Are We There Yet?

Last night we arrived in Chicago. We will be here a few days before making the final leg of our journey home. It will be so nice to have a few days out of the van before we head home. It is amazing how small a van really is when it is packed pretty full and you clock quiet a few miles each day living in it. We would appreciate your prayers for my mother who has been in the hospital twice already this month.

Sleepless in South Dakota

We have been on the road for the last 32 hours and it was nice to get off the road early this evening. We once again passed a lot of wild life and were very glad that nothing ran out in front of our van. As evening was falling things sure turned interesting. We ended up in a very small, almost abandoned town which felt very creepy. Not long after getting back onto the right road again it started raining. It ended up turning into a nine hour thunderstorm. It hailed on us three different times. With the hail and thunderstorm we were moving along VERY slowly. At about 11:00p.m. we tried to get a hotel for the night. After about the third hotel we found out that there was a motor bike convention in town and every hotel for several hours in either direction was booked up. At midnight we pulled into a rest stop to sleep. After about 45 minutes of not being able to sleep we started on the road again. It was still raining quite hard so our snail's pace continued. A little after 3:00a.m. we decided to pull into another rest area. We were there for 2 1/2 hours and then we started on our way again. We sure felt your prayers for us yesterday and today as we encountered many obstacles, lack of sleep being a major one today. We are all looking forward to a good nights sleep before we head out on the road again tomorrow to continue our "Road Trip Saga".

Chemical Warfare

That's right Vern and Ruth are up to it again but this time they have a partner in crime. We are with Vern's cousin Gayle and since she is still from that same Quiring bloodline she also loves to sit down and enjoy some radishes soaked in vinegar. It is also a tradition that Vern and Gayle enjoy doing together every time they see each other. The last two times Ruth has joined in on the fun as well. I do have an interesting bit of information on how this tradition began in the Quiring Family line. The Quiring family was very poor like many families way back then and so when the children needed to bring something to eat for lunch they would often go to school with radishes soaked in vinegar. It was home grown and therefore an affordable snack. So although they ate them out of necessity they did enjoy the taste. And thus radishes soaked in vinegar has been passed down to several generations. Since Ruth has come to enjoy this treat the tradition will not die out in my lifetime in our family. If by chance you have no idea why I called this post "Chemical Warfare" then you need to be around a few hours or even a day after the radishes have been soaking in vinegar. They can produce some VERY deadly odors.

Welcone to Saskatchewan!

We arrived in Saskatchewan last night. As you can see there isn't a whole lot of traffic at times and this was on a the major highway running through the province. Ruth was pleasantly surprised that it hasn't been AS FLAT as she remembers. As you can see Saskatchewan is enjoying being able to hang this new sign so all can see it when you enter Saskatchewan.

Destination Waukesha

We were on the road and all was going well until we were about 9 km. from the border. Then all of a sudden we were at a stand still. We have made all sorts of family memories and now we have a memory of our 2 1/2 hour wait at the border. Although the wait was a bit long the border crossing went very smoothly. It was so good to get back on the road again!












Our trip went well after our long wait at the border. That was before darkness fell upon us. The rear lights on Seth car would only light up if he had his brakes on. So we knew we had to do something as we could not make it 3 1/2 more hours with no lights. Therefore we pulled off the highway in IN. and Vern and Seth went to work on his car. We were VERY thankful that it was not a major repair. Seth's car had blown a fuse and PRAISE the LORD the gas station just happen to stock those fuses. We were not thrilled with another unexpected stop but it only took about 15 minutes to fix and we were SOOOO thankful that things worked out in such a positive way and we could continue on to our destination. Due to all the stops we didn't pull into Waukesha until around 2:00 a.m. EST. And although we were very tired from a long day we were thankful to be there safe and sound.

Not So Fun Hightlights From My Road Trip

Thanks for your prayers! I made it into the city in fairly good time. I left a little after five. and as you can see from my first picture I drove through a couple of hours of pretty dense fog. It was nice when the fog lifted. (smile) Then there is of course fun times of waiting in line at the border, in tolls lines, and general traffic. But over all the trip was uneventful.