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Day 23 - July 11th Walnut Grove

Well, Don got up today looking and feeling much better. It's almost 9 am and both of the older kids are on the road with him. I'm giving them about a half an hour and then am going to go see how they're faring. It's cooler right now but the wind is blowing so hard that it is rocking our RV. And it's blowing right into their faces as they bike. Thankfully, Don only has 45 miles to go today. Only! Hah. He's gotten so good at doing 80, 90 mile days that 45 seems like nothing. Here's hoping the winds die down. The kids were afraid we were in a tornado.

How fun to be in Walnut Grove where Laura Ingalls lived! We spent the afternoon swimming in "Laura Lake" on Plum Creek, just a couple of miles from her home in W.G. The kids spent the afternoon in the warm lake catching fish, lots of tiny frogs and snails. We drove into town to try to find Don and found him slowly pedaling our way. He was spent and once again, very DONE. The winds are just intense over here. Winds are at 20 - 40 mph all day with gusts up to 60 mph. Don was blown off the road a couple of times. I had a hard time keeping the RV on the road, especially when an RV went by.

So we loaded Don up and drove to Laura's old homesite. We waded in her old river and had a marvelous time. At night we went to a two hour play of the Ingalls family. It was so amazing to be sitting on the edge of Plum Creek, right where it all happened, watching this drama. The night was beautiful and it was a great memory.

We got to meet a delightful family who were parked next to us. They, too have 4 kids and they, too, are homeschoolers, just driving around the country with their family, enjoying America. They've already been on the road 2 months and have 4 months or so to go. Unlike us, they wisely chose the larger sized RV to stay in! =) Also, they're just driving where the Spirit leads from day to day. Pretty cool. How fun to meet like-minded people in Minnesota! Hello, Carole! Looking forward to catching up on your website and staying in touch with your travels!!