Day 10: Independence, Missouri

The first part of our day we spent visiting the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri. The museum there had been recently modernized, and it was very well done. 

The iconic desk plaque.

The replica Truman Oval Office. 

That large globe in the photo above was a present to Truman from Eisenhower at the end of WWII. I'm a little fascinated by it. I'm assuming Eisenhower "liberated it" from some Nazi headquarters and brought it over from Europe on a military transport. But from where did the Nazis get it? Was this beautiful and valuable piece originally stolen from wealthy Jews? What other pieces of European culture made it back to the US, "procured" by members of our military/government? I have a feeling the average person who sees such things does not naturally generate such questions. But I have a fascination for the stories and people behind historical objects. And of course my musings are directly related to our family WWII studies this past spring, which included the documentary The Rape of Europa, and the movies Monuments Men and Woman in Gold.

The museum had sections on Truman's childhood, his presidency and policies made--everything you would expect, all well-done.

A menu from an average day at the White House. The kind of thing that makes me geek out. Martha Washington's Crabmeat Soup?! Now I want to dive into the culinary history of the White House. And taste that soup. 

So much to discuss with the kids just from this one display!

There was also a special exhibit going on at the museum that particularly excited me: Truman and WWI. 

Example of the museum's creative, interactive, informative displays: these images show different sides of the same "box," built so each of the stacked thirds turn, which allows silly kids to miss-match and then match-up the bodies of the figures shown. 

Did you know Harry S. Truman was the only US President to ever serve in combat in a war? A little eerie how that experience may have prepared him for someday being Commander in Chief.

We learned an important lesson at this museum--always take a few minutes when you get there to look at a map of the big picture, so you can wisely choose how to spend your time, especially if you are short on time. We only spent a few hours in the morning at the museum, and after we left I found out there had been a whole section we never saw on the Cold War! Shucks.

But we still had a good time and probably gleaned as much history as the kids' brains could hold. 

After a picnic lunch on the Truman museum grounds, we headed to our afternoon stop--the little National Frontier Trails Museum, also in Independence. 

This was a museum we had found years ago on a road trip to the Midwest, and we thought it was worth visiting again, to help put our past family homeschool learning in context. How exciting to be in the starting place of the Lewis & Clark expedition, the Mormon Trail, and the Oregon, California & Santa Fe pioneer trails!  So much history packed into one little museum!

I'm not sure how much the kids got from the displays, though--they may have been a bit museum-ed out.  But it was still worth stopping and seeing again, and still a place I recommend. 

Loading their wagon. If you go overweight a light comes on. Such a great hands-on exercise in the obstacles the pioneers faced from the very beginning of their journey.

They figured out how to beat the scale by careful arrangement of the goods. Sorry, kids, that's not how it worked back in the day.

That night we didn't have to drive far--only to St. Louis. We stayed in East St. Louis, IL at a casino campground directly across from the Gateway Arch, which was to be our family fun destination of the following day.

This day was also Happy's 13th birthday, and it was perfect timing--she had wanted to visit the Arch on this road trip in homage to her favorite book hero, Percy Jackson. 

Day 9: Six States in the Longest Day

Plotting our course from the Northern states through the Midwest, angling down to Alabama, we were going to be passing a whole bunch of states. Well, we fell into compulsive state-collecting, as geeky homeschool parents are wont to do, and snaked our route to hit as many corners of passing states as possible. (We are collecting state license plates too--required American road trip activity!)

It was fun--but resulted in the Day That Would Never End. Six states in one day: South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri.

Beautiful Minnesota rest area.

Stretching tired road trip bodies at a playground. I can't even remember in what state.

This was a day of driving, so nothing more to show you. But we kept on enjoying our Ralph Moody audio book, and noting the changing scenery as we moved from one part of the US to another, and Sunny was collecting bits of nature from every state we passed through, and Smiley decided his goal would be to pee in every state we passed through, and it was a long day of driving but we still had fun.

