There's no place like home

We're back!  The last leg from Vegas to home was uneventful (well, the electric on the TC strangely went out for a while but maybe the truck was getting excited about getting all that weight off it's back - like the Wicked Witch).  Ah, the joys of the familiar and only 80 degrees to boot!  We ended up putting 10,250 miles on the truck and many more miles on our "wow, look at that!" experiences.  The "National Parks Tour 2010" was an over the rainbow trip (okay, no more Wizard of Oz references).   Thanks for following along!

Heading home Sunday May 23

After leaving Salt Lake City this morning we thought about heading through Reno to see my son but he's off camping this weekend.  So instead, we chose to to South to Lake Powell and to Flagstaff.  Boy did those plans change!

Outside of SLC about 100 miles we started hitting winds, 20-25 mph with gusts.  Mike had firm control of the truck all the way, dropping down to 60 mph.  It was quite a fight and after checking Weather Channel Mobile, we decided to go through Las Vegas instead.  We were chased by the storm all the way and when we got to Sam's Town RV Park, Mike discovered that the truck camper had been pushed by the wind back from the bed of the truck about 3 inches!  Thank goodness for the tie bar thingies (I have no idea of their official name!) We're going to get some spares to have on hand.

Being in Vegas, I called my cousin and we had a nice dinner and caught up.  It was great to see them and great to sit down to a nice meal with good conversation.

Tomorrow we'll be heading home and wrapping up our "National Parks Tour 2010". We've put 10,000 miles on the truck since Mike started East for his trip.

(being chased by the storm)

Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Parks redux

(Mammoth Hot Springs peak)

I was tired last night and didn't give a full re-counting of our time in Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons National Park. So here's some more details.

The first day was cloudy when we arrived and cleared up by the time we got to Old Faithful. There were a couple of hundred people sitting around on the benches at the perimeter waiting for the geyser. It isn't exact, but about every 3 hours it goes off. It was almost as much fun to watch the crowd as the geyser!

Something else that hits you is the smell of sulfur from the erupting steam pools. It also makes beautiful colors in the rocks and steam pools when it mixes with the algae that was really hard to capture on film. I need some pointers!

The second day was the reverse, clear until late in the day. We were able to walk up to Mammoth Hot Springs (puff, puff) which are mostly dried up these days. It must have been spectacular in the 1920's. It still has the great views of the mountain peaks.

We got back to Fishing Bridge campground about 4pm and it began to snow before sunset.  I had the blind open and sat and watched the snow for a couple hours.  When we woke on Saturday, we had about 3 inches of snow on the ground.

We headed off to Salt Lake City in a blizzard, through Grand Tetons National Park.  It was scary for me but Mike's driven a lot in snow and though we couldn't see more than a couple car lengths in front of us for a while, it let up as we got through the park and out on the highway.
After getting beat up driving, we opted to take a hotel night in Salt Lake City where I could catch up on work and Mike could get a good night's rest.

It's somewhere we'll go back to again sometime to see the mountains in the summer. Who knew the end of May would still be winter?

Yellowstone National Park

We had a wonderful couple of days in Yellowstone National Park and barely scratched the surface.  The first day (Thursday) we went on the central loop and saw the geysers and Old Faithful.  We stayed at Fishing Bridge campground, which is in the center of the park.

The second day we went the northern loop and saw Mammoth Hot Springs. Along the way, we saw LOTS of buffalo, some elk, deer and even a Grizzly Bear Mama and her 4 cubs!  They were too far away for a photo but the buffalo was right next to the car

We left this morning and are spending the night in Salt Lake City...more to come!

From the plains to the mountains

We traveled from Rapid City, South Dakota to Cody, Wyoming today, leaving the plains behind and entering the Rocky Mountains. Spectacular views with the snow capped mountains rising out of the plains up to 11,000 feet. I was awestruck.  Every time I think I've seen the most wonderful part of the U.S., another amazing site unfolds.  The miles of uninhabited land stretching to the horizon strikes me dumb (which is a good thing!) Mike is worn out from the long drive and is so patient with me asking to stop every time a new vista needs to be captured. 

