Day 9 - Dillon, Mt - to Nampa, ID

White Truck count - 420; Jamin wins again....how is he winning when he isn't on the trip? ::snort:: It is apparent that white trucks are more popular in TX, WY and SD.

We had a slow morning. I fixed french toast and we headed out for ID.

Rena, a friend of the girls, saw that we would be in ID and texted to see if we could meet. We met for lunch off the Interstate. Fun. Can't wait to see photos of little Noah David this fall. I knew him WHEN. ::snort::

Jared drove with me today. He quickly learned that driving with me involves detours....

Great Harvest? I love Great Harvest bakeries....whole grain bread with 5 ingredients (fresh ground grain, water, honey, butter, yeast).

The day looked bright until we were told they were NOT an outlet but....

...and taking photos. ::snort::

Jared enjoyed the scenery in this area more than the heavily wooded areas of SD and MT. He likes the wide open skies and spaces. I love it all. I'm drinking in the green.

I had a bit of trouble staying awake....so we had to stop a few times to stretch....and we kept trying to find radio stations to listen to.....did you know there are COUNTRY CHRISTIAN radio stations?

Josiah and Jamin move into their new 2 bdr apartment today. We are spending the day with our college buddies who had planned to take Beatrix.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Zander's Making Money

Years ago a gentleman from church, Joe Hollingsworth, gave every child a dollar when they brought him a tooth that they'd lost at church. Our girls were sad to be moving away from the church right when they were starting to be able to take advantage of this....so we've offered the same deal all these years.

Yesterday, Zander lost a tooth.

A few moments ago, Zander lost a tooth.

"I think I know how I'm going to make money, Mom!"

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Another Funny Sign

Look closely at the name of the business and the flag outside of it to the right....really? The welcome mat is out? That's one bit of welcome I think I'll put off as long as possible.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Day 8 - Hardin to Dillon, MT

All day long, I kept hearing Grams' voice in my head, "It's a big country, De'Etta, it's a big country." It was a pleasure to drive through Big Sky Country one more time.

Before we hit the road, Mike and I decided to run out to the cemetery. THEN we decided we needed to take some photos of the infamous Twin Rivers Detention Center. It's highly doubtful that Gitmo detainees will ever be housed here....but maybe someday, someone will?

Stacia with Grandma Lorraine


We decided to pop into the Newspaper office. Some old friends are fairly involved there.....we walked in and Barb said, "Welcome home!" and that is truly what it felt like. Wes wasn't at the paper yet, so we all ran out to their home and visited. They came back to KOA with us to see the younger kids (who weren't born when we lived in Hardin). We enjoyed more visiting time with Ken and Sandy, who now own KOA.

THEN we hit the road and stopped to have lunch with Cindy. Honestly, the photo that I have of Cindy and I isn't very flattering...well....it's probably accurate but I don't like the way it looks. ::snort::

The drive up here to Dillon is wonderful. This is simply a pretty part of America. I would be happy to stay here a bit of time but tomorrow we head on to ID. Krista did laundry when we arrived. I watched kids as Mike and Jared set up camp. Then I cooked dinner and they all went swimming. It really isn't a sacrifice because I'm a tropics sort of gal and swimming when it's in the 50's is just not enjoyable to me. ::snort::

White Truck Count -

8th of June - 1,000; Zander won

9th of June - 460; Michael won

10th of June - 509; Jamin won

Thanks to all in Hardin who made yesterday and this a.m. such a special time for us. Wonderful new memories to tuck away with our old memories of by gone days.....I've been heavily reminding myself to cherish the memories...but don't cling.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Day 7 SD - Hardin, MT

Lois, SD is beautiful! I always pictured it as desolate. I'm not sure why.

We got widely split up yesterday. The GPS sent Krista, Stacia and I on a back hwy. The scenery was gorgeous. We got stopped at construction for about 20 minutes but the rest of it was fine. I began to worry as Wyoming never showed up....but eventually a sign saying, "Welcome to Montana" appeared and the mileage to Billings. I knew I was on the right track. ::snort:: We arrived in Hardin an hour before the trailer.

When we arrived at KOA the owner recognized me. Mom, Sandra and her husband are the owners. It's funny as she is about the only one here who told me they could recognize me. ::snort:: We had a quick catch up talk.

Coming to Hardin is like coming home to me. I spent summers visiting my Grams here. Eighteen years ago, Mike took his first paid ministry position here as an assistant pastor. When we moved here we had four children and they were ages 6, 4, 2 and 6 months. We have fond memories of our time here. Uncle Bill would come over every a.m. and bring a thermos of coffee (for himself - we don't drink) and the Billings paper. We'd walk over to Grams' house every afternoon. The kids could walk to the corner store by themselves for penny candy. The pool, church, groceries were all a quick walk away. We had wonderful "back fence" friends, who we still hear from. Phil, the young man we've been praying for, is from here.

When we arrived early we ran up to the cemetery real quick. We had dinner when all arrived. Then we went out to meet about 20 folks who wanted to see us. What fun to catch up on old times. Time really does move on.....but Hardin seems stable. We left Hardin 13 years ago. Since then the four children we had when we arrived, have become adults and moved out. The toddle we had when we left is now 15 and the baby I was pregnant with is 12.

Here is the first home we owned. It was smallish for 7 of us....but holds many, many fond memories for us. We were all surprised that it is still the blue....the color we painted it so many years ago. It was SUPPOSED to be country blue....but ah well....this color has held up.....even after it faded for a decade. ::snort:: Psst...the sat dish wasn't there when we lived in the house. LOL

We had a wonderful time visiting last night.... Does Hardin, MT sound familiar to you? Maybe you read recently that it is a small, dusty, desperate town , with the "redneck posse" willing to take in the Guantanamo Bay detainees. Yep, THAT Hardin....I'm here to tell you that the 3,000 folks who live here are some of the friendliest you'll ever meet and that I've lived in MUCH "dustier" spots than Hardin.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Happy Birthday, BreAnne!

BreAnne is 24 today! Happy Birthday, daughter. We look forward to catching up with you soon.

You've been a delight to parent and are a delight as an adult child/friend.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Good Marketing?

What do you think, Cy? Good marketing? It's funny. LOL

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...