We stopped for the night at another Walmart, this time in Kansas City. That was the night of the crazy yelling neighbors, and the need to move the trailer elsewhere in the parking lot in the middle of the night. It was not a great night's sleep for the grownups, and this was probably the psychological low point of the whole trip (for the adults in charge). It was at this point that, looking at the map and planning ahead, we decided to skip some of the last things we had debated doing and get to AL one day ahead of schedule. 

We may have been tired, but we were still up for making the most of the time we had left!  

Day 8: Minuteman Missile National Historic Site & Badlands National Park

The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site in South Dakota was an unexpected favorite stop on the road trip. It is located near former Cold War era Minuteman missile silos, which I had not known were placed throughout the US but concentrated in the northern midwest during the arms race. 

There is a Cold War museum on site, modern and well done. For a small national parks museum it was impressive, at least for this history geek. The most impressive was one whole-wall display. First, it gave a clear and succinct Cold War timeline:

The beginning of the timeline.

We actually finished studying WWII this school year, and have been learning about Stalin, the USSR, and the Cold War. This timeline was so helpful in quickly showing key events and helping us make meaningful connections. Because I am that mom, I took photos of the whole thing, knowing there was too much information in the museum for the kids to process in one visit, and now the kids are reading them again and transferring significant dates into their timeline books. 

Also perfect for connecting this past history with current events involving the US and North Korea!

The second aspect of the display that I really enjoyed was their highly visual and easily understandable representation of the arms race--in my first photo of the display you can see the orange and blue elements building above and in conjunction with the timeline, showing the number of missiles built by the US and USSR, well, skyrocketing. This link shows an artist rendering of the overall display.

There were lots of other more kid-friendly and less information-heavy displays and activities. 

Kids could sit in the missile launch "hot seat" and follow the readiness checklist, much like a pilot would do in an airplane. Just part of the daily routine of an Air Force engineer with the power to end the world as we know it. 

A clever display--they had a little room decorated like a 1950's "living room" complete with vintage cabinet TV, which they had modified so it would play on a loop the Cold War classic "Duck and Cover." The room not only represented that time in American history, but effectively brought the conflict home, so to speak--showing the impact this nuclear arms tension had on the average American kid & family.

The definite museum highlight for the kids--getting to touch a piece of the Berlin Wall!

Ok, so maybe it was a highlight for me too:

Literally touching history! Does it get any better that this?! 

Well, ok, maybe MY OWN PIECE OF DINOSAUR BONE. But this is a close second.

Leaving the museum sites when they closed down mid-afternoon, we continued our drive across South Dakota.

Stopping for another iconic American road trip photo op.

And driving through the Badlands for good measure. Hey, if we're already passing by. . . 

After being in so many National Parks where you have to stay on the paths and not touch anything, it was freeing to visit a park with a designated area for letting kids (and adults) run amok.

How much the kids enjoyed the Badlands:

The trailer looking pretty good in that setting.

Until you get close enough to see the carnage we wrought driving at night through Yellowstone, Wyoming, and South Dakota.

We ended the night at another Walmart, I think in Sioux Falls--hey, can't beat free and safe sleeping!  We stayed in quite a few Walmart parking lots during the trip out to AL, and only one was a bad experience (due to some crazy dysfunctional and inappropriately loud people also spending the night). But esp. those northern state Walmarts had clean bathrooms and friendly employees and were a welcome part of our travels. 

Bonus of late-night Walmart stops.

But the best part about 24 hour Walmarts--free Wifi!  Mr. Incredible and I often sat late at night researching and planning the next steps of our route. A blessing for sure.

Day 7: Mt. Rushmore

After such an eventful night and day, it was amazing that we still made it to our fun road trip destination we had planned:

A must see on the Epic American Homeschool Road Trip!

California, represent!

Of course we had to make the most of this iconic American road trip photo op!

