Our Longest Day

First , let me apologize for the lack of a post Wednesday morning.  Things didn't go exactly as planned yesterday so I wasn't able to "getter done".  So this post will be our grand finale covering the last two days of the trip.


Tuesday, July 5th

We woke up at 5:30 because no one set an alarm so we skipped breakfast and got on the road in record time.  However, we stopped five minutes later at Walmart for ice for the cooler and bagels that we toasted enroute.  I was going to drive today but the fog was so thick that we could barely see 30 feet ahead of us so I opted to wait till tomorrow, maybe.  I drove the van for the first three hours then Raleigh took over.

I'm not great at photographs, but this captured
the eerie yet mystical morning sun
through the thick fog with the bus in the foreground.  

This bad boy is a home made air
conditioner, complements of
Tim.  We brought it as a backup for Lon
and used it one particularly hot day.
We could have used some block ice
or dry ice...next time.

Shortly thereafter, we pulled into a rest stop for the thing we hoped we could avoid...the dreaded kidney stone!  A week before we left for the trip, Lon had been dealing with kidney stones and passed one so we thought we had dodged the bullet with that.  No such luck.  Lon has been drinking water like a mad man on the whole trip but today it caught up with him.  We switched drivers so Raleigh could "nurse" Lon along.  He was feeling pretty miserable and looking pretty pitiful.  (I decided not to post pictures of his pitiful face as he endured the pain like a champ.  The pictures after the pain medicine were even better!)  Thankfully, they had come prepared with medication and emesis bags!

Lunch was a stop at Love's Truck Stop and after a quick pow wow we decided to go full speed ahead all the way back to Smith Mountain Lake instead of stopping in Milton, West Virginia.  We totally missed celebrating our last night in the bus by skipping this campsite.  Bummer...it could have been a great party. 

Nina...this one's for you!

William, the artisan, holding
one of the mugs he
actually made.  For sale
for $15!  A man of
so many talents!

We stopped in a place called Tamarack in Beckley, West Virginia.  It features local artisans from all over the state.  Will worked at a pottery "factory" last winter making mugs for a company called Mud and we found a mug that he actually made while working there.  He could tell from the way he had signed the bottom of the mug.  Cool, huh?  I'll have to go back there and really shop...everything was awesome.

Fueling up again.  I'll have to find
out how many stops and how
many gallons of fuel we used.

Will and I were getting
slap happy.

Lon was beginning to feel better but we still hauled buns and made it to the lake by midnight.  That was about 17 hours, and 644 miles.  That's a record we hope we never break!
The heat and humidity lets us know we are definitely back in Virginia, but boy it feels good to be "home"... almost.  Because of the late hour and the poor internet service, I wasn't able to get the pictures downloaded for the blog, hence the delay.

Wednesday, July 6th

We all slept in some Wednesday morning, some longer than others (me).  We sort of regrouped, and Lon was feeling better, thank goodness.  So Wednesday's trip was only 200 miles and that seemed like nothing.  Lon and Raleigh took the van and Tim and I cruised with the bus. I actually slept most of the way home so the trip went really quickly for me!  However, since I missed my chance to drive yesterday because of the fog, I at least got to "bring her home" up the driveway to Raleigh and Lon's house.

Home at last...

And waiting for us in Franklin were Bick and Carolyn and some of her home cooking!  Fried pork chops, smashed potatoes, peas, string beans, squash, and Sister Shubert's rolls.  Her food always tastes good but tonight it was even better!

Tim wanted to make sure everyone following this knows that all 3,700 miles of the trip were worth it just to see Raleigh and Lon enjoying being together at Kari's wedding and seeing Raleigh dance till there was no more dancing to be done.  We loved every minute of it and have a whole new appreciation for each other.  We are thankful for our safe travels, great scenery, paved roads, good friends and the opportunity to get the Struggle Bus out of the driveway and on the road!  Thanks to all who made it possible!  Next trip?...wait and see!



*Here are a few random photos and I will probably post a few more later, like the bungee cords holding the drawers shut and the staples holding the curtain valance up.  You might be a redneck if...

The curtain on the left is the "bathroom", the bed in the back
is Lon's coveted space.  See the party lights?  And the
curtain  hung sideways using command hooks in the back.
There are command hooks all over this bus!

See these holes in the floor?  Yes, that is the
pavement under us.  There are quite a few
of these holes in the floor where the
seats came out.

William being his normal
dorky self with his new
reflective durag and no shirt.
Truckers were probably
getting quite a chuckle seeing him.

More misty morning driving.

Long day Tuesday.  We got to the lake
about midnight!

