30th Anniversary of the Big Out West Trip

In 1982, not long before I turned 13 and went into 8^th grade, my parents took our family on an epic trip out to the western U.S.  This marathon trip in many ways had a big impact on me (for example, my tendency to want to travel to the western U.S.) and created many memories for me.   I recently had the opportunity to look at some pictures from that trip in my parents’ photo album.  Here is an excerpt from my parents’ 1982 Christmas letter:

“Then on July 22 at 4:15 a.m. we left on a 15-day vacation.  We went to South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, and, of course, Wisconsin.  We saw Mt. Rushmore, the Black Hills, Devil’s Tower, the Badlands, Wall Drug, Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, the Bighorn Mountains, and Jackson Hole.  The sights were indescribable, pictures just do not do them justice. We had a super great time.  We were caught in a terrible, golf ball-sized hail storm while driving in the Black Hills and have surface dents all over the hood and trunk of the car. We also received five different stone chips in the windshield of the car…We arrived home at 1:30 a.m. August 5 to find that our sump pump was off because the power was out for nine hours on Tuesday from a bad storm they received here and the water had run over in the sump pump well and in the walls and the carpeting we have in the basement was saturated…But we still would take the vacation all over again if we had the chance. “

So many memories: I remember that storm – worst hail I ever personally experienced.  I have a rock that I picked up just before the storm hit.  It is black with wavy white lines and a white, twisting vein running through that.  To me it resembles a lightning bolt in a windy storm.  I also remember my brother and I seeing a small rattlesnake in the wild outside Graybull, WY, and running terrified blindly down a hillside, while my father stuck around to see the snake beat a hasty retreat. 

Having traveled to many states with my own wife and kids (and experienced both challenges and happy memories), it is only fair that I should shout out a “Thanks!” to my parents for providing that great travel experience.

Home from Wisconsin Trip

I have not had good Internet access for the past few days, so I will lump the rest of the trip description into one blog entry:

Tuesday – ate a picnic lunch at a beach, played miniature golf, ate great ice cream at Wilson’s in Ephriam, and Karen cooked a great Texas-style shredded pork dinner

Wednesday – traveled to Green Bay, visited my 85-year old grandmother, visited Bay Beach Park and rode the Zippin Pippin (that last drop was sneaky!), and headed up to my parents’ cabin

Thursday  - climbed the Big Rock outcrop behind my parents’ cabin, helped with yard work, and swam in Chute Pond very briefly before thunderstorms chased us back to the cabin

Friday – visited candy store, Scoopers, and Big Smokey Falls

Saturday – visited Chute Pond area, including floating/tubing the Oconto River, sliding down Slippery Rock, swimming at the beach, and taking a paddle boat ride.  We also had a campfire.

Sunday -drove back to Peoria (we stopped in Muskego, WI, to drop off Kris's friend and visit their family)

Still More Door County Visit

This morning we went to The Farm and saw and fed animals (including a tiny goat less than a day old).  This afternoon we went swimming at Murphys Park.  The girls had fun jumping off the dock (or pretending like they pushed each other).

More Door County Visit

On our way back form curch this morning we briefly joined traffic with a triathalon - so we can say that we were part of a triathalon!  Later we went to Cave Point County Park (one of the prettier spots in Door County) and Whitefish Bay State Park.  After that we visited Karen's aunt, uncle, and cousin in northern Door County.

Door County Visit

Kris and her friend slept outside in a tent last night in beautiful weather, though the birds calling this morning annoyed them.  Karen and all the girls went to do art at a local studio.  Later, Karen's dad and I taught Katie some points about shooting baskets.  It rained at about suppertime here and has gotten a bit more humid.

Ending a Busy Week in Door County, WI

Busy week.  The good news is that progress was made on multiple fronts: the rock collection and many other things are unpacked, the new computer is doing OK right now, Vacation Bible School at St. Anthony's in Bartonville went well, and I think I am making some progress on a few things at work. Today we traveled to Wisconsin to pick up one of Kris's friends and now we are staying with Karen's dad in Door County, WI.  Got to see some drought-related sights along the way - dry grass, crops and trees, and grass-fire marks along the road.  The worst appeared to be between Rockford, IL, and Madison, WI.  I looked up some numbers recently: Austin, TX, reached its all time high of 112 for the second time last August.  Peoria's all time high was 113, set during an epic heat wave in July, 1936.  Green Bay's all time high was 104 (which Peoria reached on July 7 this year).  The high on Wednesday, July 18, tied the Peoria record for this date at 101.

Rain in Peoria

Today we saw the first rain since we got back to Peoria.  This region is in a drought, too.  The grass in many places and some tree leaves have been turning yellow.  At least the high temps have been noticably less than 100 F for this week.  Unpacking continues, both at home and at work. Converting to the new computer system and all of its implications has been more time-consuming than expected, and I still am having picture-processing issues. It was nice, however, to get into the lab and run a little experiment today.  This is about the time of the year when Peoria has its annual hot air balloon festival.  Very sad to report that it and the air show (two of my favorite late summer events) have been cancelled this year (money issues).  I hope they come back next year.  Since I have been talking dry weather, today's pic is from last month, of the high Chihuahuan desert near Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.  The Guadalupe Mountains, ending in El Capitan in Texas, are in the background.  Note that some of the cacti are blackened from last summer's wildfire.

Unpacking and Bass Pro Shop

Unpacking continues, and though there seems to be no end in sight (where did we get all this junk anyway?)  we are making progress, especially with the help of my parents.  Today we took a break and took my parents' dog to a local dog park along Kickapoo Creek.  It was nice, but some of us ran into stinging nettle when we went near the creek.  Later we went to the new Bass Pro Shop in East Peoria.  It was big (4th largest one I hear) and it was fun.

4th of July and Unpacking

Yesterday for the 4th of July we attended the West Peoria parade with friends, followed by a picnic lunch.  We had supper with another set of friends.  My parents and sister also came into town - such social butterflies we are!  Today the moving truck arrived.  Thanks to very ambitious family members, the process of unloading it has gone better than expected (in fact we were able to return the truck today), but we still have heavy items in the garage with which to wrestle.

Back in Peoria

We made it back to Peoria late this afternoon.  It was warm and humid, but the house was in OK shape.  Lots of unpacking to do.

Wayward Son Carries OnThrough Kansas

Rained at about 1 a.m. This morning I found a few tumbleweeds in the hotel parking lot.  After church we went to "Dorothy's House & The Land of Oz" in Liberal, KS.  A Kansas governor has declared Liberal to be Dorothy's home to be in that town, so the locals put up statues of Dorothy, moved an old house from out of town into home as a historic artifact, set up a walk-through exhibit of life-sized scenes from the movie, displayed a memorabilia collecton, etc.  They also had a museum of more local history, including an artifact associated with Coronado's trip through the area.  I'm glad we saw it, but the tickets were probably more expensive than they should have been. We later stopped in Greensburg, KS, to stretch our legs, but did not feel that the really big hand-dug well, the rare meteorite, and stuff about the devastating 2007 EF5 tornado was worth the museum admission, so we passed.  After a long drive through the breadbasket of America, we turned north at Wichita and passed through a part of the Flint Hills. (I saw a different part of these 20 years ago when I visited the graduate school at Kansas State University.)  The ranchland was not as flat as some parts of Texas, but there were very few plants more than a foot high - no yuccas or prickly pears in Kansas like Texas or Oklahoma.  The late afternoon/early evening light helped add beauty, too.  We are staying overnight in Emporia, KS.  Big road push tomorrow.