From Colorado to Michigan

From Colorado, we raced back to Michigan for another wedding. This time one of dave’s high school friends, Joe, was getting married. Along the way we decided to stop in Lawrence, Kansas to visit with the members of Truckstop Honeymoon, the band we saw in Chattanooga last December. On our way we were treated to the type of weather that makes Kansas famous. Yup, you guessed it; there was some tornadic activity in the area. We stopped at a rest area a few miles from the worst of the storm which was producing tornados and golf ball sized hail. One of the great things about Kansas is that camping is permitted in the rest areas. One would think that the term “rest area” implies that one could stop and rest for the night, however, Kansas is the only state we have found so far that permits this. We spent the night drinking left over Odell beer in the van with the door open while watching lightning move across the Kansas landscape.

Storm Clouds

Watching the Storm

Our visit with Mike West and Katie Euliss of Truckstop Honeymoon was brief but fun. We stopped by their house after a quick tour of Lawrence. We chatted for awhile and bought a few more of their CDs. (Their latest album, Diamonds in the Asphalt, is finally out. You can get it at their web site www.truckstophoneymoon.com. We recommend it – as for all their other stuff too!!) Our need to get home and the fact that Katie was due to have their third child in two days from our visit prompted the visit to be cut short. We were saddened to leave but when we left Kansas it was listening to more of Mike and Katie’s good music with big smiles on our faces.

Diamonds in the Asphalt Album Cover

The wedding in Michigan was well worth the marathon drive to Michigan. Joe and Brandi almost outdid our wedding. It was a very close second place to the best wedding ever. (Our wedding still holds that title in our eyes.) It was located at the Kellogg Manor just outside Kalamazoo. The grounds were beautiful. The trees were all green and leafed out and there were flowers blooming everywhere you looked. The ceremony took place overlooking Gull Lake and the weather couldn’t have been any better, mid 80s and sunny. In fact it was a little too hot to stay in the sun so we were lucky to be seated under a tree for the ceremony.

Ceremony Overlooking Gull Lake

Groomsmen (The guy to Joe’s left is his brother Mark. This is who we visited in Florida for New Years last December.)

dave went to high school with Joe and although they have kept in touch over the years dave hadn’t seen many of the other people at the wedding for a long time. Most of them, including dave, didn’t attend their high school reunion so this was a great time to catch up with everyone and see how life was treating them. We had a blast.