Yellowstone Adventure 2016 - The Getting There Day 1

    Well the alarm sounded at 5:30AM this morning and it was time for me to get ready to leave.  I quietly took a shower and shaved, not wanting to wake Cathy up just yet.  I then gathered the rest of the items I was to bring, as most of the stuff was already packed and in the car.  I entered the bedroom where Cathy was still sleeping and thought to myself "would it be easier to just let her sleep and leave or to wake her and face the tears that would probably come from both of us?"  I chose the latter because I valued my life.  Cathy was a little groggy but she went into wife mode quickly by asking me if I had remembered everything.  I told her yes but I knew she knew that I did remember what I needed to bring it is just that she wanted to hear me verbalize it.  After several hugs and kisses I went to the garage and got in the car.  Cathy was standing at the door to the house in the garage and was looking at me with sad eyes. I blinked the lights at her to say goodbye once again and slowly backed out of the garage. I could see she was just standing there looking and that made the leaving all the harder.  I closed the garage door and watched her disappear behind the slowly closing door and proceeded down the road to the highway.  I did not make it to the end of the road before I had to use a napkin to wipe away my tears. After breakfast at McDonalds I headed to Montana, or at least Iowa for the day.  I can tell you this much for the first 200 miles I would get misty-eyed every time I looked at the passenger's seat and see that Cathy was not there by my side.  I figured I better stop that as soon as I could as the truckers that were passing me were starting to give me a look.
    It was a pretty uneventful drive to my stopping point of Onawa Iowa and I was very glad to have been able to listen to the Cubs on the satellite radio in the afternoon, as it was getting a bit boring traveling through Iowa.  I did manage to stop and eat a lunch/diner at Culver's so that I could celebrate my birthday. Did I mention that I left on my birthday? 57 years old today and heading out on an adventure that may put me through a test or two.  I have prayed several times today that God would watch over me as I traveled and that I would be able to show Jesus to those I would meet. I think I succeeded on this with the cashier at Culver's because several times I thanked her and wished her a good day, as she was looking a little frazzled with the amount of people she was having to take care of.  I also prayed that God would watch over my family at home while I am gone and I know he hears those prayers.
    I drove 648 miles today and planned my first gas stop at Le Clair Iowa so that I could take a picture of two of the American Pickers place for my friends on Facebook.  I will say one thing about the drive.  My gas mileage was very very poor.  This was due mainly to the north wind that was blowing all day and as I traveled west I had to constantly keep the wheel pointing right as the wind was pushing everyone on the road to the left.  I felt bad for the people on motorcycles who were definitely leaning right as they went down the road.
     Well that is about it as I will be getting to bed early tonight.  I hope to see if there is a local church around the Super 8 that I am at so I can worship tomorrow. If I don't find one then I may stream the LFCC broadcast in the car through my phone.  Will add more tomorrow as I get into South Dakota.