Life gets busy...we must not be blind

Traveling with six kids, trying to home school, and write three books, can sure be time consuming.  Back on the road, after staying put for the summer.....life is busy!  But, it is a good busy. 

After two years on the road, we are finally getting to visit my Grandmother.

We only have two weeks here, so we have to treasure it.  But, like with all plans, things change.  Upon arrival, we found out two uncles died.  One uncle was 88 and died of cancer, while the other was only 53 and his death was quite a surprise. 

(This post was written before we rented the cabin)

Our happy vacation turned into a time of mourning and bonding.  I brought my grandmother to the viewing of Eugene.  The family was sad, but not overly distraught.  Eugene was old and ready to be with the Lord.  Of course, he left a huge farm with lots of items of value on it.  I am hoping greed doesn't divide the family.  If everyone will do what is fair and right, things will be fine....

Uncle Orville died too young.  He has four children, all adults, but still too young to be without a father.  When we got word of his death, we dropped everything.  I told my husband that our vacation was over.  Our only job was to help the family through this hard time. 

You see, I lost my dad when he was 53 also.  It was one of the hardest things in my life. 

We made a huge salad and tons of enchiladas.  I bought paper plates, silverware and cups for them.  We brought them to their house.  As I walked in, my cousin Sara rushed to me and collapsed in my arms.  I'll never forget the sobbing and her body shaking with sadness.  This was her daddy that died.  Her heart was crushed.  I led her to a bedroom and rocked her in my arms.  We cried together for a while.

We didn't stay long, in fact, I didn't let the kids come inside.  When someone loses a loved one so tragically, it is not time to visit or make it into a family reunion.  I held her and comforted her until she was ok, then we left. 

Two funerals were not what we wanted to do on our vacation up north.  Yet, it is times like this that makes us question our motives for our traveling full time.  Yes, we travel to see great sites, spend time as a family, have fun....but are we willing to sacrifice our own plans to help another in need.

We gave up three days of our vacation to help our family.  I told my kids, "Are we here for us, or for God."
We helped clean up after the funeral, which took up most of our one of only two Saturdays here.  It was the right thing to do, though.  People must always come first...before sight seeing, playing, or resting. 

It is like the good samaritan....when we see a desperate need,

Do we go on with our plans?
Do we keep driving and say the next person will help?
Do we feel that it is not our responsibility and they wouldn't do it for us?

Sometimes, it is the hard choice that is right.  I am not saying all of this to act like we are so great and look how holy and wonderful we are.  I write this to remind all of us to

take the time

love others

give of ourselves when it is inconvenient or difficult

prioritize

I know we have not always made the right choice, or helped when we should have, but we are trying to be thoughtful to those around us and hopefully spread a light, that is not our own, but Christ's.

Oh no, I am babbling....

