It's An Awfully Big Country

Well, we have managed to spend the night in each state that we have passed through (except OR). The states in the west are quite large when driving from side to side. Tonight we are in Urbana, IL and are done with I-80. We are nearly through with the long trip. We spent Sunday night in Sidney, NE the home of Cabela's. For those not trained in "outdoors" - that is a hunting, fishing, camping, outdoors-y type store that is a lot of fun to roam through. It is full of "Stuffed" animals and often has an aquarium in it. We did spend a little time roaming before hitting the road for the day. We also mananged to pass the mother store of JC Penney in Kemmerer WY while looking for lodging one night. Last night we stopped right on the NE - Iowa border in Council Bluffs. I wanted to make it to a new state for the night and we were still able to stop early enough for a workout and a nice meal and still got to bed in order to get a good jump on the day and make it to IL tonight.

We crossed the Mississippi today and both looked at each other and said "We're home!" We both have such a love of the east coast. We stopped at a rest area with a play ground which I just had to play on and as we returned to the truck Chris asked if we could just lay in the grass for a minute. Yes, the west has grass - but it is just not the same.

Tonight I am doing laundry and we can have a little later start in the morning because we are only going into IN tomorrow to stop and see Donald and his family for church and then for the day on Thursday.

We are eager to get to our new home. We will probably stop just shy of "home" on Friday and then get into Shelby before noon on Saturday and be able to unload the truck.

The trip is going well. We have managed to make fairly wise choices for eating and have taken a walk each night along with some workouts in the hotels. We are trying to avoid the weight gain that we had when going from east to west four years ago. Tomorrow morning we can use the hotels fitness center. The truck rides well (better than a compact car) and is doing fairly well towing the car. The high winds of the plain states have made things interesting sometimes but we have had no incidents.

We are reading the autobiography of John Bunyan as we travel "Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners" It is a profitable reminder of our weaknesses and God's amazing grace on our behalf.

We are almost there and ready to start new things. I am ready to be settled again.

Until IN, KY, TN, or NC ... TTFN (Ta Ta For Now)

Proverbs 21:31 The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD.