Wakeeney is about midway between Denver and Kansas City, about 300 miles from each. Flying into Denver happened to be less expensive and faster, so we chose that option, knowing we had to drive the 300 miles regardless. Fortunately, the weather in Denver was cold, but clear and the forecast was for unusually warm weather so we didn't have to worry about snow on our drive.
Once you leave Denver, this is what you see for the entire 300 miles!
Unless you make a stop in Oakley, KS and go on one of the back highways. Then you can see this Buffalo Bill statue.
Brad's Uncle Bob loves to stop at the Steakhouse in Oakley, so we met up there with the rest of the group coming from Denver. He advised us to eat dinner there, saying, "There's nothing in Wakeeney." But we had just eaten lunch a few hours prior, so we declined. We should have listened!
Later that evening, Uncle Dave took us out for supper in Wakeeney. (Had to get used to "dinner" for lunch and "supper" for dinner.) This is Main Street, still brightly decorated from Christmas. The town was pretty quiet, granted it was a Sunday night, but we quickly realized Uncle Bob was right when he said there wasn't anything in Wakeeney. We ate at the only restaurant, which wasn't anything to write home about.
This is the view from our hotel, looking east,
and looking west. Pretty flat. I don't think I could ever live out here. I would miss the mountains too much.
Several of Brad's cousins and all of his aunts and uncles stayed at the same Best Western Hotel we did, and we were able to visit and share stories about Grandma to help Brad put the finishing touches on the eulogy. His aunt also asked him if he would lead the funeral service, saying, "you're the closest thing to a minister that we have." He wasn't expecting that! I think it's very interesting that even though they're not LDS (except for one uncle who joined the church with Brad's dad), they recognize that Brad holds the priesthood. They might not know exactly what it means, but they realize it's important and can tell that he's different from the other cousins. I appreciate the skills being LDS gives us, as well. For the most part, we're used to speaking in front of people and know how to conduct a meeting or a service. We might not enjoy it, but at least we know how it's done.
When we arrived at the funeral home, the funeral director asked Brad for his "order of service" for the organist. This took him off guard a bit! We're so used to having a printed program with everything spelled out, but apparently that's not how it's always done. So he scrambled to put together a program for the organist.
Two of the cousins agreed to give prayers, (or rather read prayers, again not what we're used to!) Vikki and Aunt Ruth had planned to sing "On Eagles Wings", Brad gave the eulogy, and that was the service. Short, but personal. Brad did a wonderful job. He was nervous and emotional, but he shared some wonderful memories of Grandma. She had a good, long life, 94 years! She was a very devoted wife and mother, She raised six children and loved being with them. She traveled to family events long into her 80s because she wanted to be part of her children's lives. She also loved to play games, especially cards. Apparently she took Pinochle very seriously! The last time she came to visit us, about 10 years ago, she showed her love of play. She got down on the floor with the girls and played Barbies with them, and then played Monopoly with Nate. Brad has many great memories of spending summers with his grandparents in Longford, KS and Erie, CO, where they swam in ponds and rivers, fished, hunted, caught frogs, weeded huge gardens, cared for goats. All the cousins (21 of them) have similar memories.
After the funeral service, we all drove out to the cemetary to dedicate the grave. Small town America is awesome. The local police stopped traffic for the funeral procession and cars heading the opposite direction pulled over with their hazzard lights on. One man with a large pickup truck was pulled off the road, and stood by his truck with his baseball cap over his heart. That made me cry more than anything else! The respect shown for someone he probably didn't even know was overwhelming.
At the cemetary, Uncle Mike showed us the gravesites of several ancestors. He's the genealogist of the family (the only other LDS sibling) and is very anxious to do Grandma and Grandpa's temple work in the Kansas City temple. He invited us to come back next year and join him. We'll see...We stayed and visited for a little while back at the hotel, then said our good-byes and headed back the 300 miles to Denver. A pretty uneventful drive, but I did see this interesting church in the distance:
It was a relief to see the mountains again!
We wanted to go out to dinner somewhere different, not at one of the restaurant chains we could eat at anywhere. So we settled on Islamorada Fish Company, which we then found out is part of the Bass Pro-Shop and is a chain restaurant. But at least it's not one we have near us. The giant fish tank was mesmerizing...
and we tried Alligator for an appetizer...it doesn't taste like chicken! I didn't care for it too much, it was a little grissly and chewy. But it was interesting!
We stayed in Denver Monday night, then flew home Tuesday morning. And when we saw this beauty, we knew we were almost home! (On the flight out of Seattle, the pilot flew right over the top of Mt. Rainer. It was incredible. We were litterally on top of it, looking down into the crater, which I'd never seen before. I didn't even know Mt. Rainier had a crater! I wish I had taken pictures, but I was so spell bound, I didn't even think of it until it was too late.)
I enjoyed being able to spend time with Brad's family, even though it was for a funeral. It seems like weddings and funerals are the only time we get to see his aunts and uncles, and the funerals have far out numbered the weddings recently. I'm so glad we know that Grandma is in a better place, and that she's with her husband (who passed away over 20 years ago, right before their 50th wedding anniversary) and Brad's dad again. I can easily picture how excited Morgan must have been to see his mom again. I'm sure he was standing there with his great smile, ready to show her all around and fill her in on how things work up there!
