Home from Sukkot

Wow, what a trip! We drove over 900 miles the first day making it to Belle Fourche SD by bedtime. On day two we visited the Laura Ingalls homestead in DeSmet SD, it was 5 hours out of our way but we had promised my niece that we would go and it was worth the stop. After that dad decided that we would drive nonstop to Indiana so we drove all night, arriving at our destination the following morning.

We tried to catch up on sleep before the first meeting but there was just no way. We nearly got scared half to death that first day when there was a misunderstanding and we thought we had to sing at the first meeting, thankfully it was only a misunderstanding! The feast was wonderful, we met so many people! We played music on several occasions, went horseback riding, hiking, there was a BBQ, pioneer day, visiting around the camp fire. Every day there was at least one service. We learned many things and saw 11 people baptized!

On the way home we drove 1100 miles to Rapid City on the first day, on day two we visited aunt Helen and uncle Art and cousin's Sue and Rich. We also saw Mnt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and Cosmos. On day three we drove through Sturgis and visited cousins Julie and Bill, then we drove on to Belle Fourche and took Rachael through the cemetery where our great great grandfather is buried. After that we topped off the day with a stop at the BBCR(Big Bonato Canyon Ranch) where the original Bonato homesteads still stand. Rachael had never been there so I took her on a hike to the Greslin homestead. We had to crawl under or over about 7 fences and walk probably 2 or 3 miles. We collected a few rocks and a deer scull. When we got back, Martin had showed up so we stood around visiting for a bit before getting back on the road. We drove till Big Timber MN where we stayed for the night. Our last day of travel we stopped at Butte to look at the mines, in Alberton we checked out the bookstore, and in Haugan we visited the souvenier store, 50,000 silver dollars. After that we had no motivation but to drive till we got home.

At home I found Flavia waiting for me, she was so happy that she sat by me for hours just watching and purring and occasionally meowing at me. Sadly, my 15 year old cat Mimi was likely eaten by the neighbor's rowdy dogs while we were gone. We looked all around for evidence but found nothing. Only Uncle Tony's story of chasing the dogs off, later he discovered that not all the cats were showing up for meals.

I'm not so happy to get back to farming, I sure would like it to be the dead of winter right now. I had to pick up my 5 goats from the goat sitter, I think I'll sell them as fast as I can and buy new ones in the spring!

It is good to be home though, in spite of all the work that is staring me in the face. At least I have my own bed to rest in and all the wonderful comforts of home.