The Trip: Day 2

Day 2: Another carload of Olsons (Aaron & Joni, Angie, and Sarah) met up with us in Casper, so we all set out together the next morning. Good thing, because as soon as we hit the highway again after lunch, a tire blew out on Aaron's car! After a tire change worthy of a NASCAR pit crew, we all stopped in Sturgis, aka Motorcycle Mecca! While the boys procured a new tire, we girls played dress-up with the biker gear and cowboy hats.

(Elizabeth and Jordan got in on the dress-ups too. . .)

Despite our little detour, we made it to the family reunion dinner in good time. It was a little creepy to walk into this huge assembly hall in the middle of nowhere and see a bunch of people that I'd never met. . .but who all looked vaguely like Jared. We ate some delectable homemade pies and posed for the obligatory group shot, then we all headed out to the family farm.


(Oh, come on, how could we pass up THIS shot?) The family farm was. . .a real live FARM, which had been handed down through the generations from Jared's grandfather Everett, who was a real live FARMER his whole life. Oh, and did I mention he only had one hand? Seriously, he lost his hand in a farming accident but kept right on working--teaching himself to do everything from branding cattle to nailing a metal roof with his one remaining hand. This was just one of the great stories I got to hear from my father-in-law from this trip. I sure hope he's written all these stories down someplace for us (Hint, HINT, Jocke!)