The return from Pennsylvania part of our road trip was less eventful than the getting there was, but we did experience a few highlights. Quickly, for journaling sake, I am going to go through our travel itinerary even though it is not very exciting.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 -
This day was a travel day. We left Virginia behind and traveled through the whole state of Tennessee, heading West, until we got to Memphis. We slept in an Embassy Suites Hotel there.
Thursday, August 5, 2010 -
This morning we got up and went to Graceland, which was very close to our Hotel, but Mr. Horne didn't really want to stop, pay for parking, pay for the tour and spend the time it would take to do all that. I concurred, although I was a little sad. But hey, I got this picture!
We traveled through Arkansas and part of Oklahoma. We hit a pretty major rainstorm near the border of those two states but made it through just fine. I thought it would be cool to see a tornado but no such luck. We did drive through the tiny town of Checotah, Oklahoma, where Carrie Underwood grew up, so that was cool and lucky!
After driving through that one-stop-light town, we took a detour down to McAlister, OK to visit and stay the night with Troy Atkin, one of Joel's favorite missionary companions all those years ago in Japan. It was great to see Troy. He was home alone - his wife and youngest daughter, Haley Mae had moved to St. George. Troy is trying to sell the cattle ranch so that he can join them.
Haley, Madi & Syd on Troy's back deck which overlooks miles and miles of beautiful ranch land.
Friday, August 6, 2010 -
Today was so exciting because we have never in our lives been on a working 6,200 acre angus beef cattle ranch before and Troy was going to show us everything from the cows to the pens to the baling of hay. The girls were beside themselves with excitement. Ok, well maybe not. But they willingly came along. Mr. Horne and I loved seeing everything - the only thing that would have been better is if we could have done it riding horseback! But in that case, the girls would not have been even the least bit willing. The coolest part was when we got to see the hay being baled into huge round bales.
Elders Horne and Atkin - 27 years later
This is our one-of-a-kind family picture with hay bale.
We left Troy hurrying to bale his hay so he could leave town for St. George on Sunday to be with his family. We drove to Wichita, Kansas and enjoyed a good night's sleep.
Saturday, August 7, 2010 -
This is where my faithful journal keeping skills took a nose-dive into nothingness - I guess I had had enough. What can you write when all there is before you is blacktop stretching to forever? From here on out, I will have to rely upon memory. I know that we drove all day through Colorado and well into the evening to get to Rock Springs, Wyoming. This was one of the few places that Mr. Horne had not previously reserved a hotel room for us because when can you not get a room in Rock Springs?!! Turns out it's almost impossible to get one when there's a biker's rally going on! We kept hearing the words "Sorry, we're full." Luckily, due to Mr. Horne's prowess and skill at reaching the last hotel desk before the guy who pulled in the parking lot the same time we did, I think we got the last room in all of Wyoming! Whew! Poor guy behind Mr. Horne.
Sunday, August 8, 2010 -
We left Rock Springs without looking back and got so excited at the prospect of being back in our own home state again that very day that we could hardly sit still! Onward to our beloved Utah. The Beehive State. The land flowing with milk and honey. Heaven on earth. Home.
Once in Utah, it was smooth sailing from there on out. We arrived home in the afternoon to find our house right where we left it - it was so nice to be back in familiar surroundings with beds that were ours! We had been gone a long, long time! It felt so good to stretch the kinks out of our legs, arms and bodies! Madi and Sydney were a little sad that they missed Creighton Hardy's farewell this morning, but he came over and spent a few hours with us in the evening, so all was good.
Summary
This road trip was approximately 5,300 miles long and took 18 days to complete.
We drove through 18 different states (some more than once) in this order: Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Wyoming and Utah.
Along the way we saw license plates from every state in the United States (and 3 from Canada) with the exception of Hawaii (which is understandable), South Dakota (where were you people who live in South Dakota?) and Washington, D.C. (Mr. Horne insists that people who live there have plates that say Washington, D.C. but since we never saw one, I am skeptical).
We had no fights break out in our vehicles nor did we have children asking "Are we there yet?" every five minutes. We listened to an entire book on a set of CDs which ended so poorly that we didn't even bother to remember it's title.
Mr. Horne was definitely the MVT (most valuable traveler) of the trip. He kept us all in good spirits with his corny jokes and frequent whistling.
Once in Utah, it was smooth sailing from there on out. We arrived home in the afternoon to find our house right where we left it - it was so nice to be back in familiar surroundings with beds that were ours! We had been gone a long, long time! It felt so good to stretch the kinks out of our legs, arms and bodies! Madi and Sydney were a little sad that they missed Creighton Hardy's farewell this morning, but he came over and spent a few hours with us in the evening, so all was good.
Summary
This road trip was approximately 5,300 miles long and took 18 days to complete.
We drove through 18 different states (some more than once) in this order: Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Wyoming and Utah.
Along the way we saw license plates from every state in the United States (and 3 from Canada) with the exception of Hawaii (which is understandable), South Dakota (where were you people who live in South Dakota?) and Washington, D.C. (Mr. Horne insists that people who live there have plates that say Washington, D.C. but since we never saw one, I am skeptical).
We had no fights break out in our vehicles nor did we have children asking "Are we there yet?" every five minutes. We listened to an entire book on a set of CDs which ended so poorly that we didn't even bother to remember it's title.
Mr. Horne was definitely the MVT (most valuable traveler) of the trip. He kept us all in good spirits with his corny jokes and frequent whistling.