Every now and then I need to stop.  Stress and energy levels get higher and crash, respectively.  Sometimes during our travels, we park it for a while.  We may move a lot for three to five months, then we just sit for a few months.
We just spent a wonderful seven weeks at my mother's.  Now we are at a camp doing volunteer work.   We have been here for a while and are truly enjoying it.  I am getting us on a daily schedule, some kind of routine.  Since I got pregnant in Sept 08, and then had sweet pea in May of 09, our life has been at quite a state of chaos.  Well, I mean managed chaos.  Now, it is time to get back to it.  So I got out the tag board and made a schedule and calendar.  I prayed and asked the Lord what His priorities are for our lives right now and what I need to set aside.
Of course, some things I want to do I am not and other things I did not feel like doing are getting done.  One such thing is counseling.  I am going to share a secret with you.  I know you won't tell anyone, right?  I was raped when I was in the military.  It was a pretty bad deal and one I have just kind of put out of my mind.  When we came back to Missouri this time, I decided I was going to apply for health benefits.  That way if we ever lost our insurance, I could get basic care at the VA hospitals.  When I went in for my first appointment, they asked me a ton of questions.  After giving my answers, they told me I needed to see a counselor.  I really wasn't sure if this was the time of my life I wanted to deal with it.  I am so busy, I can't imagine having to relive and think through all of these deep, dark topics.  I have all of the kids and hubby to love and care for.  I just really wasn't sure this was the right time to get into this.  But, I went one time.  She is a super lady.  I really liked her right away.  I could tell she was smart and really cared.  I know she is a christian, so that made me feel better also.
We began talking about the subject of my rape and she helped me to realize that it doesn't matter what I did or didn't do, no one deserves for that to happen to them.  It really helped me start to release some of the guilt and shame.  I have to keep telling myself that and encouraging myself that it wasn't my fault.  I don't want to get too deep into all of that.  My point is, I am going to stick it out for a while.  I am going to see her consistantly until I feel she has helped me enough.
I had another appointment with her today.  I told her about my trip up to Lake of the Ozarks.  The kids and I drove Cody to a camp this past weekend.  Shae stayed at the camper and worked.  We were gone five days, which is the longest I have been away from hubby in years!  After a long day of driving and errands in Springfield, we got to Lake of the Ozarks.  I was on a road that was two lanes, narrowing down to one lane.  I began to pass the man in front of me.  I was driving much faster than him and wanted to get in front before it changed to the one lane.  The lane began to merge into one and he would not hang back at all to let me in!  I know he saw me, he was just being a jerk.  I would have put on my breaks, but then the van would have slammed the kids around.  It really wasn't a big deal and I just kept going.  When I got to the stop light, that same man and woman drove up to me at the stop light.  He hung out his window and began screaming at me, swearing, and making all sort of gestures!  I tried not to look at him.  After he was done yelling, he squeeled ahead, ran the red light, and kept going!  The people in the car in front of me turned around and were watching him.  He was a psycho!  I began to go when the light turned green, but I did not take my eyes off of that car.  I made sure there was a huge distance between us.  I then pulled into a outdoor mall parking lot, hoping that awful man would drive far away.
The kids couldn't believe that guy!  I was stunned, too.  I tried to shake it off and get to camp.  It was later that night when I began to get afraid and then again later that week I was scared he would track me down.  The counselor showed me how some of my fears were misplaced and some were valid. 

Meanwhile, we worked our tales off at camp, washing the walls and scrubbing sludge off of the floor of the huge dining hall.  Even Gabriel and Josie helped.  Hanna worked really hard and Naomi also.  We actually got a lot done in between driving back and forth to Cody's camp, swimming, putt putt golf, eating peanut butter and honey sandwiches, and hanging in the motel room. 

I sure was ready to get home on Sunday.  It  had been a long weekend.  I don't think I will do a volunteer job with out Shae and Cody.  It was hard on the rest of us, but still good.

Lost Dutchman State Park, AZ

We had a great time at Lost Dutchman State Park, southeast of Phoenix.  It has some nice, private sites but no hook ups.  We were very ready for some privacy and family time.  Doing volunteer work for 4 months, we needed a break.  This was a great place to do it.  Although, I learned that my hair can only go so many days without being washed before I go crazy! 

Our first day there, we saw a rattlesnake right on the edge of the main Discovery Trail.  I had been told the snakes were coming out now.  As soon as the weather warms, they stop hibernating and come out for their first meal.  Many people said that they are more aggressive and their venom is more potent when they first come out.  Whether that is actually true I do not know.  All I know is that I don't want to be near them either way! 

We enjoyed biking and walking on the roads around the camp.  After finding the snake, I kept off the trails for the most part.  The sunrises and sunsets are stunning over Phoenix and Superstition Mountain. 

I kept getting lost in Apache Junction!  I just could not get the roads there.  Of course, I always forgot the map and gps.  I would eventually find my way to where I wanted to go, though.  One day, we were coming back from further east of town.  I need to get back to Lost Dutchman.  I took a wrong turn at a stop light.  I was on the phone with my mom when I said, "Mom, I am on the wrong side of the mountain!!  I knew I needed to on the left side of the "Flat Iron".  We continued down and around on a road in the desert.  I seemed to be heading in the direction I wanted?!  It came to a T, so I went right.  As I continued, it turned into a dirt road.

