Five Thousand Miles

In seventeen days we have covered 13 states and 5,000 miles. We helped my mom move everything out of her condemned house that she had moved into it a couple of weeks before. We stayed there in Kirksville and Brashear for a full day then took off for Nauvoo. That was only a couple of hours away. She is the backroad halfway point between Far West Missouri and Nauvoo. We arrived just in time for some of the pre-pageant activities and to get decent seats for the big show. It was pretty moving which is made all the more poigniant knowing that it was such a pivotal place for many of our ancestors.

We spent the night at the White House Inn on the main street of town. Nice place. Then we spent all the next day touring the sites and attending events. I got to talk to some of the pageant cast members who gave me some information that will help me finish putting my pageant together--hopefully. We ate dinner and headed out for an all night drive. I drove until about 11pm then mom took over. I traded back in the morning and we landed at Devanie's in the late afternoon.

We hung out for a couple of days. On Saturday Nathan's family wanted to get together, so we were invited to go with. We went to Jungle Jims indoor amusement park. It was essentially a souped up Chuck-E-Cheese with a couple of fair kiddie rides. The babies went on a mini-roller coaster and had a blast after the initial fear wore off. It was the merry-go-round that terrified Amelia. She didn't fuss, she just bugged her eyes and clenched her jaw while gripping the pole. We went to church with Devanie on Sunday.

On Sunday evening we headed up to see Kim and Gwen in Idaho. While there, we took some time to surprise Grandma Leavitt with a visit. She didn't recognize us at first. It has been a very long time since she has seen any of my kids. Mom insisted that I leave her and the babies there while the older kids and I went to Yellowstone the next day. It took four hours to get there. We drove the loop around the main park and saw all the major geyser basins. We waited a long time for Old Faithful, but it did not disappoint, despite all the pre-gush teasers. We "camped" in the park and were ready to tackle Uncle Tom's trail which leads to a pretty stunning view of the Yellowstone Grand Canyon the next morning. By then the kids felt like they had seen everything they needed to see, so we headed out. But we could not leave without stopping at the museum in West Yellowstone to see "Old Snaggletooth." My mom had told us about how she had heard about and seen him while she worked there in the summers during college in the sixties and was surprised to see him in the museum some years later when she went back to visit with her young family. He was killed by poachers according to the sign.

We went back to Kim and Gwen's to collect Mom and the babies and headed back to Devanie's. We spent Wednesday and Thrusday at the Lagoon amusement park with Mom, again, insisting on keeping the babies. Devanie and her kids were with us on the first day, but the second day it was just me and my older kids.

Friday we went to see my Uncle Jared and his kids at Twin Falls, Idaho. He has the best matched set of kids for mine. Tyler is a girl who is Emylie's age. Jayden is Claire's age and Jackson is close to Andrew's age. Isaac will always be the odd man out. Nobody was having boys when I was. While we were there, Lee Joe managed to bring his family to see us for a few minutes. We all went on a hike together. Instead of leaving like I planned to, we stayed one more night. That gave the kids the opportunity to ride the ATV's and motorcycles. Andrew even tried to learn how to ride Jackson's little 3 speed. I think that was one of their favorite things about the whole trip.

We drove all Sunday and got to Far West on Monday morning. Mom and I took a short nap. Mom and Dad Skembo had just arrived there themselves. They have spent all summer in Arizona taking care of Max and his medical needs. All of us decided to stay an extra day we just enjoyed each others company and helped a little around the store and on the farm. Tuesday I took Mom back to her house and came back for one more night of rest and to get all packed up. We left at 8am and got home around 6pm. Home seemed like such a foreign place, but the babies were so happy to see their daddy.

Now we have to clean out the van so I can find the data cable for my camera so you can see what I am talking about.