2021 July Great Lakes traveling east

  After traveling with family from Oregon to Wisconsin and seeing National parks, Presidential Library’s we parted after the 4 July weekend in International Falls, MN. Bob family headed west to home, and we are staying along the Great Lakes for the cool weather. So many heat waves throughout the country this year and we have had enough going through the Midwest that it is a blessing to stay in cooler weather.

Boondocking at a Moose Lodge along Lake Superior shoreline and wake to 55’ weather is so refreshing. I was confused for I thought east, and sunrise would be towards the lake. No, the coast is angled, and the sunrise was across town and poor to see this morning.

Motoring along the coastline in Silver Bay, MN a sign says scenic view and we pull off and it rises above the town with views of the shoreline and the city. Very nice view, strong winds and amazingly fast internet! Decided to spend a few hours here catching up on online items.  A short walking path with views of the lakeshore had a sign sharing what you are seeing – Apostle islands from the north shore!

A manufacturing plant for Tectonite, an iron ore processing plant, Taconite is a low-grade iron ore. When the high-grade natural iron ore was plentiful, taconite was considered a waste rock and not used. But as the supply of high-grade natural ore decreased, industry began to view taconite as a resource. Dr. E.W. Davis of the University of Minnesota, along with other scientists and engineers, conducted years of laboratory tests and experiments to find a way to take the iron ore out of the taconite rock. After many years of hard work, a process was developed to create taconite pellets. Taconite saved Minnesota's iron ore mining industry.

The ships pull into a large pier where trains pull onto the pier and off load directly into the ship. Large long pier built of steel. Most of this mining and shipping is done near Duluth, MN.

Two Harbors and Grand Marias have become a tourist town for the drive along North Shore of Lake Superior is awesome with high cliffs, crashing waves, deep water. Grand Portage has a reenactment of Voyagers Rendezvous in August. We contemplate returning someday to see this and dawdle around for the fall leaves, do some kayaking in Boundary Waters, Voyagers National Park and Apostle Islands. This area has a lot of Aspen trees, and I am sure fall colors are awesome!

As we drive slowly around the Great Lakes, I think about the travel map we create and look for other roads that we have not been on before.

2021 Trip by Blount Family Group

Tanya's 3,000-mile Solo trip (RED)

Family trip together xxx miles (BLUE) 3,805 miles

Tanya and Tom (PINK, BLUE, RED) 11,450 Miles

As you can see it is an easy way to identify what areas we have not been and find new areas to explore! Obviously, winters in Florida are popular and we sometime want to spend time in southern Texas and Arizona for winters. Someday we will buy a winter home, just have not decided where so using this map certainly helps to know that we have checked out the area.

I have downloaded into the GPS interesting things to see and as we travel can search and find places to go, this is spur of the moment slow traveling style and I love it! Other ways I find places to go is to use Bing Maps, enter a origin and destination then select attractions along the route. You can create a trip then download that into the GPS and you have your route planned out for you. Using both a planned route and spur of the moment stops, and you can spend many months traveling and always have interesting things to see along the way.

Right now, we are in Iron Mountain, MI and stopped at a Home Depot for replacing the window screens. At casino campground nearby we have a picnic table to work on and waula, a short task made enjoyable in a nice setting. Hmm 22-year-old screens did not allow the same view, who would have guessed.

 Previously we had followed the norther Lake Superior coastline in UP Michigan, so this time we followed the southern Lake Michigan coastline. Crossing over to the southern coastline was hilly, not mountainous just hilly. National Forests along the way and we tried to find places to camp in the National Forest but there were no open spots! This is rather unusual; we commonly have no problems finding places in National Forests. We do have other boondocking spots but in rural areas are not as common. Fortunately, a casino had availability here. Later near Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park in Michigan we had a similar problem finding campsites. In the news it talks about post covid many more people are out visiting National Parks, this is the first time we have encountered large enough numbers of people to make it reasonable that we should be making reservations in advance.

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park was very beautiful. The scenic drive had beautiful forests over rolling hills and the dunes themselves were so impressively steep it boggles the mind. Some people did walk down the steep hillside to the beach, but we did not wait around for them to climb back up, it was going to take quite a while!

Again, campsites were all taken in the National Park, we just stumbled upon a scenic overlook that was not posted for no camping, so we stayed there. I lasted until sunset tonight for I thought this scenic view would be spectacular, unfortunately clouds did not align properly to make it so. I’m sure there are times when this would be one of the best sunsets a person could see.

Michigan travel is different because away from major cities you find less National chain stores. The feeling of supporting local businesses is very obvious.  We were lucky to find places to stay through some of our memberships and enjoyed visiting small towns.

 Continuing into Ohio Cuyahoga National Park is very different from other National Parks. A highly polluted river has been reclaimed.  Once labeled as the most polluted river in the US that had actually caught on fire is now clean and restored.  A train through the park is available if you like. We chose to hike to a very beautiful waterfall. Brandywine Falls.

As we reach Watertown, NY the humidity coming from Lake Ontario is heavy! After being in the west we are not used to this heavy humidity! After a driving tour of Thousand Islands, I feel the need to have my kayaks with me to spend a little time paddling through these awesome islands! This trip I have not had any of my toys along like kayaks and motorcycles so driving tours and little hikes along with looking for interesting places to see.