Recreating the monument.

After Mt. Rushmore we headed to nearby Hot Springs, South Dakota to camp for the night. We didn't get to enjoy any of the hot springs in the area, because our travel schedule was tight. But the campground had a lovely little creek running through it, and so while I made dinner the kids played:

And the next morning we were ready for heading out on the next day's travel and adventure!

Day 6, Continued: Devil's Tower and More of God's Amazing Provision

We had such a good time at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center that we stayed much later than we had originally planned--which put us in danger of missing out on the second fun thing we had planned for that day, hiking at Devil's Tower National Monument. In my research I learned that parking with the camper would be an issue during the peak visiting times, so I had planned for us to get there around 5, when the crowds would be gone and the heat of the day mostly over. But because of our delay, we were now going to be hard pressed to get there in time to hike before night fell. 

We drove hard across Wyoming that afternoon and early evening, racing the setting sun. We made it to the monument with just a few minutes of light to spare--enough to at least see it. Well enough. 

By the time we actually got to the deserted parking lot at the base of the monument we could barely see--but enough to just make out the fascinating geological structure of the "tower." Within minutes, all was twilight. 

That did not stop us from hiking!  Undaunted, we set out on the trail around the monument, headlamps in hand for when it got too dark to see. But even as night settled around us, we found the contrast between the pale concrete pathway and the rest of the forest around us was enough to enable us to "see." Turning on headlamps narrowed our vision to only the path immediately before us, and blinded us to the depth of forest night around us. So we didn't use our headlamps, and instead forged ahead using only faint ambient light to guide us. 

And when I say hike, I really mean power walk. It was eerie being there in the dark, with no other humans anywhere around, and we were aware that mountain lions call this area home. I wasn't worried for the safety of my family, or clearly we would not have done the night hike, but I also didn't care to linger, and adrenaline had us racing along the path. It was so dark, but the moon must have been hiding somewhere up there, and in breaks in the trees we saw stars and backlit clouds. It was spooky and wild and we were crazy to be hiking at all--but that's what made it such an adventure. 

It was late when we piled back into the car to continue on to our planned stop for the night--a free place to park a couple of hours on ahead. But with that fun and energetic day behind us, we all settled into the car contentedly, listening to our "Man of the Family" audio book as we drove on in the night.

When we were about 40 miles from our destination, we suddenly felt a jolt, and pulled over. One of the tires on the trailer had blown. But that is one blessing of a double-axle trailer--that if one tire goes you still have 3 good ones to distribute the weight so the camper is not in danger of damage. But by now it was probably around 1 a.m.   We were tired and in the middle of nowhere. 

But again, God. Because right where the tire had blown we were passing a closed Port of Entry station. We had stopped the car right before the ramp that would convey trucks back onto the highway. So we just turned and drove the wrong way up the ramp and pulled into the back of the huge, paved, well-lit lot at the top. We had a safe, free place to sleep right there. 

That's what I mean when I say that over and over in my life too many things go miraculously right for me to call it coincidence. This was clearly God's protection and provision. Again.

The next morning Mr. Incredible spent several hours trying to get AAA to come out and help change the tire--but they were not able to offer the help in the most timely or logical way. So finally, with the day slipping away from us, we decided to drive on to the next town, where we knew there was a tire place to help us--slowly, using frontage roads. It was a bit harrowing, since there were times when we were on the shoulder with cars annoyedly racing around us, but we made it.

The blown trailer tire by the time we arrived. 

And the miracles just kept coming. Because the rim of the blown tire had not been damaged by our drive on it. And because they had the tires we needed/wanted. And they had 4 of them in stock. And they were able/willing to give us top priority. Any of these things could have been likely problems--but they weren't. Within a couple of hours, we were set with very good new tires, and were back on the road in time to still have that day's planned adventure. 

Blessings. Over and over. 

