Tuesday, September 15th, we started our day with a video call from Nelson. He showed us his abscess on his shoulder. He was set for surgery this day.
This day would be a family day. We left Tremonton and drove to Brigham City to visit John Johnson. John was married to Joann, Claude older sister. Joann passed away from cancer several years ago. John fell a couple of years ago and was moved to this beautiful assisted living. We stopped in to say hi. He was very happy to see us. He was finishing his breakfast.
Next we drove up the canyon to Huntsville to visit with the Drysdale's. As we drove, I received a text message and an eMail for Jensen/McKay Tours saying a copy of our passports was needed for our trip to India and Nepal next year. Fortunately, I keep a copy on my cellphone and was able to take care of that very quickly.
We saw Rick, Lynette (Claude's sister), Daniel and Brian, their sons. They had a sandwich buffet for us to enjoy. We were able to visit for several hours before heading to Bountiful Utah.
We got word that Nelson did great with his surgery. Yeah!!
As we drove to Bountiful, we passed what I call the mountains 'stretch marks'. It is actually a fault line in the mountain. To me it looked like was wider than ever. Yike!!
We found 5 Guys in Bountiful. Cordell, Claude's brother, and Kris, his wife, were headed to Pendleton, Oregon for the rodeo. They go every year. They have a little dog. Cordell has a daughter, Sadie, who lives in Bountiful. She would meet us at 5 Guys and have dinner with us, then take the dog home with her while Cordell and Kris were in Pendleton. Sadie's oldest, Laney, was with her. We had a wonderful meal together. It was a quick visit but very happy it happened.
From 5 Guys. we drove up the mountain to Junie and Steve's home. Junie is my sister. She is 14 months younger than me. They live at the top row of homes on the mountain with a magnificent view of the Salt Lake Valley. We would spend this night and the next with them.
Wednesday, September 16th, was a great day of rest at the Gulbrandsen's. Claude got a great nap in the afternoon while Steve went to his doctor appointment. Junie and I sat on their patio and enjoyed the fresh air. In the evening, Junie served us Cranberry chicken. Yum!! We watched the movie "What About Bob?" in the evening. Then sat on their front porch and enjoyed the views of the valley. Absolutely delightful, restful and all the good things.
We drove past Devil's Slide. This was a highlight when we passed it when I was a child. It was a landmark for Nissa, Andie & Jake when we drove from Colorado to Utah.
We arrived in Laramie, Wyoming about 3pm, just in time to check into our hotel. It was sprinkling a little and the air was chilly. So we found a Wendy's and had a small chili for dinner. Yum.
Gasoline this day was $4.49 in Rock Springs, Wyoming.
Day 22 was Friday, September 18th. We left Laramie with 5,248.9 miles on the odometer. After having breakfast at the Days Inn, we were on the road about 9am. Our goal was Hays, Kansas. This would be a longer drive day of 6 hours and 41 minutes.
We arrived in Colorado about 9:30am Mountain Time. This was a beautiful part of the drive. Always was when we lived in Denver and drove to Utah. On the other side of these mountain is the Snowy Range. We drove through there and took our kids to a place with a two-story outdoor toilet. When we camped, our Andie went to sleep with gum in her mouth. When she woke up in the morning, all that long hair was full of gum. We used our peanut butter to get the gum out. Many happy memories of drives of this area.
When we are planning a trip, I put the key cities in my weather app and track the weather for a while before leaving. This helps me be prepared with what to pack and what to expect. The month before this trip, every time I check Poteau, Oklahoma (when my sister lives), the temperature was well over 100. As we approached Hays, Kansas, we were beginning to feel that heat.
To the right in this picture is a farmer on his tractor plowing this field. Behind him he left this little trail of dust devils.
They are building a wind turbine. Look at that crane!
Somewhere near Kanorado (combining of Kansas and Colorado) we changed time zones to Central Time.
We got to our motel, checked in and walked across the street and around a gas station to El Dos Mexican Restaurant. Claude finally had a steak with his meal. He was very happy and it tasted very good. He usually has at least one steak dinner when we travel. We had been all this time on the road and he had not yet had a steak dinner.
In the evening we had a video call from Katelyn and Raelyn. Raelyn had been invited to speak in Stake Conference. That was to happy on Sunday. I sent her an eMail telling her we would be attending church with my sister in Oklahoma but we would be thinking of her. Raelyn called to give us her talk via this video call. How precious to us that was.
Gasoline bought this day was $4.09 in Limon, Colorado.
Day 23 of our drive, Saturday, September 19th, started at 5,710.5 miles. We left Hayes, Kansas at 10:30am Central Time after having a bit of breakfast at the hotel. We would arrive in Poteau, Oklahoma at 5:15pm Central Time. And the car registered 102 degrees again as we drove.
We also got curious about how a wind turbine works. Does someone have to flip a switch. No, they do not. They are built with a computer in them that senses when the wind is moving enough for those big arms to turn. The computer turn on the big arms. Then, the computer senses when that wind has died down and shuts down the turbine, saving the life of those big arms. Cool.
Neffie and Mike made us a great dinner of mini-meatloaves. Very tasty. We took a tour of their home and property. This home is up for sale. Neffie and Mike are moving in November to Missouri. We took a tour of their new home via the website.
Sunday, September 20th was our 24th day on the road. Our car would stay parked as we took a full day to rest at Neffie and Mikes. We attended church with them in the morning. Claude and Mike took naps in the afternoon while Neffie and I talked. The Hurst's made us Italian Chicken for dinner. Another Yum for our travels. I booked us a hotel in Union City, Tennessee using my points.
Monday, September 21st we headed for home. Mike sent us off with a styrofoam box of iced down halibut. We left Poteau at 9:30am starting at 6,199.0 miles.
Claude found us a Bojangles in Clarksville, Arkansas. Oh my heavens, were our tummies happy!!
We got to Union City, Tennessee and checked into our hotel. We drove down the road a bit to have dinner at Arby's.
Gasoline this day was $3.89 in Searcy, Arkansas.
Our final day of driving was Tuesday, September 22nd. It was a rainy morning. The car told us we had driven 6,621.2 miles. We were on the road at 9:30am Central Time. We entered Kentucky at 9:45am Central Time. Kentucky is cut in half between Central and Eastern Time Zones.
While we drove, I made our flu shot appointments.
We stopped in Litchfield for gas and a hot bowl of chili at Wendy's. They had the coldest bathroom I have ever been in. Gas was $4.04.
We entered the Eastern Time Zone at 2pm Eastern Time.
We had an amazing trip. After visiting my sisters, I came away with the realization our parents raised three very strong daughters. We loved seeing family. We loved learning about Lewis & Clark and the importance and difficulty of what they accomplished. We loved seeing things on our bucket list. We really loved doing this trip. My 10-year old car didn't give us a lick of trouble. It did cry out for an oil change as we were on the parkway in Kentucky almost home. We were blessed with great weather. We decided we could do this again on some other roads and be okay. Great trip!
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