Traveling across country





A stone I saw at "Bear Heaven" gift shop in Illinois

Usually I do this blog on Sundays, but this week we might not have internet for a week or so.  We also already have lots of pictures and adventures to share.

Monday was spent packing our car and preparing our home for departure.  Bless Walt's heart, he was able to fit everything in the car and car top carrier.  We never seem to travel light.  We like to be prepared!  We were also able to have all of our grandchildren come by on Monday for good-byes.  It will be hard to not see them.  We will also miss our children :).  The Lord will bless us all.  We have been promised that.
Leaving our home!
West Virginia Rest stop
Tuesday we made our way through Maryland, West Virginia and then to Kentucky.  We spent the night in Lexington.  It was supposed to only be a 7 hour drive, but with stops, it took a bit longer.  At least we had some fun along the way.  We took some good selfies at rest stops and all the state signs when possible.  


Gift shop at gas station in Illinois
There was even a really cute gift shop at one rest stop.  It was a long drive.  We are so grateful we don't need to drive that many hours every day. We saw a sign for Biscuit World and had to stop to see what it was like.  So glad we did!!
We saw this sign for "Biscuit World" and had to stop.      

Now that's - what I call a biscuit!!


Kentucky Rest Stop 
Wednesday was a shorter day - only a 5 hour drive.  So grateful for that.  The day started with a cold drizzle of rain and no overhang at the hotel.  It was a rough start.  We traveled through Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and stopped in St. Louis, Missouri.  We arrived around 2 pm.  
St. Louis, Missouri  Temple

St. Louis has a temple, so we went to a session at 4 pm.  We took a brief tour around all of it.  It's such a beautiful temple.  I actually haven't seen one that I didn't think was beautiful.  
 Another hi-light of our day was eating dinner at Raising Canes.  We fell in love with them in Louisiana, and were sooo excited to have one in St. Louis.  Kate and Beth were so jealous.


Our visibility during our drive in Kansas


Our welcome to Kansas.  No visitors center :(

 Thursday, was another long drive - 7 hours.  I guess we sound like traveling rookies; complaining about a 7 hour drive.  Our old bodies just don't like being in the car for so long.  This was our last long day.  Friday and Saturday will only be 4-5 hours per day.    Not many states today, but lots of miles.  We went through the state of Missouri and half of Kansas.  The majority of the time, there was not much visibility - some really dense fog.  There is right much snow in Missouri and about half and half in Kansas.  The traveling is starting to take a toll, but we'll get there.   
Russell Stovers!!
There was one definite hi-light - the Russell Stover candy outlet store.  That is just too hard to resist.   



















 I asked Walt about the storm Harvey and where we were in relation to it.  The map is below.  We are the red dot on the map.  Just a little scooped out part of the storm - keeping us safe.  Love those blessings!



Welcome to Colorado!
Heading into the one bit of the snow storm in Colorado

Today - Friday, we drove the rest of Kansas and to Fort Collins, Colorado.  The first part of Colorado looks just like Kansas.  There has been serious fog in the mornings.  Today, you could barely see a few cars ahead.  Thank goodness there are so few cars on Route 70 in that area.  The big snow storm has been on top of us today (to the North).  It's amazing how much guidance Heavenly Father has given us in direction and timing of our travel.  Definitely not a coincidence.  We did run into some very blowing snow for about 30 minutes.  Once we hit the Fort Collins area, it was gone.  We even got to see the sun shine for the first time in a week!  Love it!
Fields of Hay Bales - Colorado



Fort Collins, Colorado Temple
Us at the temple

Fort Collins has a temple, so we went this afternoon.  I haven't seen a temple yet that wasn't beautiful and they are all different.  This one is pretty new - 2016.  Afterwards, we stopped by Costco to get meat, butter and some other essentials.  Not many, our car is pretty packed already.  Walt says he can make it fit.  
Our first bit of a sunset.  My favorite!

 Tomorrow we only have 4 hours to drive and we'll be in Newcastle, Wyoming!!  We will actually get to sleep in for once.  So excited about that.  We will be so glad to get to stay put and not unpack the top of our car every night and re-pack every morning.  We have been very blessed in this adventure across the country.


We are so grateful to have this opportunity to serve the Lord in Wyoming.  The ward (congregation) is very small, 30-40 people.  We will have lots of opportunities to meet people and grow to love them, serve them, and help them come closer to Jesus Christ.  That's our whole purpose.  

 We thank everyone for all your love, support, and prayers.  Until next week . . . 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Finally a Calf!

Image
Elk at the Ranch There were so many lessons to plan and teach this week.  We’re teaching two couples the Temple Preparation lessons, the Smith children, a lesson about the priesthood, a message for a non-member couple, and I taught Seminary (sub) on Thursday.  So Monday was major work on lessons and preparing for the week.  We did work at the Senior Center for lunch. It was also a very big service week for us and the young Elders.  On Tuesday, we finally were able to visit and help the Harshbergers.  They have a neighboring ranch to the Bishop.  We had met them a couple of months ago, at the Bishop’s house for dinner.  We’ve been trying to visit them and do something helpful at their ranch.  He is 90 and she is 80 something.  With the winter weather, and then melting snow, it’s been taking awhile.  We took the Elders out there, with the plan of Walt and I talking to the Harshbergers while the Elders worked.  It didn’...
Read more

Final Email - Journey Home

Image
I know it seems I would never get this last email out.  We finally got our internet yesterday and have a little bit of breathing room. This week has really been a whirlwind for us.  Just last Sunday we were biding farewell to our Newcastle family and heading home.  Nothing seemed like we were “leaving our mission” until we got past Rapid City, SD.  The scenery and such were just places we had visited before.  We made it to Sioux Falls SD the first night.  Along the way, we had intended to check out the Badlands in SD but didn’t realize there was a fee.  So we only got to see what was near the road.  The Badlands looked cool, but nothing compared to the Black Hills.   Even though we were driving separate cars, it was easy enough to talk to each other if we got lonely.  Sometimes, we would just drive and chat.  We didn’t get into Sioux Falls until about 8 pm.  We were grateful there was a Texas Roadhouse just ac...
Read more

Life changes on a dime

Image
Add caption Hello our dear family and friends: Do you have those weeks where it all seems like a big blur?  I think a lot of us are having those weeks.  I finished up last week with Monday, so Tuesday is the starting point this time. I hadn’t been feeling totally myself since Sunday evening, and by Monday night, just felt lousy.  I didn’t have any cough, sneezing, running nose, fever, etc.  I just felt achy and really weak.  As long as I was sitting or lying down, life was decent.  So I let the students know on Monday night that there would be no seminary on Tuesday morning.  I spent most of the day just lying down or sitting.  Walt did want to go the Thrift store and get our supply of puzzles in case of quarantine.  What is so funny about that is, later, I was reading an article on line on what things to have on supply for such an event, and puzzles was on the list.  Of course, I showed it to Walt.  At the thrift ...
Read more