Day 1 of our 2025 Spring trip

Traveled to Ephrata, WA, to visit with dear friends who we've known since the mid-1990's. They moved here several years ago. We enjoyed a great supper meal and ended the evening with a hymnbook sing. Tonight we are under a clear sky.

 It rained much of the way here today and we even had snow on Snoqualmie Pass.

On Wednesday, we traveled through ID into MT. Lots of snow drifts and snow by the road, but the road was clear. We have never seen so many trucks with 3 trailers. Also, just a lot of trucks overall. One time we were the only car on the road surrounded by trucks. Generally, there's not much traffic - often we're the only ones visible on the road.

To SDC and back

On the 27^th we left SD and headed to MO, to Silver Dollar City, to see their fantastic Christmas program. The roads were clear and dry – a gift from our Father! Ellie was to come with us, but her flight was delayed and we couldn’t wait. SDC closes right after the Christmas season.

Christmas at SDC was all it was proclaimed to be – we enjoyed several musical productions, as well as being amazed at all the lights. We stayed in the former “Deer Run” hotel – great room and service, and used the shuttle bus for transportation back and forth.

The trip back to Rapid City was uneventful. Josh had returned from his trip, so we had some time together before we left. Crystal’s flight was delayed, thanks to bad weather, so we had a little more time with her. (We flew Ellie to Rapid City and Alan flew Crystal.)

Winter Trip 2024 - Boxing Day review

This post will mainly be a review of our trip up to this point. We left home on December 20 heading to Rapid City, SD, for the Christmas holiday. We were surprised that I-90 was bare and and mostly dry all the way.

Avoiding night driving, we spent one night in Bozeman, MT.

The next day we stopped in Sturgis, SD, to briefly visit with son, Josh, and his family before they headed out on a drive to the East coast.

Arrived in Rapid City at our usual destination hotel. It has a pool slide our grand kids enjoy.

Went on a mountain trail hike with son Alan, and two of his boys. We found some very interesting swings and rope structures.

 

Opened gifts on Christmas morning with Alan's family.

The Sunday before Christmas we attended the church that provided a family to pick Zoey and Wyatt up for AWANA. That is a marvelous gift to us! Then, we returned for the Christmas Eve service. We did miss any pageants that happened in WA or SD.

Home!

Roger enjoyed swimming with the grandkids until he realized he'd jumped in with his phone in his swim trunk's pocket!! It's still drying out - we hope it may work again.ng t

In MT we suddenly realized we were driving with a coolant leak. There was no indication of problems on the gauge, so it was only seeing the puddle under the R.V. that alerted Roger to issues. He couldn't buy coolant there - the nearest place was ~50 miles away - so we filled it up with water. After we were able to add coolant, we kept our eyes on the exhaust. It continued to spew white smoke showing that there was some engine damage. God allowed us to get home, but now we have to decide what move to do next.

Our last night was spent in Ellensburg at a prayer meeting. They let us spend the night there and on Thursday morning we continued home - arriving before lunch.

It was a good trip, but so glad to be home!

WB road!

Driving in WY, we realized we had the Wordless Book in sight! The road was red - certain areas have red rocks and use it in highway mixtures. The center lines were yellow, but had black alongside them. On the side of the road was the white fog line. And the grass was green. So, we had all 5 WB colors as we drove along.

SD

We arrived in SD and parked at the R.V. park in town. After Heather taught on Zoom, Alan's family came over. Shortly after they arrived, a torrential down pour ensued. We were able to eat dinner together and keep the kids somewhat happy with games. The pool is closed for the season, so we have decided to rent a motel room with a pool on hand.

The storm brought lightening for about an hour - sheet and forked without thunder! It was an amazing sight - and we could see it well on the hill that the park is located. Also looked out over the town all lit up for evening.

Friday we moved to the hotel. For 2 days the kids/g'kids came and left, enjoying the pool. Josh joined us on Saturday for a short visit, bringing his family. 

Sunday morning we moved out and left for church. Directly thereafter we drove to Sturgis. Josh found a wonderful park that we all enjoyed. First we had our Swiss Steak, potato salad, watermelon and cheese cake. Then we tried out many of the slides, swings, rides, etc. The bike park was a huge draw. Alan, Wyatt and Odin joined us for the afternoon. Galina stayed with home with Hunter and Zoey, who wasn't feeling good.

Sunday was Heather's birthday, and it was a delight to spend it with some family - a very rare occurrence.

Sunday night we plugged in at Josh's, and left Monday for home. Monday night was spent in Bozeman, MT.

Highway excitement

Traveling north on route 85 in WY, we were almost stopped as a great transport passed us going south. Two helicopters with machine guns hanging out the side guarded and flew above this transport. There were many (~6) official/police cars with flashing lights, etc., accompanying the semi that pulled a trailer. Several armored military vehicles were also in the convoy. I almost ran into the guy ahead of me as he decided to hit the brakes. The "caravan" was in the opposite double lane, but it was overwhelming. 

One local person told us they were transporting a nuclear missile warhead, since there are a lot of silos around here.  I don't like to link to outside media because I can't be sure of what else might on the site, but here's a tiktok video of pretty much what we saw. Very interesting.

This road was almost deserted, but it's a good highway between Cheyenne, WY, and Rapid City, SD.

Sometime later, as we travelled the "CanAm" highway route 85, we drove on roads that reminded us of the "wordless book". Do you recognized the colors?