We're camped tonight at the Buffalo Bill State Park, about 5 miles outside of Cody on the lake behind the dam on the Shoshone River. It was 68 degrees when we arrived but will probably drop into the 40's tonight.  We can see snow-capped mountains in the distance on the far side of the lake.  Am I a spoiled lady or what?

Tomorrow we head into Yellowstone National Park where we have 3 nights reservation at Fishing Bridge Campground. We won't have much cell or internet service there so we'll catch up on Sunday.I

Inside and Outside Rock

Today we went down to see Wind Cave National Park, the 7th created national park (1903) and an unusual cave for its boxwork formations.  We went down over 200 feet on a steep set of stairs put in place in the 30's by the CCC. 
We got to the park by going on the narrows highway, a winding, mountain pass that took us through 3 tunnels, varying in width from 10 feet to just over 8 feet wide.  We had to take the extended mirror off of the truck and we squeaked through.  It's been a great place to visit and we barely scratched the surface.  We'll have to come back here some day to camp and hike.  It would be a wonderful place to bring kids (KB and BB!) as there are lots of activities geared to children that we didn't explore. 

Tomorrow we head out to Yellowstone National Park, across Wyoming and hope we can get a camping spot with the Memorial Day weekend coming up. Stay tuned.

Did you know?

Being at the Air Force Base, this is the second day I've heard the 5:00 pm "retreat" end of day broadcast when the flag over headquarters is lowered for the day.  At 10pm there's another broadcast for "taps" yand again first thing in the morning (5 or 6 am) for revelry reveille. New to me and something familiar to my husband.  It's comforting and frames the day. [corrections made!]

Proud to be American

Today we headed out to the Black Hills National Park.  We drove through the wild animal loop and saw some pretty impressive creatures  - prong-horned antelope, buffalo (aka bison) and big horn sheep.  These pics weren't taken with a lot of zoom - the bison was less than 8 feet from the truck on the side of the road.

It's an expansive park, set far back from the interstates and covered with dark, green pines and crisscrossed with ice cold clear running streams. We wound our way over to the Crazy Horse Monument of which only the head is finished so far.

But the best site of the day was Mount Rushmore. The approach to the National Monument was re-done in the last 10-15 years and is now a granite staircase flanked by the flags of all 50 states. The size and grandeur of the stone carvings is awe inspiring. The exhibit hall provides a background on the work of the laborers and the effort to get the monument built. It is a moving site that I'm glad I finally got to see in person. Put it on your list of must-see places in the U.S.

Badlands and bad men

We headed out to the Badlands National Park in South Dakota on Saturday and spent Saturday night near the entrance at the Cedar Ridge campground.  Lots of songbirds in the prairie and very quiet.  Today we drove through the park and saw some surreal landscapes

Equally unusual were the animal sightings ...we saw bison and pronghorn antelope and prairie dogs.  After getting through the park, we've set up camp at Elsworth Air Force Base, outside of Rapid City, SD.  The FamCamp is roomy and convenient to all the sights in the Black Hills.  After settling in, we drove up to Deadwood and Lead, the gold and gambling towns, where a bad man shot Wild Bill Hickok in the back while he played poker.

Tomorrow we hope to take in Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monument in Custer State Park.  I'm filling up our National Park Stamp book fast!

South Dakota starts to look like the West to me again, with vast expanses of grassland and mountains off in the distance.  There are miles of grazing land and nothing but big sky as a backdrop.  I don't know if we'll ever stop roaming!

Tulip Time

After another night of thunderstorms and rain the weather cleared a bit Thursday so we broke camp and went into Pella. We hit the bakery and butcher shops and loaded up on goodies for the next several days. We strolled through the village square and got pictures of the windmills and what was left of last week's Tulip festival.

