Day 30 - July 14, 2007

Moto Lotto: Jared wins.

Quote of the Day: Stacia emphatically states "Git OUT!" after 12 1/2 hours in her car seat.

There was a point in the day when Mike suggested we could make it all the way home yesterday - but we couldn't. We were tired......Kristine we cut off I25 through Raton, NM (the right hand corner of NM) and into the panhandle of TX.

Met Ken, Lynn, and Matt; Frances; and Kristine and Trevor at 8 a.m. at McDonold's in Monument, CO. What a fun time of catching up. Ken and Mike are discussing a Souther CO camping trip in the "near" future. We also began to dream of a trip up the alcan together. Thanks so much for your fun-loving, flexible spirits which allowed meeting off I-25 possible.

Kristine & De'EttaFrances, De'Etta, Stacia, Lynn

Drove all day. Got into lunch BEHIND a hoarde of boyscout troops.

Pike's Peak (camera doesn't do it justice)

Scenery is changing....home is nearing

Raton, NM

Capulin, NM

What do you do with roads like this?

Pretend they are roller coasters!

Day 29 - Hardin to FT Collins, CO
13 July 2007

Motorcycle Lotto: Jamin is the winner of the day.

Quote of the Day: “These mosquitoes will suck all your blood and then you will die.” There seems to be a new preoccupation with travel dangers (see last night’s quote).

These trips are ALWAYS so hard. We have so many family and friends we’d like to stop and visit. BUT if you take too many 25 mile/100 mile side trips…well….as it is we are booking and blessed that we can see as many friends/family as we have. We are so thankful to all of you who have graciously interrupted your days and met us at BK’s and McD’s off the fwy. ::snort::

We’ve remembered today that Eastern MT and Western WY aren’t really spectacularly beautiful. LOL The last few days have spoiled us with tall mountains, rolling farmland and such.
We’ve arrived at FT Collins. We drove most the day. I mentioned in the comments that we really ARE making good time. We slow down on mountains. We are stopping for gas MUCH more often 150-200 miles and that slows us down….and we are not driving 75 mph - which is the speed limit out here. However, Mike has been going 65 - 70 with it…..and we have a long rig. LOL So - we used to be able to drive from Co Springs to our home in one day but not with the trailer. We are taking this trip by ear….going as far as we can and stopping. I don’t think we’ll make it home tomorrow….who knows?

We’re at KOA again - a nice one. I love the sound of the wind in the Aspens. This is another less crowded park. There are even HORSES outside the fence - much to Stacia’s delight. We’re in the middle of nowhere - not really in Ft Collins but some little town outside of it…..but it doesn’t look like a town….more like a community of ranches and KOA. LOL Anyway, I made dinner. This took creativity but was fun. The neighbors came over and said they are leaving tomorrow and gave us a couple of bags of food. I pulled together a really respectable soup, salad, mac/cheese, garlic toast etc. LOL Mike took the kids swimming while I cooked. I’ll take them to the playground while he runs with the older boys. That’s about it and we hope to hit the road by 5 a.m. I think I heard…..not sure when that will put us into Colorado Springs but I’ll email Lynn and Kristine tonight…..

Hardin, MT

Gas in Buffalo, WY

Casper, WYHelping Dad

Cheyenne, WY

Day 28 - Missoula to Hardin, MT

12 July 2007

Motorcyle Lotto: Jared won today.

Quote of the Day: “I’m protecting my brain” - says Zander as he plugs his NOSE and dives under. It seems that water can go up your nose, into your brain and YOU WILL DIE!!!!

Ugh - Mike and I are not feeling well...but we have to travel. LOL Few words this evening.....

Visited with Cindy and Emily at a BK off the freeway (this is me with no shower or makeup and sick LOL) Cindy this is becoming "our place".

We're staying at the KOA in Hardin. Wow the stars in MT. I miss them. I cried when we parked here....such a good season of our life was spent here. Our time in Hardin was the only time where I lived in a town with my parents, my uncle and my grams. The kids and I walked to visit grams daily. All the children were home....well the ones that had been born....it was a good season.

Ev had called while we were at BK and wanted to have a potluck. Mike suggested that we keep it low key and that they come over to the KOA. Great. The children played and we visited.

Mom - recognize Grandma Lorraine?

