Bon Voyage party

A BIG THANK YOU to Mom and Dad for the wonderful backyard BBQ/Bon Voyage party on Saturday. A good portion of the Joiner clan was there and we really enjoyed seeing everyone. There were a few tears on Sunday morning, but fewer from Mom than Bob and I predicted!! I only cried till the end of Greenvalley Road and when we called later in the morning, a yellow jacket had stung Mom on the foot and took her mind off our leaving. We are already looking forward to seeing them in October when they come out for a visit!

Our good friends Betty and Jim Watson also had us over for dinner before we left. And sent us off with a box of cookies for the road - they are almost gone!

We spent a couple of days in Louisville visiting John and Carrie Bachman and little Jack. They took us to a winery just over the Indiana state line and we enjoyed a bottle of wine over lunch. Huber Winery and Farms is pretty cool - they have a large produce selection and you can pick your own peaches, apples, blueberries, blackberries, etc. It was so nice to see them and miss being able to get in a few games of euchre!

We left Louisville and hit the road yesterday morning. This post is being written somewhere in western Wyoming. So here is the list of states we've been through:
Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Georgia, Tennessee (not a typo), Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming. Utah will added in about 100 miles. There's not much out here...but here are some things we know for sure...

1. They don't call it the Cornhusker state for nothing. You can't imagine all the corn that is grown in Nebraska and that's just what we saw from the highway.
2. It is still possible to drive across the US and keep you gas costs under $4 a gallon - at least this week. We're not sure what caused the price of gas to drop, but are very grateful!
3. The St. Louis Arch is as tall as it is wide. Please see new poll question...
3. Wyoming, after the Snowy Mountain Range, it's all pretty much the same.

There was a major accident on the I-80 outside of Laramie, so we made a U-turn and decided to backroad it over the Snowy Mountain Range. It put us back a couple of hours, but the scenery was beautiful. And it lived up to it's name...there was snow! Mo loved it and promptly climbed right up on a mound of snow and relieved herself - by the way, don't eat yellow snow!

Several pictures follow and we will post some photos of the Snellville party as soon as we can...

There is one story we haven't told from Snellville yet, and we do have pictures now. When you apply for an alcohol license, there is a FBI background check that requires fingerprinting. We had to get this done in Snellville. So we went up to the SPD. They were very happy to accomodate, and we asked if they minded us having a camera to take some photos. The lady said 'sure, come on back to the jail'. The 'jail' was a small room with two rooms off from it (no bars like on Andy Griffith, though). She told us we could also get a mug shot of Bob...GO CrimiNOLES!!


Fingerprinting is not as messy as it used to be - it's all electronic and really neat:


The lady also wanted to but Bob in the back of a cruiser to make another picture for the blog...thankfully, they were all out cruising Snellville and none were available for a photo shoot.

Okay, here are some photos from our drive over the past couple of days...

It was Bob's first time to see the St. Louis Arch!






They also grow alot of hay in Nebraska. This is just west of Sidney, NE where the Cabela's World HQ is.


When we got off the highway in Wyoming, this was the scenery:


We are standing on a pile of snow at the top of the Snowy Mountain Range just outside Laramie, WY...the same pile of snow that is now partially yellow...




Couldn't resist this pic - they are both so cute!