7/31/09 - Sarasota, FL

We made it. We're home! It feels good.

After over a month of traveling, it felt good to sleep in our own bed and to walk in our own park this morning. We had a wonderful adventure and saw many things we had wanted to see for a very long time. The TD lived up to our expectations.

I walked with my neighbor this morning and she asked what the worst and best places I stayed were. That's a really hard question to answer. I know the worst place was the campground in Gardiner, Montana. The best place? Impossible.

Yesterday and the day before were days spent driving in a lot of rain--lots of white-outs. One high point was our lunch in Fernandino Beach, FL. We've heard a lot about Fernandina. Many friends seem to have spent childhood summers on the beaches there. We decided to take a detour and check it out. It really is an adorable little town. One of Kalin's friends, Nan, is partners with a chef who has a very good restaurant there. The restaurant is called 29 South, in case you're ever in that neighborhood. We had some amazing food there and also got to meet Scotty, the chef. Even more important was that we got to see Scotty and Nan's baby, Audrielle, who's a real looker and has quite the personality, too.

When we first arrived in Fernandina, it was a little early for lunch, so we parked our "rig" across from the restaurant and decided to take a walk around town to check it out before eating lunch. We noticed a woman circling the TD. She started talking to us about how cute it was, etc. When we told her it was ours, we all started to talk more. She knew Scotty and Nan, loved them, loved their restaurant, etc. She and her husband have a shop in town, too. They travel to Morocco three times a year to buy merchandise for the shop. We followed her over to her shop where we looked at her stuff, which we liked a lot. We picked up a few little things. She said they were thinking about getting a TD to leave in Morocco for when they go on their shopping trips. Apparently, TD's are quite popular there. Who knew?

David will probably be adding some photos to this later. Right now he's swimming in the Gulf. Now we have to get down to the serious business of unpacking and cleaning! Ugh!

7/29/09

Our visit at Pipestem Campgrounds was cut short by rain. When we went to sleep last night, the weather was ideal. We never suspected rain. Some time after midnight it started to rain and continued all night. That was fine. We were perfectly dry and comfortable. However, when we wanted to get up and get going, it was still raining and didn't look like it would change, so we packed up in the rain and left. We drove through rain all day. At times, it was really bad. It's still raining! We're sorry we didn't get to explore more of Pipestem, but we can always go back.

I know that some of you have had trouble commenting on this site--I don't know what the problem is. Now I have another problem. I'm receiving e-mail but when I want to send, I'm required to use a password. I've never had to do that before, except when I try to access my e-mail from a different computer. I tried that password, but I didn't get anywhere. I haven't had time to explore the problem.

Maura, I'm sorry about Jerry's mother. I didn't know that she was 92. Keep us informed.

We're probably going to be home tomorrow! We're excited. It's been a great vacation, but it's always good to get home.

7/28/09 - Pipestem State Park, WV

Here we are at Pipestem State Park in WV. It was a total surprise to us. We expected a small state park similar to ones we've stayed in before. Not so. This place is a resort. They have a lodge, cabins, camping areas--anything you can imagine. The lodge is huge with spectacular views of the mountains. The mountains here are definitely not the same size as the ones we saw in the west, but I have to say I love the green.

The lodge here has an indoor swimming pool. Somewhere there are tennis courts and basketball courts, as well as an archery area. Kids are riding their bikes everywhere. They have large rooms in the lodge they rent out for conferences and reunions. Apparently, there are rooms in this lodge, too. They have a couple of restaurants in the lodge and a few restaurants--one is supposedly by reservation only and is excellent. There's a sky tram you can take to have a better view of the mountains. All in all, this is one cool place.

We're so glad we spent a couple of nights with Linda in Columbus. We don't see her nearly enough. She just had her 70th birthday, so we took her out and had a nice dinner. We really didn't do anything else special. We just got a lot of talking done, hung out at Barnes and Noble for a while and relaxed. She's a fantastic quilter and we got to see her latest project, which was a treat.

We don't know what we'd do without our book downloads. My friend, Lynn, recommended a book by Michael Connelly. I'd seen his books on the shelf before but had never read one. We both enjoyed The Brass Verdict. David wanted another one, so we downloaded The Poet. It was fantastic.

David's partner, Bob Mazur, just wrote a book called The Infiltrators. It came out yesterday and we saw it at the Barnes and Noble in Columbus, Ohio. We bought a copy and gave it to Linda. Maybe David will narrate the book for the audio version. (That's a joke, in case you can't tell.)

We've both decided we're getting a little homesick. I don't think we're going to stay at any one place for very long--we're both getting a little anxious to be at home.

7/27/09 - Columbus, OH

We don't have too much to report. We've just been driving. Yesterday we spent some time in Wooster, OH, looking at the house David lived in when he was in the 5th, 6th and 7th grades. He also looked at the houses of some of his friends--just to see if they were still standing. We took a quick look at his school, too. There's a new one in its place. We went to a place called Smithville Inn--a few miles down the road from Wooster. David's family would sometimes have Sunday dinner there. It's also still standing and we ate lunch there. It was OK. The place could use a few renovations. One of the waitresses has been there for 52 years, so you can see that the staff could use an overhaul, too.

Then we drove to Columbus where David's sister Linda lives. Her daughter, Mary and husband, Dennis, joined us for a nice visit. Then we went to a nearby place for a great dinner. We had a great time catching up on all the family news.

Today we've been getting some errands done. We're killing a little time until the oil change place has time to take care of us. Meanwhile, we've got a load of clothes washing. It's always good to get these things done.

We'll spend tonight here, too. I think we'll be taking Linda out for a belated birthday dinner--her birthday was in June.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

July 24, 2009 - Coralville/Iowa City, Iowa/Fairfield Inn

We decided to stop at a hotel tonight. We had intended to reach Davenport, Iowa, today but got a late start and didn't make it. Since we had no internet connection yesterday or today--until now--we didn't have a clue about campgrounds. So here we are at the Fairfield Inn. They're pretty nice and we redeemed points, so we got it for free.

