Over the River and Through the Woods

Yes, we've been back for three weeks. Yes, this is old news, but Kiah had so much fun writing about our road trip to Oregon that I wanted to share her perspective on our travels. This is her last journal entry. (For backstory click here. Day 1, Day 2, Day 3)

Day #4

Morning came early, but I was thankful to wake up, for the first time on our trip so far, without a headache. We met my aunt and uncle for breakfast in Thompson Falls (near Missoula) at 8 am. It’s been really weird to be a morning person this past week.

In usual Vik girl fashion we left the house when we should’ve been arriving. When we got there, they were all waiting for us. The café was a super cute, one-of-a-kind restaurant and the food was really good! .

We said goodbye and piled into our trusty Impala again for the final leg of our Oregon trail. Their suggested “shortcut” to the interstate took us over a mountain pass.

We drove through some of the prettiest countryside that I’ve ever seen in my life! It was gorgeous, but twisty and windy! Trees everywhere, and we followed a really beautiful river for a long time. We rocked out to Onerepublic yet again. Their song “Good Life” is my favorite, and always seems to express the emotions of traveling perfectly.

Lani repeatedly complained that she was dying of thirst so right before Spokane we stopped in a small town for drinks. If I had realized how close we were to Spokane I wouldn’t have wasted my coffee fix, but would’ve rather held out for Starbucks. Mom was nice enough to stop at Starbucks to see if they had a Spokane city mug, but alas they didn’t!

Then Mom suggested we check out Moody Bible Institute in Spokane. Since my uncle had just been talking about Moody that morning at breakfast, I thought it would be nice to see if I it was something I would like.

We took a mini tour and I talked with a faculty member about my college goals. I was really encouraged that they are considering offering a specialized Medical Missionary program. I left feeling like I have another option for the next few years to keep in mind and pray about.

A few hours down the road Lani complained from the backseat, “Mom, I’m hungry.”

Mom replied in amazement, “Lani, how can you possibly be hungry!?”

Lani, “What do you mean how can I be hungry?”

Mom, “We pigged out for lunch yesterday, and then ate a huge supper last night.”

Lani, “Well I didn’t eat that much at supper last night.” (editor’s note – Lani is a picky eater)

Mom, “Well if you didn’t seize the opportunity to stuff your face last night that’s too bad, cuz’ we’re not stopping to eat now!”

A little later another interesting conversation surfaced. I really want to go to Seattle and Mom really doesn’t. I suggested we go to Portland by way of Seattle. For 10 miles I used all my persuasive charm to try and talk Mom into my bright idea.

She thought about it, but finally declined, figuring we would get into Seattle about rush hour. She promised, unless a tornado threatened to touch down, we could go home by way of Seattle. When I asked her to promise she hemmed and hawed, so jokingly I asked to get that in writing. We dropped the matter, with Mom satisfied by not going to Seattle today and me satisfied with the promise of going to Seattle on the way home.

So the note Amy handed to the front seat a half hour later completely took me by surprise. I read it to Mom and we laughed and laughed. The paper said:

(Original spelling intact)

I swear on the trip back to Wisconsin I will stop in Seattle for at least a few hours and I will enjoy it, and will not fuss or be grumby.

And if I don’t, Kiah has the right to think of a consequence’s for me.

Signature of Signature of

Kiah Vik Angie Vik

__________ ______________

This document has been agree buy

Amy Vik and Lani Vik

After I read it to Mom, Lani says indignantly from the backseat, “Hey! What did I sign!?”

Amy said, “Well you should have read it before you signed it!”

Lani, “But you told me not to read it!”

Amy, “I told you not to read it aloud, not don’t read it at all!”

I was more then game to sign it, and mom good naturedly signed it as well. So its official folks, we’re going to Seattle on the way home!!

Just east of Portland, we stopped at Multnomah Falls.

When Mom pulled into the parking lot, Lani looks out the window at the waterfall and asked, “Do I have to get out of the car? I can see it from right here.”

Mom let her know it was not an option to stay in the car. Multnomah Falls is a fun place and looks like something out of a fairy tale. We were all glad that we stopped.

We didn’t eat lunch so we could thoroughly enjoy a restaurant Mom recommended. She assured us that Marie Callenders was worth the wait. We had a great dinner and took a half hour to decide on a pie we all liked, since it was much cheaper to buy a whole pie than to buy individual slices.