Flashback: Human Error, Car Failure and God's Gracious Provision

Story #2: 
So Saturday was a very long day, full of stress and too many things to do so we would be ready to drive away on Sunday.  I was also running on very little sleep, and had been for weeks, what with all the trip planning, teaching final classes, and wrapping up the homeschool year--but this week in particular adrenaline and the long to-do list were keeping Mr. Incredible and me up very late most nights (like Thursday night when we were at the trailer until 3 a.m., me painting a second coat on the interior and him installing a hook rail). But we were also getting everything done that was absolutely necessary, and so that felt good--it is easier to push when a successful end goal is near. 

By Saturday evening the beds were done and in place--it was time to load up the trailer!  Because of bad rush-hour traffic between our home and the trailer storage site, we purposefully waited until evening to start transporting goods. I took the two younger kids on the first trip, and they helped me unload and settle stuff where it needed to be in the trailer. It was dark and getting late when we were done and heading home.

All was going well, except for one thing--in my tiredness I was not thinking as clearly as I should have been. So when I started that first evening drive up to Scott's Valley I noticed the gas was just above empty and thought to myself, oh! need to stop for gas on the way up. And then promptly got lost in thinking ahead on what was left to do that evening and in conversation with the kids.  We got to the trailer and I saw the gauge again and thought, darn it! Can't believe I did that. Well, I will have to stop in SV before I get on the highway to head back home. And then, after working at the trailer with the kids, we headed home--and yep, in my mentally exhausted state I drove past all the gas stations again and once again didn't remember until I was already back in the driveway.  Sigh. 

So everybody helped load up the car again for the second and last trailer run of the night, and it was ready to head back around 10 p.m. The younger two kids were sent to bed and the older two were going with me to help unload. We have a gas station near our house, and by this time I was so disgusted with my brain for forgetting twice already that I was not in danger of forgetting again, esp. with teens to help me remember. 

But when I went to start the car to head out. . . it would not start. 

God, in His infinite mercy and goodness, had kept the car moving all the way on the highway, at night, with my two younger kids in the car with me. The car did not die until I was safely in my own driveway.

So, I was thanking the Lord for that--but now had a loaded vehicle that couldn't get anywhere. So I sent the two older kids to bed, and Mr. Incredible &  I were able to roll the car back in the drive so he could get out another car to fetch emergency gas.  He was understandably frustrated with me, but is a good Knight in Shining Armor, and didn't overly grumble.

But when we had some gas in the car, and turned the key in the ignition. . . the car would try, but not catch.  It was making unhealthy noises. Mr. Incredible sighed and explained that it was bad to let a car get all the way to empty because then sediment in the bottom of the gas tank gets into the fuel lines. Which can be a big problem, and something extremely time-consuming and expensive to fix. Oh, no--did I just break the car the night before we are supposed to drive away on this trip, the one I've worked so hard to make happen for so many months? After all the obstacles we've worked through to get to this point, is this going to be what derails us?  As you can imagine, I was mad at myself, and felt completely helpless. Whatever I had accidentally done, there was absolutely nothing I could do to fix it. All I could do was pray.

After sitting in the drive for several minutes the car finally started. Mr. I agreed to drive up to SV with me to help make sure I got there and back safely, and to help unload all the stuff. The car didn't sound good. It was a little rattly and the RPMs kept racing erratically. It was around midnight now, we were both pretty exhausted, and things were not looking encouraging, but we unloaded and settled things into the trailer. When got into the car to head home--the car started up just fine. As we drove . . . it sounded normal. I could not believe it. Did you really just do that, God? Wow, oh, wow. I don't deserve your love and goodness. But thank you. Thank you.

Next morning we loaded up the final load, packed up the kids, and headed up to do the last things, get hooked up, and head out. The car showed no difficulty. Disaster had been averted.

