Brandt, South Dakota

June 12 - 14, 2008

Finally ... a nice sunny day for travel! We left Cokato Lake a little nervous we would have trouble leaving our campsite with all the mud from the last few days of heavy rain. The motorhome made it out fine...the Jeep had more mud to contend with, therefore getting a lot more dirty, but also made it out. The trip took us through Minnesota with no highway travel. We really got a feel for the country. There sure is a lot of land out here.

We planned the trip so we would go through Madison, my old stomping grounds when I visited the area as a kid. We stopped by Uncle Kermit's Skelly gas station which has been restored and got reacquainted with "Lou T. Fisk", the Madison mascot, as it is the lutefisk capital of the USA. We stayed to the outskirts of town, however, not being sure the Beave would fit through all those country roads.

We arrived at the "Anderson KOA" in Brandt early afternoon and being the gracious hosts they are, Jim and Jeannette had lunch almost waiting for us. We had a nice visit with them before even more relatives started to show up.

My cousin Jay was visiting his mother, my aunt Evy, from California and of course Aunt Irene (my dad's twin sister who turns 90 in October) and cousin Greg and wife Nancy all came by for dinner and reminiscing. We were also joined by Nancy and Riley, Jim and Jeannette's daughter-in-law and grandson. If this is confusing to you now, forget it because it's not going to get any easier to keep everyone straight. We had four generations here and even I had to stop and think every once in awhile.

We watched another storm roll in that evening (they are following me and Jim has asked that I not return to Brandt until I have lost the curse). The weather we have gone through this spring has been amazing. The flooding in Iowa, just south of us, is in such contrast to the draught conditions we witnessed earlier this spring down south. It is really amazing though to watch these storms develop when you can see for miles and miles.

We had another day of family fun on Friday. Jay and Evy had to get back to Yankton, but we were joined by my Aunt Ruth and her husband Hank as well as my cousin Gracia and her grand-daughter, Haley. Gracia is another one of those remarkable Storry women who carries her age well. Here she looks more like Haley's mother than her grandmother. Jim and Jeanette's son Roddy (with wife Nancy and son Riley mentioned above) was able to join us for dinner too.

What do you think? The family thinks Nancy resembles Julia Roberts.

Right before dinner we received a call from Peter. He and Lindsay were at the hospital and our newest granddaughter should be joining us sometime within the next few hours. I anxiously waited by the phone and received the news that Adelyn (Addie) Mae Luckraft, weighing in at 7' 11", arrived on Friday the 13th of June at 9:57 p.m. I immediately got on the phone changing campground reservations and making airline reservations so I can go and meet Addie on Monday.

As I write this we are traveling on Route 90 in South Dakota. In about 20 more miles we will be what we consider to be the halfway point to our Arlington, Washington destination.

The next blog should be quite interesting with me in Falmouth with news and pictures about Addie and Ken in Hill City, South Dakota, with news and pictures of Mt. Rushmore. Stay tuned.....