After driving almost ALL of the 5000 miles on our trip, it does feel mighty good to be home again! We thoroughly enjoyed the Sorge reunion & 100th anniversary of Gurley, the small town near the Sorge farm where Larry grew up, and also celebrating their high school - was very well planned and fun! Larry saw people he hadn't seen for many years and they had such good food - a 30 minutes church service on Sunday put on by the Christian motorcycle club - amazing!! Following a sausage gravy & biscuit plus fruit cup brunch - lots of hard work went into it! Everyone really enjoyed it!
Then on to visit Larry's roommate in business school in Lincoln, Mel Abels, who was also in our wedding and we hadn't seen him in 57 years! They wouldn't have known each other but had a great lunch with them and nice visit in Kearney. Then on to Seward to visit my brother Bud & wife Elaine - we helped him celebrate his 88th birthday - my brother Don & wife Gladys, and their four girls all came - + a son in law, and my sister's two = Terry and Sandy plus her husband Mick. Bud & Elaine's daughter & son in law who did an excellent job of barbecuing brats and hamburgers, and granddaughter Julie & husband John and their daughter Sadie Elizabeth, who is Bud & Elaine's first great grandchild. What fun she is! She loves to dance so whenever she hears music she starts her little jig routine - so funny and she laughs too!
She's ready to walk but always hold on to something with one hand! She'll take off one of these days! Then the next day a Vrana Cousins reunion on my Dad's side - always fun to get together - and many thanks to Cousin Pat Grimes who pulls it altogether plus puts out a Cousins newsletter monthly! Then on to Wisconsin to spend a few days with Mark & Dena - Larry helped Mark with brakes on his pick up truck. I enjoyed some crocheting and reading - helping Dena a little bit - she is such a gourmet cook! What fabulous meals she put together - always made a big amount so they could freeze the leftovers for their next truck trip. Then on to Montana - took #90 so was different scenery - not much traffic and some pretty scenery. Very hot in Billings - 101 and on to Craig where Thomas had thought he would work in the fly shop - but a very desolate place - only a restaurant and 3 fly fishing places - no grocery store or gas station and the Missouri river right across the road - so many people putting in rafts and kayaks - many not putting on their life jackets - pulling them behind them in another raft - no one policing the place - so very glad Thomas and Jim didn't stay there. Housing as promised and was not to be had - we didn't see any places to live and I know they advertise lodges at a very expensive rate for their foreign fly fishermen. It's 40 miles from any gas station or grocery store - wouldn't be nice in the winter and very boring in the summer. Came on home and always amazed at the beauty coming over Donner Pass into California - we don't appreciate it like we should.
The weather here had been extremely hot while we were gone and it cooled down twenty degrees the day we came home - amazing! Since I did most of the driving, I slept until 8:30 the next morning. I'm having trouble with my right ear being plugged up - the different elevations - I've tried ear drops, peroxide, white vinegar and will call the ENT Dr. in the morning to see if I can get in. It's wonderful to see family and friends - not sure about driving 5000 miles again - may decide to fly next time and rent a car - would certainly make a difference time-wise! Benji was a great little traveler - he learned to jump in the back seat into his bed when it got hot with the sun hitting him in the front seat! He was so glad to see Gary and vice versa - they really love each other! Back in the swing of things - Larry's back working on the Habitat House - I shared a picture of the one in Seward with our Habitat board last night - and I worked at the hospital this afternoon - doing water aerobics again three days a week for an hour, and meeting with my high school student volunteers at the hospital next Tuesday - meeting with a group from church to begin a Family Night starting in Sept once a week for the whole family - will take lots of planning and organization but we're excited about doing it. My brothers and I on Bud's birthday 625th.
