September 30 Colorado City. CO

What a day! First I did laundry. I put in four loads of wash, using all the machines. Then I noticed that one of the four dryers was out of order. I can deal with that, I just divided one load among three dryers. 45 minutes later, one load was dry and the other two were only fluffed. So I dryed the other two in the working dryer. That took awhile.

Then we went and bought another tire for the trailer. After we finished there, Jim went to get gas. He noticed a wire hanging by where the tire was that blew-out. So we went back to the tire store. While he was re-connecting that wire, he noticed that when the tire blew, the rubber wrapped around the brakes. It doesn't seem like that is a good thing. But the good news is that they found it and fixed it before it caused a problem.

Our sale in Pueblo was fun. First we got there an hour early. Naomi Slape had written me this summer that she would bring us supper. She did and we loved it! She made us potato soup, bread and jam, peach pie and banana bread - all homemade. We counted tonight, I've known Naomi 55 years.

During our sale, Shelly (Seltmann) Huett came. She was a camper at Junior Camp in Kansas when I worked there. She's always been a sweetheart.

Also the Pastor here is Wayne Nazarenes, a school mate from EA. He was in my brother's class. So was Anna, Doug and Cheryl, all from yesterday.

It's been very windy here. It's suppose to get down to freezing tonight. And it's suppose to snow in places we've already been. I love the way the Lord is protecting us. Yes, we have inconviences, but not danger.

September 29 Colorado Springs, CO

It is always so exciting to see the Lord's timing for us. Had we not finished at the ABC yesterday, we could never have done the things we did today.

We made arrangements to have lunch with Jon and Anna (Carrick) Schultz. Yesterday they went to see Cheryl (Roth) Smith. She's been in hospice care. Cheryl and her husband, Doug went to school with the rest of us. After lunch we all went over to see Cheryl. Unfortunately, she died a couple hours before we got there. She had a fast growing cancer that took her life within a couple months. The good news is that Cheryl knows her Lord and was ready to meet Him. We were glad to be there to show Doug our love and support.

We enjoyed our visit with Jon and Anna. They are a neat couple and a lot of fun to be with.

After we left them, we drove on to Colorado Springs. We had a blow-out on the trailer. Luckily it was a middle tire, so we were able to limp into town to have it changed. Tomorrow we get to buy a new tire.

I just marvel at the timing. We have time to fix the tire without crowding our schedule. We weren't on a mountain road when it blew. And no one was hurt. God is so good!

September 28 Denver, CO

The ladies at the Denver ABC are good! They had our orders all pulled and packaged by the time we got there today. So by the end of the day we had the truck packed. This is twice in a row that they've done that for us. So we'll end up with an extra day before our next sale.

We made a deal with Suzanne tonight. We told her if she would take us out to supper, we would pay. She took us to a Mexican Restaurant that she took us to last year. Last time they were closed! The food was great. I'd go there again especially if they're open.

September 27 Denver, CO

We slept in the truck last night on very crooked ground. My side of the bed slanted down. It was hard to stay in bed. So about the middle of the night I traded sides with Jim so he could experience the down side of life.

There are so many neat people that come to our sales. We had a truck load of them today. It would be hard to find a job more fun than this one.

September 26 Loveland, CO

Well I was wrong. We didn't find lots of friends, or they had changed so much that we didn't recognize them.

The church service was wonderful. Pastor Lonnie Melashenko was the speaker. He's with the Voice of Prophecy on TV. It was a very inspirational service.

Dick Stenbakken invited us over for lunch and the afternoon. His wife, Ardis is in Texas conducting a North American Women's Retreat. Her dad, Avery Dick and the Melashenko's were there too. We had a great Sabbath afternoon.

The Melashenko's also had the evening worship program, a musical. Another great program! We sell their CD's on the truck.

It's been a blessed Sabbath day. We enjoyed our fellowship with these great Christian friends

September 25 Loveland, CO

We've been having great fall weather. Sometimes it's a bit too cold or hot, but that makes you appreciate both.

We spent the morning working in the trailer getting ready for our sale. Then our sale was from 1 - 3:00. I recognized two Ruth's from before, Ruth Dick and Ruth Pearson. We enjoyed visiting with both of them.

The campus is filling up with Alumni. Our next two sales here will probably be pretty busy. We're looking forward to the meetings tomorrow. I bet we know several people.

September 24 Loveland, CO

Jim took the truck back and they worked on the brakes again. Hopefully this time they got it right.

We went out to lunch, then did some shopping today. We didn't even go to WalMart. After we got back to the RV Park, we worked a couple hours in the truck. We had a couple come by and wanted to know if we were open. They had come back for Alumni at Campion Academy. They were from California. They were here for their 50th reunion.

