Tom and I like to go on road trips. We are on a road trip now. In the 25 days since we began this journey we have:

• stopped in Pittsburgh to see our son Robert (Rebekah was working). Note: We saw Billy and Sarah and Mike before we started out. We just wanted to tell our children, “we love you.”
• visited my dear brothers and sisters-in-law (in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan).
• camped above the Straits of Mackinac and took the ferry to Mackinac Island.
• smelled forest fire smoke through Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah.
• visited the Ingalls Homestead in DeSmet, S.D. (Little House aficionados: we camped by the slough)
• we took an “easy” 3.4 mile hike at Wind Cave National Park and discovered that all of our city walking really wasn’t the same as hiking a rocky track on a warm, sunny afternoon.
• we listened to an Oglala Lakota NPS ranger from Wounded Knee tell us a strong story about the importance of naming. From now on, for us,  Devils Tower is Bear Lodge.

Note: I have many more items for this bulleted list, but I will continue it another time soon.

We are old now, but Tom and I like to keep traveling on. Now, the early mornings are cold (unless we are staying in a motel). We don’t even light the camp stove. We drink our coffee cold.

We keep traveling on because we want to see the country and family and friends along the way–while we are still on this side of the great divide. We want to keep learning. We see, listen, touch, and smell the beauty all around us.

Here are a few photos:

catbird in catalpa, Cuyahoga Valley National Park

flower (?), St. Ignace, Michigan

monarch, Mackinac Island

Lake Gogebic State Park, Michigan

playing music, Ingalls Homestead, DeSmet, South Dakota

Devils Tower, AKA Bear Lodge, Wyoming

chokecherry, Sinks Canyon State Park, Wyoming

near South Pass, Wyoming

Bear Lake State Park, Idaho