I was driving Lon's van when it
turned over 99,000 miles. It was just a
few hundred shy of 100,000
when we got home.

Happy Independence Day!!

Hello Friends and Family and Happy 4th of July.

We left Salina Kansas this morning about 6:20 am. *(By the way, some of our favorite people come from Kansas!  You know who you are.)  It took us a little longer than usual to get moving but once we got on the road we traveled 500 miles.One bright spot in our day was that when we stopped for gas, there was a Hardee's and a Dunkin' Donuts at the same truck stop.  Something for everyone.  Hardee's is one of Lon's favorite breakfast places.  Raleigh even found a John Deere magnet for the cockpit of the bus.

We had a good day of driving; I got back on the road since my altitude sickness had subsided.  Tomorrow they may "let "me drive the bus the first ten miles to the rest stop down the road.  I think they prefer that I stick with driving the van.  William quickly volunteered to drive the van while I take my turn with the bus and Lon suggested we stop at Walmart to buy helmets!!!  I can't imagine why they are so concerned.  How much trouble can I get into at 6:00 am?

We saw some serious flooding beside the highway in Kansas but thankfully the interstate was dry.  Later, we saw a beautiful rainbow that looked like it would end right on our campsite.  I was hoping there would be a pot of gold sitting there when we arrived, but no such luck.

Finally, Tim got his wish!

By  leaving so early we got to our campsite at 5:35 pm. early enough to go out to dinner  at Tim's favorite travel restaurant, Bob Evans. We tease him about it relentlessly so tonight was no different. To top it off, the service was marginal and Tim's turkey was so tough he had a difficult time cutting it with his knife.  You know we will get a lot of mileage out of that, teasing him the rest of the way home.  He reminded us that the Bob Evans Farm  is very close by if we want to take a short detour tomorrow. Needless to say, there were no takers!

Rocking out to the music until dark

After supper we watched the town fireworks from the tarmac at the local airport. Incidentally, 40 years ago Tim and I watched the  DC bicentennial fireworks from the end of the runway at National Airport so it seemed fitting that we should be at an airport again for our 40th anniversary celebration! We didn't come prepared with chairs (It was bad enough that we drove the school bus) so we took milk crates from the bus to use as seats.  You might be a redneck if...   However, we were in good company.  Enough said.

Raleigh is still dancing with Lon and William looking
on and shaking their heads. Pretty snazzy seats
don't you think?

It was fun to celebrate in the middle of the country on our little road trip!!!

I think "Uptown Funk" was playing.  How could we stand stil

Even though we didn't drive completely across America, we got pretty far.  We are so thankful for the land that we live in and the freedom's we have.  We are thankful for those who have fought and continue to fight to protect those freedoms.  We are thankful for all of our "Team Lon" members following along with us on this trip.  You are amazing!  We feel like we have our own little booster club cheering us on.  We have less than 1,000 miles left to go to get us home and we are looking forward to being back in Virginia!

And the show begins!

Homeward Bound

Alas...We are headed home, but not without gratitude for the opportunity we have had to arrive in Colorado safely, witness a beautiful wedding, and reconnect with old friends.  We were up and out of our hotel at 6:45 am.  It's a good thing we are not drinkers because I'm afraid that if we were, we might still be in our hotel room on a different type of struggle bus!

This arrangement was much more
suitable for me and Tim last night!

Even though I don't drink, I must have appeared that way this morning walking out to the van.  I woke up with a case of altitude sickness that left me with vertigo like symptoms so I couldn't walk a straight line.  It wasn't too bad, thank goodness, but it was bad enough to earn me a day off of driving.  (Oh, darn!)  

When we arrived in Boulder to meet up with William and collect the bus, Carol and Brad had another wonderful meal put out for us.  Brad is a chef and they have their own restaurant in Boulder.  Needless to say, the meal was great but the company was even better.  While we were at the wedding, William toured Boulder's farmers market and took a 5 hour bicycle ride up to Green Mountain and back.  He also met up with an old friend who came up from Denver to visit since he was so close. It came as no surprise that he enjoyed having the bus to himself so much that he decided that tonight the four of us could sleep under the bus while he took Lon's bed.  He lost on that one and is already strung up in his hammock as I write this.

Tim took the first turn in the van and Will drove the bus.  Then, once we were in Kansas and the road was flat and straight, Raleigh took the wheel of the bus.  She donned her Star Wars tank top and cut offs and we hit the road!

Raleigh has things under control for sure!
She looks right at home, doesn't she?

