Day 7

We made it!! We arrived about 1:00 pm, local time. We made good time today. The last part of the trip was in the rain. I am sure the rear shocks of the van are sighing in relief.

This is the entrance drive to the base.

There was a nice collection of items waiting in our room for us.

Thank you for all of your prayers. The trip was a much better experience than I had hoped for. The girls were generally well behaved and travelled well. We didn't have any real problems at all. We were blessed to see the variety of God's creation. That was probably my favorite part of the journey. We are all looking forward to establishing a new normal instead of living in the van.

Please pray for all of us to make the adjustments to life at the base. We look forward to meeting the staff and students on the base. Alayna and Annalise have already found a few children to befriend. Once they learn Korean, they will even be able to talk to them!

Grace,
Tom

Day 6

An awesome gultch and bridge in Idaho!

Not much other than driving today, but we made it into Oregon. We are currently in Pendleton. A little farther down the road than we had anticipated, a first.

We are still on the Oregon Trail, but we anticipate being in Salem around lunch tomorrow.

Day 5

We got a late start today. Across the street from our motel was a outdoor supply store from whom we receive catalogs, Sierra Trading Post. We decided to stop in before we departed Cody. It turned into a much longer stop than planned. Talking to a store clerk about our plans to drive through Yellowstone, he warned that there had been a snow advisory and that some of the roads may have been shut down. As it turned out, the roads were fine. However, our warm clothes had been packed at the bottom of the heap. After some digging we came up with suitable clothes for moderately cold weather. This was not an easy task.

No DVDs played today. Only the wonder of Yellowstone. It was beautiful. We were able to see a bear and her two cubs. (We are sure they were Nana, Nicome, and Chinook from Santa and the Three Bears.) The cubs wrestled and played with each other. It was fun to watch. We also saw a few moose, a coyote, several elk, and lots of Bison. We were able to have our snowball fight. The pictures didn't turn out so well, but you get the idea.

We made it to Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Grace,
Tom

Day 5

Day 5

We had our snowball fight. Not the best pictures, but you get the idea.

We had been warned that traffic might get shut down because of the overnight forecast.

Day 5

Day 5

Daddy has moose antlers!

Day 5

Day 4

We made good progress today. We caught up to our planned stop at Cody, Wyoming. Not as much tourism today, although we still did some sightseeing as we drove. We were again awed by God's creativity. The mountains were spectacular. They looked impressive from a distance with the snow still on them. As we drove through we were captivated by the size and elevation. (I think our highest point was about 8900'.) Unfortunately, the clouds obscured our view of the top when were were at the bottom and pretty much everything when we were at the top.

It wasn't mentioned early enough for me to act on. But we did talk about stopping and having a snowball fight. Just so we could say we did - on a mountain, in Wyoming, in June. But not all was lost, I did drive through snow today. (On the car and pavement, not just along the sides of the road.)

The scenery was beautiful. As I have already mentioned, we have enjoyed the variety of terrain. We have also enjoyed the different animals we have gotten to see such as antelope, moose (see pictures below), porcupine, and prairie dogs (yesterday in the Badlands).

Before we left the park, we stopped at the Shell Falls. Once again, our compliments to the Creator. He really does good work!

The girls have done very well travelling. They have gotten along pretty well, especially considering the situation. That has been a real blessing. Today, Annalise told me she liked it when I take a day off work.

We then headed to Meeteetse. There is a YWAM base there: Western Frontiers. We were able to talk with a few folks there before we joined in Cowboy Church. They are having Rodeo Bible Camp this week. I am certainly no cowboy and my shorts, tennis shoes, and lack of a ten-gallon hat were certainly out of place. Besides the fact that it was about 50 degrees and rainy during this tent meeting. Someone was kind enough to share an extra coat with me and a blanket with the girls. (I had brought a sweater in the luggage that is easily accessible, but two of my daughters left theirs on the table at home, so we were redistributing.)

Adriana really seemed to have had a deep spiritual experience. In the morning I look forward to talking with her about it. It didn't seem appropriate to do so tonight. There was an altar-call and she went forward. I was torn as to what to do. I wanted to join her and stand with her. Yet, I felt it was important for her to have spiritual experiences without me being right there, so it could be hers. She did mention it was a little uncomfortable to be there without Lisa or me standing with her. I suppose a little bird feels a little uncomfortable the first time it leaves the nest, also.

Then it was off to Cody to find a hotel for the night. This was a somewhat difficult process. For some reason, most were booked or outrageously priced. In the end, we are here. Everyone is sleeping. I carried Annalise and Alayna in from the van and put them to bed. We didn't even bother getting our luggage from the van tonight. (Other than the computer and a battery charger since our camera batteries died on us.) It will be a busy morning and a long day of travel tomorrow. Hopefully, the weather will be conducive to a walk in Yellowstone.

Grace,
Tom

p.s. We love to get blog comments...

Day 4

Day 4

Note the clouds: they soon meant near zero visibility as we drove up into them.

Day 4

My Girls at Shell Falls, Bighorn National Forest

Leaving the park
Note the road near the lower left corner; beautiful views, no room for errors.

Day 4

Meeteetse, Wyoming: Bail Posted

YWAM Base in Meeteetse

Cowboy Church Service

Day 3

This morning we left Chamberlain and headed towards Spearfish. We didn't quite make it. We are currently at Rapid City, SD. We had expected today to be very "touristy". So we weren't sure if we would be able to reach Spearfish or not. We could have, but it was getting late and we are only about 40 miles short.

First we took a side route through Badlands National Park. As we enjoyed the scenery, the popular Rich Mullins song, Awesome God, came on. My MP3 player was on shuffle and it somehow played twice in a row as we drove through one particularly impressive area. Lisa and I both found this to be very appropriate background music for our drive through this spectacular aspect of His creation. Even earlier, we all had been talking about how creative God was when He designed this amazing rock we live upon.

When we left the park, we stopped at the tourist trap known as Wall Drug. Once a drugstore, this stop along I-90 has become a theme park of sorts. We had lunch and took a little bit of time to look around before heading towards Mount Rushmore. I had a buffalo burger and Adriana had a buffalo hot dog. As we were getting into the van, we met a couple in the parking lot. He commented that we needed a second floor for our van when he saw all of the girls. I pointed out that we had added on a room on top even if it wasn't a whole second floor. As we talked, we found the his wife had completed a DTS and Summer of Service with YWAM years ago.

On the way to Rushmore we took a detour to Rushmore Cave. Again we marveled at the variety of God's creation.

Rushmore was interesting. It is impressive to consider the work involved to create the sculptures. The vision the artist had when he designed and sculpted was incredible. But honestly, I think we were a bit let down after the Badlands and Rushmore Cave. I suppose the created can never out create the Creator.

No swimming to end the night tonight. Everyone is exhausted. Even Adriana and Lisa are asleep now. (I posted the pictures before I started typing.)

Grace to you all...

Day 3

A cutie in the Badlands!