We have left the love and comfort of Anthony and Rebecca's home and are back on the road again. We are now headed to Tim's and will be there sometime this evening.  We chose today to leave because it is both Lily's and Lydia's birthday. So we had breakfast with Lydia and we'll have ice cream and cake with Lily tonight.  Grand Kids is what it is all about ☺.

Our time spent at Anthony's was great.  We did movies and eating out and I got to
 stuff myself with home grown tomatoes.

We got to experience giant pancakes and yes they ate the whole thing

We also took the boys antique shopping. Trying on the ladies hats seem to be the choice of the day. The extra kid with Josh is their friend Mitch who was visiting from Utah.

I love being able to spend enough time to get the whole feel of the family in their day to day doings. Rebecca is a busy mom transporting kids hither and yon.

Tom and I also took a two night trip to Branson Missouri and a one night stay up to Michigan.  That will be for another post.

Until later --

Tom and Debra

P.S.

I've turned the GPS tracker on again. I forgot to do that when we left Utah headed to Anthony's. The link to SpotWalla should still be good.

Mountain Home Arkansas

Greetings fellow travelers!

I am writing today from Mountain Home Arkansas.  It's been a while since I've posted out here but Debra has been posting stuff from our travels that brought us from Utah to Arkansas so I hope you have enjoyed those.  Next week we will be taking an overnight trip to Branson, Mo to take in the town up there and have some new experiences there.  We've been there before but it's nice to go back every now and then and see how things have changed.  I'll post an update from there or shortly after we return to Mountain Home.

I wanted to write today to share some photos regarding the Veterans Memorial here in Mountain Home.  We went down to the old town square this morning for a Farmers Market and while there I noticed the Veterans Memorial there in the town square so I took a few photos and I am including them below.

One of the many things you will notice about small town America is that the people of these towns have all shared in the sacrifices to keep our nation free.  Many of these people have given the ultimate sacrifice in support of that ideal.  Families have had to bear the agony of losing loved ones in support of our freedoms and small town America recognizes that and somehow, someway, tries to honor the families loss of their loved ones and the memory of those who have fallen.  In that regard, whether you live in Colver, Pa; Mountain Home, AR; or Bemidji,WI we share a common value and belief in this nation that unites us as a people.

Here are a few photos from the Mountain Home Veterans Memorial in the town square to include one with information on one of the Civil War battles fought nearby.

Happy Trails,

Tom & Debra Stephens

Hello All,

Tom and I are currently nestled in Arkansas at our son's home.
Anthony, Rebecca and family live in a beautiful home surrounded by trees and grass and flowering bushes.  They have 3 cats and 4 turtles that live in the yard.  The humidity here is taking a bit to get use to - it being up in the high 70's.  Temp in the high 90's.  Sauna every day - Yeah !!!!  Not.

These are our Arkansas grandchildren

We arrived on the 6th of July and are staying until Aug 4 which is Lydia's 10th birthday.

Minnesota - Iowa - Missouri - Arkansas

What can I say - we drove thru a few states today.  Started out in Minnesota then we hit Iowa, Missouri and finally Arkansas.

 

Iowa - corn, corn and more corn.  Fields and fields and fields of it. Thank you to the people who grow the food we have in the stores.  The farms are beautiful, but no mountains.  I slept a lot.

 Missouri - beautiful rolling hills, trees, streams, small ponds and lakes.  Humidity to keep one very moist.  We were definitely thankful for air conditioning.  Gas prices keep dropping which is good.  Our highest was 3.81 a gallon and our lowest was 2.49.

We stayed at an RV park in Harrisonville, MO. called The Woods on the Plaza Drive.  Not wonderful like the Blue Mounds campsite, but was full hook up so that was great.  Toasted cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for dinner.  I'm getting the hang of cooking on a gas stove again and cooking in the tiny kitchen area of the trailer.

Rock that I left at the campsite in Missouri

From our campsite in Missouri to Anthony and Rebecca's was a short 5 hour drive until the navigator feel asleep and the roads got a bit twisted.  But the loving driver smacked her awake and she got back on the job, so the trip only took us about 7 hours - no big deal.

One of the fun stops we make when ever going to or coming from Anthony and Rebecca's is at the Osceola Cheese Store.  They allow sampling of all their cheese (over 200 types) and we always come away with some.  This time is was a variety pack of 5-6 different flavored cheeses plus a small brick of Havarti with chives and horseradish.  We ate the sample package of cheese along with some crackers and that was lunch on the road.

From Osceola it was just an hour to home base for the next 3 weeks.  We plan on visiting Branson, going to a diamond mine and spending lots of time with the grandkids. 