If you look out the windshield, you can see
the wide open spaces of Kansas

 Lon opted to ride in his manual wheelchair today so that he would have a better view out of the windows.  His electric chair rides a little too high for an ideal view.  And of course there were lots of farms and farm equipment, animals and crops to see.  But, Carolyn, you will appreciate this...He saw this large mound of "dirt" ahead and was ready to check it out.  Imagine his disappointment when he found out it was actually crushed asphalt.  Boo!

The disappointing pile of "dirt"

We traveled 470 miles today...we left the hotel at 6:45 am and arrived at our campground about 7:30 this evening.  We were very happy that there was enough of Carolyn's cooking to provide us with another good lunch on the road.  We have saved so much time doing that and it beats fast food by a long shot!

Raleigh preparing to bring Lon
down in his manual chair.
Nice outfit!

Once at the campground, we got our water boiling and had another meal of pulled pork, raw carrots, apples and chips.   After supper we broke out the Oreos for dessert but realized we had no more solo cups.  I suggested that Raleigh pour milk into an empty water bottle but not being able to dunk the Oreos was not an option as far as she was concerned.  Necessity is indeed the mother of invention and Tim cut the top off of the bottle so Raleigh could dunk and eat her cookies.  You might be a redneck if...        I think we qualify in too many ways to enumerate.

Cookie dunking in an unconventional cup.
One of our mantras this trip has been
"Whatever Works!"

We have reorganized the bus, eaten dinner, Raleigh completed wound care (she has gotten to be an expert getting it done on the road) , and listened to lots of firecrackers going off around us.  Hopefully they will stop shortly but it is 4th of July weekend so I won't get my hopes up.

Tomorrow we plan to go 499 miles and land in Indiana so that the subsequent days can be a little shorter.  William reminded us that, although we reached our target and achieved our objective, the trip isn't complete till we make it home.  And the mantra for that remains "Safety First".

The Wedding Day

It is Saturday and the big day has finally arrived!

I don't think very much sleeping went on with Raleigh and Kari last night after the rehearsal activities. Today Raleigh spent the day with Kari and the bridesmaids getting their hair and makeup done. Tim took Lon to breakfast to a wonderful little cafe while I slept in a little. They saw a mule deer but no mountain sheep that were warned of on the road signs. Our dreams of sleeping comfortably off the floor of the bus were dashed when we opened the sofa bed in our suite. Kind of like the sofa/bed on the bus, sleep sofas are meant for the youngsters not old fogies like us. Somehow we managed just fine. However, I  had room service deliver a single fold out bed to our room so Tim can have that and I'll take the couch tonight. I happen to love sleeping on couches and this one is comfy.

Before lunch, Lon, Tim, and I took a drive through the Rockies and marveled at the vastness of our surroundings. Whereas the east coast is so crammed with urban areas, the mountains in Colorado seem more like a frontier that has yet to be tamed. Even though Colorado has its own urban sprawl, it still has a roughness that Virginia doesn't have. Being land locked is also a little strange.  Lon managed the winding roads through the mountains without any motion sickness, thank goodness.  Let's keep that going!

We had lunch at the same little cafe where Tim and Lon had breakfast.  It is famous for its pies...someone has rated them #1 in Colorado and #4 for the whole US.  I think it's called "You Need a Pie".  It was nice to eat at a local hangout instead of the usual fast food.  Back to the hotel just in time to ready ourselves for the wedding.

Boy, Kari and Geofrey dodged a bullet today with the weather!  There was an 82% chance of rain at 3:00 pm and the wedding was at 3:30 pm outdoors! It barely sprinkled and just as the guitarist was playing "Here Comes the Sun" before the wedding party came up for the ceremony, the sun came out. Just after the ceremony, there was thunder in the distance but it never did rain. And the weather was cool so we were all comfortable. Kari was stunning and Geoffrey looked handsome in his army dress uniform.  The dinner was lovely, another one we didn't have to cook on the propane camp stove, and the party went on until 10:30.  We opted out of the after party in town since we plan to leave to get back to the bus  close to 6:00 am.  Raleigh danced, and danced, and danced so I think she will sleep well.  I know I will.

Raleigh was Matron of Honor
escorted by the  groom's younger brother.

Just waiting for the bride and groom.

Enjoying the cool weather while
waiting for the wedding party.

The reason for the adventure!!!
Kari and Geoffrey Edmonds

A glimpse of the view of
rom the reception

Layers of strawberry cake
and banana chocolate chip cake!

Lon and Tim eyeing some
Bison Burgers coming their way.

