The Vagabonds' Excellent Adventure

Back Home in San Antonio

2008-10-04T20:47:00.001-07:00

We are back home! And, what a trip we have had! Now, we must unload the RV and put everything away......What a job!

David and Elizabeth in Dallas

2008-10-03T10:10:00.000-07:00

We left Tim and Emily's and drove about a half hour to a Walmart where we waited for our friends David and Elizabeth to arrive in Dallas. They were in the process of moving from San Antonio to Dallas, and this was their first night to permanently be in Dallas. Although they would have no furniture until the next day, we had a wonderful evening at their fabulous new house enjoying wine and a take-out dinner.

We returned to our RV about 1:30 a.m., at which point I went to bed and Roger started driving. (He drank a lot of water instead of so much wine!) Roger's plan was to get just south of Dallas and stay in a rest stop so we would not have to deal with Dallas traffic when we woke up. But, as luck would have it, the rest stop was too full and we could not stop. So, he drove until 4:00 a.m. and parked in a Walmart in Waco, TX.

Again, we forgot to take our camera--so we have no photos.

Tim and Emily in Fairview, TX

2008-10-03T10:05:00.000-07:00

We left Osage Beach and drove to a rest stop just past Springfield, MO where we spent the night. We got up on Wednesday morning and drove to Fairview, TX to visit Tim and Emily Bailey--friends from San Antonio who moved a couple of years ago. We parked our RV in a Walmart near their house and they picked us up. We spent the night with them in their gorgeous new home--it was the first night we have not slept in the RV since July 28th!

We left our camera in the RV, so we have no photos.

Mike and Judy at Osage Beach

2008-10-03T09:45:00.000-07:00

We left Ft. Madison, IA shortly after noon on Tuesday and drove to Osage Beach, MO, to Mike and Judy Pickford's house. (Mike and Roger wrestled together in high school.) Mike and Judy are retired teachers who relocated from Pekin, IL, to the Ozarks. They have a huge house with a huge deck right on a huge lake. The whole set-up is vacation-perfect. I guess they are on permanent vacation! They made a delicious lasagna dinner and we spend a warm, relaxed evening.

Bonar Campground and Lake Wilderness

2008-10-02T09:42:00.000-07:00

After we left Iowa City, we drove a little over an hour to the Ft. Madison area where Roger grew up. We parked our RV at a farm owned by Roger's friend Johnny Bonar. At the Bonar Campground, John and DeAnne Bonar treated us to free camping, free rental car, free breakfast, free dinner, a complimentary tour of beautiful Lake Wilderness, and a fruit basket upon departure. The Bonar Campground wins our blue ribbon award for the best campground on our whole trip! We really appreciated their hospitality!

The picture with the golf cart and the one with the building outlined in lights are both at Lake Wilderness where John and DeAnne have bought a wonderful camper/cabin combination on the lake. The last picture shows Roger and the bean field beside our camper.

Kathrine Visits the RV

2008-10-02T09:41:00.001-07:00

On Monday, we picked Roger's mother Kathrine up at the assisted living facility, got some food at a deli, and had lunch in our RV. Kathrine has always enjoyed camping, so the RV was fun for her.

Loading some family heirlooms into the RV

2008-10-02T09:37:00.001-07:00

On our way to our campground in the Ft. Madison, IA area, we stopped to load some family heirlooms into our RV. Since Roger's mother recently moved from her senior apartment into an assisted-living facility, Roger's sisters had cleaned out her apartment and divided things up amongst the siblings. Roger's things were put into storage waiting for us to arrive with the RV. His sister Juanita and her husband Andy helped us load.

Tailgating with the kids

2008-10-02T06:40:00.001-07:00

Scott and Dianne's daughter Katie and Jim and Becky's sons Grant and Derek joined us for tailgating. Note that Derek is wearing a t-shirt with a stunning photo of himself on the front. The second photo of his shirt shows how Derek will look as an old man.

University of IA football game and More tailgating

2008-09-30T12:39:00.000-07:00

Tailgating was fun both before and after the game--even though Iowa lost the game. After being ahead for three quarters, they had some turnovers in the 4th quarter and Northwest ended up winning 23-17.

Tailgating in Iowa City

2008-09-30T11:31:00.001-07:00

We left Lena, IL, and drove to Iowa City to meet up with Scott & Dianne Pickford and Jimmy & Becky Buxton for the weekend and to go to a Univ. of IA football game. Since Jimmy and Becky live in Iowa City, they had arranged for us to park our RV in a university parking lot so we could tailgate before and after the game.

Last Few Days at Lena KOA

2008-09-25T10:34:00.001-07:00

Although we forgot to take pictures, we had a fun last few days in Lena.

On Tuesday, Roger golfed with Stan Bruegger, and I went to Galena with Jackie Bruegger. (friends from McNess in Freeport where Roger used to work) In Galena, we shopped, had lunch, and found C.C. Dithers where my friend Cathy Boldt (wife of a friend of Ellen's from high school) works. I bought a very unique pair of capris in Cathy's store.

Tuesday night, we went out to Coaches in Lena for pizza with Jeff and Cathy Boldt. We bumped into Kathy Aurand Diaz and her husband Dan and son Zachary (Kathy is a high school friend of Ellen's sister)

Wednesday, Roger got up early and golfed with Steve Smith (friend from Freeport) in Freeport. I slept in and had a lazy morning. Then Roger came back for a few minutes and then left to golf with Jim Graham (friend from Freeport) in Lena. While Roger was gone, I prepared a guest lecture I am giving for a Univ of Nebraska professor. When Roger got back, we went into Stockton to see my Aunt Glenda and get ice cream.

Wednesday night, we had dinner at Rafters with Jim and Deb Graham. Before we left to meet Jim and Deb, we learned that a San Antonio neighbor, Bernetta Haden, was at Apple Canyon Lake, which is about 20 miles from our campground. She invited us to come out for a visit, but since it was our last night and we already had plans, we were unable to meet up with her. Nevertheless, it was quite a coincidence that we almost met up with our San Antonio neighbor while we were in Illinois!

Right now, it is about 12:30 on Thursday afternoon. Check out time is noon, and we are a little late, but will leave in a few minutes and head to Iowa City. Hopefully we'll get back in our picture-taking mode there!

Sue and Greg

2008-09-21T19:26:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, Sept. 21, we watched the Bears lose in overtime at my Ellen's brother Ryan's house. Then we went to a couple of parks in Freeport and out for ice cream with our friend Sue Fredel and her boyfriend, Greg.

Family CookOut

2008-09-21T19:21:00.001-07:00

On Saturday night after the Alumni Breakfast, we had a family cookout at our RV. Four of my brothers and their wives were there plus my one brother's five-year-old stepson. The weather was absolutely perfect and we had fun roasting hotdogs and marshmallows with sticks--just like when we were kids!

More Alumni Breakfast and Stockton Museum

2008-09-21T19:15:00.000-07:00

Since Ellen is the chairman of the Alumni Breakfast Committee, she was interviewed by both the local newspaper and the local radio station. The picture shows her being interviewed by the radio station.

After we left the Breakfast, we stopped by the Stockton Museum, which was quite fun and interesting. The large Kraft sign is in the museum because Kraft Foods was started in Stockton, IL....Ellen's little hometown that has only recently reached the 2000 census count.

Ellen was quite pleased to discover that her high school year is too "current" to have her yearbook included in the museum. It is nice not to be considered museum-worthy just yet!

Homecoming Game and Alumni Breakfast

2008-09-21T19:02:00.001-07:00

On Friday, Sept. 19th, we went to the Stockton Homecoming game. The team is not having a good year, so even though we did not win, we were able to celebrate the first score of the season!

On Saturday morning, we were at the high school at 7:00 a.m. to set up for the 4th annual Stockton Alumni Breakfast, which was held in the school gym. The first picture shows Ellen talking to Mary Stayner who helped Ellen gather the door prizes and pull the event together. The second picture shows Ellen with the door prizes table. The third picture shows a general shot at the event. The fourth picture shows Ellen calling door prize numbers. The fifth picture shows Mary taking pictures of the alumni attendees' names from the graduation year timeline.

Homecoming Parade

2008-09-21T18:59:00.001-07:00

On Thursday, after we left Karl's place, we went to the Stockton homecoming parade with our friends Jeff and Cathy Boldt.

After the parade, we went to the pep rally in the gymnasium, and watched Jeff and Cathy's son in the junior class skit.