David has a friend, Kenny Klein, who was a fraternity brother at Loyola. When David and I were dating, we used to double-date with Kenny and his wife Kitty. We've stayed in touch with them all these years--they still live in N.O. Kenny is from a little town in Iowa called Rock Valley(about 3000 people). It's in the very northwest part of Iowa, just below the So. Dakota border. Kenny talks non-stop about Rock Valley. When we decided to start going east, David realized we weren't very far from Rock Valley and thought we should stop there, take a few pictures and surprise Kenny. We got there at about 5:30 yesterday afternoon. As luck would have it, they had a very nice new campground there, so we checked in. We've gotten pretty good at setting up camp after all this time and can now, after a month of camping, do it quickly. We then looked for a place to have dinner and drove about a mile to downtown Rock Valley. The Steak House looked OK, so we went in and had dinner. We saw a few people who looked about the right age and David asked them if any of them knew the Kleins. They were all familiar with the family and knew that one of Kenny's brothers had recently moved back to town. They said Leo would "probably have finished playing golf for the day by then and that he might be having a beer at The Cue which was across the street. But, you know, it might be a little late for that--maybe he's at home by now. Let me call a friend and get his number. He lives in some apartments over by the Dollar General. If you see a guy in a wheelchair, it'll be Leo. He has Parkinson's now. "

We didn't see him at The Cue, so we drove out to the Dollar General. Since we weren't sure where his apartment was, David called him. He started off by saying, "My name is Dave Siegwald and you don't know me, but", and Leo interrupted by saying, "Of course, I know you!" He gave directions to drive the block and a half to his apartment. He couldn't believe we were there. (I can't believe we were there! It was actually pretty crazy to go there, but I can't say I regretted it. We had a blast.) We visited and talked for quite a while before returning to our campsite. Leo and David naturally had to play a joke on Kenny. Leo called him and started talking and then pretended that somebody was knocking on the door. David then got on the phone and started talking to Kenny and pretended that the wires must've somehow gotten crossed. You have to know David and Kenny and how they operate. They're always trying to play jokes on each other--get one leg up on the other, etc. They have a good time with it. We met Leo at his golf club for breakfast the next morning and didn't leave town until after 10. We loved Rock Valley. It's the prettiest little town. We didn't see even one house for sale. Every yard had the greenest grass. It made me want to move there, but I know I really wouldn't be happy there. It was fun for a day, though.

All we really did today was drive, drive, drive. There really is a lot of corn in Iowa. Tomorrow we're just going to drive, too--just drive as far through Illinois as we can. On Monday, we hope to be in Columbus, Ohio, to visit with Linda, David's sister, for a while.

The weather here looks ominous. We just saw some clouds that look unlike any we've ever seen before--like giant cotton balls. There are some tornado and hail warnings, so I'm glad we're not camping tonight!

July 23, 2009 - Rapid City, SD/Lake Park Campground

Lucky again! Another beautiful start to the day. It's cool now, but weather forecasts indicate it will be in the 90's here today. We're moving on, though. We're moving east to Iowa.

I don't want to forget about yesterday. We went to Mount Rushmore. Our visit coincided with some news about Greenpeace protesters who had "visited" earlier in the month and climbed up on top of the presidents' faces to hang a banner against global warming. There was criticism that security at Mount Rushmore was not tight enough. Oh, well. We had a good time. The place is huge with lots of indoor and outdoor space and it was packed with people. We saw a short video about the origin and building of the monument.

Then we went a few miles to see a similar monument to Crazy Horse, also carved out of granite. One man started building it alone in the 40's. His family is continuing it today. They have funded the whole project with donations only and will not accept any federal money.

We drove to Hill City for lunch, hearing that it was a cute town. Cute town if you like tacky, in our opinion.

Then off to Custer State Park. We saw more wildlife there than in all of Yellowstone and Teton. It's a huge park with some incredible natural rock formations. There's an area they call Needles Highway. Just imagine very tall, skinny rocks that seem to grow out of the ground. On Wildlife Loop Road we saw over a hundred buffalo. Just when we were about to think we wouldn't see a thing, we started seeing a few here and there and then we saw large herds. Some were in the street. It's crazy that they have all that beautiful green grass to eat and then they seem to be eating sand. You should hear the sounds they make! They're just grunting and growling all the time. We also saw tons of prong horns. They're a lot smaller and didn't come so close to the road but we had an opportunity to get some pretty good looks at them. And let's not forget the lowly prairie dogs. It was fun to see all the little mounds on the ground and see them scurrying all over the place.

One thing I've noticed about this area is how perfectly lovely all the lawns are. They talk about how dry it is here, but they don't know dry. The grass here is so green and it's the kind of grass you just want to sit on because it looks so soft and fine.

We got some new neighbors last night--a couple from Vero Beach, FL, driving one of the campers that people rent. Maybe you've seen them--they say Cruise America on the side. They're a really nice couple who are originally from NJ. One of their sons is a West Point grad who served two tours in Iraq. The guy told us such an interesting story about how he started camping before it was cool. His father was a postal worker and got 5 weeks vacation every summer. He would pack up the wife and four kids in the station wagon with a rack he built on the top. They would head out somewhere to camp. They actually camped in Alaska in the 50's, if you can imagine. He said one day his brother was out on a "nature walk", so he could smoke a cigarette without being caught. A forest ranger grabbed him and put him to work fighting a huge forest fire. His parents had no knowledge of this and were left to wonder for 2 days what had happened to their son. The forest ranger returned the son with an apology. He had a number of stories like that to tell. We had a good time listening!

July 22, 2009 - Rapid City, SD/Lake Park Campground

What a beautiful morning! The weather is a little cool, so I'm wearing a light jacket, but it couldn't be more pleasant. This is the second night in a row that we've gotten a good campground. We don't have to include our neighbors in every conversation!

South Dakota looks very different. We saw what we think are many Indian mounds. The terrain is very hilly but we haven't seen mountains, except in the distance. Other things are different, too. David was just reading the sports section of the paper--they cover bear back riding, steer wrestling, barrel racing, bull riding, goat tying and pole bending. This is just in the sports section--nothing special. We're going to Mt. Rushmore today.