What a great time we had, getting to know Kari's husband and family a little better, reminiscing with Kari, Emily, and Kari's parents, Gary and Lidia.  These moments are so special when friendships have lasted 21 years and you are only 25 years old.  There is a lot of history there.  The next 21 years will bring so many other milestones and we are so grateful we could make it to this one.  Having Lon by her side made the trip perfect for Raleigh.  We laugh that being on a school bus isn't an exotic honeymoon, but what an adventure!

Tomorrow we head back to Kansas, homeward bound.

We have arrived!!!!

Happy Day!!!  We made it to our destination.  In spite of our best efforts to leave our campground by 5:30 am, we missed the mark by half an hour again.  But this was a short day (only 293 miles) and we had a time change so it actually worked out much better than expected.

Tim found a better place for his t-shirt and it reminds
us that this trip is all about chillin'

We are collecting magnets and stickers
  from every state we go through to put in
the cockpit. Even got an old license plate!
 And yes, that is insulation that didn't
quite get covered with paneling.
Just ran out of runway!

The best part for me was that I didn't have to drive first shift today so I was able to crawl back into Lon's bed in the back of the bus and sleep for two more hours.  And about Lon's bed...You've seen William sleeping under the bus,  Raleigh has a tiny 24" cot barely big enough for her to turn over on even as tiny as she is,  and Tim and I have been sleeping on the floor on a foam fold out love seat from IKEA.  You know, the kind that are perfect for college students, but for old, creaky, not so tiny  60 somethings that have a hard time getting up off the floor, not so much.  Well, no one is complaining because we are having so much fun, and Lon is the star of the trip, so he has a regular, full size twin bed with a gel pad on top of it, sooooo, when we get a chance to nap on it we are super stoked.  He's been sleeping like a baby and we are all happy about that.

We had our first real rain today but it wasn't a total washout, thank goodness.  I'm afraid it may rain for the wedding tomorrow so the ceremony may have to move inside.


When we made it to Boulder, we were able to stop at our friend, Carol's house where we had an amazing lunch of flank steak, mozzarella cheese with tomatoes and basil and balsamic vinegar, cherries, grapes, guacamole, fresh bread...and more. Needless to say, we thoroughly enjoyed the food and some new faces.

Carol and her husband, Brad, kindly moved all of their vehicles so that we could park the Struggle Bus in their circular drive and leave it there with William while we took the van on to our hotel 45 minutes away.  It is wonderful to have friends that just jump in and make our trip easier.  Raleigh did a great job of consolidating supplies so that the four of us could get in the van with all of our "stuff".  She's getting really good at that.

William is staying in Boulder and exploring with a friend he hasn't seen for seven years.  And he gets to sleep INSIDE the bus for a change.  I don't think it will be on the cot or the fold out couch, if you get my drift.

This is Raleigh getting water for Lon before
we get on the road...see how dark it is out
the front window? And how
sleepy she looks...

We are headed to the hotel in the
van so Lon get to ride up front.  Out the window
you can see snow on the mountains!

Our hotel accommodations are great with a suite with Lon and Raleigh in their own room.  Tonight Raleigh is spending the night with the bride so Tim told Lon that we would be glad to sleep on either side of him in his king sized bed.  Lon was quick to put a halt to that plan! There are limits to family closeness!

At the rehearsal dinner...Tim, Kari, Lon and Raleigh

We attended the rehearsal dinner and had another great meal that we didn't have to cook on the coleman stove.  Gotta love that!  It was great to see Kari and meet her husband and his family.  Raleigh and Kari have known each other since pre-school and there was a slide show that had lots of pictures of them and their friend, Emily, all through the years...like the Three Musketeers!

Raleigh will be getting her hair and makeup done in the morning while we get breakfast and do some sight seeing.  It is going to be a wonderful day, celebrating with Kari and Geoffrey...can't wait!

Greetings from Kansas...land of wide open spaces

Greetings from Kansas!!!

It is 10:45 Kansas time and it took 30 minutes to download these pictures.  In the meantime, the others are snuggly tucked in their beds while I sit on the steps into the bus, in the dark, while it rains, and try to get something written about todays adventures.  When traveling across Kansas, it is pretty flat and not too exciting...except when Lon sees gigantic farm equipment passing us by with only inches to spare between us on the highway.  Remember, we are traveling 50 miles per hour.  There are also wind turbines, hay bales, corn and wheat...yep, that's exciting--not.  

We spent most of our day in Kansas

Big sky and lots of crops

And more crops...

And more crops...

And really big equipment!!!

                                                                   

One of Raleigh's rules when she first started
dating Lon:  NO SLEEVELESS SHIRTS!!! Notice, his has sleeves.