After the pep rally, we went out to Jeff and Cathy's house for a weiner roast under a beautiful sky full of stars.

Stockton Antique John Deere Tractor Museum

2008-09-21T18:54:00.001-07:00

Karl's collection of antique tractors is amazing. He has several barns full of them. Parker loves climbing into the seats and "driving" all of them!

Karl's Cabin and Pond

2008-09-21T18:48:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, Sept. 18th, we visited Ellen's brother Karl's cabin and pond. The pictures show his grandson Parker letting two turtles loose into the pond and sitting on the porch.

After we left the cabin and pond, we visited one of Karl's barns full of antique John Deere tractors. The last picture shows Parker and Ellen in the middle of the barn.

Dinner with the Ellsworths and Shields

2008-09-21T18:24:00.000-07:00

On Monday, Sept. 15th, we were planning to have two of Ellen's classmates, Lynette and Janet, and their husbands for a cookout at our campsite. But, the ongoing rain put an end to that plan. We switched the dinner from outside to inside and from our campsite to Lynette and Dick's lovely new home.

A day or two later, Roger snapped this picture of the camper next to us. If you look closely, you will see that the driver isn't exactly human. It doesn't take a special license to drive an RV, but having your dog drive might be taking it a little too far!

This week, we spent a lot of time collecting door prizes for the Alumni Breakfast that is coming up on Sept. 20th. I (Ellen) did the initial canvassing with Mary Stayner, another person on the Alumni Breakfast Committee. The, Roger and I did a lot of going back to recheck and/or collect.

Cannova's Dinner

2008-09-11T14:25:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, Sept. 10th, we ate at Cannova's Italian restaurant (our favorite Freeport restaurant) with Steve Erin, Steve Smith and Janaan Smith (friends from Freeport), and Louanne Vedra Glisan (friend from Freeport and also our sister-in-law)

Sightseeing and Visitors

2008-09-11T14:12:00.001-07:00

On the way home from Ryan and Lana's house, we stopped at the Blackhawk Monument--an Indian war marker near where Ellen grew up.

On Tuesday, Sept. 10th, we went into Freeport and checked out a couple of changes since we lived in Freeport: Little Cubs Field and the Lincoln/Douglas debate site. Although the debate site was marked with this statue when we lived in Freeport, the area has been changed into a nice little park.

On Tuesday night, Jim Graham (friend from Freeport), stopped by our RV. On Wednesday afternoon, Steve Erin (friend formerly from Freeport, now from California) arrived in the area.

Nephew Karver's Workplace

2008-09-11T13:57:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, we also went to my nephew, Karver's, workplace--a quarry/rock cutting facility. The huge cutters and rocks were amazing and almost frightening!

Ryan and Lana's "New Rock" House

2008-09-11T13:48:00.001-07:00

Ryan and Lana (one of my brothers and his wife) are having their house rocked over by my brother Todd's company. It is going to be SOOOO pretty. The first picture shows Todd and Ellen, the third picture is Ellen and Lana, the fourth picture is Ellen and Charlie, and the last picture is Charlie upside down at rest.

One More Restaurant Mural Picture

2008-09-10T06:03:00.001-07:00

The farmer driving the tractor in this mural is my brother Karl. The artist did such a great job--all the murals are lovely, and the image of Karl is very realistic.

Patricia and Ron Visit

2008-09-10T05:58:00.000-07:00

Roger's sister Patricia and her husband Ron visited us on Sunday, September 7th. We went to the LA Drive-In in Stockton for lunch. My brother Karl and his wife Rhonda own the restaurant, so it is naturally a favorite lunch place for us! They have had some wonderful farm murals painted on the restaurant walls.

More from the First Few Days at Lena

2008-09-10T05:55:00.001-07:00

First Few Days at Lena, KOA

2008-09-10T05:50:00.000-07:00

We arrived at the Lena, IL, KOA in the rain on Thursday afternoon. Since another camper had parked his truck in our campsite, we had to remain on hold for a couple of hours until the camper returned to the campground and moved the truck. We finally got to move onto our site in the early evening. It was still raining and we could not get Internet, so we were not very happy campers. Luckily, the morning brought sunshine and Internet that worked.

Scott and Dianne Pickford came up to camp with us for the weekend. Before we had children and when our children were young, we used to camp together. So, we revisited our camping--but without the children since their girls, like our girls, are grown up!

The four of us went to Stockton on Friday night for pizza and to the Lena Fall Festival and the Honey Hill Apple Orchard on Saturday. Saturday night, we grilled and relaxed around a campfire.

More Field of Dream Pictures

2008-09-07T17:26:00.001-07:00

Iowa Rest Stop South of Albert Lea, MN AND Field of Dreams

2008-09-07T17:16:00.000-07:00

On our way from South Dakota to Illinois, we turned off of I-90 at Albert Lea, MN and went into Iowa. Since Iowa has free Internet at their rest stops, we stopped for the night a couple of miles from Albert Lea. Along with free Internet, our rest stop also had a casino--actually, the casino was across the parking lot in a separate parking lot. But, it was right there, so we checked it out.

We drove past a large windmill farm with hundreds of windmills.

We stopped in Dyersville, IA, at Field of Dreams, even though we have been there before. It was about 10 years ago when we last visited, and we wanted to see how things had changed. The biggest change was that last fall, one of the farmers bought out the other farmer, so there are no longer two owners nor competing gift shops. Even though it was raining when we stopped, we were not the only ones there. A father and son were playing ball when we arrived.

A Trunk for the Scooter

2008-09-03T09:03:00.000-07:00

In a scooter store in Mitchell, SD, we were thrilled to find a silver trunk for our scooter. It fits nicely on the back of the bike and clips on and off quite easily. It will come in handy for getting groceries. We also have space under the seat, but often not as much as we would like.

The Corn Palace Decorating Process

2008-09-03T08:58:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, we did our usual drive by the Corn Palace to see if any progress had taken place on the new murals. We hit the jackpot--not only was there progress, they were busy working on it, so we really got to see how it all comes together.

Using nail guns, they put six or seven nails in each vertically-sliced half ear of corn. We talked to Dan and Larry (the guys doing the work and in the picture with Ellen) and learned that they put that many nails in each ear to prevent the ears from curling up as they dry.

The ears are vertically sliced by a machine into which one ear is hand fed at a time. So, it is a long process. The last photo shows the eight colors (other than yellow) sorted into bins.

We had a nice talk with Dan and Larry and they were happy to show us the behind-the-scenes production process. Before we were done, they offered us jobs working on their crew. Their college help (20 students) had gone back to school, so they needed help. The only reason we declined the employment offer is because it had dropped to 40 degrees in Mitchell, SD, that morning and we do not accept employment offers in locations where it is that cold in September.

Shopping and Cabella's

2008-09-03T08:54:00.000-07:00

Our big outing for Monday, September 1st was a trip into town to do a little shopping. The only picture-worthy stop was Cabella's, which is always an interesting place to walk through.

More State Fair and the Dakota Museum

2008-08-31T22:01:00.000-07:00

The first two photos are from the State Fair. The disk Roger is standing by is 42 feet wide. The tractor I am standing by is just plain huge!

Sunday, August 31, we went to the Dakota Museum on the grounds of the South Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell. The museum includes a Victorian/Italian house that was built in the 1800s in downtown Mitchell and recently moved to the museum grounds, a one-room schoolhouse, an old church, some early to middle 1900s farm machinery, and a variety of South Dakota museum and art displays.

South Dakota State Fair

2008-08-31T21:59:00.000-07:00

We went to the South Dakota State Fair on Saturday and were quite impressed with how large it was and how many people were in attendance. It is at least four times bigger than the New Jersey State Fair that we attended about a month ago.

Here in South Dakota, we saw three large buildings full of 4-H exhibits, lots of animals, RVs, and farm machinery. We also watched the 4-H Performing Arts acts, which was quite enjoyable. And, like in New Jersey, we got a chance to talk to pigs.

Our Camp Staff

2008-08-31T21:51:00.000-07:00

Our Mitchell, SD, campground is small and we have somewhat gotten to know the owners since they are nice people and we talk to them several times each day.

The two men in the yellow shirts are Jerry and Jim who own the campground. The woman in the aqua dress is Jim's mother.

We took the photo of the brown-eyed Susans because they grow rampant here and are so gorgeous! This particular group of flowers is one of many along the walking path at our campground.

Grilling Dinner

2008-08-29T19:23:00.001-07:00

Since our big outing today was to grill dinner, we took pictures of the dinner process and our campsite.

