WEDNESDAY, MAY 29

  WEDNESDAY, MAY 29:  

     Rained all last night – a light rain, but constant.  Ditto this morning, until around noon or 1:00.  So some of our first up-close views of the Rockies as we drove thru them were misty and impressionistic. As the afternoon went on, the grey sky gave way to large stretches of blue and whiter cotton candy clouds, and the peaks now stood out more sharply against the greens and earth colors of the alpine forests.   Thankfully, no big stresses on this stretch of mountain driving.  Bill said that the truck did much better on the uphill grades than last year, thanks to the fine tuning and adjustments we had done.  Nice to feel that the $$ spent a few months ago is now paying off!  All in all, a beautiful enjoyable ride, as we listened to piano renditions of Elton John tunes.   

    When we’d periodically descend out of the mountains back into Plains valleys, we saw lots of lilac bushes in full bloom.  Actually, we’ve seen them all across South Dakota, Wyoming, & Montana.  In fact, there was a row of them at the edge of the RV park in Rapid City.  When we stepped out of the truck on Monday night after getting home from Rushmore, their fragrance was heavenly!  It brought to mind my mother saying how, when she was a girl in North Dakota, they’d always decorate the high school gym for graduation with fresh lilacs. Evidence of how Creator God hasn’t left any place bereft of beauty.,

     Stopped at the northernmost Montana town of any size, with an RV park, before we reached the Canadian border - Shelby.  When I asked over the phone if their WiFi connection was strong, he said yes, no problem.  Yeah, no problem if you take your laptop out onto the picnic table so that nothing interferes with the signal from the office!  Oh well . . . felt refreshing to be outside, even though pretty cool.  But at least I got a couple of entries to the Blog posted. 

     The name of this RV park is “Lewis and Clark RV Park.”  Lots of references to Lewis & Clark along our route.  Meaningful and humbling to see the actual terrain – and distance - they traversed.  An amazing accomplishment.  Especially when they crossed the Rockies by foot and horseback.  At our campsite, easy to see why the state’s nickname is Big Sky Country!      

    Ate dinner inside – leftover potato soup I’d made the week before we left so that Bill could bring some to Rich Sobel, our new Jewish brother in Christ who’s in the last stages of cancer.  He loves the soups I’ve made for him!  We really hope that he’s still among us when we return in Sept, but are prepared for that not to be the case.  It’s very sad to see him slowly but steadily decline,  but it’s very gratifying to know that he considers his new Twin Oaks friends and connections to be his family now, and that he won’t be alone when his final days here on earth come.