The next major stop on the trip has finally arrived. After three days of driving from Wyoming, we’ve arrived at Dawnmarie and Kirk’s place in Pennsylvania. Today’s drive was all rain … sometimes very heavy rain. I think this same storm from Nebraska is following! This morning before leaving the campground in Elkhart, I opened the blinds in the motorhome just as a huge flash of lightning came down with instantaneous huge thunder. Both Nina and I jumped about four feet in the air! However, the weather is expected to clear out tonight and the weekend is supposed to be beautiful.

We’ve put the motorhome into a KOA campground near here for the next few days. Tonight I need to fix the bathroom door (Kirk has loaned me the necessary tools). Tomorrow we’re splitting up. Kirk and I are taking the three older kids to Geauga Lake Park (an amusement park) while Nina and Dawnmarie are taking the three younger kids somewhere else. They’ve also arranged for a babysitter so Nina and Dawnmarie can go see a movie while Kirk and the older kids and I come back from the park.

It’s nice being back in this part of the country. Every time we come here, it feels like home (probably because we lived for so many years in Chardon, Ohio). The countryside is lush and green. There are trees everywhere (but no hills or mountains). Along with that comes swealtery weather and soggy cookies … there’s downsides to everything! We’re glad to be here and happy to not be driving somewhere in the motorhome tomorrow.

The skies have really opened up this morning! I don’t think we’ve seen this much rain in the entire three years we’ve lived in Pocatello as came down this morning. The campground is awash in water and getting unhooked from water and electricity will definitely mean getting feet wet. Nina asked how we would know if there was a tornado in the area. I don’t know … maybe there is a siren that goes off?? Anyway, tornados always go through trailer parks. Does an RV campground count as a trailer park? This one has space for about 390 outfits, but only about a third are occupied. Maybe that’s not enough density to be a tornado magnet….

We were supposed to stop in Tinley Park, Illinois last night but it was going to be close to 5 p.m. when we got there and sitting at the table in the motorhome in the campground with not much to do for another five hours seemed a bit much, so we kept on driving another three hours to Elkhart, Indiana. Just before we got here we crossed into the Eastern time zone and it suddenly got another hour later. So even though right now this morning the clock says 7:30 a.m., in my brain it is actually 5:30 a.m. and I should still be asleep. Nina’s been up for a couple of hours, so she’ll get to drive while I snooze. We’ve got about six hours of driving left to the campground in Grove City, Pennsylvania. The rain has almost stopped although there’s still a lot of thunder outside. It’s about time to button the motorhome up and get this wagon moving eastward once again.

Our first full day of driving was completely uneventful. We left the campground in Cheyenne about 7:45 a.m. headed east into Nebraska. We stopped in Sidney, Nebraska for breakfast, at a rest area for lunch, for gas in North Platte, and for the night in Gretna, about 20 miles west of Omaha. The motorhome is running well and everything is working as it should be. We’re doing better on gas mileage and on gas prices than estimated (so far) which is a nice benefit

Nebraska has a program to promote the use of ethanol in gasoline. So, at service stations in Nebraska, the gasoline with 10% ethanol is dramatically less expensive than non-ethanol gasoline. For instance, in North Platte, standard 87 octane gasoline was $3.449 per gallon while 10% ethanol gasoline was $3.079 per gallon. Even that price, non-ethanol gasoline was thirty cents a gallon more expensive than in either Wyoming or Iowa! Nebraska must have some of the highest state gasoline taxes in the area. I would not want to live in Nebraska simply for that reason alone.

We’ve driven and slept through a significant amount of rain. It rained for the last two hours of the drive into Cheyenne and then rained hard during the night. We had a couple of sections of serious rain across Nebraska and then last night it rained, with serious thunder and lightning, much of the night. We’re now about twenty miles west of Des Moines, Iowa, and have just driven out of the rain. We may even see sunshine sometime today. The Big Road Trip continues eastward.