I started to get a little nervous at this point.  Our big, 15 passenger van is not the easiest to do a Y turn with or back up a long ways, so I was concerned at how this road would turn out.  Sometimes in Arizona, there are roads with huge washes in them.  My van is not 4 wheel drive, AT ALL  (although Shae acts like it is sometimes!)

When I saw this sign I was ready to turn around.  Cody told me to wait and ran ahead to see what the road was like.  He told me we could handle it, so I continued on.

It turned out ok and we even saw a few coyotes.

We did eventually find our way back to the campground, the long way.  It was one of those adventures we'll never forget and don't care to repeat.

The guys climbed to the top of the "Flat Iron".  It was a good hike
with gorgeous views.

We made a knight's armor for Gabriel. He wore it to the
Renaissance Festival.  He and Naomi rode their
bikes around the campground and he
pretended to do a jousting competition.

Since we didn't have full hookups, Cody pulled the poop tank to the dump station,
which didn't go so well.
To hear the entire story go to our online magazine for his article.

There was a great blacksmith's shop down the road.  

RV Maps - doing volunteer work on the road.

We are members of RV Maps. It is an Assembly of God ministry. It is for rv/campers that want to do volunteer work across America.

We had to fill out a lot of paperwork. They needed numerous references. We had to sign waivers for us and the kids.

They did a background investigation and we passed!

Once we were members of the ministry, we receive a weekly email that has a list of churches, teen challenges, women’s centers, ministries, camps, and other places that need workers.

Some places need specific help; plumbing, electric, engineering, computer, sound equipment, and other things. Sometimes it says handyman or general work.

When we signed up, we listed what skills we have. We try to go to places that need that specific help. And really, most places need to be cleaned!

There is a yearly rally where most members go and sign up for different projects. Many members do this full time so they will stay six months in the north somewhere for the summer and then head south to a project for the winter.

It is required that we do at least two weeks a year.

They like you to stay at a project at least two weeks.

It is suggested the husband work 30 hours a week. The wife is not required to work, but can if she wants to.

As a family, we can work in the afternoons, after home school is done. It is really an individual thing, per project, different for each family for each instance.

I think we are the only family in the program right now. There might be others that I don’t know of.

Different churches have RV/camper ministries. I’ve heard of the Baptist, and Pentecostal having them.

You don’t have to join a group. You can just look up camps on Google and see what comes up. Just call them and tell them who you are and what you want to do.

Usually they have full hook ups for you for free. But, sometimes we give them a check to cover the cost of our utilities. I give about $5-$7 per night. It is not required at all. We just do it to bless them.

The churches and different projects are required to pay $1 per hour for the work you do. So, if we put in 30 hours that week, they have to pay $30 that week, plus our utilities. But, the work we do is worth way more than that. If they have a plumber come in to do volunteer work, they make at least $30 an hour if you have to hire one. This way it only costs $1 per hour that the church has to pay to headquarters. This money goes towards administrative fees and for the wages of the people that coordinate it.

We write a check for $1 per hour for the hours we work and then $5 a night for every night we were there

Now, we have an exception to this. We have been on a project for 3 months now. Cody and Shae have been putting about 40hrs a week between the two of them. I probably won’t donate the money to cover all of the hours. The guys have been doing skilled work instead of our family just cleaning garbage.

Normally people under 17 aren’t allowed on the job site. If you read my previous blog article, you will understand what I am talking about. I won’t re-write everything I said, so just check that out. I will say this much, kids aren’t allowed in a job site. There are tools and dangerous equipment they can get hurt on. But, there is so much we can do that doesn’t deal with dangerous equipment. It is great to serve as a family, so we try to do some together when we can, other times it is just Cody, or just Shae.

This is a basic introduction. If you have questions, let me know. I’d love to help.

I need to run. The kids have been so patient while I typed so much. If there are typos or strange wording, please forgive me. I just don’t have time to check it right now. I need to clean up from lunch and take the kids to the playground, here at the church. Cody is back from doing drywall, so now he has to get to making his knives, Hanna is playing her guitar, and Shae is working hard on the laptop doing his engineering.

