Category Archives: Travel

Land That We Love Tour ~ October 7th

We start on our home stretch on our Land That We Love Tour.

After two and a half great days with our brother’s family we left Dallas on Thursday October 7th at O’dark’thirty heading north to Oklahoma and Kansas. I posted a short post on that day here. We got a few gallons of gas at Central Truck Stop in Oklahoma City at $3.199 per gallon. Later that day we filled up our tank at the Costco in Wichita, Kansas for $2.729 per gallon.

After our gas and shopping stop at the Costco in Wichita Kansas we continued North and noticed the sign on the highway about the Mennonite Heritage and Agricultural Museum in Goessel, Kansas. We took the exit and enjoyed our time on these backroads checking out the church and museum.

Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church

Here’s a link to the museum for more information. It is a well thought out museum with a great collection of history and historical artifacts and other objects that tell stories of the Mennonite people in Kansas.

When we walked into the museum we noticed the Mennonite Girls Can Cook Cookbook. Woohoo!

Schroeder Barn

One room schoolhouse

Goessel State Bank

It was quite warm on this day and we were parched after walking around the museum out buildings.

Back on the road we made our way to McPherson, Kansas where we stayed at Fairfield Inn and Suites. We used our accumulated points to stay here for free. We ate at La Fiesta Restaurant and ate well for less than we had at any other Mexican restaurant.

McPherson has developed into one of the most industrialized small communities in the nation. Centered in one of the largest wheat producing areas of the United States, McPherson is also ranked among the top agricultural centers of Kansas.

On this Thursday we traveled 416 miles for approximately six and a quarter hours not counting our shopping and time at the museum.

 

Land That We Love Tour ~ N.C. to Texas

It was way back at the end of September and the beginning of October 2021 that we were on our Land That We Love Tour from Washington State, through Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina for the wedding of our niece. That’s where my posts left off in mid-December. Now I’d like to finish the rest of our tour through North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and home again, home again, jiggety jig. I hope to finish by the end of January.

Goodbye to Hickory, North Carolina and our VRBO and hello Tennessee on Sunday October 3rd.

On Sunday after 4 full days in our VRBO home we packed up our car again and had to use our Tetras skills to get it all to fit. We headed west on Interstate 40 through the Appalachians in North Carolina and along the Smoky Mountains into Tennessee and all the way to Jackson, Tennessee for the night.

Dear needed some coffee and we were ready to fill the tank with gas so we got off at an exit that didn’t have good choices for either coffee or gas. We did see Old Tennessee Distilling Co. and stopped in to have a look around. This was in Kodak, Tennessee. Dear had a great conversation with this character who’s grandfather taught him how to run a Still when he was 8 years old. His grandfather’s original Still was on display on an upper shelf in this establishment.

After our time in this store we headed west again on I-40 and a few exits along the way we were able to fill up with gas and then have a nice light lunch at Aubrey’s just outside of Knoxville. Dear had a burger and I had a 1/2 turkey sandwich and soup. Our food was $22.00 plus tax. Gas outside of Knoxville was $2.889 per gallon and we filled up with 17.284 gallons at $49.93.

On the road again we traveled through some incredible thunderstorms and downpours that slowed us way down because of no visibility. Several accidents had the freeway backed up for miles. Most of the accidents were on I-40 going east which was fortunate for us. We were so happy to finally get to clear skies and dry roads. We just zoomed past Nashville only seeing what we could off of the freeway. This was already a long travel day and we didn’t have time for sight seeing.

We thanked God for bringing us safely to our destination for the night at Residence Inn by Marriott in Jackson, Tennessee. We paid a total of $143.56 for the night. On this Sunday we traveled approximately 506 miles, 7-1/2 hours. We filled the tank up with gas again in Jackson for $2.889 per gallon. We only needed 12 gallons to fill up here. We had dinner at a local Mexican restaurant that was very popular. There were a couple mix-ups in our ordering and the meal ended up being half the price we expected, about $25.00.