We hung around until 11am to see the Glockenspiel clockworks then headed out north on I-29 toward Sioux City while I had yet another conference call.Thursday night we stayed at Lewis and Clark State Park on Blue Lake.  There was a flock of what looks like pelicans across the shore and a beaver had a home built at the water's edge.  I made a fire and watched the flock until the sun went down.  There was a full size replica of a keel boat like the explorers used to navigate the Missouri River.  It's at the entrance to the park so we'll checked it out this morning when we left.  After two weeks on the road, we decided to take a "civilization break" and are staying in Sioux Falls, SD for a movie, dinner, hot showers, laundry and stretch out in a big bed!

Rainy day

We had to stay put today, lots of rain last night and on and off all day today.  I computered doing work stuff and Mike finished off 2 books.  It's nice and warm and toasty in our TC. I made crockpot spaghetti and spinach salad for dinner. 

Before it got dark I sat outside for a bit and spotted some pretty birds that you never see out West; tiny blue birds, cardinals and big fat robins with yellow beaks.  No critters even though there's lots of woods.  I suspect their keeping warm somewhere too.

I had a conference call today and Mike suggested I try Skype - it worked great and no burning our cell phone minutes! 

One last note, Dad's a bit under the weather so send your prayers and good thoughts his way!  Love you Dad!

Illinois and Iowa

After leaving Ohio we headed west yet again to Illinois.  We stopped in Indianapolis to see where Mike worked back in the 80's.  It's a gigantic building for Defense Finance.  We met up with some folks Mike hadn't seen in over 25 years.  They remembered him as a "mean little snot" which we all laughed at.  They got caught up and were so nice to listen to them share stories.  They all really liked seeing Mike again and were warm and welcoming to me.

Monday night found us at Galesburg, IL, about half way to the border of Iowa (and not too far from Macomb).  We stayed at the Allison Campground, a city park area and had another evening of rain.  This time we also could hear long trains going by in the distance.  The weather looked okay today so we continued on to Iowa and are staying at a Corp of Engineers park at the largest lake in Iowa, Lake Red Rock.  There are lots of state parks in the Midwest and the ones we've stayed at have all been very nice with beautiful trees and grounds, though they start to look alike after a while. The lake had eroded an edge of the banks, revealing the rust red rocks.

Tomorrow we hope to tour Pella, where they make the windows, but we're going to see the Dutch village there and sample some treats before heading on to Sioux City. 

I had 2 conference calls today for work and will be doing paperwork and document updates the rest of the evening.  I am so lucky to have such a flexible job.  Thank goodness for technology and most of all, thank goodness for my adventurous husband!

A mellow Mother's Day

We headed out of West Branch State Park in Ohio this morning to Cuyahoga National Park, just a half hour west.  I've got to say, we thought it was an unusual national park, compared to what we're familiar with.  It's only a couple miles wide and 30 or so long.  There are homes throughout the park.  It was created along the path of the Ohio-Erie canal, a transportation waterway built in the 1800's to ferry goods from Lake Erie south to the Ohio River at the other end of the state.  Today, the canals are overgrown and the park is criss-crossed by interstates.  We stopped to see Brandywine Falls, a 60 foot drop.  After being out West my whole life and living in the city, it's new to see so many living on farms and out in the country.  It's unusual too, to get across a state in a few hours, everything is so much closer in the Midwest.

We've stopped for the night at Wright Patterson AFB and will be heading to Indianapolis to see where Mike worked then heading across Indiana and planning to stop somewhere in Illinois tomorrow. 

Today  Cory, Pam, Mike and Steve called me to wish me a Happy Mother's Day.  I am so lucky to have great kids!  I hope your Mother's Day was special too.

The wayward wind

We survived the night with hellacious winds and woke this morning to more of the same, 20 mph gusting to 30mph.  No more tornado warning but I'd like to stay put today because I'm nervous about driving in high winds with the TC.  Poor Mike, a scaredy cat for a wife!  If the winds die down, we'll go over to the Chayuga National Park.  Here's the pic of the hawks last evening before the wind came on.

