According to Wikipedia…”It ain’t over till the fat lady sings” means that one should not presume to know the outcome of an event which is still in progress. More specifically, the phrase is used when a situation is nearing its conclusion.
According to Derek, vacation isn’t over until Monday morning! 😆 So I suppose that’s when she’ll be singing loud and clear!
Until then, vacation now looks like…unpacking, doing laundry, and mowing the lawn.
We are thankful to be home & to have had such a wonderful trip overall.
5,387 miles & 15 states in 22 days
I hope you have enjoyed following along with our adventure. If you signed up for notifications on when I post, I may post again at some point later on when I go back thru my pictures.
When you start the morning with the GPS telling you HOME is only 11 hours away, you might think you’re going to get home early (Derek).
But when you have to stop for fuel every 2hrs or so, and then you also have to fuel your bodies…the reality is you’re much further away than you might think.
Oh, and there’s the “loss” of an hour due to time zones…
But the drive is interesting & beautiful…
So we still ended up driving thru Illinois & Indiana 😂 Southern Indiana is actually quite lovely…hilly & wooded like home💗
And because Derek is an avid Christmas movie fan, we had to stop in Santa Claus, IN 🎅😂
Great little KOA campground we stayed at last night in Grayville, Ill…2 miles from the Indiana state line.🤠🐎🏕Louisville, KY…one of several cities we drove thru to avoid Chicago 😂🤦♀️🤦🏻♂️Taco truck for lunch😋💕Only a few horse farms, we’re too far north 🙃On the Kentucky / West Virginia border. We saw SO MANY oil refineries on this trip!! This is only about half of this one…the ones out West were 3-4 times this size, at least 😳
I69 from the border all the way to I79 in Charleston WV was like non-stop city & traffic 🙄 an hour in & we finally hit the “wild & wonderful” we remembered 😂
😍💗Sunset over the West Virginia mountains 🌄💕Our last campsite of the trip…an old auto sales lot turned RV parking for 12, full hookup only $30 😁👍 Perfect! Its even creekside! No restaurant beats Derek’s grillin’ 😋💗
A few days ago we were drawn toward driving home through Kentucky & West Virginia to see different scenery. We’ve seen Illinois, Indiana & Ohio so many times. We love the horse pastures of Kentucky & the trees and mountains of WV, so even though it added a few hours to the drive, we decided it was worth it.
So with that in mind we headed across Missouri, with our sites on Course Coffee Roasters in St. Charles just outside of St Louis. CCR is owned by Brandon & Sarah who were part of the team I went to Kenya with a few years back. We’d be driving too close not to pop in & say HI! (And get some awesome coffee)
And then I got a text from Samaritan’s Purse & realized they are still in St Louis doing disaster relief from historic flooding back in July. (Think about having your house flooded & it still needing cleaned up over 6 weeks later!)
It became obvious that we were drawn towards Missouri, not for coffee, but for an afternoon of lending a hand to help someone in need.
The disaster relief vehicles.
Its funny, we came to help the flood victims, but even more so what we did was revitalize a group of volunteers who were praying for God to send help.
We joined a team who were already volunteering for a week or more…they had already mucked out a basement for another family in the morning.
We spent 4 hours carrying out wet & moldy furniture, clothing, and other belongings and filled a dumpster in no time. We tore down walls & ceilings & pulled up flooring.
“Many hands make light work”
While there was nothing “light” about this work, two extra sets of hands, for this overwhelming task “made a huge difference” & were much appreciated. The team was very grateful we showed up & we were honored to help & be a part of the work.
What you can’t see are the huge piles beside the house waiting for a second dumpster! Presenting Lisa, the homeowner with a Bible we all signed 💗
It was a great day!!
Tomorrow our intent is to go back to sleeping in and making a big breakfast & then drive on towards home. We’ll see what other surprise adventures await us! 😊
With our last “big adventure” behind us, we have 4 days of driving to get back home.
Now to find ways to stay entertained & more importantly, AWAKE as we drive over 1600 miles back to our beloved home in PA😍💗
One of the few times we were up to catch the sunrise 🌞Sunrise over the prairie in Presho, SD 1st Breakfast “out” the entire trip! What a treat!😋What a beauty 😍 💗The Missouri River…we crossed over several times as we drove down the eastern side of Iowa on I29Tornado damage 🌪 in rural South Dakota A piece of a silo a few miles down the road. Creative bridge design in Council Bluffs, IATook a 10 minute side trip to enter Nebraska 😆 I’ve driven through previously, but now the RV was “officially” there!
Headed towards a more “southern” route home…we think. Planning on driving thru Kentucky, but things change hourly, so stay tuned! 😂
Mount Rushmore was a fascinating & mind-blowing stop for Derek, as I knew it would be 😁 Having been there before.
