USMC Car Wash Fundraiser

Yesterday, I was driving down Hillsboro Road, and what did I see, but a Marine in full dress uniform standing on a corner with a piece of posterboard reading, "USMC Car Wash Fundraiser." He was joined by a couple of buddies in camo fatigues and green t-shirts. I've never heard of a military car wash fundraiser before. I'd say that too many of my tax dollars to go support military endeavors that I oppose, so I didn't pull in. And here's the kicker...It was happening in a church parking lot. That's right. The Church of Christ has decided to host military fundraisers. Something seems problematic with those who worship the Prince of Peace hosting military fundraisers. Anyway, that was my moment of "Huh?" yesterday.

Back in the Show-Me state

Well, folks, the adventure is coming to an end. In my previous post, I forgot to mention that on our way out of Wahoo, we found that the main road out of town heading towards Omaha was closed on the east bound side. The GPS attempted to reroute us and we found ourselves on a county road that was half dirt, half slush, and surrounded on both sides by a bog of some sort. When the car began slipping and sliding, we wondered if we would ever make it to the next, possibly equally treacherous county road. We decided to back the car out of there (the road was too narrow for any turning around) and try an alternate way out of town. It was probably the scariest part of our trip besides a snowy mountain pass on Thursday night.

After a stop off in downtown Omaha, which is cooler than you might thing, we headed south toward KC, MO. Around 6:00 pm, Wes and I arrived safely in Kansas City, MO and met up with our friends Meg and Jarrett who graciously provided dinner, lodging, and a wonderful evening of good times. My sister Anna, her husband Jimmy, and their daughter Kinsley also joined us for the evening. We currently sit at a Panera Bread in the plaza area of KC and will soon have lunch with Jarrett. Then, Wes drops me off with Anna and Jimmy, and he heads to Des Moines. It's been a wonderful trip full of fun, great conversation, random encounters, and amazing scenery. Check back for more reflections in the next week or so.

Also, I've posted pictures to the picasa feed on the right side of this blog.

All the way across Nebraska

The last two days have been full of driving. Yesterday we decided to take a scenic route from Salt Lake City, UT to Fort Collins, CO, thus adding an extra two hours to our trip. It was definitely beautiful, but resulted in a fairly late arrival in Ft. Collins. Thankfully, my friend Jill was totally up for taking us to some fun pubs in old town. It was a fun night with good beer and good conversation. I had forgotten how inexpensive New Belgium beers are in Ft. Collins. Reason #24 for why I would love to live there.

This morning we hit the road for Wahoo, NE. We made our way to Cheyenne, WY and then made the turn for Nebraska. And yes, we've been in Wyoming each day this week since Tuesday. We drove across the entire length of Nebraska on I-80 today, with stops in Ogallala to search for the Presbyterian church there (it's not there anymore), a town I can't remember the name of to see the original Pony Express building, and then Wahoo to see our friend Patrick Marshall. We got to meet the newest addition to the Marshall family who was born earlier this week. Patrick took us to a local Mexican restaurant where we greeted by one of his biggest fans. By the time we left, our waiter had already taken off to go party, or at least that's what the guy at the front said. He said we could come by tomorrow to pay. You gotta love small town America.

OK, the computer is running low on power, and so am I. Look for more pictures in the coming days.

A Random Day

Well, Wednesday brought more random adventure that even Wes and I anticipated. We awoke to a snow covered car in Jackson, WY. Thank goodness for the scraper with a brush that came with the Charger. We set off for Salt Lake City with planned stops in Bancroft, ID and Ogden, UT. As we were heading to Bancroft, ID for a fun photo op, we stumbled across Soda Springs, ID, an old mining town that seems to have dried up except for the rival fertilizer plants that sit on either side of the two lane highway. We saw a sign for a geyser and realized that we had arrived just in time for the time-controlled geyser to do its thing. Apparently it's the only man-made geyser in the world.

After witnessing the geyser in all its glory, we made our way to the local drugstore to ask about where we should have lunch. We found out that the local pizza place had gone out of business, but that the bowling alley had great pizza. So, you guessed it, we ate pizza and garlic bread at the Soda Springs, ID bowling alley. We met some wonderful people who were rather perplexed that we were actually going to Bancroft, ID simply because it's my last name and I wanted a picture with some street signs.

Bancroft, ID had more going on than one might expect by its relatively small dot on the map, but not a place to necessarily write home about.

Next, we headed to Ogden, UT, where Wes had arranged to meet another gentleman named Wes Goldsberry. We met him at the Taco Bell in the Pilot Gas Station right there outside of Ogden. Wes Goldsberry of Ogden, UT works for the Sheriff's department. We received a wonderful tutorial on his tazer, including a look at the voltage sparking between the contact points. It was truly a Storycorps moment.

Finally, we rolled in Salt Lake City for taco night with the Kyremes-Parks. Amy-Kim and Justin have some great kids. I helped their son beat a level on the lego Star Wars game for wii, which pretty much makes me a big deal in his world. :) The girl and I talked about our favorite Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift songs.

This morning included sweet rolls and a visit from Loyda Kyremes. All in all a good morning and a good start to another day on the road.

Here are some pictures:

Bozeman to Jackson

Hey there Renderings fans. After a fun night at the Montana Ale Works for dinner and the Bacchus Pub for drinks, Wes and I turned in for a wonderful eight hours of sleep. We barely made it down to the lobby for the continental breakfast, and were told as much by the lady who was trying to clean up.

As an aside: The hotel had Fox News on the TV in the lobby. I told Wes that Fox News pretty much alternates between covering what's happening in washington (usually bashing on the democrats) and showing stories meant to elicit fear for some reason or another. As we were sitting there, we heard how evil Pelosi is and then saw segments about pythons running loose in Florida, the orca that killed its trainer, an SUV crashing into a school, and a man's Prius that drove out of control on the highway. I'm sure all of that was Obama's fault...that's what happens when you elect a crazy liberal. :)

Anyway, today Wes and I have traversed many mountains, some barren, some snow-covered and have arrived in Jackson, WY. We took a roundabout way from Bozeman so that we could stand at the headwaters of the great Missouri river (see pics below) and explore the town of Butte, MT, searching for a Butte Beer sign that Wes saw in a friend's picture from many moons ago. We didn't track down the Butte Beer sign, but we did eat lunch at the Uptown Cafe. They were serving cajun sirloin with cheesy potatoes. It was pretty good. We discovered that there are a lot of Irish folks in Butte, and it seems as if the town is in a steep decline. Whatever they used to mine must have run out at some point.

Funny Road Sign of the day: Life is a Puzzle. Look for Jesus who is the missing Peace.

Museum of The Rockies

So far, Bozeman, MT gets my seal of approval. The people seem nice, and it ends up they filmed Part of A River Runs Through It at the Presbyterian church here.

I spent part of my afternoon at The Museum of The Rockies. You can see some good dinosaur pics below. I particularly enjoy the hair band dinosaur attacking the "the man" dinosaur. I'd also like to point out that this museum apparently doesn't know about Jesus being a dinosaur rider. I mean, humans didn't live with dinosaurs? Um, hello. Jesus had a pet dinosaur. Those in the know are laughing...everybody se thinks the light mountain air is getting to me. More as Wes and I continue on our adventure.











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