Heading West

 After putting 5,022 miles on our Enclave, after being gone 27 days, and traveling through Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, California, South Dakota, and Minnesota ~ some states more than once~ we are back in our own beds.  We both slept 10 hours the first night!  Guess we were kind of tired.

I plan on sharing our journey here.....just not sure where to begin...............It was an amazing trip with every day an adventure.......so much to see....so  much to learn, so much to experience. Yeah..........where to begin. At the beginning I expect.

We left September 3rd driving our new-to-us 2014 Enclave to Kearney Nebraska.  We decided to take a look at the Archway and museum that crosses the interstate and we also meandered along the walking paths that displayed replicas of the hogans and 1 room cabins that were built by pioneers that settled there.  It was interesting, but after walking 2 blocks in the 96 degree heat we turned around and headed to our hotel to cool off!

The next morning we stopped at an original Pony Express station in a nice little town not too far down the road.  Fascinating to read about those who risked their lives to deliver the mail.

Pony express saddle 

We drove through smoky haze most of the day, staying in Rawlins Wyoming for the night.  We stopped at a great visitor center when we crossed into the state.  We found that many of the Visitor centers had little museums connected to them that gave us a history of the state.  

Interstate 80 ~ Lincoln Highway

Wyoming scenic views

View From The Visitor Center

Salt Lake City was our next stop.  We lived in Salt Lake City from 1970-72 while Joel went to the University of Utah for the Air Force, getting his degree in meteorology.  We drove around the campus which has changed a bit in the past 45 years!  While turning around in a small parking lot a young man came up and told us we could have his spot after the truck came to take his desk away.  We told him we were just looking for the building that held classes for meteorology  and he said, "Oh that is right over there.  It is an OLD building, having been built way back in the 60's."  Kinda like us!  Well, these youngsters, found the building and then headed out of the college maze to the suburb we lived in for most of our time there ~ Sugarhouse.  Of course nothing was familiar and we did not have our old street address (remember we have moved 24 times) so we headed over to the church we attended from 1970-72.  

Joel at the church

Our Savior's Lutheran Church

This mountain view (through a smoky haze this day) 

is the view we saw every day from our apartment

We were in Mormon country so there were few Lutheran churches in the city.  We found one that welcomed us in and made us feel like family soon after arriving in SLC.  And while there, the pastor left for another call and there was no Interim to fill in, so Joel was asked to preach 3 Sundays a month!  He did that for 9 months, giving us a taste of ministry long before Joel was ordained.  Only God.  We were able to visit with the secretary of the church and the Interim (a woman pastor from Chicago) plus see the renovations inside the building.  What an amazing journey going back 45 years!  

Our hotel that night was the worst we stayed in and cost a pretty penny.  It was old, worn out, and not clean.  In fact, Joel insisted we eat out that night so we would not have to eat in the room!  I would not recommend the LaQuinta in west SLC to anyone!  Even with the hotel fiasco, our stay in SLC was filled with good memories.