Saturday, June 26, 2004
Today we drove until we came to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. Before we went to see it, we ate lunch. When we were going to see Mount Rushmore, Dad decided that his back hurts and wanted to rest. The camper door was unlocked and Lisa said, for a joke, what if he got kidnapped. I’m sure he won’t get kidnapped, though, unless there is a whole gang of the kidnappers to carry him out. While we were looking at Mount Rushmore Travis got mixed up and by mistake said Rount Mushmore. Travis looked up spoonerism, which is what you call it when you mix the letters around, and found out that the name “spoonerism” is named after the guy who mixed letters around. Travis said he’ll start doing that but instead call them “weaverisms” and become famous. Anyway, after we were done seeing Mount Rushmore, we were headed for the Badlands National Park, about 50 miles from Mount Rushmore. It was only supposed to take about an hour driving, but our awful navigator, Travis, somehow took us way out around and instead of one it took six. The road was gravel and we met only one single car. We made it to the badlands at around 7:15 or so. It didn’t impress me as much as I thought it would, though. At first it’s really pretty, but after a while, they all look the same. I think the most exciting part of the day for me was the buffalo. There was a huge herd of them, even in the middle of the road. There was an especially big one that almost looked as if he was considering bucking us. There were also cute little babies. After we were done with the park, we went to a Flying J that was in Rapid City, which was close to Mount Rushmore, where we spent the night.
Monday, June 28, 2004
Sunday, June 27, 2004
Wyoming Ranching
26-June
The night of the 24th and all day yesterday (25th) we spent with Roger’s cousin, Gilbert & his wife Karen in Wyoming. They only moved there 10 days ago from PA. It’s certainly a different life for them there than Lancaster County, PA, and I’m sure will take some getting used to. It was fun to see them, and Roger & Gilbert especially had a good time. Yesterday we got some work done, including putting up their swing set & helping to get the garden planted. Travis and Roger also helped with cutting hay, repairing fences, repairing equipment and working with the irrigation system. We also washed the truck and camper while we had an opportunity. bWe were planning to just eat in our camper & not bother them so much, but they insisted they feed us. After we showered, & ate supper we took off around 6:30 or so last evening to head toward the Black Hills & Mount Rushmore in S. Dakota. Slept in a Walmart parking lot & went the rest of the way today. At the moment we’re driving to the Badlands Nat’l Park – going many miles out of the way & worrying about running out of fuel (at least some of us were worried!) We did find a place for fuel so there is peace & quiet once again in the vehicle. Weren’t terribly impressed with the Black Hills, but Mt Rushmore was worth seeing. Baked potatoes & ham are in the oven for a late supper tonite after we’re thru the Badlands, so we see it before dark. -posted by Jolene
The night of the 24th and all day yesterday (25th) we spent with Roger’s cousin, Gilbert & his wife Karen in Wyoming. They only moved there 10 days ago from PA. It’s certainly a different life for them there than Lancaster County, PA, and I’m sure will take some getting used to. It was fun to see them, and Roger & Gilbert especially had a good time. Yesterday we got some work done, including putting up their swing set & helping to get the garden planted. Travis and Roger also helped with cutting hay, repairing fences, repairing equipment and working with the irrigation system. We also washed the truck and camper while we had an opportunity. bWe were planning to just eat in our camper & not bother them so much, but they insisted they feed us. After we showered, & ate supper we took off around 6:30 or so last evening to head toward the Black Hills & Mount Rushmore in S. Dakota. Slept in a Walmart parking lot & went the rest of the way today. At the moment we’re driving to the Badlands Nat’l Park – going many miles out of the way & worrying about running out of fuel (at least some of us were worried!) We did find a place for fuel so there is peace & quiet once again in the vehicle. Weren’t terribly impressed with the Black Hills, but Mt Rushmore was worth seeing. Baked potatoes & ham are in the oven for a late supper tonite after we’re thru the Badlands, so we see it before dark. -posted by Jolene
Thursday, June 24, 2004
Rocky Mountain National Park
23-JUN-2004