Volunteer Work

Recently, many people have asked me about our volunteer work. Here is your answer, thank you for being so patient!!


A quick note… I am a Christian, so I do mention God and church. If you are not a Christian, there are still tons of camps to volunteer at. We were going to go to one in southern Nebraska. We just ran out of time last fall and couldn’t make it. Please keep reading if you are not a Christian. I have a lot to say about volunteering.

One of the main reasons we did this trip was to serve the Lord. For us, our volunteer work usually deals with helping a church somewhere. But, we do not limit ourselves to that. I believe volunteerism is a life style. It is something we should do every day, everywhere we are. It is an attitude of the heart, a constant wanting to make the world a better place for no other reason than it is the right thing to do. I believe we should teach our children young, even one year old. I have had our second youngest sweeping, mopping, dusting, picking up limbs in a trail, giving money to a homeless people, and more. Just like we teach our children to talk, we must also teach them to think of others. Selfishness is the root of so much evil. It must be dealt with young.

Sometimes we volunteer at great camps, by lakes and rivers, in the mountains, where there are pools and playgrounds. That is great fun for our family. But, I think it is also important to volunteer at those places where there is nothing to do, nowhere to sight see, and no one that appreciates it. I would like to share a few stories with you. I want to tell you about RVMaps, a volunteer group we are in, but will do that in the next post.

We used our ATV to pull their trailer and pick up garbage.

We all had fun trying the great obstacle course.

My husband got laid off last fall, for three months. We weren't scared or terribly upset. We knew God would take care of us, He always does. We called up the RVMaps office and asked them if there was anywhere nearby that we could go serve the Lord and be in His presence. We had a lot of praying to do and planning. They told us about a camp in Honea Path, SC. We stayed there for three weeks. My son and husband built a boardwalk and we cleaned the garbage on huge portions of the 60 acre camp. We helped with the airsoft and paintball games. We cleaned cabins and the playground. We volunteered about 30 hrs a week total. While there we were able to go fishing in the private lake, kayaking on the river, enjoy the obstacle course, play basketball in the huge gymnasium, and meet some incredible people. It was an amazing experience. The campground hosts were so friendly. We enjoyed going to their church. My kids also made friends with the kids from the church. We were the only ones camping there. On the weekends we went to Greenville, into the mountains hiking, to historic sites, and to beautiful waterfalls. It was such a blessing to serve the Lord and be at such a great place. We still keep in touch with the people there. My kids made lifelong friends with the youth at the church and talk a lot of Facebook.

Fishing on the private lake at the camp.

The guys built a boardwalk for a cabin at the camp.

We also went to Lusk, WY to help a church out there. We were getting ready to leave the Custer, SD area when I felt the Lord tell me we needed to serve Him. We had a great time in southwest South Dakota, and I just felt like we needed some balance in our life. We do not want our kids to become “fun/self” centered. We had a lot of fun and did everything we wanted. Too much of that and we could become spoiled. We have to constantly think of others and what God has entrusted us with. I got an email from RVMaps and it had Lusk, WY as a place to volunteer. I called the pastor and told him, “All we do is clean. We are not skilled laborers. I am not sure if you can use us. We are not regular volunteers; we do it as a family.” His response was amazing. He told me that is exactly what they needed. They had just finished the project and needed someone to come clean up. His wife and sister were going to do it, but were pretty worn out already, so they would be so happy we were coming.

