In Which She Breaks Her Writing Fast and Tells the Rest of the Story

It's been 2 1/2 months since my last post, and there's a good reason for that.  We've settled into what feels very much like a foreign land.  Each hour, day, week is so filled that it seems incomprehensible that we left Alaska only 3 months ago.  It feels we've lived a lifetime in these past three months, but I think that is good, since this is an adventure and all.

Not all of the living has been extraordinary.  Some of our time has been filled with such things, but much has been just our beloved ordinary.  There will be, hopefully, 31 days of expounding on that, to come!

However, first it seems necessary to backtrack a bit...to where I left off last on our journey in the Land O'Lincoln and Fireflies.  I have missed writing!  Barely a day goes by that I don't feel a sort of melancholy as I drop into my bed at night, for having missed a chance to pour my thoughts out on paper or a screen.  There are times and seasons for everything, and this particular season I've needed to content myself with a few scribbles in my thankfulness journal before passing out drifting off to dreamland.

Driving through Illinois led us to Paducah, Kentucky.  We really enjoyed our stay there.  Our campground was wooded with towering trees.  The heat felt lovely after having experienced cooler-than-usual temps all through Wisconsin and Illinois.  We swam as dusk set in, and basked in the glow and wonder of fireflies.  We also experienced, with some fond irritation, the loudest insects we've ever heard.  But more on those later.

After a mostly leisurely journey thus far, we began to feel a bit of a press to get on to where we were going.  We were needing to get on with the pesky, yet necessary details of finding a semi-permanent home and gainful employment.  Sigh...  details, details.  Because of this, we decided it prudent to cut across Kentucky and drop down directly into East Tennessee, so we could scope that eastern region on the way down.  Although our household had been shipped to Maryville, we weren't entirely sure that was where we were landing, since we had *ahem* never seen it before.  Unfortunately, this route change meant we would miss out on a visit with dear family and possibly friends, too.  I still have not come to grips with missing out on that.

I'm not exactly sure how to put our crossing through Kentucky into words, without sounding too negative.  It felt cursed.  There.  I'm sure there are lots of great folks and communities all throughout Kentucky, but for some reason, we never encountered any.  The road system seemed very jumbled and difficult to navigate.  Folks were unfriendly, or down-right scary.  The communities we passed through seemed to have no love in them--no walkers or bikers or stroller-pushers, no potted flowers on porches or beautification of towns.  Grocery stores were scantily--shelved with cheap, non-nutritious foods.  The general disposition of the places we traveled through felt stifling.  We wanted out.

Then it began to rain.  This was not what one normally thinks of as rain, but rather, rain.  The heavens released thousands of buckets, and we could scarcely see the highway.  This was the day we were to pass into Tennessee.

I admit to concocting all sorts of romantic ideas of how it would be for us to cross over into Tennessee.   The culmination of Operation Sunshine!  5000+ miles!  Our grand adventure!  I pictured us with sunshine streaming down all around us and down upon rolling, green hills, as we pulled over to snap pictures by the "Tennessee Welcomes You" sign.  Then we would pack back up into the Little House and drive over, Tony and I holding hands across the aisle and smiling triumphantly at one another.  Goodness, I even had the song that would be playing at that moment picked out.

None of that happened.

What actually happened, is we stopped just before the border to grab some groceries.  As we often do to save time, Tony stayed in the RV with the boys while I ran into the store.  I grabbed our items as quickly as possible, and then headed with my cart out into the parking lot just as the deluge began.  Despite running through sloshing water with my cart, I was completely soaked, along with all our groceries.  We hurriedly packed them up into the RV in the midst of tired-picky-irritable boy noise.  My headache began to throb a little more.  We pulled out back onto the highway, at lease I think it was the highway, because we couldn't. see. a. thing.  I remember racing along one of the craziest highways I've ever been on, along with semi-truck after speeding semi-truck.  We couldn't see the road, and we definitely couldn't see any scenery.  I think I may have caught a glimpse of a blue sign, "welcoming us to Tennessee." 

We maneuvered through the mess and after awhile, pulled out into Clinton, TN.  Hungry and irritable, we decided to go to Cracker Barrel for lunch and try and reset.  I think in some ways, we were also trying to re-create our good feelings from our first Cracker Barrel lunch, but that was not to be.  We needed to wait quite a long while to be seated, and so headed to the infamous front porch.  This would have been fine, except everyone else waiting on the front porch was puffing away on their cigarettes.  There was no breeze to be had, and the humidity was miserable.

