Day 27

Our final day in Cadott, WI and probably the one we will remember the best.

We saw Craig Campbell, Lee Brice, Kellie Pickler, Big & Rich, Cowboy Troy, and Keith Urban today. We were able to go on a backstage tour and watch Kellie from the wing of the stage. We also had a meet and greet with Big & Rich and Cowboy Troy. Cowboy Troy is huge.

Fun day and tomorrow we're off to Northern Wisconsin or the Western UP of Michigan...depending how far Zed wants to drive.

Funny outfit of the day:
A ton of matching outfits, but the best was a group of moms dressed like hula dancers.

Til tomorrow

Two Days in One

Day 25
We saw Chris Cagle, Easton Corbin, Billy Currington, and Sugarland Friday night. We also started to see some interesting drunk people. A group of guys walked past us all dressed in kimonos with flip flops. About 2min later another man walked past us in a kimono, but wearing Geta sandals as well. We're enjoying watching the people.

                                              

Day 26
Yesterday was fun. Because we had made friends with the VIP booth we were able to get meet and greet passes for Joe Nichols. He's a tall guy. We saw Steve Holy, Phil Vassar, Joe Nichols, Band Perry and Brad Paisley all preform. It was another great night of country music. The most interesting outfit of the day was people dressed as Scooby Doo characters.


Today is our final day in Cadott (pronounced Kah-Dot), WI. We're hoping to get a back stage tour and more meet and greets. I'll try to get pictures from the past few days up tomorrow morning.

Day 24

We've been married for 4wks today and we haven't killed each other yet :) We're doing great and loving the time we have together now before we split at the end of July.

We started the day off with driving over into Minnesota and went to the temple outside St. Paul. It was another mini temple, our 5th temple total, and our 4th time being the witness couple. We're loving being able to attend and do sessions so often. Once at our bases we'll be about 3hrs away from the nearest temple, something we're not used to when the Denver Temple we went to frequently because it was so close.

We came back to the camper and relaxed for a few hours before we showed up to Country Fest 2012. The Line up for today was Rodney Atkins, Sara Evans and Dierks Bentley.

We're off to bed, plan on sleeping in and doing laundry before going back to Fest for another full day of country music.

Funny Sign of the Day:
Buy your Beer, Liquor, Knives, and Fireworks here....I feel like it's not safe to sell those together

Picture Time

Side Notes that I've forgotten....

- In Chicago I introduced Zed to Shirley Temples...part grenadine and part Sprite

- Zed and I had are first matching day...we both walked out in khaki shorts and Race for the Cure T-shirts without noticing what the other was putting on

- We drove through Oregon, Illinois and Altamont, MO. Oregon is where Zed is from and Altamont (Utah) is where Zed's dad grew up. 

Day 23

WAHOOO! We have internet once again. I will do a picture post as soon as I can...either tonight or tomorrow morning.

This morning we went to Noah's Ark water park. It's free for military for the month of June so it was cheap fun. We did every slide and finished in the lazy river. We played from 10am (opening of park) to 1pm.

We then hopped in the truck and started driving to Cadott, WI. We will be living here for 5 days while we attend Country Fest 2012. It is 4 days of one country singer after the next. We got reserved lawn chair tickets so we'll have a guaranteed spot every day and we get to keep the chair when it's all over.

http://countryfest.com/lineup

Tomorrow's big star is Dierks Bentley.


Funny sign of the day:
Well, it wasn't so much the sign, but Zed's reaction to it...
Sign 1: Construction in 10 miles
Zed: "BOOOO"
Sign 2: Construction for next 10 miles
Zed: "Double Boo, man this stinks"

Day 22

We went to the Chicago Temple this morning for a session and then continued our trip north.

We crossed over the Wisconsin boarder and ended in Wisconsin Dells in another state park.

Tomorrow we're going to a water park that's free for military and then driving to Cadott, WI where we'll be staying for 5 days for a country fest.

Funny sign of the day:
Signs for ski slopes in Wisconsin when there are no hills.

Day 21

So we began the morning by exploring the campground. Well, Zed explored and I ran the beach.

We're both enjoying having no school work and doing so by reading a ton.

We did our laundry and then caught a train into Chicago. It was my first train ride and I spent half of it reading and the other half sleeping. I can fall asleep just about anywhere, anytime of the day and that's always been the case.

