Road Trip 2013, Week 6

 Week 6 was a different week for us.  Instead of hitting as many sites as possible in as little amount of time as possible, we slowed down (slow for us I guess) and actually stayed for 3 nights in the same area in Michigan.  The first night we stayed in the driveway of Paul's Aunt Merrie and Uncle Arnie's home.  They have 50 acres of beautiful land.  Merrie is an amazing gardener and I was extremely jealous of her beautiful vegetable and flower gardens.  We had a great time visiting with them.  I think Merrie caught wind of Mason's love for camp fires so we had a fire and roasted hotdogs and marshmallows for dinner.  Poor Uncle Arnie had Mason dogging his footsteps the entire time, talking his ear off.  He was thrilled to be there.  There was plenty of room to run, we played baseball, toured the land, Mason, Merrie, and Paul took a walk to visit a neighbor's herd of sheep, and we climbed trees.  I even climbed the tree and impressed my son.  He told me he didn't know I could do fun stuff like that.  Gee thanks, I'm not in my grave yet!  We were lucky enough to hit Michigan during that horrendous heat spell that was over the entire mid-west and east, and wouldn't you know it, every time we tried to turn on the AC it would trip the circuit breaker in the house, as we were plugged in to it, and shut everything down.  We spent the night with the windows open, stewing in our own juices.  Just reaffirms my love of Michigan.  I really do love the people there though!

 Uncle Arnie was great entertainment for the kids.  Darcy loved "Uncle Army," which is pretty cool since she doesn't like many men.  He was great.  He pulled the kids around in his own wagon from when he was a boy, and he took us all on a tour of the maple syrup making process he and Merrie are heavily involved in.  It was pretty cool.  I would love to go back there in March and help tap some trees!

 The 16th we drove about 1.5 hours north to the old family farm, where we stayed for 2 nights.  It was hot there too.  The first night we didn't run the AC because our extension cord was getting too hot, but we made it to Walmart to get a heavier duty one for night 2 and boy did we sleep well that night.  That was some rough weather.

 That evening of the 16th all the cousins from the area came over to the farm for a pot-luck dinner.  It was fun to see everyone again.  Paul has some really great family in Michigan.  They all have an open invitation to come visit us in Oregon whenever they get the chance.

 Here are Aunt Merrie and Uncle Arnie.  We love them a lot and sure appreciate all they did for us and the kids for those few days we were together.

 We had a great time at the farm.  Mason actually said it was the best day of his entire life.  On the 17th he lost his tooth, rode around on the 4-wheelers ALL DAY, caught his first (and second) fish, shot his great-grandpa's 22 for the first time, and we lit the sparklers we bought way back in North Carolina.  Wow, every 7 year old boy's dream I think.  He loved the farm.  All the kids did actually.  Drew and Mason climbed up the windmill.  I did that years ago and I think I freaked out Paul and his dad when they saw me at the top.  I didn't even think to ask if it was stable.  We drove around all day on the 4-wheelers in the field and all around the property.  The kids loved it, Paul loved it as you can see from the next picture, and I guess I loved it too.  I was more than willing to give another ride when someone asked for one.  If it wasn't for the swarms of bugs, the high humidity, no AC, no mountains, no internet access, and the unsettling feeling that I can never get my bearings there, it might be fun to live there.  Or not.  There is a reason I live where I live and when I live I guess.  I wasn't cut out to be a farmer.

 Darcy was content to lounge around with the helmet on, even though it was so hot and her face was a sweaty mess.  I guess things like that don't matter when you are having fun.

This is Mason's first catch.  I have no idea what kind of fish it is.  He caught 2 fish while his sisters didn't catch any.  We watched quite a few fish eat the worms off the hook though.  Maybe it had something to do with all the kids trying to fish in the exact same spot.  Or that Bree dipped her entire pole into the water, thinking that might work.  It didn't.  We had a great time at the farm and hope to get back there sometime soon for some more fun with family and all the great things to do there.

 We pulled up stakes on the 18th and headed south.  We were able to wade in Lake Michigan for a few minutes, though it would have been nice to stay a while and swim, it was so hot.  The water was almost too warm though, it didn't quite cool us off.  That's the third Great Lake we touched this trip.  We kept moving south, into Indiana and then Illinois.  I was greatly impressed with the corn fields in Illinois.  I knew Iowa was all corn, but not Illinois.  The fields were everywhere and never ending.  I'm pretty sure we won't be hurting for corn this year.  The fields are a beautiful dark green and it was just a neat experience to see all that work the local farmers went to to grow such magnificent crops.

