Home Sweet Home

We have completed the trip and are safe at home at last. The last few days have been a whirlwind of activity. We made it to Four Corners but had a bit of difficulty at Mesa Verde. There was a fire in the park that shut down the tours. By the time we realized that, it was too late to get to the Petrified Forest. I was determined to see petrified wood and maybe bring home a piece or two (which I could not have done in the Petrified Forest). I found a rock shop in Amarillo Texas which we passed right through called Mama's Minerals. At first the shop looked small and upscale, but when we got inside it was massive with hundreds of rocks and minerals in all shapes and sizes. We spent about an hour and a half and found some amazing rocks.

We had a great time at Sherrill's aunt and uncle's house in Lawton, Oklahoma and the next day drove 930 miles to Somerset, Kentucky. We drove from 7:30 in the morning and got to Somerset at 11:45 (it didn't help that we crossed a time zone) We took fairly frequent breaks and the boys didn't complain once about time in the car.

After a few days in Somerset we drove home and were so happy to see our cats again.

We are now all settled in and this blog has come to a close.

I got my class list and I am excited to be gearing up for a new school year. The boys are psyched for school in a few weeks...well maybe not psyched but they are ready for it.

Before that though we have a week at the beach, which I will not be blogging. I can't wait to get to the beach and relax.

Thanks for reading!!!

Final Statistics:

Total Distance travelled: 7,938 miles
Police traps: Over 30 (the last few days we lost track but there were lots)
Tickets: 0
Wildlife: One baby deer on Interstate 695 that barely was able to jump over the guardrail but made it to safety

Bryce and the Grand Canyon

It has been a crazy couple of days. We woke up yesterday morning all set for another national park after a quick stop by a rock store. The rock store turned out to be one of our favorite highlights of the trip. All five us toured the store in awe of the amazing collection of rocks, fossils, and gems. We planned on staying about a half hour but it turned out to be more like an hour and a half. After that we went to Bryce National Park and it was fantastic. It is Sherrill’s favorite national park of all and after seeing it I can see why. Pictures will not be able to do it justice, but I’ll put some on. After Bryce we drove to the Grand Canyon Lodge where we stayed for the night. We were in a log cabin with four beds and two bathrooms. It was really two units with a connecting door which worked out very well for our family. Like most log cabins there was no internet access so I could not post anything yesterday. I woke up at 5:00 AM to watch the sunrise at the Grand Canyon. I hiked a quarter mile out the Angel Point Trail and waited until the sun rose at 5:30. I had never seen the Grand Canyon before and seeing it this way was great. I took quite a few photos. I hope that they can convey the scene. Later in the morning we hiked the best trails at the Grand Canyon and had a fantastic lunch at the Grand Canyon Lodge. After the Grand Canyon we drove to Page, Arizona where we are as I write this. We are at the Budget Inn which is quite a bargain, but yet again has no wireless internet. I am typing this in our room and then I am going to drive to a nicer hotel and see if I can access their internet from their parking lot. If this was posted on Monday night you will know that my plan worked. If not you will know that I am still driving around Page, AZ looking for free internet.

Tomorrow we are driving to Four Corners, Mesa Verde, and the Petrified Forest. Based on the travel time between stops it may be a nighttime stroll through the forest, but we have made good time the whole trip so we are hopeful for another great day. Tomorrow night we land in Gallup (or is it Gallop?...if only I had internet) New Mexico. I can’t wait!!

The sunrise picture is the start of the Grand canyon pictures. The ones before it are of Bryce.

Trip Statistics: Total distance travelled: 5,259 miles

Radar traps: 14

Tickets: 0

Wildlife yesterday and today: a herd of deer, a psycho jackrabbit, and a mole who zigged when he should have zagged.

Arches National Park

I have Internet at last. There was supposed to be internet access at camp but it was not working. We had a great week and the boys earned lots of merit badges. I put a smatterring of pictures since it is late and I am tired. I will try and get some of Conner and Nathan from camp when I have more time which will probably never happen since we are proceeding on our non-stop tour early tomorrow morning. The pictures require a bit of explanation. The first is Old Faithful that we were fortunate enough to see erupt four times. This picture is the third time as we were on our way to a worship service on Sunday morning. The pizza picture is Chris and seven friends eating a 28 inch pizza named Old Ephraim ( it is named after a massive bear who terrorized the local area many years ago) The rest of the pictures were taken today at Arches National Park. We packed up and left camp this morning at the stroke of 9:00 and drove a few hundred miles to Moab, Utah where Arches is located. The picture near the bottom with Chris was taken at Delicate Arch. We hiked a mile and a half with a 450 foot vertical rise to get to the arch. It was quite a hike since daylight was fading. One of us is extremely out of shape and kept asking for water breaks, picture breaks, and stop the impending heart atack breaks. The last picture is petroglyphs that were carved by the Utes sometime between 1650 and 1850.