I realize that it would be easy to explain away these moments of "Divine Intervention" with saying, oh, it clearly wasn't as bad as you initially thought, that's all, or well, that was a fortunate coincidence. But I can't do that--not after all my life of seeing God at work around me.  These kinds of miraculous moments happen all the time, and with too much consistency to be coincidence. I'm not saying things always work out my way--I'm saying that God has a way of showing me His provision, protection, grace, and lovingkindness in ways that I can't ignore. He is a good Father, and I am in awe that He loves me so personally. He is present. He is active. He is good. Always. 

I realize most of you are coming here for the fun photos--but thanks for reading the backstory too. Because hopefully understanding all the obstacles and stress we were facing at the start of the trip will help you appreciate the amazing joy we felt at each new day and every fun family experience. The whole trip was in God's hands from the very beginning, and He blessed us over and over. 

Now you might be able to feel the sense of victory, and thankfulness, and relief, when I took this pic right before driving away--it had taken so much to get us to this point, and ultimately it had been God who did it. 

Flashback: the Saga of the Mattresses & God's Unending Goodness

Before I jump back into the travelogue I want to share some of the miraculous events that felt like personal acts of love from a Father who knows us intimately and who delights in reminding us of His power and goodness. 

Story #1: The saga of the mattresses
I have already written about the time restraints on this road trip out to Alabama--if we did not leave by x date we would not physically be able to get eldest daughter Sunny out to her camp in Georgia on time. Or at least not without being miserable from an exhausting, non-stop, no-time-for-fun haul across the US. 

But despite my advance planning (see previous post about too many circumstances being outside my control), the mattress foam we needed for making the beds was not in our hands until the very week of our planned departure. It was a custom cut order from the Natural Mattress Store in the San Jose area, which we had to make a couple of weeks in advance. We were planning on driving away on Sunday, and I think it was Wednesday when I picked up the foam in Los Gatos. That was ok, I just threw myself into making the mattresses immediately, and knew I would have them ready with at least a day to spare.

I checked the measurements written on the packages when I picked up the foam, checked the invoice, and all looked good. But when I got back to Scotts Valley, where the trailer was temporarily residing, I realized that two of the pieces had been cut incorrectly--fortunately too long, so I could cut the foam myself to remedy the problem, which resulted in enough extra foam to make a nice back pillow, so that was fine. But it did add one extra step to the bed-making process. (See the previous post on bed-making if you are interested.)

And maybe because my attention was initially caught by the odd size of two of the foam pieces, or maybe because I was focused on the travel deadline, or because I had not been the one to place the order and so didn't realize what we were supposed to get compared to what we did get--but while the foam I picked up matched the invoice, it was not all the foam we needed. We were short several vital pieces for the children's beds. Which I did not realize until Friday at lunchtime. Oh, no. This could be bad.

And this is where a non-Christian reading the story will say, well the way things turned out just show the results of your own efforts combined with good luck. I don't see it that way; we had a big problem, and it looked like the solution (custom ordering more pieces) would take longer than we had. But instead, everything fell into place so quickly it felt like a string of little connected miracles, like lights on a string. 

I called the company headquarters in San Rafael and the person still in the office answering the phone on a Friday afternoon was the owner, the person with most authority to make things happen. And because we had wanted to talk with "the boss" when we initially made the custom order, he had been the person to take the original order. He still had his notes from the phone conversation with Mr. Incredible, and apparently what he wrote down was not what Mr. I thought he was telling him.  So there had been some kind of miscommunication with the order itself--which the owner was not accepting responsibility for. So if the problem was our fault, it was going to be super expensive, if it was even possible, to fix in just one day. 

