Devils Tower and Some Montana

Hello Everyone. We've made it to Missoula, Montana tonight. We've had a long couple of days, but fun too. We left Omaha yesterday morning and drove through Iowa and S. Dakota. We had rain as we left home and again the last 50 or so miles of the day. Heavy, heavy rain in the Black Hills as we drove through Rapid City. We stayed over night in Spearfish, SD at a Quality Inn we've stayed at many times. However in the three or so years since we last stayed there, it has gone downhill considerably. We saw several people check in about the same time as we did and they went back and asked for a refund and left. We probably should have done the same, but we didn't. Suffice it to say we won't stay again.

This morning we were up and gone before 8:00 because we wanted to get to the Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming before it got too hot outside. It was perfect while we were there. It's about a 50 mile drive from Spearfish. The photo below is about 10 miles away from the tower. Everything is so green everywhere we go. There is definitely no drought in Western S.D. or Montana from what we've seen. The rivers and creeks are all running high, even the Yellowstone River. And you'll see from the following photos how green it it.

We hiked partway around the base, but we had a long drive ahead of us so we didn't go all of the way around. If you could only smell the scents we did here. It was indescribably beautiful. The flowers, the pine trees, the grasses. It was a perfect morning.

Another view of the tower. We also got a new stamp in our National Park Passport book.

They had information all along the trail and I thought this might interest you.

The next photos were supposed to be first, but blogger had a mind of it's own tonight.

This is just a tiny example of the S. Dakota Badlands that I photographed as we zoomed down the interestate at 80 mph! There is much more impressive landscape off of the interstate a bit further.

One of the first glimpses of the Black Hills of S. Dakota. One of my very favorite places on this earth.

This is actually the very first glimpse of the hills from about 50 miles away. Every time we drive across S. Dakota, I wait for this stretch of road. It's one of my favorites as the road curves though the hills and you can see what seems like forever.

So pretty and green isn't it? The storm clouds were moving in and it soon rained on us which was nice to wash the bugs off of the windshield.

We drove over 12 hours today and finally arrived here in Missoula after 9:00 pm. Our plan was to go to a little town called Philipsburg, MT. this afternoon. We've never been there but have always wanted to stop sometime. We've always been in too big of a hurry. We arrived about 6:00 thinking we would get a hotel and then eat dinner. Philipsburg is known for it's big, old-fashioned candy store and also sapphire mining. When we got there literally everything in town was closed. There was a concert and even the hotel owner was gone and the door locked! We finally found a place out on the highway to get a hamburger. It reminded me of the bar scene in Pure Country with George Straight. Country music playing, LOUDLY. Lot of motorcylists and cowboys in there.  The casino machines were humming, and lots of people having a good old time! The food was good, and that's what we needed. After eating, we decided to come on to Missoula for the night. We got the last room here at the Comfort Inn and it's 300% better in every way from last nights room. We usually plan for everything way ahead of time, but this trip we're "flying by the seat of our pants." We're just going with the flow and so far we're enjoying it very much. We should be in Spokane by early afternoon if all goes well. There are a couple of stops we want to make at favorite places along the way. We have made the drive between Helena and Spokane dozens of times so it's very familiar to us. We can't wait to see Lake Coeur d'Alene again. A year is too long to be away from our home. :-)

And now I'm off to bed. It's been a long day of sitting in the car. How can that be so exhausting? Dennis is doing great. His hand starts throbbing from laying on the armrest in the car sometimes, so he hold's it up to his chest for awhile. But he says he's fine. I agree with a lot of you. I can't believe those pins don't hurt!!

Take care everyone and I'll try to check back again soon. It will be a busy time in Spokane so I don't know if I'll get to post again for awhile. Have a wonderful 4th of July if you live in the USA. 

Blessings and love,
Betsy

Try, Try Again

Do you know the old, saying, “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Well, we’re going to try taking our trip again. Dennis isn’t scheduled to go back to work until the 17th, so we’re going to leave tomorrow for a couple of weeks. We’re not taking the truck and trailer, instead, we’re taking the car and staying at hotels until we get to Spokane. There we will stay with friends. On the way home we get to stop and see Jamie and our grandkids in Montana. Miss Kyleigh just graduated from high school and was valedictorian. She’s off to college this fall so we definitely want to see her before she’s off to new adventures. Caleb will be a junior and is busy working but also fly fishing, mountain biking  and any other sports he can think up to do in the mountains of the west.