Tomorrow we are going to Bryce National Park and then to the Grand Canyon. The trip is flying by. It is difficult to believe that it is already the end of July. We continue to have a great time but we are all excited that we have started our trek home to sleep in our own beds and see our cats. We will be in Somerset by the night of August 1st and we will be back in Kingsville by the night of August 4th.

Trip Statistics:

Total distance travelled: 4,640 miles

Total radar traps: 13

Tickets: Still 0

Wildlife sighted today: kamikaze prairie dogs who showed no fear that I had to dodge while driving

A Quick Post from Cody, Wyoming

I'm standing at a kiosk in the Buffalo Bill Museum and there is no USB port so I can't add any photos, but I can give a lightning fast update. The day after the white water rafting and horseback riding we took a gondola ride to the top of the Tetons and visited Teton Village. The view from the top was amazing. It snowed two weeks ago so we had a bit of a snowball fight.

After that we took a boat ride on Jenny Lake and hiked to the Hidden Falls. I thought we'd never find them!! The falls were amazing, and I can't wait to post some photos. On the way to Jenny Falls we drove through a herd of buffalo that were crossing the road. There were hundreds of them. It was awesome.

Yesterday we drove to Yellowstone National Park. We saw Old Faithful and some hot springs. I took a video of a mini-geyser that was spouting steam and water about ten feet high. When we asked the ranger she was incredulous that we had seen it going off. She has worked there for two years and although it erupts sporadically she has never seen it. I'll post the video (and a video of Old Faithful) when I get to a hotel closer to the end of the month.

We're going to the Cody Rodeo for dinner and to see the cowboys. It sounds like fun and the kids can't wait. Tomorrow we're spending the day travelling around Yellowstone and the next day we head to the Boy Scout camp at Bear Lake in Utah. The irony is there are bears near where we are camping in Yellowstone but there are none at Bear Lake. I have two more nights to worry about a night time visit from a bear but the rangers say if we follow the rules we'll be fine. That's it for now....more later....with pictures.

PS I was having a little difficulty with a kidney stone, but I think the problem has passed

Amazing Days!!!

I am sitting in downtown Jackson Hole, Wyoming and I was able to find an unsecured internet access point. The others are shopping but I thought I'd take a chance at a quick post. We have been having an absolute blast since joining up with the Scouts. We have toured Flaming Gorge Dam, seen tons of wildlife...moose this morning right near our campsite, longhorn desert sheep at lunch yesterday, another buffalo but further away, a bald eagle on today's rafting trip. We have seen so much. The car got a flat tire a few days ago. It was the same tire that had trouble before but this time there was a four inch nail in it. The great thing is that the trouble was noticed at camp and we were able to find an open garage at 8:30 PM on a Sunday to get the tire fixed. Let me explain the pictures. The first is a picture of the Flaming Gorge Dam while it was under construction. The second is the sheep.The third is Nathan just before being attacked. That was the most scared face he could make. The next photo is a group shot overlooking the Red River Canyon. The one right before the horses is the view from my tent Near Jackson Hole The horse pictures are from a ride we took this morning. The ride lasted two hours and took us to a beatiful scenic overlook. Nathan had a scare when his saddle slipped to the side and he had to jump off of the horse. He was a real trooper and handled it without concern. I would have been completely freaked out but he is very brave. After the horse ride, we had a great lunch and then went white water rafting on the Snake River. The trip down the river was the best rafting I have ever experienced. Our guide was excellent and made it a lot of fun for those in my boat. The water temp was 52 degrees and a few of the boys jumped in for a quick dip. It is proving difficult to find the time or the access to blog since we stay on the move all day long and then after a good night's sleep are off o the next adventure. Tomorrow morning we are taking a cable car to the top of a mountain and then in the afternoon going out on a boat on Lake Jenny. Sorry is this so scattered but I am happy to finally be able to post something. I'll post again when I can.

