Badlands

Today should be a short six hour drive into the badlands.  It looks like it will rain possibly even bad storms where we are going.  I feel like we are dragging our feet just a little even though John is anxious to get moving.  We made a couple of stops getting out of Ohama area (although we never even set foot on Nebraska soil, we just skirted the boarder on the other side of the Missouri River.  Many parts of the drive were along the Lewis & Clark trail.

Old fashioned map?  When is the last time you used one?  We think they might come 

in handy this trip where cell service will be spotty.

Our one major stop today was Sioux Falls, SD.  We had the best lunch, sitting on the patio by the golf course, at Looks Market.  We also picked up some fresh bread for the next couple of days.  The service was outstanding; such friendly staff!  We also took the time to stop at the water fall in the center of town.  We walked around for about a half hour an to take in the natural wonder of the falls – they look like someone built the whole area with legos.  There is a great bridge to walk across and of course rock outcrops for our kids to climb as per their norm.  

        

 

On the drive, the boys decided to play the alphabet game.  Carter hesitated about joining until he saw and A and a B so he jumped right in and eventually won his first alphabet game.  Big success!

 

It’s Sunday evening and we watched the most amazing sunset I have ever seen over the badlands.  I now understand what purple mountains majesty means!!  We, mostly me, were completely overwhelmed with emotion over illness in our family, the loss of family members and our sweet kitty last week.  There is a lightening storm south of where we are and it is absolutely incredible!  The temperature here has been below 80* since we arrived and the average temps this time of year are highs in the high 90s, low 100s.   Sometimes you just feel like you are being loved on by God and today is one of those days! 

 

Between Sunday and Thursday before we left on Friday, our sister-in-law (John’s brother’s wife) passed away suddenly, my uncle passed away after a short struggle with cancer and we found out that John’s oldest brother’s pancreatic cancer might not be the treatable kind and that the tumor has doubled in size the since two months ago.  It was such a struggle deciding whether or not to leave but were encourage to do so by our family.

Driving

We are looking at about a 10 hour drive today into Omaha, NE.  Before leaving the area, we still had to stop in Metropolis to see Superman and take a photo with masks on.  What a strange time we are living.  We also perused some beautiful antique automobile while their owners visited under a shade tree on the square and purchase some local cucumber and tomato for lunch.   

 

We just passed the gateway to the west and across a great bridge over the mighty Mississippi, after another great lunch stop south of St. Louis.  A big part our road trips is the music and memory discussions.  We talked some about our favorite trips of the past which helped us start looking forward to the adventures and memories we will make on this trip.   

 

When you have a long day of driving, the most important part of the day can be about the food.  Instead of driving straight across the state to Kansas City, we drove north from Columbia on Hwy 63 and then west on Hwy 36.  Most of the drive was a four lane highway cut through the corn fields that must be near harvest because it’s so tall.  There are lots of rolling hills.   When we started to look for food again, we were in the middle of absolutely nowhere.  The closest town was called Hamilton and yelp only really showed us one restaurant and a brewery.  When we stopped it was such a pleasant surprise.  We ate at J’s Burger Dive and the burgers were outstanding!  We discovered that James Cash Penny, founder of JC Penney, had lived in the town.  For Nanannette, the Missouri Star Quilt Co.   The town murals were amazing!  

   

The norther part of Missouri is a pretty different landscape.  It’s still crops but there are more rolling hills, some rock outcrops and beautiful homesteads.  As we drove into the setting sun John spotted a crop duster working in the sunset. That was a lot of fun.  The hills to the right with their peeks and valley’s look like miniature mountain ranges.  There was a wide enough path along those hills that about half way up, a row of cows were marching toward some unknown destination.  The conversations from the back catch our attention occasionally when all is still and everyone cracks up.

Leaving Home!!

      Our goal was to leave home at 10AM – get on the road and see how far we could get.  Originally, John had us camping in Metropolis, IL by the river tonight.  Sounded good in theory but we should have known; our actual leave time was around 12:30.   By the time we turned around once to go back, we were technically on the road just before 1:00.  The ride was a little solemn.  There so many hard things going on in the world and in our family, it’s a little difficult to get our minds around the fact that we are running away to have a good time.  It’s much needed for our mental health but we are leaving a part of our hearts in Florida, South Carolina, Michigan, New York and Georgia.

     One of our favorite lunch spots is a great rest area with green space and shaded picnic tables, lunch meat, bread and chips.  We made it to Nickajack Lake rest area, which is on a large island in the lake, just north of Chattanooga.  It was a quick ride after experiencing the blessing of the new toll road from 285 around Atlanta to north of Kennesaw on Hwy 75.  It cost us $2.00 and save us probably an hour.   As always, we have to have road trip music, car games and a good audio book for the ride.  One of our favorite albums is the Guardians of the Galaxy sound track.  This time we started the trip listening to an Alexander Hamilton biography that's just a little too much for the 10 & 11 year olds.  I think we will regroup on that.  

      Our eventual stop for the evening found us in Paducah, KY.  I never realize how far in the northwest point of the state it is.  We didn’t really see much of the town other than the major highway exit at Hwy. 60 where the hotel is located.  It was a great area if you are in need of a nice hotel and diner more than fast food.  Although we chose Panera, there were lots of options.  