On Monday We drove through Memphis and onward.

We crossed the mighty Mississippi river for the 2nd time on this road trip.

Hello Arkansas!

 

We stopped for gas and lunch in Texarkana. A town that is in both Arkansas and Texas. We bought gas on the Arkansas side for $2.729 per gallon. We had a fast food lunch at Whataburger on the state line for $13.45.

The Arkansas side of the road has Arkansas flags on the light poles and the Texas side of the street has Texas flags on the posts.

In Texas we are headed to my youngest brother’s home in Dallas. We would be staying with his family for a couple nights before hitting the road on a fast track home.

After 534 miles and over 8 hours of driving we pulled up to my brother’s home. We enjoyed a roast beef dinner around the table this evening. It was good to be in the state of Texas with our extended family for a couple of days.

Posts about our time in Dallas are here and here.

While in Dallas we also got to tour the church and offices where my brother and his dear wife are on staff. We enjoyed good conversation during our time together. Dear was able to help out with a couple home projects and I helped Andrew with one of his jigsaw puzzles.

Thursday October 7th we head north on our Land That We Love Tour.

Give Me Freedom to Roam Hodgepodge

It’s Wednesday so here are the Hodgepodge questions for this week. Thank you to Jo From This Side of the Pond!

1. What do you wish you’d done more of last year?

More meditating on God’s Word, the Bible. Remembering what the Lord has done for us.

Less of? 

Less watching of mindless TV.

2. What’s the tallest building you’ve ever been in?
~chihuly-065
The Sears Tower was the tallest. The photo at the top of this post is of some of the Chicago skyline.
The Sears Tower is now the Willis Tower. Other tall buildings I’ve been in: Empire State Building, The Space Needle, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Statue of Liberty.
~
Do you have a fear of heights
~
No but I do have a fear of edges. Edges of cliffs, open edges on winding mountain roads.  A nice handrail or some sort of barrier between me and the edge is always comforting to me.
~
3. Do you have a word for the year? Elaborate if you’d like to elaborate. 
~
No word for the year as of yet and don’t know if I’ll choose one. I was considering Perseverance.
~
4. January 11 is National Milk Day…are you a milk drinker? What kind? Your favorite recipe that calls for milk (cereal doesn’t count)? 

I like milk but milk doesn’t like me. I can enjoy it in moderation. Give me whole or 2% please. Our family favorite, Swedish Pancakes, calls for milk.

5. What excites you most about the future?

That the Lord will return to gather us up to be with Him.

Seeing our grandchildren grow.

What do you miss about the past? 

Freedom to travel without masks and restrictions and having all the resources of travel available like open restaurants and attractions.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Speaking of watching our grandchildren grow. I will cherish all the moments like this one.

Thank you for visiting, fellow hodgpodgers and friends, you make me smile.

Last Two Days in North Carolina

Back to our Land That We Love Tour for our last full day in North Carolina and our departures on Sunday the third of October.

On Saturday the 2nd of October we enjoyed park time, lunch at the local Mexican restaurant and then some time at the Bride and Groom’s home for an open house.

Following Baba back to the cars.

After the open house the guys and Katie went on a shopping excursion the rest of the girls and Addy and JJ went back to our VRBO. What we didn’t realize was that the car that went shopping had both keys to the house and we panicked for a short time until genius Laura checked under a planter and found a spare key that the owners left. Whew! Naptime and later a quick dip in the lake and a relaxing evening.

Snuggle time before naps.

Josh was the only one of us who decided to take a leap into Lake Hickory.

The rest of us just watched from the deck.

On Sunday Dear and I left to continue our Land That We Love Tour.

Goodbye to our home away from home.

Our kids loaded up later than us and headed to Raleigh for their flight home, stopping at a Cracker Barrel for breakfast.

More park time before their flight.

We were on the road again heading through the mountains of North Carolina into Tennessee. More about our day of travel later.