We drove from Custer to Lusk, not too far of a drive. We had never even heard of Lusk, so we weren't sure what to expect. As we pulled into town, we weren't too impressed. It was a little town, with not many sights to see, no fancy museums, and a little tiny grocery store. We made our way to the other end of town and pulled into the parking lot of the church. From the outside, the church looked so tiny. The building used to be a restaurant/bar that was remodeled. No park, no slides, no river, pond or even a mud puddle. No atv trails, no kayaking. I told the kids, “You have to serve the Lord when there is nothing in it for you.” We parked and met some other volunteers there. They were just getting ready to leave. Later, the pastor came over. As he walked up I began to get excited. He had a big cowboy hat and cowboy boots. Oh…it felt good to be out of the big city. He was so nice! He didn’t talk a lot, just said what he had to say. Gabriel about freaked out when Pastor Dale walked up. Gabriel is our cowboy, so he was so impressed with Pastor Dale. We got a tour of the church. It really was a nice little church. It had a great kitchen that I hoped to be able to use the ovens in. I sure miss baking bread. My oven in the camper is not the easiest to bake in. I wasn't sure what needed to be cleaned, everything looked so good already! But, sure enough, there was drywall dust over everything, it needed to be wiped down, mopped, and vacuumed. Shae and Cody helped take out an old furnace, and haul other heavy items. We worked over 60 hours in 3 days, between Shae, Cody, Hanna, and I. RVMaps likes you to put in 30 hours a week, so we had surpassed that easily.

Hanna and Cody washed the churches windows.

It was fun to change the letters on their sign.

Some great people broke down during the Sturgis Bike Rally.  They were awesome brothers and sisters in Christ.

We absolutely fell in love with the people there, and even the town. It is amazing to me how God can take a place that we thought was wanting in the entertainment area, and make it one of our best experiences. My kids made friends with some of the youth at the church. We still keep in touch with them. They took us out for pizza, to their ranch to ride atvs and to their 4H animals in town. They were so great.

They even brought their racing lawn mower to the church where Shae, Cody, and Hanna got to drive it. They all had a great time cruzing around the parking lot.









A family at the church had a huge ranch outside of town. We were invited to go four wheeling around their 5000 acre ranch. It was so beautiful. The sun on my face, wind in my hair, the dry air in my lungs. We saw the old homestead, ponds, windmills, and cattle. We made it back to the house and had a wonderful cookout followed by riding their horse “Fatty”. It was such a wonderful experience for all of us and we truly appreciated their hospitality. Gabriel followed Pastor Dale around like a shadow. He just walked about 3 steps behind him and did everything he did. It was so cute. Gabriel told us, “I want to be a cowboy pastor like Pastor Dale!” We enjoyed playing country worship music with them. The “cowboy” beat on the guitar is much harder than I thought! We left Lusk wanting to come back next year for a month! It is one of our favorite places.

These are just two stories of many about our great experiences volunteering.

Some of our favorite memories are of the times we volunteer. Working and serving with others brings rewards that cannot compare even to mountains and deserts, rivers and oceans. Now, we do love to go to those places, also.

I do believe that volunteerism is a lifestyle. I think it is something we can do every day, everywhere.

When we go to a campground, we try to leave it cleaner than when we came. We pick up our garbage and the garbage that was there when we arrived. We help people when they need someone to carry something or open a door for them. It is the little things in life that really make a difference, not just the huge volunteer/missions trips.

We wanted to serve somewhere in Montana. I got on the phone and internet and began contacting church camps around the state. We are members of RVMaps, which is Assembly of God, but we don’t limit ourselves to just serving with them. I found a camp outside of Bozeman, MT, Yellowstone Alliance Adventures. It is a camp owned by Missionary Alliance churches. I had never heard of that denomination before, so I called my mother-in-law to see what she knew about it. She thought they are pretty main stream churches, so we asked if we could come wash their windows. They weren’t quite sure what to do with us. They were very friendly and welcoming. They really need help there. It was a great camp. We have a professional window washing business that we have made almost no money on, but have done free all over the place. They loved having their windows done and Cody got to help make some benches.

The views in Bozeman were gorgeous.

Cody and Hanna got to sing and play with a church camp.

Everyone worked hard to wash windows.

I also found all sorts of camps south of Glacier National Park that were extremely interested in having us come stay and work. I just got on line and started calling camps I found. I usually just Google with these key words:

Kids camp

Bible camp

Church camp

Youth camp

Retreat

Followed by the name of the state, city, or area we are going to.

Usually we stay for free with full hook ups. We do not expect them to feed us although some camps do. I prefer to feed my family in our camper.