Our drive over here yesterday was nice. We found a little place to stop for lunch in the middle of our journey. It was called South Fork Lodge and it was located in the Big Horn Mountain National Park. It was the cutest place--it was a beautiful log cabin. It was so warm and homey. There were lace curtains in the windows in contrast to the elk heads and cat skins displayed on the walls. They have a number of cabins for rent and offer fishing and hunting trips. The owner said she killed 2 elks with crossbows two years in a row and her daughter will kill one this year--GULP!

We stopped at a place to get new tires in Buffalo, WY. David had the tires checked before we left
Sarasota and they said we still had plenty of tread left on them, but after traveling 4000 miles, he felt we should get new ones. That delayed us for about an hour, but the people there were nice, we had some coffee while we waited and I read a couple of Good Housekeeping magazines that kind of put me in the mood for baking. Alas! I have no oven. No way to bake Fresh Strawberry Squares.

July 18, 2009 - Cody, Wyoming/Ponderosa- Cont'd

Today is actually Tuesday, the 21st, but I'm only now having a chance to write about what we did on Sunday. The Buffalo Bill Museum was really wonderful. There was a good crowd, but at no time did I feel rushed. To tell you too much about it would be tedious--just believe me when I say that it was worth our time to see it.

The Jazz Festival continued and several groups played on the grounds of the museum. We split up for a while--David outside with the music while I stayed inside looking at cowboys and Indians. We watched the last hour of the music together. We spread out a blanket on the top of a hill under a tree and just listened while a young singer named Jeni Fleming sang a number of familiar big band, swing songs while being accompanied by an actual big band. It was unexpectedly good. It came at the right time, too--I was so tired of being on my feet all day in the museum. The festival was free, so we bought one of Jeni's CD's and have been enjoying it in the car.

After the festival, we went downtown and watched a gunfight in front of The Irma. It was a typical, touristy, corny thing to do. We later went to a not-so-good restaurant that was overpriced for what it was. We vowed to stick to pizza when in doubt--pizza tends to be pretty good everywhere.

On Sunday morning we packed up and left for the east entrance of Yellowstone. Before leaving we stopped at our new favorite store--Walmart--bound to have anything and everything you could ever want or need. We noticed that the parking lot was full of campers. We'd heard about free camping at Walmart but had never noticed it before. We also noticed that in these small towns surrounding the parks, anybody who has a backyard seems to turn it into a campground. They're not shy about what they charge either.

On our way to Yellowstone, the view was interesting. It reminded us of sandcastles at the beach--how when you build them and then get water and trickle it down over the sandcastle, it forms unusual shapes. That's exactly what the mountains look like. We passed by Yellowstone Lake, which is gigantic. We also rode alongside the Yellowstone River. We saw a number of buffalo on our way north to the north entrance of the park. It goes without saying that everything was exceptionally beautiful. We'd heard that most of the campgrounds were full. Rather than take a chance at having no place to stay, we had booked a site in Gardiner, Montanta--just outside the north entrance.

What a disaster our campsite was! It looked like somebody had dumped a few loads of dirt and rocks a few years ago. Somebody looked at it and decided they should put a campground there. It was a horrible place. Ugly, ugly, ugly. We couldn't get out fast enough in the morning.

The beauty we saw on Monday more than made up for the terrible campground. We drove down the western side of the loop. We went through Mammoth Hot Springs where we saw some of the most unusual sights we'd ever seen. Especially on the upper terraces, the views were awesome and other-worldly. Without even stopping to see anything in particular, though, the drive was interesting. You'd be driving along and just see steam rising from various spots. The entire area is geo-thermal. We saw mudpots--large and small areas of boiling mud. Now I know where Hollywood got the ideas for some of the scary movies I've seen.

We stopped for lunch at Old Faithful Village. They post the times they expect Old Faithful to erupt. She is usually active every 90 minutes or so. They expected her to show off at 1:04, + or - 10 minutes. She went off at about 1:20. We took a video and David will post it, sooner or later. If you looked around in a circle, you could see hundreds of people waiting in anticipation for the old girl to show her stuff. Everyone cheered when she finally appeared. The funny part was that Yellowstone is so vast, we never felt crowded when we were outside. Inside the gift shop was another story.

I can't describe how incredible the whole area is. You can walk out on wooden paths and see pools of brilliantly blue-colored water that is either simmering or boiling. What you see is like nothing we've ever seen before. The travertine terraces are yellow and white--outstanding.

All around the campground there are thousands of fallen lodgepole pine trees. They're as a result of a massive fire in 1988. It's a startling sight.

When we left, we went out the east entrance of the park and drove to Greybull, WY--just east of Cody. We saw vast areas on each side where there was virtually nothing, but it was lovely. It was flat with mountains at the outer edges. When we neared Greybull, we started seeing many fields with white boxes. We found out that they grow sugar beets and alfalfa here in Greybull and that the white boxes are all for bees. We found a really nice campground here and are going to have a hard time leaving today--it's so comfortable! It's owned by a Dutch couple. They added a little restaurant here and served Weiner Schnitzel last night. Very unexpected!

July 18, 2009 - Cody, Wyoming/Ponderosa

We arrived in Cody yesterday afternoon. We went through Yellowstone Park on our way. It was quite different from Grand Teton--and we saw only a fraction of it. There was traffic part of the way, but it wasn't too bad. I was petrified and had to hug the seat part of the way because the view from the passenger seat was a deep gorge and I was afraid I was going to fall off the edge. I'm going to have to go through it again when we return in a couple of days.

Cody is kind of a neat little place. I think the population is about 8,000--smaller than I expected. Our campground is really a parking lot with a couple of trees on it. It's not a very big place and the campers are wedged in here like a jigsaw puzzle. There are 40' campers next to little pup tents. Our TD practically gets lost in here. The flip side is that they have Wi-Fi, cable TV, a laundry and a hot shower. May I emphasize HOT SHOWER? And also note that the shower and bathroom is immaculately clean--that can make up for a lot!