Covered Bridge in VT

NY, VT, NH are much, much cooler than anywhere in the US right now. Keeping along the Canada border in as much cool weather as there is I begin to slow down the travel rate. We spent 2 weeks near Acadia National Park for it is very cool here, rain on a few days call for downtime and we begin to relax after the hectic traveling with my brother’s family. Tanya continues to work each day but on weekends we are immersed in going through small towns along the way.

Tanya’s office today! 

After spending 2 days here we go to nearby Garfield Presidential Home, library and museum. Nice tour, original furnishings, part of the National Park Service.  Garfield only had 200 days in office before being assassination.  Read more about it on the NPS site. Interestingly corruption in politics is nothing new. Also see Rutherford Hayes on website for more from that era.

We are currently in the coolest part of the country by staying along the Great Lakes. After last month (June) experiencing high heat in the Midwest we are definitely enjoying being in cooler weather. Some days we only travel 100 miles, poking around small towns. Looking at the types of homes and office buildings sometimes I cannot tell how they developed.  There are no major industries to support employment so how does one town appear to be more developed than another? At this time, I cannot really tell, there has to be something back in the past to explain why. It's been raining for several days now so we have not walked any of these towns, just do a drive through. 

 

Tanya has gotten a great haircut! This is the longest covered bridge in the US, 216 feet long, Ashtabula County, NY.

Oswego, NY a restored Army Fort from the revolutionary War, Fort Ontario.  Although closed on Mondays and Tuesdays I walked around it to read the displays. A signal tower to ships on Lake Erie was there and the display stated that women were used primarily to hoist signal flags to signal ships about the weather. National Weather Service would telegraph the town and it was forwarded to the woman keeper. Only a few of these towers are left and are automated with lights.

Also, there is a memorial for Jewish refugees.  Sailing from Italy to New York harbor then train to Fort Ontario under an agreement to return to Europe following the war. 928 refugees lived out the war enclosed in this encampment.  At the wars end the President of the US allowed those who chose to stay in the US.

You know you're in Maine when they have carved totems of a Moose!

Early morning sunrise in Acadia National Park is pure pleasure! It really does seem that sunrises on the east coast have much more color than on the west coast? Maybe I am biased, but it really does seem that way. Touring Acadia NP is fabulous, rocky shorelines, many, many lobster and crab floats across the water and really extreme tide changes, 9’ is common. I really wished I had the kayaks here with me so that will have to be a trip for another time. Quite a few hiking trails in Acadia NP, many are too steep for my level of fitness but there are a lot of easier trails too. Tanya has been able to join me on a few of these excursions too!

A long weekend is here so Tanya can participate more, and we decide to see what central Maine has to offer and we are so glad we did. Going inland and following Route 11 all the way to the Canadian border is a very beautiful road. Rough at times and very high center berm (I suppose to help with run off snow and water). Mount Katahdin is a real surprise, jutting steeply up amongst rolling hills it really stands out.

The people here are down to earth and very friendly, one place we stayed, and the locals spent a lot of time telling us of places to see. Quite welcoming for us. I had always thought that Maine was flat, swampy or bobby but interestingly it is very hilly throughout. Every 10-20 miles along these 2 lane roads is a small town where speed limit drops to 30. Sometimes you are not sure if it is really a town or not for there are no stores at all.

 

The farms mostly grow Potatoes fields, with either white or purple flowers. Much too soon to harvest, although a few roadside stands (unmanned – honor system) offer bagged potatoes. These rural roads had may roadside rest stops with covered picnic tables, we stopped at one for a very leisurely and pleasant lunch.  A sign stated the US1 we were on was called the Million Dollar Scenic Highway with awesome views of Mount Katahdin far in the distance.

 

PIC MOUNT KAHDIN

 

Once again, I am so impressed with kayak opportunities, rivers and lakes everywhere, rolling hills with mostly deciduous trees, I am sure this is the perfect foliage tour! This time of year (end of July) and there a very few flies or mosquitoes. We will be back someday to see this for sure.

At the Canadian border in Fort Kent is the beginning of US Route 1. We vow to someday follow this scenic route all the way to Key West, FL. This time though we followed it and the Canadian border back down to Acadia.

Acadia Village – was not open while we were there, walking around the buildings and reading the signs in front of them, we learn how early settlers would farm in the summer and go to logging camps in the winter. The woman would manage the homes and expenses while the men worked the fields and lumber. There was a sign stating that a man was considered to be overbearing if he managed the finances instead of the woman! 10 kids were the normal family and children were expected to begin helping with farm work at age of 10 and would be self-sufficient in their own home by age 30.

The farms were laid out different here, long and narrow rather than square. This allowed each farm to have good soil in the bottomland and thinner soil in the higher portions away from the river.

We noticed that many homes had roofs shaped similar to barns, I reason this to be that with long winters and heat rises this allowed more livable area in the second story of homes.

Another interesting idea was we noticed 10 homes along the route that had once had homes then removed the old house and set up a RV pad. You can tell for there is the old power lines, septic, water still serving the pad where once it served the house. I assume this is a summer home for full time RV’rs. Most often there would be a large storage shed or sometimes a garage there as well. This is exactly what we have been thinking about only for winter home use. We are continuing to travel to determine where that will be. My brother told me of a man in Oregon who did the same thing in Arizona.

