We're Home!

We're home!

Van ran great the rest of the way home.  More thoughts later.

Van Update....

Just received a call from the shop.  They have the replacement transmission and are working on getting it installed.  They are hoping it will get done by today.  If not, it should be tomorrow morning at the latest.  Other than that, we're just chill'n.  Thanks to everyone for their prayers and notes of support.

Anyone want a Grand Caravan?...Just kidding!

Well, it's official, we've successfully destroyed another Dodge Grand Caravan automatic transmission!  They are working on getting another one here and installed sometime tomorrow.  If all goes well we MIGHT get to leave on Saturday.  Should anyone have any questions about Evansville, IN...I can research it for you...as long as it doesn't require driving ;)

The Lord is good!  We're stuck in the middle of nowhere with 4 eating places within walking distance, a hotel with an indoor pool, sometimes high speed internet, a nice, understanding hotel owner, who could ask for more?  Until we know more...

St. Louis...Home of the Arch!

We ran down to the Arch area after we checked in the motel on Tuesday night.  None of the arch pictures turned out but here's one of the riverboat docks.

We are still trying to adjust back to Central time at this point.  The motel desk clerk recommended waiting until after 9:00 to try and go downtown...here's an example why.

 

You can see the Arch from quite a distance away...beckoning.

Finding a parking place was a bit of a trial.  Not because they're weren't any spaces but because we had that cool looking topper on the van.  It was too high for the normal lots so they sent us down to the riverfront...

Yep, that's the mighty Mississippi river in the background!

The Arch is very impressive.  It is amazing from just a technological standpoint.  The technological obstacles they had to overcome to build it, transport folks to the top, create a museum, etc. were fairly large.  After going to the top we watched a documentary on the construction.  Nathan and I were both shocked when they said the margin of error was 1/64th of an inch.  That will grab your attention!

The boys were in rare form right off the bat...

That's the old courthouse in the background...more about that later.

Then they settled down for a nice picture.

Then it was to the top...

Cool little cars take you up.

What a view.  Little scary that you have to actually lay on your belly to see out the little windows.  It's a long way down.  Here's a picture of the shadow.

And of the gentlemen at the top...

Pretty tight up there.

We also went over to the Old Courthouse.  This was where the Dred Scott case was originally tried.  This case eventually lead to the outbreak of the Civil War.  What a beautiful building, inside and out.

Next, it was on the road again...at least for a while.

Illinois was uneventful. Wish I could say the same for Indiana.  We got off the interstate at Evansville to eat and I knew there was something wrong with the van.  We made it to a hotel for the night and the van is in the shop now.  Still waiting for an official opinion.  It is certainly the transmission but we don't know how severe at this point.  The Lord worked it all out though.  From what they guy at the shop said, there's nothing from Evansville to Louisville so the Lord had us stop in the right area.  The Lord is good!  I'll update when I have more information.

Are we there yet?

Another long driving day today in the van.  Seth has been doing some driving in the afternoons to allow me to catch up on the blog.  I guess you've probably noticed that by now.  I started using MS Live Writer to write the blog off-line then post it when we get to a hotel.

We did have a couple pleasant surprises today.  First, we were trying to find the world's largest totem pole outside of Claremore, OK.  This area is where Will Rogers was going to build his home.  We never seemed to find the totem pole but we did find the world's largest private gun collection.  It's a long story but a local hotel owner started collecting guns.  He ended up with over 20,000 items in his collections.  Seth was in hog heaven!

They also had a faceless board...we all had to give it a try.

Secondly, right after we made it into Missouri...my birthplace,

we noticed that the George Washington Carver National Monument was just inside the Missouri state line.  Samuel is doing a report on G.W. Carver so we hopped off the interstate to investigate.  It was well worth the trip over to the monument.  Carver was an amazing individual and I've decided I need to do some more reading on him.  Samuel did the Jr. Ranger program again and now is up to 3 Jr. Ranger programs.  Way to go Samuel!

We did go down to see the arch after we checked in at the hotel...more on that tomorrow!  Time to get some sleep.

Long day in the van...Yikes!

Let me just start by clearing up the fact that it is a long way from Albuquerque, NM to Oklahoma City, OK.  A really long way.  We got started a little later than normal, seemed to stop at nothing special all the time ;), and drove, rode, drove.

We did stop back off at the crosses and took some pictures since the weather was much nicer this time.  It is a pretty amazing just by the sheer size of it.

Yep that's the boys down at the bottom and I can't even get the cross bar part in the picture.

All the figures are life size which makes it even more realistic.

They also have a section with the empty tomb...that's what it's all about!

Nothing special for today other than the cross and the long ride.  Although, we did toss some football in Texas.  So far, only Mississippi is the missing state for a football toss.

Petrified Forest and Albuquerque Tramway

From Holbrook, it is a short drive (by western standards) over to the Petrified Forest National Park.  Pretty amazing to see all the wood turned rock just lying around everywhere.  It was a battle to get any participation for this park...they think they've seen it all by this point!

 

The trail of giant logs at the south visitor's center whets your appetite for what's to come...

Those were some big logs.  We did find it interesting that the same type of wood that was petrified in Arizona was also petrified in North Carolina.  Hummmm...wonder how that happened.