The weather is really nice. They're having a Jazz Festival in town this weekend and that is the reason why we chose to come here this particular weekend. They have a pretty little park downtown with a shell for performers. It was less than 5 minutes from our campground. The park has a beautiful grassy, treed area with lots of flowers and a number of picnic tables. Next to it is a play area for kids with miniature golf and swings/slides, etc. People started setting up little picnic areas with chairs and blankets and the musicians began to play at about 6 p.m. It was very pleasant. I could not believe the number of dogs in attendance. I had no idea that dogs liked jazz music so much. For the most part, they were well-behaved.

We walked downtown afterwards and had dinner at The Irma, a hotel/restaurant that Buffalo Bill Cody built for his girlfriend Irma. It could use a little work, but does have an attractive bar that is original. After dinner we went to the ice cream shop--isn't that required? A really cute girl from Moldova was working there. She sounded like she was from the Czech Republic--another girl who worked at The Irma had the same accent, but I didn't ask her where she was from. The girl at the ice cream shop is working there for the summer as an exchange student. It makes you wonder how she ended up in Cody, Wyoming, of all places.

The people in this campground are really nice. It's a little too close for my comfort level, but it's OK for a couple of days. Most of the people around us are from WY and are just off for the weekend.

We're going to the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum today. It's supposed to be a fine museum and is associated with the Smithsonian. The Jazz Festival is continuing today and different groups will play on the museum's grounds.

Gotta get my laundry done while I can!

July 16, 2009 - Colter Bay Campground

Colter Bay Campground is just about everything you'd hope a campground would be. It's beautiful, the weather is cool, there are wildflowers everywhere, there's plenty to do, everything is well-maintained--I could just go on and on.

We arrived yesterday morning. We set up camp and started exploring the area. There are lodges in every area of the park and inside the lodges are gift shops and restaurants. I was afraid that everything would be sort of "Disney-ized"--high prices, etc. That hasn't been the case. The restaurants have a nice selection at a reasonable price. We ate lunch at one of them and were very pleased. We bought food for dinner at the grocery store here. The grocery store is like a little Publix--we were amazed.

After lunch yesterday, we went to the Colter Bay Visitor's Center. They have a great Native American Museum there. We were really lucky to be there when they had a speaker. He was a man from Jackson--a former teacher and school principal. He's authored a number of books--around 12--about the Native Americans. The books are written at about the third grade level and many have been printed in several different languages. His talk yesterday was about Sacajaweja, the 15 year old Shoshonee woman who was invaluable in the Lewis and Clark Expedition because she knew which routes to take to get the horses necessary to complete the expedition. He was the most fascinating speaker! He's a tall, white-haired man of 80-something who really knows how to tell a story. We were glued to our seats. Naturally, we bought a couple of his books and had them autographed for Betsy and Ella.

We went for a long walk around the lake and were blown away by the views. This is an awesome place.

This morning was very cold, of course--about 40. We drank some coffee at the campsite but decided to walk up to the restaurant for breakfast. We've talked to a lot of the workers here. They all wear name tags with their home states on them. Many of the waitresses are college students working here for the summer. This morning we met a woman from Florida who's working as a hostess in the restaurant. Her husband is working in the Transportation Dept. here. The Grand Teton Lodge Co. is their employer. They are paid minimum wage, but they can live in the park for a nominal cost. People without campers live in the dorm. They all seem to love their jobs. They can ride the horses, use the kayaks, etc., at no charge while they're working here.

We took a really nice long walk/hike before lunch and saw a bunch of kids in the lake swimming--a little too cold for us. Some people are bundled-up, like us--others are walking around half-naked.

Well, we've got lots more to see. We'll post some pictures next time we're in the lodge.

July 13, 2009 - Jackson/Jackson Hole, WY

I'm sitting in the lobby of the Virginian Lodge in Jackson, WY, where they have Wi/Fi. It's not the greatest hotel--a little worn-out around the edges, but it'll do. Every now and then a girl has to have indoor plumbing. This place fits the bill. We could've looked around for something better, but I'd heard how quickly places filled up and decided to go for it.

We spent last night at a beautiful spot on the Hoback River. The temperature went down well below 40, I think, because our car thermometer read 38 this morning at about 6:30 a.m. We were very warm, though, which is unbelievable, considering that we had only one thermal cotton blanket. I was wearing long thin fleece pants and a long-sleeved shirt. David was wearing boxers and a short-sleeved shirt. We've really been happy with TD. She's so warm and cozy.

Starbucks doesn't seem to exist around here. Our navigation device told us it did, but lied. I asked somebody what happened and they said the Starbucks closed down. What we have found, though, is that a number of supermarkets have a coffee shop of some kind and offer Wi/Fi. We really depend on the internet for so many things--campsite reservations, I-Pod downloads, e-mail, etc.

This morning after breakfast we drove to the Grand Teton National Park and spent the day driving around and walking around. I took tons of pictures and hope some of them can even come close to showing the beauty of the places we saw. We looked at a campground in Colter Bay Campgrounds. They don't allow reservations, but said that as long as we're there by around 10:30 or 11:00 tomorrow morning, we should be able to get a campsite. We went inside the Jackson Lake Lodge--just to look around--it's a gorgeous place--just renovated a year or so ago, so all the rooms and bathrooms are very modern and nice, according to the front desk clerk. The entire back of the lodge is glass and the view of the Tetons is the most spectacular one you can imagine. The mountains are just huge! One thing I learned is that the Tetons have no foothills. The mountains just soar straight up from the ground. Before going there, we went to the Visitors Center which is a new building and offers a lot of information about the glaciers and the creation of the Tetons. It has many pictures of the flowers, plants and animals that are found in the area. It was a great place to go. After having lunch in the Signal Mountain Lodge, we drove on to Jenny Lake.

As soon as we got out of the car at Jenny Lake, a woman called out to us asking where in FL we were from. She was also from Sarasota/Bradenton and worked as a teacher for 30 something years. We didn't know any of the same people, but it was one of those "small world" moments.

I don't know what's in store for tonight. I do know we're going to make good use of our hot shower in a few minutes and then we'll see what happens.