My oh, my, Ohio

We've landed outside of Ravena, Ohio, at the West Branch State Park.  Beautiful peninsula surrounded by the reservoir.  When we drove up to our spot there was a woodchuck (I had to ask Mike what it was) ambling by the fire pit - it looked like a giant hamster!  We settled in and Mike was able to fix the recalcitrant jack (thanks to Steve's suggestion to look for a loose wire).  No more manually lowering that one jack!  It's so great to have a husband that can fix anything!

We stopped here because we plan to to go Chayuga National Park nearby tomorrow before heading over to Wright Patterson AFB for tomorrow night.  However, the park ranger came by an hour ago and said there's a tornado warning for the area so we're batting down the hatches and seeing what happens.  Not to worry, we're safe here.  Lovely lake views, cool weather and lots of leftover goodies from Lancaster County for dinner.
We lit a fire and watched some hawks circling over the lake as the flames died down.  I have to pinch myself, this is so wonderful!

I am working, we stopped at a rest stop for a conference call I had this afternoon and my Blackberry keeps me in touch with all my emails and tasks.  I've not been through the Midwest except via plane and I'm enjoying seeing the countryside, the houses and people.  We'll check in again tomorrow.

Feels like home

We arrived in Lancaster County, PA last night and I explored the shops and farms today.  It's fun to Christmas shop in May!  I have to pace myself because everything has to fit in the TC and space is at a premium.  I'm collecting pictures and tiny mementos and had to pass on the lawn ornaments and hand-crafted furniture.  There are miles of manicured farms and meticulously cared-for lawns and homes. I love the hard-working atmosphere and pride of ownership evident in this area.  We went out for smorgasbord last night and had more tonight. The food reminded me of things my Mom and Nana made.  I had Pennsylvania Dutch potato salad and coleslaw, cucumber salad, pork and beef roast and moon pies!  Oh, and we both enjoyed Birch Beer - PA root beer, yummy! We stocked up on some cheeses and meats and canned goods for the rest of the trip.  We'll be working our way West across Ohio, Illinois and Indiana this weekend.  I'll keep in touch!

Off we go!

After staying a couple of nights in Winston-Salem to visit with the grandchildren and see the boys (that's 'Bella with Grandpa), we headed north along the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Shenandoah National Park.  We were in dense fog for the first hour and were stopped by a Forest Ranger who couldn’t see our plates – they are on the truck and are blocked when the camper is on board.  After stopping to move them to the camper (in the pouring rain) we headed on through Raleigh, Virginia and into the park.

We were in the Big Meadow campground and our next door neighbors are a small herd of deer.  They come almost up to the picnic  table and have no fear of humans.

We run on solar, no hookups (that's electric, water and sewer) here, but the sunny day is providing all the power we need.

I set foot on the Appalachian Trail for several feet so I can claim to have been on the trail in Virginia.

Today (Wednesday) we toured Gettysburg and ended up for the next couple of days in Lancaster County, PA.   We've found a wonderful little RV park called Beacon Hill Camping right next to an Amish farm.   We plan to explore the area the next couple of days.  We enjoyed dinner to night at the Family Cupboard --authentic Amish and Mennonite food - I picked up the cookbook!

After the rain Monday, the weather has been great and we're out playing before schools get out for the summer so places aren't crowded.  Our TC is snug and safe and its so great to travel and know you always have a place to stay!

The adventure begins again!

We're beginning new travels this week, starting from Winston-Salem.  I flew in to Greensboro after a very bumpy ride into and out of Memphis and my sweetie picked me up.  So great to be back together!!  We'll spend time with the grandkids on Sunday and load up the TC (truck camper) for our trip.  Mike's got the general route planned and I look for interesting stops and detours.  We're planning a northern route back West.

Watch for the latest updates, I'm hoping to post each evening.

Today is my son, Cory's birthday, proud owner of his own home and a skilled poker player and dealer.  Happy Birthday, I am so proud of you!