The Quackenbushes started joining us on Monday. They came at many different times, from many different places. Kelly was the first to arrive from Portland. Paul and I made the first of several runs out to Rapid City Airport to get her. Kelly is our niece, brother Ross and Beth's daughter. She arrived at 11:00 a.m. and was quite exhausted from no sleep the night before and being up so early to travel.
We let Kelly collapse into nap mode and so as to give her some peace, Paul and I took off to do some touring near Rapid City. Since the weather was rainy we decided not to go for outdoor scenery. We drove to nearby Air Force base, Ellsworth Field, where there is an air and space museum and a decommissioned nuclear missile silo. The missile silo that we saw was used for training purposes only, starting in about 1963, but there were many such real sites positioned throughout this area of South Dakota until 1994, when the last was decommissioned. My hope is that all such sites will be decommissioned in the next few years....all over the world....in every country.
Quackenbush family member arrivals started picking up again about mid-evening. Paul made the trip back to the airport this time, and Kelly and I were left behind, as there were a number of people coming from Portland on the same flight that would fill the car. That would be brother Ross, sister-in-law, Beth, mother Margaret, and son Nathan. It was so good to see everybody and to actually be starting this journey together that we'd been planning so long.
About the time this last group arrived at the Motel 6, our daughter Cara (coming from Boston) and sister, Joan (coming from Austin, TX) arrived as well. They had met each other about at the noon hour in Sioux City, SD, clear on the other side of the state(eastern part.) They picked up the handicapped accessible van there and proceed to drive it across South Dakota for the next five hours. The roads are straight and the speed limit is 75, so they had made good progress. Still it was a long trip. They had stopped for fuel and buffalo burgers in Kadoka. They were both pretty tired out.
Finally, at about 11:00 p.m., brother Todd was to arrive from Philadelphia. He lives in Salem, Oregon, but had been visiting a friend there. Paul, Joan, and Ross decided they would go back to the airport and pick him up. The rest of the group, besides me, decide to go out and celebrate the beginning of the trip. I decided to stay in where it was quiet. Unfortunately, this was not to be the quiet, alone time I had hoped for. Some demon in the toilet in our room decided to reek havoc with my day. It spontaneously started gushing water, which quickly filled the bathroom floor and started into the carpet in the room. I ran to the phone and called the front desk, " I'm in room 151 and my toilet is overflowing." The desk clerk yelled back, " I'm on my way." I hung up and then realized I had given the wrong room number. I was really in 155. The water kept coming at me. I ran out into the night, found the desk clerk and yelled, " hello! It's me. I'm really in room 155!" She already knew that.
It didn't take long for the desk clerk to inform me that she would have to move me to another room. (We had all the food and supplies for the next few days all laid out, so this was going to be no small task.) Fortunately, the rest of the family group that was going out, was still around and they all swooped in, packed me up, and moved me two doors down to a drier room. They unpacked me quickly, and since the room was identical (except for all the water) they had me all set up as before in no time. The remaining problem was that Paul was still at the airport and didn't know I had changed motel rooms in his absence. Cell phones were not responding, so I taped a message on our former door..." We have moved to 157." Fortunately, he found me about an hour later, and the marriage is still in tact.
Meanwhile, brother Todd was safely retrieved at the airport, transported to the Motel 6, everyone got situated in their assigned rooms, and we all settled down for the night, still not believing we were all together in South Dakota at last.
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