August 19. Ok, August 18. Really? August 17??

Today I learned I will leave home August 17, 2009. I must say the reality brought tears to my eyes. Days are passing too quickly, and the date keeps getting earlier. When I got my invitation, the date I was given was August 19^th. Then I got an e-mail saying I must report to staging in Washington, D.C., on August 18^th. I arranged travel accommodations today, which brought the date up to August 17^th. As a resident of (we’ll kindly say) a sparsely populated place, major airports are hard to come by. So, in order to make it to D.C. in time, I board a flight a day earlier. Let’s call it preparation for Kazakhstan. I think they’ve got wide open spaces without so many people and airports, too. Hey – since I’ll have a free morning in our nation’s capital, anybody got any suggestions?

Oh! And my flight itinerary is set for travel to Kazakhstan, too. I leave Washington, D.C., on August 19^th at 5:45pm. I board a 7 hour and 50 minute flight to Frankfurt. On August 20^th, I leave Frankfurt at 1:15pm for an 8 hour flight to Almaty. So, at 1:15am on August 21^st, I should be in Kazakhstan.

Yellowstone Vacation

In order to squeak in a vacation before wheat harvest started up, my parents and I took a long weekend trip to Yellowstone National Park. My parents honeymooned there thirty years ago and have fond memories of the beautiful scenery. (Yep, those are the only memories of which I care to be informed.) This is the hotel where they stayed back in 1979.

We stayed outside the park in West Yellowstone, Montana. This is the view from that hotel. Even there the scenery was beautiful!

With gorgeous weather, we truly enjoyed taking in various sights. I’m amazed at the diversity of the place. You’ve got steaming hot sulfur-water running into clear blue freshwater lakes and rivers. There are wide open meadows and mountains in the distance. Apparently those features are due to it being a huge blown-to-bits, but still active, volcano. The caldera (aka: crater formed when a volcano collapses or explodes really violently) is enormous – like, 1,500 square miles. And while I hope it doesn’t explode and, God forbid, change the landscape of beautiful Western Nebraska, it certainly is an area fraught with earthquakes. As many as 3,000 earthquakes per year are recorded. The most recent major earthquake was in 1959 – the year both of my parents’ families just happened to make trips to Yellowstone within the same summer. Although they were too young to have remembered a definitive year, the news of a big earthquake after their visits aids their memory in figuring out a timeline.

Anyway, no big earthquakes for us. But, boy, did we see bears! When you’re repeatedly told you won’t see bears, you tend to think you won’t. Quite on the contrary, we ended up seeing five! We saw a cinnamon black bear (I think), a black bear momma with two cubs, and another black bear. We also saw several elk (cows and bulls), a bald eagle (next to the nest in which we earlier saw an eaglet), a beaver, and lots of buffalo. I kept my eyes peeled for wildlife, but by far the best indicator were traffic jams. Everyone must stop and watch any animal they can see up close and personal, you know. I can’t say I blame them; I wanted to do the same. I was ticked when I missed a photo opp. for the momma bear because a park official insisted traffic keep moving. Dang it. At least I got a picture of one cub.

Ah! How could I forget – I got to stumble over a couple Russian words! I overheard a man say “nyet”, and then sheepishly asked what language he was speaking. (The place is packed with foreign tourists, speaking all sorts of languages.) I really lit up when he said Russian, but in that instant, the few Russian words I’ve learned vanished. At first, I couldn’t even say hello. Now there’s motivation to keep studying…

On our way home, we went through Grand Teton National Park. We stopped by a self-guided tour of one of the first people to settle in the area. He had quite the view...

We also stopped in Jackson, WY. In their town square, they've got four archways made of elk antlers. The antlers have been collected by the Boy Scouts. Quite the place!

Headed Home

Two weeks ago I finished packing up my room at Rawhide to begin my journey home (aka, Nebraska). Thank goodness for Kaitlyn’s help. If she hadn’t packed up half my room, I could still be there, trying to figure out how tightly everything would fit. See, I was bound and determined to fit everything in my Toyota Corolla. Problem is, I moved to Wisconsin in a minivan. While I may not be a chronic packrat, I still managed to accumulate stuff while there. So, after a worried / frustrated call home (can’t mothers fix everything, even through a phone?!), I decided I would indeed not be able to fit it all. May God pour many blessings on friends who have room in their basement. :)

On July 3^rd, I started off with what could be my last cheese blintzes from Blueberry Hill Pancake House and a Starbucks drink made specially by my dear friend Molly. I’d need some good food and drink for the 1000 mile drive. With minimal stops, I made it (in around 15 hours) for the last bit of Sidney’s Third of July fireworks. (Someone should tell the city about the holiday we celebrate on July 4^th.) You could say I’d had enough time behind the wheel for a while. But by golly, I was home, and I’m glad to be here.

Goodbyes Galore

Some aspects of leaving a place are pretty darn enjoyable. Typical patterns seem to include people being obliged to compliment you when you leave somewhere and after you die. I like the former, because then you’re there to hear it. At Rawhide, complimentary goodbyes can take the form of fellowship time at a Youth Homes Meeting, a going-away dinner, or an open house farewell time. On my last day, I got to enjoy all three! Rawhide folks are great. Seeing people turn out for an open house was really wonderful. I joked with my guys that only two people would show up. Frankly, I was curious to see if anyone would come… and they did! I was also pretty pumped that three of my guys had written and then read poems to me as a part of my going-away dinner. They may often prefer to destroy things, but they sure have a sweet side, too. :) So, let’s be honest. My last day wasn’t filled with all sorts of hard work, per se, but I’ll treasure fond memories of July 1, 2009.

*Note: Just in case you're someone who is really confused by references to "my guys", I worked with teenage boys in a residential care center (Rawhide Boys Ranch). They function under a family style model, so staff live in a home with an average of 8 guys.