What a weekend!

I did something Monday morning I rarely do....I got up before 6 am.  Our son, Tim, spent the night with us so I could take him to SLC International at 6:30 to catch his flight back to Ontario.  TLE thought she would take a picture of me at 5:30 just to prove I am not always smiling.  I will cherish this picture for a while.  I can't tell you how great it was to see and talk with Tim over 24 hours.  I always forget how smart he is, and how much he knows.  He is like a human sponge for information.  Yes he is slightly taller than me......he and my nephew, Arthur (Dwyer's son) are the first Hockwald males to hit, or exceed 6 feet in height.

I got back from SLC International around 7:30 and TLE and I headed down for breakfast.  We had barely sat down when the rest of the remaining family members came down (Hilary and her family, and my Mother).  Philip and his family left for home shortly after the end of the wedding reception.....they still live in the workaday world, and are subject to unyielding schedules.......I am so glad I do not belong to that club anymore.....okay, on rare occasions I am still an honorary member, but those times are few and far in between.

We said our "until next times" to my sister, her family, and my Mother around 8:30 am (we will see them again Tuesday, or Wednesday), and were in the car before 9, and on the road back north to Missoula.  Based on our drive south on Saturday, which took 9 hours, I figured the same going home, but we made it in 8 hours flat, arriving at the Fairgrounds just about 5 pm.  I think we averaged close to 75 mph all the way home.  We did take one long stop in Lima, MT for fuel, and lunch.

 "Flying" north on I-15

Cute little cafe in Lima, MT

We arrived "home" to smoke in the southwestern sky from a big fire that has been burning since sometime Monday morning.

We also got a full moon Monday night which came up in the eastern sky, so was not affected by the smoke from the fire......I finally had time Monday night to set up my new HTC Rezound phone.....you know, the one I broke the display screen on a few days ago.  I always dread this part......I always have to call tech support to get the phone activated.  Why am I never the one who can turn the phone on and let it activate itself?  Fortunately I got a very sharp guy, and within 5 minutes it was working.  Then began the process of downloading all my special programs again, and getting the various menu screens set up to match my old phone.  By 10 pm I was done, and ready to be doing something else.

We covered just over 1200 miles going and coming in just 3 days....that is most mileage we have done in such a short period of time since we headed from Benzon, AZ to Abilene, TX back in February of 2012.  It was nice to set the 'Bird on cruise control at 80 mph....the miles really melt away quickly at 80.  We had a great time visiting with family and friends, but are so thankful to be back in our home, and our bed.  Tuesday we'll head to Coeur d'Alene, ID for a week, or so...that will be a much shorter day at 160+ miles.

Thanks for stopping by!