Well Dad is getting tired of doing all the work on this blog so he’s making me post. Yesterday morning we arrived at Rocky Mountain State Park, which is absolutely beautiful. We set up camp and drove around for awhile just looking at the scenery. There are tons of elk around here everywhere you look. We can see them just outside our window of the camper. They have problems with overpopulation of elks and they’re going to start using birth control. This morning we’re going to take one more scenic drive to see the rest of the park then head out toward the Black Hills. If we’re lucky we’ll make it there late tonight. – posted by Nicole
24-June-2004
This is the mother of the tribe. We’re on our way to Cheyenne, WY at the moment, where we’ll stop at the Flying J truck stop where we desperately need to take showers. The last campground didn’t have any, which we weren’t expecting, so now it’s time to get cleaned up! We may be visiting Roger’s cousin that just moved out to Wyoming but we need to get their address to see if it’s on the way or how far out of the way it is. We’re listening to the first Harry Potter book on tape as we drive. We can borrow them from one truck stop & return them at another, so this is the second book we’ve gotten that way. Keeps everyone quiet & minds occupied for awhile! We’ve finally decided on our general route – we’re taking it one day at a time for sure! - posted by Jolene
24-June-2004
Dad wants as all to post so here goes. As you can see, he likes to write a LOT. Yeah but that’s ok. Anyway, basically everybody else already mentioned the things we’re doing so there’s not much to say. So since there isn’t much to say about WHAT we’re doing I’ll give you all the meaty details of the people who are doing it.
Roger- doesn’t sleep enough & doesn’t know anything about sleep. Oh, & he reaallly likes mohawks. And he always wants to make exotic meals that take a long time to make. Chicken pot pie????? Oh and he snores A LOT
Jolene-doesn’t like to off-road or be adventurous
Travis- pretty much the head of the family & VERY opinionated
Nicole- has weird dreams about being a lumberjack & bear cub. As she says “I was not completely sleeping and I kept trying to stop being a lumberjack, but I wasn’t being successful” She’s also pretty fussy about using her hat.
Renae- doesn’t like feet on her seat & takes an hour to wake up.
Going pretty good so far! We are having lotsa fun. I’ll keep you posted on their improvements - posted by Lisa
Well Dad is getting tired of doing all the work on this blog so he’s making me post. Yesterday morning we arrived at Rocky Mountain State Park, which is absolutely beautiful. We set up camp and drove around for awhile just looking at the scenery. There are tons of elk around here everywhere you look. We can see them just outside our window of the camper. They have problems with overpopulation of elks and they’re going to start using birth control. This morning we’re going to take one more scenic drive to see the rest of the park then head out toward the Black Hills. If we’re lucky we’ll make it there late tonight. – posted by Nicole
24-June-2004
This is the mother of the tribe. We’re on our way to Cheyenne, WY at the moment, where we’ll stop at the Flying J truck stop where we desperately need to take showers. The last campground didn’t have any, which we weren’t expecting, so now it’s time to get cleaned up! We may be visiting Roger’s cousin that just moved out to Wyoming but we need to get their address to see if it’s on the way or how far out of the way it is. We’re listening to the first Harry Potter book on tape as we drive. We can borrow them from one truck stop & return them at another, so this is the second book we’ve gotten that way. Keeps everyone quiet & minds occupied for awhile! We’ve finally decided on our general route – we’re taking it one day at a time for sure! - posted by Jolene
24-June-2004
Dad wants as all to post so here goes. As you can see, he likes to write a LOT. Yeah but that’s ok. Anyway, basically everybody else already mentioned the things we’re doing so there’s not much to say. So since there isn’t much to say about WHAT we’re doing I’ll give you all the meaty details of the people who are doing it.
Roger- doesn’t sleep enough & doesn’t know anything about sleep. Oh, & he reaallly likes mohawks. And he always wants to make exotic meals that take a long time to make. Chicken pot pie????? Oh and he snores A LOT
Jolene-doesn’t like to off-road or be adventurous
Travis- pretty much the head of the family & VERY opinionated
Nicole- has weird dreams about being a lumberjack & bear cub. As she says “I was not completely sleeping and I kept trying to stop being a lumberjack, but I wasn’t being successful” She’s also pretty fussy about using her hat.
