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The End of our Journey |
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August 8, 2003 Well, this travel log may have led you to believe that we have been stuck somewhere between here and Montana for the last 3 weeks, but we did make it home...2 1/2 weeks ago!!!! Sorry to leave you hanging! Now to remember back... We left the Andrews on the 17th. I think that when we left Glacier and started south there was a definite change in attitude. Even though we still had a few days and a couple of stops to make we knew we were heading home. We really enjoyed our time with the Andrews, but when we left there, we all sort of subconsciously felt like we would just be stalling if we tried to stop anywhere, and we were mentally preparing ourselves to be home. We thought about driving through part of Yellowstone, but decided against it, and when we got to the Tetons, we looked at them as we drove by and reminisced about past visits there, but made up our minds to just keep driving...especially after we found out that trailers weren't allowed in the park and the only other option was a ridiculously expensive KOA in the middle of town.
So we all settled in for a long night's drive to Georgetown. As we were driving through Wyoming, we were amazed by a spectacular sunset that interacted with groups of storm clouds and scattered showers. There were rays of sun beaming from gigantic billowing clouds on one side of us, and lightening streaks on the other. This continued as we came upon the Wind River mountain range which is a part of the Bridger Wilderness Area. That was when we realized that this place was just too beautiful to drive through so we took a wonderful, windy road up to a campground and spent the night.
We left early the next morning, and eagerly look forward to the time that we can go back and spend some time there. We arrived in Georgetown on Friday and Mom started in on laundry right away. We cleaned and organized the trailer (and found some things that we thought we had lost forever ~ like my sunglasses!!!) and then we crashed for the night. There was just one more thing that had to happen to make our trip perfectly complete, and that was seeing Danny McGuire and his new bride, Rebekah. We were so pleased that it worked out for them to take the four hour drive over the Colorado mountains to come spend Saturday night with us, and it was such a bonus that our friend Michael Smith happened to be spending some time with them and could come, too! We played volleyball ~ would you believe it?!?! and the girls got beat pretty badly in our girls vs. guys match....but we demand a rematch next summer!!! Sunday afternoon we got brave enough to take the loooonnnggg, tiresome hike three or four blocks into town to the ice cream shop! We enjoyed getting to know Rebekah, hearing some of Michael's great songs, and catching up with Danny. It was sad to see them go Sunday evening, but we are so thankful that it worked out to see them.
Tuesday found us on the road again...this time traveling the very familiar path home. It was a long day, starting with an hour delay in Denver due to a roll over accident on I-70. God was good to send Oklahoma a "cold" front the day we came home. He knew we needed time to adjust to the heat and humidity. When a friend informed us that it was 109 degrees the day before we got home, we realized what a blessing 90 degree temperatures are! And the Garlings and Grandma and Grandpa and the Russells did such a nice job keeping everything neat around here...we didn't even have to mow, and the garden survived ~ in spite of the fact that they had had no significant rainfall since we left! Grandma left a nice meal in the fridge for us, with some Hello Dollys to welcome us home. Our favorites!!!!! 
Looking back, God's grace is so evident for the whole trip. We traveled over 6000 miles with no vehicle problems. We were exposed to a horrible cold (poor Sophie! Did I mention how cute she is?!?!) that our older brother was sick for 2 weeks with, but none of us got it! The weather was perfect. Schedules just fell in place. No one was hurt. It was as if our Father just lined our way with wonderful people to meet and fun times to enjoy and amazing places to see, so that we could have memories that will last the rest of our lives and each of us will always look back on the summer of 2003 as an incredible time for our family.
Landing into reality was a bit bumpy, I must confess, and we have all been very busy since we got home. We had to hit the ground running as they say, but that's okay. Jesse is back in Colorado working with Danny McGuire for about a month, so the band is on hold right now. We are at a serious disadvantage without our lead singer and guitar player! Other jobs and projects are being completed, and that feels really good! We are so glad that so many of
you wanted to "come along". It was a GREAT trip, wasn't it?!?!?! Your official Naylor correspondent...Sage
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