For sometime Larry has wanted to take a trip to Bismarck, North Dakota to visit a ranch that raises Lowline Angus cattle. This we did starting August 14, 2008. It was decided that as much as possible, we would also take some time to see other points of interest as we went. North Dakota is a long ways from Safford Arizona, so we had to keep the gas pedal at a steady pace within the speed limit to make in it 4 driving days.
Day 1, Thursday, 8/14/08. We left Safford at 9:30 AM and arrived in Durango Colorado that evening, taking us 10 hours to get to the house at Vallecito Lake.This is normally a 9 hour trip, but construction, etc. made it longer. Julie and friend Rhonda arrived around 2:00 AM.
Day 2, Friday, 8/15/08. We decided to rest for a day at the Colorado house. It had been a very hard week before we left and after the long drive we were tied. The 'girls' went shopping in Durango while Larry took a nap and busied himself at the house. They brought back a pizza for dinner. Julie and Rhonda went dancing that evening. So that was the last we saw of Julie.
Day 3, Saturday morning, 8/16/08. We decided to leave early to see how far we could get. So w/o waking Julie, we headed to Pagosa Springs and through Wolf Creek Pass. Larry said that from Lake Vallecito to the other side of Wolf Creek Pass has to be some of the most beautiful country he has ever seen. We saw an interesting thing after we reached the low country, there appeared to be an abandoned rail track with special designed abandoned rail cars. There were not just a few, but over 27 miles of them.
It started to rain before we reached Pueblo, CO and never let up, but we splashed on to Colorado Springs, where we were able, after much searching, to find the duplex where Jack and Jennie Lou lived when he served in the Army at Ft. Carson. The place looked much the same, still in good red brick condition. It was still raining very hard there, but was able to take a picture. We wanted to stop and visit Kim's parents, but after calling them, we realized it would take too long to meet up with them, and still meet our goal to reach Cheyenne in a reasonable time that night, we hope for another time to visit. We got into Cheyenne, Wyoming that evening. Went to a cowboy restaurant and Larry had a big steak. Jennie Lou had grilled chicken. It was good. Larry really enjoyed seeing the farms, wheat was in full harvest and hay, grass and straw were being bailed. As we reached Wyoming we noticed that the farmers also cut and bailed the grass on the road right of way. This practice continued all through Wyoming, the Dakotas and Montana.
Day 4, Sunday, morning 8/17/08. We were finally able to locate a chapel fairly close to the motel. They were very friendly; about 8 different people came up and introduced themselves to us. We realize how nice it is to do the same when we are at our home wards. Larry introduced Jennie Lou as his wife, Geneva, then next time as Jennie Lou and the last as Evelyn! He didn't even know he has said it. She got a big laugh out of that. She said she was honored to be called Evelyn.
We then packed up after Sacrament meeting, which by the way was excellent service on Family History, and proceeded North to South Dakota. We stopped and did the tour of Mt. Rushmore. Was very impressive and stirred a feeling of passionate patriotism. We then stopped at Rapid City, South Dakota and spent the night. That part of South Dakota was also beautiful.
Day 5, Monday morning, 8/18/08. We left for Bismarck, North Dakota. These miles were fairly uneventful. We drove north through South Dakota to North Dakota then east to Bismarck. Miles and miles of farm and ranch land. We both were very impressed with the city of Bismarck and outlying farms, etc. It is very clean and new looking. We took a ride out in the country towards the ranch to get our bearings. We also located the Bismarck temple and visited it. While there a nice lady with her daughter’s dog was relaxing on the grass and we asked if she would take our picture in front of the temple.
. We had a good visit with her; she is Catholic but spoke highly of her impression of the tour through the temple before it was dedicated. She loved to take her walks around the grounds. The temple is only opened on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, so we were not able to attend.
Day 6, Tuesday, 8/19/08. This was the BIG DAY for Larry, finally the purpose of the trip. We got up early, well we thought we did, and then Larry realized that they are two time zones of ahead of us in Arizona. We called making sure we were not putting the rancher out, he assured us we weren't. We drove out to the Effertz "EZ RANCH" to see their herd of Low Line Angus cattle and met with the owners, Neil and Jan Effertz. Neil as he preferred to be called gave us a fun tour of his herds. Beginning with the full blood low lines (registered).
He took the time to explain his whole operation from embryo harvesting, A.I. breeding to grass range feeding to his market program. It is interesting to note how he breeds them. He has a surrogate mother, a bigger line who carries the small embryo. We walked among them all and they were very friendly and fun to see. We saw his top quality cows, bulls and his new baby calves. We traveled in his truck all over the prairie searching for and finding his herds.
