Yesterday we went on a road trip with hard surface roads, to Black Canyon in the Gunnison area. It was like nothing we have ever seen before. It was a very deep and wide chasm. It is a National Park and the roads and stop offs are clean, and easy to get to. We saw several deer. It was nice and warm and we enjoyed the drive. We ate at Silverton in the evening when we got back. We are camping here in Silverton. Our plans are now to stay here until Wednesday morning and then we will start home. We do not have to go to Texas now. Right now the concern in Texas is for daily needs such as food, water and shelter. After this has been met then it will go to the cleanup and rebuilding stage.


That is Ouray and a nice size and unique town and was home of many gold miners many years ago.

Today we went on another Jeep trip. Its called bounce this way and then that and hang on for dear life. then when we got to the top of the pass (12,000 feet) we had to drive through slippery sliddy snow. Yes, we were sliding around the S curves a few times. The rocks were big but the jeep handled it well. We both loved the trip, and we took our lunch and had it at the top of one of the mountains on a meadow. We saw a lot of other Jeep and 4-wheel drive vehicles on the trail. A regular car or pickup could never have made it.

We are having a good time here in southwest
Colorado. We had no idea how many off road
trails are in the area. We will stay in the area for one more day then head home or to Texas.

Our knees are repairing, we are not up to hiking but we can do Jeep hiking. It was 12 weeks ago that Wilbur broke his knee cap and 3 weeks ago that I had the arthroscopic surgery on my knee.

We were really ready for a vacation and we are not ready for it to end, but all good things come to an end, oh, I don't really believe that saying.

This is the picture that got covered up in our first post this week. It is our son Mike's family on the night before they took their oldest daughter, Alyssa to orientation for Radical Journey. She will be going to Sweden for 10 months. Radical Journey is program sponsored by the Mennonite church.


Yesterday we got to Durango Colorado in the afternoon. We found a nice campground and got settled, then we went for a drive to see the countryside and the town. We grilled Iowa rib eye's for supper. Yum! Yum! We have been watching the weather channel a lot. As I am sure you all know, hurricane Ike has been on the minds of many. We may have to go to Texas next week.

Today we took a 3 1/2 hour jeep trail ride. It was not for scardy cats! We really enjoyed it but we hung on the side of the mountains many times. The jeep trip began in Silverton and we saw a lot of snow. I will try to add a few pictures.

The first picture was taken today as we got close to Alamosa. The picture of Mike's family was taken at Alyssa's farewell/birthday party on Friday night.

We left home on Saturday afternoon and got as far as Bethany, Missouri on Saturday night. Bethany has a great Wal-mart!!! Then on Sunday we got to Emma and John's around 10:30 am. We had a great time with them and of course John was up to his usual good cooking. We had ribs on Sunday night- aren't you jealous. Emma went to work on Monday and John went to grandparent day with 10-year old Emily. We checked out the nice little town of Plattsburg. We left their house on Tuesday morning and headed toward Colorado.

We did not realize what a big/almost boring state Kansas can be. We did not make it quite into
Colorado on Tuesday. Today we left from Colby, Kansas and tonight we are at Alamosa, Colorado.We are camping at a KOA, where we have internet access. Yah! We have driven through some mountains but we will see more tomorrow as we head toward Durango.

Today we met Phil Kinsinger at Walsenburg, Co and we had lunch together and it was good to get reacquainted.

Wilbur has been having 2 to 3 conference calls a day, which had hampered us making much time on the road. MDS is concerned about Hurricane Ike and where it will hit.

one more day of winter

Feb. 18, 2008

We came home one month early. This is what we find. snow.

Arkansas Tornado news

We spent Saturday at Gassville. I will include a few pictures of the distruction from there. We were very tired by evening. We toured around with some Amish Mennonite and they had 70 men and boys working at cleaning up. Mostly it was picking up debris and cutting down limbs and trees. They did tarp one house. These people all have insurance and they will have funds to rebuild ot relocate. MDS has had the policy if helping the down and out, those who have no where else ot turn and don't have any insurance.

Sunday we went to Shady Lawn church, a Beachy Amish church in rural Mountain View. Wilbur was asked to pronounce the benediction, which was both an honor and a shock(we are Mennonites).We were invited home with a couple and they had a total of 19 people for a big Sunday Meal. Yum!

I did not feel the best all day yesterday, and really fought sleep in church and when we were driving. We go to the motel at 6:15, I was asleep by 6:30 and woke up at 8:30 and was awake for 2 hours and went right back to sleep.. What ever I had , I guess I slept it off!!!!

Today, we meet 2 couples in Atkins Arkansas and the men are surveying the damage today. The ladies went to serval thrift shops and Hobby Lobby. I then came back to our meeting place and took care of the emails, etc. We will stay with Vince Hostetlers tonight in Clarksville. They have 10 children with 9 still at home. Their children range from 1 year to 20years old.

Back home again

Our trip to the south is over (for this year). We had a really good time with friends and also by ourselves. We got home on the first Saturday afternoon of February, right between snow storms. Iowa had snow on Saturday morning and then we really got hit hard by another snow storm on Sunday night (Super Bowl night). We had another storm on Tuesday, from 12 noon to Wednesday 3:00 PM. Our plans were to fly to Portland Oregon for the annual MDS meeting on Wednesday. Our 9 AM flight was canceled, then the rescheduled flight for 3 PM was canceled. There was nothing available for Thursday flights out of Cedar Rapids, after the cancellation of our 3 PM flight. Our MDS meeting would have almost been over by the time we got to Portland on Friday eve. Hence, we opted to stay home.

We are in Gassville, Arkansas, right now! Since we did not go to Portland - we were asked to go to the south and check out what Tornado damage was done on Tuesday evening. We left home on Friday morning and plan to be gone until Thursday the 16th. We will post some pictures of the area that was hit in the next blog.