At last we arrived at Grandpa and Grandma’s house, thankful for safe travels and to finally be at our destination.

Quote of the Day

We were bugging Mom about going the speed limit, thinking that maybe, just maybe, in less populated highway stretches, she could drive faster.

Mom refused to budge, saying, “Greater minds than ours have determined what a safe speed limit should be, so unless your wife is in labor, you should drive the speed limit.”

Lani, our resident smart-aleck, pipes up from the back seat. “But I won’t ever have a wife.”

On the Road Again

Kiah's Travel Journal - Day 3 - Montana

The previous night we had set up the tent, blown up air mattresses, crawled into sleeping bags, and was sleeping by 11pm. My last words were, “If I’m cold or this mattress deflates during the night, I’m not going to be a happy camper!” Wasted words, because I slept like a rock and woke up at 8 the next morning. Mom and the girls got moving right away, but I hit the imaginary snooze button about 10 times and slugged around not wanting to wake up until 8:40. After enough pestering and Amy threatening to deflate the mattress, I finally got up and said, “This was the best camping experience that I’ve had in years!”

Since camping had been a last minute decision we weren’t prepared foodwise and only had fruit leathers and bananas for breakfast. Theyt took the edge off our hunger, but that was about it. Lani and I really wanted to hike a small hill nearby, so we pushed our hungry bellies to the back of our minds and took Mom and Amy with us up the hill. Too bad hills always looks smaller and easier to climb, when you’re a quarter mile away than when you initially climb it. Our flatlander lungs gasped for air and our legs and rears burned, but we made it triumphantly to the top!

We walked back down to our campsite. Our tent and sleeping bags were still damp so we drove 3 breathtaking miles up to the Visitors Center. Surrounded by mountains and hills, we could see endless mountains in the distance. Large white-capped mountains could be seen further back and Amy kept saying, “Kiah! Look at the mountains over there!”

At the visitors center we intended to get a few postcards and be on our way…..but the woman asked if we wanted to take the cavern tour. Mom didn’t want to because it was a 2 hour tour and cost $35. I really wanted to do the tour, so I talked her into staying a little longer then we’d planned.

As we started our ¾ mile hike UP to the cavern, Mom said, “Good grief Kiah, last night you didn’t want to camp at all and now I can’t get you to leave!” That folks is irony!


Lewis and Clark Caverns ended up totally being worth the money! The tour was physically challenging, but so amazingly cool and interesting! Our guide was very knowledgeable, friendly, and had a passion for her job


After we exited the cavern we had to walk another ¾ mile back to the visitors center, where I bought a neat Montana coffee mug, postcards, and more fruit leathers. Then we headed back down the mountain to our campsite to pack up our tent and got back on the road.


We meant to leave at 10 am to make the 5 hour drive to Thompson Falls, MT, but actually didn’t leave until 1:30 pm. As we left the park mom brought up the rather ironic and funny point that she’s the one that loves camping, but she couldn’t get to sleep the night before and had lain awake hearing all kinds of noises. Whereas me, who doesn’t like camping, slept like a baby and had been the primary advocate of staying longer.

Our stomachs growled in complaint at the absence of food so far that day. It was Amy’s turn to pick and she chose KFC. We ordered an eight piece chicken dinner and royally pigged out, wolfing down food because we were so hungry.

Halfway through our meal Mom said, “Look at us devouring our food. We’re not even really enjoying or noticing the scenery.”

Amy says, “Nah uh, I’ve noticed the scenery! People weren’t sitting there when we got here and now there are!” We all busted out laughing because Mom had meant the scenery outside and not the scenery inside!

Mom also got a huge glass of Root Beer. So between fried food and Root Beer we pulled out of the parking lot very full and kicking ourselves for being dumb enough to eat at KFC when we were hungry.

After lunch we got back on the road, I had another headache and was still super tired so I kicked back and took a nap, while Amy and Lani watched some episodes of Here Come the Brides in the backseat. Three hours later I woke up when mom stopped to get gas in Missoula. I was a little miffed that there was a Starbucks 5 miles back, but mom hadn’t thought to wake me up.

