Happy. Healthy. Heathen.

Crappy internet and late night hanging with the children = no blog yesterday.  I’ll try to cram 2 days into one with this quick post.

Yesterday morning found us waking up in Ft. Reno, Oklahoma, still heading west.  This day we covered the rest of Oklahoma, the tippy part of the hat of Texas, a corner of New Mexico, and then our lovely Colorado.

After a quick stop to see Sam’s new place, we all walked over to the Boathouse Restaurant where we waited for Sam to finish work for the day.

After dinner and lots of Colorado microbrews, we hung out at Sam’s house a while longer, and then finally all crashed after a long day of traveling (us), working (Sam), and playing (Ben and Kirsten).

Morning found us all at breakfast overlooking the Arkansas River.  Sam had to work again, so we got to see his workplace in the River Management Office (although his actual workspace is the 150 miles of the river, since he patrols the river every day).  Then we took a stroll through town, checking out gear stores and art galleries and a coffee shop or two.

Next, because it’s Memorial Day weekend, there was Bluegrass in the Park for most of the day.  We laid out a couple of quilts, and talked, and drank, and read (I really and truly studied Evidence), and listened to music.  We had Ben and Kirsten’s two honeys with us, two black labs, River and Suzie.  Lying there in the sun, listening to my children’s voices, at the base of the mountain, in the quaint little town of Salida, Colorado, I just don’t remember being so happy.

After Sam got off work, he and Ben played in the river with their kayaks while we enjoyed a libation in the restaurant overlooking the play hole (their words, not mine).  Then it was off to a fabulous pizza place, where we all agreed to the phone game, so I have no pics of that meal.  (8 phones, ringers on, stacked face down on the table; first one who responds to a text or call pays the check.  No one lost.)

Tomorrow is another day in paradise.  No agenda yet, but does that even matter??

Thanks for reading!

Our day started around 5:30 with coffee and showers, and we hit the road by 7.

I started out driving, we stashed Glenda in the back, and off we went.

Our first 4 hours was spent just getting to the western edge of Tennessee, past Memphis.  We chatted about their childhood toys, crazy-ass drivers, feminism, the US criminal justice system including prison, traveling and its importance, our weird affinity for airport terminals, drunk-sobbing, the Lewis and Clark expedition, the deplorable state of our food supply and America’s eating habits, mainstream advertising, the horrifying nature of tarantula hawks, and that was just the first leg.

After Memphis, we took on Arkansas.  We stopped for gas just outside Little Rock:

We hit a lull just as we were getting to the Oklahoma border.

Conversation picked back up again on the last push into Oklahoma City.  New topics included guinea worms, philanthropy at what price, death by drowning in the context of Noah’s Ark, the surprising audacity of a billboard for a buffet at a restaurant called “Chair Crushers”, the Swedish chef, child discipline techniques, the absolute magic of books, the concept of checking your privilege, and school lunches.

We came in to our hotel to the sound of Busta Rhyme, checked in, and headed right back out to the nearest restaurant.  We’d been snacking on nuts and cheese and fruit in the car all day, so we were glad to sit down to chips, salsa, and beer.

I can’t end this entry without telling about the experience we had just as we were finishing dinner.  All 3 of us saw, well, really, one of the biggest bugs we’d ever seen…crawl across the floor at the restaurant.  To be fair, it was NOT a roach – it was a giant beetle, with long legs, rather slow, black – not exactly a rhinoceros beetle, but big and black and shiny.  We tried to get his picture, but he scurried under a high chair and we lost him.  Remember the family motto:  Life is an adventure.

Tomorrow – our boys!  Eliott is flying in to Denver and driving to meet us, Ben and Kirsten are already at Sam’s house.  Next blog from Salida, Colo-rippin-rado!

Thanks for reading!

And just like that, Road Trip!

Sweet daughter Amy has her summer work lined up:  she’s been hired as the sea kayak instructor at Camp Orkila on Orcas Island in Washington.  She has moved out of her college apartment in Johnson City, packed her car full of her stuff, and she’s gotten as far as Murfreesboro on her way.

Brother #2 is located, for his summer work, in Salida, Colorado, where he is employed as a River Ranger on the Arkansas River.  Handily, Salida is on Amy’s route to the great northwest.

Brother #1 is between semesters at CU Boulder, and will be in Salida with his girlfriend Kirsten for a few days of recreation.

See what’s happening here?  When any two of my kids are together I pine to be with them.  When 3 of them are together, I can’t be kept away.  And when all 4 are together — fugeddaboutit.  And with sister Glenda on the Memorial Day weekend break, this is one of those times.  Away go the textbooks, out goes the call for the house-sitter, pack a quick bag, and off we go!

6am departure time tomorrow.  3 Jordan women, 1300 miles (to Salida).  Friday night:  Oklahoma City.  Saturday night:  Salida, where the boys will be waiting.

Look for an update tomorrow night, from somewhere in the midwest.  We’ve done the St. Louis/Kansas route so many times on the way out to snowski, that this time we think we’ll take the southern tour across Oklahoma.

Here we go!  Thanks for reading!