We made it!

Here we are... we made it to Newport!

After 11 days in Rapid City, S. Dakota and a new engine in our car, we completed our trip in just 3 days rather than the week we planned on taking.

We spent a night somewhere in Montana... then a night in Spokane, Washington before making it into Knappa, Oregon. Knappa is the town we used to live in, and we have many friends still there. We did not get chance to visit many, but will be back soon to catch up with everyone, since we are only 3 hours down the road.

Madison got to catch up with her bestest friends ever Nikki & Kylie which made the trip for her. The rest of our family spent some much needed down time with the Saltmarsh family. Kathleen is one of my "besties" and she has had a very recent and devastating loss in her life, her brother passed away and left behind his darling daughter. I was able to spend a couple days hopefully bringing some laughter back into Kathleen's life along with just listening and giving some hugs to that sweet girl. Kathleen and I just clicked, and although we have only known each other for a few years, it seems like we have been a part of each others lives forever... it is hard to remember life with out her. We had a wonderful couple days catching up... and I can't wait to get back to visit.

Then we headed down the road 3 hours and made it to Newport. Newport is where Monica another of my "bestest" friends lives. She just (re)opened up her candle shop Bohemian Candle,she actually relocated it from Morro Bay, Ca. The shop is gorgeous. The shop completes Monica and fills her with a happiness~ which you can feel when you walk in. If you are ever in Newport - you must visit the shop!

I can remember 15 years ago Steve moved me to Florence, Oregon. I hated it... for the first year or two and could not wait until we could move. This is our third tour in Oregon and now the funny thing is Oregon feels like home. Now if we could just find a home to live in that would make it even better. :)

It is a bit chilly, but the kids and Steve are loving it.

UH OH....

Well, we left Chicago last Friday and headed to Mount Rushmore. We stopped in Mitchell SD and visited the World's only Corn Palace for our lunch break. Treated the kids to some Icecream and added another penny to their collection of smashed pennies. One of the "corniest" stops we have made- but fun too. LOL About 3/4 of the way into our drive the computer thing in the car started to beep and say that there was issues. We stopped and Steve looked and it seemed fine, so we kept going. It kept dinging...but the car seemed to be running ok so we kept going. Made it to Rapid City, SD and where we were camping for 2 nights, about 9pm. Settled in for the night and decided to take the car into the shop first thing in the morning since it was Holiday weekend, and wanted to get back on the road the next day. Well, we spent the day at the dealer waiting- the shop was closing early, and they were unable to figure it out, and would be closed the weekend for the 4th. So they provided a rental and told us on Monday they should finish it.

Well, here we are on Thursday... still waiting. They have replaced everything that the warranty department has suggested and it is still not running right. They may have to replace the whole engine and pistons or something like that ( I am clueless) and it could take another week!! We should have been in Oregon today!

We had to cancel all the reservations and lose money there...have to skip Yellowstone and Hot Lava Springs- when we finally get back on the road it will be long days straight to Oregon. :(

Good news is there were some great things here in Rapid City, SD to see and do.

We seen Mount Rushmore 3X's, we seen Crazy Horse Monument, we visited Storybook Island and Dinosaur Park, and a few other attractions. We have been forced to sit back and relax. :)

But now enough is enough- I am ready to move on...

We have switched campsites 3 times now, actually the owner of the campground has had to move us, because the spots we were in were booked... and now we are in a tight spot- with no space outside of the trailer- we are squeezed between two others- Not good with 3 kids ( a screaming 2 yr old) and a dog! I am getting very bored and irritated, and I know it is killing Steve to be stuck- but nothing we can do.

This wonderful adventure we started to have is starting to turn a bit sour!

Wow how time flies...

It's been a while, time has flew by. Picked up the new trailer and so far we are loving it, it is larger than our last one but is missing some of the niceties that the Outback had- ahh- oh well, luxuries or space- with 3 kids, a cat and a dog - I choose space!

Ohio was very busy. Spent some time with Steve's mom ( Mawmaw and Pawpaw), but seemed as if we were always on the go. Had a great time down at Riceland Golf course with Uncle Larry, Aunt Marylou, Aunt Nip, and Jenna. Jenna took the kids swimming and they loved it. Uncle Larry makes a mean pulled pork sandwich ( Uncle Larry makes great anything!). Friday a high school friend Doug set up a little reunion of sorts for us at the Wing Warehouse... it was awesome to see Matt ( Dudones) & Julie , Ang (Blacklock),Bean & Annie(Cunningham), Denise (Angerstien)and Dave L, Bill (Pratt), Amy (Forney), Jason & Kris (Gengler),Greg (Rankin) And of course Dougie ( Harrison)! We would love to come back for our 20th HS reunion... but who knows.

We spent a weekend camping with my mom, sister, nephew, and grandpa out at Berlin Lake. Grandpa let us use the pontoon boat (AKA: Geriatric Train- because it is slow!) The kids had a blast!

Time to move on to Chicago, to see Steve's grandma Feldscher and Aunt Laurie and her girls. We had a fabulous visit. Just relaxing and catching up.