After what seemed to be a long time, we were seated and had an ok lunch.  Things always seem more bearable after a rest, a meal, and a lot of sweet tea, so we headed out to our Little House to continue on.  Upon entering, I went to feed the kitties their meal.  When I poured the food, only one cat came.  You must realize, that when we pour the food, TWO cats ALWAYS come running.  I immediately began to panic.  Lilikoi was missing.  Chaos immediately ensued, as Kaleb began to cry, racing outside to look for her, and I began flopping through campground information packets with tears streaming down my face.  Everyone combed the camper and prayed for us to find Lilikoi, as I called what I thought was the phone number for the last campground.  I was sure we had left her in heaven-forsaken Kentucky.  I began bawling harder thinking that she was most likely left there and that we'd have to go back there to hopefully find her.  This went on for ten or so minutes, when I saw Noah reach to open up the rear bed compartment.  I shook my head at him and said, "Honey, she'd never be in there."  The bed lifts up on hinges to access our fresh water tank.  The tank takes up the entire space, except for room to squish laundry detergent in one corner.  Just as I shook my head, Noah lifted the bed, and out popped that sweet little calico head.  I couldn't believe it.  She must have jumped in there when we filled the tank in Kentucky.

There is much to tell about those next two weeks.  Much of what there is to tell involves low-lying depressing clouds, rain, towels and clothes that won't dry out due to humidity, headaches, and tears.  Oh, and a tornado.

We had managed to make it on to Maryville, after getting lost in the maze they call Knoxville a couple of different times.  We also found a wonderful little campground south of Maryville, in Walland, as a home base during that time.  We had great deal of trouble finding a couple of other little details, however, namely a house and a vehicle other than our 30-foot motor home, which we were packing up and driving everywhere through narrow, crowded, unfamiliar streets.

Despite there having been numerous, appropriate houses for us to rent for the prior 6 months, there were none to be had when we arrived.  Every place we called on was already filled or in the process of being filled.  Every day we worked on researching, calling, e-mailing, and praying for a place, to no avail.  Finally, a property manager explained to us that there would probably not be anything suitable for us until September or October, as the housing market was saturated at present due to school beginning.  Of course.

Honestly?  I didn't like Tennessee at all at this point.  None of us did, really, as home sickness and culture shock hit us like a bomb.  And things did not seem to be lining up for us, despite all our effort.  We began talking and praying about other options.  Wisconsin.  Or going back West near Yellowstone River, which we all loved so well.

As this is already a very lengthy post, I'll just say we had another rental completely lined up in another state.  We were just waiting for them to receive our application fee and run our background check, and then we would implement our Operation Sunshine Plan B.   Despite this plan, we had this nagging feeling like we'd always feel disappointed we didn't give Tennessee a fair shot.  We needed wisdom, and we prayed for it.  And then, a property manager called us from Maryville to see if we were still interested in a property we'd called about which had been filled.  He said the applicants never showed up with the money and it was available if we wanted to see it.

I remember getting that call as we were picking up some needed articles at Target.  We raced through Target, headed back out to the Behemoth we'd been driving everywhere for errands and otherwise, and headed out to view the rental.  We drove out past our campground, as the place was located in the Walland area.  We twisted and turned down the beautiful countryside on narrow, country roads, which we now know to be so characteristic of East Tennessee.  The roads became narrower and narrower, until we found ourselves seemingly in the middle of nowhere.  We stepped out into the steaming air and dispersed out upon the property to have a look.

Simply put, it was my dream home.  My dream home is not a mansion.  It is a well-planned, cozy, homey, country home...with plenty of room for people, and a pantry.  It must have a pantry.  Every room I descended upon seemed to be made for us.   When I thought it couldn't get any better, it did.  4 bedrooms, hardwood, a fireplace.  Fields, woods, a river.  Garden, orchard, a barn.  Covered back porch, rocking chair, a hammock.

Tony and I met in the living room and our wide-eyes met.  "What do you think? Can you see us living here?"  he asked me.  Of course I could see us living in this made-for-the-Dassow's house, but the question was, did we want to stay in Tennessee.  We decided to apply to rent it, and then think it over.  We prayed for wisdom that night.  I outright asked God to approve us first for the place we ought to be.  He said "stay here" when we were approved for the Walland place a few days later.  We called and cancelled the out-of-state rental, and even got our fee refunded. 

So here we are, in Walland, Tennessee, living on a foothill of The Great Smoky Mountains.  It's beautiful, in fact, so much more beautiful than I imagined it would be.  We've committed to a year here, and when our lease is up next summer, we will see from there.

In the next 31 days, I'm going to attempt to share some of the great things about living in such a place.  I hope you'll join me (and nag me if I start slacking.)

Land O' Lincoln and Fireflies

July 17, 2014

It was hard to leave Stevens Point, Wisconsin.  Very hard.  We consoled ourselves with ridiculously-sized ice cream cones at Belt's (large size is 2 lbs of ice cream,) a last visit with my cousins Jack & Kami, and the fact that we will now be within driving distance to return for visits.

*insert shocking picture of ice cream cones which is not yet in my possession*

This journey has been wrought with gut-wrenching farewells at every stage, yet there is still something about it all that is so peace-filled and "right."  I'm so thankful for that peace.

And so, we continued south, out of Wisconsin, and into Illinois, "Land of Lincoln".  What can I say about traveling through Illinois?  Hmm...well, the first night, we stayed outside of Rockford.  We found an out-of-the-way RV campground, and I must say our jaws dropped as we drove off the highway and into the countryside.  We were met with new shades of green, and lush, rich, life-filled country.  The trees were enormous, and created tunnels with the roads to drive through.  Our campground had many such trees, as well as large spans of grassy lawns to play.

This particular Maple tree was so huge, that Nicholas, Noah, and I could not reach all the way around it together.  What a charming place, so filled with life.  Birds of all kinds twittered and sang.  The boys saw their first Cardinal.  Gray squirrels frisked about.  Geese ambled around by the river.  The boys found that upon walking up to a little pond, literally hundreds of little frogs bounded back into the water with each step toward the edge. 

Just as we were leaving, a couple of the boys discovered crab apples.  They stuffed their pockets full of tiny green apples from off the ground, bound and determined to feed them to the deer when we get to Tennessee.  For now, they are stuffed in our little camper fridge.  Oh boy. 

The following day, which was yesterday, we moved on down through Illinois.  There's not much to say about that.  :) 

We stayed in Effingham last night, and the landscape was not anything like what we saw in Rockford.  We enjoyed our campground though, and the highlight of that night was definitely fireflies! 

Sunny morning outside Effingham, IL

I will mention that we had a special lunch out at Cracker Barrel today.  It felt really special somehow...like a taste of what's to come for us.  Rockers on front porches, sweet tea, old-fashioned hymns, and down-home cookin'.  The boys were VERY excited to try catfish.  We're getting closer to journey's end, as the roadsigns say and the crickets so noisily proclaim tonight.

539 Miles to Grandma, and A.A. Milne Sums It Up

Grandmas are some of the sweetest people on Earth.  I sure treasure mine.  I appreciate her more and more as the years go by.  We've been so blessed that Grandma has been able to travel to Alaska yearly for the past several years.  She gets around amazingly well at 84 years old!  One of my dreams for years and years, has been for our family to spend time with my Grandma Dorothy in her own home.  A few years ago, I began praying for that to happen.  The summer before last, I thought that prayer was answered with a "yes", when Zachy Baby and I were blessed to tag along with my parents as they escorted Grandma back home to Wisconsin.

That was an amazing trip which I will always treasure!  I never would have guessed then, that we'd be so incredibly blessed as to have our whole family travel to see Grandma in her home just 2 year later.

We hustled to get there.  Two of my aunts from north-central Wisconsin were planning a family picnic for Saturday, and we really wanted to get to Grandma's house the evening before so we could have some chill time with her before the much-anticipated picnic.  So, last Friday, July 11, was spent motoring across the remainder of South Dakota, and then Minnesota and Wisconsin, for a grand total of 539 mostly prairie miles.  We put in our audio of On the Banks of Plum Creek, and got lost in the prairie lands of the early 1900's.  Imagine the excitement when we saw the turn-off for DeSmet, SD...and then again for Walnut Grove, MN! 