After leaving Perry’s a few minutes after 1 p.m. we drove the rest of the way across the state of Wyoming and pulled into a campground in Cheyenne about 6:30 p.m. We’re now parked in a slot, have eaten dinner, both of us have our laptop computers out and we’re online. This campground has free WiFi and it’s quite fast! Nina’s doing email and I’m writing in my blog. A little later I want to work up some pictures from today’s activities with Perry and hopefully get them onto the picture album before going to bed. We’re both very tired and a good night’s sleep will be very nice.

We’re staying in the AB Campground in Cheyenne. This is a very nice RV park. The sites are all level, and everything is convenient. Best of all, they have a food concession where we were able to buy dinner (they’ll even deliver it to your campsite!) and have a nice BBQ pork dinner without having to cook anything. This is a nice place and I would definitely recommend it. It’s a Monday evening and the campground is full!! It probably doesn’t need my recommendation….

The Big Road Trip started very well on Sunday, August 5th. We drove away from the house the first time at 2 p.m. But then we decided we needed both sets of keys for the Tracker (which we’re towing behind the motorhome) so we went back to the house, got the keys and left for real at 2:15 p.m. Four hours and fifteen minutes later we were at my brother Perry’s home in Green River, Wyoming. The drive was completely uneventful. As we drove through Cokeville, Wyoming, the Flying J there had gas for $2.709 a gallon so we filled up and took a short break there.

We parked in Perry’s driveway for the evening. They had dinner ready for us and after dinner we sat out on their front porch until well after 10 p.m. visiting. Perry and Chris are so very fun to be with and so very easy to be around. We sure enjoyed their hospitality.

We slept in the motorhome and have the first few kinks worked out in how things are arranged. Tonight in Cheyenne will work a little better. This time we’ll extend the slideout, hook up the water, turn on the water heater, and actually make it a bit of home. We should be at the campground by 6:30 p.m. on Monday.

This morning Perry took us on a small tour of the area. I’ve got some pictures that I need to put up on the picture album from the tour. We first drove out into the high desert to where Perry works and he gave us a pretty good run down on his job. It was really fun to see where he works and to finally have a real image in my head of what his work looks like. Then we did a bit of a circle to one of the Lumbard Ferry across the Green River used by the pioneers, the Pony Express, the Oregon trail, and the California gold rush folks. We drove on a little further to Pilot Butte where we walked along the wagon ruts left from that time. A little further along we stopped at Simpson’s Hollow where Lot Smith and his small group of marauders harassed Johnson’s Army as they came west to invade Utah. After that it was back to Green River, close up the camper, hook up the Tracker, and head east. Right now we’re at mile marker 245 on eastbound Interstate 80 in Wyoming. We’ve got another hundred and twenty miles to drive. I’m beginning to feel like we’re on vacation … although I’m not sure what I’m on vacation from!

The days are still running together and I just noticed I had not written about mother’s birthday party last Wednesday. The original plan was that the fence builders would have the last of the fence up on Tuesday evening and we would go over on Wednesday morning to stain the fence and then celebrate mother’s 83rd birthday. Then my favorite brother let us know that he and his wife Chris (also a favorite) would be in Soda Springs Tuesday evening and would go home sometime Wednesday afternoon. That was great news as then he could help with the staining work! Then Tuesday afternoon we learned that the fence was done and that dad and the neighbor had finished the staining. Even better!

We drove over to Soda Springs and got there about 9:30 a.m. We visited a lot and then spent some time with dad out in the workshop rearranging stuff so he had a place to work out there. Mother is trying to get him to do his projects in the shop rather than on her kitchen counter, dining table, or the floor in between.

Perry brought over a DVD with his pictures from New York. It was fun seeing the town through their eyes. We had  a great visit.

We also had a nice birthday party. I took some video. It’s still in the camera. Maybe in the next few days I’ll have the time to get it loaded on the website! Mother really enjoys getting and opening presents … this time two books (Einstein and The Reagan Diaries) that should keep her in reading material until we get back from The Big Road Trip.