We took a water taxi to Navy Pier and went to a USO sponsored Craig Morgan concert. Since we're in the Windy City the gusts picked up to over 50mph so it was brought inside to air conditioning.

There weren't too many people there and we were front and center. We got his pick and it was our favorite concert so far.

We're currently back on the water taxi on our way to catch our hour and a half train ride back. Another fun day and almost at the one month mark of being married.

Tomorrow we're doing a session in the Chicago Temple and ending up somewhere in Wisconsin.

Day 20

Happy Father's Day to Jeff, Stacy, Lee, Jim, David, and Wayne!

Sorry it's a day late.

This day was all about going fast.

We woke up, loaded up, and drove to Gurnee, IL. We pulled into Six Flags Great America and proceeded to ride every coaster in the park.

We got stuck on one when it broke down, but besides that it was pretty uneventful. We went from one line to the next and none had a very long wait.

We also snagged Father's Day discount tickets and got a free all you can eat meal along with reduced ticket prices. No Zed is not a father, the deal was open to anyone who found it on the internet.

We stopped at a state park for The night that's right on Lake Michigan. Awesome little park with tons of trails and my favorite thing...the beach!

Day 19

So this day was a relax and run errands day. Zed is totally switched over to Verizon now, took a little while. We also had a nice dinner out and saw a movie.

Madagascar 3 was really funny we thought.

We spent our last night at the casino.

Day 18 Part 2

So we made it to Chicago! We're parked at a casino because it's the cheapest around surprisingly.

We headed in to the city where Zed was quickly immersed in city driving. It went well but I learned why exactly we will never be living near a large city if he can control it.

We experienced something nice today...(total for both of us)
Price of parking $22
Price of Field Museum $22
Price of Shedd Aquarium $27
Price of Willis (Sears) Tower $37
Water Taxi $44

All we actually paid of that was the parking. All of the other were free for military. The neat thing was we didn't ask for the discount, they saw our Air Force clothes and gave it to us. What we expected to be our most expensive stop was one of our cheapest.

We also ran into the USO on Navy Pier and were given free tickets to a Craig Morgan concert on Monday night. Pretty successful day we think.

We're driving back to the camper currently and Zed is amazed that there is still heavy traffic at 11pm.

Tomorrow I think we're doing a session at the Chicago Temple and then possibly the beach or 6 flags.

Funny sign of the day:
License plate of an emergency vet car... VAX N 8

Day 18 Part 1

So this morning, got up and went on a run through Nauvoo and saw where Joseph and his family were buried.

We're currently on the road to Joliet, Illinois where we'll be spending a few days to explore Chicago. We'll also be hitting Six Flags.

We're both doing great. Married life is going well. The morning runs are really helping us get any pent up frustration out so we don't take it out on each other. We're up to 111 honks and still have yet to experience rain to wash it off.

We hope our families and friends are doing well.

Day 17

Caught up once again.

We went on a wagon ride that drove throughout old Nauvoo and pointed out all the historic buildings.

We followed the same route by foot and went in many of the buildings to learn what life was like. Zed's favorite was the Browning home and shop. Same Browning known for guns. We stopped in the school house where Sister Knudson was and the black smith shop where Brother Knudson was.

We also went to Carthage where Joseph Smith was killed. That was the most interesting thing for me.

Another cool thing we got to do was go to the land and record office and look up ancestors of Zed's that lived in Nauvoo. We found quite a few and were able to put all their documents on a CD to read through later.

We were able to see another musical put on by one third of the missionaries serving in Nauvoo, Knudson's were part of it.

No funny sign for the Day, but something interesting...the people from the show Sister Wives were in Nauvoo this day, yesterday, wanting to do some filming, but no cameras were seen.

Day 16

We woke up early and drove to Nauvoo. We parked in a state park and then headed to the temple and did another session. We were the witness couple, so that made it really special.

We then went to the visitors center in historic Nauvoo. We saw a musical put on by young missionaries.

Later in the evening we saw a musical put on by the senior missionaries. We were able to see Zed's scout master and wife perform. After we got to spend a little bit of time talking to them before heading to see the BYU ballroom dancers perform. They're undefeated for the past 30 years world wide.

Funny sign of the day:
A funeral home had a large sign on the building stating "Now selling duck blinds!"

Day 15

Well, I guess I should catch you all up. I have 222 miles until our next stop. We've been crazy busy the past few days.