Still More RV Pictures

2008-08-29T19:15:00.000-07:00

These pictures show the dining room table, the kitchen, and the couch that is on the passenger side of the RV. The dining room table is in the bumpout and the kitchen and this couch are on the other side of the RV.

More RV Pictures

2008-08-29T19:13:00.000-07:00

The first two pictures show our bathroom sink and the bedroom. The next two show in front of and behind the driver's seat. The driver's seat is turned backwards and I use it as the chair for my "desk." On past my "desk" is the couch and dining room table, both of which are in the bumpout. Roger's "desk" is in front of the couch. Behind the chair on the steering wheel modified table is the computer printer. The last picture shows the passenger seat and the door. We sometimes have the passenger seat turned at an angle towards the livingroom and other times we leave it in driving position as in this photo. The door by the passenger seat is the only door in the RV. There is no door on the driver's side.

First Full Day in Our Camper

2008-08-29T18:21:00.000-07:00

Today, Friday, August 29th, is the first time since we left San Antonio on July 28th that we spent all day in our RV without doing any sightseeing or even going into a Wal-mart store. We did take a couple walks around the campground, but otherwise we just worked. Here in Mitchell, SD, we do not have a lot of things to go see like we have in all our other locations. We are going to be here a whole week, so it should be nice just to relax and not run around so much.

Since we stayed in our RV all day, we decided to post pictures showing what we saw today: our RV!

The first photo shows the couch and kitchen table (both of which are in the bumpout), and the small pantry at the end of the room. The second photo starts with the corner of the kitchen table, then the couch with Roger's "desk" in front of it, my "desk," the driver's seat, and the shade that covers the front window. The third photo shows from the kitchen toward the passenger side of the RV. The bottom of the TV/VCR/DVD center shows in the top left of the photo. Our scooter helmets show on the dashboard. The other two pictures show the kitchen.

The Corn Palace

2008-08-28T21:29:00.001-07:00

Today, we explored Mitchell, SD a little. Mitchell is a town of about 15,000 people. Since it is located on Interstate 90, it has more amenities than a typical town of that size. For example, it has a K-Mart, Wal-mart, and Shopko. Those three stores would be a lot for 15,000 people to support.

The most exotic thing in Mitchell (and the reason we chose to stop here) is the Corn Palace. The entire exterior of the Corn Palace is redecorated with corn and grains every year. This week happens to be when they are tearing the old murals off and preparing for new murals. So, we got to see workers removing corn from the old murals as well as some of the base drawings for the new murals. The first photo shows some new parts that are finished for 2009--the mosaic with the date and the star and background, which are made of grains. The second photo shows one of the outside murals that has been partially removed. Shortly after we took this photo, workers climbed upon the scaffolding under mural and continued removing the mural, ear by ear.

An artist makes all the base drawings and keys each part to a corn color, similar to creating a paint-by-number drawing. Once the artist finishes all the base drawings, a variety of workers actually apply the corn and grain. They use 11 different colors of corn and prepare each ear of corn by splitting it lengthwise down the middle to create a flat side. The flat side is laid against the building and the corn is nailed in place. The result is a mosaic effect with corn ears instead of stones.

Although the murals outside of the building were not there for us to see, we did get to see several marvelous murals inside in a decorated basketball arena. One of the employees told us that the inside murals are only changed about every five or six years. Also, he told us that the expenses of the Corn Palace are paid through revenue taken in by renting the basketball arena. The last three photos show the basketball arena. The last of these three photos shows a close-up of the mural that is behind Roger's head in the photo right before it.

The Bad Lands

2008-08-27T19:55:00.001-07:00

After we left Wall Drug, we took a 41-mile trek off of Interstate 90 to check out the Badlands. They certainly are amazing and gorgeous--although of no use to anyone for anything outside of viewing them. Although, I did wonder if it would be a great place to have a huge windmill factory--once we figure out the technology to allow us to capture and save wind energy. There certainly is a lot of wind in the Badlands! They could become the Goodlands if they began providing significant amounts of alternative fuels!

Checking Out Wall Drug

2008-08-27T19:50:00.000-07:00

On our way from the Mount Rushmore area to our campground in Mitchell, SD, we stopped at Wall Drug in Wall, SD. What an unusual place. As you can see, we enjoyed some of the animals and people who live there. Besides the animals and people, there many rooms of souvenirs, several places to eat, a charming chapel, and many specialty shops.

Last Outing in Hill City

2008-08-27T19:46:00.000-07:00

The first photo on this page is part of the last post and shows another scene along the mountain hike.

On Tuesday, after our mountain hike, we rode back into Hill City for one last outing. We went up to a 3rd story balcony to have a drink and look down upon the main street. We had parked our scooter right beside a bunch of Harleys. As we looked down on the street, we saw the Harley owners take off. They were obviously intimidated by our bike!

The last photo on this page goes with the next post and shows us arriving at Wall Drug in Wall, SD.

Sunday Gulch Trail by Lake Sylvan

2008-08-27T19:33:00.000-07:00

We learned about Lake Sylvan from Donna and Phil Schumer from Ames, Iowa. We met them in the campground and learned a lot about the area from them since they have been camping here since 1978, and were spending three months here this summer.

On Tuesday, August 26, we decided to take the hike around Lake Sylvan. The first picture shows the trail that we were planning to take around the lake. As we were starting, we bumped into some people who were just coming off of a 2.8 mile mountain hike (Sunday Gulch Trail) that started at Lake Sylvan. So, we decided to take the mountain hike rather than the simpler hike around the lake. The other pictures show some scenes on the mountain hike.

If we return someday, we will take the mountain hike again, but we might go the first mile and turn around and repeat it since we liked that part of the trail most. It was VERY steep and VERY rocky and VERY shady. The remainder of the trail was nice, but it was more boring (lots less rocky) and a lot of it was quite sunny.

After the fact, we also learned from Phil and Donna that there is another mountain trail on the other side of Lake Sylvan. This other trail goes to Harney Peak, which is the highest point in the U.S. east of the Rockies. Phil says that this trail is long, but not strenuous. The trail we took was not as long, but quite strenuous.

Still More Custer State Park

2008-08-27T00:59:00.000-07:00

The amazing rocks in the park encouraged us to climb on them. We played around a little bit, but they were really too big and hard for us to climb.

In one area, the rocks formed a gorgeous enclosed area. One of the rocks had an opening in it that resembled the eye of a needle--and thus, the rock was labeled as such, and many tourists stop in this area. We entered this area through a very small tunnel through the mountains. Again, we were glad we had a scooter and not our RV!

More Custer State Park

2008-08-27T00:51:00.000-07:00

We saw two buffalo together, then one buffalo, and were going to turn around since we had seen some buffalo. Luckily, we stopped at a snack bar, and a woman told us that there were large herds of buffalo around the next corner. We rounded the corner, and sure enough, there were 50-100 buffalo grazing. The woman at the shop told us to be careful since buffalo do not like motorcycles much and especially do not like motorcycles to get between mother and baby buffalos. She also told us to be very careful to stay out of their way in general. She said that as she came out of her cabin this morning, a buffalo had charged her. She said it probably happened because it is during their breeding season, but said it was very frightening.

Custer and Custer State Park

2008-08-27T00:45:00.000-07:00

On Monday, after we left Crazy Horse, we went to the little town of Custer, SD. We had come through Custer on the way to the campground and went back to eat lunch at the Purple Pie Place. The town had about 20 painted buffalos scattered around. They were sort of like the painted cows in Chicago and San Antonio years ago.

Custer State Park was full of amazing huge rocks, herds of buffalo, and very tiny mountain passageways for cars to pass through. We clearly could not have driven our RV through the mountain passes. Our scooter fit well, but they were a tight fit for typical cars and pick-up trucks.

More Crazy Horse Pictures

2008-08-27T00:44:00.001-07:00

The first photo shows some of the items made by native Americans and for sale in the Crazy Horse gift shop. The second photo shows a model of the finished plan. The third photo shows the outline of the finished plan overlaid upon a photo of the mountain as it looks today. The top part of this same photo gives size information for different parts of the monument plan. (Might have to use a magnifying glass to read!) The last photo shows a quilt that shows the finished monument plan. Mrs. Z. is walking in the center of the quilt and the circle of paper dolls represents the 10 children.