July 12, 2009 - Steamboat Springs/Stagecoach

We had more rain last night, but our camper was bone dry, thank God. In the middle of the night, the wind was really whipping and making a terrible noise. We finally figured out it was caused by some straps which attach our little "dressing room" to the side of the TD. The straps were whipping against the metal and woke us both up. This morning everything outside was a muddy mess. We still have no electricity, but we do have battery power. We don't need electricity for anything but the AC and we haven't needed it.

We did our laundry in a little town called Oak Creek--$1.75 to wash one load!

Went to see Fish Creek Falls after lunch. We timed it just right. It started raining a couple of minutes after we got into the car. The falls are beautiful. The park reminds me a little of Great Falls Park in VA.

We'll be pulling out of Stagecoach in the morning but still haven't definitely decided which route to take. We want to end up in Wyoming and get to Yellowstone and The Grand Tetons.

July 11, 2009 Steamboat Springs

We took a drive to Steamboat Lake this afternoon. We'd heard it was really pretty. I'm sure it was at one time, but many campsites have been ruined due to the devastation of the trees there by pine beetles. When you look at the mountain, you can actually see large areas of trees that are brown.

It rained very hard this afternoon and we remembered that we hadn't closed the vent on our TD. Luckily, when we returned to the campground, we did not have any water inside our camper. That was a lucky break. Lightning struck the area and nobody has power. Fortunately for us, we have a backup battery, so we will not be affected. Lucky again.

July 11, 2009 Steamboat Springs

July 11, 2009 Steamboat Springs/Air Balloon Rodeo

We got up bright and early this morning, so we could see the air balloons taking off at the annual rodeo. Last night was a little warmer than it has been. It's a little more humid than usual today. I started the day about 5:30 a.m. and put on jeans with both a long sleeve and short sleeve shirt topped with a fleece. I removed the fleece around 9 and I'm now down to my short sleeves in the library at Lincoln Park. (By the way, the library here has a nice little cafe right inside where they sell all kinds of coffee, tea and cold drinks, as well as a few sandwiches.)

We drove our car to a designated place in town. We were then bussed to a large open area to watch the balloons take off. It was a very organized affair. As soon as you entered the area, the Lions Club started selling coffee and burritos. Then we watched the balloons, which were lying on the grass, fill up with hot air and take off. By the time we left a couple of hours later, there were at least 25 in the air. I'm not sure if they had more. A Denver Bronco cheerleader was posing in a blue bikini for a calendar. There were a number of people around her, as you might imagine. She was shivering, but she had brought only a tiny little white hooded sweater for warmth. Somebody in the crowd offered her a blanket. I suggest that she be better prepared next time. She looked SO uncomfortable.

We took the bus back to our car and drove a short distance to the Lincoln Park area, which really is pretty. The library is located within the grounds, it seems. The river runs behind the park and the library. I think most of the people at the Rodeo went to Art in the Park, too, because there is a huge crowd here. I really didn't think there was much to see--all the art fairs seem to be pretty much the same, as far as I'm concerned. The only difference is that there is a western theme to the pieces. There's also a large area for food. We'll probably eat lunch there.

There are still a few things we want to see before we leave Steamboat Springs and Stagecoach Monday morning. We are thinking about going to Strawberry Hot Springs this afternoon.

July 10, 2009 Steamboat Springs Co

July 10, 2009


We’re enjoying a relaxing morning at our campsite. The weather is perfect again. David is at the community bathhouse, so I thought I’d take a moment to continue this blog that will probably not be of interest to anyone but us.

We explored the town of Steamboat Springs yesterday afternoon. It’s a pretty nice little place, although it doesn’t really come close to Aspen, in our opinion. What really would, though? The main street—Lincoln St.—is nice with lots of shops and restaurants on each side. I’ve heard that there’s a library but haven’t found it yet. (By the way, at this moment I’m standing under our awning with the computer on top of the ice chest. I’ve had to kick away a couple of aggressive chipmunks charging my feet.) The merchandise in the shops would be appealing to tourists only, in my opinion. At least the shops look nice, and they don’t look particularly touristy. There’s a nice street that runs parallel to Lincoln called Yampa St. It’s really cute. It has lots of restaurants that seat customers outside on the edge of the Yampa River. It’s also possible to go tubing at a few different locations along that street. We’re going to try one of those restaurants for lunch or dinner while we’re here.

We found a little market on Yampa St. that sells all sorts of organic produce and other delicacies. We picked up some apricots and cherries. David found a nice red wine he’s going to try tonight.

When we first arrived in Steamboat, I picked up a local newspaper, opened it up and was surprised to see the picture of a man who used to be a lawyer at the Public Defender’s Office in Sarasota. I’d heard that he had moved but didn’t know where. His picture was there to advertise his legal services. I saw him frequently during my time as a probation officer and got along with him very well. I thought I should see or call him, at least. It turned out that his office was close to town, and we found it easily, so we just went on up and said hi. He was surprised to see me and we had a nice talk. He described his life in Steamboat. He likes it but said there are many tradeoffs. He said that shopping is difficult. The Wal-Mart in town is about the worst there is—and we noticed that, too. He said there is nowhere in town to buy any essentials, outside of the grocery stores. They have to go to Denver to go to a Target. On the other hand, he prefers the scenery in Colorado. He adapted easily to the weather there and said that as long as you prepare for it, you’re fine. Driving, though, can be very difficult and sometimes you have to just say no to driving in certain situations. The area in which he works involves driving to courthouses many miles away, and that can be problematic. The crime rate in this area is much lower than it is in Sarasota. They have only the occasional homicide. The economic situation has forced many individuals charged with crimes to simply enter a plea, rather than to hire a lawyer.

We had dinner at home last night and David built a fire. Nighttime seems to come very quickly—(an orange hummingbird just buzzed by, inches away from my head!). You barely have time to eat before it’s time to go inside. We watched a movie in the TD last night—The Good Shepherd with Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie and Robert DeNiro—compliments of Leah McElroy’s DVD collection. I’d seen it before but it was good.