Catch ya all later

Tom and Debra

July 4, 1970 - 2018

48 years ago today, while riding in the back of my dad's van headed home from Gettysburg, Tom and I had our very first kiss.  👄  💑  That kiss led to marriage 💒, 6 kids 👬👬👭 , 6 kids in law 👭👭👬, 28 grandkids👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣, 3 grandkids in law 👣👣👣 and 1 great grandbaby 🍼. Also a couple of adult grandkids that my youngest "adopted" 😉.

Happy Kissing Anniversary Hubby.

Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota and Minnesota

Cross country trip

July 3 2018

1st Day

0 miles

151777 miles on truck

Eagle Mountain Ut to Gillette Wy

The day of traveling was uneventful as in no problems. Yeah !!!!  Well except for gas. We're getting about 9 miles to the gallon. 😬 The truck, or as Tom calls him Big Hoss, handled the trailer pulling just fine.  Parleys Canyon was a bit tough but we made it.

These 2 pics are going up Parleys Canyon in Utah. Interstate 80

We put in 576 miles and stopped in Gillette Wyoming

for the night at a Flying J, parking between the semis, who leave their engines running all night. 🚛 😟.  Tom said no more truckstops. But in the morning he didn't feel bad about turning on the generator so he could make coffee 😀.

Wyoming was dry and not windy for about ¾ the of the day.

Just a few shots of Wyoming

The white in the hills in the back ground is stone not snow.  And you can see the storm clouds gathering.

Then we chased a storm for the last part of the drive. It was fun to watch the storm across Wyoming’s huge open sky. For those who have never been in Wyoming there are no mountains for the most part.  But I love the wide open land and sky.

Day 2

Gillette Wyoming to Luverne Minnesota

576.3

152346

630am

Today's drive was beautiful.  This country we live in has so many wonderful sites to see.

Leaving Gillette this morning and heading into South Dakota took us thru a corner of the Black Hills National Forest. It was cool going from wide open Wyoming to beautiful forest land.  

Once we left the Rapid City area (home of Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Monument and neighbor to Sturgis) the Black Hills gave way to ranch and farm land.  Flat but green and we could see for miles and miles.  Tom and I visited Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse about 12 years ago so didn't make the stops this time. 

Sunshine and humidity, temperature in the 80's all across South Dakota.  

I slept, Tom slept (not at the same time 😀) and gas prices went down a bit. We caught up with another storm as we got close to Minnesota but weren't lucky enough to chase it away. So rained on we got. But by the time we made it to Luverne MN and the Blue Mound camp ground the rain stopped.

long enough for us to get the trailer set up. So we are settled in for the 🌙 .  

Sweet dreams all

Tom and Debra

PS.  The Blue Mounds State Park and Campground was wonderful. It is beautifully maintained and I hope the locals utilize. It's a nice little vacation spot.  I've started painting rocks to leave at different places we go. The camp area had a lending library so I left one there.

Good Night !

Hello fellow followers,

Tom and I have started our lower 48 adventure.  Just wanted to make a quick post aimed at our non Utah followers.

Our travels thru Canada and Alaska gave us beautiful vistas of mountain after mountain after mountain.  Mother nature is a remarkable force.  But I wanted to share one of our local mountains.

When you grow up with something in your own back yard it tends to become common place and filters to the back of your mind.  The Rocky mountains thru Utah, referee to as the Wasatch Front, are great and one of my favorites is Mount Timpanogos.  So here is a picture and a version of her legend.  I hope you enjoy....

Long ago, there were Indians that lived on Timpanogos. Every year they gave a sacrifice to the great god Timpanogos.

One year it was very dry, and the Indians thought the great god was angry with them.

The Chief had a young daughter who was very beautiful and of age to be chosen as the sacrifice. All the young girls in the tribe were blindfolded and given an opportunity to choose a pebble from a pottery dish. The chief's daughter, Utahna, chose the black pebble. It was her fate to go atop the mountain and be the sacrifice.

All of her tribesmen were sad and they wanted someone else to go instead. But, she bade her friends goodbye and ascended the mountain, winding her way towards the highest peak.

When she reached the top, she knelt in prayer. Begging for rain, with her arms outstretched, she made her plea to the God of Timpanogos. A handsome young brave had watched her and followed her to the top. "Please do not jump!" Red Eagle said. Utahna thought Red Eagle was the Great God of Timpanogos. He led her to a cave and there they lived for many years. As time went by the two fell in love.

One day Red Eagle was attacked and injured by a bear. Because he was hurt, Utahna knew he was not the Great God of Timpanogos. She cared for him until he got well, then she left one morning to ascend the mountain and complete her sacrifice.

When the sun was up, she stretched out her arms and leaped to the crags below. Realizing too late where she had gone, the young warrior found and gathered her broken body in his arms and carried her to the cave. In the cave their two hearts were made into one, as we see in the Great Heart of Timpanogos.

If you look closely at the mountain, people say you can see an outline of Utahna lying on the top of Mount Timpanogos.

Here's an image of her heart and an pro image of Mount Timpanogas.