So Tuesday we started our church packed days. We won't have this much church interaction again until New York.

We did sessions at the brand new Kansas City temple. We then drove to Winter Quarters, Iowa and did a session at that temple. We also toured the sites there from when the Mormon pioneers stayed there after being driven from nauvoo.

We drove past Mount Pisgah and Garden Grove. Both are historical LDS sites.

We drove until 1am and stopped along side the road to get some sleep.

Funny sign of the Day:
A billboard advertising for their company's cremations only costing $875...first time either of us had seen that type of advertisement

Correction

Two and a half weeks until the Michigan reception not one and a half

Day 14

Wahoo! All caught up!

So today we slept in and took care of errands. We did laundry, mailed thank yous, and Zed took care of a father's day gift.

Most important thing we did was switch Zed from at&t to Verizon. He is currently playing with his first ever smart phone and he's loving it. He got the Droid razr max and is excited about the long battery life. He is surprised at how fast it is, he's mentioned probably ten times in the past five minutes.

Tomorrow we're off to Omaha to see more Mormon sites. We're going to stop by the newest LDS temple in the world first and do a session.

We have a week and a half until the Michigan reception and we're getting excited to see more family.

Sorry there are no funny signs or pictures. As soon as we have internet through our computers I'll do another picture post.

Day 13

So yesterday, Sunday, we found a nearby ward and went to church. Everyone was hoping we were new and not just visiting.

We then went to the brothers of the sun concert. Jake Owen, Grace Potter, Tim McGraw, and Kenny Chesney all performed. It was a long but fun concert.

Day 12

Sorry these are so late. We don't have internet where we're staying and haven't had time to do it over the phone.

Saturday we drove to Kansas City, MO where we're staying in a state park.

We saw more Mormon sites. We stopped by Liberty Jail (Joseph Smith was held there for 4 months), then we went to Haun's Mill where many Mormons were killed by a mob, and our final stop was Adam-ondi- ahman.

We also went out to eat at a place we found through road side America. It's name is Frick's. There are 3 in the Kansas city area. The only service you get from I person is to be seated, brought your drinks, and to pay. You order food and drinks via telephone and your food is brought to you by train. All food is under $6 and it tastes pretty good. We highly recommend.

That's it for Saturday. Keep checking back, I'll get yesterday and today's up soon. Currently in the middle of cooking dinner.

Day 11

So tonight we went to our first concert of many.

We saw my darkest days, seether, bush, and nickelback. It was a 5 hour concert and super loud. We thought ahead and brought ear plugs thankfully.

Tomorrow we're continuing east and stopping near Kansas City and awaiting our next concert.

Funny sign:
Carlos O'Kelly's - a Mexican/Italian restaurant

The Picture Post

To make up for the lack of pictures from the past few days.

Fish in a fish fossil

Barbed Wire Museum

Ellinwood, KS Underground

Salt Mine Museum

 

Exotic Animal Farm

Drive-in Movie

Day 10

Sorry, no pictures for today. We took a ton, but we're currently in between two movies at a drive-in so I'm doing this from my phone.

This morning we woke up and started our day with an amazing run. We've got a little over a month until we report to our bases and want to make sure we're in shape.

We saw a Google maps car. It's pretty weird looking. It had a blue lollipop thing on top that was the camera.

We then went to an exotic animal farm. There was everything from ponies to kangaroos to zebras. We got to ride a camel and play with the baby animals.

We headed to wichita where I learned that my husband picks out clothes for me better than I do and he realized I pick out clothes pretty well for him.

We have named our garmin Jorge...today he tried to kill us. On our way to the theatre it directed us to turn left and then make an immediate right down the wrong way of a one way off ramp and on to the interstate. Thank you technology.

We've just finished watching men in black 3 and are waiting for the avengers to begin.

Tomorrow we will probably sleep in (we won't be back to the camper until 3) and will go on another amazing run or possibly one of zed's crazy work out routines.

Tomorrow is all about the nickelback concert. We're in the nose bleed section but that is ok with us.

Sorry no funny signs.

Day 9 continued

So I realized that I didn't post all the happenings of yesterday.