Crazy Horse

2008-08-27T00:26:00.002-07:00

On Monday, we went to the Crazy Horse Monument. The monument has been under construction since 1948. The sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski, had worked with Gutzon Borglum at Mount Rushmore for a short time. When Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear asked Korczak to carve the monument of Crazy Horse, Korczak agreed and dedicated the rest of his life to the project. He and his wife, Ruth, lived on the monument grounds their entire married lives. They had ten children, seven of whom still work on the monument. They erected a one-room school on the property and hired a teacher to teach their ten children.

The monument has been built entirely from private funds. Korczak twice turned down millions of government dollars because he did not think the project would get finished if it became a government project. It is possible that he thought this way since he saw the Mount Rushmore project stop when the government money ran out.

When Korczak died in 1982, his wife took over running the project. Today, at age 82, she is still running the project.

Methods have changed greatly over the 60 years of the project. When Korczak began the job, he worked alone, he worked by hand, and he daily climbed hundreds of steps to the top of the monument. Today, the workers drive trucks to the top of the monument on roads they have constructed. A GPS system monitors the dynamite blows that remove unneeded parts of the mountain in small steps. Also, the project includes a large museum and gift shop as well as a movie theater and sculptor's studio. Mrs. Z still lives on the property. At night, a fabulous laser light show shines on the monument and tells the history of the project and shows an image of how the project will look when it is all finished.

More Train Shots

2008-08-27T00:26:00.001-07:00

1880 Train Ride

2008-08-26T20:47:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, August 24, we road on an old train from Hill City to Keystone (12 miles). The trip was one hour each way, and we spent three hours in Keystone between the two trips. Riding through the mountains and forests on the slow, old train was absolutely fantastic.

Keystone was a charming little town with lots of cute shops. As you can see from the picture, Roger found a sweet friend in one of the shops.

Mickelson Trail

2008-08-26T08:01:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, August 23rd, we walked to Hill City on the George S. Mickelson trail. Mickelson was a popular South Dakota governor who was killed in an airplane crash near Dubuque, IA in 1993. The trail is about 110 miles long and is an old railroad right-of-way. Lucky for us, the trail runs right past our campground. Hill City is 3 miles from our campground, so we walked into town and ate dinner at the Alpine Inn. The picture of me on the trail shows the great sun shirt I bought before we started on our trip. Although it is not necessarily a fashion statement, it is very lightweight, is made of sun-resistant fabric, and keeps the sun off of me without making me hot. It has worked out well.

The photo of me at the little table is at the Alpine Inn while we were waiting to go in. In the evenings, the Alpine Inn serves only filet mignon with a baked potato and a wedge of lettuce with homemade ranch dressing. In other words, everyone has the exact same meal, and they serve about 600 people a night. The cost is $8.95 for the 6 oz and 10.95 for the 8 oz. It is a very popular restaurant serving a lot of filet mignon each night!

The pictures of me with the motor scooter are really just to include a photo of the motor scooter--I do not ever really drive it! The motor scooter has been working out wonderfully. We get about 70 mpg and enjoy our unobstructed views of all the wonderful scenery.

The Sculptor's Model

2008-08-22T21:54:00.002-07:00

Although we knew that the Mount Rushmore sculptor had created a model from which to work, we did not realize how huge it was. The model is located now (and was located during the sculpting) in the sculptor's office. Out the window to the left of the model, the actual sculpture is readily visible.

Since World War II started before the sculpture was finished, all the details of the model were not added to the sculpture. For example, the only body parts below the chin on the sculpture are Washington's lapel and Lincoln's collar. But, in the model, all four presidents were to have some below-the-chin components, including arms and hands. In fact, the right side of Lincoln's face was not even finished. The work stopped when funding had to be used for wartime. Also, the project took quite a hit when the sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, died in 1941. His son, Lincoln Borglum, took over and added many finishing touches, but funding was never acquired to completely finish the project as planned.

The picture of me is from the Presidential Trail which winds through the rocks at the base of the sculpture and shows the view from the trail.

More Mount Rushmore Pictures

2008-08-22T21:54:00.001-07:00

Mount Rushmore

2008-08-22T21:49:00.000-07:00

We decided to spend our first full day in South Dakota at Mount Rushmore since it was the attraction that drew us to South Dakota. Even though Roger had been to Mt. Rushmore in high school, and I had, of course, seen pictures of the sculpture many times, we very much enjoyed the experience. There is something sooooo wonderfully American about looking upon this amazing work of art.

The flags leading up to the sculpture viewing area represent the 50 states.

the ranger in the last picture is using rock tools to remove hair remnants from a buffalo hide so that it can be tanned.

Rafter J Bar Ranch

2008-08-22T20:42:00.000-07:00

We arrived in the Mount Rushmore area on Thursday morning, and settled into our campground near Hill City, South Dakota. Our campground is called Rafter J Bar Ranch, and it is the largest acreage we have ever seen in a campground. They have hundreds of camping sites, about 30 cabins, several houses (we assume the family that owns and runs the campground lives in the houses), several bath/laundry buildings, a swimming pool, a couple of game rooms, a large tent for the daily pancake breakfast, a stable with about 10 horses, and enough unused land to develop hundreds of new camping sites.

By walking all the roads around the campground, we can easily get in our typical three-mile walk. And, the roads are fairly shady since there are so many trees on the grounds. Also, Tree-filled mountains surround the campground, so it is absolutely gorgeous. It is about a 10 minute drive to Mount Rushmore.

More Carhenge Pictures

2008-08-20T22:32:00.001-07:00

The first photo shows the covered wagon sculpture and the spring/summer/fall/winter sculpture.

The second and third photos shows the dinosaur and fish made out of car parts.

The fourth photo shows the mother/daughter/grandson who were working in the Carhenge shop.

The last photo shows (or maybe doesn't show) Carhenge at dusk.

Passing Through Nebraska

2008-08-20T22:09:00.000-07:00

We left Lincoln this morning and drove most of the width and height of Nebraska. In doing so, we have these notable experiences to record:

1--We got over 10 miles per gallon for the first time.....10.1 to be exact.

2--We have experienced some amazing winds. Even though it is not storming and the weather is quite warm, a constant 40 mph wind has been blowing all day. When we were crossing the width of Nebraska, we fought it from the side. But, when we turned north, it started pushing us along! We decided it must be a common state since there were wind socks attached to the overpasses so drivers could gauge the wind. Right now, we are sitting in a Wal-mart about 70 miles south of Mount Rushmore, and the wind is rocking our RV ever so gently.

3--We saw some amazing sunflower "patches" today......hundreds of acres of them!

4--We passed by some huge cattle operations with thousands of cattle in conglomerations of pens.

5--We stopped at one attraction today: Carhenge. Carhenge is a reproduction of Stonehenge, but using junk cars. Since the initial sculpture was created in 1987, a few smaller features have been added, such as a dinosaur and a fish--both made out of car parts. All the photos on this page are of Carhenge.

Miscellaneous Lincoln after Graduation

2008-08-19T17:43:00.000-07:00

These three pictures show unconnected points:

1--Roger in the dairy store after we had ice cream one day.

2--Me with the curator of the miniature museum in the School of Architecture building on the main campus. A woman who collected over 20,000 miniatures donated the collection to the university in the late 1990s. Since she had quite a well-rounded collection depicting many types of furniture, the university uses the furniture in both the interior design and architecture classes. The furniture that shows in the photo was pulled for some architecture students to use. Each student will take one piece of furniture and create a room around it. We were able to see quite a bit of the collection, and it was certainly fascinating.

3--This sideways photo shows part of the laundry closet in our RV that we use for eclectic storage. I gathered boxes from Sam's Club, cut and fit them together from floor to ceiling, covered them with contact paper, and fastened them together. The result is a very handy closet! I spent the first night in Lincoln fitting and sizing the boxes. I spent last night removing them from the closet, covering them with contact paper, and then putting them back into the closet.

Inside the capitol building

2008-08-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

These five photos are all inside the state capitol building.

2008-08-19T17:27:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, we visited the state capitol building. It is only a couple blocks from campus, so it was easy for us to find time for it and to locate it.

Like most capitol buildings, it was very beautiful inside. Although it looks like a football player on the top of the dome, it is a sculpture of a man sowing seeds. One of my professors said it is the only building in Lincoln that doesn't have a football player on it!!

The photos showing the city view is from the viewing deck at the top of the capitol building.

