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22 July 2003 Click on the
pictures to enlarge them.
Greetings again from somewhere on the road.
This newsletter will be a little later than usual as, after a couple trips, we
had been busy preparing for a long (7-week) trip to the east coast, and now we
are on that journey.
Things are pretty much normal for us. Robert is still working as computer
network administrator at Hoffmantown Church.
HOME RENOVATION
This year we are having much work done on and around the house. The walls have
been repainted and the outside has been landscaped. The front and north yards
are done in what we call xeriscaping. That is a low water usage landscaping that
utilizes plants and flowers native to the southwest.
 Our new xeriscape yard.
 Another view.
And another
Since the photos were taken in April, several flowers have grown in the large
planter and are blooming.
FAMILY DOINGS
In February, Robert was invited to go to Des Moines, New Mexico, and present his
solar system talk to classes at the school there. We drove to Raton and stayed
there overnight. The following morning we went to the Des Moines school. We
showed the students a close-up view of sunspots, and then Robert talked to the
classes about the sun and the solar system.
 Students observing sun spots.
Linda has been invited to teach a quilting seminar at a Family Motor Coach
Association convention, so that is one thing we will do on our 7-week journey
which includes the convention in Hamburg, near Buffalo, NY.
EXPLORING UTAH
We had wanted to see some places in Utah that we had been passing by in our
frequent trips through the state. We thought it would be a good idea to go early
in the year to avoid heat, so we planned to go early in April. This year that
turned out to be not so good a time. We had to cancel much of what we had
planned because of high winds, rain, snow, and cold. We had a good time
nevertheless, and wound up spending more time in the library in Salt Lake City.
We started by spending some time around Moab. High winds kept us out of
Canyonlands at first, but we did visit Newspaper Rock.
 Newspaper Rock covered with petroglyphs.
Another view.
We saw other petroglyphs along the Colorado River as well as some dinosaur
tracks. We drove along the Colorado River east of Moab and saw the fascinating
Fisher Towers.
 Fisher Towers.
We paid a visit to Canyonlands and saw the upheaval dome and also had a
wonderful view of the snow-capped LaSal Mountains.
 Canyonlands National Park and the LaSal Mountains.
From Moab we headed to Salt Lake City, but we followed the interstate highways
rather than cross the mountains that were receiving a good bit of snow. We spent
a night near Fillmore, Utah, and awoke the next morning to a beautiful view of
Mount Catherine covered with snow.
 Mount Catherine covered with snow and clouds.
That day we drove up to Salt Lake City, and then awoke the next morning in a
campground blanketed by snow. We spent several days in Salt Lake City doing
research at the Family History Library. We had already made plans to meet a
third cousin, once removed, whom Robert had never met. She and her husband were
returning to their home in Idaho from a trip down south, and we met in the
Library. We exchanged information about our common Shubert ancestors.
 Robert meets his cousin, Mary Finn.
We took a couple days off from research while we were in Salt Lake City. One day
we drove up into the snow-covered Wasatch Range to visit the ski resort of Alta,
site of some of the Winter Olympic events in 2002.
 The mountains at Alta, Utah.
The view into the basin that used to hold pre-historic Lake Bonneville was quite
spectacular
The Basin.
We spent another day going north to Promontory Point where the railroads met in
1869, connecting the east and west coasts by rail. This is, of course, where the
famous Golden Spike was driven. Here is Linda standing on the tie.
 Golden Spike tie.
We also discovered that the Thiokol rocket motor plant is at Promontory as well,
and we visited their display of rocket motors. Robert was delighted to see that
the Falcon missile motors that he used to work on were also on display. They
were among the smallest. The space shuttle solid motor was the largest.
 Falcon Motors.
A LEWIS AND CLARK EXPLORATION
Our second trip of the year was a long one. It was long in miles but relatively
short in time. In 2½ weeks we drove 3,300 miles to Utah, Montana, North Dakota,
Wyoming, and Colorado. On this journey we traced part of the journey that Lewis
and Clark and the Corps of Discovery made in 1805 and 1806. A couple years ago
when we drove through Cody, Wyoming we decided that we would like to return and
spend some time there visiting the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. It is a
combination of five museums.
