Tired, tired family

Today was a monster day, even though we planned for it not to be. I started out the day with a jog through Buffalo, WY. Buffalo isn't as big as I remember. Of course, none of these Wyoming towns are nearly as big as my childhood memories make them out to be. You know you're in the back country when the crosswalks have directions posted on them...seriously. "When the white man is showing, you may walk. When the red hand is blinking, please don't start crossing the street. When the red hand is present, don't cross the street." Where have these people been the past 15 yrs? I guess the directions telling us to turn at THE light, should have been a clue in :). Anyway, I digress. By the time it was time to turn around and head back to the campground, I was in the historic downtown area and it really was lovely.

We packed up our trailer in the beautiful wooded campsite and headed out for Devil's Tower and to spend the night in a hotel (the first such treat since we left a week ago, though last Saturday seems a lifetime ago now). Halfway between Buffalo and Gillette, our other trailer tire blew. So, I now have two sets of pictures of Michael changing a trailer tire on the interstate. Unfortunately, the furtherest east Les Schwab Tire Center in existence is in Pocatello, ID (been there, used them). This one we had to pay to replace even though it's less than a month old. We were told to hang on to the blown tire and see about an adjustment/refund when we return to Les Schwab country. Oh well... What's a trip without a few little adventures? We've changed both trailer tires in broad daylight on more laid back travel days on the interstate with a wide shoulder within 30 miles of the next town with a tire location (That last one is a big deal in Montana and Wyoming). We debated about trying to make Devil's Tower last night and taking a back road. If we had, Michael would likely have been changing a trailer tire in the dark on a dirt embankment far from any civilization. God has been good. 

We got the tire replaced and were back on the road fairly quickly. We figure we only lost about an hour fussing with the tire. Devil's Tower is pretty spectacular. Not really worth driving several states, but if you're only going about 50 miles out of the way (as we did), it's certainly worth it. The trail around the base of the tower is a 1.3 mile hike on an asphalt trail. The boys have been showing signs of needing to run off some steam more over the past couple of days, so the hike/run (with us playing "freeze" occasionally to keep them in sight) was a welcome diversion. 

We drove into Sturgis by suppertime and found, to our delight, that the hotel we booked on-line, sight unseen, is literally brand new. The indoor pool has a two-story tube slide on one end. The boys climbed up and slid down repeatedly. They wore themselves out completely and are snoozing, dead to the world as I type. 

Tomorrow we're still playing by ear. The plan is to drive to the 10:45 service in Spearfish. The associate pastor there was the photographer for our wedding and an old friend of Mike's. It will be fun to drop in, though in summer like this, he may well be on vacation himself. We'll see how all goes in the morning. It's nice to be playing things somewhat by ear and planning our schedule as we'll do this or that for x number of days give or take a day or two. 

I'm starting to fade and am looking forward to soaking in a nice hot tub tonight, so I'll sign off.

Yellowstone Sum Up

June 27th-It¹s 11 o¹clock and we¹re planning on a long day tomorrow to try
and make Devil¹s Tower, so I can¹t even begin to go into detail about these
past three days at Yellowstone. I¹ll need to do that later.

It¹s been wonderful sharing this experience with both my children and my
parents. My dad was here in 1955 when he was 9 years old (ironically, the
exact age Brendon is this trip). He remembers quite a bit and it¹s been
fascinating to hear him tell what he remembers from that trip. Old Faithful
was a particular favorite as he had the most memories of that location. We
managed to see Old Faithful¹s show three times over the past two days. One
of those was this afternoon as we sat on the second floor deck of the Old
Faithful Inn. It doesn¹t get much better than that!

Odds and Ends of Traveling

June 23rd- We are on the second day of our monster sabbatical trip and we¹ve
already had lots to talk about. Yesterday we headed out of town, albeit a
little later than we originally intended. The boys are amazing little
travelers. Ian had a couple of meltdowns; however the first one was
obviously due to hunger and the second was just before he fell over from
exhaustion and slept an hour and a half.

