reached for my camera and snapped pictures through the windshield. No signs of green in the roadside grass this far north just yet.

 As we approached the mountains we ran into some light rain, which eventually turned to snow.

Lookout Pass on I-90, on the Montana-Idaho state line, was snow-covered and slippery. That was the only "bad road" we had the entire trip. It was snowing there as we left and still snowing as we came home. I wonder if it snowed there the entire time we were traveling?

That was about an hour-and-a-half from home, and the snowy part was only a few miles. It's cool and damp at home, but I am confident spring is really just around the corner. Daylight Saving Time helps with that notion.

Needless to say, I have a very long To-Do list today.

"Road Trip Wrap-Up" blog post... Check.

Now I'm off to do the next thing.

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.