Our Annual Migration

This year we took the "Northern Route" on our trip south.  That involved going north first to see the kids in Eastern Washington.  We got there the day of the first frost of the year, so we helped a little bit in the harvest of a gigantic crop of tomatoes.

We all helped, but Tony and Tina did the majority of the work while we amused ourselves feeding overripe tomatoes and squash to the chickens.

In the end, we had gathered a whole box of green tomatoes to let ripen over the next few months

and another box of red tomatoes for salsa and canning immediately.

We headed south from Tonasket, following the Columbia River

from Vantage to Tri-Cities, enjoying sites of fishermen on the river and lots of vineyards and orchards between the road and the river.

and amber waves of grain where the river was too far for irrigation.

As we neared Boise, we could see that we were going to get some real weather to travel through:

For nearly a hundred miles, we were under the storm, with driving rain and high winds.  Colder on the other side of the front.

We even saw some fresh snow on the mountains.

Next stop:  Salt Lake City - Gavin was happy to see us!

Marcus wasn't too sure about us at first, but warmed up after awhile.

Gavin and I helped his Mom, Anne, move plants in her flower beds while Ron and Cam watched the Husky game, so we all had a great afternoon.

On to Iowa, where Ron has two brothers.  We had a great visit with them also - lots of poker for the guys and dice games for all of us while we caught up on family news.

Ron and I spent one morning helping Dale repair one of his fences.
We were back into 80's during the day, so we worked in the morning while it was relatively cool and breezy.

Dale had done some preliminary work clearing away weeds.  He and Ron discussed the plan first.

Then we started digging holes and packing dirt around posts and nailing up the wire.

We finished the whole line in about two hours and then headed back to play some more cards and dice.

We were happy to be back in the land of low gas prices - this was the lowest we found in Missouri.

It got warmer and warmer as we left Missouri, traveled through Illinois, and then into Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama.  It was downright hot when we arrived back at the Georgia house on Friday afternoon.  We turned the A/C on, I got the TV's hooked up, and worked my internet trapline - we can tackle the poke trees and assorted other weeds tomorrow!  Good to be back in the balmy air of Southwest Georgia!