Marquette, ME is the most northern place in US, it has a paper mill on both sides of border that works together to produce paper. The US side grinds the wood and makes it into pulp then a long pipe attached to the bridge it passes the mulch to the plant on the Canadian side to process into paper.

 

We were surprised to see Blueberries fields as small ground covers not bushes like in Oregon.

 

 

 

2021 July Family RV Trip 2 WI, MN

   In the second half of our Family RV trip through the Midwest National Parks, we stopped to see family in Wisconsin.

First day at the family lake house and Cousin Earl was here to greet us and help set up our parking. Bob could not get his RV down next to the Lake House for it was just too big! So, he set up at the top of the hill under a good shade tree and Tom and Tanya set up next to the lake house down the hill.

Catching up with Earl, for he retired in January of this year and bought a winter home in Arizona. He had stories of his winter home and all the activities they had in that community. He said that he does not travel in his RV to get there but drive his car straight down there. Perhaps, someday he will have the opportunity to travel in the RV along the way and see some of the sights like follow Route 66!

Dinner the first night and we order from a local pizza place – it took 3 hours for our order! Understandably, they were short staffed and terribly busy, when they delivered you could see how extremely tired, frazzled you might say. Fortunately, our family does not emphasize and argue about delays or shortcomings, and we all were very tired, but joked around at the same time.

First morning and Bob catches some fish from the dock, his dog Diesel keeps thinking he is throwing a stick and wants to jump into the lake and play fetch!

The following has been written by Bunnie

 

The last 2 days have been down days, meaning we haven’t been driving in the RV (which I have named THOR, Tripod Home On the Road, but Jan and Bob don’t like it), but just staying still and taking trips in the Jeep.

This is a house that was purchased when Mom was in high school, and the house has stayed in the family since. Mom’s dad, Grampa Walt, gave it to his son with the stipulation that all family could use it whenever they wanted, and now Gerry gave it to his kids with the same stipulations. I’ve heard stories about the Lakehouse for years, as Bob and Tom (and their sibs) would come stay here with their Grampa in summers and loved running wild, swimming, fishing and doing kid stuff. It was great to finally see it in real life and meet Mom’s brother and his kids.

Tom - We spent most of the week at the lake house and have had a good time reconnecting with our Wisconsin family. Although we do not really want to go yet, there are heavy rains coming and Bob is parked on the grassy hill, so to keep from getting stuck we go to a State Fairgrounds in Milwaukee.

Had dinner that night with Cousin Ralph and his wife Jan, they had been very busy on home renovations and could not meet us at the lake house – so we came to them! Anyway, we had a great time catching up, Ralph had brought his Dad (Mom’s brother) along, so we were able to have even more time with him as well.

The following has been written by Bunnie

Today we drove from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to just across the border into Michigan. I’m not sure of the name of this town. Even though we didn’t stop at any attractions, there’s still so much interesting to see. We’re driving mostly on 2 or 4 lane highways, through the countryside. I was really struck in Milwaukee and on the road with the many different styles of architecture. The old brick buildings, some very ornate, some plain, and the wood, or stone or stucco houses often side by side. I also have noticed the billboards and signage as you near the larger cities – it really gives one a flavor of what expect by the types of things they advertise. I also love looking at the names of the roads and rivers or creeks we cross. Sometimes one can really get a sense of what the early settlers were experiencing as they named them. Or like I, make up stories about how they came up with these names. Was there really a big squirrel there? How big? Did someone’s horse actually go lame at Lame Horse Road? One funny thing we noted: all the creeks and rivers we crossed seemed really clear and clean, until we crossed the Republican River in Nebraska that was really murky and muddy and had lots of garbage in it.

Speaking of early settlers, in Nebraska we visited two historic monuments on the Oregon Trail which were markers for the settlers. Chimney Rock, so named because it stuck up higher than all the others in a cylinder, and Scott’s Bluff, which is a rectangular rock formation. It was named after a scout for one of the exploratory teams who disappeared and never returned. The next team found what they believed to be his skeleton at the bottom of the bluff, so named it after him. The Oregon Trail is also known as (or overlapped with) the Chisholm Trail, The Pony Express Trail, and the Mormon Trail. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to go hiking at any of these spots, but the visitors’ centers were all quite interesting. Chimney Rock and Scott’s Bluff were but a few days ride for the settlers (I think it was a 20 minute or half hour drive for us), but the next outcropping marker, Immigrant’s Rock, was several weeks away.

Also in Nebraska, we went 30 miles on a horribly maintained road to the Agate Fossil Field National Monument. We got there 15 minutes before the visitor center closed, and it was extremely hot, so we didn’t get to go walking on any of the trails there either. We did see the great display at the visitor’s center, where they were able to recreate some of the prehistoric dinosaurs and animal skeletons and show them fighting and the big boneyards. As the water holes started disappearing, some of the animals would die or dehydration or were simply too weak to fight off the predators. Other scavengers would come and eat what was left of the flesh, so only huge boneyards would remain. It’s amazing to me how the archeologists and paleontologists have been able to actually recreate or know what they actually looked like. Someone had put a mask on one of the smaller animals, a prehistoric dog or wolf like animal. It was amusing. When resources become scarce, living things can either adapt, leave, or die. It is believed that alligators at one time lived there and migrated south.

