July 12, 2008  Butte MT  Thursday we arrived at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD.  It was about 10 pm and no internet was available, so no report.  Basically we drove from Greene to Augustana.  Friday, July 11, we drove to Sheridan, WY, fighting some pretty nasty head winds for  most of the day.  We arrived at Holy Trinity Lutheran,  our overnight home, just in time to grab some supper and get to the Rodeo.  It was quite a show, lots of events.  Again, no internet.

Today, July 12, we drove to Bozemann, MT for our 4 hour horse ride.  A really good experience, though we are all stiff and sore tonight.  We are doing laundry as we don’t wish to smell like horses for the rest of the trip.  We are staying at Gold HIll Lutheran Church in Butte.  Tomorrow we will worship with the believers at Gold Hill.  Then on to Flathead Lutheran Bible camp.  I am pretty sure I won’t have internet access until we leave camp, but you never know.  We are studying Paul’s letter to the Romans as we travel.  Below are some photos of our journey thus far.

Sunday July 13, 2008  Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp

We worshiped with our host congregation, Gold Hill Lutheran Church in Butte, MT and then took off for the camp.  We arrived here about 3:30 mountain time.  It is a beautiful place and the pictures will not do it justice.  Our counselors are Zach and Sarah.  They are excited to go sailing with us and we look forward to a great week on the lake.  We will white water raft on Wednesday and be back in camp by Thursday noon.  We will leave for home around noon on Friday.  If possible, I will post another blog on Thursday night to let you know how the week went.

Thursday, July 17, 2008  We have docked at Flathead and the kids are on the High Rope Course.  This gives me time to update our blog.  The week went great.  We sailed on Monday, ask me about heeling a sail boat.  We sailed in two 25 ft boats.  Our first night was at Cedar Island, about 6 miles from camp.  There is an abandoned cabin on the island, but it made a great place to have Bible study, play cards and just hang out.  Zach and Sarah led us through several group building exercises, they should come through on the video very nicely.  Tuesday started out pretty nice, cooler and cloudy.  We sailed to Wild Horse Island for a nature hike.  We saw mule deer and some of the wild horses that inhabit the island.  As we hiked the wind picked up on the lake and our sailing was more demanding.  We finally had to motor in to Bull Island for our Tuesday night stay.  At first the waves were so rough that it was a concern that  we would not be able to stay on the island, bu they calmed down and we had a peaceful night.  Wednesday we motored to Polson, MT a the south end of the lake for white water rafting.  It was good to do something different.  After rafting it was back to the boat for a return trip to Cedar Island for our Wednesday night stay.  We enjoyed the quiet harbor at Cedar and the wonderful views.  We will shower up today, after the High Ropes and the clean up on the boats.  Tonight it is the Christ Walk, telling the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  Then tomorrow, good-byes and on our way to Utah.

Friday, July 18  Trementon, Utah  We are just north of Salt Lake City tonight.  We are hoping to get into the Timpanogos Cave south of Salt Lake City.  we also intend to see the Mormon Tabernacle and other sites in Salt Lake City as well as the Great Salt Lake itself.  Our last two days at Flathead were filled with excitement and interesting things.  As mentioned in our last post, the Leaguers did the High Ropes course at the came.  We enjoyed a very good bar-b-que with the other off site groups.  As a conclusion of the the day we witnessed the Passion of our Lord presented by the camp staff.  It was very well done.  They did request that no photos be taken, so we can’t share what we saw in that way.  We will tell you about it when we get home.  Our week at Flathead was one of the best trips we have taken in recent years.  This camp is a beautiful place and if you ever get out this way it would be time well spent to visit.  Tomorrow night, Laramie Wy and then home on Sunday.

Saturday, July 19, Laramie, Wyoming.  We are on our way home.  The kids checked out Timpanogos Cave National Monument out side of Salt Lake City, Utah.  Since it is late, I won’t be able to get any photos from the cave on line tonight.  We went to see the Great Salt Lake and did a quick drive by of the Mormon Tabernacle before heading east.  We hope to be home by 8 pm Sunday night.