At a rest stop switching drivers.
Will posing for the camera.

Tim is showing off his farmer's tan
while his shirt reminds him to CHILL

William and Tim went to Walmart (which is within walking distance from our campsite...rather urban, don't you think.  While they were bonding there and picking up some sundries, they found some shirts.  I didn't get a shot of William's today, but it is reversible and he says that tomorrow we'll get to see the other side.  I'll just say one word for those who know him well..."MEOW"

Lon and Tim took an excursion to see some cool farm equipment.  I think some John Deere and Casey stuff, but I "forgot" to listen so I can't really tell you about that.  The campsite where we are staying is filled with people who follow the crops and harvest them.  Nebraska is their next stop, I think.

Again, Will is under the bus but since it is raining and
 calling for flash floods, he is prepared with
his hammock suspended from
 the underside of the bus.

I really am on the trip with them...here's proof

We had a lovely dinner of pulled pork, minus the King's BBQ sauce which, I'm sad to say is still in Franklin.  Raleigh has done laundry twice already since we really have to keep things clean for Lon.  Last night she put the clothes in the dryer, inserted the quarters, and left the laundry room.  When she returned, the upper dryer was really warm, but her clothes were in the lower dryer...oops!  More quarters and another trip to the laundry room.

The kids are just relaxing and enjoying the ride.

Tomorrow we get to our destination is Colorado and get to stay in a hotel!!!  William is visiting friends near by and will have the bus while we take the van to the wedding.  Our day will be shorter tomorrow...only about 300 miles so this should be cheese cake, unless it doesn't stop raining.  The good news is we haven't found any leaks, yet.  Thanks for following along!  More tomorrow...

PS...I have messed up the layout but I am too tired to try and figure it out...sorry

Made it to Missouri and we haven't left anyone behind, yet!

Hello fellow travelers!

If that isn't a happy couple, I don't know what is!!!

A little art for the trip.

We need to add a few peace signs and flowers!

Each day just keeps getting better!  After our powwow last night, we woke up this morning invigorated and ready to head out at 6:05 am.  Only 5 minutes later than our objective.  And we made it 105 miles before we stopped for the first time and that was to turn on the generator.  It was so cool this morning that we rode with the windows down and the curtains flapping out the windows.  Sorry Tracey, a few of them got a little wrinkled.  We averaged 50.1 mph and even made it to 61 mph going downhill with a  strong tailwind at one point!  Total miles today was 440.  Tomorrow will be our longest day at about 500 miles.  Raleigh and I might take the wheel of the bus since is will be Kansas and it will be really flat and straight!


 .

Some pictures of the destruction at White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.

For those of you who knowTim,he has been sporting neon orange wicking t-shirts lately.  Since I didn't have time to tie dye shirts for the trip, Raleigh suggested we all wear shirts to match Tim.  We won't be getting lost anytime soon, that's for sure.  

Getting some rest in Missouri in our matching shirts

Tim driving the land yacht paddle boat

William didn't want to wear the orange
shirt anymore...ewwww.  Put it
back on, Will!

Checking fluids again...

By leaving early, we were able to travel in cooler weather and get to our campground by 4:30  We would have gotten there sooner but there was a little glitch with the GPS and when we arrived at our destination, we were in a  neighborhood.  Oops...Checked the address again and finally made it.

We had enough daylight left to reorganize everything which will make tomorrow an even better day!

Things we took out of the van to
rearrange and put back in the van.

How will we get it all back in?

A little messy at the end of the day.

William is land surfing, keeping us entertained.

Raleigh has the best seat in the park chilllaxing with Lon

Setting up for dinner.  Lon is happy to have his fan
and some wifi.

We had a great meal of meatloaf made from Carolyn's cookbook.  I froze it in vacuum sealed bags and just boiled them to heat it up.  Add some instant potatoes, a can of corn and some salad and we were ready to eat in 15 minutes.  Lon said the meatloaf was close to his mother's home cooking.

Raleigh and Will dressed alike.  I am so sorry I didn't get the shot
of their matching cut off shorts to go with the shirts.

Christy, this is where we are parked tonight

The generator is just plugging along,
keeping us cool

It is almost time for our nightly powwow
 and then the party lights are going out.

Everyone else is asleep so I am going to head back inside, too.  Oh, we don't have room for William in the bus so he is sleeping under it!  He slept in his hammock last night but there are no trees close enough together to string it up tonight...and it is supposed to rain/storm later.  He's used to roughing it so I'm not worried.  More tomorrow..1