Finally, after hours and hours, we knew we were in Wisconsin.

We also knew just how much God loves us, when we turned off for gas and the gas station happened to be next to a cheese factory.  Simply blissful.  Those of you who have experienced the joy of squeaky curds know what I'm talking about!

Not much later, we pulled into Grandma's house.  What an incredible joy to be there with her, and to have the boys run up her steps and experience her home just as I had done as a child.  Precious, precious time. 

Those 4 days were filled to the brim with lots of talking and laughter, delicious food, Monopoly, cards, checkers, staying up way too late, and backyard hang-out time, including a bonfire.  And of course, we also trekked off to a picnic together!

Grandmas are some of the sweetest people on Earth, and so are Aunties.  Two of mine made an unforgettable family picnic happen on Saturday! 

I know how hard they must have planned and worked to make it happen...and we are so, so grateful.  Although not all of our beloved family could be there, most were.  I am still soaking it in. Unspeakable joy.

Wilcox family...all together!

Active Grandma Shirley pitching so low to li'l Emma

awww...5 days apart...5-yr-olds...2nd cousins

Finally Noah can climb big trees

Me and Baby Jase...pretty sure I'm his fave cousin, right?

Wait!  We didn't have gray in our beards last time we met?!

amazing, delicious, beautiful food

Zachy will follow his cuzzy Emma anywhere!  He's still talking about her.

My beloved cousin is so beautiful.  And I'm SO sweaty.

I could go on posting pics of this event forever.  It was just an all-around amazing and treasured day.  We got pics of the families altogether, and then one huge pic of ALL of us together.  So fun. 

Through the Land of Sitting Bull, Custer, and Little Bighorn, and a Little Rushmore to Top it Off

We woke up outside Sheridan, Wyoming on July 10, and headed out into legendary country.  History was brought to life as we drove through this country and read about Fort Phil Kearny, Red Cloud's War, Massacre Hill, the Wagon Box Fight, and of course, Custer's Last Stand.  It brought new meaning to read about these things while we could look out our windows to the terrain where all these things took place.

On this day, we completed our journey across Wyoming and entered into South Dakota.  We listened to the remainder of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie before heading into the Badlands.  We encountered the worst construction of our entire trip through the Badlands, and that includes traveling on the Alcan!  In fact, the construction reminded us of our trip north on the Alcan in 1998, with the huge rigs and completely torn up "roadway."

Thankfully, we reached the construction and pilot car *just* as the pilot car was taking our side of traffic through the whole mess.  From the look of it, the folks ahead of us had been waiting a long, long time.  Just past the construction, which was several miles long, we saw a little herd of bison grazing.  We did not stop, but continued on climbing.  We had a Wonder of the World to see.

We loved seeing this national treasure, and learning about the planning and preparation and process of its completion.  We all learned so much.  I never knew that Gutzon Borglum chose the presidents he chose in order to represent the first 130 years of American history--the founding, growth, preservation, and development.  We also loved seeing the old photos and hearing and reading accounts of the workers contracted for the project.

 What a great break in a long travel day.

 South Dakota was also hot and very, very humid.  We were so thankful, after 489 miles, to pull into a welcoming campground for some grub and an evening swim! 

We had camped outside Chamberlain, SD on this evening.  The boys chased around their first-ever-seen, LARGE toad, while I tried not to throw up.  Although that was impressive, the real star of this campground was a wonderful pool which we had all to ourselves under the stars until about 10:30.

By the time we showered and headed back to the Little House, we could see very clearly that we were to have a significant thunderstorm.  Sure enough, just as the last one was tucked into bed, the skies let loose, and the downpour began.  The winds blew, and our Little House rocked and swayed as we all looked out into the cascades of water.  The sky lit up all around us as the heavens boomed.  It was the first real, rip-roaring storm the boys had ever experienced.

Lots of "firsts" on this trip, and we'd all be in for one on the following day...

Our Time in the Cowboy State

No doubt about it, we did not want to leave this place.

Every one of us was perfectly content where we were, and I admit to crazy thoughts swirling about in my mind such as, "What if we just stayed right here...Operation Sunshine complete?"  We really could do that, and who knows what the future may hold?  But at this point, my husband reminded me, we aim to get me out of harsh winter zone, and SW Montana would not qualify.  So we reluctantly packed up and moved on...back through Yellowstone Park's Lamar Valley..

