Road Trip Phase One

Howdy all! (anyone out there?)

We decided to hit the road the end of July and go on a three week road trip visiting family and friends along the way. Maybe even do some sight seeing. There has to be something along the side of the road to see besides hitch hikers and road kill.

First stop is Cedaredge, Colorado visiting mom, Steve, Nana, and my sis Carolyn. We, (Jeremy, Jami, sis Jenny, and the kids, Ana and Jorryn) left home Sunday night at 12:20 A.M. I guess technically that would be Monday morning. Jami and I took turns driving with really nothing eventful to speak of the whole 23 hours straight through. The worst part of the trip was some traffic in Salt Lake City. That wasn't even that bad, we just kept looking in vehicles trying to profile the non-Mormons. You know, looking for the long haired type, not wearing collared shirts and drinking coffee and soda.

We got to mom's a little after midnight and still had to setup the tent that we were going to be sleeping in. Luckily I had some practice a few weeks before when I set it up for me and the kids on a camp out in the backyard. I think it only took about 30 minutes and we were setup and about ready to crawl into bed. It felt good sleeping on an air mattress instead of a moving vehicle I tell you. That is until about 5 am when I woke up laying on the ground because the mattress had a leak in it. ARRRGGG... Tried to fix it later and was semi-successful.

Next morning we had a big breakfast with the whole crew, minus Nana who we visited later that day. Steve showed us all the cool cars, trucks ad tractors he had around the place. Got to go on some rides and got some pics of a tractor or two. The Farmall in the picture runs, just needs a little timing adjustment.

Carolyn came over with her family, her husband Brian and his boys, and the twins. We had fun visiting and seeing them all for the first time. (Not Carolyn of course!) Then we went to see Nana at the care center.

We hadn't seen her for so long and it was great to be able to give her a big hug and visit in person rather than on the phone. After a visit awhile that afternoon we headed back to the house, had dinner at Carolyn's and tried to get the air mattresses patched for a good nights sleep. We were only successful with one air mattress, not two, and to top it off we had a thunder storm that night. We stayed dry for most of the night. We got a few puddles started shortly after we got up and moving around.

Headed back into see Nana for lunch and had a nice time with her for a few hours chatting with everyone and getting caught up with all the news we could think of and then snapping a bunch of pictures to remember it all by. Ana and Jorryn got to play a few songs on the piano for her and even drew a small crowd. They did great and I think I caught a tear from my moms eye. We headed back to Nanas room to say goodbye and after some tears and hugs we said goodbye for now and headed out.

Next Stop, Denver.

We tried to get on the road for the next phase of the trip by 3pm, but I think it was more like 4pm. ANYWAY, we loaded everything up in a rush and after some more tearful goodbyes we headed down the road. Got some good sight seeing in and even saw a black bear on the side of the road with her two cubs. Jami was pretty quick on the draw with the camera, but I ended up having to turn around and go back to get the better shot.

When we were nearing the interstate almost an hour and a half later, I heard a funny noise like there was a rock stuck in the tread of the tire. Upon further inspection I found that a large chunk of tread had detached itself and found freedom somewhere along the road behind us, leaving nothing much behind for us to continue on. As I reached for the trailer door, in my minds eye I saw the spare tire laying on the ground back at moms waiting to be reloaded into the trailer. I don't know why I even opened the trailer to check, just to slap myself in the face again with the realization that it really wasn't there. STINK! Well, Carolyn and mom to the rescue and a few hours later after they brought the tire to us we were on the road again.

Once again, we arrived at our next stop just after midnight. No tent to set up this time though. Jamis cousin Laura had spare rooms for us to sleep in, and no leaky air mattresses to deal with.

Hope this post was semi coherent as I am super tired. Jami might interject some facts after reading. Phase two on the trip is next time...enjoy the pics.