Happy 83rd birthday Mother!

It has been raining today. Other than a couple of thundershowers, I don’t think we’ve had any noticeable rain for four months until today. It has been raining since about 9:30 a.m. this morning — sometimes hard and sometimes soft — and it’s going on 1 p.m. in the afternoon. Hurrah! Along with the rain has come some significantly cooler temperatures. The forecast was for partly cloudy and occasional showers, but the radar loop shows a significant amount of rain still to come.

The only problem is that the new grass I seeded alongside the driveway has pretty much been washed away, along with the dirt I put there. I need something to protect it. The rain coming down the driveway has done quite a job of washing out everything I’ve put in place and deposited it all on the sidewalk. Time for plan B before we leave on Sunday.

The Big Road Trip schedule is almost complete. The only day still not confirmed is the day we plan to spend with Nina’s brother in Ohio. Hopefully today that’ll come together. Here’s the plan so far:

Sunday, August 5: Leave Pocatello in the afternoon after Church and drive to Green River, Wyoming where we’ll spend the night at my favorite brother’s place.

Monday, August 6: Spend the morning with my brother and sister-in-law, then drive in the afternoon to Cheyenne, Wyoming and spend the night in a campground there.

Tuesday, August 7: Up early and drive most of the day to Gretna, Nebraska (just west of Omaha) and spend the night in a KOA campground.

Wednesday, August 8: Another day of driving eastward to Tinley Park, Illinois (west of Chicago) and spend the night.

Thursday, August 9: Continue eastward to New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. We’ll spend three nights in a KOA campground in Grove City, Pennsylvania.

Friday, August 10 through Sunday, August 12: Have fun with Dawnmarie, Kirk, and the kids. We’ll leave after church on Sunday to drive to West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Monday, August 13 through Tuesday, August 13: Sightsee in the Philadelphia area with Daryl who is taking two days off from work to spend time with us! We’ll be camping in a West Chester, Pennsylvania KOA campground. Nina has been downloading all kinds of information on Philadelphia and already there isn’t enough time….

Wednesday, August 15: Drive in the morning to Clinton, Connecticut where we’ll camp in a campground just two miles from the beach. We’ll be staying through Sunday, August 19th. Nina’s sisters will be joining us and I’ll be seriously outnumbered. The plan is to spend all day every day at the beach, I think. I’m bringing plenty of reading material!

Monday, August 20: Drive back to Grove City, Pennsylvania and spend the night in a KOA campground there and visit a bit more with Dawnmarie’s family.

Tuesday, August 21: Drive into Ohio and somewhere meet up with Nina’s brother, probably in Marion, Ohio. We’ll spend the night in a campground somewhere in that area.

Wednesday, August 22: A full day of driving to Carthage, Illinois. There we’ll meet up with #1 son James and his family. We’ll stay through Sunday, August 26th and sightsee around Nauvoo, Illinois. We’ll do a temple session in the Nauvoo Temple while we’re there.

Monday, August 27: Start for home. We’ll drive as far as Lincoln, Nebraska and spend the night in a KOA campground.

Tuesday, August 28: Continue the trek westward to Laramie, Wyoming and spend the night in a KOA campground.

Wednesday, August 29: Drive the rest of the way back to Pocatello and home. We’ll stop in Green River for a short visit with my favorite brother … to get some popcorn … on the way.

So, twenty-four nights on the road. That definitely qualifies as a Big Road Trip! Most of the places we are staying have wireless internet access available so staying in touch should not be a problem. I’m looking forward to the trip, because when we get back, I’ll have to get serious about finding future employment….

Let me tell you, it’s hot here as well … but gasoline prices are going down. Since we are headed eastward in the motorhome on Sunday, that is welcome news. We’ve had a lovely stay here and will go home tomorrow morning so we can start the final push to have everything ready to leave on Sunday. Life is just cooking along….