Renae- doesn’t like feet on her seat & takes an hour to wake up.
Going pretty good so far! We are having lotsa fun. I’ll keep you posted on their improvements - posted by Lisa
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
RENAE
We stopped last night at a flying J in Denver, CO at around 7 or so and soon went to bed. I got up this morning at 6:00 I went to the bathroom and then went back to bed, since I was so tired. I later woke up at around 8:30. Most of the day we spent the day at Flying J, because Dad toke forever to get the blog site up and other things like that on the computer. He was working from before 6 until 3:30 or somewhere around there. We were going to take off and get on the road again, but we found a theater that had $.50 movies. We decided to go because it was showing the Passion and Dad promised Lisa and Nicole that he would take them sometime. I had the choice to go, but I decided not to because I heard it is really gruesome. Instead Mom and I saw Ella Enchanted. That was pretty good. It was 9:20 until we got done with the movies and were back to the pick-up and camper. We decided that it wasn’t worth it to go to Rocky Mountain National Park since we wouldn’t get there until late that night. We just went back to Flying J to sleep. – posted by Renae
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Colorado Springs, CO
18-JUN-2004
Today we drove across Kansas and into Colorado. Ate lunch enroute, and stopped at a grocery store and got chicken for dinner. Drove quite a few miles today – 659 miles, the longest we drove so far on this trip in one day. Stopped at Fountain, CO to sleep around 2200. – posted by Roger
19-JUN-2004
We drove to Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp and Travis met friends from home and Goshen. He spent some of the afternoon and the evening with them. In the afternoon I went to town and had the front end aligned on the pickup. It seemed to be pulling extra hard to the right, but the alignment was OK. They advised me to rotate the tires, since they thought the one front tire may be causing it. – posted by Roger
20-JUN-2004
It was 36 degrees this morning. Nicole said it was 32 degrees during the night. We got up and went to church at Beth EL in Colorado Springs. The yellow pages said it started at 10:30AM, but they changed their schedule over the summer and we only go there after the sermon was over. After church we went to the US Olympic Training Center, which was a bit boring. They give tours every day except Sunday, so we couldn’t get into a lot of buildings. We also went to the Garden of the Gods and spent some time there. On the way back we decided to check out Cripple Creek, CO. We also went to Victor and Goldfield, CO and were amazed at the amount of old gold mine shafts around. We went to a few of them and explored a bit which was fun. Many abandoned shafts. We also went up to a high overlook on a huge existing strip mine, and saw the mining operation in progress. It was interesting – we looked down on a huge strip mine operation with many, many HUGE trucks etc hauling dirt. – posted by Roger
21-JUN-2004
Today we got up and went to Pike’s Peak, but the weather was not very cooperative. We got to the gate about 8:00AM, but it was very clouded over. It opened at 7:00 and the weather did not look very promising. The man at the gate was very nice, and gave us a break (about ½ price) because of the uncertainty of the weather. On the way up we were in and out of the clouds some, but at the top we couldn’t see much. Sometimes there were brief periods where one could see part of the way down, but not much. It was below freezing and very windy. We got to throw a few snowballs at each other. Jolene and Renae were feeling pretty sick, so we decided to return. Nicole’s eyes were watery also, which was funny – didn’t know high altitude did that. Travis and I took a little run, but got winded pretty quickly. The altitude was 14110 feet. A thunder storm went through, and the ground got covered with sleet and hail, which was interesting. It kept sleeting and raining, and the ground got about 2 inches of sleet – the ground was all white – the whole time it kept thundering and lightening. It was like crazy winter weather on the first day of summer. The altitude of our campground was 9620 feet. We had a difficult time getting the camper out of the campground – it was VERY tight and we worked a while to get out of there. Then we showered and headed for Denver and the Flying J. On the way past we stopped and visited the Air Force Academy, but got there just a bit before it closed. We wanted to see the movie, but only saw the last few minutes. At the Flying J we did all the laundry (quite a few loads), and spent time getting caught up on internet work. – posted by Roger
Today we drove across Kansas and into Colorado. Ate lunch enroute, and stopped at a grocery store and got chicken for dinner. Drove quite a few miles today – 659 miles, the longest we drove so far on this trip in one day. Stopped at Fountain, CO to sleep around 2200. – posted by Roger
19-JUN-2004
