Beginning of The Reunion Tour

After three weeks of rest from the Southwest Trip, we're eager and ready to go again. We're calling it The Reunion Tour because we're going from a reunion of Dorothy's siblings in Utah to a reunion of our high school class (we were in the same class and this is our 50th) to a reunion of my siblings at Iowa's Amana Colony. We left on June 19 making our regular trip to our Illinois home area, a trip we've probably made a hundred times. Arrived early enough to visit my mother at her nursing home - she was surprised to see us. Headed west the next morning after picking up Dorothy's sister Barbara and her brother John. Crossed Iowa on I-80 and stopped at the Iowa capitol building in Des Moines for a break in the driving. It's the beautiful gold domed building shown. Then ventured north to drive across the Nebraska Sand Hill country. On to the Scotts Bluff National Monument and some nice panoramic views. While driving through Wyoming the highway paralleled a main railroad. I have never seen so many trains in my life. They were mostly hauling coal from the Wyoming coal fields to steam plants and other users to the east. For another break we visited the Fort Bridger State Park near the Utah border. The giant statue of Lincoln sits along I-80 which is near the old Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway across the US. Got to our destination of Park City by mid-afternoon to visit Brother Ken and Trine. Spent the rest of the day resting up for several days of tours of the Salt Lake City area.