DAY 78 AUGUST 3 HOME

Day 78. We said our goodbye's and headed for home around 10 a.m. We arrived in St. Louis around 2:30 p.m. Our house, both inside and out, looked in good shape thanks to the attention of our two sons, Nate and Ben. We unpacked the car and immediately turned around and went grocery shopping. We then prepared supper for Nate and Abby, and Ben was able to stop by while on patrol. Abby brought by our our mail and financial records from her bill paying, which she did for us while we were gone. We have a mountain of catching up to do, but it feels good to be home!

This will be the final entry of our Intoafarcountry blog. Thank you for following along on our adventure. Thank you for your words of encouragement in the comments. Thank you for your prayers and good wishes and we went on this great adventure. For the record, we were gone 78 days. Our mileage for day 78 was 258 miles, which brings to total mileage for the trip to 12,002 miles. Other than two flat tires we had no car problems. We met many wonderful people and saw God actively working in strange and woderful ways. We take many wondeful memories of this trip with us which will undoubtedly change us as we move forward. Who knows what God has in store in the future? That is an appropriate thought for everyone. Stay tuned...

Pastor Bill and Gail

DAY 77 AUGUST 2 KANKAKEE

Day 77. We enjoyed bruch with Hillery at Ann Sather's and headed out for Kankakee, about 1 1/2 hours south of Chicago. In Kankakee we had a nice family reunion with Gail's mother, three of her sisters, plus spounses and their children. We recounted for them the highlights of our sabbatical and the 11 weeks we have been gone. Gail recounted that in addition to the 25 days we spend in Fort Yukon, we spent 32 days tent camping. Quite an experience! It seems strange that we head for St. Louis tomorrow and home.

Mileage for the day: 74 miles.
Mileage for the trip: 11,744 miles.

DAYS 75-76 JULY 31-AUGUST 1 REENTRY

Day 75. It feels stange being back in the major metropolitan area of Chicago. I mentioned to Gail that contrasting Chicago to Fort Yukon was like comparing St. Louis to the far side of the moon. We are adjusting to the press of traffic, the level of noise, the dark at night. It is all vaugely familiar and yet strange. Our daughter, Hillery, worked from home in the morning so Gail and I read and relaxed. In the afternoon we drove to IKEA--always an shopping event! Afterwards we took Hillery and Joseph (her significant "other") out to dinner for Hillery's birthday (actually July 26). We had a delicious meal and wonderful conversation.

Day 76. We relaxed in the morning, did some shopping at Home Depot after lunch, and then spent the balance of the afternoon at the Shedd Aquarium on the lakefront. There is always something new to see there and we always enjoy going. We rode the El back to Hillery's, where she prepared a supper. We continued to catch up on all the news and make plans for our reentry into our St. Louis routines.

Mileage in Chicago: 65 miles.
Mileage for the trip: 11,670 miles.

DAY 74 JULY 30 CHICAGO

Day 74. We're almost back to home country. Today was full of anticipation as we left LaCrosse bound for Chicago and our daughter Hillery. It continued to rain off and on, a weather system that has been following us since we left Yellowstone. I90 was fine, although traffic increased as we crossed the Wisconsin/Illinoir border. By the time we headed east from Rockford we felt like we were back in full-blown civilization. We arrived at Hillery's mid-afternoon and settled in for a three-day visit. We took our soggy tent and spread it out on her back porch to dry before we pack it away. Tent camping was a good experience (Honest, you can even ask Gail!), but it feels good to be ready to pack it away. We plan to celebrate Hillery's birthday while we are here (July 26), do some sightseeing, and make plans for our return to St. Louis on Monday, August 3.

Mileage for the day: 270 miles.
Mileage for the trip: 11,605 miles.

DAY 73 JULY 29 TRAVEL DAY

Day 73. Today was devoted almost exclusively to travel. It rained during the night so we broke camp and stowed a wet tent. We headed east on I90. The one sight seeing destination was the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. We watched the interpretive film and toured the building, which was an effort by the community to put Mitchell on the map. There is some interesting native American artwork made from corn that is worth seeing. We continued east through southern Minnesota, eating supper in Albert Lea. Since it rained all day and tent camping was out of the question, we pushed on, figuring we could crash late in a motel. We did so in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, around 10 p.m.

Miles for the day: 583 miles.
Mileage for the trip: 11,335 miles.

DAY 72 JULY 28 DEVILS TOWER-MT. RUSHMORE-BADLANDS

Day 72. Today was packed with much sightseeing as we traveled. We headed east on I90 from Buffalo, Wyoming. Our first stop was Devil's Tower in northeast Wyoming, about thirty miles north of I90. This was the geologic formation featured in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Very interesting and impressive. Then we contined east to Rapid City, SD, and then southwest to Mount Rushmore. Mt. Rushmore itself does not change, but the surroundings have changed alot in the 18 years since last we saw it. That being said, it is an iconic American symbol and well worth the trip to see. We then headed east and drove through Badlands National Park. Though totally different than the Rocky Mountains, these peaks, bluffs and valleys are equally awesome. God has worked some remarkable wonders in this world and the badlands certainly qualify for the term "wonders." After the badlands we headed to Wall, SD. We visited Wall Drug and heard the story of the Hustead Family that founded it. Interestingly, they settled in Wall because they wanted to attend Mass daily and could not do so in their previous town. Now Wall Drug is known throughout the country (and beyond) and is well worth the stop (which is easy because it is right on I90). We made camp in Wall after a busy day.

Miles for the day: 391 miles.
Mileage for the trip: 10,752 miles.

DAYS 69-71 JULY 25-27 YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

Day 69. Today we drove across Montana to Yellowstone National Park. We had contacted Yellowstone from Glacier about accomodations, and were overjoyed when we were able to book two nights at Old Faithful Inn! We arrived at Old Faithful Inn around 4 p.m. and checked into our room in the West Wing. It is an historic building (built in 1904) and on the National Registry of Historic Buildings. We took a tour of the geyser basin around Old Faithful, ate supper, did our laundry, and concluded the day by watching Old Faithful erupt at 10:45 p.m. in the moonlight.

Miles for the day: 459 miles.
Mileage for the trip: 9,981 miles.

Day 70. Today we took a tour of Old Faithful Inn to begin the day. We then drove the lower loop drive, looking at many of the geyser basins. We also toured the "Grand Canyon" of Yellowstone from the north rim drive. On our way to Lake Lodge, our supper destination, we were stopped for over a half hour by a huge herd of bison. One got right in front of us on the roadway and I drove behind it for several minutes while listening to it grunt! We got many great pictures of bison. We ate supper at Lake Lodge where we had eaten 18 years ago on our family vacation to Yellowstone. We returned to Old Faithful Inn for a quiet evening reading in the huge lobby. Such an impressive building!

Miles for the day: 65 miles.
Miles for the trip: 10,046 miles.

Day 71. We got up this morning, anticipating my KFUO call-in program at 10 a.m. (MST). Unfortunately there was a scheduled mix-up and another pastor had been scheduled for my slot. So we got off earlier than anticipated. We viewed the gyser basin near West Thumb on the southern end of Yellowstone, visited to of the park Visitor Centers, and left Yellowston via the east entrance by 1:30 p.m. We drove through Cody, Wyoming to I90, and drove until Buffalo, where we spent the night. Tomorrow we head for Mount Rushmore and Badlands National Park. We should be in Chicago by Thursday afternoon.

Miles for the day: 315 miles.
Mileage for the trip: 10,361 miles.