So sad 😞

A beautiful tribute 😢

Ohh, nice corner piece too!

Beautiful!

The Long and (Barely) Winding Road

Yeee Haw

You guys should start a club. “Transamerica Hipsters” or such. You could all get jackets with your name on them.

When I was a kid I thought Wyoming was all like the Grand Tetons. Cowboy movies, I guess. But when we drove through there I was amazed at the vast grasslands, valleys, and rolling hills.

Was he nearby? Looks pretty close. Did he talk to you?

“Connections of kindred spirits in the middle of nowhere.”

Love the striations.
What would Beth say about its construction? Cooling magma, but why the parallel fracturing?

Did someone say something about a missing story?

***************

Driving home Friday night from bar trivia at the VFW, Ronald figured it was high time he told Doreen the news. Good news for him. Bad news for her.

He had decided to not attend his mother-in-law’s 62nd and a half birthday party.

Every year, because her birthday fell on Christmas Eve, Lorraine always held her half birthday on June 24th. But in the past eight years she started hosting birthday parties for herself on December 23rd to “add to the fun of the holidays” and continued right on having the half birthday parties, too, “since everyone was already in the habit of it” and she didn’t want to confuse them.

Well, Ronald had finally had enough and told Doreen he wasn’t going to Lorraine’s party this year.

Already upset about her weight gain, gray hairs that were coming in faster than she could color or pluck, and the way Ronald had bullied her out of a right answer, Doreen felt this was too much and fully resented Ronald for taking a stand when he knew full well she would get the looks and whispers treatment at the party from her sisters and cousins.

They went back and forth for a couple miles. The more she argued, the more she came close to crying about it. The more she made a stink about the more fed up he got.
When he pulled over to “water the prairie” she hated sitting there. She had to get out of the damn car. Being mad and all, she took off—stomping down the road.

The wide shoulders of the highway made it pretty good for walking, but the heels she’d sent for from EBAY ($28.50 – “like new”) were not so good for stomping. So, she slipped them off and kept on going.

Walking barefoot on the evening’s cool pavement wasn’t so bad. She was used to walking barefoot around the yard when pulling weeds, mowing the grass, and hanging up the laundry. Her feet were tough, and besides, the headlights showed the bigger rocks and any critters or snakes that might be out.

It seemed to take Ronald a good long time to get back in the old Pontiac. What was he doing? When she heard the door close and the engine sputter up, she turned to look back.

Slowly the car started following her at a crawl. She kept walking cuz she was still mad. When she stopped, he stopped, and always back a good ways.

After a mile or so, she dropped the shoes and picked up some of the bigger rocks that had skittered off to the edge of the nice, wide shoulder. Having been on the JV softball team for one season sure came in handy now as she chucked rock after rock at the car. The bang of metal encouraged her and she kept walking further ahead to find more rocks. Ronald pulled ahead, but not too close, then stopped. He watched her a bit. Then pulled ahead again. He thought she looked pretty good to him and started chuckling a bit.

One time she threw so hard she fell down in the weeds. Ronald let out a laugh just before the rock hit the windshield and cracked it a good two feet across the bottom, just missing the wiper’s hinge.

Now, sitting in the grass with her dress flopped back over her arm, showing a lot of leg, it was Doreen’s turn to laugh.

Ronald pulled up even with her and asked, “You hurt?”

“Naw. Did I break the glass good?”

“Naw. Not too bad. Now git in. I want you home… and in bed.”

Doreen leaned in the window, “Lorraine’s gonna be pissed, ya know.”

“Yup. Don’t care. Git in.” Then with his big funny grin that she liked, he added, “I wantchoo.”

Doreen got in, slid across to get under his arm, and didn’t think about the shoes til the next morning.

Hi Uncle Dave!

I’ve finally set up an account to interact with your blog, but Jake and I have both really enjoyed following along since Day 1! We’re sorry we missed you in Colorado. We’re thinking of you every day!

Love,
Shannon

Hi Dave,

So happy we saw you in Colorado on Father’s Day! Thanks, Beth, for your encouragement!

Glad you are now in Wyoming! We made it to Scottsdale where we will be for the next couple of months.

Each and every mile we are thinking of you!

Love,


Mike, Colleen, and Newman

Hey Dave! Looks like you are doing great!