September Action Verbs

September was so packed full, I decided to do a list to try to condense it a bit. The traveling actually started on the last day of August. Hope you enjoy.

·      made many lists of things we need to be comfortable when camping with no amenities

·      packed up a prodigious load of gear in a little trailer we borrowed

·      prayed our Suburban with very high miles would get us where we were going safely

·      journeyed six hours toward the Midwest

·      stayed with lovely friends for a night in Indiana

·      snuggled the babies and played the games we used to play when they were our neighbors

·      hugged everybody and said good-bye after breakfast

·      drove another six hours westward

·      wandered through Amana Colonies, Iowa, for the Handworks Festival

·      bought tools from vendors and beautiful woven things at the woolen mill

·      ate German food that blessed our little German hearts, every dish cooked to perfection and extra delicious because of our great hunger

·      camped close to a river under tall, tall trees with no rain flies on the tents because it was so dry and breezy and the stars were so bright

·      drove another seven hours

·      reconnected with dear ones in South Dakota

·      sat in their living room to catch up with our lives until we were literally too fatigued to talk

·      reacquainted ourselves with nieces and nephews who seem familiar, almost like our own children

·      drank so much coffee, even the little guys

·      shared meals that my sister-in-law produced out of her amazing spiritual gift for welcoming people into their home and feeding them

·      picnicked beside/swam in the mighty Missouri River on a very hot and windy day

·      walked the dusty road at sunset

·      savored late summer produce from their garden and took a lot of tomatoes with us in our ice chest

·      drove an hour to a Walmart for groceries, a novel experience compared to our usual two-minute drive

·      bade everyone fond farewell after three days

·      travelled further west

·      wished fervently that it weren’t so hazy with wildfire smoke

·      enjoyed the Badlands anyway, in the moderated weather that was a result of the haze

·      set up tents on the very rim on the western edge of the Badlands to we could hear the coyotes in the valley and watch the sunrise

·      marveled at the resilience of the sodbusters who settled that country by sheer grit

·      meandered even further west into the Black Hills

·      rented a UTV with six seats to explore trails

·      boondocked on range land beside a rushing creek rather far from civilization

·      cooked our meals with propane because fires were verboten in that dry land

·      washed ourselves with creek water

·      ate brook trout Rita caught with grasshoppers in streams so narrow you could step across them

·      blessed the Lord for clear skies again

·      drove hours on the UTV through clear, fresh air to see Mt. Rushmore

·      toured Custer State Park

·      kept out a sharp lookout for exotic wildlife

·      saw mostly range cattle, with a few pronghorns and a herd of bison far in the distance

·      packed up camp a day earlier than planned, just before a downpour of Biblical standards

·      retreated to a city with a motel for showers and white sheets and food that didn’t come out of the ice chest

·      started the trek eastward

·      drove across country on small roads instead of interstate

·      wondered at a land and culture so different from our eastern one

·      relieved our bursting bladders between two rows of grain bins in that land of no service stations or bushes to provide cover for what seemed like hundreds of miles

·      ran out of the gas at the very edge of a town and managed to coast right up beside a gas station

·      fulfilled a long dream of mine to tour the Ingalls Homestead in De Smet

·      imagined I was Laura, or maybe Ma Ingalls with her very brave spirit

·      ate our last food out of the ice chest with little enthusiasm

·      drove the rest of the way home through the night, seventeen hours

·      stopped only for fuel and potty breaks and odd selections of snacks at gas stations

·      found ourselves at home, sweet home, by morning

·      checked on the chickens and the rabbits and the garden

·      picked up the mail and the dog

·      mowed the yard

·      washed clothes for days

·      unpacked and sorted gear, also for days

·      slept and slept and slept in our own beds

And that was the first two weeks, which were rich and full and exciting. I have a list of verbs for the last two weeks in September too, mostly about trying to catch up with normal life, coming soon.