Continuing on...

We arrived in Sturgis and parked at our son Josh's place. All seemed well until Roger went to get a tool out of his storage. Lo and behold, he discovered more damage from the blow-out. The steel belts from the tire also cut a gash completely through the bottom of our power cord storage compartment.

We hope to get that fixed tomorrow at our son Alan's place in Rapid City. It will require a metal plate be installed. The weather here has been hot. Today was 99. Amazingly, we are not too uncomfortable. And when we get too hot, we go into Josh's place. He keeps it super cold! We can't stay there too long... Granddaughters Jazmin and Scarlett are here. We've had a little visiting. Jazmin has her baby Callaway here, too. He's 10 months and super cute!

Silver Dollar City, MO

We had a good trip to Silver Dollar City - a Christian-owned theme park. The roads were smooth and the traffic light. The R.V. a/c has worked well. Nights have been pleasantly cool. Until the last hour today, Roger has slept (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and 1/2 of Wednesday shaking off whatever hit him on Sunday) and Heather drove. He's much better now and took a turn driving. We are looking forward to 4 days of Southern Gospel music - the music of our hearts! It is still HOT here (in the 90's every day). However, there's a breeze and some buildings are air conditioned. Ice water and water sprays are everywhere. We're meeting a cousin (with family) of Roger's here - great fellowship.

From Sturgis to Rapid City

Scarlett got her chocolate chip cookies baked (they were all gone a couple of days later - she didn't share much!!). Then she made prize winning butter tarts. That was a little more challenging, but she said they are good! Grandma was needed primarily for providing ingredients, since her mother doesn't buy sugar. Arriving in Rapid City, we went to Alan's house. He offered to help Roger fix the damaged storage area of the R.V. Alan did a great job riveting and sealing an 1/8" thick aluminum plate. Roger was pleased.

I had a visit with Galina and got food ready for the weekend. It was plenty warm so Alan's family came over for a swim, both Friday and Saturday. On Sunday Roger and I walked about 1/4 mile to a Baptist Church down the highway. We have been there before. The weather was perfect for a walk. However, Roger wasn't feeling 100%.

Maybe too much swimming with grandkids? Sunday School - studying Ruth - went o.k., but by the time church started, Roger was shaking. He went outside to warm in the sun, but that wasn't the problem. A deacon gave us a ride back to the R.V. Roger slept most of the rest of the day and all night and woke up feeling much better. We decided to proceed with our trip plans. It took all day Monday to get across SD. We met Heather's cousin in Sioux Falls, SD, for dinner (taco dip that didn't get eaten in Rapid City!). It was nice to see Kyle again - he's doing well.

 From there we headed to Sioux City, IA, where we are spending the night at Love's.

On The Road Again ? - Oh, Oh, Oh, NO!

We got off to a good start - a little ahead of time! Traffic was o.k.; weather was great; R.V. was running good. We gassed up in Ellensburg and made it to McDonalds in Moses Lake in time for Heather to Zoom with granddaughter Scarlett for her German lesson. Roger was driving. 

As we neared Sprague Lake there was a violent explosion and the R.V. rocked. A rear tire had exploded. Roger knew immediately what had happened. The temperature was high 90's and the highway HOT. We were able to limp 3 miles to a rest area. It took 4.5 hours and many calls, including some scammers, for us to get someone to come switch tires (we had a spare). The entire process was very confused and almost did Roger in!! Once the help came (a local man who obviously a professional), it took only 20 minutes to change tires. Roger cannot change these tires. That's why we have roaside assistance and towing coverage. The spare weighs about 100 pounds and the lug nuts require an impact wrench

The explosion did damage to the R.V. which had to get fixed. He knew of the place that someone had recommended to Roger, so we carefully drove there. The owner told us to park and spend the night in the R.V., which we did. The temperature went from HOT to pleasant. First thing the next morning, they started work on the R.V. 

It took 3 1/2 hours, but they did a very good and complete job of restoring the wheel well - and gave us special rates! Roger checked the work!! However, this all cost us 24 hours and $. But we got four new rear tires in Post Falls, Idaho.

 We're spending the night in Butte. God is good!!

Oh! Heather got some real good deals on American made crayons and school supplies for the Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.

Back home now.

 We left our friends in Priest River on last Monday morning. 

Our next stop was in Yakima, WA, were we spent the afternoon with a retired missionary couple. The wife is a second cousin to Heather. 

We parked for the night in the parking lot where the CEF state office is located.

The next morning we visited the retired CEF Washington director and his wife and later stopped by the CEF office to load up on Tel A Story cards for our upcoming Summer events.

We enjoyed our trip home on I-90. Being on the road for two months gets tiring.

Our final stop, as always, was the Indian John Hill RV dump station.

Home, sweet home!! 

Continuing Homeward

Our next overnight stop was still being confirmed as we left Laurel, MT, heading west on I-90.

We stopped at several cities along the way so Roger could visit gun stores. He can only look, but not buy, because of stricter laws in our home State.

Friday night we again parked at a Love's near Missoula, MT (actually in Wye, MT).

We took time that evening to assemble a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle. Actually, it was only 499 pieces. As is common with thrift store puzzles, they are often missing a piece or two. If you look closely you will find where the missing piece was supposed to be! (right side above the yellow flower)

We took some time the next morning to shop before heading north and crossing into Idaho.

We arrived in Priest River, ID late Saturday afternoon. Our friends, the Smiths, live in a very rural community in the hills.

We attended their church on Sunday morning. They are part of a wonderful church family and homeschooling group.

Billings and Laurel, MT

Heather did her usual Operation Christmas Child (aka OCC) shopping in tax-free MT. So, that means shopping at two Walmarts, a Dollar Tree and a resale store. Preparing and sending shoeboxes with Samaritan's Purse is a serious "hobby/ministry" for her.

We planned a visit to the huge Scheels store before leaving Billings. Heather taught her Zoom Good News Club from the RV using the store's strong wifi signal in the parking lot. After that we rode their in-store Ferris wheel and enjoyed watching their huge aquarium and wildlife dioramas.

Thursday night we parked at a brand new Love's Plaza in Laurel, MT. We certainly were not prepared to see police cars, two fire trucks and an ambulance show up after dark. Apparently some sort of gas leak triggered the emergency response. The staff were evacuated, and the store and station shut down while the fire department searched for the problem. 

The station was reopened a while later and the rest of the night was totally peaceful. We have not learned any more about the gas leak. The morning staff in the store knew nothing about the night's emergency!