Kelley and I got to take a little road trip last week.  We have been wanting to go visit Keli and Suzanne in Oklahoma for a long time and everything worked out so we could go this last week.  We planned to take off right after church but it was a little later when we actually left. (KC was a sweetheart to come up to church to tell us goodbye cause he would be at his church all afternoon)

It was nice driving in the new car.  It has so many cool things it can do.  Unfortunately, Kelley and I are both technologicly challenged, so we have no clue how to work it. Candice was trying to help us get the car GPS going but it said we had to sync it with the computer first.  When we tried to do that, it turned into this big complicated thing so we decided to just use the GPS on our phones.  I do love technology...I just need to figure out how to use it.

We took the route across central utah through Monticello, then down towards Albuquerque.  Moab was beautiful.

When we got farther into New Mexico, it was pretty desolate.  It just looked like a long straight road that went on forever.  There was a cool storm happening up ahead of us where we could just watch strike after strike of lightning as we drove into  it. 

Then it started to pour on us.  Like buckets were being dumped on us.  I thought we were going to have to stop, but we drove on through it.  By this  time we were looking for somewhere to stay for the night.  We thought we should be able to drive into a town and find a hotel, but these towns were so small, and a little bit scary (bars on all the windows?)  so we kept on going. 

We were going through Cortez and really were about the only people on the street.  We noticed a cop on the side of the road and the next thing you know, she pulls out and turns on her lights.  Kelley doesn't speed.  He hasn't got a speeding ticket since  1987.  So we were pretty surprised when she walked up to the car and said Kelley was speeding. He was going 46 in what he thought was a 45 speed limit spot...but it was really a 35  speed limit there!  Ha!  Kelley told her he thought it was 45 but she said nope. Bless her heart, this lady must have been having a really slow night.  Anyway, she said she needed to go back to her car and we thought we were done for.  After about five minutes, she came back and hands Kelley a warning.  She said "I don't like to give out tickets on the Lords day"  So that was pretty awesome.

We eventually got to Albuquerque and found a nice place to stay.  We got on the road again about 9 and finally made it to Keli's by about 5.   Oh man It was so good to pull up in their driveway!  They have such a beautiful home and Keli and Bob were there to greet us.  We had a good visit and got to know Bob.  He is just the nicest man and Keli seems really happy with him.  I'm so glad she has found someone to share her life with.  He came from a real similar situation where his wife had passed away around the same time as Wayne died.

They have a very fat cat named Tinker and a weiner dog named Oscar that are very spoiled.

Tuesday morning we did some sight seeing.  Keli drove us to where Uncle Kelley's store used to stand

And where their old house used to be...

This was Rhoda Bell and LeRoy's old house.    It still had a chicken coop full of chickens

Kelley hadn't been to Oklahoma for about 40 years so most everything was pretty different.  Him and Keli remenisced about the places they used to go to and the way things used to be.

We went to the cemetary to see where grandmas relatives were buried and after some good searching, found all the headstones. 

 

 

 

 

We went to a barbeque place called Van's for lunch and had a pulled pork sandwhich that was probably the best I've ever tasted.  It's a fun place with pictures all over the walls.  Keli's picture was there as one of the cheerleaders when she was in high school.  What a cutie!  You could sure tell that was her...she hasn't aged a bit!

Later that afternoon, Keli took us up to their cabin by the lake.  This was so cool!  It was just like something you'd see in the movies. 

It had two other buildings there by the cabin.  One was a nice big garage, and the other was like an extension of their cabin.  It had bedrooms, a living room and a little kitchen.  They can fit their whole family up there if they need to and thats really saying something cause  between the two families and all the extended family, there are a lot! 

Keli had everything decorated so cute!

We walked down to the lake and it really was kind of magical.

This was on the porch out back.  It really was a dream house.

Aren't they the cutest.  Kelley and Keli have always been close.  It was fun to hear stories about how he used to tease her...and he still does...like the sister he never had.