Yesterday we went for Dennis’s post-op visit where they removed the surgical bandages and made his custom cast for him. He still isn’t supposed to lift anything heavier than a TV remote or a cell phone, so we didn’t think camping for our trip would be such a good idea.

I debated showing the photos of his unwrapped thumb, but as you all reminded me in my last post, you’ve seen worse as moms and grandmas! So here you go.

We certainly did not expect to see this when they took the bandages off. The pins and the balls on the end of the pins are a lot bigger than we had imagined them when they describe them to us before surgery.

His hand is still pretty bruised and swollen over a week and a half later but he says it doesn’t hurt at all.

The process of making the custom cast was quite interesting. It was a large sheet of plastic that they cut the general shape out of and then put it in a tub of very hot water. They then wrapped it around his arm and formed it to his wrist and thumb. They made little “bubbles” where the pins come out so the cast won’t rub on them. The lady who made it said it’s like an arts and crafts class with every new patient that comes in!

Ta-dah! All done.

This was his bracelet when he went in for surgery. We thought it was hilarious, that he had a fall risk bracelet. Just because he stepped backwards off of his truck.🙄 I am so much more clumsy than him, and I would definitely be a fall risk.😂

On Saturday, my sister, niece, and nephew, and Mandy, Brad and Piper all came over for lunch. Afterwords Piper and Lizzie stayed with us while Mandy and Brad went home to do yardwork. We had a great time playing dominoes together. She’s a smart cookie. She beat me very easily. Can you tell what a cuddler Lizzie is?

I really like the sentiment behind this picture.

We’re leaving our little Zoey behind at Mandy‘s and Brad‘s house. We know she’ll have a great time with Lizzie and Piper while we’re gone and it will be much easier to find hotels without having a dog along. However, the thought of leaving her isn’t easy for either of us. She is definitely our baby.

I’ll be taking my computer along and hopefully will be able to catch up with blog’s at some point along the way. The plan is to leave around 8:30 tomorrow morning and we’re hoping to stop in DeSmet, SD at the Laura Ingalls Wilder homestead. It’s somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit but we’re always in a hurry when we go by. I’m hoping it’s not as hot as it is here today. It’s 94F now, with a heat index of 99F. Way too hot for me.

Take care my dear friends and I’ll post agin when I can.

Blessings and love,

Betsy

It’s Done!

We're home!  Here's Dennis, IV in and ready to go!

And here he is, right after the surgery. He ended up with a general anesthesia so I was really surprised to have him so alert when he woke up.  See his two new pins in his thumb? The surgery went much, much better than the surgeon expected. Despite several breaks and some small bones that turned to "sand," he didn't have to use plates and screws which is great. The pins will be removed in 6 weeks.  Next Tuesday he will get a custom splint made for him, after the surgery swelling goes down. His forehead is looking much better and the surgeon will take out the stitches on Tuesday.

Ouch!

The dress I ordered two weeks ago for Alex's wedding this fall, showed up yesterday. I don't look very happy do I? I have no idea why unless it was that I wish I was about 70 lbs lighter. Since they had to cancel the wedding several times during Covid and ended up with a Registrar wedding, they want to go ahead and have a big party and proper wedding.  What do you think? Is the dress appropriate for Mother of the Groom?

Today was also Lizzie and Zoey's 2nd birthday. Piper decorated the house and sang happy birthday to them and also gave them extra treats in a "people" bowl!  Wasn't that sweet? Those two little puppies are VERY well loved. It was a great day when we found these two sisters to adopt. They really love each other and we all love them both. They're very happy at each others house, but like to go to their own home too. Our Zoey is on the left, Lizzie on the right.

Thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers and love. I appreciate them more than you know. I'm going to do my best to catch up on everyone's blogs tonight. Dennis is sound asleep in his recliner with Zoey asleep on his lap. After dinner, I'm planning to join him and work on my laptop.

Blessings and love,
Betsy