We toured the underground of ellinwood, ks. The underground stores ran for two miles, but the businesses only consisted of two bit blocks, both sides of the street, under the then wooden sidewalks. When prohibition was enforced the shops were shut down and forgotten. In '78 they were discovered once again. Since the city owns the sidewalks and everythinp underneath, they didn't want to be sued if someone got hurt while exploring down there. They began filling in the street, but one owner of a corner bought the rights to the sidewalk beneath her building and made the underground osha approved for safety in order to give tours. What we saw are the artifacts that were left down there at the time of prohibition. Nothing had been removed so it was quite an unique thing to see. I'll be sure to post some pictures of it tomorrow if possible.

I also forgot the funny sign of the day. Zed is finally liking the idea of the blog so we found two.

1st...a town called McCracken. Normally this isn't too funny, but zed burst in to a 10min conversation where he put "mc" in front of just about every word he said.

2nd...this is the one zed noticed...chubby pickle snack bar

Day 9

Today was a fun day. We started off by going to the Sternberg Museum and seeing a fossil of a fish within a fish. It is one of the most photographed fossils in the world. We also went through the barbed wire museum and post rock museum in LaCrosse, KS.

Our final stop of the day was at the underground salt mine museum. It was pretty neat. The entire thing was 650' below the ground. It showed mining operation through the years and explained how the actual salt had been formed millions of years ago.

We're sleeping in Hutchison, KS tonight and tomorrow I believe. Tomorrow's post is going to be an interesting one...camels in Kansas.

Day 8

Today was a fun day. We "slept in." Not really, we just crossed into the Central Time Zone yesterday so it seemed like we had.

Our most important thing from today is an added passenger that Zed discovered. He has named her Sasha and she is our mascot and newest member of the family. Though the pictures may look like he doesn't like her, he's just trying to act tough and unloving. He won her in one of those claw game machines.

We spent the majority of the morning in a place called the Pioneer's Museum. It was a 3 block piece of land documenting life in America from start to present. It is owned by Henry Warp and everything is owned. There were planes, trains and automobiles. There were also stoves, clothes, and toys. There is no way to adequately describe everything that we say. It took us 3hrs to get through the entire place. It's in Minden, NE.

We spent the afternoon exploring Fort Kearney, seeing the Great Platte River Arch that spans I-80 and hanging out with Vietnam vets at a military vehicle museum.

We ended tonight in Hays, KS and tomorrow we'll be stopping around Hutchison, KS or Wichita, KS where we will relax a few days until our Nickleback concert on Friday night.

No road signs for today.

We're up to 108 honks for love

Day 7

Another late one. We stayed in a Walmart parking lot in  Lexington, Nebraska so there was no internet and my phone was dead. Yesterday was probably also our hottest day so far, thankfully we had enough battery to run the fan and sleep under that.

So yesterday we saw a ton of different things and did a lot of driving. Some were a little out of the ordinary and others were common stops. We started off with Carhenge which is a tribute to Stonehenge in Europe. We stopped by shoe fence, saw a water tower designed as an UFO, saw the world's largest  plow and the best replica of a sod house.

We began the Mormon trail backwards. We started with Scottsbluff, saw Chimney Rock, the Courthouse and Jail Rocks, we passed by Frogs Head Bluff and finished at Windlass hill looking at wagon ruts.

Funny sign of the day:
Ogallala - town in Nebraska

We Decorated!

We're up to 47 honks...we started in Wyoming though so not too shabby

Day 6

Wahoo! Got one up on time.

Today was all about caving, or was supposed to be. Remember that crazy thunderstorm I talked about from last night? Well that storm decided to strike the Visitor Center at Jewel Cave. What that meant was 2 or 3 tours they put on during this time of the year were canceled because the elevator stopped working. The strike also took out the phones and credit card machines. How did it affect us? Well we had made reservations for 2 of the 3 tours, thankfully one of them was the one that was still running.

Since we had a lot more of the day free than we expected we went and explored the down towns of Keystone and Hill City. We then came back to the camper where Zed planned out the next leg of the trip and I wrote Thank You cards. If you have not received your's yet, I promise, it is coming. I'm about 1/2 way done and still working. They will all be mailed by the end of the month.

We also went on a paddle boat ride and went fishing. The latter was not successful. Now we sit and relax. This is the first night we have been in the camper and finished eating dinner by 8.

Sorry no funny road sign for today.

We take off tomorrow and are hoping to finish in Scotts Bluff or Fort Kearney Nebraska.