Museums But Not Many Quilts

2008-08-19T17:13:00.000-07:00

I have been so excited to see the International Quilt Museum ever since I found out it was on the University of Nebraska campus. They advertise that they have over 2000 quilts from many different eras and countries. The museum is on east campus in a brand new building. We finally went to visit it on Saturday, but I was hugely disappointed. They have between 20 and 30 quilts on display and about 2000 in protective storage that cannot be viewed. So, for my purposes, they have between 20 and 30 quilts--not so impressive! It seems that up until six months ago, they had the quilts all on display in the building where they have been located for years. Then, they moved into a brand new building and hid most of the quilts. The old museum where visitors could see the quilts was free. The new museum costs $5 even though there is very little to see. It is a huge building, but only one room is open to the public. They have computers set up where visitors can view photos of all the quilts, but that doesn't appeal much to me. I was so disappointed that I wanted to cry! The top three pictures show the outside of the building.

We also went to the Historical Society museum, which is on the main campus. It is a lovely museum showing the history of Nebraska and the people who have lived there. They also happen to have a separate room with a quilt collection, but that wing was under construction, so we couldn't see those quilts, either. I was fairly upside-down regarding the quilt void. It wouldn't have mattered at all if I didn't know that I was going to see all these quilts, but I did know, so it was a real downer! The last two photos show me with a lovely doll house in the Historical Society museum and the sign noting that the quilt display is closed.

Exploring the University from Which Ellen Graduated

2008-08-19T16:53:00.000-07:00

We spent the weekend and Monday and Tuesday exploring Lincoln and the university. The University of Nebraska has two campuses: the main campus and the east campus. Of the 13 instructors I have visited, 10 of them are on the main campus and three of them are on the east campus. The east campus is about three miles from the main campus, and we can get on Vine Street on the main campus and go directly to the east campus. So, it is a quick and easy trip between the two campuses. With all the expansion of the University, one day the two campuses might touch!

The east campus is considered the "agriculture" part of the university since it incorporates all the forestry and farm-related components, such as the arboretum, the cheese- and ice-cream-making facility,and the poultry buildings. The faculty members I went to see there are not farm-related, however. Two of them (Dr. King and Dr. Matkin) teach in a leadership group that includes Introduction to Distance Education and Leadership courses. The third one, Dr. Kemp, teaches in the special education department. Although the rest of the education department is on the main campus, the whole special education department is on the east campus. The dental school and law school are also on the east campus. So, the east campus is clearly more than agriculture classes at this point in time! Both campuses have dorms, however the main campus has many more dorms.

The pictures on this page show me with Dr. King and the dairy store (both on the east campus) and me with a reading sculpture and Roger with a football sculpture (both on the main campus). I had two classes with Dr. King, and he also participated in my dissertation study. On three different days, Roger and I had ice cream at the dairy store. The faculty and students make the ice cream right there behind viewer windows. The ice cream is both delicious and cheap. It's a good thing we are leaving Lincoln early tomorrow morning--we can't keep eating huge ice cream cones every day!

More Graduation Photos

2008-08-15T20:32:00.001-07:00

The first four pictures show me in my seat and on the stage. The red robed people are the graduation marshalls who guided us to make sure we were where we should be when we should be there.

The last picture shows me at DaVinci's restaurant after graduation. We thought DaVinci's would be a nice place for a relaxing dinner with wine. But, as it turns out, DaVinci's is sort of a fast-food Italian restaurant that does not serve wine. Even though it wasn't what we expected, we enjoyed our meal and then had wine back in the camper. I wore my robe to dinner to prolong the celebratory moment.

Ellen Actually Has Diploma in Hand

2008-08-15T20:18:00.000-07:00

Actually having the diploma in hand is a powerful feeling. I now know that I will not encounter a technicality that will prevent me from graduating! Yea!!!

The ceremony was typical, but satisfying. Meeting my advisor in person was very pleasant. I've known for a long time that he is a good guy, but meeting him in person really emphasized how lucky I was to land both with the University of Nebraska and with him.

These pictures show me with my advisor, Dr. Allen Steckelberg, me coming in during the processional, and the stage.

The Nebraska State Museum--Wow!

2008-08-14T20:12:00.000-07:00

We discovered that there is a great museum on the University of Nebraska campus, so we checked it out. The museum has many skeletons that have been assembled with actual fossils of elephants, mammoths, dinosaurs, and many other animals. We did not know this fact, but it seems that Nebraska has been quite the hotbed for fossil excavation.....whole fossil sets of elephants, mammoths, dinosaurs, and many other prehistoric animals have been discovered in Nebraska. So, since the fossils were found in Nebraska, the assembled animals are in the Nebraska State Museum, which is on the University of Nebraska campus. You can see some of the animals at this link and on other pages linked to this page:

http://www-museum.unl.edu/research/vertpaleo/vertpaleo.html

The front of the museum is adorned with an amazing sculpture of a life-size mammoth. I am standing under its foot to give a sense of the size of this animal. In the skeleton photos, I am also in the picture showing the skeleton with which the sculpture matches up.

Ellen sets foot on the University of Nebraska Campus

2008-08-14T19:40:00.000-07:00

Just in time to graduate, I have finally set foot on the University of Nebraska campus. And, what a lovely campus it is! It has a good supply of gorgeous big, old buildings and lots and lots of trees and flowers. Absolutely lovely!

The pictures, from top to bottom and left to right, show

1--Me standing outside my advisor's door. We stopped to see Dr. Steckelberg about six different times, but never caught up with him. So, I will meet him in person for the first time tomorrow at the ceremony.

2--Me, David Letterman, and Johnny Carson in the Johnny Carson Theater. Johnny Carson was from Nebraska and went to the University of Nebraska. Tomorrow, we graduates are gathering in the Johnny Carson Theater to line up and get our ceremony guidelines.

3--Me in front of the entrance to the Johnny Carson School of Theater and Film, for which Johnny Carson donated 5.3 million dollars to renovate. It turns out that he himself attended classes in this same building, and it was the performing arts building then as well. His donation allowed for a recent renovation to modernize the building.

4--Me in front of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln visitors' center landscaping and sign.

5--Me in the bookstore wearing a University of Nebraska Cornhuskers' cornhead.

We're in Iowa!

2008-08-12T20:10:00.000-07:00

We left Elkhart, IN, and drove on I-80 all the way to Davenport, IA, where we spent the night at the Interstate RV Park. Even though the name is not all that inviting, it is actually a nice little campground with WIFI. When we got to the campground, we knew we were in Iowa since we were welcomed by a pig! And, it wasn't just any pig, it was a pig that welcomed riders! (Yes, there were pigs in New Jersey, but that was at the fair, so that was different!) We took some long walks around the campground and over to Farm and Fleet where we made some essential purchases: candy and an Iowa Hawkeye folding lawn chair. We also caught up on our Internet work. About 3:00 p.m., we left Davenport and drove to Iowa City.

In Iowa City, we had dinner with our friends Jim and Becky Buxton and their son Derek (who is Abigail's age). During this generally lovely evening, Derrick gave us a great tip about getting a stain off of our RV bathroom floor. (The stain got there from the scooting of the blue plastic salt bag Rebecca's air conditioner traveled on from San Antonio to New York.) Anyhow, Derek told us that Skin So Soft would remove the stain. We happen to have Skin So Soft with us for Ellen's insect repellent. (Roger is too manly for such nice-spelling insect repellent.) After dinner, but before we took off, we tried removing the stain......and, PRESTO....it is gone! Those young people are so smart!

We also learned about another way to remove the stain from Becky. It is called an erasing sponge, and we bought one, but didn't use it since the Skin So Soft worked. Now, thanks to the Buxton family, we are equipped to remove any stain we might encounter!

We left Iowa City about 9:30 p.m. and headed to Des Moines. We had thought about spending the night in the Iowa City Wal-mart parking lot (actually, it is the Coralville Wal-mart just outside Iowa City), but we decided to push on and check out these wonderful Iowa rest stops with WIFI. We are planning to stop at a rest stop just on this side of Des Moines. Assuming we have good Internet there, we will get up in the morning and work a while before we go on. If we do not have good Internet there, we will probably drive on to the other side of Des Moines and spend the night in the Wal-mart/Sam's Club there.

Today, we will surpass the 3000-mile mark on our trip. What a lot of miles! What a lot of driving by Roger! What a lot of diesel fuel! (Roger wants me to say that I am going to drive the last 3000 miles, but we all know that is not true!) One positive thing about the diesel fuel, the cost per gallon has dropped about 40¢ since we started our trip. Yea!

Wal-mart was really thinking when they decided to invite RVers to park in their parking lots overnight. Since we are right there, we do all our shopping for RV needs and groceries. Due to our numerous Wal-mart purchases in multiple states over the past two weeks, we have applied for a volume discount. We are waiting to hear.