September 23 Loveland, CO

We had a king size bed last night. It just doesn't seem right that the bed is about the same size as our living space in the truck.

We had to go back and have the repair shop fix a couple things that they didn't get fixed right. And it looks like tomorrow we go back again to adjust the brakes again. I'm so thankful that we have time to do that.

We went to the Denver ABC to pick up our pre-orders and restock our books and food. There isn't a lot of pre-orders, so we only spent the afternoon there. That give us a day and a half to stock our shelves to be ready for our big weekend sales. There's always stuff to do.

Tonight was a soup kind of night. It's been rainy and cold all day. We didn't get that snow last night. I guess they were teasing! And the really good news is that the truck didn't leak. Hurray!!!!!

September 22 Longmont, CO

We got to take Chase and Cole to school again this morning, even though their mom drove almost by the school on her way to work. Grandparents!!

Our flight back to Denver was nice and smooth. And no problem getting back to the truck. The problem was that the truck wasn't finished yet. They had sent to Denver for a part for the air conditioner and it wasn't back yet. Three hours later it was all done. The air conditioner is fixed now. Of course, there's a possibility of snow tonight. But by the time we get to Texas, it could be 100.

And the leak is suppose to be fixed too. That's one I'll believe after it rains again. We're in a motel tonight. The truck smells like some of the chemicals they used working on the truck. I have a couple windows open a little to air it out.

We did work about an hour this afternoon getting our orders ready for tomorrow. We're looking forward to our sale at Campion Academy this weekend.

September 21 Lenexa, KS

We took the boys to school this morning. They think that when ever Grandma is at their house, that I should take them to school and pick them up. Of course, I love it!

Next we stopped at Midland Adventist Academy where Victoria goes to school so we could buy a Bible for Cole. Last Christmas we got Chase and Victoria Bibles. When the kids were all together Sabbath, Cole realized that he didn't have a Bible and was quite sad (heartbroken) about that. Believe me, I didn't want to wait until next Christmas to give him a Bible, so I got him one today. He loves it.

While we were at Victoria's school, we stopped in her room to see her and the teacher for a minute. Before we left, the teacher had the class sing a song to us. One of her strengths and talents is the music program she has with her students. It was so special to have the 2nd grade class sing to us!

Next I went to a couple doctor appointments. I'm still trying to find a chiropractor who will go with us on our travels. My body suffers form our life on the road.

We were able to spend a little time with Laura this afternoon, before we picked up the boys.

Time is flying by, tomorrow we fly back to Denver to continue our journey.

September 20 Lenexa, KS

Another super day. My children and their children went to the park and had a picnic. I love seeing the grandchildren all playing together like that.

We hiked by the river and in the woods and had a wonderful time. The grandchildren rode their bikes and scooters. We ended up the day with a trip to Minsky's Pizza. We're now staying at Laura's for the next couple nights.

September 19 Lenexa, KS

What a blessed Sabbath day! We were able to go to Church with our children, David & Suhare and Laura, and their children, Chase, Cole and Victoria. And the really special blessing was Victoria's dedication service.

We spent the day either at Church and/or with family. It just can't get much better than that.

September 18 Lenexa, KS

This was a big day. We started in Wyoming, drive to Colorado, flew to Missouri and drove to Kansas. And that took all day.

We're at my son's house. David was the only one awake when we got here. But was 11:00 or after. Suhare and Victoria were already asleep. But I did have to sneak in and give Victoria a couple kisses even though she was asleep. I can't wait until morning for some more with hugs.

September 17 Cheyenne, WY

We finished another week of work and the state of Wyoming. It seems like the week went fast. Tomorrow we need to get to Denver so we can get the truck in to be fixed. We have been so lucky that it hasn't rained again. Then we're taking a long weekend and flying to Kansas to see our children and grandchildren. It's been 5 months, and that's too long.

September 16 Casper, WY

Luckily we didn't have to travel the same road to get out of Worland, since we were going to a different town. This road wasn't bad at all.

We did a sale in Casper this evening. We've had several people in the last few places tell us how happy they are that we come to their churches, especially the smaller towns in hard to get places. That's always neat to hear.

September 15 Worland, WY

We have a new pet rabbit. When we looked outside this morning, the rabbit was making it's home inside our coiled electric cord outside. It looked very comfortable and at home there. But when Jim put the cord away, he left. Too bad.