The presidential trail allows you to get close up.The artist studio brings perspective to just what a phenomenal feat this carving was!🤯😲
And then on to another kind of carving…
We’ve always loved chainsaw art, this was a very impressive display 💗
The world’s largest Bigfoot!😂 He was huge! And actually quite impressive! There were hundreds of beautiful pieces 😍 This cutie almost came home with us…
Earlier in the day we found another fun stop…I can blame it on my grandboys obsession with dinosaurs, but honestly I was really bummed that when we changed our route, we missed the dino digs up in Northern Montana. So here’s the next best thing…🦖🦕💗
Triceratops & Stegasaurous Tap on this pic for a laugh 😆
What a wonderfully wild & beautiful state! Enjoy the view thru our bug-splatered windshield 🪰🦗😂
Last glance at the Tetons as we head east.Tetons in the rearview. The beginning of the hundreds or maybe thousands of Pronghorn Antelope we saw!😍💗These metal art pieces were all along the highway. After several hours, we came across a “scenic overlook” and pulled over to investigate. The next several pictures are without the windshield glare.“Hell’s Half Acre”Gorgeous rock formations 💗Hoodoos Some hunter bagged a nice elk.Over a mile of old engines 😲Devils Tower – first glance
The final destination in Wyoming, Devil’s Tower…we scored a campsite at the base & got to experience her at sunset and again just after sunrise the next morning. Fascinating 💗
This piece broke off One of 3 rock climbing groups we saw.Back to the windshield view😆Deer & elk sheds are a typical decoration!
It’s just another half mile or so… it’s an inside joke that probably any hiker gets! I love waterfalls, so any time I’m close to one, I’m always ready to go find it.
Such was the (unsuccessful) case back in Yellowstone when on our last hike of the day to see Grand Prismatic Springs, we were “close” to Fairy Falls…or so I thought. We had already logged 8 miles that day, but decided since we were part way there we’d go find Fairy Falls…I thought it was a half mile away but after walking for quite some time & realizing we were deep in the woods, no sound of water, sun was setting & we didn’t have our bear spray…or a flashlight & both our phones were almost dead, we decided to give up the search & head back without seeing Fairy Falls 😔
(Found out later…It was 2 & 1/2 miles away!)
So today when we set out in pursuit of Hidden Falls near Jenny Lake, we were better prepared…for bears anyway, but not so much for the length of the hike. Over 8 miles round trip to the Falls, then Inspiration Point, then just a bit farther to the top of the Falls…and then back down the rocky winding path that was much longer than necessary due to parking the RV!
Over 7000 ft altitude, over half way to the top of the amazing giants,we found ourselves breathless…both literally & figuratively. 😁
The hike started at String Lake where we parked Jenny.About a mile or so in…we think we’re getting close😁Back side of Jenny LakeHidden Falls 🕵️♂️ Can you spy Derek on the trail?At the TOP of Hidden Falls! One of the “its only 100yds or so” aka “only 1/2 mile or so”😆Inspiration Point…when you ask Derek what was inspiring about the hike…”could also be called Perspiration Point” 🥵 😂 Lake Jenny from Inspiration Point Higher than Inspiration Point 💗
Jackson Hole has 3 amazing spa options…one of which is in the top 100 in the USA 🤔 After 13 days in the RV, and miles of high altitude hiking daily, it didn’t take us long to answer that question.
We decided our bodies could use a little pampering! 💆💆♀️💗🧖♀️🧖♂️
So, Friday we spent the day in Teton Village…scootering thru the mountain roads, riding the gondola to the top of those mountains, then taking full advantage of all the amenities at The Spa at Four Seasons.
The peak of Grand Teton is in the background, in the clouds 😁So random that we HAD to get them… the waffles at the top of the mountain were the best we ever ate😋🧇Our shadow The views from the top were stunning 😍
We spent an hour in the beautiful pool & then another hour in the hydrotherapy hot tub & cold plunge 🥵🥶 which was actually quite exhilarating! Then we had our 2hr spa treatments, complete with body wraps & massages, plus foot treatment & a facial for me💗
Feeling rejuvenated and ready to get up close & personal with tetons tomorrow!
Today (Thursday) we decided to head south to Astoria Hot Springs & explore the town of Jackson, aka Jackson Hole.
On the way we found the Wildlife Art Museum with an amazing trail of outdoor sculptures…oh my goodness, they were awesome! Here are some of our favorites.
Astoria Hot Springs was very relaxing.
There were 5 pools ranging in temperatures from 98-104 degrees 🥵Yes, the antlers are REAL! And there are 4 of these arches in the town square 😲
Jackson is a pretty little western town with lots of shopping and great restaurants. We ate out only 2 meals the first 11 days on the road! So while we are in Jackson we decided it was the place to enjoy someone else’s cooking for a few meals.
WildHartz Wandering 