All those little black dots--they're bison!

...and out the silver gate to Wyoming's Chief Joseph Scenic Byway.

We twisted and turned and climbed and climbed.....and climbed....and climbed through northern Wyoming.  Lovely, lovely country.  Very peaceful and quiet.  There's not a lot of traffic, other than free-range cattle.  Like Montana, it's also very dry.  If it's not irrigated, it's brown. 

We've taken our Little House on wheels through some crazy places.  On this particular day, in addition to one last jaunt through Yellowstone's windy ups and downs and climbs, we also took it up Dead Indian Summit, elevation 8060 ft.  Upon its completion, we continued on toward and through Bighorn National Forest's Windy Mountain, elevation 10,042.  Next was Granite Pass, elevation 9033 ft. 

Each time we thought the landscape was about to level off, we headed up into another pass, it seemed.

Our Little House and its steady driver did great.  The only protest our Little House put up was the climb up and through Granite Pass, when it began to lurch slightly.  We did not like that at all, especially when we saw another motor home stopped in the middle of the road.  At least that one was really old, helping us to have more faith in our Little House!  And let's face it--we have the Ultimate Pilot.  This particular climb had long stretches going upward, rather than so many switchbacks as our other climbs had.  The high elevation and strenuous climb was a little tough for the air-fuel ratio to adapt.  Nothing serious, and we made it ok.  I have no pictures of that crazy climb.  The few pictures I took on this day were mostly on-the-fly.  We didn't do a lot of stopping this day, as we had a lot of ground to cover.  Lots of red rock formations; it reminded me of Arizona. I found it funny that after a strenuous climb through wilderness, we were greeted with utility poles and fences and camps and even a restaurant lodge at the top and through the pass.  What seemed like "no man's land" was actually inhabited after all.  The wildflowers were spectacular--purple, blue, yellow, pink, and white were exploding along the rolling, grassy hills.  Beautiful.

 

A certain driver was growing very weary of mountain driving.  It was a long day of driving, but we were rewarded with an overnight at a great little KOA outside of Sheridan, WY.  We had a nice, long swim, showers, did laundry catch-up, and had pizza delivered from Powder River Pizza Pub.  Glamping, for sure. 

Rafting the Mellow Yellow

I'm back online tonight outside Rockford, IL, after living a week which seems like an eternity.  A week ago today, we had decided to stay an extra day in Gardiner, MT to raft the Yellowstone River.

 No doubt about it; I am in love with the Mellow Yellow.  We camped beside it the night before our crazy, 12-hour day in Yellowstone Park.  I could not take my eyes off that beautiful river, sunshine glinting on it as it flowed so clearly and quickly by with hayfield, mountains, and bright blue sky as it's backdrop.

That night, as Noah and I sat admiring the beauty, we looked at each other and grinned, and mischievously agreed we'd love nothing more at that moment than to slide a boat in and go for a float.  The next day, as we drove through Gardiner, I convinced my other half that that would be an excellent idea!

 Our guide, Mr. Mitch, seemed to be hand-picked for our family.  He has two brothers, one older and one younger, and he went over-the-top to make this an amazing event for our crew.  Plus, he was just a really great young man with a bright future, who was great to talk with and get to know.

 We also could not have had a more perfect day for rafting.  The sun blazed down on us and made the river sparkle, just like our faces were sparkling with so much joy at having the blessing to partake in such a fun and memorable event.

 

 The scenery was spectacular.  We all went for a dip in the refreshing, powerful current half-way through.  And here's a fun tidbit--Tony's sunglasses are now bumping along the river bed somewhere as we speak!

It was all over way too soon.

While we waited for our pick-up down-river, Mitch played around with the boys and taught them special sand castle building techniques at water's edge.

We're always thrilled when we come across super role models for our sons.  Kaleb was especially inspired, and has dreams of being a rafting guide.  His "Yellowstone River Swim Team" bracelet has not left his wrist once yet. 

What an all-around incredible day.  It was the kind you just want to linger in and not have to let go.  At least, we were able to close it out camped again by the edge of this gorgeous river.  I sure hope it's not the last time I laid eyes on it.