But. The owner was awesome, and worked all kinds of logistics behind the scenes to solve the problem. He had the foam cutting guys come in early Saturday morning so that the pieces we needed could be cut in time to get them on a delivery truck that was already scheduled to head even remotely our way. I was told to be at a certain address in the Santa Cruz mountains at 1:00--if I was not there to meet the truck, they would not wait for me. So I did, getting there early and of course the truck was late so that I had to wait about 2 hours total (on a day when of course I had a long list of things to do!). The mountain location was so remote that there was no cell service so the truck and I could not contact each other to check on status. So I just sat and tried not to fret. And oh, the relief! when I finally heard the truck rumble up the steep and narrow mountain drive. I got the foam, and headed back, praising God for how that had all fallen so well into place. 

We had to pay for the foam itself, of course, but the owner did not charge us for the rush. Because there was a delivery truck already coming out that I could meet, I did not have to pay delivery fees. My time was the only extra cost. And then I had just enough time to drive the foam back to SV and cut and pin the covers, so that by Saturday evening we had beds ready for all the children and were ready to start loading for the trip!

Starting out truly Blessed

This post is long and interpersonal. Feel free to skip if that is not your thing. But before I continue the travel play-by-play, I realized I wanted to put this whole trip into proper context.

"Blessed" is my online persona, one that I chose around 10 years ago, on a whim (with more than likely more than a little hopeful thinking going on, being as that's what I wanted to be, what I wanted to believe).

Over the years I have grown very attached to the name, as more and more I see God's loving goodness surround, lift, restore, renew me in ways I could never have imagined. He is always loving, ever present, continuously faithful, covering me in protection & provision, cradling me with compassion & mercy, showering me with an overwhelming abundance of good gifts, like peace and joy when I least expect them.

The beginning of this road trip adventure demonstrates this so well, and one of my goals in blogging here is recording the God stories--all the moments when I've seen or felt His provision, protection, mercy or love.  There were several even before we left town!

Not just a road trip, but a journey
Ever since we started homeschooling I've wanted to take the kids out to Washington D.C. to experience our nation's capital--it's pretty much every homeschool mom's dream field trip!  But I never seriously thought about trying to make the dream happen until last year when my eldest niece announced she would be getting married. Well, if we're all going to try to come all the way out to Alabama for a wedding. . . well that's only a hop, skip & a jump away from D.C., right?  ; ) And so the crazy idea of this road trip all around the US was born. 

The wedding is not until late October, so originally we were planning on spending the summer at home and then heading on the road in mid August, doing a sweep through the northern states, midwest, and then east coast, ending down in AL at my parents' in time for the wedding (for those of you reading who knew me back in Illinois growing up--my older sister Rebecca moved down to AL after getting married, and a few years back my parents decided to follow). But a funny thing happened--I started to feel like we were supposed to go sooner. Like in May. There was no specific reason to do so, but I had a sense of unquiet in my spirit about it. So I prayed and asked God what that was about, and if we were supposed to go sooner. Two days letter, I received an email from a close friend, suggesting our teen girls all go to a special camp. In June. In Georgia. A few hours from my parents' home in AL. Mr. Incredible and I conferred, and decided yes, we wanted our eldest, Sunny, to go. And suddenly our trip was starting--in May.  That was also my first inclination that God was at work in this trip and its timing--that somehow this was going to be a spiritual journey, not just a road trip.  That God wanted to take me somewhere, and He was nudging me to pay attention

Beginning the journey completely out of control
As we got closer to setting a drive-away date, however, something unexpected happened--Mr. Incredible learned the job contract he worked on would not be renewed (he works for a large contractor) and he & everybody on the project would likely be laid off. Starting right around the time when we had to be starting on the road. Hmmmm. Ok, God, what's going on now?!  This could have been potentially good for the road trip plans, since hey, now he would not be using carefully hoarded vacation days, but would have complete freedom.  But also potentially bad for the road trip because, well, such things take money. And bad because a new job with a new company would probably eliminate his ability to take vacation time this fall to do more traveling with us--and some parts of the trip just won't happen without him being with us. But because I already felt like God was up to something I was not worried about how all of this was going to work out (clearly I'm not speaking for my husband). I could place those worries in God's hands.

