Home Sweet Home

We made it home last night at about 10pm.

We woke up on Saturday morning and said goodbye to the family that was headed east to their home.  We puttered around, enjoying the company of Tresa's cousin and her family.  Some went for a walk. I got a much needed haircut.  By noon, we were ready to go, so we headed for home.

It is a beautiful drive over the Rocky Mountains on I70 out of Denver.  There was some sort of bike race going up and down the mountain, so the roads were packed and slow until we got to the west side.  Then we had smooth sailing the rest of the way home.

It was a great trip.  All goals achieved.  Lots of good memories.  Many places visited.  More family hugged.  Both halves of the trip were great.  The first half was mostly places and things and was fun in its own way.  The second half of the trip was all about reconnecting with family and we had great visits at every stop.  The drive, while nuts long, was handled well.  We had a good daily devotional in the car and had fun being together - even if we didn't do enough singing!

I will be touching the blog over the next weeks, updating with more details and more pictures.


Final Stats:

6243.8 miles traveled.
425.3 gallons of gas purchased (the final 147.7 miles home is unaccounted for in this total.)
$3.62 average price per gallon with $4.159 in Queens as the max and $3.219 in Yukon, OK as the min.
$1538.62 spent on gas total (again missing the final 147.7 miles to home.)

Mountains!

As we approached Denver this evening, we could see the mountains emerge from under the thunder clouds.  It was soon comforting to see mountains again.  They are a sign of home.

We got on the road at 9:30 this morning and headed for Denver.  We took a over the river and through the woods route, hoping to meet Tresa's cousin who was traveling in the reverse direction.  We met up in Lamar, CO and had early dinner together.  We had a fun time catching up with Johnna, Mario and their kids in a Pizza Hut.  After that break, we continued on to Denver.  We encountered more thunder storms on our way into the Denver area, but really minor compared to what we had seen up to this point.

Tonight we are enjoying the hospitality of another of Tresa's cousins, Robin.  Tresa's aunt and uncle are here also.  We were glad to be out of the car.



615.5 miles traveled today
14.5 MPG
$3.599 per gallon

North by Northwest

We took a serious step in the North direction today  We started at my sister's house, playing games and enjoying the cousins.  At lunchtime, we broke away and headed for the Dallas area.  There we stopped at Meredith's home.  He is a friend of Tresa from high school.  Two other high school friends joined us there as well as Jimmy Dowell and his family.  We had a dinner and played in the pool and generally enjoyed being together and reconnecting.

Then it was in the car to get a start on the trip to Denver.  We made it to Yukon, OK.

516.6 miles traveled
13.48 MPG
$3.219 per gallon.

Everything is Bigger in Texas

It was off to Texas today.  We enjoyed the drive through Mississippi and Louisiana and Texas today.  Near Baton Rouge, we encountered thunder storms.  We spent about 30 minutes in heavy rain.  We would have been more impressed by the storm, but after that Day One storm in Nebraska, this wasn't as impressive.

When we crossed the border into Texas, the sign said "El Paso, 895 miles."  Even with our adventures, that seemed like a long way and we hadn't yet encountered a state that we couldn't get across in one day.

In any case, we made it to my sisters house in Houston.  There we were warmly (and noisily) welcomed.  They fed us our favorite food that they had introduced us to years ago:  Sloopies.  They are a tostada like meal that has Bean and Bacon soup mixed with sausage as the base.  It is really tasty.  We had great visit and left three of the kids to spend the night, while the rest of us retreated to a hotel.  We will be back in the morning for more fun and visiting.

435 miles
$3.49 per gallon.

Mississippi Cousins and Beach

The first half of the trip of full of places and things.  The final half is full of family and today was another great family day.  But first, we drove 466 miles to get to Gulf Port, MS.

We arrived the Biancamano's in the late afternoon.  They have a daughter that is Heather's friend, so we are staying with them.  We went to the Christine and Leo Labat home in Long Beach, MS for dinner.  Much of the local extend family join us for dinner - it was a great time.

Then we went to the beach.  The locals had been apologetic about their beach, but we thought it was great.  It had sand and water and gulls and a breeze and volleyball nets and a snowball shak - everything you need at a beach.  We enjoyed walking on the beach and collecting hermit crabs and playing volleyball.

It was a great day.

484.6 miles today.
13.775 MPG
$3.499 per gallon.

Heading West

We wrapped up our visit at the Virginia Hamsons this morning.  We really enjoyed our time in Virginia.  We hit the road and headed west.  It was a very green drive through Virginia and into Tennessee.  We are in a hotel tonight in Chattanooga and are resting up for tomorrow.  It was a fairly long drive today, we were traveling quite comfortably - but are always glad to get out of the van!

