Travelogue Week 1

"I have vision, and the rest of the world wears bifocals. -- Butch Cassidy
(Sat evening) We're chilling at our hotel room in Salt Lake City, where we're visiting Miller relatives... we're feeling the call of the West since we were exploring the vast canyons of Southern Utah the last couple days... we stopped at Hollywood Video and got a DVD to commemorate our wild west feel: John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn in Rooster Cogburn and the Lady. John garnished an Academy award for his performance in it so it should be some swell watchin'! But I'm jumping ahead of myself... I best start at the beginning...

Day 1: Kansas plains. We left last Friday for McPherson, Kansas, arriving a few hours later than planned, but glad to be on our way. We spent the night with Mike and Christin, close friends from Dallas/ linguistics days. Christin had her second child six weeks ago, an adorable little boy named Viggo. I got to try out some of my newly acquired baby skills (acquired just in time... the night before at our birth class) from "The Happiest Baby on the Block": the side hold and the baby jiggle worked like magic! It was fun to see about the size that our little one will be, and to watch a pro mom at work.

Day 2: Colorado plains. We made it just over the border to Rocky Ford, CO this day, and enjoyed a splendid visit with Jeff, Elizabeth, and their tribe of 7 kids (six who are under the age of 7). Elizabeth is an amazing mom. She made gourmet grilled chicken and bruchette for dinner, homemade cinnamon rolls the next morning, and managed to have enough sanity to share with me some of her thoughts on motherhood, home schooling, and ministry. Jeff and Elizabeth are feeling called to the Sudan, to start a hospital associated with an orphanage there. I so admire their courage and compassion. How many Americans would even consider the option, with 6 children in tow?

Day 3-6: Colorado Springs: mountain vistas and galloping bucks. We arrived at my Uncle Peter's house, happy to park our bags for more than one night. We had a great visit with the uncle, enjoying Garden of the Gods, a collection of rock formations nested in the rockies, a bluegrass band and bbq, and some good visits with friends and supporters.
Tuesday gave us a chance to head up to Denver to visit the Sheehan clan... Bruce is back from the Yukon (where he oversees a K-12 school, among the Yupik people), so we had some intriguing discussions about minority peoples and language. Sarah, it was so good to see you!

Day 7-8: Canyonlands, Southern Utah: the desert called and Rachel was glad to answer. We camped out at a state park near Canyonlands, home to the same gorges from the Colorado River that eventually become the Grand Canyon.
Mark had never seen tundra like this, and we enjoyed the alien "otherness" of it all, even the mid-day 2.5 mile rock hike. I pulled an Asian rice hat out of our table demonstrations stack, donned it with a shoelace and enjoyed its solace.

We'll blog later... for now, it's back to the road again.