Advertisement
Published: June 24th 2009
Edit Blog Post
We made it!!!
I didn't have internet in the car as I had hoped, but I am going to catch you up now. I couldn't sleep Sunday night, so I sent Marlowe to bed around 10:30, while I stayed up doing all the things that I have to do before leaving on vacation. About 3:30 am, I woke him up, we loaded up the kids, got coffee and headed out around 4:20. We are using a clamshell luggage carrier on the top of the Suburban, which we had never used. Marlowe had some trouble getting it adjusted just the way it was supposed to be, so we did NOT get off to a good start. It took quite a while to get to Greenville. (I was a lot of help, snoozing in the passenger seat!!) After that we were on our way! In Chattanooga, the kids and I woke up, and we stopped at a Camping World store and bought a hitch-haul ( a little flat rack that fits on the trailer hitch) so that we could put all the additional "stuff" in. After we did that, the kids had plenty of room in the car. We headed right on up
the road, stopping in Clarksville, TN for lunch. It was a pretty ride, and we made really good time up through Kentucky to St. Louis. When we were almost to St. Louis, Jake said, "Mom, this is the longest trip we've ever taken." "You're right, son." "Yeah, if we were going to Disney World, we'd already be there!" Up until now, the longest trip we've made has been to Orlando.
St. Louis was the most traffic we had to deal with so far, although it still didn't really compare to Atlanta. Originally we had planned to have a St. Louis day on the way back, but after seeing all that we saw on the way up, I think I might give up that day to have a day at Yellowstone! There was a little while when we were not really sure which state we were in (Missouri, Kansas or St. Louis), but we made it through. I am glad to say that AAA wasn't really right about gas prices. They said the average price was $2.69. Everyone told us that we needed to fill up when we got to 1/2 tank, because stations are fewer and farther between out
west. That was GOOD ADVICE! WE did that, and we have paid $2.34 - $2. 56 for gas, until we got here. We paid $2.67 once, but that's it. So, yay for AAA being a little off!! (I can't believe I'm celebrating these gas prices, but oh well!!) The craziest thing was that at 10:30 PM (Eastern time), the sun was JUST beginning to go down!!
We made it into Nebraska before I fell asleep. Nebraska is REALLY FLAT, and the speed limit is 75 MPH!!! I slept while Marlowe drove fast across this state! He stopped at a couple of rest stops to stretch his legs, but he didn't want to stop, and he had lots of adrenaline. He was getting tired and figuring out how we could stop for him to rest, when I woke up. I drove for a bit, while he slept. He only slept about an hour and a half, but he said that was all he needed. I only drove in the dark for a little bit before the sun started to come up. We got into some of the MOST BEAUTIFUL landscape I have ever seen in this area. We were STILL
More visiting!
When these pics are bigger, I can tell who's in them! in Nebraska when I woke up, but then we got into Wyoming, and I promise you, there are mountains here like I didn't know existed outside of postcards! I took pictures as we drove by, but there was NO STOPPING so I don't know how good they'll be. There were times when we could see mountains on the left, with snow caps and beautiful green lush mountains on the right!
I think the highlight of the day was the rest stop in Wyoming. In a little green area, there were some prairie dogs. When the kids headed over, I figured they would run off. THEY DIDN'T!! They came right up to the kids, stood on their back feet, took acorns from their hands and were as friendly as they could be! It was PRECIOUS!!
We crossed the Continental Divide, but there wasn't much to it. However, we also passed an entrance to Yellowstone and to the Grand Tetons. Oh my word! I can't even begin to describe the mountains!! THEY WERE so GORGEOUS!!!! I hope we are going to go back. We went through Utah pretty quickly and then into IDAHO!!!!
When we were about an hour
out, we saw on Facebook that Aunt Maida (the one we are visiting) had to go to the hospital. We got into a little panic, but we talked to Mona, (her daughter) and she said that Aunt Maida was okay. She had a fainting spell, and because her blood pressure was up, they wanted her to come to the hospital and to stay for observation. Any prayers are appreciated for her!
We called Mona as we got into Twin Falls, and she told us that Ileta (another of the "Original 16") was going to meet us at the Stinker Station to lead us back to Aunt Maida's. Yep, Stinker Station! There are 2 in Twin Falls. It's a gas station!! Anyway, she led us back to the house where a couple of the family members were waiting. We absolutely had an INCREDIBLE TIME! They are the sweetest bunch of people I have ever met! Of course, as the Hinson's always do, they had more food than we could eat and sweet tea that Jake LOVED! (It's hard to find good sweet tea up here!) As the day went on, more and more family came. They are so funny about
our accents! Almost everything I said was repeated at least once! They all want to talk like we do, so I take it as a compliment. I think it's sweet!
Marlowe went to see Aunt Maida at the hospital, and the kids and I visited a bit more before heading to the hotel. Mona brought us back and showed us this absolutely AMAZING canyon that is right by the hotel! Anyway, we came to the room, and everybody is sound asleep but me. I am going to try to figure out how to add pictures here.
Tomorrow's blog won't be as long, but there will be more frequent updates!
Funny sidenote: Not one of the Hanchey's believed we'd get here today. They said it took them 6 days when they came to GA. However, the interstates were probably much different, and they traveled with MANY more people! They were talking about one trip, and Marlowe asked how many kids they brought that time, they said, "Oh, there were only 7 kids that time." They talked about once when they brought 13 kids down in a 2 door Chevy! So, when they talked about how fast we traveled, I
almost laughed out loud when I said, "Well, we were ONLY traveling with 3 kids!!"
Thanks for keeping up with us!
Love, Alicia
Advertisement
Tot: 0.074s; Tpl: 0.023s; cc: 10; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0269s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Kelli Wilson
non-member comment
Glad you all are safe
I enjoyed reading your blog! Enjoy yourself! Have fun! God Bless Kelli