Another monument we didn’t get to really explore was Devil’s Tower (in Wyoming). Another huge rock formation, towering up into the sky. Normally, one could watch many climbers trying to scale it, but it was closed to climbers for the month of June at the request of the local Indians, I’m not sure why they closed it this month, but it is a very spiritual place for them, and they asked the Park Department to close it to climbers.

Tom - As Bunnie stated, we moved on from visiting our Wisconsin family to northern Wisconsin and a little of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Along the way stopped to see a friend of mine in Waupaca, WI. Mark and I worked at 2 hospitals together and really enjoyed each other’s company. I remember the great Friday night fish fry when I was here last and hoped we would be able to do this again. I had a good time catching up on what has happened with him and those 2 hospitals. He now has a 3^rd hospital he is managing and doing really well. WAY TO GO MARK! We talked a lot about the great staff he has and how well they are doing too. Unfortunately, there was only time for lunch together with my brother’s family and my wife Tanya along and after lunch we move on. Driving along to the next destination I chat with my wife reminiscing about that work assignment. I feel so lucky to work in so many different places and meet so many people all over the country, and now during my off-work times I have the opportunity to stop and see these same people as friends.

Speaking of friends, we camped at a casino in Munising, MI and the other camper here saw the Rialta and asked if I knew Georgia Strickland? YES! We had attended a Rialta Rally that she hosted in the Midwest! Wow, again it is so amazing to bump into people that we know or know of someone. What a small world we live in.

We took the boat tour of the Pictured Rocks, and it is well worth the trip! Beautiful cliffs with great colors, caves with kayakers paddling through them or into them. It was very cold on the upper deck, but the lower deck had glass covering and was warm enough.

Following the coast of Lake Michigan north to Keweenaw Peninsula we stopped for a picnic lunch on the roadside. Cool! It started to rain, and Bob pulled out the awning and we continued our lunch. I saw a caterpillar on a milkweed and texted a photo to Cousin Carol, who loves butterflies, and she returned a picture of her latest caterpillar that had turned into a Monarch butterfly! She taught me that they only eat milkweed, so I look for them along the way. I am wondering if I can raise butterflies in an RV?

Tanya’s office today is on top of a hill with a wood patio extending over the hill. The umbrella is to cut the glare on her laptop. The wine glass is mine, not hers :)

Touring Calumet, MI mining museum, it has a great display including the mold shop where wooden pieces were made then sand mixture formed around it then wood removed and cast iron poured into the mold. They made machine parts for the mining industry. The primary industry was copper mining, known for nearly pure copper this location was very profitable at first. Union wages, western mine required far less labor cost, and eventually the mines were closed here. Nearly 2 miles down with water incursion increased the cost as well.

Picture of an air driven skip loader

Early RV?

Train with wood snowplow

The town of Houghton, MI has interesting history. Built as a shipping port for copper mining, the buildings were in disrepair after mining ceased. A local fellow attended Michigan Tech to become an engineer, and after years of working in Detroit he wanted to raise his 7 children in his hometown. All his children attended Michigan Tech as well. He became the town engineer and was instrumental in revitalize the town drawing tourism while maintaining the small-town appeal. It’s a very nice town to visit. Professional hockey was created here too!

Touring Keweenaw Peninsula we saw a lot of trees that made me think that this could be a nice fall foliage trip. Along the mountain ridge especially was thick mature forest, along the shoreline you could see they were 2^nd growth woods. Even so, with occasional glimpse of Lake Superior it would be a really nice drive.

There are both sandy and rocky beaches along the waterfront. We stopped at one lighthouse and although the lighthouse itself was closed the maritime museum was open. Displays of actual salvage items from ships, pictures of shipwrecks and maps showing the locations of many shipwrecks. I did not think there were so many!

One of the many benefits of traveling with family is mornings with my brother, chatting about things to do, places to see, planning each travel day one day at a time. This time with him is special to me. Today's discussion included how much hay to set up for his Llamas for the coming winter. We also talk about the merits of boondocking and what's for breakfast. Such is the retired life, big decisions :)

We toured Apostle Islands National Park, took the boat tour and although the wind was up some creating 4’ waves it was still a pleasant ride. Most of the islands you go through are heavily wooded and there is not too much to see. The captain talked about some interesting thing to keep the journey interesting. Arriving at Devils Island where the picturesque caves are - it is well worth the journey. I committed myself to returning someday with my kayak and paddle in and through the caves.

 

Returning to the dock we have lunch at the Pickled Herring restaurant, it was originally a bar then expanded to a restaurant. True to its name it did have an appetizer of pickled herring! Tanya of course loved it, for me it was ok (I’m not a fan of pickled things or vinegar). Jan tried the Brussel sprouts (good) and Bunnie tried the fish liver (good). A very good lunch!

Ashland, WI is a clean nice small town. We stayed 2 nights in their city park campground while visiting Apostle Islands National Park.  The town has some exceptional murals throughout the central part, a handbook we picked up at the city park had descriptions of each mural and an easy-to-follow map. Quite a nice collection showing history and relevant murals of this town. I highly recommend for anyone to visit.

This morning’s discussion with brother Bob was the weather, there is a heat wave is coming. It is the 4^th of July weekend, no campsite available anywhere. Do we push through or hunker down next to Lake Superior where it is cooler? I love these chats!