532.6 miles traveled
13.4 MPG
$3.439 per gallon

A Day Afloat

Today was a restful day.  We got up leisurely at 10am and had a great breakfast with the two families.  We then packed a lunch and drinks in a big cooler and headed for the James River.  We rented inner tubes and floated a four mile stretch of the river.  It is a broad, slow, shallow river and we enjoyed the time to talk and play and be together.

Later we had dinner and dessert and enjoyed a quiet evening with family.  It was a nice, slow day.

About 120 miles today.

Escape from New York

As you might imagine, we were pretty sluggish getting out of bed this morning.  But, we did, eventually, get moving.  We headed out of the city at about 10:30am, headed for Lofton, VA.  There we had dinner and an evening of fun with Dan and HJ Van Dam, my cousin, and their family.  Also there was my Uncle Norman Van Dam and his wife Karel.  We had a great visit with them and enjoyed the meal and the time with their kids.  Later that evening, we headed to Richmond, VA to be at Chris and Kate Hamson's home (my brother.)  We enjoyed more dinner (we like eating!)  After a while, we settled in for the night.

359.2 miles today.
13.54 MPG on some of the worst freeways we have seen yet.

Doing the Big City

This post is a day late due to exhaustion on the part of the blogger...

We got up just in time to catch the end of breakfast at the hotel.  Then, having realized that we had failed to plan laundry time into the trip, we found a laundromat and did laundry: Seven washing machines and then eight driers (?) and $18 later, we had clean clothes.

We then headed into the city.  We had lunch in a Pret a Manger near the 911 Memorial.  It was tasty, healthy food.  We then walked to Battery Park, where we enjoyed the people and the rivers and the Statue of Liberty.  It had started raining lightly at about noon and that continued until about 5pm.  A short walk later and we were at the 911 Memorial.  We really enjoyed being there.  I liked the receding pools of water representing the Twin Towers and we spent a few minutes talking and remembering.

A quick train ride later, we were at the Empire State Building.  Up to the top we went and we enjoyed the view.  It was very windy and misting at the top and we enjoyed watching people deal with the wind and water.  It was fun.  All day, it wasn't clear if we were taking more pictures of sites, or if others were taking more pictures of us.  This is a common occurrence for us, especially if we are all together.

After another meal, this time at Panera Bread (decidedly not New York like), we headed for the Brooklyn Bridge.  It turns out that it is closed on the 4th of July - the policeman we talked to said "Too many drunks."  We then worked on finding a place on the Brooklyn side to watch the fireworks.  We got all set among many thousands of people.  When the time came, we could hear them, but not see them.  A policeman reported that at the last minute, they had moved the barge to the downriver side of the bridge.  A scramble ensued as people moved to see the fireworks.  We ended up at an intersection where we could watch between the buildings.  In the excitement of finding a place to watch, we lost Jennifer and Tresa.  It took a few minutes to get us all back together, then we headed, with millions of our new best friends, to find our way home.

When we got near the subway entrances, there were hordes of people, being herded by the police into lines into the subway.  It looked to me like long lines of ants going into the holes in the ground.  We decided not to join that mob.  Instead we went to a Shake Shak and got burgers and shakes.  It had a line also, but it was more friendly, being above ground.  We spent about 90 minutes waiting for and eating our food and watching the masses of people move around.  Finally, the crowds thinned and we headed for the hotel.  There were still police everywhere helping us get to the right train, but the trains weren't crowded and we got seats.  We made it to the hotel at 1am.  According to Jen, the day was "Awesome!"  I agree.

0 miles driven.  Too many miles walked.

Two For One Special

Another great day is in the books!

We started early at the Palmyra Temple doing baptism.  They had a crowd for that little temple, but it worked out well.  We teamed up with a family from Spanish Fork, UT to do their family names.  That worked out well for them and for us.

We then went for a walk in the Sacred Grove.  It had rained while we were in the temple and everything was wet and fresh.  It was very pleasant and peaceful - except for the plentiful mosquitoes!  From there, we stopped at the Hill Comorah.  We drove to the top and talked about the plates that were retrieved there and what happened with them.

Then it was back to the hotel to pack and head to NYC!  We made it to the City in good time and were glad we weren't leaving the city for the long weekend as all of the roads were packed going out.  We found our hotel in Queens, unloaded, changed into our dresses and ties and headed for the Manhattan Temple on the subway.

They were expecting us and we were the last family of the day.  We had another good experience and enjoyed being last.  We went from there to Times Square at 8pm.  That was a stark contrast!  There were people, noise, lights, smells, sounds everywhere.  We found an Italian restaurant behind the Hard Rock Cafe, and enjoyed great pizza.  We then went to the center of Times Square to take some pictures, however, we spent more time having people take our pictures than we did taking the pictures we wanted to take.

