June 21-23

We drove all day today.  We did stop to put air in a tire and a nice young man named Dante offered to do it for us.

Palm trees in the Everglades

Even the cows like the little bit
of shade they offer

We spent the evening and night with Pat and May.  The next day after going to church with them we went out to eat and then Kelly and I drove home.  It was only 206 miles!

Joan, Kelly, May, Pat

Almost home! Ecoff Ave.

So in all we traveled 13,051 miles in 41 days and went through 31 states.  The best part was the great time we had together making memories: 

meeting new friends, 

seeing old friends, 

seeing new things,

 seeing things (like cows and dust) in new ways, 

exploring new places, 

learning about this country 

and 

just having fun together.

June 19-20

After buying a pair of moccasins for Kelly in Ocala, FL, we drove to Miami to meet and stay with Megan's parents. Along with their welcome we also were welcomed by a group of five raccoons! Or maybe they were looking for the cat's food?

4 of the 5 racoons

Kelly, Stephen, Yvonne, Joan

The next day while Stephen and Yvonne were at work, Kelly and I went to Everglades National Park and drove to Flamingo at the tip of Florida.  Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma destroyed Flamingo in 2005 and it still isn't rebuilt yet.

Along a mosquito laden trail

Just a few days before this we
were at over 7000 ft. above sea level!

The vultures wait for cars

Looking at the Florida Bay

June 17-18

Two long days of driving!  The first day was slow because we drove through the Arkansas mountains in heavy rain to get to Hot Springs NP.  We didn't do much there because of the rain.  Then we drove to Vicksburg, MS in heavy rain. We crossed the Mississippi River at Vicksburg.

soup for supper offered free by the hotel
chicken gumbo and potato

June 17 was another long day of driving.  First we went to the Vicksburg National Military Park and learned some things about the siege of Vicksburg during the Civil War.  Then we drove 12 hours straight until we finally made it to Gainesville, FL.

June 16

Another Sunday and another Sycamore Pres Livestream.  Then we were off on a full day of driving through Oklahoma to Fort Smith National historic Site, Arkansas.

the pool and atrium at our hotel

a train we found in a city park

where we sat out a heavy rain

June 15

We made two stops today as we drove across Kansas:  The Big Well and The Carrie Nation Home

The Big Well is the largest hand dug well.  Carrie Nation was the temperance movement leader who used a hatchet to destroy saloons.

June 14

Today we climbed down into a volcano at Capulin Volcano National Monument in New Mexico.  The volcano is inactive fortunately.

Kelly in the center of the volcano

We spent the rest of the day-6 hours- driving to Kansas.

June 13

Mesa Verde! It's one of my favorite places.  I came here 33 years ago with my sister and 17 years ago with my boys.  Now it's Kelly's turn.  After driving miles up the cliff we walked the Spruce Tree House Trail.

cliff dwellings

in the cliff dwelling

This is chimney Rock, CO.  It is a newer National Monument in the San Juan National Forest.

We ended the day at the Great Sand Dunes National Park.  We had to drive through 45 minutes of sandstorm to get here.  The sand usually blows through the mountain pass, but sometimes the wind changes direction and blows across the sandy plain toward the mountains (like today).  It is odd to see sand dunes next to rivers, lakes and mountains.  In the winter the dunes are covered in snow.

people hiking the dunes and playing
in the wet sand

June 12

We made it to the Grand Canyon today!  We went to the North Rim where there are less people and walked out the Angel Point Trail.  This is the same trail I took with the boys 17 years ago.

We drove around Vermillion Cliffs into Navajo Land and Monument Valley.

Vermillion Cliffs

We stood at Four Corners- the only place in the United States where 4 states meet. And those four states are Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.

We ended our day by driving by this unknown rock formation near the Ute Mt. into Cortez, CO