We drove to Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp and Travis met friends from home and Goshen. He spent some of the afternoon and the evening with them. In the afternoon I went to town and had the front end aligned on the pickup. It seemed to be pulling extra hard to the right, but the alignment was OK. They advised me to rotate the tires, since they thought the one front tire may be causing it. – posted by Roger
20-JUN-2004
It was 36 degrees this morning. Nicole said it was 32 degrees during the night. We got up and went to church at Beth EL in Colorado Springs. The yellow pages said it started at 10:30AM, but they changed their schedule over the summer and we only go there after the sermon was over. After church we went to the US Olympic Training Center, which was a bit boring. They give tours every day except Sunday, so we couldn’t get into a lot of buildings. We also went to the Garden of the Gods and spent some time there. On the way back we decided to check out Cripple Creek, CO. We also went to Victor and Goldfield, CO and were amazed at the amount of old gold mine shafts around. We went to a few of them and explored a bit which was fun. Many abandoned shafts. We also went up to a high overlook on a huge existing strip mine, and saw the mining operation in progress. It was interesting – we looked down on a huge strip mine operation with many, many HUGE trucks etc hauling dirt. – posted by Roger
21-JUN-2004
Today we got up and went to Pike’s Peak, but the weather was not very cooperative. We got to the gate about 8:00AM, but it was very clouded over. It opened at 7:00 and the weather did not look very promising. The man at the gate was very nice, and gave us a break (about ½ price) because of the uncertainty of the weather. On the way up we were in and out of the clouds some, but at the top we couldn’t see much. Sometimes there were brief periods where one could see part of the way down, but not much. It was below freezing and very windy. We got to throw a few snowballs at each other. Jolene and Renae were feeling pretty sick, so we decided to return. Nicole’s eyes were watery also, which was funny – didn’t know high altitude did that. Travis and I took a little run, but got winded pretty quickly. The altitude was 14110 feet. A thunder storm went through, and the ground got covered with sleet and hail, which was interesting. It kept sleeting and raining, and the ground got about 2 inches of sleet – the ground was all white – the whole time it kept thundering and lightening. It was like crazy winter weather on the first day of summer. The altitude of our campground was 9620 feet. We had a difficult time getting the camper out of the campground – it was VERY tight and we worked a while to get out of there. Then we showered and headed for Denver and the Flying J. On the way past we stopped and visited the Air Force Academy, but got there just a bit before it closed. We wanted to see the movie, but only saw the last few minutes. At the Flying J we did all the laundry (quite a few loads), and spent time getting caught up on internet work. – posted by Roger
Branson, MO
14-JUN-2004
This evening we went to eat with all the uncles and aunts at a Beachy Amish place where they served dinner. There were 38 there, and a widow (Sylvia Ropp) made the dinner. Good home cooked meal. In the evening we talked a while, and then left around 9:30PM. Drove to about 12:30 and slept about 20 miles north of Hannibal, MO. – posted by Roger
15-JUN -2004
We stopped at the Flying J in Warrenton, MO and after dumping etc. Travis left the outlet cover there. As we were driving he saw the dump hose coming out the side, and we discovered the bumper cover at the side was also missing. We stopped to buy one, and then discovered the back bumper weld had broken away, and the bike rack was ready to fall off. We went to a truck repair shop and they welded it up temporarily so we could make it to Springfield. We got there at 4:30 and they closed at 5:00. There were very helpful and good people. They arranged a place to go in Springfield to have it repaired. – posted by Roger
16-JUN-2004
First thing in the morning we got the bumper welded properly and then drove to Branson and got a campground at Table Rock State Park, next to a lake. Since this was a trip of a lifetime, I decided I needed to do something else I had never done in my lifetime, and decided to shave my head. My head saw the sun for the first time – ever. Travis also shaved his head, and now we don’t need to date our pictures – we can tell the date by how long our hair is! Travis and I shaved each others heads, but as we were doing it decided to keep Mohawks for a bit. It was incredible how people looked at us – especially when they did obvious double-takes. In the afternoon we went it to get tickets for a show, and bought some for the Baldknobbers – one of the first shows in Branson (started in 1959). It was raining, so we went and ate at a Bar B Q buffet, which wasn’t very good. People really stared at us with our Mohawks. In the evening we went to the show - It was good family entertainment. Nicole could not stop laughing at Travis and me. She laughed continuously. It made one realize how others suffer if disfigured, or disabled etc. People would look, and then talk to their spouses/friends and they would turn and look. Quite an interesting and fun experiment. I left some tufts of hair on top of Travis’s ears that looked really cool, but he cut them off before we went to the Boldknobber show. The Baldknobber show was pretty good. The family packs here are quite incredible. Normal tickets were $25.00 each, and the family pack cost $59.00. – posted by Roger
17-JUN-2004
We went into town this AM and took our picture at one of those old –time photo places. We were not too happy with the picture. It was not a very good place, and we were hoping for “Indian” costumes to wear with our Mohawks, but they didn’t have any. We took “hillbilly” shots instead, but the quality was not very good. We checked out a few more things around Branson, did some shopping and saw a show called “Cirque”, which was really good. Normal tickets were $35.00 each, but we got a family pass for $85.00. It was gymnastics, acrobats, etc. We had a hard time deciding on that or the Shepherd of the Hills play, but decided to do that since we could see that one in the afternoon, and thought it might rain in the evening. We left in the afternoon and stopped at a park on the way (Galena, MO) and made hamburgers. – posted by Roger
This evening we went to eat with all the uncles and aunts at a Beachy Amish place where they served dinner. There were 38 there, and a widow (Sylvia Ropp) made the dinner. Good home cooked meal. In the evening we talked a while, and then left around 9:30PM. Drove to about 12:30 and slept about 20 miles north of Hannibal, MO. – posted by Roger
15-JUN -2004
We stopped at the Flying J in Warrenton, MO and after dumping etc. Travis left the outlet cover there. As we were driving he saw the dump hose coming out the side, and we discovered the bumper cover at the side was also missing. We stopped to buy one, and then discovered the back bumper weld had broken away, and the bike rack was ready to fall off. We went to a truck repair shop and they welded it up temporarily so we could make it to Springfield. We got there at 4:30 and they closed at 5:00. There were very helpful and good people. They arranged a place to go in Springfield to have it repaired. – posted by Roger
16-JUN-2004
First thing in the morning we got the bumper welded properly and then drove to Branson and got a campground at Table Rock State Park, next to a lake. Since this was a trip of a lifetime, I decided I needed to do something else I had never done in my lifetime, and decided to shave my head. My head saw the sun for the first time – ever. Travis also shaved his head, and now we don’t need to date our pictures – we can tell the date by how long our hair is! Travis and I shaved each others heads, but as we were doing it decided to keep Mohawks for a bit. It was incredible how people looked at us – especially when they did obvious double-takes. In the afternoon we went it to get tickets for a show, and bought some for the Baldknobbers – one of the first shows in Branson (started in 1959). It was raining, so we went and ate at a Bar B Q buffet, which wasn’t very good. People really stared at us with our Mohawks. In the evening we went to the show - It was good family entertainment. Nicole could not stop laughing at Travis and me. She laughed continuously. It made one realize how others suffer if disfigured, or disabled etc. People would look, and then talk to their spouses/friends and they would turn and look. Quite an interesting and fun experiment. I left some tufts of hair on top of Travis’s ears that looked really cool, but he cut them off before we went to the Boldknobber show. The Baldknobber show was pretty good. The family packs here are quite incredible. Normal tickets were $25.00 each, and the family pack cost $59.00. – posted by Roger
17-JUN-2004
We went into town this AM and took our picture at one of those old –time photo places. We were not too happy with the picture. It was not a very good place, and we were hoping for “Indian” costumes to wear with our Mohawks, but they didn’t have any. We took “hillbilly” shots instead, but the quality was not very good. We checked out a few more things around Branson, did some shopping and saw a show called “Cirque”, which was really good. Normal tickets were $35.00 each, but we got a family pass for $85.00. It was gymnastics, acrobats, etc. We had a hard time deciding on that or the Shepherd of the Hills play, but decided to do that since we could see that one in the afternoon, and thought it might rain in the evening. We left in the afternoon and stopped at a park on the way (Galena, MO) and made hamburgers. – posted by Roger
Weaver Family Trip of a Lifetime
WEAVER FAMILY TRIP OF A LIFETIME
We are starting a family Blog Site at the request of a few people, and will try to keep a posting of our travels. You will also be able to view more pictures of our trip if you desire at: community.webshots.com/user/travislw. You can also view Travis’ own web site about this trip at travislw.blogspot.com, if you would like to. We would love to read your comments.
