Tonight is the first night I’ve had a room to myself in a while. Aster is home, and Izzy is at a sleepover. The joy of the peace and quiet of my own space. At least for a while.

We departed Colorado for Columbia, Missouri last Sunday. Instead of making the long drive in one day, we took our time. We left late morning and drove to Topeka, Kansas where we got a hotel room for the night. The next morning we got up and drove the remainder of the drive to my dad’s house in Columbia.

We spent three nights in Columbia. It was a great place for our final real stop on the journey. Dad and Barbara were still a bit jet-lagged from their vacation to Europe, but we still managed to stay busy. The first full day we decided to head to the Museum of Art and Archaeology – University of Missouri. The museum was larger than I had expected, and I spent too much time in the first two exhibit rooms and had to rush through the rest of the museum. I highly recommend visiting if you wind up in Columbia for a day. The next day Aster, Dad, and I went out for a bike ride. Aster and I borrowed e-bikes from Dad, and half-way through the ride I wasn’t paying enough attention to where I was riding and wound up taking a spill onto the sidewalk. Nothing broken, just scraped up a bit and embarrassed.

On Thursday morning we went to Warm Springs Ranch in Boonville to see the where the Budweiser Clydesdales are bred. After the tour we stopped by White Castle (it was on Izzy’s must visit list for this trip) for lunch and then started the trek east. We made a quick stop in Webster Groves to drop off stuff at my brother’s house (and pick up stuff we left there). From there we drove to Indianapolis for the night.

Friday was just driving. I let Aster and Izzy sleep in, so we didn’t get on the road until about 9. We made it to Scranton, PA for Friday night. This morning we made the remainder of the drive to Connecticut. I dropped Aster off at their house and Izzy off at a friends for a sleepover then checked into the hotel.

Aster decided to not continue the journey onto Sweden, and is starting on the next journey in their path. Izzy and I are in Connecticut until Tuesday. We have a busy schedule over the next few days. I have to organize our storage unit, pack, and run a few more errands. We also have plans to see Ben and Nu at least once more. But it feels like we are starting the journey home!

Today is our last full day in Colorado. We will head east tomorrow morning with the hope of making it most of the way through Kansas before we stop for the night. The next stop will be a few days in Columbia, Missouri before continuing on to Connecticut.

Yesterday we had a tour of Phoenix Gold Mine in Idaho Falls, Colorado. It was worth the price! We were able to get tours of two mines, a ride on a mine train (a little Minecraft like) and lessons on panning for gold. I don’t think any of us were patient enough to get any gold from the stream, though it was probably there.

This morning Izzy and I walked the 2 miles (each way) to the next town so she could get a drink at Starbucks. We made it 100 feet from our room before the rain started. It was a nice flat walk and it felt good to get out for a stretch. This afternoon we are all just taking it easy. A few rain showers are expected this afternoon with a steady rain starting overnight. Hopefully the drive tomorrow won’t be too crazy.

On Tuesday we made the long, boring drive from Webster Groves to Winger Park Colorado. It was a 13+ hour drive, and I’m thankful that I had Aster here to share the driving. There was a lot of not much to see in Kansas and eastern-Colorado. But we made it. It is beautiful here! The altitude is really impacting Izzy and Aster today, so will be a quiet day.

I woke up early today and walked a bit around the condo to catch the sunrise. It is much colder than St. Louis and much more pleasant.

This will be the farthest west we go on this trip. We have our condo until Sunday and then will begin the long journey back east, stopping for a few days to visit my dad in Columbia, Missouri before heading to Connecticut for the journey home to Sweden.

Tomorrow, Izzy and I fly back to the states. We haven’t figured out the full next steps when we get there, but will be in the Norwich area for a few days before heading down to Florida. We don’t have a firm date to return here, but are looking for mid-October so Izzy can start school.

While Izzy and I are gone, Susanna will be moving into our new apartment in early October. It isn’t furnished, so she will be doing the hard work of setting up a home for Izzy and I to return to while she is working full time. On the plus side, she gets full creative control of decorating the place.

It has been a (sort of) busy few weeks for me. It took a while, but Hoagie is mostly settled in our rental house as well as at Susanna’s parents’ house. Our second shipment arrived from FedEx; I think I’m done shipping stuff for now. I still have a storage unit that has some tools and other personal belongings, as well as furniture for the kids. I’ll deal with that next summer.

I have a lead on a workshop for myself when I return. It is in an older building in Rottne, a 20 minute car or bus ride from our eventual apartment. It is a little smaller than the shop I had in Preston, but it is a good start, and the rent isn’t too much. Not sure what I’ll eventually build, but will have to start by building out a new workshop! In the meanwhile, I did get a saw bench built and finished at the space I’m using in Sävsjöström at Dan’s workshop.

Things are finally settling down. Izzy and I are on the right time-zone. My first shipment of boxes arrived via FedEx and the second one is hopefully moving slowly through Swedish customs. Izzy and I are in a little lull between big events. We did the first big one – getting the house sold and Hoagie over here. We will fly back to the US in a little over a week and do a road trip to visit family. We aren’t sure how long of a trip we will wind up doing; Izzy is getting eager to get into school here and get settled. The very least we will make the trip to Florida and Missouri to visit family. The rest is up for discussion.

We couldn’t have done all this without a lot of help from family, friends and a good Realtor.

Susanna is working all week, so I’m trying to keep Izzy active enough she doesn’t feel the need to have a screen in front of her all the time. We didn’t bring a lot of stuff with us, so have been out shopping for art supplies and games to keep us entertained. When the weather supports, we have been going on walks together (despite Izzy’s protests). Izzy has been trying to get more into cooking and did most of the work for dinner the past two nights. She did, however, drop two eggs in the refrigerator last night which kept me busy for a while cleaning up that mess while she cooked.

Today, we did some more exploring. We drove to Granhults Kyrka, the oldest fully preserved wooden church in Sweden with parts dating back to the 13th century. The church was closed today, but we walked around the property.

We then drove to the Braås Parks nature trail to take a walk and have fika (snack). We found a 2-mile loop through the woods and a bench by lake Örken to stop for our snack. In the middle of the woods we came across the “hermit’s hut” in the middle of the woods. According to the sign the hut was built in the early 19th century.