I should have had a movie camera so you could see the mountain pass we traveled today. The scenery was beautiful. It was very high rock cliffs, forest areas, miles and miles of 6% downhill grades and hairpin curves. I think there were only two 'runaway' truck ramps. One of those was after a hairpin curve. The good news is that we didn't need the ramp.

About 3/4's of the way down, Jim decided that we would have to reach a certain level of sales to be worth our driving that road again. He set it fairly high, considering the size of the town and that it was going to be our first time there. God told us in very plain language (dollars and cents) that we will be coming back. We did about $250. above and beyond our wildest hope.

I still don't like the mountain drive, but I know God will protect us when we're doing what He wants us to do. We'll be back next year and happy about it!

September 14 Gillette, WY

We didn't take our rental car back until about noon, so we had time to do our banking, PO, and groceries. It was nice using a car instead of the big ole truck. We even thought about going out to eat lunch but we had just finished breakfast so that seemed stupid.

The drive to Gillette seemed long to me. I was just tired of setting.

This was another sale that when I got completely cashed up, another customer came in. She bought 3 cases of food, so I can complain. But she paid in cash and used every denomination of cash except nickles, so I had to count eveything over. Oh well.

September 13 Rapid City, SD

We have now completed three states and have eight more to go in the next 10 weeks. That makes this trip 14 weeks compared the 11 weeks last fall. We have added several new stops this year.

Our sales were good today with lots of neat people. The Hot Springs Church was having a work bee today, so they had fixed a lunch and shared it with us. The lady in charge even decided they would make sure to have a meal for us when we come back next year. How sweet!

The sales in Rapid City were very brisk. We were moving, to keep up with the people.

After supper we spent a couple hours doing paper work. That makes for a long day.

September 12 Hermosa, SD

This is NOT the day that we had planned. I woke up at 6:00 very wet. It was really raining outside and inside. The water is coming through the heat/air unit on the roof. It is only 11:00 now and we have emptied the trash can five times with at least 4" - 5" of water in it every time. The 'good news' is that it isn't leaking in some of the places where it has leaked before. The guy that is suppose to come fix this leak won't be here for another hour or two, and it's still raining.

So I had to go wash our wet bedding (remember, I washed it yesterday too) I did three more loads of wash this morning. I went to get my clean, dry clothes a few minutes ago. Someone had changed the dryer setting to 'no heat', so they aren't dry. In another 45 minutes and $1.50, maybe it will be. They certainly won't dry in here.

So, it's cold, wet and uncomfortable in here. But at least (???) we have running water! We can't use the electric heater until we know it's dried out. We're thankful to have propane heater too.

Finally the guy came to fix the leak. The water has gone through a couple cracks in the roof and came through the most convenient hole it could find, the heat/air unit. We can't fix it here, we don't have enough time. Next week while we're in Denver we will have to get it fixed.

This afternoon we found the Black Hills Education Center. So we went up there to see the facility. Impressive! That's where my brother-in-law's brother, Merlin lives and works. We called him so we could get together. No answer. So we accidental met him coming down the mountain. We stopped and visited on the road for awhile.

Next we went over to 'Bear Country'. That was great. It's a drive through wildlife park. We saw so many different kinds of animals. I probably got fifty pictures. We loved it there.




























Have you ever seen a white buffloe like the one laying in the field?

Next we went to Mt Rushmore. That is always so majestic. It was raining again when we went, but stopped while we were there. We stayed for the after dark lighting ceremony. That was pretty neat.
















We had planned on seeing the Crazy Horse Memorial and traveling the Needles Highway too, but ran out of day way too soon. But we will be back, I'm sure.

We have two sales tomorrow and a total of 6 next week. I love these weekend vacations.

September 11 Hermosa, SD

Last night we were rocked to sleep. A big lightening and wind storm came through and we were rocking! The wind was hitting us broadside.

I did get our laundry done this morning. It is nice to be able to do 5 loads in an hour and a half, including folding and putting away.

We stopped at Wall, SD on our journey across the state. We just ate our lunch in the truck and then hurried on. We did get to Rapid City in time to rent a car for the weekend. This is the second time we've gotten a Chevy HHR. They're kind of cool. We're looking forward to looking around the Mt Rushmore area.

The weather has changed again. It's been drizzly and cooler. We had to turn the heat on tonight to warm up the truck. Looks like rain jackets for tomorrow.

September 10 Belvidere, SD

The last two days have been miserably hot and humid. We've had the back door and side door open during our sales to capture any breeze. Sometimes it would help, but up front by the cash register it was 10 - 20 degrees hotter than in the back. I don't like HOT. It's suppose to cool down starting tomorrow. I hope so.

