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Published: April 15th 2015
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We are well on our way to Yellowstone. We left in the early morning of Monday April 13. Originally planning to leave the afternoon of the 12
th, we were still busy with last minute tasks and visiting with dear friends and family until early evening, so we just got some sleep and headed out early.
Had a great day Sunday with the kids and friends. Had a great service at church, the preacher was pretty good if I do say so myself (haha, it was Jack for those who didn’t know). Great spirit, powerful prayer, wonderful blessing!
On Monday we traveled nearly 700 miles. Ran into a little rain, but overall it was a great day, pretty light traffic. Stopped for breakfast, then for a nap, then supper, and finally for the night Walmart camping in Minnesota. Attaching a pic that Jack took for the benefit of our niece Erin who had a hard time conceiving that people actually do that!
In case you were wondering, I have also included a picture of my artistic endeavor with a plaque for Providence. I figured out that the ideal Bible verse was the original
one, which I love so much I will post it again:
“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.” Psalm 139:7-10
Remember, providence means the foreseeing care and guidance of God. No matter where we are, we are never too far away for the hand of the Creator to guide and hold us. So, we travel in Providence, with providence!
Today (Tues) we plan to spend the night in Rapid City South Dakota. We may make some stops along the way (love South Dakota!), and plan to meet up with an army buddy of Jack’s this evening. He has a BBQ restaurant in Rapid City. Staying at a hotel tonight, no Walmart, so we can shower!
Though this doesn’t matter to you, I will pause right now and come back
to you later! Adding another pic that Jack took of me typing this as we head down the road. Actually, after that I pulled out the table from the dashboard, that was a little easier, but it does limit the driver’s view of the mirrors and such. Anyway, I’ll be back!
South Dakota, the place that I decided to learn to drive Providence. We took a vacation to South Dakota several years ago with the kids and I remembered the long, straight stretch of I90 with no traffic! So, I hopped in the driver’s seat, Jack gave me my instructions, and off we went….kind of. It was pretty breezy and I felt like we were being blown all over the road. Providence is GINORMOUS and practically takes up 2 lanes IMHO. Jack says that she is the same width as our previous little Tioga, the only difference is the FEELING of the Tioga being smaller due to the van front. I choose to disagree. Besides, I didn’t really like driving the Tioga anyway, but I did in select places. Anyway, here we are, on the highway with a speed limit of freaking 80 and I am struggling
at like, 50. Jack said get it up to 60 or at least 55 and that it would be easier to drive on cruise control. Again, I disagree. THEN, a semi came from behind me and passed me and I swear I could have reached my arm out the window and into the truck and patted the driver on the shoulder, it seemed that close. And I panicked. Jack said “you let him drive that, you drive this, don’t worry about him!” And I hollered at him to shut up. Then I could not breathe. Seriously, could not breathe. Once the truck passed and I could breathe (but not normally!), and tears were flooding my eyes, I pulled off the next exit and my driving day was done. Everything happened in slow motion but really all took place in MAYBE 10 minutes. And that was really a good thing. The wind picked up, there was a travel advisory through SD on I90, winds 30-50mph (last time we had winds that high in Ohio we declared a disaster and had no power for days! That was also when Jack met an RV couple and started us considering a workamper retirement!). With the wind, then road construction taking the highway down to 2 lanes, it was very tense. I felt so very sorry for Jack… you are my hero honey!
Made it to Rapid City SD and checked into the Fairfield Inn. Needed showers! Unhooked the jeep and headed out, had dinner at Black Hills BBQ, owned by Jack’s buddy from back in the day. His schedule did not permit getting together last night, so we drove out to see Mt. Rushmore at night. Keystone was completely empty, obviously April is not a tourist month! Could have been, weather sunny and close to 80 yesterday. My next goal is learning how the wifi feature works on our new camera (thank you family!!!) so I can put some pics in of the Badlands and Mt. Rushmore. I am still relying on my phone camera to email pics to myself to put them on my computer and upload(?) them on the blog. I know there has to be a better way….
Taking an easy day today, we are less than 500 miles to Gardiner MT, where we check in Friday morning. Jack has headed out to meet up with Brian, and I am headed to breakfast! I will work on some better pics later on, they are on the camera!
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Donalee
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Jodie Jones - aka the Blogmeister
I finally had a chance tonight to catch up on your blogs. They are so much fun to read. Keep them coming--but definitely figure out how to add more pictures. I need to READ and SEE stuff--so I can live vicariously through you. What an adventure!