Off the Road Again

Kansas Sunset by Anna, 2008



Well, we finally finished our big road trips for the summer. We are back in Colorado to stay for a while.




The first was a "short' one, which took us to San Diego to visit friends and take the kids to the Wild Animal Park. That was fun! It include a lot of talk with the kids about Route 66 history, and a side trip to Two Guns, Arizona, a real :live" ghost town of sorts with a very sorted history. You can read about it at http://www.legendsofamerica.com/AZ-TwoGuns.html if you are interested.


Our second trip, which was longer, amounted to 4,000 miles camping through 7 states in 14 days. We spent 10 nights in our popup trailer, a Fleetwood Utah, which was quite comfortable.


Features of this trip included genealogy, a visit to the original site of the Eick farm where my' Dad grew up and where I visited many summers as a child. We visited several cemeteries as part of the genealogy adventures. ( Yes, I know...most parents take their kids to Disney World; I take mine to museums and cemeteries. But for the record, we have been to Disney World, too, in 2005.) Read on for the play by play of each day.




Our first night was spent at a campground in Paxico, KS. It was a beautiful place on an old farm, along a creek. What we didn't discover until after we had settled in was that on one side of the campground, behind bushes and a fence, were ( you guessed it!) railroad tracks. On the other side, up an embankment across the creek, was I-70! So not too much sleep that night! Oh, well. We were on vacation, at least, and finally getting to camp.



Our next night was at Rend Lake State Park in IL. That was quieter, although we were awakened about midnight by a raccoon who jumped on our folding cook table outside and acted like he wanted in our trailer.





The next day, we went to a little town named ANNA, and looked for evidence of my ancestors. My great-great grandparents Neff were married there, and lived there for a while. We visited the courthouse and found the actual records of their marriage. We also had fun taking pictures of our Anna in ANNA, IL.





We also spent that day driving to our good friends' ( the Vigils) house near Harrisburg, IL. We spent two relaxing days and nights with them, enjoying the country life. Wienie roasts, 4 wheeling through the farm fields, horses, catchign fireflies making new friends and so much more.


After that, it was time to move on to Michigan for a little family reunion. There we met several of my Dad's cousins, the only living family I know of on that side. And I found them in the last few years doing internet genealogy research, and discovered they were looking for me, too. That was kind of fun! We also visited the old family farm site, two museums in Troy and Rochester that held records of our family on the Lovell side ( my paternal grandma's family) and Lake Michigan. We camped three nights in Michigan.

Lake Michigan morning, Van Buren State Park.

After all that, we journeyed back through Springfield, IL to visit the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library, as well as his home there. Of course, we also went to the cemetery, where you can visit Lincoln's tomb, and we watched a civil war reenactment of a flag retirement ceremony.

Then it was on across Missouri into Arkansas, where my mother's side of the family had come from. We camped near Ft. Smith at the Trimble Lock along the Arkansas River, which was MUCH wider there than it is here in Colorado! Try as we might, we couldn't quite make it to Wesley, Arkansas, which was a little too far off our map to get to, especially pulling the trailer. That may have to come next summer!

A visit to a family cemetery in Winfield, Arkansas resulted in a lost watch and my wife having a close encounter with a large black wasp we will all not soon forget! (I may be apologizing for this for quite some time...) Later that day we went over the hill to Poteau, OK, where we met more "internet cousins." These were Neffs, and about the sweetest people you'd ever want to discover you are related to. Our meeting brought together two branches of the family that hadn't been in touch in about 50 years.

Finally, our trek led us back toward to my Uncle Lee's house in Mustang, OK, where we spent the 4th of July catching up with him, and enjoying watermelon and fireworks of all sorts. It was a memorable time!

Before we left OK, we also got to catch up with a former youth ministry "kid" who is now married and about to become a father. We had lunch with him and his beautiful bride.

Our last day was spent corssing the OK panhandle, seing several places from my new favorite book I had just finished, "The Worst Hard Time", which is about the dustbowl and it's effects on people in Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and eastern Colorado. Lori took several photos there which point out how empty, lonely, and yet peaceful a palce that can be.

So, although it is great to see people and places, and to spend that "economic stimulus" money teaching our kids on a road trip across our wonderful, beautiful nation, it is also good to come home...

So, when are you all coming to Colorado?