Working together in a big family can be a lot of fun. Below is a video clip of a bunch of kids from only two families. The Heppners from Warroad, MN and the Jeubs. Duwayne Heppner is chopping wood in the wood splitter with my dad while all the kids are stacking the wood. We had quite a system going!

I am reminded of how little value relatives of mine place on braodband. In the last week, I have had to tolerate slow bandwidth, so slow that I took my laptop and downloaded my emails from the parking lot of a Burger King. Yeash. I can’t help but admit that the visiting has been nothing but joyous. We have reunited with friends and family for these past 8 days. I have some great pictures that I can’t wait to post–but I’m holding out for some broadband. Maybe I’ll make a trip to Burger King.

God has been very good to us in Wisconsin. Wendy’s brother, Tod, is a master mechanic who helped me do a number of things to the bus (or, better defined, I helped him). We replaced the fuel pump, spark plugs, fixed a problem with the battery system and changed the oil. That, really, is the easy news. The BIG news is that Wendy’s mom has been a recovered alcoholic for just over a year now. Mary Ann is a whole new person. We have been enjoying her company (she lives with Tod now) for two days and have gotten into great conversations. Over dinner she shared with us that she loves the Lord and is full of the Holy Spirit as she recovers from a life of alcoholism. Wow!

More later…I need to help with breakfast.

Wind is a wonderful thing when traveling–it you’re going the right way. The bus battled 100 mph winds heading north through Nebraska before turning East into South Dakota. We used Rand McNally Trip Planner for the first time. Most of our trips to Minnesota (where we are from) we have taken the Interstate for as much of the drive as possible. The default selection on Rand McNally is “fastest,” but since the bus only goes 60 mph no matter what speed zone I’m in, I changed the default to “shortest.” A whole new route–saving 200 miles–took my family through western Nebraska and southern South Dakota and back roads of Minnesota.

Once we turned East, the bus set sail through the course. Driving with the bus is a blast. The kids (10 of them are with, agest 11 and under) hardly exited the bus. With a porta potty in the back, there was seldom the need to exit at a gas station or even at Walmart. The kids played cards, watched Narnia on my computer, and ate all the meals from the kitchen. There was about a 60-mile stretch in South Dakota where we counted about 30 wild rooster pheasants in the ditches (wow, what the place to pheasant hunt), plus we had the privilege to spot a half-doaen wild turkeys in the valley of the Missouri River. What a beautiful drive!

The weather here in Minnesota is cool and sunny, just the way we remember liking it. We connected with our friends, Scott and Robin Potter, and their four kids. We met at our church many years ago–way back when we lived in St. Cloud–and we haven’t seen each other for at least a dozen years. Scott and I are both entrepreneurs, very similar personalities, and we enjoyed comparing business ventures and idea for the evening. My dad busted out firewood and started a bon fire–something we don’t get to enjoy much in dry Colorado.

We celebrated Keilah’s 5th birthday here in Minnesota yesterday. I have a great video that I can’t post online quite yet. My dad’s computer is still on dial up (grrrr), so I am posting at 28kbs on his computer. I also have a good picture of the bus in front of the original Cabela’s in Signey, NE. A well, I’ll try to find some broadband soon.