We try to do all of our volunteer work for free. Even though they pay for our utilities, we give them a check upon leaving. I usually make it for $5 a night. That covers all electric and such. If we use a lot of electric I will give $7 a night. We try to let them know before we come what kind of work we will do and how many hours. It is important to let them know these things up front.  If we stay long term and work exceptionally hard, we do not always leave a check for our utilities.  The camps are always more than happy to have the help and don't really care about the small cost to them.

We usually offer to wash windows, pick up garbage, clean, and do any grunt work so they have time to do their jobs only they can do.

I had to work on my wrong belief that any kind of missions/volunteer work has to be difficult and we must suffer a little. I have found that we have such a great time volunteering. Not only are we helping them, but we are benefiting also.

• It builds great character in us and our children.

• We help people that desperately need help and a break.

• We usually get to use wonderful facilities and have a lot of fun.

• We stay for free, or in our case, we give enough to cover our expenses which are way less than what we would pay at a campground.

We do not volunteer full time, though. I find that unless I specify certain hours, they tend to expect us to be there all week. I usually tell them we will work Monday thru Wednesday, six hours a day. Or maybe Shae and Cody will work 30 hrs between the two of them in a week. It kind of depends on our situation. If we have a lot of school to do, we tend to have different hours, maybe Monday thru Thursday, 3pm – 5pm.

It does take a lot of time and we do not have the freedom to take off and sight see as we do when at a campground.

We do have to really watch our kids. We are there to serve, not just use the facilities. We always ask if we can use their playground or lake, river, or obstacle courses. Do not just assume you get to.

It is important to have the right motivation of the heart. We are there to help, serve, work, and clean. That is primary. Secondary is playing around. My kids have found that working together is a lot of fun! We went for a walk yesterday by the church we are working at here in the Phoenix area. We walked by the building and my kids said, “Hey mom, look at all that garbage! Let’s go clean it up!” So, we went in and picked up construction garbage and used the magnet wand to get screws and such on the ground. One of my children went by an electric breaker. I told him to stop and he didn’t. I grabbed him and we walked right out the door. That child cried and cried because he wanted to keep cleaning. I told him that he cannot go by any cords and since he didn’t obey the first time we have to leave. A construction site is no place for children who don’t obey to be in. If they don’t obey the first time, do not bring them in. I never, never, never let them play in a construction site. It is not a playground.

Usually kids are not allowed on construction sites. Do not bring your kids there. Don’t let your kids run rampant around the camp. If you set a good example they will tell you to use their facilities.

There have been a few times that we wanted to stay at a camp, but didn’t want to do volunteer work there. We just wanted to get out of the cramped campgrounds. Usually they will just rent us a spot.

My next post is going to be specifically on RVMaps and other organizations you can volunteer through. Let me know if you have any questions!!!!

Sheri

Just another wild day - some pictures

Thought I'd make a little photo album of our latest pictures.

I forgot Tytus' hat so we used his pants instead.

Tytus sure fills out his sling!

Cody driving the lift for drywall volunteer work.            Cody and Shae making bread knives to sell!

We really enjoyed helping the Romanians get ready for their new church.  We cleaned chairs with them. They are amazing people.  They have gotten in my heart!

I've never been so hairy!

Now, this is my first and last blog entry on this subject.  I am going to start a new blog, just for women.  It is going to be a blog that we can talk about being a woman, for real.  I want to be able to laugh and cry about things that only a woman can understand and not make my male readers have to read it.  But, since I don't have that blog started yet, I am going to make a quick note on my wonderful experience today. 

I decided to go to the bath house for a shower.  I usually shower in our camper.  People have offered for me to use their home for a shower, when we stay with them, but I tell them very politely, no thank you.  I don't expect them to pack up their shower stuff and take one in my camper!  My camper is my home.  I shower in my home just like you do yours.  But, I just decided I wanted harder water pressure and thought I would head for the shower house.