However, one thing I was having a hard time putting in God's hands was the launch date for the road trip, which was fast approaching. The sudden work upheaval meant that we were no longer sure if or when Mr. I could take vacation time off for the trip--but we had a deadline to make, needing to deliver Sunny on time to camp in GA. I had tentatively planned a nice big buffer of time to get us to AL, allowing for all the educational and fun sightseeing along the way that would make the trip worthwhile.  But Mr. I kept saying he could not confirm when he could leave, and clearly I could not plan the trip without even a starting date, and the work on the trailer (specifically the beds we were making, which I wrote about earlier) was dragging on, and I was watching the calendar marching ever closer to the last possible day we could go, and I was increasingly frustrated, and sad for the things I had wanted to do and family we had wanted to see on the trip out to AL that we now would not have time for (goodbye, Colorado.), and getting anxious about leaving too few days for any road trip other than an exhausting, non-stop, no-fun drive straight from point A to point B. 

But here too, it felt like God was already at work; my road trip might have been painfully stalled, but the spiritual journey had already begun. And clearly one of the things God wanted to deal with in me is my need to control situations and outcomes for my family. It's understandable--I'm the mom!  I'm supposed to get things going, make things happen, fix problems, make things work out, clean up messes when they don't. But when I can't do those things--when the solution to the problem is outside of my control--I can too easily get stressed out and start fretting. And so that's what was happening--I felt all the responsibility of the road trip planning, but yet had no control over it. That's crazy making for me. So I had a lot of Big Feelings to deal with the weeks before the trip. And God led me through it, giving me glimpses of other ways to be in times like this, showing me how to let go and be truly ok, no matter what. 

This is actually the short version of the story--I'll spare you the details, but God whispered and nudged and guided me through those last weeks, and our entire trip out to Alabama, and by the time we were here (and I had a week or so to process the whole experience), I was a new person. Somehow, miraculously, I was able to surrender all kinds of stuff to God, and I am now walking around in a newfound freedom. I can't describe it except to say that it feels like I've set down a wearying load that I had carried so long I had not even noticed I was carrying it. And it feels like shirking--like I'm letting slide something the world says I'm supposed to keep up and care about. Because the main thing I surrendered was that stressed-out need to control situations and outcomes, and I feel like the world would condemn me if it knew--because isn't that what a Good wife, or Good mother, Good Christian, etc. is supposed to do? Work really hard to make everything work out for everyone? Be responsible for everyone's happiness? Do whatever other people think I should do to maintain my status as Acceptable in the Eyes of the World?

Even more, it feels like the world would be aghast if it knew that not only have I stopped trying to control, but I've also stopped caring that I am not in control. I've consciously let go of the  emotional/psychological/spiritual burdens of needing to somehow Do It Right. Make Everybody Happy. Be a Good Wife/Mother/Christian/Daughter, etc. 

All those things are spiritual bondage. And Jesus, through His mercy, set me free from those chains, and led me to a new place. A place where I am free from condemnation, fear, & worry. And I like it here. 

The best way I can describe this newfound spiritual place is. . . Margaritaville. You know, that classic Jimmy Buffet song. Except without the alcoholic, self-destructive escapism. Margaritaville is where, when life hits you with something unexpected or hard, you stay zen and are able to handle it without stress or codependent reaction. Everything really is ok, and so there's no need to panic, or react, or stress, or become emotionally invested in whatever drama is going down.  People can be mad at me, things can be out of my control, things can even be going awry, and I can still--inside--be intentionally putting my feet up on the porch railing and reaching for that tall, cool glass as I watch the sunset over the water.  

Of course I AM the mom, the wife, the daughter, etc. and so I do have to still make things happen, help people who need it, etc. But I want to learn to do these things from this new place of surrender to God. From this place of peace and liberty. I want to be Mayor of Margaritaville. 

(me in Margaritaville. And a preview of stories to come!)