We kept heading west. Two hours from Thompson Falls Mom asked to hear some of my favorite artists and songs. This surprised the heck out of me because traditionally Mom always asks us to turn our music down or off. So for a few hours I cultured her in some of my favorites. To my surprise she liked or could tolerate most of it, which prompted me to say, “Wow, Mom, you’ve gotten a lot cooler then you used to be!” She laughed, and then I brought up the other valid point that I’ve also gotten a lot cooler in the past few years as well. It was a really neat bonding moment.

The most awesome thing to share musically with Mom was my love of One Republic (a band, in case you don’t know who they are) and to find out that Mom actually likes them as well. We listened to the whole CD twice!

Just before Thompson Falls, Sacky directed us to Riverview Rd. which is where we thought Mom’s aunt lived ….but it wasn’t! We looked for the house number 91, and the only 91 we saw was on the side of a garage. Mom calls her uncle to ask if he sees a gray Impala sitting in front of his house. The only problem is she’s not sitting in visibility of any of the houses on the street and she’s asking if he can see us!

We were on the wrong street and needed to go further past Thompson Falls. Uncle Kim said if we met him at the “Town Pump” we could follow him to their house. As we drove into Thompson Falls we all speculated what he meant by the “town pump”? Gas pump? Water pump? Air pump? So creeping through town, every 10 feet mom suspiciously asked, “Does that look like a pump?” “Is that a pump!” Finally we said, “No Mom, that’s not a water pump. Just keep driving!” At last, to everyone's relief, we found the “Town Pump” which ended up being a rather large gas station.

We followed Uncle Kim eight miles outside of town to their house where Mom’s Aunt, and cousins were waiting for us to eat. Aunt Marion put on a quite the yummy dinner! It was a little weird being in the midst of people that I am related to but had never really met. We were glad Mom got to see and reconnect with her family. The area they live in is beautiful.

After supper me, Amy, and Lani went outside to play with dogs and jump on their trampoline. After everyone left, the girls and I ventured down to the river behind their house to satisfy the infamous Vik craving and love for water. I was really tempted to push the girls in, jump in myself, and go swimming. But maturity and common sense prevailed as I realized that it was late, the river was high, and it would probably be rude to come into their house soaking wet. So we resisted the urge to swim and back up to the house. Three days down, one more day of cross-country driving to go.

Quotes from the Day!

Lani – (when got lost in Thompson Falls) “Mom, do they make boy GPS’s?”

We died laughing and Lani was actually embarrassed which made it even funnier!

Click here to read Day 1 and here to read Day 2

Kiah's Travel Journal - Day 2

Saturday - June 12 (click here to read Day 1)

With great reluctance we slowly crawled out of bed early Saturday morning. We agreed on a breakfast suitable to everyone’s taste buds, Perkins muffins! Thankfully the tongue has the fastest reproducing cells in the body and Lani’s sweet taste buds were up and running again so she could thoroughly enjoy her muffin.

After the challenge of finding "Paula" in the hotel parking garage, Mom had trouble getting out. First she was paranoid about scraping the car on the ramp turns, and then she couldn’t figure out how to go down. After arriving at the top level Mom said, “There must be a more efficient way to do this!

As soon as she said this, we noticed that we had gone in a full circle and were coming to the “up” ramp again. Lani pipes up dryly from the back seat, “Maybe you should try the down ramp Mom”! We all burst out laughing as we realized the down and up ramps were right next to each other, but instead of going down all this time she had kept going up.

We stopped at the state capitol in Bismarck, North Dakota. It was really pretty, and we had a lot of fun running around and climbing on statues. Amy and I raced from point to point and I felt like a little kid again running everywhere. Nice to know that I still have the dominance and speed of being the older sister as well!


We were most excited to find a huge statue of Sacagawea. We feel an affinity to her since we named the GPS after her.

There was also a huge buffalo that none of us could climb up

I was also delighted to get Starbucks before getting out of Dodge. Nothing quite like sunshine, a car full of people you love, magnificent scenery, and Starbucks to start a day!!

Even with “Sacky’s” help, Mom got lost leaving Bismarck. We finally got back on the interstate and I decided I was still pretty tired and had better kick back for the sake of the family and myself. I had worked a lot right before leaving on our little adventure and was still much in need of catching up on my sleep.