Temperatures at night have been in the mid-40’s; daytime temps have been mid to high 80’s. I’ve been wearing long fleece pants and two shirts to bed. We’ve been using two blankets. We don’t have heat but have been very comfy.

We’re now at Starbuck’s enjoying some coffee after having a nice lunch at Steamboat Yacht Club by the river. We then took care of an oil change on our Subaru—we’ve driven about 2800 miles!

Tomorrow morning we’re going to check out the Hot Air Balloon Festival at about 7 a.m., followed by Arts in the Park. On Sunday we’ll do a hike.

July 9, 2009 Steamboat Springs

July 9, 2009

I wish I had the words to describe what we’re seeing here in Stagecoach State Park in Steamboat Springs, CO. We’re completely surrounded by low green mountains. Once again, there is an abundance of yellow and purple wildflowers. There is water around about half of us. The sky is nearly all blue with only a few wispy white clouds, just enough to keep it interesting. (A park ranger just stopped by on his mountain bike—he said that this area can best be described as a semi-arid kinda desert with alpine forests. He said the animals we’ve been trying to learn about are really exotic—ground squirrels!)

We arrived here yesterday afternoon at about 3:30 p.m., after an easy 3 ½ hour drive from Aspen. We are nearing the end of our audio book, The Help, and almost wanted the drive to be longer so we could finish it. We set up our campsite and prepared to relax without any time schedule whatsoever for the next five nights.

A guy staying in a 20 foot Airstream came over to look at our TD. We’re getting used to this. He was a most interesting person. Ed is a retired attorney from Tucson, who spends at least half the year traveling. He seems to know the area around here like the back of his hand and gave us some ideas for routes to take, etc. When he’s not in his Airstream, he’s diving. He’s on his way to Belize after he ends up this trip. He left this morning, but we hope we run into him again somewhere.

In Sarasota, if you walk outside you’ll see lizards hopping around everywhere. In Colorado, they have another creature that does something similar. It’s not a reptile—it’s something akin to a squirrel, chipmunk or—ahem—rat. Chipmunk seems so much more appealing. We’ve been asking everybody if they know what they are, but nobody seems to know. We MUST find out. I’m being extra careful about keeping my little screen porch door snapped up tight, as I really don’t want to find one in my bed!


I’ve got to talk about my first pay shower this morning. It costs four quarters for a 4-minute shower. You can extend it by adding one quarter for each additional minute. This morning I very carefully undressed in the immaculate (whew!) shower booth, placing everything I needed within close reach, but placing the things I wanted to stay dry in a more distant location. I inserted the quarters in a leisurely manner, thinking there would be a slight pause before the water would start spraying. Oh, no—that was not the case. The water suddenly hit me with the force of a five-alarm fire hose. It targeted my sandals and blew them straight out of the booth. The temperature was nice and warm, but OMG, the pressure was way, way too much. If I had washed my face in it, I’m sure I would have been bruised beyond recognition. I survived another camping challenge!

We’re going to go into the town of Steamboat Springs in a little while. We’ll grab some lunch and check it out. It’s supposed to be really cute.

July 7, 2009 - Fishing

July 7, 2009

The weather today in Aspen needed no improvement. We started off by going fishing in a little pond about a half hour outside of Aspen. The pond was located on a large property where there was also a ranch with a number of horses. It was all just beautiful. To stand beside the pond and fish while looking out at all the mountains and meadows with a gazillion wildflowers growing was a real treat. I saw some poppies that were not only red, but also pink and orange. I didn’t know they even came in those colors. I actually caught two rainbow trout! Rich and Kristen each caught a rainbow, too. We had a guide who taught us how to do everything and brought all the poles and bait. More later.

July 8, 2009

David and I went back out to our campsite at Difficult yesterday and packed up our tent and other pieces of equipment to get ready to move out today. Then we went back into town to get cleaned up and ready for a nice dinner out with grownups. Kristen arranged for a babysitter. Last year, she met a really nice girl who was a Brown Univ. student working at the Aspen Nature Center for the summer. She didn’t return this summer, but a friend of hers did. In between giving nature classes to kids, she babysits. She came over around 6 p.m. and we went out to a nice little place called Brexi’s Brasserie, a short walk from our place. We noticed a big difference in the number of people out on the streets—the 4th of July crowd had clearly left town. When we arrived at Brexi’s, it was quiet, but soon filled to capacity. It was a very cool place with an interesting menu. Anyone who knows Kristen, knows she does a lot of research before choosing where we’re going to eat, so we knew it would be a good place. I took a few pictures for Holt (He’s the owner of a tile business.) when I went to the ladies’ room. I’m going to describe our meals for those I know will be interested. The rest of you can read on. David and Rich started with a dozen oysters on the half shell. They noticed the oysters were a little more briny than those served in N.O. and FL, and they enjoyed them. David, Kristen and Rich had the Colorado striped bass, roasted with a crispy skin, over a bed of artichokes, carrots and onions, topped with lemon confit. I started with jumbo shrimp and followed with a delicious watermelon, frisee salad with pine nuts and feta. We shared two desserts: lemon madeleines served with espresso ice cream and marshmallow sauce and French feta wrapped in phyllo and baked, topped with fresh figs, pine nuts and honey. Our sommelier recommended a dessert beer, of all things, so naturally Rich had to try it. It was an India Pale Ale and Rich liked it. It was 10% alcohol. Maybe that’s why he was later seen talking to a horse.

We took the long way home, so we could enjoy the perfect weather and the quiet streets. We didn’t even need sweaters. In front of the Paradise Bakery, they often have different musical groups playing. Last night there was a group called, “Bassooner or Later”. There were probably 30 people listening.

Today we have to do a little laundry, pack up and head to Steamboat Springs. There’s going to be an air balloon festival there which should be interesting to see. We have reservations for five nights at the Stagecoach State Park.

Ella will have horseback riding today. Betsy will have a lesson with the Level 3 gymnasts from Aspen. They’re going to the rodeo tonight, if they can make it that long. Ella is going to have a skateboarding lesson tomorrow—we can’t wait to hear how that turns out.