We left Albuquerque on 21 May, and drove to Moab, UT. The next day we arrived in
Salt Lake City. Robert was able to spend some time at the Family History Library
continuing his task of indexing and photographing Malseed records from the
General Register Offices of Ireland. We stayed a second day at Salt Lake City
and Robert continued that work while Linda did research on her Webb family line.
We drove north from there into Montana and camped by Clark Canyon Reservoir.
This is one of the sites along the Lewis and Clark trail. It is near the place
where Lewis & Clark met up with the Shoshone tribe. They named their campsite
near there ''Camp Fortunate". We Continued further north and went to Malmstrom
AFB at Great Falls, Montana. We visited some friends who were living there. Then
we continued on east through the northern part of Montana generally following
the Missouri River. We camped at Fort Peck in a beautiful campground below the
immense earthen dam that creates Fort Peck Reservoir. The next day we continued
to follow the Missouri and drove into North Dakota. We stopped at Center, ND.
That is where Robert's second cousin, Randy Leinius, lives. Robert had never met
Randy or any other Leinius cousin before. We spent two nights with Randy and
Charmayne.
 With Robert’s cousin in Center, North Dakota.
Last year we had met Charmayne’s father when we were in Yuma, AZ. In the summer
he lives in Stanton, ND, which is just north of Center. The towns are along the
Missouri River. This is where Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1804-05 at the
fort they built called Fort Mandan (after the name of a local Indian tribe), and
is where they picked up Toussaint Charbonneau and his Shoshone wife, Sacagawea.
We very much enjoyed meeting several of Robert's cousins.
Neil works in a coal mine, and gave us a very interesting tour. We got to ride
in the large drag line as it scooped up 73 cubic yards of earth at each ''bite".
The smaller dragline.
The mine is an open pit mine. The coal (lignite) is scooped up (after the soil
that covers it is removed) and then the coal is taken directly to a power plant
a couple miles away. We each got to ride in a truck that carries the coal to the
power plant. Robert's truck carried a load of 154 tons on that one trip.
Needless to say, these were really big trucks.
 Neil helps Linda out of her truck.
After we left Center, we drove west stopping briefly at Theodore Roosevelt
National Park. We then camped near the Yellowstone River in Montana. On the way
to Cody, WY, the next day we stopped for lunch at Pompey's Pillar on the
Yellowstone River. William Clark named the geological formation on his return
from Oregon in 1806. His nickname for Sacagawea's infant son was Pompey, and he
named the formation in his honor. Clark also carved his name into the rock. This
is the only tangible evidence of Lewis and Clark's passage through Montana, and
is shown in the next picture.
Pompey's Pillar.
 Clark's Signature
We spent three nights in Cody. Wyoming. We visited the Buffalo Bill Historical
Center and enjoyed the five museums. There was also a special exhibit of
firearms made by Samuel Colt. This was in addition to the thousands of firearms
on display in the museum that is a part of the Center. We also visited Old Trail
Town, a collection of historical buildings and old artifacts on the eastern side
of Cody at the original site of the town. When we left Cody, we drove to Casper,
WY, and stayed at a campground by old Fort Caspar. During the drive from Casper
to Golden, Colorado, we saw over 100 pronghorns (antelope) on the prairie along
the highway. The Golden campground is on the banks of Clear Creek.
Golden, Colorado.
The creek was
very full with spring runoff. We watched people in kayaks boating in the rapids.
In Colorado Springs, we visited with Linda’s Uncle Fremont and Aunt Barbara.
After a final night in Sugarite Canyon State Park in Raton, NM, we arrived back
in Albuquerque on 6 June.
The next weekend some members of the Albuquerque Section of the American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics joined the Albuquerque Rocket Society
to launch some model rockets. Robert still had some rocket engines that were
made in 1966, so he took them along with a couple rockets. The engines worked
very well after all these years.
 Robert showing rockets to a young friend.
THE BOTTOM LINE
We continue to be thankful for the Lord’s provision for us. We trust in Him, and
pray that you will do likewise and enjoy a wonderful summer of 2003.
Love,
Robert & Linda
& Samantha
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14 March 2007
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