The Farm

My parents own about 160 acres of woods and farmland in south-central Wisconsin. We all call it The Farm, even though it has probably been 50 years since it was an actual farm. There is no farm house or barn or anything like that. There are a few fields of corn and alfalfa that a local farmer rents.
Most of The Farm looks like this...

The Farm is a wild, spiritual place. A trout stream runs through it, and my dad even build a little foot bridge to enable explorers to cross it. The spring rains were so heavy that the stream flooded and washed the little bridge away. My dad is rebuilding it, but we were not able to cross it.
There is something that fills the core of your being when you spend time in the woods and fields of The Farm. It is as if your prehistoric self finds itself again in the forest primeval here.
I also played around with the different settings on my camera and took some very cool closeups while exploring this treasure that my Dad works so hard to preserve. 
The photos, while beautiful, don't do justice this this magical place.

This time the best part of spending time at The Farm was hanging out with my brother Bill. Or as I call him Lumpy.

Lumpy and me.

Family

One of the main reasons our family traveled to Wisconsin this summer was to help celebrate the 50th anniversaries of 2 very special couples...my Uncle Gary and Aunt Marsha as well as my Uncle Gene and Aunt Darlene. 
Uncle Gary and Uncle Gene are my father's older brothers. They and their sweet wives welcomed us into their amazing celebrations. 
I forgot my camera for the first celebration and then I didn't do a great job of staying on top of taking photos during the second celebration. I was having too much fun celebrating! Some travel blogger I am.
This was a wonderful way to spend the 4th of July weekend. I was able to see and visit with cousins I had not seen in many years. 
Growing up, I was an only child till I was 10. Because of this, I was especially attached to my cousins on all sides of the family. When all of us were together at Grandma and Grandpa Alexander's, Grandma and Grandpa Teske's or Grandma Marge's it gave me a chance to not be an only child for awhile.
In addition to the elegant, and tasty, 50th anniversary celebrations, my cousin Kelly and my Aunt Jean had a 4th of July BBQ at Aunt Jean's where we stuffed ourselves on burgers, brats and hot dogs.
So even though I didn't do a great job of taking a photo of each and every one...I love them all. 
Here are the few pictures I remembered to take.

The harp player is no relation. Just very elegant.

Sweet cousins and their beautiful kids.

Another cousin and his cutie little girl,

Aunts, uncles, cousin and kids.

At Home with the Folks

We reached my parents home in small-town Wisconsin in the early evening. It was good to see them. 
As usual, my mom attempted to feed us immediately. 
After a good night's sleep in the room of my youth, we spent the morning sitting on the screen porch, watching the birds and squirrels that eat and entertain in my mom's front yard.
We were not the only ones watching. My mom's cat, Jim, waited in the feeder for an obliging bird to fly into his ready mouth. As you can tell by the picture, a squirrel was not about to let that happened.

I am happy to admit that we spent a great deal of our time during the past couple weeks sitting on that front screened porch. Total relaxation!
Next, a visit with family for anniversaries.

Day 4

This is my brother Larry. Of course he wants everyone to call him Lawrence, but I am his big sister, and as such, I am exempt from his fanciful wishes. I call him Larry, as I have done for nearly 38 years.
Larry works at such a cool place that we spent part of our vacation visiting it. Larry is the shop foreman at Rad Rides by Troy, one of the premier hot rod building shops in the country.

The place is loaded with beautiful hotrods of all styles and years. We oohed and aahed all morning.

In addition to being shop foreman, he runs the big CNC machine that allows the creation of really shiny car things (that is a technical term) like these:

These are my favorite things at Rad Rides. 

A set of really sick wheels!
Even though these wheels are shiny and cool in the extreme, the best part of our visit was getting to spend time with my brother.

Tomorrow we head to my parents in central Wisconsin.

Day 3

A very light rain fell as the bags were loaded into the truck outside the hotel in Broken Arrow (Tulsa, OK).  After some tricky navigation through the charming suburb of Owasso, we found the beautiful home of my aunt and her husband.

My aunt was a friend of my mother's when she was still in high school. After she married my mom's brother, she became my aunt. This is a position she held for over 20 years, until the horrible day when my uncle and cousin died in an accident at their home. 

In my mind, and in hers as well, she remains my aunt. Even after more than 20 years of marriage, to another  wonderful man, I call her Aunt Jill, and she introduces me as her niece. That's what real family is all about.

After a couple of hours of visiting and viewing her lovely gardens, and petting her sweet dogs, we hit the road for the final leg of our trip to my brother's in Manteno, IL.

You will note there are no photos accompanying today's blog. This is because it is very difficult to take photos when you are whizzing past everything at 70 miles per hour. That is literally all we did today...drove through the last part of OK, then through MS, finally diagonally through the looonnnggg state of IL. Our destination was reached at midnight and all fell into bed at the hotel with great relief and gratitude.

Rad Rides by Troy, here we come!

Day 2

It was a long day in the saddle. We drove and drove and drove; across New Mexico, across Texas, and most of the way across Oklahoma. Arrival at our destination of Tulsa came at about 9:30 p.m.
My oldest drove across Texas, and the break from behind the wheel was much appreciated by her father and I.

As we travel, we listen to audio books on my iPod. We finished True Grit and are now listening to Journey to the Center of the Earth read by Tim Curry. My son and I sit in the backseat and listen and text our girlfriend...I mean my son texts his girlfriend.

A rest area in eastern New Mexico revealed a secret. Old ranch houses nestled in the creosote and desert brush. A fence blocked us from exploring further, but the photos speak for themselves.

       

The long travel day was broken by breakfast at another Route 66 landmark....Clines Corners, NM.

After checking into our hotel in Broken Arrow, OK (Tulsa), we ate an enjoyable dinner at Applebys. Laughter was on the menu as well as the 1/2 price appetizers.

Day 3 promises to be another long travel day. Day three's goal is Manteno, IL and Rad Rides by Troy! My brother, here we come!

Day 1

The Vandies are on the road! We set a leisurely pace by leaving home late in the morning. Our destination for today...Albuquerque, NM.
We traveled I-40 east and our first stop was Twin Arrows, just east of Flagstaff, AZ.

Twin Arrows is an old trading post that used to be a big place to stop in the heyday of Route 66. Now, as you can see, it is lonely and dilapidated. However, it is not quite abandoned. Someone cares enough to keep the large trademark arrows painted. The antique effect from iPhoto seems appropriate for the shots of this Route 66 Ghost.

 
Down the road a-piece from Twin Arrows, we drove through the town of Winslow, singing the Eagles as we went. Imagine our surprise when we reached the center of downtown Winslow and saw a bar, on the corner, called "Standing on the Corner"! There was even a statue of a man, with guitar, and a "flat-bed Ford"! Unfortunately, I was driving, so no pictures.:(
Evening found us reaching our destination of Albuquerque, NM. After navigating through old downtown's many one-way streets, and several "I should have taken that left turn at Albuquerques" later, we reached the Monterey Nonsmoker's Motel on Route 66.

What a cool leftover of the days of the Mother Road! I wish I had taken a photo when the neon was lit up. Clean, comfortable, large rooms and an old Route 66 vibe that made us giggle. 
After a night's rest and a few cups of coffee, we are off on the next leg of our excursion. Today's destination...Tulsa, OK!