I woke up at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It was so GORGEOUS!! The badlands are unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my entire life. The shapes and colors seemed almost unnatural, like someone transplanted them from a different time and dimension. The Badlands are another portion of creation that testifies and gives glory to one of God’s many characteristics and attributes: beauty. We serve and love a creative and beautiful God, and our creative and beautiful world is just a small taste of that beauty and the beauty yet to come.

We ganged up on Mom to talk her out of staying longer. It wasn’t that we didn’t want to see it, but we would never get to our destination if we stayed there. As we drove through the badlands we listened to Rich Mullins song, “Calling out Your Name”. The song perfectly fit the scenery. We listened to it several times, and it was one of those moments that will be locked away forever in our memories.

I suggested reading the Bible aloud while we drove. I first read Proverbs 12 as it was the June 12^th. Then I switched to Ephesians, although I didn’t say where I was reading. The first verse of Ephesians Ch. 1 says, “To God’s holy people in Ephesus…” but it wasn’t until I got down to verse 3 that Mom burst out triumphantly like she knew the winning question to Jeopardy, “Ephesians! You’re reading Ephesians!"

I went along with it and said sarcastically, “Really mom, what gave that away for you?”
She said, “The part about heavenly places!”“Oh, not the part about ‘To God’s Holy people in Ephesus’ in verse one?”

At this we both started laughing, and if we had been able we would’ve been rolling on the floor laughing.

For lunch we stopped at Wendy’s per my request. I’m an avid fan of Vanilla Frostys so thoroughly enjoyed that meal. Although that night the girls complained about the chili I ate for lunch!

Amy and Lani watched Here Come the Brides in the backseat. After a few hours of sleep I came out of hibernation and crawled to the backseat to watch Leap Year with them. Yeah, Red Box.

After the movie we heard Subway calling our
names, so we stopped in a small town to eat supper. We also visited a cool gift shop with an amazing jelly bean and chocolate display, but we demonstrated self-control by leaving empty handed and keeping our waistlines intact.

We drove a few more hours, but the day was winding down and we still were four hours away from our destination. Mom looks over at me, "How do you feel about camping?"

I gave here a look that said, “You know how I feel about camping.” But I knew it was our best option, and in all fairness to camping I hadn’t tried it in years so thought I should be open-mindedtired, had a headache, wanted nothing more to go to bed, and we still had the job of making camp before us.
As we drove around the campground looking for an open spot, I said, “Why on earth would people, who have perfectly good houses, food, and showers, spend this much money to be miserable?” Mom and the girls thought I was being a little pessimistic, and it turns out I was!

Quotes From the Day:

Lani – (talking to herself in the backseat) “I get cranky when I lose my pencil”

**********

Mom – “Amy can you please look up on Sacky or the map how far it is from Bozeman to Yellowstone?”

(Amy wasn’t responding fast enough so Mom asked impatiently again, “Amy, how far is
Yellowstone from Bozeman!?”

Lani – (Pipes up in her chipmunk voice) “About 3 centimeters!”

Oregon or Bust

We made it to Portland safe and sound. I'm using Kiah's travel journal to tell about our trip.
The Oregon Trail Adventures of Mom, Kiah, Amy, and Lani  

--Summer 2010--

Day 1 - Friday, June 11th

We left Ashland at 7:30 am and Dad drove us to Duluth. We could tangibly feel his anxiety. He said more then once to Mom, “Be careful.” To which Mom replied, “I’m not generally a reckless person, Dear.” Nevertheless Dad was still concerned.
Dad drove to the airport where we collected our rental car. Pouring rain made moving luggage from the van to rental car unpleasant. After the car was successfully packed, we piled in, along with Dad who told Mom yet again to “Be careful!" and then he prayed with us.
Mom headed for the nearest gas station with Dad following in the van. Me, being a coffee lover and ridiculously sleep deprived, got myself a rather large coffee and a Chai tea to start the trip out right!
Mom commented, “You’re getting two things! Why do you need to get two things?”
To this I replied, “I don’t expect you to understand, but I really love both so I’m just getting them both now while they’re available.” I also treated Amy and Lani to Chai teas of their own, to which they were eternally grateful and glad that their cool older sister was going along for the adventure!