Yet More Newmar Tour Pictures

2008-08-11T15:36:00.001-07:00

More Newmar Tour Pictures

2008-08-11T15:33:00.000-07:00

Newmar Kountry Klub Members

2008-08-11T15:04:00.000-07:00

After we left Cleveland and the wonderful Rock and Roll music, we headed toward Elkhart, IN. We intended to spend the night in a Wal-mart and then call the Newmar factory (makers of our RV) the next day. But, as we studied the Newmar Web site, we discovered that they had a tour scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on Monday morning and that we could spend the night in their parking lot. So, we bypassed the Elkhart, IN, Wal-mart and headed to Nappanee, IN. The parking lots at the Newmar factory are a little different than a typical parking lot. Each slot is big enough for a 45-foot RV and each slot has water, electricity, and sewer hookups. Much more accommodating than Wal-mart parking lots!

The factory tour was fascinating. We saw RV building at every stage. The plant is huge and consists of many buildings. One of the buildings near where we were parked was labeled "Building 19," so we guessed there were at least 19 buildings. It's sort of like a little city. The workers drive RVs and golf carts around constantly. The big and little extremes!

While we were at the factory, we learned about the Newmar Kountry Klub from some of the other RVers there. It seems that each section of each state has Kountry Klub rallies, and they sound like a lot of fun. So, we decided to join and try it out. We are now Newmar Kountry Klub members. Even though we feel like we can't spell (Kountry Klub????), we are looking forward to meeting some San Antonio RVers.

We Love Rock and Roll

2008-08-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

As we left Pennsylvania and made our way into Ohio, we started working on figuring out how to get our RV into downtown Cleveland so we could visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Initially, we thought we would try to park at a Wal-mart and take the Cleveland Rapid Transit downtown. We even found a Wal-mart with a Rapid connection, but then we learned that the Rapid did not operate on Sunday.....and, of course, we were stopping on Sunday. So, we went back to the drawing board....actually, to the Internet.

We could tell from the Web site that the Hall of Fame does not have a parking lot of its own. I called and learned that they encouraged people to park in various parking garages, none of which could accommodate an RV. The person I spoke with told me that we could park where the buses park. That sounded like a fine plan, and we figured that we could maneuver the area if buses could. However, we had a little trouble finding the bus parking area and ended up having to turn around in the middle of a two-lane downtown street with cars parked on both sides. We had no choice but to turn around since Lake Erie was in front of us and there were no more streets to turn on. We turned into a driveway and I proceeded to walk out into the street and hold up my hands to stop traffic. Then Roger backed up and worked his way around. He's getting really good at such tricks!

We eventually found the bus parking spot and headed into the museum. Since we are 60's and 70s people, it was a wonderful step back in time for us. We enjoyed the museum immensely, although we did come away with two major suggestions for management: 1--Call Graceland and talk to them about the one-headphone-per-person plan. It is crazy to ask 20 people in a room to share two or three headphones. And, since this is a music museum, we want to hear the music as we go along. Plus, who wants to put on a headphone that a stranger has just taken off? 2--Change the way names and words are displayed on the Hall of Fame video. This video is absolutely wonderful except for the name and wording overlays. People cannot visually read names and words that are six feet high and spread over three room-sized screens. We really wanted to read all the names, but even though we worked together and focused on it constantly, we missed about 25% of it because it was visually impossible to catch.

Since we were so into the museum, the two issues above were quite frustrating, and we were surprised that they could have made the choices they did since the problems were glaringly obvious.

Unfortunately, it was raining a little as we went into the museum, so they closed the Johnny Cash traveling bus. Since it is out side the museum, wet feet are a problem. Since we are RVers and Johnny Cash fans, we were sorry to miss seeing the bus. The sign next to it said that the bus had four private rooms--one for June, one for Johnny, one for their son, and one for the bus driver. The sign also said that Johnny had toured in several different regular RVs, but they would not hold up to the heavy use. So, Johnny finally had a regular passenger bus custom fit to his needs and was able to use it for 20 years .

Goodbye Beaver Hill!

2008-08-09T18:32:00.000-07:00

We left Beaver Hill Campground on Saturday about 4:45 p.m. We initially intended to leave earlier in the day since checkout was at noon. But, it turned out that, if we reserved our site for an entire week instead of for six days, the weekly rate was less than the 6-day rate. So, since we were paid up until Sunday, we took our sweet time leaving. The picture shows the lodge where we had to go if we wanted to have wireless Internet so we could both be on the Internet at the same time. So, we spent quite a bit of time in the lodge. Sometimes, we would tether in the camper and just have one computer on at a time. But, due to all the beautiful huge trees, we didn't have the best reception in the camper.

Now, we are back on the road. I am tethered and typing this blog as Roger drives down I-80 through Pennsylvania. We are planning to sleep in a Wal-mart parking lot in Dubois, PA tonight. The photo shows the RV in travel mode....the slide out is in making our main room much narrower.

Dropping Our Little Baby Off

2008-08-09T18:16:00.000-07:00

We rented a car to go to the fair on Thursday and to take Rebecca back to her apartment. We had intended that she would take public transportation back to her apartment, but we discovered that we could have a rental car dropped at the campground for us for two days and it would cost about the same as using public transportation. So, yesterday (Friday the 8th), we drove back into New York City in our rental car and dropped Rebecca off. We spent about 8 hours exploring her neighborhood and helping her unpack her boxes and arrange her room. In the end, all that stuff we had packed into the RV actually did fit into her apartment. She still has some things to clean up, but as the pictures show, she is well on her way to being settled.

The inside pictures show her bedroom, their TV area and the part of the original living room that is going to be sectioned off for a third bedroom, and their kitchen. The dark picture is the outside of her apartment building at night, but I don't really think it worked at all!

We took one wrong turn as we were leaving New York and ended up spending an extra half hour in the city. But, in the end, we made our way across the Hudson River on the George Washington Bridge and back to our campground. It is only about an hour drive from the New Jersey mountains to Rebecca's apartment. It is amazing how close the rural, natural world is to the massive city!

In our driving into and out of New York City, we used three different routes to cross the Hudson: Lincoln Tunnel, Holland Tunnel, and George Washington Bridge. We feel so adventuresome!

More New Jersey State Fair

2008-08-07T21:39:00.001-07:00

Here are a few more pictures from the fair. (I can only attach five pictures per post.)

New Jersey State Fair

2008-08-07T21:24:00.001-07:00

Today, we went to the New Jersey State Fair. By coincidence, it was going on about 15 miles from our campground, so we figured "What the heck!" The fair was quite a pleasant surprise. It was much less commercialized (other than the midway) than I was expecting. We were glad to see that 4-H was a main component of the fair, and we saw all kinds of 4-H projects, booths, and animal showings. Quite a flashback to Roger and my farming childhoods!

I especially liked the quilt show where we saw some absolutely amazing quilts. Also, the farm animals were charming (note the pigs!). We were rather surprised to see some "zoo" animals, such as an elephant, a couple camels, and some monkeys. The elephant and one of the camels were set up for rides, but the rides were in total sun, so we did not ride. We ate a lot of junk food at the fair, of course. But, we didn't stuff ourselves, so on the way home, we stopped at a little Italian place in the nearby town and had a "family size" calzone, which turned out to be enough for a family two or three times bigger than ours. It was delicious, and I'm sure the leftovers will also be delicious.

Beaver Hill Campground

2008-08-06T05:32:00.000-07:00

We are at the Beaver Hill Campground in Hamburg, NJ. It is a lovely place in the mountains of New Jersey. I tried to take a photo to show how lovely it is, but it came out very dark. I guess there is just too much shade--Aside from photos, works for me!

We have been hiking, grilling, relaxing, working a little.....and Rebecca and I made a new quilt for her apartment. The photo shows the quilt near the end of the creation of the quilt top. I would never have considered making a quilt in our old RV since it would have been too crowded and too dark. But, it has worked very well in our new one!

Roger and Rebecca took the scooter to a little town about six miles away and got some things at Wal-mart. Yesterday was the first time we have gotten the scooter off the RV, so I have not yet ridden the scooter on the trip. But, as we go forward and have just two of us in different campgrounds for a week or more at a time, I know we will use it a lot, and I will get to ride it plenty!