ShowersŠlet me just say, when I¹m too short for the shower head and am
struggling to keep from touching the walls, the darn thing is entirely too
small. I also had a couple of interesting experiences while showering this
morning. The first is summed up in the phrase extreme water temperature
fluctuation. The second was my own fault. I thought I was being smart buying
the cheaper body shower gel. Next time I¹ll check the label more closely.
This particular type clearly states it has ground up pomegranate pits for
exfoliation. While that sounds fancy and high end, the reality is that the
stupid stuff feels like sandpaper and ³exfoliates² the top layer of skin.
Michael didn¹t want to brave the showers this morning. I haven¹t told him
about the soap yet. I expect to be amused later tonight.

Lots of fun

For some reason, I'm having trouble posting most of the pictures here, so check out my Facebook account for more pictures.

It was a great day. Not only did we have good friends to hang with in the Anderson family (Blake & Brendon road in one car while Gillian and Ian rode in the other), but there was, of course, incredible scenery and a ton of wildlife.

A few of my favorite memories:

• Walt Anderson on a huge rock asking us to take a picture of him. You can't see him because he's too small.
• Ian announcing while we were hiking the Norris Geyser basin, "This is the biggest Yellowstone I've ever seen!"
• Brendon's awe and enthusiasm at seeing Steamboat geyser tease us with a small eruption (it's normally the biggest in the world but goes off every 50 years or so).
• Ian walking along with his nose plugged because, "this Yellowstone is a stinky place!"
• Seeing not one, but TWO Grizzly bears, plus a couple black bears, two HUGE bull Elk, lots of Cow Elk, a ton of Bison, one close enough to my car window I could have petted him.
• Tom, Kiley's dad, getting tired and a little bored with Yellowstone and crawling into the back of the car and sleeping most of the way back to the campground (not sure what's boring about this).
• Sitting on the deck of Teddy Roosevelt's Lodge in rocking chairs with my friend Walt and his dad (on his dad's birthday) looking across a high mountain valley.
• Eating Ice Cream with friends near a roaring water fall.
  

Some Yellowstone Wildlife

We saw lots of Animals!

The Yellowstone Gang

We had a great time hanging with friends...

Our first Stop in Yellowstone

They say a picture is worth a thousand words...








The Skor Boys plus Blake & Gillian Anderson



Some of the Geothermals we saw...

Tuesday Thanks

It's Tuesday and that means taking time just to thank my Heavenly Father.

Thanks Dad for...

• Safety over the nearly 700 miles travelled so far
• All the right equipment and the right place for changing a blown tire.
• The unbelievable scenery that surrounds me right now. For the meadows filled with wild flowers as we drove through the mountains yesterday.
• For two active boys, each with their own expressions, personality, and fun. I can't imagine life without them.
• For friends like the Andersons and hooking up several hundred miles from home.
• For a church generous, and trusting, enough to allow our team to take breaks like this.
• For a family growing up who created memories as a model for my own family.
• For celebrating my mom's birthday last Friday night.
  
• For a day of just relaxing fun in the pool on Saturday before we left.
• For seeing your creation through the eyes of my children.
• For gifting me with the most amazing woman I've met as my wife.
  
• For the future of working with two of my best friends in Jim and Gregg.
• For the blessing of finding a brand new, unused screen porch hidden in the trailer's storage that even the previous owner didn't know about (boy am I glad that I'm protected from the clouds of mosquitoes just inches behind me outside the screen!)
• For the privilege of learning about this incredible world you made. Not just creation (nature), although that would take several lifetimes, but different kinds of people, wisdom, knowledge, emotions, thought, Truth, and so much more. I look forward to century upon century in heaven of discovery under your tutelage.
• For sleep...there's nothing like sleeping outside like this.
• For Caffeine...there's nothing that works like that to keep me awake while we drive. :-)
  

Morning in West Yellowstone

Woke up late (for me) this morning and went for a short run around town to stretch out the muscles that haven't been used while traveling. The altitude is a little different here. I found myself running out of breath quickly.