And the truck's air conditioner is making funny noises and not putting out cold air. That's not good either. It'll be next week before we can get that fixed.

Our sale was in Pierre today. We had a lot of nice people come in. One lady brought us a sack of cucumbers. GOOD! We only had one left. These fresh vegetables have been wonderful.

After Pierre, we drove another couple hours to get down the road. We've never found a RV park in Pierre that we fit into. We usually just park at the Church. But we disparately need a lace to do laundry tomorrow and a RV Park is a great place to do that.

September 9 Sioux Falls, SD

Our RV park was by a lake last night. It would be a fun place to go camping with friends and family. It rained during the night. There was lots of sheet lightening, where the whole sky was bright.

This was a normal day of driving and having a sale. Nothing spectacular, just a normal good day.

We ate our same supper again. The sad thing about that is that it'll only give us one more meal, with a couple tomatoes left over. But it was so good while it lasted.

September 8 Watertown, SD

Time to get back on the road. We came to Watertown for today's sale. It makes a difference in our sales, rather or not the Bookmobile is announced at Church. We had four customers today. The last lady in said that it was not announced. They had received their fliers in the mail, but that's not usually enough. Too bad. It sometimes feel like a waste of time. But it's not. We just don't make any money.

We had two couple that were new Adventist and had never been on a bookmobile before. I think they were very impressed.

Supper tonight was so good. We had the dinner roast and the goodies that Chad and Mandy sent with us. Everything tasted so good.

September 7 Hutchinson, MN

We worked in the ABC today, getting the pre-orders and more books and food for the truck. Chad helped us, so it was a relative painless process. Since I started working later in the morning, I made up for it by taking off early.

Chad and Mandy invited us to supper at their house. It was wonderful having a home cooked meal with friends. Mandy is a great cook. We enjoyed our visit so much.

For the past couple of days we have driven by fields of wonderful corn that looked so good. So Mandy fixed us corn on the cob. I had to quit after three ears, I just wasn't hungry anymore. It was so fresh and tender.

And they fixed us a to-go bag that will keep us all through Sough Dakota, I'm sure. We have corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, homemade breakfast bread and jam. And we cooked a vege dinner roast at the ABC, so will have that for meals this week too. I can't wait to eat my way through the week.

September 6 Hutchinson, MN

I just got caught up entering my journal on my blog. Luckily I didn't loose my blog when our computer died. After entering all that tonight, I hate to write too much, because I will have to enter that too.



We had a couple interesting things today. On a street corner we saw where an artist had taken four trees and made statues of the three stooges 'playing' golf. oh! for that kind of talent.

We stopped at a Ruby Tuesday's for supper. The waitress was so excited to see our truck so we told her that she could look inside after we finished eating. She had to ask her manager if she could go outside for a couple minutes. Before he let her go, he came over to check us out. We must have passed the inspection, because he let her go. But he warned her not to go inside! I'm sure he was watching her out the window too. Good for him!!!

And we now know where Yankee Doodle Dandy lives, because we saw Yankee Doodle Street. Aren't we lucky?

It's hot and stuffy tonight. I think Fall is over and it's summer again.

September 5 Rochester, MN

What an interesting day! We drove by the Great Mall of America, the largest mall in America. We drove by the bridge that collapsed by the Mall of America. We could have driven by Red Wing where they've made crocks and dishes forever - almost. But we didn't, we went another route.

We went to see Laura Ingalls Wilder's birthplace, 'the little house in the big woods'. We missed their yearly 'Laura Ingalls Wilder Days' by one week. Sad!

And we're staying in Rochester, MN., where the famous Mayo Clinic is located.

As you may have guessed by now, I'm a big Laura Ingalls Wilder fan, the books not the TV show. I've now been to the Little House in the Big Woods, on the Prairie, and Little Town on the Prairie and the Banks of Plum Creek. I've also been to Rocky Ridge Farm in Missouri where Laura lived as an adult. It's been a fun way to explore American history.

When (or if) I grow up, I really would like to be a professional tourist. After being over here by the Mississippi River, my hunger for a river cruise has returned. Maybe later. . .

September 4 Hutchinson, MN

Talking about the GPS, today she was just plain nasty. She brought us the 'short cut' to Hutchinson. Instead of taking two good highways, she took us across country on every two lane road and through all the small towns. Too bad Jim doesn't follow my advice as unquestioningly as he does hers.

Our big sale was in Walpeton from 11:30 to 1:00. We could have been there 15 minutes and still not have been busy the whole time. We're finding that sales on holiday weekends do not work for us. Besides in this town everyone from the Church went to Portland, OR for a wedding. Interesting!