Back to the present we had another dusting of fluffy snow on Monday evening. It was fun to watch it fall. Tuesday morning was above freezing and the fluff melted off quickly.

The Wedding

Get ready for a photo overload. A friendly warning. Our niece’s wedding took place on Friday October 1st at the Providence Cotton Mill in Maiden, North Carolina. It was a lovely spot for a wedding.

Where’s JJ?

He followed me when I got up to take the photo of the group waiting for the wedding ceremony to begin.

Mother of the bride.

Giving the instructions that everyone will follow but one…there is always at least one in a crowd who doesn’t think the rules apply to them.

Jenna was the first to make us Uncle and Auntie.

Sisters of the bride and our nieces.

Sisters of the bride and our grand niece.

Our grand nephew and our nephew by marriage.

Christina (mother of the bride) and Terry (father of the bride). Terry is Dear’s older and only sibling. Terry and Chris were in our wedding as Dear’s best man and my matron of honor.

It was good to get photos taken before the southern humidity transported my hair to another dimension.

She is one of two of our newest grand nieces and we now have a brand new grand nephew, too.

A cousin shot with the Bride and Groom.

All the extended Bayles’ to date!

Congratulations Chris and Kacie. That’s a wrap!

I’m adding some more photos that I overlooked before to this post.

 

 

 

Happy 47th Anniversary to Us

For our 47th Anniversary which is today we drove to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho after church on Sunday for an overnight stay. We made dinner reservations on Sunday at Cedars Floating Restaurant. It was a good choice and we enjoyed our meal and time there.

When love is true, There is no ending. We hope to celebrate with you for years to come…

Tempura asparagus with balsamic and blue cheese crumbles. I love tempura veggies! Prime Rib for Dear, Scallops for me and then we shared with each other.

Complimentary Huckleberry Ice Cream.

We are going to do some shopping today in Idaho and then head on home. Coeur d’Alene is only 100 miles from Colville. It’s a great place for a getaway. Sales taxes are lower and gas prices are lower, too.

All of our Christmas decorations are up, the tree is trimmed, we had some snow in the early hours on Saturday so things are looking like a winter wonderland. I’ve been working on our Christmas letter so next up is addressing and mailing our Christmas Greeting for 2021.

Happy New Week to all of you!

Pool Time in Hickory

There was a pool at the house we rented on Lake Hickory and even though it wasn’t heated to a comfortable temperature some of our crew had a crisp good time.

 

 

Fun family time on our Land That We Love Tour. Next up a photo overload from the Wedding ceremony on Friday October 1st.

Back here in Colville our temperatures are taking a cold turn with highs below 40 degrees and lows in the 20’s. In the next several days the highs will be below 30 degrees. Brrr. As I type this the temperature outside is 28 degrees. Time to pull out the warm woolen mittens!!

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Have a good weekend everyone!

Hickory, North Carolina

On Wednesday September 29th we found our way to Hickory, North Carolina on our Land That We Love Tour, to the home we rented for our family to stay in during the wedding festivities for our niece and her love. We had a short drive this day, only 50 miles. We stopped at a Wal-Mart to gas up at only $2.83 a gallon in Lenoir. We were able to check in early to our VRBO and got a load of wash started before we ventured out to do some grocery shopping for our stay here. We had lists from each of our kids for what to buy to stock the refrigerator with. We enjoyed lunch at a Mexican restaurant and then went back to our VRBO and waited for our kids to arrive from their drive after flying into Raleigh Durham Airport. Fun family days ahead for all of us.

It was wonderful when they pulled into the driveway later on this day and we were all together for 4 days.

The house we rented was on Lake Hickory.

On our way out of Boone, N. C. we stopped at Stick Boy Bakery and bought some bread and goodies to enjoy at our VRBO in Hickory N.C. This was a great bakery and if you are ever in Boone look it up.

We also stopped in at the mall in Boone and shopped at TJ Maxx where I found a different top for the wedding we would be attending. I packed something for cooler weather and the weather was nice and warm so I found something more appropriate.

This was the 9th day on the road for us with sunshine and blue skies again.

The Advent Season is upon us. Today I’m busy in the kitchen and this evening I’ll be helping with decorating our church for the Christmas season. We have a few of our own Christmas decorations up but not the whole enchilada!

Have you started decorating?

Miles Apart…

…but close in our hearts.

The month of November and part of October our families were split apart by work responsibilities and other circumstances. Auntie Lolo flew over to be with Jamie while their hubbies were in Arizona on separate assignments. Our grands love it when Auntie Lolo comes to help their mommy.

Everyone made the most of their circumstances.

It’s always better together.

We love it when Auntie Lolo comes to visit, too.

While our sons were in Arizona in different parts of the state they managed to drive the distance and get together for some much needed R & R together.

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.”

Psalm 133

These two with their work responsibilities keeping us apart are with us in spirit. Here they are at a marathon Lord of the Rings viewing party playing the part with their hair and attire.

Did I ever mention our daughter knows and writes Elvish. It’s a skill that will take her far in life be fun to pull out at the right times in life like a Lord of the Rings party or at the grave of J.R.R. Tolkien in 2004…Katie would not let us leave Oxford till we found Tolkien’s grave. This was no small feat! Here we are at Wolvercote Cemetery in North Oxford at the graveside where he and his wife are buried. His son is buried here, also.  Katie left a note in Elvish, (yes, she learned to write and speak Tolkien’s Elvish).

EDITH MARY TOLKIEN
LUTHIEN
1889 – 1971
JOHN RONALD
REUEL TOLKIEN
BEREN
1892 – 1973

This Thanksgiving our Westside kids will stay on the westside. Our eastside kids will be at our house for Thanksgiving along with my sister and her hubby and Jamie’s mom, also known as Granny to our Grands. Nine at the table giving thanks for all that we have been given and all the love we share.

A Three State Drive

On Tuesday September 28th our Land That We Love Tour was shorter in mileage but longer in time because of the smaller twisty roads we would travel. Interstate 75 south to East 25 through the Cumberland Gap on to Interstate 81 northeast towards Bristol connecting to highway 321 into Boone, North Carolina. We traveled approximately 259 miles on this day. Kentucky to Tennessee and across the border into North Carolina.

We stopped in Corbin, Kentucky to have breakfast at Cracker Barrel Store #8. Dear had Biscuits and gravy with a side egg and I had the Two egg biscuit breakfast with their famous hashbrowns. Total for breakfast before tip was $17.98.

After passing through the Cumberland Gap tunnel we came across Lincoln Memorial University. We chose not to go into the National Park because it was foggy and visibility would not be great.

On Highway 25 East/South we pulled into this overlook.

Unfortunately we really couldn’t see much at this overlook because the valley was covered by fog…sigh.

The sign above shows what we were supposed to see.

After the morning fog the sun broke through for another beautiful day for travel.

We kept seeing a lot of these strange looking vines/ivy and we were curious as to what it could be. We researched later and that will be for another post.

Are you ready?

We were entertained along the mountain roads with how many Baptist churches we drove by. We aren’t exaggerating to say that we saw one about every half mile!

We made it to our destination for the night in the College Town of Boone. Hotels were pricier here and we paid $161.00 for the night with a total of 181.53 with taxes. It was a nothing special Courtyard by Marriott.

King Street in Boone.

Appalachian State University enrolls over 20,000 students. Lots of young people walking around this town!

We ate Linner at Macado’s on W. King Street. Fish and Chips, Black Bean Quesadilla and two drinks for a total of $32.87 before tip. After we ate we did a little shopping along King St. We stopped into the Mast General Store but didn’t end up buying anything. We heard about a great bakery called Stick Boy Bakery that we planned on stopping at on our way out of town on Wednesday September 29th.

Back to the present. We had about 6 inches of snow overnight so it’s a white winter wonderland for now.

Have a great weekend everyone!