Day 9

WOW! Idaho may be the most boring place in North America -- at least as boring as San Angelo.

So, we left this morning after checking out the gorge at Twin Falls, which has been the one lone bright spot of beauty in this state.

We don’t recommend Red Lion Hotels to you -- last night was a disappointment. Robert was particularly perturbed that there was no free breakfast this morning. But when coming through Southern Idaho, the pickings are slim and you take what you can get.

Brian has some issues we should probably let you in on. We have chronicled the pamphlet problem -- right now we have a HUGE bag of pamphlets that he has collected from each and every stop along the way. We have begged him to stop on the grounds that there isn’t enough room for the pamphlets and US, but he turns a deaf ear.

Now there is a new problem. He is collecting a bottle of wine made in every state we are visiting. With what we bought the other day in wine country, and what Brian has bought at every stop, pray we don’t internally combust.

OK, so we are now making our way home, and the chances aren’t good for blogging the next day or two. Also, cell phone coverage will be very spotty as we will be off interstates and in the mountains until Wednesday evening.

We want to thank many of you who have helped us along the way. Many thanks to Mr. Ortega for instilling a frugal spirit in Robert -- it has kept us all on the straight and narrow (we have eaten from the food cooler at least once a day). Thanks to JP’s Uncle Dave, who has joined in the nickname parade, and will be henceforth known as DaveTree . Thanks for the interesting, fun comments on our blog. Thanks also to Mrs. Gibbons for allowing me to be gone this long -- if I got much older I would not be able to keep up this pace. Thanks to Mama Priest (Mrs. Pickard) who amazes us with her concerned late night calls (we know who to call now if we ever have an emergency late at night). Thanks also to Grand mommy Joyce for allowing us to take Johnny away on your birthday. Thanks to Mrs. Ortega, as she seems to bring so much fun and entertainment to Robert (we enjoy listening on the other end of everyone’s conversations). Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Pratt for raising such a fine son -- it is always a privilege to spend time with him.

From the windows of our room here in the lodge you can see Old Faithful. We sat around and watched her go off as soon as we got in. What an amazing sight...it really reminded me of the scripture where Jesus says that if we don’t praise His name, the very rocks will cry out. Seems to me like they do here, all the time.

I felt a little bit of altitude sickness this evening, so I laid down and had some water and an aspirin, and the boys went exploring -- you can do a lot of adventuring right here in the area of our lodge. We only have dial-up services, so I probably won’t try to put pictures on tonight. We love you and look forward to seeing you all soon!

A Message to Nate:

As we were driving to our hotel tonight, we noticed a bunch of cars pulled off on the side of the road, so we slowed down, too. There was an elk right there, maybe 50 feet from the car. I couldn’t help thinking of you, and wondered what all you could tell me about elk.

Love
Dad