Wednesday Afternoon

To those who follow us I apologize for not making an entry for so long.

In the last entry we were still in Kansas and it was winter there.  We arose early had a little breakfast and headed to Ottawa, Kansas.  Tim and Tracy have a daughter there and we promised to stop.

The baby is beautiful as are all babies.  His sisters are beautiful as well.

From Ottawa we squirreled our way through Kansas City, which was quite a challenge.  However we did emerge on the eastern side and continued on to home, arriving late in the afternoon.  It was winter here.  Our blood must have thinned out in the west as we were not prepared for the cold.

The first week home Lela was all involved in the "Reveal Shower" for Jared and Gen's Baby.  She was hither and yon, gathering what was needed to insure a wonderful day for the expectants.

expectant Mom and Grandmom Arden

Expectant Mom and Aunt Gloria

I don't know what to say!

Daddy Doody Kit full of useful items

Friends

It's Pink...a girl.   Anastasia Elizabeth

Expectant Grandmom Lela

All went well and the question was answered.

The men celebrated with a brew and a cigar.

A lot of time was spent getting the Silver Star cleaned of all the dust we encountered in South Texas and in Arizona ( remember the Habub).  Curtains were removed and washed, screens were vacuumed and ceiling fans were scrubbed.  It was almost as good a cleaning as when we first got her.

On the morning when we left Kansas, I cranked the TV antenna down too tight and broke the plastic yoke which holds everything together.  Needless to say, "they don't make that anymore."  So I had to order a new antenna.  It took me about four hours to install it.  It works great and we are on our way again.  I just chalk it up to "tuition."  Someday I'll know what I'm doing.  The Silver Star is in storage now.  We aren't sure when the next outing will be as we are expecting that baby, Anastasia Elizabeth, to arrive in the last week of May.

This past week has been all about getting our spring plants in pots and distributed to the proper place.  The potting is nearly complete, but the distribution will have to wait until I open the deck and the Commodore is in place.

Easter Sunday was celebrated at Jeff and Gloria's house.  Lela had baskets for everyone.   We also took our annual "dressed up" pictures.

Jared, Gen & Mom

Frank was all excited

Austin, Gloria, Jeff, and Joey

The oldsters, Paul and Lela

Jared, Mom and Gloria

 

Jeff, Gloria and the boys, as well as Jared and Gen attended Easter worship with Lela and me.  I was in the pulpit for the first time on Easter Sunday.  I have to admit, I was a little more than my normal nervous.

Thursday evening

We are stopped for the night in St. John Kansas at Pine Haven Retreat. It is pretty much at the low end of the scale. We opted to keep rolling through Dodge City as the weather is cold and rainy. I guess we will have to save Dodge for another trip. It is 39 degrees here and expected to drop to 32. We are in the process of warming the Silver Star.  It was chilly in here when we stopped.  We are travelling on 2 lane roads through Kansas until tomorrow when we hook up with I-35 in Emporia KS.  We want to stop in Ottawa KS tomorrow to visit with Tracy and Tim's daughter, Tabitha.  She has a new baby and we want to drop off a couple gifts from them.

I wanted to make an entry last night from Logan NM, but the internet wouldn't cooperate.  Actually we could only receive three channels on TV and they were all PBS. 

Monday evening we got together with Tim and Tracy one more time.  Tim's bowling league is on Monday night, so we met them at the lanes inside the Riverside Casino in Laughlin.  We ate unhealthy food at the snack bar, but it was gooood.  Tim had a very good night.  He bowled a 660 series which included a 278 game in which he had eight strikes in a row.  I was impressed.

Our trip home began Tuesday morning at about 8:00.  We headed for our destination for the day, which was Holbrook AZ. 

 

 

We wanted to stop there to see the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert National Park.

It was quite a white knuckled adventure going through the mountains and then the high plains by Winslow AZ because the winds were in the 40 MPH range with gusts in the 50's. These were crosswinds which caused us to slow to 45 MPH in order to control the trailer sway.  We actually were warned by the truck's on board computer to slow down, because of sway. We were praying hard!

We did reach Holbrook, although about two hours later than we anticipated when we left Bullhead City.  We set up the trailer and headed for the park which was about 18 miles away.  The drive through the park is 28 miles.  It was quite beautiful and amazing to see the creations of God.

The Entrance

Many prehistoric fossils have been found in the park

 

An example of a prehistoric fossil and some petrified wood

More petrified wood

http://www.nps.gov/pefo/index.htm

Painted desert

Foundation of ancient Indian Pueblo

This rock accurately marks the Summer Solstice

Petroglyph

Petroglyph

http://www.nps.gov/pefo/historyculture/pdi.htm

After the return home we stopped for Mexican food at Aliberto's near the RV park.  It was pretty good and plenty of food.  I had to get a go box for a burrito.

Wednesday was a travel day.  We covered a lot of miles from Holbrook AZ, nearly crossing all of NM, stopping in Logan NM at the Arrowhead RV park.  Again, the wind was a factor reaching into the 40 MPH range, but it was almost always behind us so it didn't seem nearly as dangerous.  Once we set up the trailer we locked ourselves inside.   We ate in the trailer last night as the wind was brutal, again.