It was a cool night. We had to run the heater in the trailer which worked well. The sky was clear and you could see stars that you never could see in California.

We didn't get to bed until about midnight last night. Part of it was just finally being in one place and enjoying the cool weather. We put up the awning and screen porch with the outdoor lighting and that made it incredible to sit out. Otherwise, t he mosquitoes are so thick, they would have carried Ian away.

Kiley's folks showed up and are in their tent on the other side of the campground. The boys were thrilled to see them. Tom fed them sugar for about 3 hours. At 10 last night I walked into the camper and found Ian just jumping up and down over and over and over. He was so wired from the sugar and the excitement of finally being here that he couldn't help himself.

Walt, Monica, Blake and Gillian Anderson stopped by around 10:30. They've been in the park since Sunday afternoon and have been having an incredible time. Monica, in her usual thoughtful way, had maps of a bunch of the sights for us to see. We're going to hook up with them today, maybe for breakfast, but definitely on the north side of the park to do some sight seeing together before they head north to Walt's dad's homestead near Miles City. We may hook up with them in Rapid City in a few days as well.

I'm having a hard time concentrating this morning. Haven't been able to read, pray, or think about much of anything for more than a few seconds without really concentrating. Not sure why...maybe just thinking about the day, but it bugs me.

I'm hearing the first stirrings from inside the trailer, perhaps the family is beginning to wake up.

Now, to make bacon, eggs, and pancakes. Nothing like eating breakfast outdoors.

Also, have to check on the truck transmission, it's giving me a few fits. I'm praying it's no big deal.

Thank God, Les Schwab, Gregg Andrews and Telle King!

About 30 miles out of Pocatello, ID we heard a BANG! I looked back and, sure 'nuf a tire blew on the trailer.

Thank God that it was the perfect location. It was a wide place in the road, not too hot and a nice breeze. Huge rocks and really pretty.

Thank God that He gave me the personality that always has plan A, B, and C. I had floor jack, tire iron, and everything else we need in easy reach. (Kiley is amazing at using that tire iron to take the spare off the back of the trailer).

Thanks for a great friend in Gregg Andrews who had offered his rechargable air pump...the spare, even though I had checked it before we left, had lost pressure.

Thanks for a great friend in Telle King who had offfered her GPS for us to use...Kiley typed in "Les Schwab Tire" and it took us streight to them, 22 miles away.

Thanks for having just put two new tires on from Les Schwab before we left. 30 minutes later we drove away from Les Schwab with a new tire, all the other tires double-checked and no bill...they have a great warranty!

Give me gas...

Gas under $4!!!

Can't be...

Monday Morning in Twin Falls

We made it last night and set up the camper in the dark...laughed so hard at the redneck campground we picked. A plowed field just yards off the highway. The trailer would move with the wind of the semis as they blew by...

Here's a couple memories even from this morning...

• I kicked the bucket - About 5 this morning, Ian was tossing quite a bit, so I got up to check on him. He’d crawled out of his sleeping bag and was cold as Ice. I tucked him in and proceeded to climb over Brendon, my foot caught in a bucket and over I went…crashing onto the floor. My arms cleared everything off the counters. As I lay on the floor moaning. The boys didn’t even wiggle. After several moments, Kiley finally popped her head up and said, “What did you do?” Not, “are you OK?” I got up, brushed the skin off my arms and legs that I had scraped off, crawled into bed and said, “Sorry, I kicked the bucket…and it was painful.” We laughed hard for a while.
• As I write this, it’s about 8:00 am. Ian’s head just popped up with a big smile and he snuck over to sit with me. He whispered, “It’s 8 o’clock IN THE MORNING!” Gotta love that kid. He’s now in my spot, cuddling with his mom looking at me with a grin that says, “I’m her favorite.”
• The boys are up and Brendon wants to know when the road trip is going to start again.

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.