Deciding to stick to the original route as planned, we continue on to Voyagers National Park. Not finding any campground openings we were truly fortunate to see a gas station with an RV lot and electric hookups across it. Although right alongside the highway, the traffic is very light and not a problem. This is 4^th of July weekend, and it seems like everyone is out camping. I had been looking for a few days now for campsites and apparently that is not soon enough.

Voyagers National Park has several visitor’s centers and hiking trails offering great views of the many lakes. Hiking a 3-mile trail we were able to see a little wildlife too. Deer, squirrel, birds. Bunnie is working hard to get ready for Bob’s Llama pack trip next month. Me, I wish I had brought the kayaks along! We were very fortunate to find a campground with electricity. Being plugged in with AC during a heat wave is so nice! Tanya looked up info on the town of International Falls, MN and learned it had a legal dispute with a town in Colorado on who was the coldest city in US. After several years International Falls got the federal trademark as the “icebox of the nation”! Its highest temperature reaches 90 degrees only a couple of days a year and we are here for one of those days!

We go to Rainey Park visitor’s center of the Voyagers National Park and there is a small botanical garden featuring local flora. There were a lot of milkweeds and we saw a Monarch butterfly as well as their former stage of caterpillar.

Tanya saw a very pretty and sparkling stone at the visitor’s center, she was very excited to see a nature-made sparkly thing! It a pyrite, Bob says it’s called Fool’s Gold - how appropriate! :) Tanya bought one and we placed it on the dash as we drive so it has little sparkles.

So ends our 2021 Family National Park RV trip. We part in Voyager National Park, International Falls, MN. This is the center of the US, 1,700 miles west for Bob's family and 1,500 miles east for us. Bob's family will also stop at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota on the way home. We will stay around the Great Lakes, where it is cooler during the hot summer months. We are planning to meet again in Albuquerque, NM for the Balloon Fest this October.

 

2021 July Family RV Trip 1, OR, WA, ID, WY, SD, KS, NE, MO, IL, WI,

 After spending 2 weeks at brother Bob's near Portland, OR and doing more TLC on the RV we are ready to head out together with Bob's family and Mom to see National Parks, Presidential Libraries, and family in Wisconsin along the way.

First day out running quite well but surprisingly another breakdown! The campground we stayed at was really cool with doves in the morning and quail in the afternoon flying around the park while we take walks around the campground. Nice to enjoy a walk after a hard day of driving.

Waiting overnight for a repair part and Matt driving 4 hours to meet us and give parts left behind at Bob’s house then on the road again. Routing north through Spokane, WA towards Glacier National Park, for the elevation grade is much easier than along I-90. We stopped at Kootenai Falls. Very nice falls, an easy hike, nice way to break up the drive. It also had a swinging foot bridge to cross the river. Tanya and Tom waltz over and when Bunnie crosses her dog Munchie places one step onto the swinging bridge and turns around! Hot Dogs and chips at the entrance to the park before leaving.

Arrived at Sandpoint in Idaho, it was named the most beautiful town in the US in 2011 – well deserved! We walked through downtown, it’s very pretty and artsy, and there is a big, beautiful lake. There were a lot of locals on Prom night at the restaurant where we had dinner, it was nice to see all the fancy clothes on the kids.

Moving on to Kalispell, MT and trying to get tickets for Glacier National Park, unfortunately this did not happen for us this trip, the tickets were sold out. We took a driving tour of Kalispell, for they had several murals, I saw an article on the web when searching for attractions in Kalispell. It was listed by cross streets and addresses, so I tried to place them into the GPS and for the most part it worked! Jan, Bunnie, and Mom rode along with me for this excursion.

Stopping at the RV dealer where Tanya and I ordered our new RV - and they had a new RV of the same model we ordered right there on the lot, waiting for a customer to pick it up, so they let us look inside. This is the first time we have actually seen in “real life” the model we had ordered. So exciting to know that we made the right choice! It’s not that we had any doubts (we did very thorough research and thinking before making the decision about this RV) but several questions we had were answered by actually seeing it firsthand. The storage on this model and class of RV is phenomenal! Thanks Van City RV for being so accommodating! And thanks to the owner of that RV to letting us take a look inside! Maybe we’ll meet you on the road one day 😊

Moving on, we stay near Grant Khors National Historic Site and visit early the next day. The ranch house was still closed due to Covid but all other buildings were open. We did a lot of walking around, the ranch deer would bolt out of marsh grass, beautiful to see them run through the grass.

Pretty cool to see how the horse is harnessed.

This is an actual working ranch. The National Park Service owns it now and has quite a few permanent and even more seasonal employees to work the ranch. In June and July they harvest 900 acres of hay for winter feed. 1 ½ tons for cattle, 2 tons for horses to get through the winter season for each animal. A display showed the transformation from open grazing land to harvesting hay and keeping cattle within boundaries. So ends the concept of “Open Range”.

The original Beavertail hay stacker was on site and a video showing how it works was so good I bought a DVD.

Down the street was the original Montana prison. This is Mom and me in the picture, she refused to get a pic in prison clothes. 😊

The one prisoner I was impressed with was in for bigamy. Story is that a man and his wife were living in a house that burned down. The man was thought to be killed in the fire. Checking the body, it was determined that it could not be her husband for the person had been dead for a while before the fire. The woman had remarried 3 weeks after the fire so both the wife and the new husband were arrested for murder. Trying to change the murder conviction, the newlyweds reached out to husband number 1. So, the murder conviction was dropped and new charges of bigamy, grave robbery for wife, grave robbery for husband 1 and all charges dropped for husband number 2.