Another ride on the subway and we were back at the hotel.  It took a little while to get settled, but we are now really ready for sleep.

I don't have the driving numbers today - I'll edit them in later, but it was about 340 miles today

358.3 miles.
14.929 MPG
Gas $4.159

A

Wetter than Wet

Another great day!

We left Sandusky only 20 minutes behind schedule and a little grumpy after our long day yesterday.  A little over an hour later, we arrived at the Kirtland Temple in Kirtland, OH.  We enjoyed the tour of the temple.  The guide did a good job with the history of the place and we had a interesting conversation in the van afterwards about why it isn't like current temples. (It was a preparatory temple where the keys were received for the ordinances in current temples.)

We then drove the three hours to Niagara Falls.  It was the first time, that I can remember, visiting the falls from the American side.  We rode on the Maid of the Mist and really enjoyed being right up close to the falls.  It was a beautiful day and we got great views.  A couple of us also hiked close to the falls, where the blowing mist was as heavy as summer cloud burst.

As we headed to our hotel, we stopped at Red Lobster to have a nice dinner.  It was nice.

We are running out of clean clothes faster than expected.  We went looking for a laundromat tonight, but could find one open.  We will try again in NYC tomorrow night.

We are now resting in Farmington, NY to be ready for Palmyra and then NYC tomorrow.




420 miles traveled.
14.9 MPG
$3.80 per gallon

We Conquer Cedar Point

We were up at at Cedar Point before it opened today - just like we planned it.  We been on a half dozen roller coasters and had eaten our first snack, when a thunderstorm came through.  That closed all the rides for about 30 minutes and seem to thin the crowd.  We only waited in two or three lines that were more than 10 minutes.  In the heat of the afternoon (which cleared up and was gorgeous), we went on the "wet" rides.  Sure enough, we got soaked on all of them.  By the time the park closed and we were forced to quit, we had gotten onto all of the rides we had hoped to ride and had taken seconds on several of our favorites.  It was a long day and we all fell into bed when we got back to the hotel.  (Except for the blogger, who is in trouble for not turning out the light yet...)

We are going to need a vacation to recover from this vacation!

We drove about 30 miles round trip to the park today.

The $30 all day meal pass was a bargain for us.  We ate every two to three hours.

Tresa's bargain online tickets to the park saved us almost enough for the souvenirs we bought!

  

Three States Later...

We are settling into our hotel near Sandusky, Ohio tonight.  It has been a long day, but we are very happy.

We started the morning at 7:30 at the Nauvoo Temple.  We were the first group into the baptistry and enjoyed the peaceful spirit of the temple.  The font in the Nauvoo Temple is very large.  I felt like I had to pick a spot to be.  It was a great way to start the day.

We then packed the van, checked out of the hotel and headed for Ohio.  It was a long slow drive.  The speed limits are slower, the roads aren't as good, and we encountered a lot of road construction.  About 30 miles from the destination, there was a problem ahead of us and we came to a complete stop.  Jennifer had flown into Cleveland and we were supposed to pick her up, but it was getting late.  We had her take a cab to our hotel and we got there just before she did.

We were very excited to see her, fresh off her trip to China with the Collegiate National Team.  We walked to a Subway up the block and enjoyed dinner together as a family.

543.6 miles traveled today.
14.5 MGP

Sunday in Nauvoo

We got up leisurely this morning and went to church in a local ward.  It was just like home, except for the 800 visitors like us who filled every empty space in the building.  It was a good service with the topic of Christ-centered Homes.

After returning to the hotel to change and eat lunch, we headed to Carthage to visit the Carthage Jail.  Carthage is about 25 miles away.  At the site of the jail, we enjoyed a short musical tribute to Joseph and Hyram Smith put on by the summer performing missionaries.  Then we took a tour of the jail and the room where the Prophet Joseph was killed.  There is a sober spirit, but deep spirit at that place.  We enjoyed being there.

We returned to Nauvoo via a road along the Mississippi River.  It is very full and we stopped along the way to enjoy the river.   Once back Nauvoo, we visited several of the historic sites.  The kids voted the Browning Gun Shop as the most interesting.  It was interesting to see the guns the Brownings invented and to see how guns were made in the 1800s.  We also stopped at the brick shop, the post office and the wheelright, wagonright and blacksmith shops.  We ended at the edge of the river where the wagons boarded rafts to cross the river.  There is a wall there with the names of those who didn't make it to SLC.  On that wall is one of my ancestors, Jan C Van Dam.  He died of exposure after riding on the roof of an over-crowded train trying to get to Nauvoo with his young family.  His pregnant wife continued on with their four children and his aging parents.  She died on the plains after giving birth to a daughter and my great-great-grandfather Huibert Van Dam, who was 11 at the time, drove the team of oxen to the valley.  It helps my perspective to connect with stories like that.

