Dillon's Grandparents

We spent the night after the storm at the local Athletic Club which is also a Gymnastics gym with a pool in it, which made me feel even closer to Alex since she was a gymnast.  Swimming in the heated pool also helped me to unwind after an incredible meeting.

Swimming pools are my favorite place to pray.  And pray I did because I had just gotten to meet two people I didn't know I was going to meet - Dillon's grandparents (for those of you who don't know, Dillon is the boy who received Alex's heart).

I could never explain how powerful this meeting was for us all, but Ken did, so I would like you direct you at this time to his journal.  Go to his Main Page  then scroll down, then click on his entry called,  "The Meeting."

Our initial embrace.  Whew.

The next morning we were back on the road, that is until Ken noticed his tire was flat again.  It took a little time to get everything together, but we were on the road by 8:00 or so.  It felt good to pedal.

First we had to stop by the slot machine.

Then we rode past a wind farm.  33 of those awesome things slowly spinning.  They are majestic looking to me, and I love what they do.  They make clean energy!

Then we got stuck in a traffic jam with a bunch of cattle trucks.  They were full of cows and it made me so sad to see them peeking out those little holes at me.  Now, I know we need to eat, and I love a good steak, but the feed lots made me sad to ride past, and seeing all the cows in the trucks bothered me.  No offense to anyone here, I know this is big business in this area, but I love animals and seeing this operation close up made me feel something, ya know?  I saw Food Inc.  

Right next to the feed lot we saw several of these birds.  Anyone know what they are?  They aren't in our bird app, at least not that we can find yet.

And speaking of big business, it's harvest time around here.  We see these things literally 10 miles before we get to them.  It's the strangest thing, because they only look about a mile away, but Ken and I play a game where we guess how far away something is, and we usually way under-guess.  

When you're pedaling through such desolate places and you see one of these on the horizon, your mind begins to imagine things... things like ice in your camelback, that first cool blast of air on your face when you step into the store...  but do you see a store here??  Nope.  Just some pumps that you use your card to pay for.  I was sooooo upset!!!!  Good thing there was a store on the other side of this town though.  :)

We made it to the next town called Tribune and I wondered if their newspaper was called, "The Tribune Tribune."  lol  Never did find out.  We set up camp here by the pool and everything looked sunny and calm but about 10 minutes later we were securing everything yet again.  We slept through another windy rainy night in our trusty tent.  I fell asleep before the sun went down and slept like a log.  

It was HOT out.

A trippy harvest shot.  There was nothing else to take pictures of.  :)

Oh!  I forgot to tell you!  My Dad and I got to go on our Father's Day hike the day after Father's Day.  We went on a nice long hike and talked about deep things, like the water we were unable to cross.  :)  We had to get a ride across from a couple of nice ladies who had come to check out the storm damage.

I liked wearing my Mom's Tilley.  :)

I mostly just liked being with my Dad.