Bunnie waiting. Oh, she is the one on the left!

An ice cream break and travel on… but after 120 miles another breakdown and it’s the fuel system again. I replace the fuel pump relay and we’re off again.

Another breakdown, again fuel system, I replace the fuel pump for the 3^rd time and we continue on the way to join Bob at a campground. It’s Jan’s birthday and we go to a steak house to celebrate. Tanya had gotten colorful happy birthday garland - everyone is a kid in their heart regardless of their actual age! 😊

Next day we make a travel stop at Little Bighorn National Battlefield. The visitor center had interesting displays of the battle as well as life in the times for both Americans and Indians. They phrased them as Euro Americans and Native Americans.

We stopped at a campground in Sundance, WY for the night and had such a beautiful lightning storm through the night. Next is Devil’s Tower National Monument. Tanya stays behind to do her work while we drive to Devil’s Tower in brother Bob's Jeep, it’s a beautiful drive through the rolling hills. Last year we were here a month later and most hills had brown grass. Right now, in June, they are beautiful green grassy rolling hills. So nice!

As you can see, the light was on the wrong side for a good picture of Devils Tower. The visitor center was open this year, so we spent a lot of our time there. Due to Covid they are still only allowing a few people at a time inside.

I had never stopped in Sturgis, SD before and timing was perfect to have lunch. Actually, it is a small town until later in the year when hoards of motorcycle enthusiasts come to town for bike week. A shopkeeper said Sturgis and the nearby towns have to accommodate several hundred thousand bikers, wow! Right now, there is not much to see except for the Knuckle Saloon, we had a good lunch here. Our brother-in-law Bob likes Harleys and Jack Daniels Whiskey, we sent pictures for him.

Arriving for the night in Wall, SD – it’s my favorite boondocking location, on a bluff overlooking some of the badlands. The ladies go into town to shop Wall Drugstore while Bob, Mom and I sit on the bluff and using binoculars view cattle herds, antelope, and big horn sheep far in the distance. We watched an older bighorn ram a younger one off a bluff! Later the younger one came by the campsite 20 feet away!

This is the view from our campsite on top of the Badlands. See the antelope coming up the bluff? He walked this way around all the campers on the Bluff about 20-40 feet below the rim.

The drive through the Badlands National Park was as great as before. The visitor center was open and similar to WY there was a display showing how they peel away layers of dirt and scale to reveal the bones of ancient dinosaurs.

Wind Cave National Park was open this year. The elevator was fixed, and they allowed 40 people at a time to tour the cave. There are 3 separate tours and a long waiting line. We scored a tour for everyone, and Tanya discovered an accessibility tour available so Mom and Jan could go on one also. The cave was not formed by wind as I thought, it got its name from how it was discovered. Some cowboys were out ridding, and one heard a noise in the bush, he peeked in and his hat was blown off his head! They rode back to town and told others what happened, a group rode out and this time as he peeked in his hat was sucked into the hole!

During the tour, the ranger told us that the cave was not formed by water, rather it was formed by an accumulation of lime in cracks slowly widening to create space. Then when the whole area flooded the water dissolved the lime to create tunnels. Since the is only one opening to the surface the barometric pressure builds up between the surface and the cave creating sucking or blowing. A meter measures the pressure, and it then calculates the volume of air in the caves. I have forgotten how much of the cave is mapped now but it is impressive! The day we were there another set of explorers went into the cave.

Called BOX formation, the small origins of this cave where lime dissolved.

Hot Springs, SD is a very interesting town, architecture, little park, destination for health spa. Sandstone blocks building structure. Oh, and good Gelato! Too bad that it was so hot out that as soon as walked out the door it turned to soup.

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, a huge collection of dinosaurs that perished only 20 million years ago were concentrated in one spot. Observations of the Serengeti Plain in Africa enabled scientists to determine that during a drought animals would concentrate at a waterhole and eat the forage from the waterhole out until they can no longer travel from water to food, and they die from malnutrition. This concentrates the bones at the waterhole. Scavengers would feast and some of the bones were displaced but many were left in their original position.

Scotts Bluff, NE and Chimney Rock National Historic Site, wow, I thought it was much higher! A unique tower above a hill was a line of sight for the early settler’s wagon trains headed for CA, OR, UT.

Abilene, KS, a drive through the town looking at murals, a tour of the Seely Mansion – cool history. The daughters of the original owner sold to the current owner, and he insisted that they continue to live there. Because of this all the furniture is original! Much of it was picked up at the Chicago World Fair. The new owner also provides tours of the house, he had learned so much from the daughters of the history of the house it. It’s unusual to get such personalized knowledge on a tour.

Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, the first Presidential Library for the rest of the family, they were very impressed. Of note, he was responsible for creating government programs NASA, Health and Welfare, Interstate Highway programs. Negotiating and getting along with others were his strongest skills.

Harry S. Truman Presidential Library is still closed. I was able to speak to a security guard and he thinks sometime in July 2021 it will reopen. Another road trip some day!

Marceline, MO – the Walt Disney Boyhood Home, great museum, a lot of information on the development of him and his brother Roy also the development of the theme parks. If you visit Marceline, definitely go to the only Mexican restaurant in town, amazing flavors!