It's going to take time to relearn how to live this new way--but I have a feeling God set me out on this spiritual journey in His perfect timing, using the physical journey and all that goes along with it as His instruments of teaching. I guess the world is my classroom too!

God working out all things for good. . . 
And here's how God worked out for good all the things that looked like they could be pretty bad there at the start of the trip:

--Mr. Incredible's request for 2 weeks of vacation there at the end of the contract (when you would think it would be all hands on deck!) was approved.

--We left with just enough time to get to Alabama without stress, and allowing for some fun along the way, as I hope these blog posts show.

--When we arrived in AL he flew back to CA to finish the contract. Only a few days before what was scheduled to be everyone's last day of work he was contacted by the company and invited to stay on, moving to a different project. So he got vacation when he wanted it, and is still employed, and since his time with the company was uninterrupted he should still be eligible for taking more vacation time in for flying out to join us for another leg of the trip!

--Now his workload is very heavy and he is working long hours, as he is helping wrap up the previous project while also starting this new one--and we both have commented that it is probably a good thing that he has a quiet house and no wife or kids around to provide distraction. 

God's faithful provision, personal teaching, and perfect timing seem to be themes of this trip so far.   

More God stories will be woven into my travelogue here--for anyone who wants to hear them!


Not a bad travel plan:

Day 6: The Wyoming Dinosaur Center

Just a random beautiful Wyoming view out the car window.

After our second night in Cody we were ready to start heading East again. But first, we had to detour a bit South on a spontaneous side-trip that ended up being one of the highlights of the trip for me: The Wyoming Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis. 

The museum is small, but fascinating. We spent hours there and I still had to gloss over much of the info and exhibits. 

Geodized bones! Fascinating!

If you've seen Jurassic Park you will recognize these!  

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

Lots of dinosaur skeletons recreated--all with excellent signage showing which bones are real fossil finds and which were created to complete the skeleton. (It's always important to me to know what is real and what is not--and this place had plenty of real!) 

This fossil imprint of ancient sea plants was real! Amazing!

Many of the fossils came from other places in the world, but much of what they display has come from their own archeological digs that are have been going on in the hills around this site for several generations. 

So of course we had to take time for the official tour of the archeological site!  

This is one of several sites on the ridge where the geological conditions were ideal for fossils. See how wavy the rock "ground" is? It was once the bottom of a lake, and those are the places dinosaurs stepped and stirred up the mud!  The places marked in pink are where they have found complete footprints! 

It is an active site, so while our guide talked about the site and its history and findings there were grad students slowly working away clearing rock. Suddenly one interrupted in excitement, having just excavated a small tooth, which they made sure to show everyone on the tour.  

The absolute best part of the experience happened after we got back to the museum and our guide brought out a box of small pieces of dinosaur fossil--and let the kids each choose one. And since inside I am still the geeky first grader who was fascinated with dinosaurs, who used to learn their names and draw Tyrannosaurus rex and Stegosaurus pictures to trade with her best friend Allen after school, I asked the guide if I could have one too. And he said sure. 

He thought it looked like part of a rib from a Sauropod of some kind (which are most of what they find there at the site). The fleck of white is White-out from when it was originally labelled by archeologists, but it looks like it was later broken and must have been deemed not valuable. Don't get me wrong--these are priceless, but our guide explained that the Center generates so many really good specimens that they just can't keep everything and so give these little bits out to kids who take the tour. And apparently parents who geek out and are bold enough to ask. But our guide stressed that it is a matter of pride for the Center that no fossils from this site have ever been sold. 

And that right there was worth the side-trip for me. I am still geeking out about it. DINOSAUR BONE. MY OWN PIECE OF REAL FOSSILIZED DINOSAUR BONE. 

Squeeeee!

 So, the Wyoming Dinosaur Center is another road-trip stop I would highly recommend. 

More adventures from that day--daring and drastic!--to be shared in the next post.

Thanks for reading!