Homeward bound 07/18/25 to 07/24/25
From Wind Cave, SD, we traveled through 5 states in 4 days – SD, NE, CO (briefly), KS, and OK.
In NE, Paula wanted to visit the Brown Sheep Company mill in Mitchell. We hoped for a mill tour but Paula also wanted to shop at their store. She had been knitting with their yarn for as long back as 30 years. It was a very unassuming, large metal building on a dirt road. We had to get one of the family members to move two vehicles parked at his house so we could turn WOW around in their lot without disconnecting the Jeep.
The land had been in the family for over 100 years, starting when E.W. Brown purchased farmland and raised a small flock of sheep. It was later given to his son Harlan, who decided to process wool into yarn and opened a mill with used spinning equipment. Currently, his daughter Peggy helps in the store, and Peggy’s son Andrew is now the production manager, keeping the machines running in the mill. He kindly gave us a tour, which we thoroughly enjoyed! Peggy was a great help to Paula in choosing yarn. The shop’s yarn was all “seconds” at about 30% of the price of their “firsts” found downstairs, and Paula bought yarn for four projects at a cost less than what she might have paid for just one at “firsts” prices! She wished we lived closer so she could visit the store more often. (Tom’s glad we don’t.) We visited a little longer and ended up giving them one of Tom’s books on the Grand Canyon, which she and her husband seemed to appreciate.
At the end of our last blog, we mentioned that we couldn’t find anything in the western half of any of those states that didn’t involve miles of dirt roads we wanted to visit, and we asked if you knew of anything. Anyone thought of anywhere?
In Liberal, KS, Tom found the Mid-America Air Museum and thought Paula would enjoy it, and she did. It was free for pilots, so both of us got in gratis. Paula saw at least five airplanes she had flown and saw one of the first three Beech Starships built, which she might have seen land in Wichita at Beechcraft Airport before it was even sold. It made her feel very old (and that was before her birthday the following week). The Mid-America Air Museum was a Harvest Host, but with temperatures at 100 degrees that day, we decided to drive a little farther where we could get power to run our AC without using our generator, and we ended the day in the Oklahoma panhandle.
OK had long, straight roads with very poor corn this time of year. NE had incredibly long, straight roads across the state with hardly any curves and nothing but open fields and cows in our area. Paula started her birthday in Las Vegas… NM, that is.
Our first big “oh no” of the trip came when we started WOW that morning. We got a “check engine” light. We paused our departure while Tom researched what it might be. It was interesting that it came on just by turning the key, even before the engine started. Google and YouTube helped! Tom finally decided it was related to emissions, probably a non-critical issue, and we pulled out.
Tom was the one who got a gift that day – 12 RWBs. He had been playing a game all summer, counting how many times he got 3 truck cabs in the order of red-white-blue with no other truck colors between. He got 12 sets that day, exponentially more than any other day! (A normal day might be zero to 4.) Paula got zero CHOs (cow, horse, and other).
The next day, we arrived at Gallup, NM, for a specific reason. There was a Blue Beacon Truck Wash there, a business that had been recommended to us. It was always hard to find a car or truck wash tall enough for WOW – 13 feet high – and we wanted to wash and wax it before getting home to the AZ heat. Last year, we found that getting it cleaned inside and out and arriving home with only a bathroom and carpet to clean was wonderful, so we wanted to do it again. Nicely, the campground was only 2 miles from Blue Beacon. We gave ourselves 2 days to complete the job, and we did just that. The weather was perfect, with overcast skies helping to keep the temperature down at almost 6500 feet. It looked great, and it was rewarding.
Our summer trip was almost over. The following day, we decided to push through (366 miles) and made it home. About 10 miles from home, the DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid) low light came on, and we had filled it that morning. We limped home and will investigate another day.
We were happy to be home, even if for not-so-great reasons. It was still hot, but we read on weather.com that July 15 is the average hottest day of the year in Phoenix, so we’d already passed that—no room to complain.
Reflections on the season
While we wouldn’t rate the Great River Road as one of the most scenic drives in the US (even though it was this year), we were glad we took it because it provided a purposeful route. It was quite pretty in some areas, but definitely more rural than we expected, with poor or nonexistent internet service in many places. Levees, crops, and swamps gave way to lakes, rivers, cornfields, and other farmland. It also helped us complete our US decal map with all the states west of the Mississippi River (plus each state on the east side of the Mississippi), totaling 16 new states this summer. Now, the only parts that WOW hasn’t entered are the East Coast and Alaska.
We also really enjoyed visiting 10 National Parks this summer – Carlsbad, Hot Springs, and Theodore Roosevelt being our favorites.
This summer brought more weather than ever before – three tornado watches along with several severe thunderstorm alerts. God protected us through it all. There were stretches of at least intermittent rain lasting days, making us yearn for the drier climate of Phoenix. Bugs were also worse than in Phoenix. Paula had to deal with a bee sting on her eyelid (swelling took 59 days to fully go down), along with terribly itchy mosquito bite welts, and both Tom and Whisper each got two ticks. Flies, gnats, and spiders competed for space on the coach. We (but mostly Paula) looked forward to the heat of Phoenix to get rid of all those pesky bugs.
We really enjoyed meeting up with a few friends en route (3 groups). Even though we enjoy each other’s company, it always makes long trips more enjoyable to catch up with old friends.
We are so glad you joined us for our summer blog. Thank you to everyone who emailed us with your responses. We always looked forward to hearing from you and reading your comments.
Here is a gallery of some of our 2025 campsites from the trip. As you can see, they ranged from beautiful lakeside sites to almost parking lots.
Below are just some of the pictures we took of the sights we were blessed to witness over the past few months.
What’s next? We don’t know just yet, but we’ll let you know once we figure it out. In the meantime, Paula has a lot of yarn to play with, and Tom is considering remodeling the bathroom.
May the Lord bless you until we talk again.
Tom & Paula
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