Well, the water pressure wasn't much better.  I kind of got grossed out when I saw hair on the floor, and it wasn't mine.  I decided I am going to clean the shower house this week.  But anyways, I am so excited!  I not only washed my hair, but my body too!  Then, I shaved not only under my arms but my legs, too.  Now, not only around my ankles, but all the way up.....yes, past my knees even.....up to the top!  Hold on now, I even washed my body with soap. 

I know, you are jealous.  To not only wash my hair and body, but to even shave my underarms and legs all in one shower!  I am so lucky!  (Actually, I don't believe in luck.) 

Those of you who have babies can totally relate.  Those of you who have lots of kids can identify with what I am saying.  Those of you who have a baby, and lots of kids, and live in a camper, are looking at your legs right now thinking how you wish you could do what I did today!

I don't think my family even recognized me!

Wow, the wonders of soap, water, and a razor.  I feel like a new woman.  Oh, by the way, I didn't use a man razor.  I used one made for women!  That was a treat.  Although, I think my husband used it on his neck recently.  I'll not dwell on that!

I am going to go climb in my bed now and feel the soft sheets on my not so hairy legs.

Good night!
Sheri
This is me doing some voluteer work at a church.  Tytus and I were mopping the floor.  The Romanian Church was getting ready to come use the facilities.

(For my male readers, don't worry, these entries will only be on my woman's blog from now on.  I don't want to bore you.)

Oregon and Northern California

La Pine State Park, Oregon

The kids dug a "Fox Hole" to play in.

Biggest Ponderosa Pine in Oregon near La Pine State Park

We've tried to start cleaning up the garbage at whatever attraction we go to. Shae found a piece of paper and decided to read it! Be careful what you throw on the ground!

We have gone through Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Northern California, and now in Nevada. I haven't blogged for every day or every adventure. It is hard to find the time, but I do try to stay faithful to blogging every few days. So much happens in such a short amount of time, it is hard to write it all down.

Oregon is so beautiful. We didn't get over to the coast at all, but sure enjoyed the east side of the Cascades. It is a little creepy when you think about how you are driving right by all of these active volcanos, but we had to just hope that some scientist somewhere is keeping a close eye on them. I had the same feeling when we were at Yellowstone National Park. Kind of like, "What in the heck are we doing here?" I have never lived around volcanos, just tornados and earthquakes, so this was a new natural disaster to have to deal with. Thank goodness there were no eruptions when we were in Washington or Oregon...ha ha.

Anyways, the rolling hills, the small towns that dotted our way. Then the beautiful forests and rivers that wind through them. Crater Lake National Park was stunning. The drive to it was almost better! The valleys are breath taking.

Our family at Crator Lake National Park, Oregon

We camped at two state parks. They give service connected disabled veterans 10 nights free every month! Can you believe that! What a state! We were so blessed by that! It is nice to know they appreciate their veterans. La Pine State Park was great. The rivers and streams were gorgeous. We hiked to a few of them and then to some water falls. Oh, it was my favorite place, yet. Shae and I loved it. It wasn't that the falls were the most spectacular falls, just the whole setting was perfect. There were tufts of grass on top of soft soil that led down to the clearest water you can imagine. We walked right up to the falls and could even touch them. Oh, it must be wonderful in the summertime. We might even be able to swim to the falls!

We left there and went two hours south to Collier State Park. It wasn't quite as nice as La Pine. There is a river and bridge that goes right next to the campground. Once again, just beautiful.

We went to the Logging Museum there. It was free and well worth the visit.

Logging Museum

Bad weather is on its way. So, we are trying to get south fast! We have had snow numerous times and know one of these days we might not be able to get out of it!

We headed into northern California. There was a check point as we entered the state. They took my avocadoes! I was disappointed. I think they probably took tomatoes from someone, hamburger from someone else, tortillas from another, and lettuce from yet someone else. Late at night they ate tacos! Well, that is my theory anyways. We stayed at a nice campground on the way south, in Likely. Town of 100! It was a nice campground with a beautiful pond and golf course.

Cody found a monster frog!

We are still on the run to get south, the weather hot on our tails or maybe I should say - cold on our tails!

 I better get to bed soon, need to drive tomorrow!

Sleep tight,

Sheri