We're in Minnesota now. We've been on the road for three weeks now and have completed two states. The weather has been wonderful. It's hot sometimes, but not exceedingly so. It usually gets cold at night. It feels more like Fall daily. The trees are showing more color all the time. I can't help but wonder if we'll get back into summer as we travel south or if we'll stay in this stage of Fall most of the way.

We bought a new laptop computer this afternoon. Our other one wouldn't fix. And we can't take it to a shop and come back next week when it's fixed, if they can fix it. We can't buy anything at any store except a name brand store like WalMart or Best Buy, in case we need to return something. Life on the road isn't always easy.

Our credit card was denied at the store today when we bought the computer. The good news is that the credit card automatically denied it since it was in a state we don't usually buy electronic equipment. One phone call to the credit card company fixed it and we were good to go. It's neat to know they have checks on our credit card purchases.

Oh, one super exciting event today . . we drove by the 'world's largest twine ball'. It was in a glassed in cage, so we could see all we wanted to see as we drove by - quickly!

September 3 Moorhead, MN

Our sale today was in Grand Forks, ND. Not too many people showed up. But the ones that did were good customers. The Church was having a board meeting, so three children came on the truck and looked around for quite awhile. They had $5.00 to spend on the three of them. We don't carry the cheap nothing junk, so they really couldn't buy anything.

As soon as we closed up and were ready to go, we asked their dad if we could drive them around the Church in the truck. The kids were ecstatic! They had to crawl in the back and check out our living space too. The two minute truck ride was the high light of their day. I bet they remember the bookmobile with very fond memories for years to come.

We drove a couple hours towards Wahpeton, so we could get to our next sale by 11:30 tomorrow morning. Moorhead is across the Red River from Fargo, ND.

Finding our KOA Camp was a trick, because of road detours. We ended up
going N, W, S and back E to get here. You should have heard the GPS complain. She had to recalculate so many times, that I think she forgot where we were going. So she started pretending she knew and told us to go the opposite direction many times. I really just don't like her.

September 2 Jamestown, ND

Our drive over here was so pretty. There was one field after another of sunflowers. The ones I've seen in Kansas have been kind of scraggly compared to these. North Dakota produces 40% of America's sunflowers.

The Jamestown sale was slow but steady. It's easier that way to work with individual customers.

It looks like our personal computer died a natural death tonight. It's a year old, so that's not good. I think it gets too beat up on the truck. This is not a smooth ride. Actually the one on the bookmobile has been acting weird too. I hope that it doesn't quit completely too.

September 1 Harvey, ND

This is our 3rd day of two sales, with travel. The good news is that only 3 more days until Labor Day Weekend. We'll have a couple days off, in Minnesota.

This town is so small that they don't have a RV Park. They have a city park with electric hook-ups. We've the only ones here, It's only $10. per night. But there's no public restrooms or showers.

August 31 Bismarck, ND

Look! We finally got out of Montana. We really do like it there, but are not quite ready to live there.

This was another 2 Sale Day. With all the driving, getting the truck ready for sales and then ready to travel after a sale, these are hard days. No time for anything else.

Our first sale was in Dickinson, then Bismarck. The second sale was full of adventures.

First, the computer must have had a bad headache. After having our customers wait almost a half hour, I finally started ringing them up by hand. It's the only time I've been happy not to have a truck load of people. After a few sales, Jim finally got the computer working. I had to enter those sales in later.

Tommy and Ella Mae Thompson came in today. He was the boys dean at Enterprise when Jim was there. It's always great to see them.

Another lady came in that we met on our first trip through. At that sale, we had time to visit with her and start getting acquainted. She looks forward to our visits now. She's usually about the first person to come. She greets us by name the minute she comes in. Today she came back about a half hour later and asked if I would have prayer for her. What a neat experience! Would you pray for her too? Just ask God's blessings for this lady in North Dakota. He knows her heart. Thank you.

August 30 Glendive, MT

We had a couple interesting things today. We had just We had a nice sale in Miles City, then hurried on over to Glendive for our second sale. We found a restaurant for a late lunch. As we were parking, a truck stopped by us and asked if we needed help finding the Church. They weren't even planning on going to the sale, but wanted to help us. Neat! We invited them to the sale. They ended up spending more than a hundred dollars.

It's events like these that makes our job fun. Of course, we make our own fun anyway. We do enjoy our work.

August 29 Miles City, MT

This afternoon we went to Little Bighorn where Custer had his last famous battle. We saw the National Cemetery there too. It was interesting to see where this battle was fought.

The first picture shows where the soldiers died, the second is a monument and the last two are the Nat'l Cemetery.