July 5, 2009

July 5, 2009

I’m writing this all on Wednesday because I haven’t had time to do it. Aspen is such a fun place, I just couldn’t take the time to write. I don’t want to leave out anything important, though, so I thought it best to get these things in before forgetting.

On this morning, we took a beautiful ride—albeit it, nausea-producing—to a monastery about a half-hour outside of town. We’d visited the monastery itself a couple of years ago when we were here with Candace. The stables provide their “fund-a-monk” program. I don’t think the monks would call it that, but that’s what the horse trainers call it. The stable has a statue of the Virgin Mary on it, as you can see from one of the pictures. I’m very disappointed in most of the pictures we’ve taken. They’re the result of an inept photographer and a slow-responding camera.

Ella really took to the horses. We called her the “horse whisperer” because she seemed to feel comfortable right away and started talking to her horse immediately. Poor Betsy had been miserably sick on the ride over to the stables. I think we should have given her more time to recover before putting her on a horse. Next time we’ll know better. She went on the ride but didn’t really enjoy it. Rich and David went on the ride with the girls and the trainer. Kristen and I stayed back with Leuck and Kristen led him around on his horse.

All the kids seem to have inherited that Siegwald motion sickness. Kristen suffered with it, too. She gives them ginger gum and puts special bracelets on their wrists, but nothing seems to really help very much.

The girls had a great trainer with them on their ride who really helped Betsy out a lot. Her name was Mariah. She gave the girls some pretty necklaces when they finished their ride.

When the ride was over, we piled into the car again and headed to Basalt, a small town near Aspen. David and I had been there before. It’s really a cute little town—not too much to it, really—less than there was when we were last there. It looks like the economy might have been responsible for closing down some businesses there. However, the restaurant we went to with Candace and Holt was still standing and it was a great spot. We sat outside on a deck with the river running by us just a few feet away.

After lunch we returned to Aspen and chilled out for a while. Then David and I went in one direction and The Williams Family in another. Kristen, Inc., went to Nobu, a good sushi restaurant in town. The kids ate edamame, raw yellowtail snapper and black cod with miso. They finished off the meal with mochi ice cream. They ate it all with chopsticks. David and I went to the Aspen Chapel where an actor from the Tennessee Players was playing the role of Albert Schweitzer in a one character play. When Candace and I were kids around 10 or 11 years old, we read The Biography of Albert Schweitzer and were really impressed by him. When I saw the play advertised in the Aspen News, I just had to go. I hadn’t known that there was an organization formed to promote his philosophy of Reverence for Life, sustainability and peace. The Aspen Chapel is a non-denominational chapel that invites all kinds of speakers and artists to visit and share what they have to offer with the community. Aspen, in general, has many interesting visitors. I was glad I got to see the play.

4th of July - more parade pictures

Ella, Betsy and Leuck (below)

July 4th

July 4, 2009



Happy Independence Day! I’ve always loved the 4th of July but have really appreciated its significance since I started teaching ESOL and have seen the value my students place on American citizenship. Kristen and Rich have told us they have a great parade in Aspen every year, so we’re looking forward to that.

We spent last night at Difficult, a campground in the White River National Forest, about 5 miles outside of Aspen. It was great. The weather was in the 40’s—perfect sleeping weather. I thought I was going to be cold and dressed that way but started peeling layers off about 5 minutes after settling into bed last night. It’s a pretty basic campground—no electricity or showers. That’s where Kristen’s place comes in mighty handy. It’s hard to go to dinner at a nice restaurant if you haven’t had a shower.

Our campground host is a nice guy named Richard. He’s a math teacher at a community college in Illinois and has camped with his wife for many years. He started hosting a couple of years ago. He gave us some good suggestions for camping in Colorado, since we’ve never had to think about bears before. This campground has special food lockers where you can place any of your food supplies to keep them safe from the bears. These lockers have a special latch inside the handle that bears apparently can’t reach. Let’s hope they can’t anyway. There’s only been one bear at Difficult this summer and one is too many for Richard. He told us that bears can spot an ice chest at quite a distance. If we have it out anywhere, he said we should cover it with something like a towel to keep it safe from bears.

We woke up this morning, got in the car and drove into Aspen, stopping at the bakery to pick up a variety of goodies to add to our breakfast of eggs and buffalo sausage. K&R went to the Farmer’s Market yesterday and found all kinds of beautiful things for us to eat over the next few days. They bought some elk tenderloin that we’re going to try tonight.

Last night K&R treated us to a delicious dinner at a restaurant within a short walk of our condo. Afterwards, we walked to the park where I think everyone staying in Aspen was congregating. There was a tent set up with a great band playing rock music. Next to it is an area with equipment for kids to play on and a field filled with people running around playing with Frisbees, etc. I took some pictures and will post them if they turn out OK. Leuck was so tired he fell asleep on Rich’s shoulder before 8 p.m. when we said our goodnight to everybody and drove to Difficult.

I was just rereading this blog and it occurred to me that all we ever do is talk about eating, or eat. No wonder I have to go back to Weight Watchers every now and then!

Below are some pictures of a great 4th of July parade, Aspen style.

July 3, 2009

July 3, 2009



We finally made it to Aspen! We pulled in yesterday evening around 5 p.m. Wouldn’t you know it would be raining? We didn’t have a reservation for a campsite last night, because we really didn’t think we’d make it here until tonight. Aspen’s streets were pretty crowded in spite of the rain. We knew we might have a little trouble finding two parking spaces for our car and TD. We kept circling blocks and finally did see one. Just as we were getting ready to get out of our car, a guy on a Harley pulled up next to us. Guess what? He wanted to know what they call that thing we’re towing. So, of course, we had to get out in the now just sprinkling rain and give him a little look-see.

I let David give the guy “the tour” and I started throwing some bare essentials into a plastic bag. We were several blocks away from Kristen’s place. They don’t have a car, so we had to carry everything to the condo. Pretty soon the tour was over, the rain had let up and we walked over. Aspen still looked the same as before—beautiful. It was weird to go from a temperature of 101 the day before to 67 last night==I know it got even cooler than that. Hasty, CO, was an inferno and I was wearing the bare minimum allowed by law and Aspen, CO, was a cool oasis and I was wearing a fleece. I probably looked a little silly wearing a fleece with black running shorts and flip flops with my pure white legs carrying a plastic bag down the street.

