How Does Your (Spiritual) Garden Grow?

Journey 4.0: Day 3

Here we are in Wyoming, camped just a couple of miles from Devils Tower! We put in a long day on the road to make this destination. Our campsite is on the rim of a little canyon, there’s a great little restaurant here, and the proprietor assured us that the mountain lions don’t bother the campers much. He showed us pictures of three large cats that were taken within 10 miles of here. The largest weighed 170 pounds, and the paws were the size of a person’s head. We had a good laugh, much like laughing past the graveyard. 😉

I will never get tired of the scenery in this gorgeous part of our fantastic country. I love being in the mountains, and there is no fresher, purer air than out here. We are at about 4,500 feet of elevation, and looking forward to seeing the stars tonight if the clouds break up a little.

Better than seeing all of the sights I have come to love here in “Forever West” Wyoming is seeing them all new and fresh through my grandson’s eyes. Matt is absolutely thrilled with the trip and with all that he is seeing, and it just delights me to no end to see him enjoying this.

Today’s sights included countless, endless fields of sunflowers all across North Dakota. It’s like thousands of acres of happy all crowded together.

We stopped for lunch at a Subway in Jamestown, North Dakota — the town where Tom’s grandfather William was born back in the 1860s or 1870s. We see Subway restaurants in nearly every town we pass through — they might not have a McDonald’s or Burger King, but there’s a Subway!

It’s no small irony that I am sitting here with only the light from two faint mercury lights at each end of the campground, and my little battery lantern…clicking away on my laptop which is connected to the world via my Verizon hotspot. What a collision of worlds!

We drove a bit over 10 hours today to get here, and of course we have gained another hour thanks to time zones. Tomorrow, we will pack up, have breakfast here, and head over to Devils Tower to hike, climb, and explore; then it’s on to Greybull to see my brother Mike and sister-in-law Maria for a few days. Lots of favorite places to visit there as well, before we head out toward Yellowstone Wednesday afternoon.

News from the Little Brown Spotted Puppy Dog: He has shown his new attachment to the folks as Paws A Playin by stealing socks — that’s his way of telling people he really, truly loves them. And he let one of the other dogs use his bed while he slept in one of his other favorite spots there. He seems to be doing very well, except that sometimes he does not want to go outside when it’s time for everydog to go out in the yard. I miss the little guy, but I think he is much better off having his vacation at Miss Jamie’s than trying to keep up with Matt and me out here.

I realize that this post is a bit disjointed — my brain is a little fried from a long day on the road, and I need to sit for awhile and let it settle so that I can sleep! On to more adventures tomorrow!