We finally parted ways with the Pops. As we pulled out of view I said to Mom, “I think Dad’s pretty nervous to let us go.” Mom agreed, and then I joked, “At one point I thought he was gonna follow us all the way to Oregon in the van!”
So we made our way out of Duluth, sipping Chai teas and singing to Chris Tomlin’s song I will Rise.
Mom had borrowed a Garmin GPS which proved most helpful in our adventures. At the gas station Mom had Amy program the GPS for the best route to get out of Duluth onto I-35. It turns out the GPS talks to you, which initially flustered the bajeebers out of Mom. We drove 4 blocks and at every corner Mom thought she had to turn because she wasn’t sure how to follow orders from the GPS.
After 2 minutes, Mom exclaimed in exasperation and confusion, “I don’t know what I’m doing.” I shook my head and said sadly, “No. No you don’t know what you’re doing.”
When Mom started to get used to the GPS it told us to turn left onto a highway. Mom said, "Aagh!! I don’t want to turn here.”
Naturally I asked, “Why?’
To our horror Mom answered “Because I don’t want to turn left across traffic!”
Completely flabbergasted and with dread, I rolled my eyes and sighed, “Oh boy, this is going to be a long trip.”
When we got onto the interstate, Mom drove 62 mph in a 70 mph zone. Granted it was raining, but still. I indignantly asked, “Can you please at least go the speed limit?”
Mom (flustered) “I don’t want to go 70 until I figure this car out!”
Me (impatient) “What’s there to figure out!?”
Mom, with no real excuse grabbed for the first thing she could think of, “The mirrors! I need to figure out the mirrors out before I feel comfortable driving 70!” She then spent the next 10 minutes trying to figure out how to adjust her side mirrors. Thankfully the rain deluge finally let up and Mom drove almost 70!
We decided our GPS needed a name. Mom suggested Sacagawea because she guided Lewis and Clark to Oregon. The rest of us didn’t like it at first, but after calling her “Sacky” the name stuck.
We then named our rental car. Mom found extreme goofy delight in naming our Chevy Impala, “Paula.” In a parking lot Mom noticed the next car was an Impala as well, so naturally like any normal person, she started talking to the neighboring car! “Well hello there, you must be Paul the Impala!”
I rolled my eyes, “Mom, it’s not Herbie!”
We turned on Archibald Avenue in Brainerd, MN looking for Taco Bell, Mom’s favorite place in the world to eat. At this Lani pipes up in the backseat, “What’s with all the heads?” We all busted out laughing at the realization that the street and the town had a few brain cells in common!
We stopped next at Fargo, ND. Mom made me the most grateful and happy girl in the world by stopping at Starbucks and letting me get an amazing Iced Mocha.
For supper we stopped at a grocery store for sandwiches and fruit, and to Mom’s indignation, I snuck a Dove chocolate bar in the shopping cart. For all her complaining, she thoroughly enjoyed her square of chocolate.
When Amy opened her peach there was a nasty centipede-like-looking bug in it that had completely eaten the inside. It was exceedingly gross, but more then anything surprising because the outside gave no indications of the nastiness inside. It reminded me of how sin eats away at a person’s heart, and it’s not always easy to judge a book by it’s cover.
We wanted to make it to Dickinson, ND but Dad burst that bubble by telling us that the cheapest hotel in Dickinson was $165! Ridiculous! So even though Bismarck wasn’t as far as we’d hoped to get, it would be much cheaper to stay there. At 10 pm we checked into the Radisson Hotel.. After staking out and claiming beds, Mom went with Amy and Lani to the pool. I opted out as I’m allergic to chlorine.
After tickling, laughter, snuggling, and family bonding time we all zonked out and hit the hay because we all knew morning would come early….and early it did come!!
Quotes of the Day
Lani – While eating fruit leather, “I lost all of my sweet taste buds.”
(Everyone bursts out laughing)
Lani – “No, seriously - I burnt my tongue and now I can’t taste anything sweet!”
-------
Amy – While playing the license plate game in Minnesota, “Kiah, aren’t you gonna play?”
Kiah – (voice drenched in sarcasm) “Yes Amy, but we’ve had the same car in front of us for the last hour.”
-------
Lani – In the hotel room, “This pillow melts under my head.”

Road Construction everywhere

Beautiful clouds in North Dakota