New Jersey People Love Wal-mart

2008-08-03T11:55:00.000-07:00

We were amazed at how busy the Secaucus, NJ Wal-mart was at all times. The long lines and crowded aisles (as shown in the pictures) are something I've only seen at Christmas in other Wal-marts. The other picture on this page shows Roger working on his computer on Sunday morning in the Wal-mart parking lot and Rebecca sleeping in.

We were walking back to our camper from a Starbucks when an ambulance went by us. Roger said, "That ambulance is probably on the way to Wal-mart because someone got trampled in the checkout line." We laughed, but we did find the business of the Wal-mart to be stressful!

We are on our way to Beaver Hill Campground in the New Jersey Mountains right now, and we will stay there until Saturday (August 9th).

New York or Bust!

2008-08-02T21:25:00.000-07:00

Today we accomplished one of the main goals of our trip: We moved Rebecca’s things into her apartment. However, everything did not go perfectly smoothly (surprise! surprise!). When we arrived at U-haul to pick up our truck, they informed us that, even though we had made a 24-hour reservation, and even though we were paying for a 24-hour reservation, we could only had the truck for six hours. And, if we kept it for more than 6 hours, we would be charged a $50 late fee. Since we had to take the truck back to our RV in New Jersey, load it, drive to Manhattan, find Rebecca’s apartment, unload everything, and drive back to New Jersey, 6 hours were really not enough. And, since we had paid for 24 hours, it was very frustrating to be told matter-of-factly that we could only had it for 6 hours. Due to the fact that U-haul would not honor the contract we made with them and since we were already paying a lot for the truck and did not think we should have to pay $50 more, we had a very stressful day trying to get the truck back to them by 4:00 p.m. We ended up making it by 5:00 p.m., but we were unable to organize anything in Rebecca’s apartment. We simply had to drop everything and run. We are very unhappy with U-haul for adding serious stress to our day and for preventing us from completely moving in as we had planned.

U-haul aside, we had some very interesting experiences today. We drove through the Lincoln Tunnel from Secaucus, NJ to Manhattan, NY and through the Holland Tunnel from Manhattan, NY to Jersey City, NJ. In both cases, we were actually driving under the surface of the Hudson River. What an amazing engineering feat!

The first two photos show Rebecca's stuff in the basement of the RV. The other two photos show the Secaucus Wal-mart where we were parked for two whole days.

Rebecca’s apartment is quite charming and in an equally charming neighborhood. From her window she can watch a festival that is held each weekend (maybe just in warm weather??) where they play music outside and have booths and entertainment. It makes the whole neighborhood seem so festive and folksy. Quite pleasant!

We were lucky that a train runs in front of her building and, under the train, there is ample parking. So, unlike most places in New York, we could actually park right by her building. We unloaded from there and then left the U-haul there for about 30 minutes while we did a few things in her apartment.

Getting to and from the U-haul pick-up location from our home-base in the Wal-Mart parking lot was quite an experience. We had to take a cab, and it cost us $18.00 to go the 3 miles the first time and $25 miles to return. What a racket. We'd have been happy to walk, except we had no way to cross the New Jersey Turnpike on foot!

Once we returned to our camper after the big move was over, we were quite thrilled to experience our camper for the first time without all Rebecca’s things. We put the slide out and enjoyed all the space. We went over to Bazooka’s again and had dinner.

Like last night, tonight we are going to sleep in the Sacaucus, NJ Wal-mart parking lot. It is such a nice service Wal-mart offers---inviting RVs to stop and/or spend the night. Of course, I’m sure most RVers are like us in that, since they are stopping at a Wal-mart, they go ahead and buy a few things.

Although this trip has been fun and exciting so far, in some ways, our vacation starts tomorrow since it is the first day that we are going to set up at a campground and plan to stay there a whole week. We are looking forward to some slower days!

Pennsylvania and the Old RV

2008-08-02T21:14:00.000-07:00

What a day! We left the campground in Washington, Pennsylvania about 1:00 p.m. and drove off into the Pennsylvania mountains and hills. Absolutely gorgeous! We soon came to a road sign that said “Remove Sunglasses.” That was a new sign to us, but logical since we were about to enter a mountain tunnel. We drove through four mountain tunnels: Allegheny Mountains Tunnel, Tuscarona Mountains Tunnel, Kittatinny Mountain Tunnel, and Blue Mountain Tunnel. I was quite amazed that I didn’t even lose my tether connection in the tunnels! (And, by the way, when I first tried to tether, I could not get online with my computer….only Roger’s. But, I have since discovered how to get on with my computer, also. Yea!)

Today, we got gas for the third time since leaving San Antonio. Our mpg are 9.7, 9.2, and 9.9. The 9,2 was in the mountains on the very rainy day, so we are quite optimistic that our mpg will surpass 10 mpg once we unload Rebecca’s stuff and drive away from the mountains!

Getting gas in our RV is such an experience. First of all, we have to line up with the semi trucks to wait for the diesel pumps. Two of our three stops have taken at least an hour each. Roger puts the RV in park and leaves the driver’s seat to do other things. It is a crazy wait!

We paid $18.75 to use the Pennsylvania Turnpike. That wouldn’t seem so bad except that it was a terribly bumpy road that jostled our RV all over the place. We had more things fall out of place during that hour than during the previous 1600 miles.

We were thrilled when we rolled into Secaucus, NJ tonight about 9:00. But, an hour later when we were still trying to figure out how to get to the Wal-mart where we planned to spend the night, it wasn’t so thrilling. We could see it alongside the New Jersey Turnpike, but we had no clue how to get there. But, then we encountered an angel named Alphonso Guieterriz. He was a local man who happened to be in the truck stop where we stopped hoping to find help. Not only was he willing to give us directions, he actually drove to the Wal-mart as we followed him because he said it was too hard to explain. Since it was an absolutely crazy trek that twisted and turned through multiple exits and city streets, we might have spent half the night trying to get there had it not been for Alphonso.

Once we had landed, we had a late dinner at a pub named Bazookas, which was about a block from Wal-mart. At the end of the meal, instead of mints, they gave us Bazooka bubble gum. Fun!

Tomorrow, after getting very explicit directions on how to get back here from someone in the Wal-mart, we will take the bus over to pick up our moving truck, come back to the RV, load Rebecca’s stuff into it, and make our way into Manhattan. It is less than a 10-mile drive, but it is likely to be adventurous. Until then……..

The first two photos on this page are of our campground in Pennsylvania. The other four photos are of our old RV. We enjoyed it for years, but are sooooo happy with our new one! The photos are actually the ones Roger took for Craig's List when we were trying to sell the old RV. But, he never actually posted the photos since he didn't have them downloaded to the computer. He posted the ad with out photos, but the man who bought it saw it parked in the storage facility beside Starcrest. So, we didn't end up selling it on Craig's list....with or without photos.

Arkadelphia and Graceland

2008-07-31T10:17:00.000-07:00

We started out Wednesday morning (July 30) by getting gas and were thrilled to find that we had gotten 9.7 mpg. Even though that might not sound like great gas mileage, it is really good for an RV as big as ours and that is loaded with a whole apartment full of stuff!

As we drove off, I was in the bathroom blowdrying my hair. It is the only way to travel! Except for one thing--Roger said I couldn't plug my curling iron in while I was blow drying my hair since I might blow a fuse. So, it is a great way to travel, but there are limitations!

We left Arkadelphia, AR, drove to Little Rock (and, Fran, somehow we missed the Bill Clinton library. Darn!), and went on to Memphis, TN, where we spent a couple hours visiting Elvis. It was nice to see that he was able to spend some of his millions before he died. What an estate! And, what lavish tastes he had in home furnishings and decorations. I tried to imagine actually living there, but it was hard to get a feeling of hominess. However, it was great having Elvis music playing in every room!

We were quite pleased that Graceland is equipped to park RVs, so that it was easy for us to stop for our visit. As we were pulling into the parking lot, Roger noticed that "oversized vehicles" were $2.00 extra ($10.00) for parking. As he looked down four feet to the face of the woman taking the money, he asked her, "Are considered an oversized vehicle?" She laughed and said that she would say so! The picture on the top shows Roger getting out of the RV in the Graceland parking lot. The picture on the bottom is Graceland. (Now that I have pictures flowing, I'm going to try to add pictures to the previous posts, also.)

After we left Graceland, we headed to Nashville, TN. We were planning to stop and visit the Parthenon in Nashville, but decided we didn't have time since we need to be in New York City on Saturday morning. So, we went on by.