These are our twins ::snort:: They were in our youth group when we were here....and we loved catching up with them and their children

My good friends Cindy and Ev (twins mom)

Sam (Ev's husband)

More could be said, but it's nearing midnight and we have an 0600 pull out call. ::snort::

Lynn, I really, really thought about mailing you a pizza from Moose's Tooth.

Photos are loaded from Day 23 - 26.

Day 27 - Marathon Travel Day or We’re BAAAACCKK - in the lower 48
10 July 2007

Motorcyle Lotto: Mike hit it dead on today. I’m still not sure who is where in the contest as Jared and Mike are updating the way to score it.

Quote of the Day: “I want to go back to our Big Old House!” (House in Eagle River)

This was an 18 hour travel day. We began in Anchorage late last night.

We boarded the plane at 8 p.m. We left the airport in Seattle at 2 a.m. We arrived in Missoula, MT at 2 p.m. A couple of us are feeling sick again…..”Flu Across America”. LOL

Moses Lake, WA

We are staying at the KOA here. Nice. We went swimming and then dinner. Mike filled the van with gas, bought a bunch of fruit, and is now swimming one more time with Arielle, Nolan, and Zander. The children loved being able to swim and we’re hoping that they’ll go down quickly if we let them swim a lot.

Zander began swimming under water today....

Cindy, we’ll try to connect tomorrow. If the flu is raging, we probably won’t want to meet…..I’ll call when we have a better idea of when we’ll be in your area.


Lynn, visiting PWOC yesterday brought back memories and thoughts....I'll have to share some soon....but at this point I'm doing good to do the "this is what we did" thing. ::snort::

Day 26 - Going Outside (Anchorage - Lower 48) 10 July

Quote of the Day: “I saw Mr. De’Etta outside and had to come find De’Etta.” ::snort:: Said by one of “my ladies” - Heidi. She’s coming your way Kristine - y’all are so lucky!!!
Would you believe we were out of our apartment by 8:30 this a.m. In fact, we were sitting at McD’s and I was uploading photos. ::snort::

After breakfast, Mike suggested I attend the PWOC Bible Study. What a nice guy. He visited with Ch. M, went and bought new shoes for Zander, and chatted in the halls. I only knew one lady at PWOC - but it was fun to be there. I did meet several new Chaplain’s wives…never know when paths will cross again. Lynn, I met Sherri B. today.

We drove around the back of base one more time......beautiful.

This is the view I saw a lot of in Alaska. LOL Following Mike's rental car.

Josiah and Jamin treated us all to an afternoon at Chuck E Cheese. We don’t have one of these in our towns. It was a pretty penny, but fun. We all got sketches made at the little booth - that was fun. I’ll scan them when we get home. Here they are in the roller coaster simulator.

Stacia loved anything with a steering wheel....

I was thrilled that we were able to catch up with a kindred spirit, Valerie. That was an unexpected blessing.

Currently, we are waiting to catch our flight outside (anywhere outside of AK). Another blessing occurred when we checked in. The lady asked why we were going to Juneau. “Um….because that’s where the free tickets go!” ::snort:: She changed our tickets and has us all sitting next to each other….flying from Anchorage - Seattle NON STOP. We won’t have a 6 hour layover in Juneau. We leave an hour later here….but we’ll arrive in WA at midnight instead of 4 a.m. Breakfast in Spokane? LOL

This was a great trip. We’ve had several offers to stay at other’s homes next time we are up. The boys really, really want to come up next summer for a fishing trip. It’s being billed as a “senior trip”. We shall see how much $ they save towards it. I belive next time that we will rent a couple of trailers from the base and stay at the fam camp....or stay at someone's home....Maybe we should plan a "reunion camping trip to EAFB Fam Camp". ::snort::

Saying goodbye to AK again is tough, but we know that God moves us and that HE has a reason for moving us to the places He moves us. He has people for us to touch and people to touch US ….and so we rest in the process. . . But sometimes we are sad. LOL

Day 18 - Photos

Picnic at the back of the church (Jared must have been chasing Stacia - there are only seven children here - this was our goodbye to the girls)

Tickle Time

Mike took us to DQ after saying goodbye to the girls - can you say COMFORT FOOD???

Japanese Gardens

The Car....like mother, like daughter, like granddaughter

I'd started this one about a week ago. From now on I'll put the photos in the post that tells about them.....to read about this - it's DAY 18. ::snort::