Saturday, October 27, 2018

The drive home

When we left Mandy and Brad‘s on Sunday morning two weeks ago there was a light rain starting. By the time we had driven 30 miles, snow was flying and cars and trucks were off the road in ditches. What a change from the day before when the little girls were running around outside barefoot at the birthday party! Here are some photos of our drive home.

Iowa

South Dakota

Wyoming.  By the time we arrived in Wyoming the roads we much better, just slushy in places but the snow was deep.  Several storms had gone through since the week before when we drove to Omaha.

It IS pretty.  By this time most of the slush and ice were just on shady patches of the road but the landscape is beautiful.

The road to nowhere!!!  Well, into the mountains anyway. 

The Tetons or Crazy Mountains, I can’t remember which.  Lots of snow up there.

And then we passed into Montana. No snow at all except on the very highest peaks. It was an absolutely stunning drive through Montana with all of the fall colors.

I apologize for the blurriness of this photo. Once again we were flying down the interstate 80 miles an hour. This is the Madonna on the highest peak overlooking Butte, Montana. I had to zoom in quite a bit to get her.  I always feel like we’re almost home when we get to Butte, even though it’s another five hours or so of driving!  I guess after already driving 19 hours, five hours doesn’t seem like much!

Sorry for the bug splat  on the windshield in these pictures, but the scenery was too pretty not to share with you. This was heading up Lookout Pass on the Montana-Idaho border.  The trees were at their peak of color.

Absolutely stunning and the sky was so blue that day.

And this was heading down the last pass, Fourth of July Pass in Idaho. Almost to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and home. Coeur d’Alene is only about 20 miles or so from our house.

Although the first day driving home was not fun with the snow and ice, at least it was while we were on the plains of the Midwest. I am so very thankful that we didn’t have any snow as we drove over the passes and mountains of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

So, I’ve had my car five months and I have 12,000 miles on it! Over 6600 miles were from our two trips to Omaha. It has driven and handled great though. I am very thankful for a safe car to drive on these long trips.

I had this blanket almost finished before we left on the trip. Just one corner was left to knit so I didn’t take it with us.  It is the “make a long story short blanket” and is free on Ravelry.  I made this with Caron “Big Cake” yarn.  It is also a Christmas gift.  It is over 70 inches long and quite wide too.  My “to do” list is getting shorter!

Sweet Sherri sent me this beautiful fillet Crosstitch of a “Q” along with the mittens she made for the school children. Wasn’t that absolutely wonderful of her? I’m going to hang it up this weekend and I’ll show you where I put it in my next post.

I made a scarf this week for “Operation Gratitude.”Thank you to Kathyb at Compassion Knit” for telling me about this very worthy charity.  I used the Lion Brand Homespun yarn that I had left over from my shawl and it makes a very nice and squishy scarf.

Here are the first three pair of mittens for next year! I call them my “seed mittens.”  Ha ha! Hopefully it will encourage me to keep going. And so far it has. I have five more pair done already. That makes eight pair of mittens since Monday!! You can tell by this that my back hasn’t been doing very well this week.  Lots of sitting and knitting.  At least I am accomplishing something for someone else while I’m sitting around, right?

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend resting and relaxing.  Dee and Vera, I’m very jealous of your time together today.  Have fun knitting and having coffee together. :-)

“We Love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

A simple, but profound verse.  May we all remember it. I love each and every one of you.

Blessings,
Betsy

18 comments:

  1. You win the "first photos of snow" award, Betsy! :-) *LOVE* how your blanket came out!! And I must say I think those mittens are the cutest ever! You should use lots more variegated yarn for them as they kids will really love how colorful they are. So fun! I'm glad you made it home safely through that iffy weather! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your pictures are awesome. Thank you for sharing your adventures with us, through you I am able to see places I would never get to travel to. :) Your blanket is awesome. I love knitted blankets, always so warm and comfy. The mittens are adorable. Sherri is such a sweetie. The scarf looks so warm, made with love and meant to bless. You are always so thoughtful and loving showing love to others through your kind words and the gifts you make. You truly do reflect His love. God Bless You Sweet Friend. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. What scenery!!! What a fun road trip. Your blanket is amazing. So big!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Such gorgeous scenery along the way. Glad the first snowfalls didn't cause any real problems. That blanket you made sure is big and beautiful. And, of course, your scarf and the mittens will be so useful and appreciated. The Q you received is really lovely. My stitches are so loose and I have a hard time working with tiny hooks and thread so am never able to make the filet crochet.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Betsy.. some more beautiful scenery and snow. Yes did love the Autumn colours of the treed hills on either side as you drove. God's glory certainly visible in all of His creations. Oh that people woukd worship the Creator more than the creation!
    Love thr blankie will keep someone happily warm! As will those stunningly cheery mittens.
    Love filet crotchet. My biggest doiley is in filet crotchet. Its fun.
    Prayers for healing there Betsy. I'm down with coughing bug but pray it goes by Thurs as is Syd Drs trip and catching up with octogenarian uncle and dont eant to share the bug.
    Prayer hugs, Shaz in Oz. X

    ReplyDelete
  6. Weather can cause all kinds of problems this time of year, so I'm happy to hear you got home safely.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Such pretty scenery! You have been busy since you got home, good for you. I hope your back is better soon:)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Betsy I admire your love of the early snows! ! Im glad you were able to handle the ride.
    THanks for operation gratitude join up! Im sending two more off as soon as my printer works.
    I need to ask you for some special prayers for calm. Id so appreciate that.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Betsy, you are always welcome to "come on over". We have YARN!!!! LOL

    Your photos were beautiful. While we don't have the "BIG" mountains, our hills are starting to look pretty colorful, finally.

    ReplyDelete
  10. The blanket and scarf you knitted are so pretty. Love how you keep cranking out the mittens. No matter how beautiful the drive 19 hours is a long time! Sorry your back is still giving you a problem but you are making very good use of your time! Nancy

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Betsy, I love those colorful mittens . . . snow! . . . oh, I am so not ready for that :)
    Your name is in the drawing for my banner Give-A-Way.
    Thank you for being such a sweet blogging sister and for your encouraging words. They keep me blogging and enjoying my journey here in blog-land.
    Have a beautiful day and Good Luck!
    Connie :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Such beautiful scenery with the snow but I don't envy your drive. Thankfully despite the fall in temperature we haven't had any snow for which I am thankful. Love the blanket, such a lovely gift filled with love. Sorry to hear your back is still painful, praying for healing.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Early snows are fun if your by the fire, but driving in it, still make for such a white blanket of brightness. The mountain photos are lovely.

    ReplyDelete
  14. So glad you made it home OK; it sounds like you had a good trip. We did also and have been playing catch up ever since. Love your projects!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Nice photos of trip home and glad you made it safely home. Good memories. Love you mittens and blanket. Wow...lots of knitting going on for you! Still need to find a pattern for my yarn...eventually! I almost fell asleep when I was looking on line Sunday for patterns and other things! Quite chilly here this evening. Stayed inside and didn't go on a walk, like we usually do. Foot hurt too so didn't want to go! Love you too, my friend!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Oh my--snow! My head wants to say it's early, but really, it's not. So glad you got home safely. Thanks for sharing the photos--we went through Montana and Wyoming on our train ride home in 2015 and saw so much beauty. Thanks for the memories--and your blanket was lovely, too! Blessings, Debra

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh snow!!! Beautiful pictures, but now I feel COLD - lol.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Snow already!

    Love these autumn views.

    ReplyDelete