Winter Quarters Marriage

On August 21st my nephew Riley Keller was sealed to Jenny Pinkerton in the Winter Quarters Temple.  Jenny is from Omaha and a delightful person.  We made the road trip of 950 miles so that we could share in the great experience.  I am always up for a road trip especially to a place that I have not spent much time.  In fact the last time I was in Omaha was when we moved from Philadelphia to Seattle in 1988.  


We decided to take a couple extra days prior to the sealing and see devils tower Wyoming and Mount Rushmore in the black hills of South Dakota.  Two places that I have not been to since I was 7 or 8.  I only remember vague details at that age so I looked forward to the trip.  

Looking for Cary Grant hanging form the nose

I have accumulate an enormous number of points with Hertz that gives you the opportunity for free or greatly reduced rate car rentals.  We took advantage of the points and rented a very fine Volvo S80.  Truly one of the most comfortable cars I have ever driven.  In the vast hills of Wyoming I appreciated its ability to pass long lines of slower vehicles.  This required me to press the car to 118mph.  No one else in the car was aware of this fact.

The climb was a piece of cake

Devils Tower and the black hills are delightful and more spectacular than I had imagined. Devils tower has one of the few remaining prairie dog towns left in the great plains.  The town was one of those vague memories I had a child.  We loved it.   In the recent past the Mount Rushmore Memorial has received a new visitors center, plaza and amphitheater  Kudos to the designer it was well crafted and nicely complimented the memorial.

From the black hills you drive into the rolling green farms of the Midwest.  They are beautiful but they seem to go on forever with little differentiation for hundreds of miles.  Omaha sits in the midst of this vast plane but it does benefit from the broken landscape provided by the Missouri River.


We met the Keller's at the Omaha Zoo prior to the event for a little tomfoolery.  Lions and, tigers, and bears oh my!

Marysvale Ride

stopping for a drink and tomfoolery

The summer seems to be rapidly evaporating.  August has been quite toasty, but the past few weeks you begin to see the signs of approaching fall.  Before we let the pressures of a new school year we were able to squeeze in two more activities.  

the gang at 11,000 feet

For years I have read about the famous paiute trail in the mountains of central Utah.  Being the motorcycle nut that I am last winter I made arrangements camping in Marysvale Utah which is in the center of the trail system.

Sunday hike to the falls

I invited our neighbors; Dana and Davis Johnson, Marshall and Devin.  Actually anyone would have been welcome provided they brought an appropriate ride.  It is a spectacular place to ride.  The scenery is inspiring and the trails are fast and easy.  Well don't tell Marshall I said that, he biffed it on one trail that sent him home early.  Borrowing Davis's YZ125 he locked up the rear end coming around a corner and laid the bike down.  Unfortunately he slammed his arm onto an embedded rock.  Rather than breaking his arm the sharp rock made a puncture wound that bled like a stuck pig.  It was most impressive the amount of blood soaking his jersey.  His arm was badly bruised as well as his ego.  We sent him home with Devin a day early.