This is one trip I have been dreaming about for many years. It’s been at least 10 or 15 years I have been dreaming of this trip. My dream was always to do it as late as possible so Renae would be older, but not so long that Travis or Nicole would not want to go. Each year for the past several years I asked Travis (the oldest), if he thought he would want to take a trip like this the following year, and he always said “sure”. With that in mind we decided to go the summer he graduated from High School. About two months before we were going to leave last year we had to face a big decision. FMC bought two GV’s and I knew it would be very difficult for them to have me leave at that time. They never asked me to change my leave, but after much discussion with the family I decided to offer it. I was a bit concerned after Travis was away from home for a year he would not be as excited about returning to “family dynamics”, but we would also have the advantage of spending an additional summer with him. Anyway, now I’m glad it didn’t happen last year, because now we have this entire year to enjoy it – it’s not only a memory - yet. Of course it would be nice to have last year’s fuel prices. The idea of the trip was to make one BIG trip for family memories. We want to “make memories” that we will keep for the rest of our lives. Hopefully most of them will be good memories One last family fling – when we are all together. I also think in looking back this will work great, and I’m no longer concerned about Travis not “fitting” back into the family life - the past school breaks and times with him have proven that. I’m also happy that all the kids are so excited about the trip, and all looking forward to it with anticipation. At one point Nicole wasn’t sure she would like being gone from home for so long – she is a bit of a home-body - but she is now really looking forward to it.
After a trip I took in 1975 with two other friends I always said that was probably the last time in my life that I will be able to live for three months without a schedule. So it’s good to get another chance – something I didn’t expect. After leaving Iowa the first weekend we do not have a schedule and will not know where we will be the next night. GREAT! We are winging it. We will take it as it comes - that is the way I like to travel. The only disadvantage I see will be certain busy parks etc., where reservations are required well ahead, but the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages, I believe. We have all our information along, and will research as we go. Hopefully WIFI at Flying J’s will work, and we will have good internet access. They also have free dumping, and RV Islands etc. We are completely self-contained with a generator and a large gas tank to supply it. We will stay at Wal-mart and Flying J’s and WHEREVER we feel like. The worst that can happen is to get kicked out. We will stop and sleep where we want, and when we want. A vote may be required, of course. OH NO – what about a tie? We’ll deal with that when we get there – remember we’re winging it. We will get campgrounds if we want to use the facilities for some reason. If we want to swim or stay “put” for a while, we will definitely get a campground. We will also use campgrounds in the National Parks etc., however if we are just “passing through” we will save that expense since we have everything we need and are completely self-contained.
