THE JOURNEY SO FAR

The past almost three weeks, we've been doing a combination of family stuff, work stuff and yes even a bit of rest & relaxation stuff.

For almost two weeks, we were on the road taking Laura and Emilie to their respective schools. We drove about 2800 miles in all, crossing Kansas, staying the night at Ruth's sister's place so the girls could see Len and Nancy. Then it was on to Wheaton, Illinois.


We spent about 5 days there, staying with grad school friends LeRoy and Gwen Elliott. We got to be part of the parent's weekend, get Laura's room set up and equipped for the year, explore the campus and to spend some time with our friends. Laura's already got friends there, and a job transcribing the original letters of C.S.Lewis at the Wade Center. (above) We are really thankful for her new situation. None the less, the seat next to Emilie felt especially empty as we pulled away.

Then we headed northwest toward St. Paul, Minnesota and Bethel College. Along the way I got a touch of food poisoning so my next 48 hours were anything but fun. We ended up staying in a motel for a couple of nights but got to spend a wonderful evening with Emilie's family from last year, the Schrecks. While the others enjoyed the meal, I slept for a while and then woke feeling well enough for a couple of hours of good conversation. Emilie stayed in Bethel, working for the Art department while waiting for her flight to Manhattan and a semester of intensive art study there. (More on that to come.) We headed on, with an empty back seat and the realization that we are officially empty nesters.


We stopped overnight in LeMars Iowa to visit with former colleagues Larry and Florrie Adler from Ireland. They treated us to the royal midwest treatment. Hot dogs at a legendary roadside cafe called Bob's. Dinner with their church's small group. A parade of vintage cars through the middle of LeMars and a rock n' roll concert. Then the apex of the visit... ice cream at the showcase ice cream parlor of Blue Bunny Ice Cream. No wonder LeMars has proclaimed itself the "ice cream capital of the world."

The next morning we headed the car for Denver. There's not tons to see (apart for corn) across Nebraska, so Ruth read a book aloud along the way. It was wondeful getting in before dark to our little basement apartment in Denver (and out from behind the wheel.) We gave Matthew and Anna a call to tell them we'd arrived. At least we're to them for a while. It makes the transition a little easier with all three of our daughters out of the house.

It was really rewarding to be around to help Matthew and Anna move to a new apartment. It's usually the kind of thing we'd only hear about but unable to be of assistance from across the Atlantic. They've got a great place near the light rail train that gets them to classes in less than 15 minutes door to door.

We've been to GEM's international headquarters several times, working on some projects face to face rather than just via email. It's been nice to reconnect with several of those at GEM we've known for years. One is Ruth's good friend, Diane Alphonso, who is GEM's website master.

That brings us up to Ruth's birthday weekend (this weekend). Diane has friends who offered her a wonderful house in Estes Park, Colorado: gateway to the Rocky Mountain National Park.


We had an awesome weekend relaxing there with three others, wandering through a craft fair, watching wildlife and driving through the most beautiful place on earth. Oh, and by the way, all the wildlife shots on the filmstrip above were taken in the yard of the place we were staying.

Well, it's back to business as usual tomorrow. Happy Labor Day.