Mr. Jr. Ranger Samuel was working on his second Jr. Ranger booklet.  He started his first one at Walnut Canyon.  It wasn't easy making this a learning experience but Melinda did an awesome job of keeping him motivated ;)

Here's our Jr. Ranger beside a petrified root ball...yes, they were big!

 

There were some with white centers at the Crystal Forest.

The Blue Mesa was really neat too.  You could see petrified logs being exposed as the sandstone (I think) started to erode away.

And the different layers of sediment...

Next were the Petroglyphs (I like to refer to it as Indian graffiti!)  It amazes me that it is still here after several hundred years.  The rangers admit that they don't know why they did the petroglyphs or what they mean exactly but it is still pretty cool.  My explanation is that the guys were over there doodling on the stones while the women did all the work.  Probably not accurate but it sounded good to me!  Here are a couple feet...just need some black dots on the heels!

The stork eating the lizard?  I overheard a ranger talking about this image.  They admit, they really don't know what it means either.

Next up was some pueblo ruins.  Interesting how they structured their village.  Basically, all the dwellings were on the outside with some kivas in the middle.  The kivas were used for special ceremonies and meetings.

The Painted Desert!  Beautiful!  After all the brown blah you suddenly go around a turn and a plethora of colors meet the eye.  This is another one of those...'You have to see it'.  Can't describe it.  You have to see it.

My serious sons felt the need to 'clown around'.  They get this from their mother!

And one last picture...

After Samuel was sworn in as a Jr. Ranger, we were off to Albuquerque. We were planning on spending the night and going on the tram in the morning but decided it might be cool to see it at night.  We did stop at 'Old Town' and that we very pretty.  The sunset was stunning from the tram station.

It's probably good that we did it at night.  I'm not sure Melinda could have handled the tram seeing just how far up we were.  This is the longest continuous tramway in the world.  2.7 miles from station to station.  In the winter you can ski down the other side.  Pretty neat experience.  It was a balmy 39 degrees with a 5 mph wind at the top...

The next couple days are long rides so there probably won't be much to say!

Sedona...America's Most Beautiful City

That's their words, not mine.  However, it is an amazingly beautiful place.  It is about a 30 minute drive down from Flagstaff to Sedona.  You can take the interstate but the real views are down 89A through Oak Creek Canyon.  To be honest, after seeing the Grand Canyon...this is a bit of a letdown...

It was even a little hard for the boys to get excited about the drive down...

The rock down this canyon is of the red variety.  Bunches and bunches of red colored rock.

Sedona was a neat town (city?) with bunches of little shops everywhere.  They did a very nice job (I'm sure through local ordainances) to keep the architecture consistent.  I will say that there is a view out of every shop, house, road, etc.  It's almost like it is in a little hole with red sheer cliffs all around.  We did a bit of shopping (against the wishes of a few gentlemen - at least for a while) and discovered some local Indians doing some traditional songs and dance.  It was fascinating.

The guys got more excited when we went to a shop (Sedona Sunset) that had a dulcimer the owner allowed customers to play.  Suddenly, all was right with the shopping experience!  They also had some Indian flutes for sale and a way to let the customers try them out.  It was a good stop because Nathan came out with one of the flutes.  Another instrument in the Barrick household...oh my!

The boys enjoyed playing with the cactus...

This last picture is in honor of Kim Winemiller.  She'll have to tell us what it looks like...I already happen to know the answer but I'm sure she'll pick it out very quickly!

After the time in Sedona, it was up the road to Holbrook.  We stayed at a hotel that had an indoor pool and got there a little earlier than we had been so there was time to 'chill', do some laundry, get 're-organized', etc.  We really needed it by this point!  Next day was the Petrified Forest!

We didn't get a picture but we ate supper at one of the places off 'Historic Route 66' called Ranchero...or something like that.  The discussion was how red Brandon Phagan's face would be if he had some of their salsa ;)  It was a bit spicy!

Until the next report...

Grand Canyon...Day2...The Ride Back.

We caught the bus back to the 'Grand Canyon Village' to grab some lunch (hot dogs) and wait to take the train back.  We did go over and check out the Bright Angel Trail.  Met a couple who had hiked down the South Kaibab Trail, spend two nights down at the bottom, hiked up to Indian Gardens (a campsite/ranger station about half way down the Bright Angel Trail), watched the sunset from Plateau Point, and hiked out Friday.  Sounds like a very nice week to me.  It took them about 3 hours to hike the last 5 miles.

We visited the Hopi House...

The El Tovar...

Ask me about the mistake on that building some time...

Then it was back on the train...

From the world famous Grand Canyon Depot...

We went through a little wash area where you could see both ends of the train at the same time.  That is always neat...

What!?...could those be train robbers out there?  The train didn't slow down to let them on did it?

Yes, they did and now they're on the train!

The train ride was a fun way to get to the Grand Canyon.  They took care of everything for us.  My only observation is they put the 'GRATUITY NOT INCLUDED'' on the tickets for a reason!  It was a very unique and enjoyable way to see the Grand Canyon.  There were comments made that in the next few years they are going to place restrictions on private auto/RV traffic going into the Grand Canyon.  The reason given was pollution control but I'm sure it will also benefit the Railway as a method to get to the park.  All-in-all, we thoroughly enjoyed riding the train.