Oh yes and the big decision – we got a TV for the camper. We probably will seldom watch TV, but it does have DVD and a VCR so we can watch movies. We will also be able to see our home videos mostly from when we lived in Botswana – something we have never done. It will be fun to see those videos for the first time since they were taken 12 – 19 years ago. We do not have a TV at home – and WILL NOT put this in the house when we return, at least not until after the kids are gone, but we do have one for this trip. It was interesting we had to make a family decision to get one, and it was voted down by the kids. They really didn’t want one, and the parents had to convince them we should get one. After we got it, we also had reservations and almost left it at home, but in the end we put it in. The kids want to be sure it doesn’t steal from our family time though, which of course we agree with. We were very surprised they did not want to get a TV, after not having one their entire lives. We all value the family times we have, and that would probably be reduced if we had a TV in the house. When the kids are gone that may change, but for now we like it as it is. We survived fine without a TV while we lived in Botswana, and decided we could do the same in the U.S. of A, and to this date we have not regretted that decision. The fact that the kids support that decision makes us feel good as well. Are we letting the genie out of the bottle by putting one in the camper? – we hope not! So here we go – we are leaving the day school is out, and don’t need to be back until the day school starts in the fall. Wishing ourselves – “HAPPY TRAVELS”. – posted by Roger.
5-JUN-2004
We left around 7:30PM and we told the kids since they worked so well they could eat anywhere they wanted and could order whatever they wanted, as a celebration. We thought they deserved it – they worked very hard the last two days, often while it was raining hard and very cold. They were soaking wet, and worked outside last night with lights etc. They chose Ichiban’s, a Japanese Steakhouse. We splurged and had a great meal. We already thought of several things we forgot. We forgot to take pictures of packing up and getting ready, taking pictures of the kids in the rain, and taking a “beginning” family picture before we left. We also forgot a tripod and beef jerky in the freezer. So it goes. After eating we drove to the truckstop along 322 north of Harrisburg and went to bed. It is hard to believe this trip is finally happening. – posted by Roger
7-JUN-2004
We drove to Goshen and did some organizing in the camper and bought some supplies – still getting things for our trip. We picked up Travis’ bike at a friends house in Goshen (Anna Yoder), and then stopped and spent the night fairly early at a Flying J near La Salle, IL. posted by Roger.
8-JUN-2004
We had to stop and buy cheese curds at the cheese factory in Kalona on the way to Wellman. YUM YUM! – posted by Roger
10-JUN-2004
We drove to Cedar Falls to be with June and Marc and family today. We stayed overnight and will return to Wellman tomorrow. posted by Roger
13-JUN-2004
This morning we went to church, and in the afternoon had the 50th celebration for Jolene’s parents. It was a fun time seeing some people which I hadn’t seen for many years. After that we all just sat around and reminisced for a while. -posted by Roger
We are starting a family Blog Site at the request of a few people, and will try to keep a posting of our travels. You will also be able to view more pictures of our trip if you desire at: community.webshots.com/user/travislw. You can also view Travis’ own web site about this trip at travislw.blogspot.com, if you would like to. We would love to read your comments.
This is one trip I have been dreaming about for many years. It’s been at least 10 or 15 years I have been dreaming of this trip. My dream was always to do it as late as possible so Renae would be older, but not so long that Travis or Nicole would not want to go. Each year for the past several years I asked Travis (the oldest), if he thought he would want to take a trip like this the following year, and he always said “sure”. With that in mind we decided to go the summer he graduated from High School. About two months before we were going to leave last year we had to face a big decision. FMC bought two GV’s and I knew it would be very difficult for them to have me leave at that time. They never asked me to change my leave, but after much discussion with the family I decided to offer it. I was a bit concerned after Travis was away from home for a year he would not be as excited about returning to “family dynamics”, but we would also have the advantage of spending an additional summer with him. Anyway, now I’m glad it didn’t happen last year, because now we have this entire year to enjoy it – it’s not only a memory - yet. Of course it would be nice to have last year’s fuel prices. The idea of the trip was to make one BIG trip for family memories. We want to “make memories” that we will keep for the rest of our lives. Hopefully most of them will be good memories One last family fling – when we are all together. I also think in looking back this will work great, and I’m no longer concerned about Travis not “fitting” back into the family life - the past school breaks and times with him have proven that. I’m also happy that all the kids are so excited about the trip, and all looking forward to it with anticipation. At one point Nicole wasn’t sure she would like being gone from home for so long – she is a bit of a home-body - but she is now really looking forward to it.
