Are we not Blessed? Only a tree!!
this is laddie and betty home.

this view is looking down at Terry Vernon house.
I appreciate the emails that i have received letting me know that someone is reading this blog. at times i think why am i doing this......but if i were not living here i would want to know what is going on.
i sent the local paper the pic of the people in front of church and she replied that it will be used in an article featuring the church in tuesday's paper. also it will be on the front of The Pathway, a magazine put out by the Southern Baptist.
my cousin, Donald, came down from greenville, IL, staying tuesday and wednesday helping Harold sift thru things at his place. marv and judy are coming over tomorrow to help his brother. this has been a busy week...

this is the pic of the sign i took when we returned from Alaska. where's the town?


today the governor was here and lifted the fire ban. david and lisa burn their house today along with others. they are going to tear down the Baptist church saturday. each day is getting more difficult to accept that our "town" is really gone. so many are not rebuilding and are leaving the area. the volunteers have been overwhelming to see. there has been several chain saw gangs. Mennonites from Campbell Hill, Il, Southern Baptist Diaster Relief chain saw gang, Americorp group, and so many others too numerous to mention.

tornado

this is what living in a small community is all about! friends, family, and outsiders, have pulled together to help those who have lost their homes. It has been a non-stop ordeal this week. seems like a nightmare...... so many lives have been turned upside down. i have heard no complaints from resident about not having any help. and they are not looking for the government to come clean up for them. they are all hard at work doing their own. this pic is of the last service held at the Bethlehem Baptist. the people join hands, a short sermon, testimonies from those who lost material things, prayers of thanksgiving for their safety and then the people started removing the contents to storage so that the building can be torn down. this was a sad day for all who loved this church. thoughts of all those who worked so hard at keeping it going thru the years. some of those i thought of were my parents, fred and dolly, bea and irless, nolan and irene, shirley and laverne, kenneth and wanda corse, lizzie swan, neva klobe, son noe, tom and martha clifton, thurman and myrdie clifton, chalmer and stella sandlin, and many more.

deer

Last evening i received a call from deb telling me tanner got a deer in archery youth hunt. needless to say he was very excited. today she had to be in STL so i picked paige up from school and we had an afternoon snack at MCD'S. the kids are off from school until monday east perry fair and parent teacher conferences.
As i said in an earlier post, arlin was anxious to get back into the swing of things sooooooo he is currently on his way home and then on to San Antoine, TX. who knows i might give in and go with him.

still home

Yes we are still home.... working on the rental house getting it ready to sell. and yes he's getting "itchy feet" meaning ready to roll again. when he does i will be staying home...not ready to hit the road yet. had 3 calls on the house and only have a sign in the yard sure hope it sells quickly.

Home....

We saw this sign about 6pm tonight and knew we were almost home. After being gone for 5 weeks and traveling xxxxx miles we have been blessed with another safe journey. Leaving Ancorage last Saturday morning and running about 10 or 12 hrs a day we put on 4500 miles and yes he drove the entire way. BTW I sat in the same truck and my hmmm is tired too. I didn't sleep much just watched dvds, played games nintendo ds, listen to music on the ipod. Not much conversation after that much quality time together. The camper is unloaded and waiting to be stored away until the next trip. It's great to be home again and hope you have enjoyed our trip.

Almost to MO....

a sunset in Wyoming
smoke from the fires in wyoming notice how brown the grass is.
we are in a rv park in onawa, IA, just inside. So if all goes well we will be home tomorrow and then the fun begins.
our plans changed as we were coming thru wyoming the decision was made not to go to Yellowstone. the fires in wy, mt, and washington made it difficult to see anything.

We are on our way......

take note of the p/u campers at Hyder parking lot. it is the way to travel AK!
Hyder, AK where the salmon were
somewhere in British Columbia
we left Anchorage on Saturday morning and arrived at Kluane Village Rv park somewhere in the Yukon that night. the fall colors are starting to change and the scenery was beautiful but it was not pretty enough to forget how rough the road was. The next day we saw our first bear and a black fox as we were traveling the Cassiar Hwy.
On Monday we were in Hyder, Ak where the salmon come and the bear feast on them. we did see a bear catch a salmon and made it worth the extra drive. On our way out we added 3 bear and a golden eagle to our list of wildlife.
Tonight we are in Missoula, Mt arriving in the states today coming from British Columbia, Washington, Idaho and now in Montana. Yes we do put on the miles in fact since we left Anchorage we have 2680 miles and more to go.

Glacier climbing

this is a pic of Arlin climbing Worthington Glacier. yes I was left behind to do laundry and notify the next of kin....not really I chose not to participate in this adventure. He said it was an experience he will not soon forget. The weather has been goregous and we have seen a lot of Alaska in 2 weeks but now it is time for Sara and Chuck to catch their flight and we will be on our own once again. Not sure if we will head tomorrow for the lower 48 or spend a little more time here. we did venture to mcarthy road this time and it was not as bad as we had anticipated. spending wednesday night there. thursday night was spent at Palmer and we visit the ever famous Alaska State fair on friday and I'm sure it will be our last time. now we are in Anchorage waiting for their flight at midnight. BTW the first pic is a sand sculpture at the fair. the 2nd is the information center at the end of mcarthy road.