Day 1 - Warning - Long post

Written from a Camp Ground in Twin Falls Idaho

Memories from June 22 –
• We woke up fairly early (for me it was sleeping in), loaded the last bits of stuff, hooked up the trailer and took off. Our goal was to be out the door by 7:15 am, we made it by 7:40 because I was busy ripping a radio theater version of the Chronicles of Narnia to be played on an iPod. Can’t blame anyone but me for that one. ☺
• Cynthia met us at her church (The Rock of Roseville) for the 8:00 am service. Great service and church. If the Cranberries and Sarah McLachlan got saved and did worship, that would be the sound of the team there. There was such a strong team you had no idea who was in charge. The redhead woman who led from her guitar had Sarah’s sound. Two of the leads had extra mics that they used to give directions straight into the ears of the team. We couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the band/vocalists obviously could. The boys enjoyed the children’s ministry – the décor as we walked up was very Disneyesque. Sculpted trees, mountains, etc. and all climable. The service was about 105 minutes (I know, I’ve got a sickness…I analyze everything at other churches), so we got going later than we had planned.
• After church we said goodbye to Cynthia and headed out. After a brief stop at Sonic for Breakfast burritos and a Cherry Lime-ade (of course) we were on the road finally.
• Our next stop was Cabella’s in Boomtown, NV. We spent a good hour there as the boys wandered from display to display looking at the stuffed animals. They had everything: Elephants, Bears, Hippos, Snakes, Big Cats, Huge Fish. Ian talked about it on and off for the rest of the day. In fact, when we stopped at McDonald’s for supper, I heard him high up in the play structure describing it to “his new friends” he met in the tubes.
• Gas is getting cheaper the further East we go. Once we hit the Nevada border, it dropped below $4.20 and we’ve seen it as low as $4.05. Almost makes me sick that we get excited over “cheap” gas over $4.00.
• As we made our way through Nevada listening to the Chronicles of Narnia (we made it through 2 ½ books) Ian kept asking, “Is this the desert?” “I don’t think this is desert, there’s no cactus and it’s not sandy enough.”
• We laughed a lot on and off as we drove. They both say and do the funniest things at different times. At one time, Ian was sleeping and we suddenly heard this weird squealing noise from Brendon…we looked back to find him grinning. He had found a balloon, quietly blew it up, and was making it squeal as he let the air out, watching to see if we’d notice.
o At one time, Brendon asked, “Do we get to stay up late tonight?” Kiley looked at the clock, it was almost nine, she said, “It’s already late, so yes.” We hear a loud, “YES!!!” from the back seat.
• We’ve been watching for different states on License plates and Brendon’s been keeping a list. Surprisingly, we’ve got 13 so far. I’ll have to post the list so far later.
• With so many stops and a later start that we planned, we made our way to Twin Falls after 10 pm mountain time. We pulled into a campground right off the highway, found the last camping spot between several big Class A motor homes, dropped our money into a slot and quietly set up so as not to bother the other campers too much. After we got settled down, Kiley and I laughed for a long time about our “quiet” camp site – sitting 50 yards from the highway. Semis and cars flying by all night long. It’s a plowed field with some real interesting vehicles in it. Can you say, “Red-neck awards?” The bathrooms have “No Smoking” signs that have been cleverly changed into “Please smoke” signs – and people have.