First Snake Sighting

Our string of near perfect weather continued today and the forecast looks great for the next seven days. We will be paying a lot closer attention to the weather since Phase 2 of our trip starts tomorrow at 4:00 PM. That is the time we meet up with the group of Scouts from our troop back home and start our Scout Touring Week. There will be about thirty of us travelling during the day and camping in tents at night. The week after that we start our Scout Camp Week when we will be staying in tents at Bear Lake Aquatics Base in Utah. At teh conclusion of our week at Bear Lake, the troop flies home and we start our southern swing on our drive home. I may not have access to the internet for the next two weeks, but I am going to try to post as much as possible. Some pictures will be available on the Troop website at http://www.troop746.com/ so you can check that out if you'd like.

Anyway, today was another great day with a highlight right at the beginning. As we were driving into Ayres Natural Bridge Park we saw a sign which lived up to its name. Within 100 feet of the sign we saw a snake slithering across the street. Christopher was driving, and he stopped just in the nick of time. He backed up a bit, and I extricated myself from the back of the minivan with my camera in hand and started clicking away. I got about ten feet away and that was close enough for me. The snake never reacted to my presence which I took as a good sign. From a distance I was thinking it was a rattlesnake but up close I noticed that it didn't have a rattle. I showed my pictures to a family in the park and the father identified the snake as a bull snake which he decribed as a constrictor with a non-venomous bite. He said it was too early in the day for rattlesnakes, but if we waited around we could see some. I assured him that my wife would not be in favor of that. It was a nice park with picnic benches and a playground. The park makes the lofty claim of having the only natural stone arch with water flowing under it.

After that we visited Fort Caspar and I learned that I share the same birthday with Caspar Collins for whom the fort and the city of Casper are named. There was a great museum inside and many period buildings that we got to tour. Right now Sherrill and the boys are at the movies. I dropped them off and came back to relax and
blog at the hotel. We are enjoying our time together as a family, but we also look forward to all of the activities that await us in the next week.

Trip Statistics:

Total Distance Travelled: 2514 miles

Radar Traps: 10

Tickets: 0

Wildlife seen today: The bull snake and a bunny

Into the Depths

Today was a fairly laid back day. We did make it to breakfast which was an improvement over yesterday. After all five of us enjoyed pancakes at a local cafe we headed off to Jewel Cave a stone's throw (70 miles) down the road from Mount Rushmore. We got there with relative ease to discover that there would be a wait before we could head into the caves. We got our tickets and used the extra time to get lunch. We headed to Pizza Hut and tried out the P'zones which were delicious. If you haven't tried them yet consider this your call to arms. After lunch we headed back to Jewel Cave.

Fortunately our National Park Pass which has already paid for itself allowed us to go on a cave tour for free. Sherrill has had a bit of difficulty with stairs and the free tour had very few stairs involved. The tour was not long but it had lots of information and an elevator ride that took us down 238 feet in under thirty seconds with no fear of any pizza hitting the floor.

The second cave tour was a lot more strenuous and Sherrill correctly decided to sit it out. It was called the Lantern Tour because the only illumination was from lanterns that we carried. There were tight passages with interesting names like Fat Man's Misery and Tall Man's Misery. There was one section in which we went straight down about ten feet called Trap Door. We all had to work together to shed light on the footholds and handholds. After travelling through many passages and rooms we got to the halfway point of the tour where we blew all of the lanterns out. I have never seen pitch black before today. We relit the lanterns and since the relighting is a bit involved I volunteered to lead the group back to a pre-arranged location. When I volunteered the group kidded me in good nature since I had previously taken a wrong turn when we had gotten strung out earlier in the tour. I went about fifity feet down the wrong path before realizing that the group must have gone a different way since the path diminished to the size of a 17 inch computer monitor. I was not unhappy about the detour since there were many crystals on the wall that we never would have seen otherwise. The tour lasted two hours and it is my current favorite thing that we have done. The boys also indicated that it is at or near the top of their lists. (The waterpark is definitely still very high on all of our lists)

The photo in which Nathan is crawling through a rectangle is the test to see if a person is qualified to go on the spelunking tour. Nathan and Conner slipped through easily. Chrisopher and Sherrill did not try. I proved that I am not a candidate for spelunking. With my claustaphobia I would never have really attempted spelunking but the rectangular box was a temptation I could not resist.

Tomorrow we are off to Casper, Wyoming with no clue of what activity we will do there. After I post this I'm going to do a little looking and see what I can come up with.

Trip Statistics:
Total Distance Travelled: 2,263 miles
Police Traps: 9
Tickets: 0
Wildlife Sightings: None