After dinner at the hotel (and a period of rest!) we attended a fireside at the outdoor stage.  It was a musical that co-opted Broadway tunes to tell a story of family, faith and generations.  It was fun and the kids enjoyed identifying the co-opted songs.

We drove about 60 miles (mostly to Carthage) today.

The Internet connection isn't good enough to upload pictures.  I will add them when we get to a better connection.

Sunset in Nauvoo

We are resting in our hotel room finally tonight after a long drive and a fun evening.

We got away from North Platte at 8:10am, improving our on-timeness by 11 minutes!  We managed to get the last waffles at the breakfast before the machine broke, so fat and happy we were on our way! Across Nebraska and Iowa we went.  Just before halfway, there were two very loud pops and then an electrical smell.  A quick stop, and keen noses, narrowed it down to the inverter.  It was dead and had blown a fuse in the van.  This caused a major crisis in the back seat, since that provided power to the gaming system.  We stopped for gas/break in Council Bluffs, Iowa and found fuses and an new, improved inverter - crisis averted!

More long driving brought us to the banks of the Mississippi River.  We crossed on a cool, very old, rail and car bridge.  It was very narrow, with the cars on the upper deck and the trains below.  The river looks to be very high right now.  The day, which had been sunny and beautiful up to that point, turned into rain just before we crossed the river.  We arrived in Nauvoo in the rain. We made a quick stop at the visitor's center to pick up tickets and then headed off to find food.

We ate at Peter's Place and had Navajo Tacos and Fish and Chips.  The food was good, but a fairly small crowd seemed to overwhelm them.  We then rushed to our first show of the night.  We enjoyed the very funny music review called Sunset by the Mississippi (which moved indoors due to the rain.)  We all enjoyed the music and especially the humor - some of it so bad we couldn't stop laughing ("Grandma, don't lean on the screen door, you will strain yourself." and dozens more like it!)  From there we went to the Cultural Hall to see Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo.  While not as raucous as the other show, it was fun and funny too.  By the time it ended at 9:30pm, I was done with sitting and really done with the hard benches.  

After a quick trip back to Peter's to retrieve a phone, we checked into our hotel.  We are staying at the Nauvoo Family Inn & Suites.  We have one room that includes two queen beds and a bunk bed.  We will be here two nights and it is a clean, nice place.  Our ATT phones have no service here in Nauvoo, but the hotel has nice WiFi.

We are moving at our standard, nutso, breakneck pace, but are having a great time.  No pictures today, because my phone doesn't seem to want to join the WiFi.


609.9 miles today
15.725 MPG on the first half of the day.
$3.40 per gallon.

The Longest Day

Well, we made it to North Platte.  We got away at 9:20am, just 20 minutes after our targeted departure time (that might be a record!)  When we first put the pile on the sidewalk next to the van, I wasn't sure it was all going to fit.  But, not only did we get it all in, there is still enough room for Jennifer and her two more bags when she joins us on Monday.

The first almost 600 miles, through all of Wyoming and into Nebraska were generally uneventful.  But, then it really started raining.  It poured and poured and we learned that there was a severe thunderstorm warning in the area.  Finally, a useful radio person helped by reporting where the warning was by mile marker.  Sure enough, we were right there.  There were winds in the 30 to 50 MPH range and we couldn't see through the rain at all.  We pulled over to wait it out.  As we sat there, the water running down the front windshield looked like there were four or five garden hoses on the roof dumping water on the van at full blast.  After 10 minutes, it let up and we continued on our way.  When we got to our hotel in North Platte, about 1/3 of the parking lot was flooded.  There was a lot of water and lightening.  The girls amused themselves (and consumed all of my phone space) by trying to video lightening.

Well, a quick dinner at Runza's (which we recommend), a dip in the hot tub and it is off to bed for an early start tomorrow.

710.5 miles today.  We put 44.331 gallons of gas into the van for a remarkable 16.027 MPG!




The backseat crowd:

It Begins Again

Apparently, seven years is about how long it takes for us to think that a 5700 mile road trip is a good idea again.  And so, here we go.  Tomorrow we embark on another cross-country multi-week trip.  We are at a fevers pitch in the packing and loading of the van.  But the trip booklets are ready and the gear all gathered.

Alan, of course, is on a mission and won't be joining us.  Jennifer is flying back from China tonight and will catch up to us on Monday (just in time for Cedar Point!)  In addition to me, Tresa, Tim, Sara and Heather, we will be joined by Tana, a family friend.

Feel free to follow along.  I am sure you are looking forward to the report tomorrow from North Platte, NE!