Larry was able to hold a baby calf that was caught with a sheepherder's hook. Neil had to chase it all over, they were quick!! Then at lunch time, he and his wife served us a steak dinner. Yes, from the low line cattle. It was very delicious meat, very fine grained and tender as a marsh mellow. Jennie Lou even ate some and said she liked it. Larry said it was the best steak he had ever eaten. It helped for Jennie Lou that she had marinated it in a mixture of soy sauce, olive oil, etc. They are a very cordial couple about the age of Jennie Lou's girls. They just became grandparents and Jennie Lou told her what a good feeling she felt in their home and she felt there was a lot of love there. They had just had a wedding of their oldest son at their home a few weeks before, so the potted flowers were still beautiful they had on their steps in the back. This son is in Medical school in Minnesota. Their youngest son (6"8") is beginning college with scholarships in both academic and sports. Quite an outstanding young man. He also wants to go to Medical School. They have 3 daughters, one is still single and lives close to home, we believe. One is married to a farmer and they live north of Bismarck. Another is the one who just made them grandparents.
After lunch, he toured us again around the area, over bumpy prairies. We were impressed that the Missouri River borders some of his property. It is big and deep and a beautiful sight! He has a pump that is on a barge float that he pumps from to irrigate his farm land. The don't get a lot of rain in the summer, but enough to keep the hills with grass. All their Irrigation is done by sprinklers, and there is not shortage of water.
His grass lands are on rolling hills next to the lower farms and the ranch house. The have a sod base that would make any western rancher green with envy.
We found out why the farmers bail so much straw along with the alfalfa and grass. They grind it all together and feed it during the winter months. This way the cattle continue on their grass feeding program instead of grain. If his steaks are proof of his product, it appears he has a good program. He took us to a neighbors and we watched some men harvest potatoes. They where a potatoe that make good french fries, there were all going to Wendy's. If we would have had a bag, we were offered to take some. They looked good too. Neil got a call that a new calf had been born and needed tagging and logging, so we went back to the ranch house where we thanked him for his hospitality and we left. We then went looking for a Scandinavian store in the Kirkwood Mall. Jennie Lou found lots of things there; including the Christmas Candelabras that she has been searching for since she was in Salt Lake on her mission. She also found another cookie & pie mat that she was told in Scottsdale they quit making them!! DUH!! So she bought another mat and also a new cover for her old one. She felt like she had hit a gold mine.
Day 7. Wednesday, 8/20/08. We drove back west to Billings, Montana, it was our goal to reach Billings early enough to attend an evening session at the Billings Temple. We found our motel, changed clothes and did a session at their beautiful temple.
. It is considered a large temple, but is much smaller than the big ones in Utah. There were not many patrons and Larry got asked for us to be the witness couple and he told them he had bad knees, but if another couple didn't come, we would do it. They got a temple worker and a sister worker who was doing the session be the witness couple. He was glad, kneeling is really hard getting down and back up for him. It was a very small session, 3 men and 8 women.
Day 8, Thursday, 8/21/08. This day was lined out to be another long one. Our goal was to continue across Montana and turn south go through Yellowstone National Park and hope to reach Pocatello that night. We entered the Park, didn't make any stops, but saw a lot of the points of interest from the truck, they were neat, we did stop at Old Faithful.
. The Lord was with us, we arrived at the perfect moment to see it erupt! Jennie Lou told Larry he must be living right, because we couldn't have timed it any better. There were lots of people gathered around waiting for the big spurt, all we did was walk up and off it went!! We were gone before the crowd could disperse. This was a very long day traveling. After leaving the park we traveled through Jackson Hole country. We could see the Grand Tetons to the west, "WOW" what rugged mountains. Jennie Lou thought we were going to pass through a place close to some of her old friends, Clyde and Rea Stock. So as we were traveling along the road we saw a lady out mowing her lawn in Freedom, Wyoming and we stopped and Jennie Lou asked her if she knew the Stocks. She had previously tried finding their phone number by information, and was unsuccessful, so when this young lady said she knew them very well and gave her their telephone number and told us how to find their home. We followed her directions and drove right to it; it was right on the highway we were traveling. There were about 4 men sitting outside around a fire, and she walked up to them and asked if a Dr. Clyde Stock was here, and one chimed in that Clyde had died 2 weeks ago! She fell for it for a moment, and then realized it was Old Clyde himself who told her that. After a hug he took us inside where Rea was cooking as usual.
