On The Road...

You may have noticed my absence in the blog and social media circles for the past 12 days or so... Or maybe not 🤷  That's ok too!

It was a much needed time to be away from home.  A time to explore, travel and camp, and visit with some family as we celebrated our niece's wedding.  Long story made short... There was ALOT of driving involved... almost 3,000 miles logged in 9 days.  Some days were shorter than others, but every night it felt good to lay our heads down on our pillows and wake up rested.  Some nights we slept for nearly 12 hours!  We saw sunshine, experienced some wind, clouds and rain... even snow!  We pulled a trailer behind the truck and picked up a John Deere tractor along the way for about 2,000 of the miles.  

Here's the scoop... Day one started well before sun up in Colorado (no sewing then because it was 0'dark 30), heading northeast to Kansas, up to Nebraska and ending at dusk nine miles into Iowa.  It didn't take long for me to discover that with the trailer on the back of the truck there was more bouncing than normal.  As a result, there was very little sewing going on.  We did enjoy an audio book ~ Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (we've seen the movie, but the book was good too).  We pulled into our campsite in time for a quick walk around the campground followed by dinner and another stretch of our legs.

We picked up a 'hitchhiker' early on day 2 and moved on down the road.  Doesn't Dave look happy???  I love that grin on his face!  The bouncing down the road was totally worth it. 

Here are the two blocks I did manage to get pieced... A new mountain scene (adapted from a block from a block in the "Destination Quilt Along") and a feather that I designed.

We arrived at our destination for the wedding weekend and settled in quickly as we enjoyed pizza from one of our most favorite places to get pizza... I'm told that it was as amazing as he had remembered.  Sadly, I had a rather boring gluten-free crust with sauce, peppers, onions and chicken... and no cheese since they couldn't/wouldn't put parmesan cheese on the pizza before baking.  I. was. drooling. over that Village Special Double Decker.  Sometimes life is unfair... and sometimes I just have to get over it.

The bride looked absolutely beautiful! 

Family gathered as we passed time between the wedding and dinner.  It was great to catch up with everyone that made it. 

Sunday was a lazy relaxing day as everyone else enjoyed watching the Chicago Bears V. Green Bay Packers... Dave napped... Twice. Ironically, the Bears only played well while he slept!  Haha!  I enjoyed the quiet time and used it to piece one more block for our camping journal quilt

Monday morning coffee with an Uncle was pleasant, followed by a quick stop at a grocery store to replenish all that we needed and then we were on our way to be vagabonds as we headed north into Wisconsin.  We were anticipating seeing some brilliant leaf colors as we headed to Minnesota.  Sadly, we were deeply disappointed.  Occasionally there were splashes of red and yellow, but primarily we saw browns and some greens...  Our night at the KOA was noisy with a farm next door with the sound of fans in a silo full of corn.  Ugh... 

Despite the somewhat noisy night we managed to wake ready to move on down the road with the goal of making it to Rapid City, SD.  Let me tell you... THAT was another long day. 

The horrible cross winds picked up as we approached The Badlands and Wall, SD... and it was soon accompanied with rain.  There was no stopping there!  The rain gave way to freezing rain and snow as the temperatures dropped and we tried to locate a campground that was still open.  Many of the listings for campgrounds we discovered had "closed for the season."  

As we pulled into our "home" for the night we were greeted by the welcoming committee.  This small group of ducks were quite excited to see us... and even more excited as Dave walked toward a nearby bucket marked with "Duck Food"... only to discover that it was empty.  They followed him back to the truck making even more noise in protest to the lack of food but we could do nothing about and were more concerned with getting dinner started before the sun set for the day and the snow really began to fly.

The following morning!  3" of wet, heavy snow.
P.S.  The ducks weren't very happy about it either. LOL!

Mount Rushmore was beautiful in the snow and as the day passed the temps rose and and were enjoyed Crazy Horse in the sunshine.

Trying to locate a campground that had not closed for the season was interesting... We were grateful for the kind host near Custer, SD that even offered us a discount since we didn't need any hook-ups.  Custer, SD... where the fun starts, the sign says... we say "We bring the FUN wherever we go!"

The next day we headed toward Devil's tower.  That is an interesting monument and it seems crazy that some people even climb that thing! Do you like my "hat"?

I felt a little like the Muppets ... Movin' Right Along.  LOL!  We moved on down the road to a tiny town, Guernsey, Wyoming to explore a sight that a friend mentioned... A section of the Oregon Trail where the wagons traveled over a sandstone section of ground.  The heavy weight of the wagons as well as the large number of wagons that passed that way cut into the sandstone leaving 4 feet deep ruts!

As We celebrated one last night on the road as we enjoyed a lovely afternoon and a view from the Red Cloud Campground at Guernsey State Park.  The next day we headed south for 7 hours.  

We concluded that in the 9 days on the road Colorado ended up having the most brilliant and colorful fall leaves along the front-range and I-25... and that Colorado had the biggest and messiest road construction projects. 

There were many sights along the way that we would like to revisit someday with an opportunity to stop and really explore them... but for now my wanderlust has been quieted and I am enjoying our home and comfy bed without complaint... for now!  The camper remains on the truck and I may be able to coerce Dave to head south in November.  

Laundry is nearly caught up, grocery shopping needs to be done and the house never was cleaned properly before we left... but I have pulled out our Camping Journal Quilt and have determined what blocks I need to make and how it will layout with a few larger blocks.  

But then again... ❧I have a program to prepare for on November 5th.  My books arrived while we were gone. This is pretty exciting! Watch for an announcement about being able to purchase a book... I'll be figuring the final cost and cost of shipping and handling this week too.  NOTE::  This book does not include the patterns as I was only granted permission by C&T Publishing to share electronically at no cost.

❧I have a pattern that I need to finish writing for the next Santa Fe Trail Sew Along release   

❧and a pattern test to do for another quilter/designer/blogger.   

What will you be doing this week?

Leave a comment... I'd love to hear about what you have planned.  

Stay Pieceful,

Melva

Linking with:

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework

Sunday Stash at QuiltPaintCreate

Patchwork & Quilts at The Quilting Patch

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Off The Wall Friday with Nina Marie

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More

Friday Foto Fun at Powered by Quilting

Scrap Happy Saturday at Super Scrappy

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

To Do Tuesday at Texas Quilt Gal

Mid-week Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

Stitch Sew & Show at Life in the Scrap Patch

Put Your Foot Down at For the Love of Geese

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation