Travels

A finished puzzle at Mom's house. We can go to the library, borrow a puzzle, put it together and then take it back. I should count all the puzzles we've done this winter. It's a  phenomenal amount. 

May 1st I was scheduled to take a bus full of 5th graders to the MN Zoo. Thankfully, I could follow another bus from Blooming Prairie driven by a skilled bus driver who has made this trip to the zoo several times. 

I thought about my dad many times through the day. He drove many grade school field trips over the years before his death in 2014. Now I've been asked to go on field trips and I found out I enjoy this part of the job. 

This time, if I hadn't signed up to take 5th graders to the zoo on Friday, Ellis and I would have gotten an earlier start on our travels to MT. 

Instead, I drove to the zoo in the morning,  drove back to the bus garage in Blooming Prairie that afternoon, climbed aboard bus 7 and drove the afternoon route. When I got back to the bus garage I parked the bus. It was now approximately 4:00 pm. I had been up since 5:00 am. because we needed to be packed and ready to leave Blooming Prairie immediately after the afternoon route. 

Ellis readjusted the seat in our jeep and we were off!

I was not much help with driving or keeping the driver awake. We drove to Jamestown ND and stopped for the night at Norway Inn.

Tillie's funeral was at 11:00 MT time at Coalridge Mennonite Church. Very fortunate for us. Because we gain an hour when we travel west. 

As we were speeding along on our way to the church we were stopped...

by a train. It was a mile long -- sitting perfectly still. Now what? If we turned around and tried a different route we would not arrive in time. 

We were impatiently waiting when I saw the train move very slowly, then pick up speed,  then at last I said, "It's not my imagination! It's moving!" We met approximately 25-30 vehicles who were backed up on the other side of the tracks. 

We arrived at Ivan and Karla's place at 10:07.

Changed clothes, brushed teeth, combed hair and drove to the church which is just a hop, skip and a jump down the road. So close we could have walked except for the wind. The wind was blowing 40 mph. (just as a guess) 

Tillie Drawbond

photo credit: Sharon Drawbond Wengerd

At the Coalridge Mennonite Cemetery the wind was still blowing. Many family members rest there at the top of a hill, no trees in sight, only prairie grasses for miles around. 

Back at the church lunch was served -- there was a baked potato bar with all kinds of lovely toppings and cookies and bars for dessert.

Also there was the delight of visiting with people we haven't seen for years.

Because we had to rush to drive to MT we have taken some days off work and won't be back to MN until Wednesday evening. 

(The dates on my blog posts are confusing because I wrote the last one April 28th. Then I noticed a mistake so I corrected it and the date changed to May 1, 2026.)