He said, Rea a ghost just walked in!! We had a nice visit with them. Long enough to eat some Huckleberry Pie and ice cream that their daughter Monica had made from the berries they had picked that day. Learned that Monica had just gotten married the day before to a man she met on a LDS Web site. So it works for some. By now it was getting dark and we still had 2 hours drive to Pocatello. It was a nerve wracking drive looking for cattle and deer on open range highway and keeping the speed limit, which Clyde warned us about. We got into Pocatello around 10 PM and had a hard time trying to sleep. We were probably too tired. We wanted to go through Pocatello in hopes of contacting her brother J. L. Olsen (who lives in Boise), she tried phoning J. L. to see if it were possible for them to meet us half way the next day, but got no answer.
Day 9, Friday, 8/22/08. We left Pocatello heading south to drive through Utah. We tried to reach Larry's sisters in law, Sherri and Afton, in hope of stopping by for a quick visit, but no luck there either. She also tried J. L. again, no answer. She called her son in law Dallas' cell phone as he was in Idaho too, and he called back later and said he was at the Oregon border. Jennie Lou did phone a friend Marie Rigby and visited with her on the cell phone. Don, her husband is very sick with an Alzheimer disease and is difficult to handle. She feels for her. We both hope we escape that and a disabling stroke. We stopped by Thanksgiving Point for a rest stop. They were having a farmer's market, a lot of good looking stuff. We bought a small box of peaches. We made it to and spent the night at Green River, Utah. Didn't eat out this night like we had been doing, again we were tired. We ate some cheese curd and crackers and Larry ate a peach.
Day 10, Saturday, 8/23/08. Found us on our way to Colorado. We needed to get to Durango and Lake Vallecito to arrange for someone to do some repairs on the house. Had to back track about 45 miles, Larry missed seeing the exit to Moab, Utah. But arrived in Durango at 2 PM. In time for us to go back to a store and buy Christmas gifts for our families.
After unpacking at the house in Vallecito, we changed tops and drove to restaurant, Virginias and had a delicious meal. The best part of the evening was this one man band, he played some old country songs. He was really good, we even danced a few dances until Larry's knee started giving him some problems. It was a good night.
Day 11, Sunday, 8/24/08. Up early to go to Bayfield Ward at 9 AM. Just stayed for Sacrament Meeting, both of us are very tired. We came back and fixed breakfast. We decided to rest this day, load up the truck and leave early Monday on Day 12. We decided that this would be a good day to write down our trip experiences. We did find someone who we hope will be able to do the needed repairs. He was recommended by one of Jennie Lou's friends here that she knows. We got to bed about 10:30 and set our alarm for 6:00 AM
Day 12, Monday, 8/25/08. We got on our way at 7:20 AM. We made good time, but keeping within the speed limit, still takes about 9 hours. We drove by Duncan to pick up Larry’s mail and the stock trailer.
We got back in Safford about 6 PM. We ate dinner about 8 PM at Casa (had to have some good Mexican food).
Summary – We had a great trip, The Lord answered our prayers with safety each day and Jennie Lou read our scripture for us each day as we drove. We enjoyed seeing the country, especially visiting the ranch. We ate good. Had breakfast each morning at the motels,(Larry thinks he has had enough waffles for a while), then we snacked as we drove. Each evening we found a good restaurant (steak, Chinese, Italian, sea, etc.). It is now good to be back home again and rest before our next family related trip. September and October looks to be very busy.
The proud father, and the proud boy:)
All the brothers were together again, that makes for a ton of fun!
Nate just opened his new scriptures. He is a baptized boy in this picture. He choose green scriptures and case. The toy car he got was still his favorite gift though!
If you can zoom in on this picture there is pure delight in Russells expression. He just announced that if Josh marries his current girlfriend, JC, Russell can always say that he held her hand first, which he did.Tayler is trying hard not to care, and not to be photographed!
Both Grandma Woolsey and Grandpa Rapier gave talks, and we love them and LOVED having them there!!
The baptism was extra special. Because it was a Monday night, and really the church is not supposed to be opened so as not to take people away from Family Home Evening, it was mostly just our family. We had a family prayer with just us before we went into the Relief Society room for the program. It was wonderful having Josh home for a visit. It is a pure joy to see my kids love each other, and be friends. I was particularly emotional, imagine that! Nate has been so excited for this time, he was very ready. I was kind of glad I wasn't giving one of the talks and I bailed out on conducting the last song, I let Tayler do it and we asked a friend of mine who brought her family, to play the piano, just for that last song. I am sorry that we couldn't have all of you there. We are looking forward to all of us getting together for Thanksgiving!
me showing my pig 
Kendall showing his pig