Remembering Loved Ones!

As we plan this trip, we never expected the week that preceded our leave date that might make us contemplate canceling the whole thing.  At this point, we are planning to proceed based on all of our family’s input; unless we get a call before noon tomorrow, we will carry on.   This post is just to pause and remember the people that we love so much and will miss always - Aunt Susan (July 12) and Uncle Clinton (July 15).   

Westward Tirp Planning 2020

Very soon, this family will be journeying west again before out eldest goes away to college.   This trip, we are taking the north western path with the first major scenic stop being the Badlands.  We will be camping 9 out of 16 nights in a Sylvan Go.

Preparing for travel camping has been more of a journey than expected as we plan to get enough gear for five people into crates that fit like a puzzle onto the trailer making sure

The journey will begin in Metropolis, IL, proceeding to Omaha, NE with hopes of a DDD stop at Big Mama’s Kitchen before arriving in Badlands National Park for our first camping night.  Beyond the Badlands, we will stay for two nights each near the Black Hills, in Custer State Park, Big Horn National Forest, Yellowstone National Park.   We have plans for rafting the Snake River with friends before one night stay in Jackson.  We have a reservation at the YMCA camp is Estes Park, CO for one last adventure in the Rocky Mountains before we turn back east.

The younger kids are getting a little wound up knowing we will be leaving town soon.  The excitement combined with the stress of many things going on in life are creating an interesting tension in our home.  We are all very ready to get out of the house after spending pretty much all of our time here for the last four months.

Journey 2017 USA-Canada

We left home as early as possible in the morning of day one in order to take our time yet  make it to Kokomo, IN.  One thing that we love to do is get off of the main road and find interesting places to stop.  We drove back roads through Tennessee starting on Hwy 127 out of Chattanooga and found a fun little small town restaurant and some beautiful countryside.   Our stop was Jack's BBQ in Sparta, TN and they offered checker board tables for the kids to play while we waited for great food!  Another interesting twist to this adventure is that we are driving the Jeep - five people, 16 days in a Jeep!   On the way, we had a rain storm and then the most amazing full rainbow.  

It was so nice to have no agenda on day two that we all slept late.  We meandered up toward Lake Michiganand had lunch at Coral Gable in Saugatuck, MI.   We enjoyed walking around town for a little while and spent some time in Saugutuck Drug/Village Store.  There were so many items the kids would love to have, fun/funny gifts and Mom bought a hand full of encouraging cards to mail to loved ones.  We arrived at 3033 Midland around 2PM for a couple of days of family fun!  

Costa Rica July 20-30

Travel and Acquires

This trip is finally here.  Departure time is 9:40 for a direct flight to San Jose, Costa Rica.   Carry-on luggage only.  We are practicing being a traveling family!  

The flight was very smooth for the most part; we arrived in San Jose, breezed through customs and got a sim card for local phone then shuttle to the rental car.   Settled in the car, we began an adventurous drive to Acquires, which is 15 minutes from Vanessa and Theresa.  The drive in the city was busy, less traffic than Atlanta but I’m sure our professional driver, John, had to get used to the driving habits of locals.  Once we got out of the city, we were driving a mountainous road where there are brief areas of lush green farm lands and natural terrain interspersed with local homes, lots of people walking, bikes, motorcycles, cows and dogs.   Dogs everywhere.  At one point, I was telling John, “Dog, dog, dog..” because he was laying in the road where we were about to run over him.   John was looking all around except in the road.

 

We finally arrived near our location and drove in a few circles trying to figure out where the caretaker’s home is to pick up the key and be guided to the villa.  Leaving the paved road behind as we arrived in Acquires, we found major pot holes.   We were looking for a bakery but didn’t know there would be no sign.  We finally drove by the bakery and ‘Maria’ Fernanda came out to us, in the street, because she was looking for us.   She squeezed into the back of the car with the kids and I do mean squeezed.    We drove to the top of a bumpy, pot hole like you’ve never seen, road which ended at a beautiful lawn with two little homes across the lawn.  Behind the villa’s was a huge valley extending into a hillside of coffee trees.  Coffee and banana plants all around us.   

While John touched base with work, the kids and I went with Sabatian to explore the area a little on foot.  The boys had been playing futbol with him on lawn.  We left the property and Parker helped Sabas knock a few guava from the tree to try.  The kids and I weren’t as brave to just break it apart and eat like he did but we took it back to cut open and try.  We wandered down the hill to visit the horses and play with the kids in the park.    We started our observations about how simply the people live and they are so friendly and happy.

We settled in a little, touched base with Vanessa and Theresa and decided on Pizza at Vanessa’s house for the evening.   Vanessa has three very sweet dogs so Carter was in heaven.  She held Grace in her lap all evening so she was in heaven.   Parker was just enjoying the new atmosphere and soaking it in.  What a fun time to spend with family and get to know Jonathan a little.  We think they are going to be so happy and good together!  Back at our villa, we opened up the slider doors for the night to listen to the sound of the river below.  Great sleep!!