As Roger was driving along, he came upon a half of a house going down the four-lane road with a "large load" sign vehicle behind it. The half of a house was hanging about a foot over the center of the lane it wasn't in. If I had been driving (which, of course, will never happen!), we would have followed that half of a house until one of us turned off the road.....miles and miles if needed and at 20 miles an hour if needed! But, not Roger, he just pulled over into the sort-of-empty lane and passed the half of a house. Scared the heebiejeebies out of me! Then, not more than 15 minutes later, half of the top of a windmill came along on the back of a semitrailer. It proceeded to pass us, and the huge circular bottom was about a foot from our windows. Again terrifying. I think that one even threw Roger when it first came alongside us. It was just so huge and close and going so fast. But, this traumatic experience didn't bother Roger for long. Ten minutes later, he caught up to the windmill truck and chose to pass it. Go figure!

Roger checked our odometer against the mile markers and discovered that our odometer is off by about 5%. So, even though the calculation said that we got 9.7 mpg. we really did a little better than that. Yea!

I continue to be absolutely amazed at how well the tethering is working. I can stay online for hours at a time. And, as a rule, I don't even get knocked off when my phone rings. I can actually be online and talking on the phone at the same time. Powerful little PDA I have!

North of Nashville, we ran into a heavy thunder and lightning torrential downpour. We drove on in it for quite a while, but finally decided enough was enough. So, about 9:30, we pulled into a Wal-mart parking lot in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and called it a day. Since we were stopping in an area surrounded with retail and restaurant options, we were looking forward to our first meal outside of the camper since we left. Unfortuneately, most of the restaurants were closed. So, we ate at Sonic. It was OK, but not the quality of restaurant we had in mind!

Flashback/Background & July 29th

2008-07-29T16:13:00.001-07:00

We started this blog at the end of a very long, weary day and did not provide any background regarding our trip. Here is how it came about:

When Rebecca decided to move to New York to teach in an underprivileged school through Teach for America, we had to figure out a way to move her things into her apartment. We have always wanted a larger RV with a slideout, so we decided that this must be the time to buy it! The time frame for the trip and length of the trip came about based on all of these items:

• Rebecca's move into her New York apartment

• a week of vacation in the New Jersey mountains with Rebecca

• Ellen's doctoral graduation ceremony in Lincoln, Nebraska

• a University of Iowa football game with Roger's college friends

• a memorial golf outing in honor of an old friend

• a tour of the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, and other areas of South Dakota

• a visit with Roger's mother

• transportation of a family heirloom (antique cabinet) from Iowa to Texas

• Ellen's high school Alumni Breakfast

We figured that it made sense to apply the costs for all the above activities to an RV trip. So, here we are!

Tonight, we decided on an impromptu stop at a campground for four reasons: 1--We wanted to make an extra long stop today since we were up so late last night. 2--We ended up packing some things in the shower, so instead of taking the items out, we are just going to shower at the campground. (Once we unload Rebecca's things in New York, we won't have this crowded problem.) 3--We can top our propane tank off at this campground. 4--This campground has free wireless Internet. Even though our tethering is working well, we can only tether one computer online at a time (and Ellen's computer isn't being agreeable).

Our campground is in Arkadelphia, AR. We are about 70 miles from Little Rock.

Good night!

11:30 a.m.?? 11:30 p.m.?? What's the Difference?

2008-07-29T09:43:00.000-07:00

We woke up Monday morning eager to head out on our excellent adventure. Roger opened the garage door and found a heart-warming surprise on the driveway between the RV and the garage. Our friends, David and Elizabeth, had left us a three-foot tall wooden Christmas reindeer (a revolving joke between us), and the reindeer was holding some wonderful adventure send-off gifts.

We planned to leave before noon, however, "we" refers to Roger and me, not to the RV. The RV apparently didn't want to leave that soon. At 11:00 a.m., we were running just a little behind our plan, but we thought we would leave within an hour. Roger turned the refrigerator on so it would be cold when we were ready to move food into it. But, the refrigerator did not get cold. After working with it for a while and talking to two different RV mechanics about it, Roger took the RV to the repair shop (where he had to go at some point anyhow to fill the propane tank). It turns out that this make of RV refrigerator takes about 24 hours to cool down and will not cool down on a slant (like our driveway). So, Roger and the RV were back in the driveway an hour later, ready to move forward.

I continued to load, load, load......what a lot of stuff we loaded even after we finished loading all Rebecca's stuff! Roger began filling the water tank. That's where the problems continued. He discovered we had no water pressure. He worked with the system for about an hour and then took the RV to the repair shop, again. Luckily, the water system was fine, it just works differently than our old RV. He was almost back to our house when a loud non-stop alarm starting screaming at him indicating that one of the leveling jacks was down. So, he turned the RV around (no small feat!) and headed back to the repair shop. This time, there was a problem, but just a small one and he now knows how to handle it if it should happen again.

Another two hours, and Roger was back home with the RV again. By now, it was about 5:00 p.m. and everything was working. Since we had thought we were only an hour from leaving when the issues started, it seemed logical that we were only an hour from leaving at this point. But, as we started into the last minute things, like loading the motorcycle onto the end of the RV, we discovered that we had quite a list of last-minute things to accomplish since we will be gone over two months. Thus, it was 11:30 when we finally pulled out.

As soon as we got on the road, I turned on my laptop and tried to tether with my phone for Internet service so I could update the blog. But, I couldn't get connected. At that point, it was too dark, and I was too tired to go forward. So, I just put my computer away and opened that little bag of goodies from David and Elizabeth and did a bit of initial practice playing our new harmonica! I have to say that a harmonica is a charming instrument. Even though I have no general musical skill and no harmonica experience at all, I was able to generate some sweet sounds and some simple songs. My best creation were melancholy sounds that Roger says would go well with a cowboy movie or a war-time movie.

Since we got such a late start, we planned to drive to the reststop just north of Austin and stop for the night. We figured that we would much appreciate being past Austin traffic when we woke up. Well, as luck would have it, the reststop was closed due to construction. So, we drove on looking for a Wal-mart (since Wal-marts invite RVers to spend the night) so we would not have to drive clear to the next reststop. We didn't find a Wal-mart before the next reststop......and, unfortuneately, we didn't find the next reststop either. Finally, we found a Sam's Club in Waco at about 3:00 a.m. and spent what was left of the night there.

It was cool enough that we did not need to run the air conditioner (which is good since it prolongs the need to refill the propane tank). Since we have Rebecca's mattress strapped to one bedroom wall and her mattress box strapped to the other bedroom wall, we couldn't get a great breeze through our open windows, but it was still pleasant enough to sleep comfortably.

We got up this morning and walked around Sam's Club, HEB, and Wal-mart to get some wine, breakfast, and ice packs. Since our freezer seems to work fairly well, but our refrigerator isn't as cold as we would like it, we are going to freeze some ice packs and then use them to help the refrigerator stay cold.

We left Waco about 10:00 this morning, and I again tried to tether to my phone to get Internet service. I was unable to do so on my computer (again), but this time I tried Roger's computer and got right on. So, since then, Roger has been driving down the Interstate and I checked our e-mails and am now typing in the blog. When I finish here, I will then grade some papers from our online college classes and send feedback to our students and then I will work on aligning science test questions to state standards. This drive and work plan is going well....as long as I have work I can do in Roger's computer. Hopefully, I will eventually figure out how to get my computer on.

We were a little concerned that the police would not like the fact that our scooter covers up our license plate. But a policeman passed us a while ago and didn't seem to mine.

Right now, Roger is manipulating his way through some very tight lanes of construction in Dallas. He says that our mirrors almost touch the mirrors of the semi trucks in the next lane. Nasty!

Even though we got a late start, we are rolling along nicely now! We are going to head out of Dallas on Highway 30 and towards Arkansas.

Internet tethering permitting, we will be blogging again tonight or tomorrow morning. Until then....Adios!

Anticipation Is NOT Always Half the Fun!

2008-07-27T21:19:00.000-07:00

We are on our first-ever lengthy RV trip. Since it is both an RV trip and a way to move Rebecca's belongings to New York, we knew that packing was going to be an ordeal and we were not looking forward to getting started.

But, we did finally start putting Rebecca's items in the RV at 7:00 on Sunday night, July 27th. Two hours later, we were done and quite pleased that we have ample space to move around in the RV. We really expected to have so much stuff in the house part of the RV that it would be rather unpleasant until we got to New York. But, as it turns out, almost everything fit in the basement of the RV and we are going to have a pleasant trip from the very beginning!!!