 On the 19th we pulled in to Nauvoo, IL to visit more historic LDS church sites.  We camped at the State Park in town so we were close to everything.  That afternoon we toured Carthage Jail where Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were martyred.  It was a very moving experience for me.  I hope the kids understood what it was they were experiencing.  On the way back to Nauvoo from Carthage, we crossed the Mississippi River into Iowa so Bree and Darcy could say they have been there.  We stayed on the Iowa side for a bit and found a great little park where we could get our feet in the river, and it also had an amazing view of the Nauvoo temple across the river.  What a beautiful temple it is and it has such a commanding presence sitting on the bluff.  Absolutely gorgeous.  We also saw the graves of Joseph, Hyrum, and Emma Smith that evening in Nauvoo.

 Saturday morning Paul got up early to get us tickets for events throughout the day in Nauvoo.  My parents said it was an all day place to visit and they weren't kidding.  We took a horse-drawn wagon ride through the historic part of the city and the kids loved the horses.  That was pretty fun.  We also toured some of the homes where there was an example of a school room from the 1840's, a post office, a brick making place where we got to take home a brick with "Nauvoo" stamped into it, a horse-drawn carriage ride through the countryside, and a tour of Browning's home and workshop where he made his famous rifles.  Pretty interesting, I didn't know he was a Mormon.  We also saw a musical play put on by performing missionaries about life there in the 1800's.  Darcy was thrilled with it.  I was having more fun watching her than the play I think. I was able to do a session at the Temple (AWESOME) while Paul made mac and cheese for the kids and bought souvenirs at the little store in town.  That evening we watched the Nauvoo Pageant.  It was smaller than the Hill Cumorah Pageant but I think we might have liked it better.  Well, the four oldest of us did.  The two little girls were asleep right after it started.  They had a long, hot, day and were beat.  Today we went to church at 8am (UGH) and then left town.  It was a great place to visit and I'm glad we were able to spend so much time there.

 We arrived in Missouri (my 48th state!) this afternoon, found a place to camp, dropped off the trailer, and headed to St. Louis.  We were able to ride the tram up to the top of the Arch and it was pretty cool.  I was surprised but happy that it felt quite stable at the top and wasn't blowing around in the wind.  That is the highest monument in the US.  All the kids enjoyed looking down through the little windows at the top, but it got pretty crowded so we only spent about 20 minutes up there, most of it in line to catch a tram back down.  Great experience though, and Paul made sure we crossed under the arch from the east to the west when we got back to the ground.  This is where we say goodbye to all the old brick historic looking cities and move west into prairie and all that stuff.  First though we will go south tomorrow so I can go to Kansas and Paul and I can cross into Oklahoma, finally hitting our 50th state.  I think its kind of cool that we both have the same one as our last.  Cute!

Things I have learned this week on the road:

1) The time zones are all messed up.  Paul is sick of hearing me complain about them, and I guess there is no perfect solution, but Michigan is in the eastern time zone and it doesn't get dark till well after 10 pm this time of year.  Meanwhile, Atlantic City, NJ is also in the eastern time zone and it was dark at 8:30.  Doesn't make any sense to me.  I think Michigan should be in the Central time zone.  Also, western Texas has no business being in the Central time zone, it should be in the Mountain time zone.  I guess you really don't see the disparity in it all when you stay in one place, but while traveling like we have it is easy to see what a mess it is.

2) Mason now is deciding on a new career path.  He no longer wants to be a Ranger or an astronaut.  He is now considering being either the President or a farmer.

3) As we drive by the beautiful corn and soybean fields of the midwest, with the quaint farmhouses and silos, it makes me think I could be a farmer out here too.  And then I see that it is only 8:30am and its already 86 degrees with 100% humidity, and I smile as I turn up the AC and drive on by.

4) I have learned not to sweat the small stuff.  If my "orange juice" (diet Sunkist) doesn't make it in the fridge the night before so it isn't cold for me in the morning, I just grab a Dr Pepper instead.  No reason to get worked up about it. 

I need to check a couple of my facts from my last post.  I have actually been in Michigan 4 times now and there is something wrong with the weld on the tires of the trailer that went flat.  Thanks Paul for keeping me honest.