Our National Road Trip 2007

For those with interest and endurance, here is the chronicle of our roadtrip across the United States.

July 15th: Goodbye Virginia

We got off to a late start because Andy sliced the back of his hand on the moving truck just as we were tying up the load and getting ready to leave. Having no place to clean up and attend his wound, we headed over to the Lovelady’s who were not expecting to see us again before we left. Luke administered some top notch Boy Scout First Aid and Jon was concerned about the depth of the wound, thinking that stitches may be in order. A phone call and a car ride later we showed up at the front steps of the Caulkins’ home for a little look over with the doctor. In the end no stitches were necessary as some scotch tape and a little superglue did the trick. We were back on the road in no time and managed to make it to a hotel in Buckley, WV that night.

July 16th-17th: Hello Grandma

The next day was a long driving day all the way to St. Louis. There we met up with Katie’s 96 year old grandmother. She showed us around the assisted living center and snuck us on her brand new walker for a couple of rides. She was proud of the walker that let her get around faster (and she was fast) but would not take it out of the center on any trips for fear of getting it dirty. She brought her old cane for these errands. We found out that she had gotten in trouble from the staff for giving rides to other residents on her walker. We stayed with grandma two nights and saw a few of Katie’s cousins and an aunt.

July 18th: Kansas is a Long State

The next morning began the longest single day of our journey and it was a tough one. We traveled through Missouri and Kansas and half of Colorado before collapsing at a Motel 6 in Denver. The temperature in Kansas must have approached 100 degrees and hotter in the car with no A/C. We had frequent stops at gas stations to fill up on ice and cold drinks that we held close to our bodies to keep us a little cooler. We stopped in Clay Center, Kansas to visit our friends Grant and Suzanne who moved there from Chicago a couple years ago to pastor a Covenant church there. We only had a couple of hours with them. We ate lunch and had a quick tour of the town and their church and we were on our way.



July 19th – 21st: Colorado Part I-Rocky Mountain National Park

We woke up in one of the less flattering Motel 6s we had ever seen or imagined, but the day ahead was an exciting one. We traveled through Boulder up to Estes Park just outside the Northeast entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. After lunch and a little looking around we headed into the park south to Longs Peak campground. Here we found a small camping area, about 26 sites in all, and pitched our tent. A little later, our friends Megan and Amy joined us who flew into Denver earlier that day from Seattle and San Francisco respectively. Our plan was to camp two nights and then climb Longs Peak, one of the Rockies most popular “fourteeners”, known for its non-technical trail to the peak. Our campground was above 9,000 feet leaving us under 5,000 feet to climb. The two nights we stayed were partially designed to help us acclimatize and avoid altitude sickness. On the second evening we were further joined by 2 more friends, this time from Greeley, CO. Nate had been in a men’s small group with Andy at Western Washington University in Bellingham back in 2000. He and his wife Jackie camped with us and joined us on the Longs Peak journey.

The morning of the 21st we awoke at 2:30am in order to be on the trail by 3:00am. We had to summit and return down below tree-line (which is pretty low when you start at 9,000 feet) before 3pm and the daily afternoon thundershowers arrived. The trail was crowded and we were above tree-line just in time for a beautiful sunrise. After about 7 hours of climbing we reached The Keyhole, a notched piece of rock along the ridgeline of the mountain providing spectacular views and a turning point in the hike. Here Megan turned back and the Mutz’ and the Withrow’s debated continuing on. After hiking for another hour we all had to turn back due to time and altitude sickness. The retreat down the mountain was a tough one for us as we suffered some symptoms including nausea, headaches, neck cramps (Katie couldn't turn her neck) and all around hurt!

That night we rested and ate some burritos which made us all feel much better.

The Keyhole

July 22nd – 24th: Colorado Part II- Desert Colorado

The next morning we said goodbye to the Mutz’ and packed up our tents and headed to Colorado Springs. There we stayed in a hotel and hiked at Helen Hunt falls. On the 23rd we went to Garden of the Gods and saw some amazing sandstone formations. The next morning we saw some caverns and then headed down to the Arkansas River where we met back up with the Mutz’ and went white water rafting.

July 25th – 26th: Montana Part I- Andy's Early Childhood

Megan and Amy both caught flights out of Denver on the 25th and we headed north towards Montana. We stayed the first night in Wyoming and drove all of the next day. The evening of the 26th we drove into Fairview, Montana, a small town of a couple hundred just on the border with North Dakota and also the early childhood home of Andy. Despite a 24 year absence Andy remembered many details from Fairview and nearby Sydney including the Presbyterian church his dad pastored, one of a few houses, and a childhood favorite pizza place (Happy Joe’s – now The Depot). That night we spent in Williston, ND.

Andy shaved in honor of his dad who used to be the pastor in town. He looked like Kip from Napolean Dynamite.

July 27th - 29th: Montana Part II- Glacier National Park

This morning we returned to Fairview to look for some folks who would remember Andy. We found Doris Taylor who was a good friend of the family and remembered Andy and told a few good stories. Then we left for Glacier National Park, which was on the opposite side of the state making for a long day of driving. We stopped at a few dinosaur sites along the way and then stayed the night outside of Havre, MT in an RV/camping park. The next morning we drove the rest of the way to GNP and set up camp at St. Mary’s campground. We snuck in a short hike before sunset and came within sight of a glacier, a number of mountain goats and big horn sheep. We were surprised to see mountain goats on the trail right up close and seemingly paying no attention to us. On the 29th we drove a ways north and hiked to Grinell Glacier. It was a long hike of a little over 5 miles each way. We passed by three lakes, all of which were glacially fed and ascended further right up to the glacier itself. There we ate and took a long nap before heading back down. It was beautiful. On the way down we turned a bend and walked right into a small herd of bighorn sheep who, like the goats from the day before, cared little about us.

These are the 3 lakes we hiked along.

Andy napping next to the glacier.

July 30th-31st: Back Home

We woke up on the 30th, a Sunday, and went to a worship service in the park. There were about a dozen park visitors in attendance. After worship we packed up and headed west. We drove all day through Montana, Idaho and Washington. That evening we stayed with Katie’s family in Wenatchee. The next morning we left early and made it to Vancouver, BC. We were excited about our new home on Inverness St. and we settled in over the next several days as we moved all of our belongings in from the ABF truck.

We had finally made it home.