After a trip I took in 1975 with two other friends I always said that was probably the last time in my life that I will be able to live for three months without a schedule. So it’s good to get another chance – something I didn’t expect. After leaving Iowa the first weekend we do not have a schedule and will not know where we will be the next night. GREAT! We are winging it. We will take it as it comes - that is the way I like to travel. The only disadvantage I see will be certain busy parks etc., where reservations are required well ahead, but the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages, I believe. We have all our information along, and will research as we go. Hopefully WIFI at Flying J’s will work, and we will have good internet access. They also have free dumping, and RV Islands etc. We are completely self-contained with a generator and a large gas tank to supply it. We will stay at Wal-mart and Flying J’s and WHEREVER we feel like. The worst that can happen is to get kicked out. We will stop and sleep where we want, and when we want. A vote may be required, of course. OH NO – what about a tie? We’ll deal with that when we get there – remember we’re winging it. We will get campgrounds if we want to use the facilities for some reason. If we want to swim or stay “put” for a while, we will definitely get a campground. We will also use campgrounds in the National Parks etc., however if we are just “passing through” we will save that expense since we have everything we need and are completely self-contained.
Oh yes and the big decision – we got a TV for the camper. We probably will seldom watch TV, but it does have DVD and a VCR so we can watch movies. We will also be able to see our home videos mostly from when we lived in Botswana – something we have never done. It will be fun to see those videos for the first time since they were taken 12 – 19 years ago. We do not have a TV at home – and WILL NOT put this in the house when we return, at least not until after the kids are gone, but we do have one for this trip. It was interesting we had to make a family decision to get one, and it was voted down by the kids. They really didn’t want one, and the parents had to convince them we should get one. After we got it, we also had reservations and almost left it at home, but in the end we put it in. The kids want to be sure it doesn’t steal from our family time though, which of course we agree with. We were very surprised they did not want to get a TV, after not having one their entire lives. We all value the family times we have, and that would probably be reduced if we had a TV in the house. When the kids are gone that may change, but for now we like it as it is. We survived fine without a TV while we lived in Botswana, and decided we could do the same in the U.S. of A, and to this date we have not regretted that decision. The fact that the kids support that decision makes us feel good as well. Are we letting the genie out of the bottle by putting one in the camper? – we hope not! So here we go – we are leaving the day school is out, and don’t need to be back until the day school starts in the fall. Wishing ourselves – “HAPPY TRAVELS”. – posted by Roger.
5-JUN-2004
We left around 7:30PM and we told the kids since they worked so well they could eat anywhere they wanted and could order whatever they wanted, as a celebration. We thought they deserved it – they worked very hard the last two days, often while it was raining hard and very cold. They were soaking wet, and worked outside last night with lights etc. They chose Ichiban’s, a Japanese Steakhouse. We splurged and had a great meal. We already thought of several things we forgot. We forgot to take pictures of packing up and getting ready, taking pictures of the kids in the rain, and taking a “beginning” family picture before we left. We also forgot a tripod and beef jerky in the freezer. So it goes. After eating we drove to the truckstop along 322 north of Harrisburg and went to bed. It is hard to believe this trip is finally happening. – posted by Roger
7-JUN-2004
We drove to Goshen and did some organizing in the camper and bought some supplies – still getting things for our trip. We picked up Travis’ bike at a friends house in Goshen (Anna Yoder), and then stopped and spent the night fairly early at a Flying J near La Salle, IL. posted by Roger.
8-JUN-2004
We had to stop and buy cheese curds at the cheese factory in Kalona on the way to Wellman. YUM YUM! – posted by Roger
10-JUN-2004
We drove to Cedar Falls to be with June and Marc and family today. We stayed overnight and will return to Wellman tomorrow. posted by Roger
13-JUN-2004
This morning we went to church, and in the afternoon had the 50th celebration for Jolene’s parents. It was a fun time seeing some people which I hadn’t seen for many years. After that we all just sat around and reminisced for a while. -posted by Roger
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