Our Trip In Pictures

As the main purpose of our trip was to spend some quality time with The Big Guy's mom, our activities pretty much consisted of visiting with her for a few hours in the daytime, breaking for dinner, visiting again in the evening until bedtime and going home to my s-i-l's for a bit of rest before repeating the routine the next day again.

We did, however, catch a few notable moments along the way on film (or should I say, in digital images?)



The Missouri River ON the parking lot of the Ameristar Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa. We found the roof of their garage a great vantage point to see the flooding in the area. The road we normally go into Omaha on (I-29) was closed the entire time we were out there due to the flooding. I suspect it will be closed for sometime to come as the roadway itself and its underpinnings has been damaged by being submerged for so long. It made for some rather congested traffic on I-80 which was already under major repair construction in that area.


We did manage to squeeze in an exciting sports event while we were there. The advantage to going to see a 5/6 (year old) ball game is that they keep them short - 4 innings only - no outs, no score, everybody on the team bats each inning (no matter how many pitches it may take) . The other biggie was, they played at 8:30 in the morning when it was only in the high 80s (before the day's heat kicked in!) I think she's gonna be a star!!



Sunrise somewhere over Central Iowa. (I almost slept through it completely as we got up and on the road at 4:30 a.m. that day.)






Outside temperature (on blacktop) stopped in a traffic jam (for over 2 hours) on I-80 in Des Plains, Illinois on the way home. (The "official" temp in Chicago at the time was 100.) Don't you always wonder what the problem was when the jam suddenly breaks and there is no evidence of any apparent reason at all as you move on ?

It was really WAY TOO HOT to do much of anything but sit in the airconditioning for the entire time we were away. We were in the midst of that 2-week major heat wave the Midwest experienced. (Unfortuantely, it folowed us back home and attacked the East Coast, too, just as we got home!)

So, there you have it, folks, our ENTIRE travelogue. Hope you enjoyed it while in a cool room.

Hello ?

Hello, it's me. Perhaps you don't recognize me. It's been awhile. I've missed y'all.

I have NOT fallen off the face of the earth, though, at times over the last 6 weeks, I felt like I'd slipped into The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits or some such place or time warp.

They say life is what happens while you're making other plans. I'm here to say that is so, so true. I was PLANNING to post. I took pictures, made notes, drafted posts but they never quite got posted. THINGS (life) kept getting in the way.

The first few weeks we were just super busy doing fun things. I took lots of pics to share with y'all but before I could post them, July came along.

The Big Guy officially retired (completely) on July 1st. (No more of that "semi-retired" gig from last year.) We rolled right into a very busy and hectic 4-day holiday weekend, celebrating his new freedom and the the 4th of July with family and friends.

By mid-week, we were unexpectedly driving to Nebraska as The Big Guy's mom is not doing well. (She's in hospice care.) We spent two weeks there before heading home for a short respite. Four days after arriving home, we began packing again as the situation had worsened. A last minute call before hitting the highway convinced us to sit tight for the moment. (Meds were changed and things leveled off a bit.) It's so difficult being 1200 miles away at times like this.

So, here we are, in a holding pattern, living out of a suitcase in our own bedroom just so we can be ready on very short notice. We don't make plans more than 2 days in advance and worry each time the phone rings.

I hope to get back to daily posting but without warning, we may be back on the road with no internet access. (I've GOT to get me a laptop one of these days. Maybe Santa's looking for an early shopping idea.)

Please bear with me. I'll post when I can.