Road Trip

When your little sister has a new baby the only good news is a road trip. Loaded up the car, picked up Mom and headed for sunny California. I was a bit worried that Libby wouldn't be here when I got to my sisters, but she made it in the nick of time.

I left Hardin bright and early at 5 am. Had to take Jennifer to work, then I went on my merry way. I got to Meeteetse at 8 am and got a short visit with Gma. I was going to help Mom load up the car with her stuff, but by the time I got outside she had it loaded in no time. We went back inside and Gma started getting after us to hit the road because we have a long ways to go. She was so funny. We left Meeteetse at 8:30 am. We cut through Yellowstone Park, not necessarily saving time, but we saved some miles. Besides we wanted to stop in Idaho Falls to see Robert.

We stopped in West Yellowstone for a short break and Mom didn't recognize it at all. Back in the day she said there was only 1 main street, she was completely lost. The morning was rainy and cloudy but just a few drizzles. We called Robert from West Yellowstone and made arrangements to meet him for lunch.

We got into Idaho Falls around 2 pm and Rob was already at the restaurant. Even though it was a short visit, it sure was nice to see him and get caught up on all the news. I even delivered some of his stuff that was at my house. He didn't have much, he had already picked up most of his stuff when he made some trips up here. We left Idaho Falls around 4 pm and headed on down to Provo. Naturally it was dark by the time we hit Provo, but we were able to find a motel just off the interstate. We wanted to get through all that Salt Lake traffic before Monday morning.

That night we checked in with Gma and Gary and we managed to get ahold of Ed, made arrangements to meet him for lunch. Our motel had a small continental breakfast, but it really wasn't much of anything. We were able to get a cup of so-so coffee and some rolls. Ed had called that morning and gave me directions on where to meet him for lunch. His directions had me driving into Las Vegas, but they weren't that bad.

On the road again. Had a bit of excitment, the fire alarm at our motel went off. The Provo fire department was at the motel. The fire truck was right next to my car, but the firemen were getting ready to leave, we didn't have to wait long just a couple minutes. Fortunately it was a false alarm, we never did find out what set it off. It was a bit cool in the morning, but the further south we get the warmer it got. By the time we hit St. George I had the air on.

The last time I was through this area was 4 years ago and St. George is really growing. Driving through the Virgin River Gorge was just awesome. That is such a pretty canyon. Mom was really happy being a passenger, she was just snapping away on her camera. I was laughing at her.

Once we got into Nevada we gained an hour. Made it to Las Vegas to meet Ed with no problems. The directions he gave me were right on. I figured he got them from someone else, but he gave me a map of Vegas from his work. I didn't recognize him at first, he has changed so much. Good thing he spoke to us first. I saw this guy walking toward us and just figured he worked at the resort right next door. Nope that was my brother. We had a good 2 hour visit with him.

Then we headed on to Murrieta. We called Lexie before leaving Vegas and she told me that it would be about 4 hours and she was right. Remember, when Mom and I travel together we never get to our destination when others think we should.

We finally got to the Schumacher's house around 8 pm. Keith and Gracie were outside waiting for us. Gracie was so excited to see Gramma and Patty.

We had such a good time all week taking care of the Schumachers. One of our jobs was taking Lexie to school. That poor girl has to be at school so early 7:30 am. She was just beat by the end of the week. The only bad part of our trip was that we weren't able to spend some time with Katie and Lexie. They were so busy with work and school. Maybe next time.

On Wednesday, we made a trip up to Oxnard to see Jason and Jeni. We spent most of the afternoon with them and we took them out to dinner for their 1 year anniversary, which is later this month. Met Jeni's family. They were so surprised that we drove all that way to California. Jason & Jeni and Jeni's aunt Susan made a trip to Murrieta on Friday. Mary took us to Pechanga for lunch at the buffet. It was very good and we got alot of visiting in just sitting outside.

On Thursday we made the trip to San Diego to visit with Bob & Patty. Sharon was there with her two boys and Gary came over for lunch. We were there for 4 hours and it sure didn't seem that long. That was Mary's first outing since Libby was born. She was sure tired when we got back to Murrieta.

Saturday was our last day there, so Mom and I made sure we got the last of the housework done. We went out and did a bit of shopping, but not much and we did see where Katie works. Later we met Keith and looked at some houses. Then we met their friends the Blocks at their new house. That night Mom and I took Keith, Mary and Libby out for dinner for the Schumacher's 20th anniversary. Keith took us to eat Mexican food and I had a great margarita.

Before we knew it, it was time to get ready for the trip back to Wyoming and Montana. The weekend before we left and snow storm hit up here and it was pretty nasty. Roads were very bad and some were even closed. Good thing I had an extra day off from work, as when we left the storms were over and the roads were bare and dry all the way.

We had a very nice visit and waiting for the time when we can make this trip again.