Badlands – the following was written by Bunnie.

Most everything we’ve seen and done has been really special and amazing in it's own way, but I’ll try to give you the highlights.

One of the most amazing things for this West Coast girl was the lightning storms. In Wyoming, there was a thunder and lightning storm and a rainbow at the same time. It was amazing. I’ve never experienced anything like that. When the rain stopped, the lightning continued nonstop, just flashes of light in the sky one after another and occasionally a forked lightning bolt. I kept saying how amazing it was, but Jan, Bob, and Mom weren’t impressed. I guess they’d seen it many times. The closest I’ve ever seen to this was the Northern Lights. It was the night of the lunar eclipse, and when it started raining, I was disappointed because it meant it would be cloudy and we couldn’t see the eclipse, but this was much more exciting for me. We had the same type of lightning storm another night, but no rain this time.

The Badlands are amazing rock formations and we saw bison, big horned sheep, and prairie dog towns there. I leaned prairie dogs are a type of ground squirrels and are very important in the environmental cycle. Their burrowing loosens up the ground and makes it more hospital to many types of worms and insects, and helps the grass to grow, etc, etc.  As we left the Badlands, Jan and I toured a sod house and farm. They had white prairie dogs there which we could see up close. This is the only place in the world where these white prairie dogs exist. no one knows why they are here and nowhere else and why they are white. They are not albinos, just white haired.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t drive through Grasslands National Monument. It is on a reservation, and they closed it until COVID-19 is more under control. It seems they have managed to keep the reservation relatively COVID free and don’t want tourists to bring it to them.

Speaking of reservations, I was struck at the site of the Little Bighorn cemetery and battlefield how the park service made the distinction between Native Americans and Euro-Americans. It talked about manifest destiny, but I thought it did a good job of stressing how the Native Americans had wars between their tribes before the Europeans arrived. Another thing I learned about there was the “ledger art”. The Native Americans were used to making drawings on hides, or on rock. When they couldn’t find hides, they would use any kind of paper they could find from the White folks, usually ledgers, or Army pay books or whatever. There are 2 collections of ledger art on display there, mostly drawn in prison. It seems one particular general would give the prisoners paper and colored pencils or paints, and demand they make drawings for him. He also demanded they sign their work. One picture has the artists signature on it, and then the word “signature” next to it. I think it was his way of thumbing his nose at the general.

Mom and Mickey!

Mark Twain – the following was written by Bunnie.

Almost everything we’ve done and seen has been amazing, but the last two days were really high points. We went to Marceline and Hannibal in Missouri; the boyhood homes of two men I have admired most of my life: Walt Disney and Samuel Clemens, Aka Mark Twain.

Of course, I cried when we went into the Walt Disney Hometown Museum. It’s the old railroad depot (no trains actually stop there now) adjacent to the park where Disney first fell in love with trains. The park was donated to the town by the train company (I forget which one) and was named after the director of the railroad at that time (whose name totally escapes me now. The first engine of the Disneyland Railroad was named after him, too. Walt’s uncle was an engineer, and whenever he was coming through town he would blow a signal whistle, and Walt would run out and jump on the engine and ride it the rest of the way (about 20 minutes) to the depot and get to watch his uncle at the controls. Main Street, the first street you walk on into Disneyland is modeled after Main Street in Marceline. Just hearing and reading the stories of his growing up, and then his contributions to the town later in life and knowing he had been in those rooms and on those streets brought chills and tears at times. Disney bought back the property where his family farm was, and the barn was recreated and used in some of his movies. Now, you can go inside and write something on the walls. It’s hard to find any free space to squeeze anything in anymore, but I managed to scribble “thank you for all the magic” and sign my name in a corner.

There was a particular tree on the property where Walt and his sister Ruth would play, and often he would go there to be alone and think or sketch. He called it his “dreaming tree”, and even when he came back to Marceline as an adult, he would sometimes go there to be alone and just think. The actual tree is dead now, but they saved a branch, and have it in the museum, encouraging people to “gently touch it” and feel the inspiration. At the farm, they have a fence around where it was, and a plague talking about it, plus the “son of the dreaming tree” which his nephew planted, and they mixed dirt from Disneyland and water from the lagoon at Disney World in the planting. This may sound really weird to some of you, but to me, it was a truly spiritual experience to stand there at the spot where he conceived many of his ideas and projects.

The same was true the next day, in Hannibal, where they’ve recreated Samuel Clemens house, and Huck Finn’s, Tom Sawyer’s and Becky Thatcher’s home, and the white picket fence that Tom had to paint as punishment but conned his friends to not only paint it for him, but he made money off the deal. There were times I would just get shivers and chills thinking that the man actually had lived there and created his stories there. It was truly mind blowing.

We’ve seen and done many more amazing things, like the Badlands National Park, and the Wind Tunnel National Monument, and Little Bighorn where Custer had his last stand. I’ll try to get more details of those things later, but the last two days just hit me so personally, I wanted to write about them while they were still fresh.

Tom -

The following night, we stayed at a very pretty campground near the Mark Twain Lake, but we were still in the middle of the heat wave and it was also humid, so we could not stay outside. There was insufficient cell signal for Tanya to work, so we got up early and drove to a local town nearby, parked at Hardee’s, the only place open at the time. Later Bob caught up with us and it was so much fun having a morning “picnic” in the parking lot, eating our breakfast, sitting outside chatting! I think this was the very most enjoyable meal on this trip yet. Fast food in a parking lot with a lot of laughs! Life’s best moments very often happen spontaneously, you just need to be open to catch these opportunities.

