Tag: South Dakota

Visit to the Golden Care Center in South Dakota

Today while visiting my friend in Mimi and her family in South Dakota, we visited the care center for the elderly where Joel got to play his music for an hour. Mimi and her family go once a month to visit with the residents and usually they do a craft or something. So this was a special treat.
Joel singing and playing music

The lady front and center seemed to really enjoy it and commented afterward to me that it was nice to have something different for the hour. Another lady told Joel they have a mandolin maker as a resident as well.

residents in the care center

Fiona loves visiting Mimi and her family since there are three little girls to play with. They also have four brothers. They usually stay up quite late at night playing and giggling.

Mimi's children

Of course last night Fiona decided to stay up ALL night! And she did. Though the other children took turns sleeping. She woke one of them up at 2 am to get a drink of water! Mimi and her children haven’t yet said we can’t come back. Fiona crashed for about an hour during our visit to the care center. I’m working hard to keep her awake now till after dinner so she will sleep tonight.

Fiona crashed sleeping

Quick Update on Where We Are Now

We had a wonderful visit in San Diego this past week. We got to catch up with family and Fiona met lots of her aunts, uncle, cousins and second cousins. The van is repaired and runs great!

We drove yesterday from San Diego to Phoenix to stay a few days with our friends here in Arizona. We all enjoyed the pool yesterday and plan to do so again later today to cool off from the 100 degree plus temperatures.

The plan is to drive from here to Albuquerque in a few days for a short stop, then through Colorado and Nebraska to land at our friend’s doorstep in South Dakota for a few days. There are three little girls there waiting to play with Fiona. Then to Wisconsin for a visit with Joel’s mom and finally ending up in Minnesota for our three week house sitting gig.

Reading on the Road

We took off this morning from Rice Lake to head to South Dakota for our first overnight stay on our way to Albuquerque. I mentioned to Joel that I still needed to read Seth Godin’s Poke the Box. So he asked if I’d read it aloud so he could get the information again. We always have great conversations while driving and especially if we’re reading a book that we can discuss.

Two pages later we’d had a long conversation. Seth always says things that make us stop, think, and rethink. We got a lot of things out of what we read today and I hope we finish reading it tomorrow. Poke the Box reinforces the thought of doing, taking the initiative. We can’t wait around for other people to pick us; we have to choose.

Through Iowa and Missouri to Kansas

We left Wisconsin Saturday morning. Instead of heading to South Dakota as originally planned, we headed south to Kansas. The weather promised to be unfriendly in South Dakota when we had planned to leave there; so a quick change of plans was in order.

We traveled through Iowa and Missouri and into Kansas. Iowa had a very cool Welcome Center with free internet access! In Kansas we stayed with a fellow member of Triiibes. Fiona made a new friend at our Sunday Bible meeting with Olivia, another six-year old. The funny thing is that Olivia’s mom is the sister of a friend of my older daughter’s. Olivia’s family will be moving back to Sacramento California in March. So we traded contact information and Fiona will probably see Olivia again in California.

Monday was a very long drive from Kansas to Denver. However, we did miss the worst of the weather. Enjoy our pics!

Internet Access on the Road

Internet access while traveling has been limited. However, all client work is being done in a timely manner. It’s been interesting the various places we’ve been able to access the internet. Such as right this minute I’m sitting in the living room of Joel’s mom’s apartment. She doesn’t have a computer let alone internet access. Yet a connection is available and I’m able to use it.

Earlier this week I had client work that needed to be done while traveling through Wyoming and South Dakota. In Wyoming we stopped at Northern Exposure Computer Center in Torrington where they have free internet access. Here we were in a tiny town, no Starbucks, and still able to access the internet and continue client work.

Later in South Dakota we pulled into the parking lot in a small town sitting outside of Pioneer Auto and found we were able to connect to the internet and again did some client work. At a gas station later as Joel filled up I asked about internet access. They said we could come on in and use it for free. However, I was able to connect from my car and finished up a job in minutes.

So yes, we have been able to continue client work while traveling on the road. Yes, it is more challenging – but not impossible.

Very Quick Update

Lots of driving and limited internet access means we haven’t posted much in the last couple of days. We’ll change that today I’m sure. This is just a very quick update.

We are now at Joel’s mom’s in Rice Lake Wisconsin. We had a great visit with Joel’s Uncle Denver and Aunt Diane in South Dakota and spent one night with Mimi Klosterman and her family in Arlington South Dakota.

We look forward to two complete days without having to drive anywhere and catching up on some rest and work.

Watch for more to come shortly!