Home again

It seems like the past 6 months, or 5 years for that matter, have been spent working toward a calendar date or goal and now we've passed that. We knew when Mr. Studly and Betz got married that this day would happen sometime. And sometime is here and gone - and so are they. Jay & I left PA Wednesday, July 15 with their Trailblazer pulling a U-Haul packed with their remaining possessions. We made a stop at Omaha, NE to attend the annual AAMP convention (American Assoc. of Meat Processors).

Some of the processors from PA.

Then we headed across South Dakota towards Montana. We traveled through miles and miles of construction. I declare they are replacing every single bridge from the east coast to the west coast.

Mr. Studly and Betz seem to enjoy taking pictures of each other driving so we thought we'd join the tradition on this trip.

We got within an hour of our destination late Friday night and the car died. It's midnight and it's blacker then the inside of a cow but there are a few little lights up ahead and the car coasts towards them. Plans were originally made for Mr. Studly and Betz to meet us along this two lane road (this one is still paved) but 20 minutes down the road further. A phone call had them on their way. We hunkered in and waited. Occasionally a teeny, tiny light would appear waaaaaay down the road. It never turned or swerved, rose or fell - it only slowly grew bigger the closer it got. Jay timed it from from the time he first caught a glimpse of a light until the car/truck would pass and it was 3 minutes (75 mph speed limit). Don't think we have any roads in PA that are that straight. A little more then an hour later the kids found us both fast asleep. Hooked the trailer up to the truck and headed for the ranch. The paved road lasted about 20 minutes and the remaining ride back was on gravel road that turned, twisted, and wound around and was anything but smooth. There were no lights, no neat little reflectors in the middle of the road to show you where you are on the road and nothing to see except what the headlights allowed. We spooked some deer a few times and oodles of birds that were sleeping on the ground. Finally some lights from the ranch appeared in the distance and we crawled into bed at 3:00 am.

Awoke the next morning and finally got to see what a very different way of life looks like.