Bob’s family had to walk through the drive-through of Hardee’s to order their breakfast.

 

We arrived at the Gateway Arch in St Louis but were not able to get tickets to the tram that takes you to the top. Tickets are sold out for the next 10 days! So, Jan walked into the visitor center while we tried to find parking. It is not easy to find parking here, I had the same problem last year.

We are camping in Illinois and waiting for Bob’s daughter to stop by for a visit. This is our first down day in 2 weeks, and everyone feels a little odd not driving today. 😊

Meeting up with Bob’s daughter Robin and catching up on each other’s lives makes you realize how fast life goes by and how different our journeys are. Robin is bringing her children and grandchildren over in the morning to meet with us. A very impressive grown woman, like all of us facing life and meeting those challenges as they come.

On to Springfield, IL for a visit to the Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library.

Lincoln, Eisenhower, Seely Mansion – the following was written by Bunnie.

So, today we visited the Lincoln Museum, another man whom I have long admired. It was remarkably interesting and well done. One of my favorite parts was Tim Russet doing a telecast of the election as if it was current, describing each of the four candidates varying point of view and a campaign ad for each candidate. There was also a show talking about the library, and how artifacts and papers give us clues to how things were then. It ended with a reading from a soldier’s journal which was very moving.

Lincoln was really in a no-win situation when he issued the Emancipation Proclamation. People either totally opposed it or thought it didn’t go far enough, as it only freed the slaves in the confederate states. I thought Juneteenth was 2 years after the Proclamation, because it took that long for the communication to from Washington to Texas, but in actuality it was because Texas was a confederate state, and so Lincoln had no power over them at the time. It was also interesting to learn that his own cabinet was very divided on the issue. A few of them wanted the slaves freed because they thought then they would all leave the country and they wouldn’t have to deal with “the Negroes” any more.

The First Lady, Mary Todd Lincoln, was also in a no-win situation. The high society in DC thought she was a “coarse country bumpkin”, yet when she went to NYC for a shopping trip to redecorate the White House, she was criticized for wasting money and putting on airs.

Another thing I found interesting was a journalist had photographed Lincoln’s coffin when it was lying in state, so the whole nation could see it, not just the people who could get to Springfield. Mary Lincoln was very upset by this and asked that all the photos be destroyed. They were sent to one of the Secretaries and believed to be destroyed, but he had secreted one away in a file and was not discovered until 1952.

This was the second presidential library and museum we visited. Last week, we went to Eisenhower’s library and museum in Abilene, Nebraska. I never knew much about Eisenhower other than he was a General and notable figure in the Second World War. This museum was very well done, too, but very different. I didn’t know that Eisenhower had also fought in the First World War. He was a very “middle of the road” guy, not in a bad way, but in a way that really brought the nation together. Both Republicans and Democrats tried to get him to run as president for their party, Truman even offered to be his vice-president if he ran. He declined and then chose to run as a Republican 4 years later.

While we’re talking about Eisenhower and Abilene, Nebraska, it’s a very interesting town. Long before the Eisenhowers lived there, it was known as the end of the Chisholm Trail, where the long cattle drives ended. Bill Hickock was one of its first sheriffs. Unfortunately, the historical center wasn’t open while we were there, but Tom, Jan and I did go inside the reconstructed old town even though all the buildings were closed.

Also in Abilene is the Seely Mansion. Dr. Seely made patent medicine, elixirs, and cure-alls, and also household soaps and shampoos, and Ant-Die, an ant repellent he sold door to door.

A well-known architect at the time presented the Seelys with plans for the mansion and asked them to go the World Fair in St Louis and make any changes they wanted, as well as pick out furnishings and draperies, etc. Julia Seely was very meticulous (some say very OCD): everything had to be symmetrical and matchy-matchy. They had two daughters, who were about 3 or 4 years apart, but did almost everything together. The oldest was very much like her mother; very domineering and meticulous. The younger was more submissive and went along with the program. At this time, the Eisenhower's were the poor folks living on the other side of tracks. One of the daughters dated Milton Eisenhower in high school for about 3 weeks, until Mom found out and quickly put an end to that. None of those Eisenhower's (or any other boys in town) were good enough for her girls. All of the Eisenhower's went on to have very powerful and successful careers, while the Seely sisters lived there in the mansion, destitute, until their deaths in their 90s. When they were destitute and the house was falling apart, a historian named Terry convinced the daughters to sell him the house. He agreed to let them live out their days there, and he moved in too. He kept everything exactly like Julia Seely had it and learned many of the stories about the former high life the Seely's lived. He lives there now and is the tour guide. It’s so fascinating because it really is a living history.

They had a bowling alley in the basement!

Finishing the first half of our family RV trip, we are camped at the family lake house in Wisconsin. We will be spending time with all members of our Wisconsin family and sharing what is going on in our lives.

We have made so many miles, already almost 2,900 miles so far on this family trip. Of course, Tanya and I have already covered 6,000 on Tanya’s solo trip and total of 10,200 miles for the year. Constant traveling does wear you down, especially when you are dealing with breakdowns in the middle of a heat wave. Second half of the family trip will be coming later on.