3000 miles in 12 days

The end of June 2007, Matt, Andrea and Joe piled in the blue windstar - well, first they took the back bench seat out and folded down one of the passenger-captain-chairs, loaded in everything but the kitchen sink (including Joe's bike, Matt's golf clubs, Andrea's wedding gifts that she wanted to show her family, and a case of wine from the Columbia Winery that they were going to 'smuggle' into Wyoming - it seems there's a certain kind of wine that they don't export ... anyway ... ) the van was BRILLIANT! They had a roof top carrier but according to Matt there would be too much drag - the van would lose it's aerodynamic design if they put it on top - causing them to use more gas!! So everything went inside and they were quite comfortable! DVD player screen positioned for Joe and they were off! Friday night they drove through the night and arrived in West Yellowstone Saturday morning. The only way to Cody, WY from this side of Yellowstone is either around the park ... or through it. Justin and his family drove down from Great Falls, MT and met them and they all spent the weekend going through Yellowstone National Park. They spent 12 hours in Yellowstone on Sunday and can't wait to go back!! Joe LOVED the Geysers!

They arrived Sunday night late at the Gillespies in Cody. Cody, WY - Population 10,000 grows to 300,000 in the summer time due to the fact that it's the east enterance to Yellowstone National Park and everyone headed to Yellowstone must pass through Cody to get there. Monday morning was the Cody 4th of July Kid's Parade! Andrea's cousin, Jenelle, decorated Joe's bike so he could ride in the parade with her kids Sarah and Reece, Taylor (Justin's daughter) and Chantz (Johner's son). Joe's just learning to ride a 2 wheeler and hasn't mastered it quite yet (Matt followed him at a slow jog the entire length of the parade route) ... he only fell once but it was a doozie - mid-parade, he lost control and SPLAT! The crowd let out a gasp of concern to which Joe quickly jumped up, hands raised, and announced, "I'm alright!"


It was HOTTER THAN HADES so Andrea, Matt, Joe and all the cousins cooled themselves at the ONE pool in town down at the KOA campground. They hung out on the porch with the 'Clampets', went to an old western gunshow at the Irma Hotel, stopped into the Gillespies consignment shop that they bought last spring "Mountain Made Treasures", watched the 4th of July Parade go down Cody's main drag, had a BBQ at Jenelle's house and played in the sprinkler, went to a rodeo (where they let Joe be the photographer for a little bit and got 15 shots of the giant Coke bottle!), watched the sunset and lit fireworks!

They left Cody on Thursday, drove all day and arrived at Lusk, WY - a small ranching community in eastern Wyoming where Bob and Polly Johnson live. The Johnson's are Dee's parents, Dee is one of Andrea's good friends - they met just after Dee's husband accidentally rear-ended her and she was referred to Andrea's healing hands! They spent the weekend at the Johnson's ranch. Joe played with the filthy dogs (they LOVED him), in the sprinkler clown, with a peeing frog, and fed the wild 'Y' cow a barley cake!

Monday morning they packed it in and drove the 800 miles from Lusk, WY to Missoula, MT with the promise that Joe could swim at the hotel when they got there ... They finally arrived at 9:30pm and the pool closed at 10 ... Joe went to bed sad but without a fight because it opened promptly at 7:00 the next morning! They played in the pool and Joe got to go down the slide!!


They drove from Missoula to Spokane where they left Joe with is maternal Grandparents then Matt and Andrea headed into the sunset on their way home.


The 3000 miles were filled with many sights, sounds, heat and laughs! It was a GREAT time had by all!!