Jesus lover, mom, adventurer. Living full-time in an RV with her family of 6. Looking to explore, examine, engage.
Just West of Lake Ontario, our hazard lights blink-blink-blink as the freeway traffic rushes past us, sending the vehicles into small sideways rocking motions. The truck, whose engine has been whispering notions of discontent for the past few hundred miles, has acted like a toddler and erupted into a full-blown tantrum. We are perched like birds on the shoulder of the road.
Continue reading “sitting in quiet surrender | somewhere in Ontario”
Home.
Its a curious word, morphing with time and my understanding of it’s variant definitions.
For many years my definition of home included our house, city and state. It was the constant place amid our family movement. Go to church, come home. Run errands, return home. Go on vacation, go home.
Home was the center hub in our ever-turning wheel. Predictable. Strong. Steady. Continue reading “where is home when you are always on the move?”
If the last 10 days were a dinner, than we have been dinning at an all-you-can-eat buffet, in fast forward. Its been amazing and exhausting.
We began our journey with a brief visit with family and friends in the Coeur d’Alene area. Parking our RV in the driveway of hospitable friends, we soaked up moments and meals with many people we love but have not seen much of since our move to Kamiah a year and a half ago.
On Labor Day we set out on the open road headed east traveling through Montana. Our first official public boondocking experience left me shocked and amazed. The Cabela’s parking lot in Billings had dog kennels, horse corrals and even a dumping station (a place where we could empty our black and grey tanks)! Waking up in the same bed in a new state and realizing that this was our new life was both surreal and exciting.
For the next three days we parked ourselves in the Black Hills of South Dakota next to some family that had come to enjoy a short camping trip with us. As a child, my husband often traveled to the Black Hills for family vacations. For him this stay was a bit nostalgic, for the rest of us it was excitingly new. We attended a ceremonial night blast at the Crazy Horse memorial, drove through Custer State Park, visited Jewel Cave National Monument and attended the night ceremony at Mount Rushmore National Monument. I highlighted details from each of these locations in the photos on my Instagram account so if you click through any of the links above you can be directed to those photos and details with ease.
After our whirlwind visit in the Black Hills, we set out once again in an easterly direction stopping briefly in Philip, South Dakota. Here Ashlyn and I dressed up in costume and our family traversed across the prairie visiting one of the last remaining sod houses in the state.
Prairie dogs peered out of their holes in the ground as the wind whipped at our dresses and bonnets. We stood amazed that settlers were able to withstand the harsh conditions of the barren land that stood before us. Between blizzards, floods, fires and pestilence, it seemed that all was against their success. Most surprising of all however was the mannequin sitting in the outhouse with his pants pulled down, he gave us a scare and a fit of giggles that we will not soon forget!
As I write this we are driving west on Hwy 90 through Montana. Brown hills poke up around me in the distance with patches of green trees and low-laying brush. Fields with freshly harvested hay show off their large round bales and a gentle breeze is coaxing the leaves lining the road into a steady wave of hello and farewell.
Our quick potty stop morphed into a beautiful hour of discovery. We learned about bull boats (boats made out of buffalo skins reinforced with bent sticks), saw examples of dugout canoes and for the piece de resistance: William Clarks signature carved and dated into the side of the Pompeys Pillar! This signature happens to be the last remaining physical evidence of the Corp of Discovery’s trail. Even better? Today is William Clarks birthday! I stand amazed at the perfection of this potty break and grateful for a husband who enjoys the journey just as much as the destination.
“As you read my stories of long ago I hope you will remember that things truly worthwile and that will give you happiness are the same now as they were then. It is not the things you have that make you happy. It is love and kindness and helping each other and just plain being good.” -Laura Ingalls Wilder
Any Little House on the Prairie fans out there? I’m waving my hand! We haven’t read all the books yet. In fact, the only book we have read so far is Farmer Boy. Does it count that we own all of the Little House books? Does it count that we have been working our way through the TV series DVDs? Yes? Thank you, I agree.
Moving on.
If you are familiar with Laura Ingalls Wilder, than the town Walnut Grove will perk your ears. Guess who recently visited Walnut Grove, Minnesota? I’m waving my hand again!
We walked on the banks of Plum Creek and stood where the Ingalls’ dugout home once stood.