We went to visit Keli's dad.  He is quite a character.  We had a nice visit with him.  It's neat to see how they are all so involved in each others lives and really look out for each other.  I have a feeling Keli is a big part of keeping the family together.

This was the swimming pool where they used to spend a lot of the summer afternoons.  Kelley said it looked a lot like it did 40 years ago.

Tuesday night, Keli had planned a barbeque with all their family.  It was really fun to meet Bob's kids and their families. They were all so friendly.   it was great to get to visit with Suzanne and Chuck too.  Suzanne is an excellent seamstress and made these cute outfits for Bob's granddaughter and her American girl doll.  She showed me some other really cute outfits she had made for their  girls American girl dolls.

We went to the funnest place for lunch.  It was an Amish Resturaunt, bakery, deli, store.  After lunch, we browsed through the store and ended up getting a whole box of different kinds of fudge.  It was pretty wonderful fudge and the little breads Keli got were delicious!

Keli and Bob taught us how to play ladder golf and we had a fun evening playing, then eating dinner out on their patio and visiting.  It was so nice and warm there.  I don't mind the humidity at all.  Later that night Austin called and said he had seen some deer out in the yard so we got flashlights and went out to see if we could see them.  There were eight just  moseying through their yard.  It was a beautiful night with a full moon so we could see the deer without the flashlights.

Tinker liked just sitting right on my feet.

On Wednesday we drove to Oklahoma City.  It's a couple of hours away from Shawnee. Suzanne came over and went with us. We went to see the Oklahoma city bombing memorial.  It was kind of a rainy day and seemed appropriate for the somber mood we felt at this sad place.

The actual memorial building  was closed for renovation but we could watch a video about it in the gift shop and walk around the grounds.  It was really sad to see how much devistation this caused.

While we were in Oklahoma city, I thought it would be nice to go see the Oklahoma city temple.  We googled it and found the address.  It was NOT in Oklahoma city.  It was quite a ways away in a town called Yukon.  Keli was fine to go there, but I probably wouldn't have asked her to go if I had known how far away it was.  Anyway, it was nice to see it.  I was surprised to see how small it is.  Probably the smallest temple I've seen.

After we went and visited JoRene's husband Lyle.  He was in a really nice assisted living home.  He was great to talk to and had some cool stories to tell about the war. It was sweet to see how Keli care for him and does so much for him to make him comfortable.  When she was out of the room, he said he didn't know what he would do without her.

Then we went to visit "uncle George"  (I'm still trying to figure out where all these people fit into Kelley's family.)  He was great to visit with too.  After a while, he said he wanted to show us his new toy in the garage.  We went out there and he had a real cool old roadster that had been rebuilt.  It was pretty cool and he was rightly proud of it. 

We went back to the cemetary later the next day  to see if we could find Roxie and Kelley's headstone.  We had looked all over when we were there before but couldn't find it but after visiting with George, he told us right how to get to it.

These are special people in Kelley's life and he has endless stories to tell about them and their family trips to Oklahoma to visit these good folks.  I'm so glad we were able to spend this time with them and that I got to see and feel a little bit of what he's been talking about.  Keli is one of those people who is just a pleasure to be with. She took such good care of us and really showed us a good time.  She had so much going on with Jason's wedding reception coming up this week, but she took the time to entertain us for four days. Sure do love her and appreciate her kindness and hospitality.

A few more pictures from our trip home...we took a different route...up through Wichita Kansas and Nebraska..then Wyoming. it was actually very beautiful.  I loved all the miles and miles of endless corn. I also loved having this time to spend with just Kelley and I.  We had hours and hours to talk and laugh and (even now after 36 years) learn new things about each other. Feel blessed to have this good man for my life long and on to eternity road trip companion.

Wyoming...not so much

But when we got into Utah, I was sure filled with a great love for our beautiful state.  The mountains are so pretty right now...this picture doesn't do them justice.  The leaves are turning and the colors are so bright...a stark difference from Wyoming's bland countryside. I'm sure it has more beautiful places than just the side of the road that I could see, but it's hard to beat Utah's beauty.  It's good to be home.