It was so good to get to Kristen’s and see her, Rich and all the kids. They’ve been renting the same condo downtown on Durant St. for about the past 4 years. It’s on the 4th floor. It’s very roomy and has plenty of bathrooms, so you can always find one when you need it. You can walk to practically anything you want.

We were both dying for showers after being driven out of our campsite by bugs that morning without even washing our faces. We looked pretty good, as you can well imagine. Kristen had been trying to make reservations for dinner somewhere but was finding everything booked due to the rain. We finally decided to order some barbecue and have it delivered.

Just after we placed our order for barbecue, there was a knock on our door. An older woman was standing outside apologetically asking if she could borrow our oven to bake some pizzas. They had been waiting over an hour for their oven to preheat and they were beginning to get the idea that it might be broken. Of course, we said to come on in and use our oven. We walked down to her place at the end of the hall and followed her in to help her carry the pizzas back. Naturally, we were followed by all three nosy grandchildren. Her condo was full of people, including two kids. They were all musicians and composers in town for the Aspen Music Festival held every summer. They were having their little going away party, as some members of the group were going to be leaving. They were using frozen pizzas—6 of them—I think. Only 2 would fit in our oven at a time, so it took quite a while for all the pizzas to cook. During that time, we really talked to everybody quite a bit. Our kids started playing with their kids, running up and down the hallway. People we didn’t know started coming into our condo because they saw the other musicians standing inside. It was really a blast talking to them all. One man, who was kind of in charge of the group, was 82 and had written the score for the film, The Last of the Mohicans. After all the pizzas were cooked, they returned to their condo but returned later with a huge portion of the cake they wanted to share. We’ll remember this experience for a long time.

I want to backtrack a little to tell about another little thing that happened on our way to Aspen yesterday. We were in Pueblo getting gas just before noon yesterday. I was going to go inside while David was pumping gas. A man in a pickup waved me down on my way, calling, “Ma’am, Ma’am!” What’s the name of that thing—I need to get one of those things. Again, I had to give him a Camp-Inn brochure. I can’t believe how many people want information about the Teardrop. When I returned to the car, David was talking to an older man about the Teardrop. He and his wife were just so friendly and we could’ve talked to them all day. We ended up seeing the same couple when we stopped for lunch at McDonald’s. After swearing to never go to another McDonald’s, we kind of had to go there. We were hungry—it was there. We talked to this couple again—Melvin and Marilyn (?) Trujillo. He said why don’t you just come over and stay with us in Crested Butte? He said they had a big house there and would love for us to come and visit for a few days. I swear—people have been friendly on this trip.

We’re reaching the end of our audiobook, The Help. I think we’ve listened to about 10 hours, so far. David hadn’t liked the first chapter he started to listen to, but when I forced him to listen to it a couple chapters later, he was hooked.

We’ve had a terrible time with internet connections. We thought we’d be OK in Aspen, but they have had only intermittent service here. I guess we’ll have to go to Starbucks. We still haven’t been able to upload our pictures and blog entries onto the blog site. Computers are so great when everything works.

July 2, 2009

July 2, 2009


Well, we bugged out of the Hasty, CO, campground very early this morning. Why? The bugs literally drove us out. We knew that we were eventually going to come upon a park that wouldn’t live up to expectations. This was our first—I’m sure it won’t be our last.

The campsite was located in SE Colorado off US 50 by a reservoir and dam. Maybe that’s why it attracted so many bugs. In addition to bugs, it was exactly like being in an oven—dry and hot. On to greener and cooler pastures. . .

We stopped by a nice little café in La Junta for breakfast. La Junta seems like a pretty pleasant small town. It was obvious that a lot of locals stop by for breakfast there, as many of the customers were talking to each other.

To be continued . . .

July 1, 2009

July 1, 2009



We left the Fairfield Inn State Park just north of OK City after breakfast at around 8 a.m. For some reason, this campground had snowy white towels and sheets—we’ll have to suggest that more campgrounds provide such luxuries.

We headed north to Wichita on I-35 and then west on US 50. We drove for many miles and saw practically nothing except landscape—it was like that almost all day. OK did have rolling hills. It was very green and hot there. When we reached Kansas, it became flat. The fields smelled really good. We saw a small old cemetery in the midst of a huge green field upon which there were green and yellow wildflowers growing in abundance. Black cows were herded together here and there. We saw town names, such as Yoder and Plevna.

We later saw countless fields of corn. There were giant sprinklers on wheels, inching their way across the fields. Combines with their shiny metal blades were spitting out “stuff” all over the ground. For a while I thought I smelled popcorn—David didn’t, but then again, he never smells anything. Later we both smelled something yeasty, as if there were a huge bread factory around, but we didn’t see one.

It’s clearly a very conservative area of the country. There are many signs that look somewhat homemade that are against abortion. There are may hand-drawn pictures of babies that say, “Save The Babies”.

We stopped for lunch at Strate’s Kountry Kitchen in Kinsley, KS. You don’t get to choose where you’ll eat lunch. If you want to eat at a restaurant, you stop when you see one. Otherwise, you might not see one again for a long while. The same goes for gas. We’ve been filling up every chance we get—just in case. By the way, I saw some salad dressing I’d never heard of before—Dorothy Lynch Dressing. I had to try it, of course. It was OK—kind of a French Dressing with poppy seeds.

After leaving Kimsley, you really don’t see much. There are very few trees and miles of nothingness. When we entered Colorado, it really looked pretty ugly—not the Colorado we knew and loved. We knew our campground was not too far away, so we stopped at our new favorite store—Walmart—to get food for dinner. We’ve been to Walmart more often on our 6 days on the road than we’d ever been to Walmart previously. The Walmart was across the street from

June 28, 2009

June 28, 2009 - Lake Catherine State Park, Arkansas -- (outside of Hot Springs, AR)

This is a nice park about 10 miles outside of Hot Springs. We decided we'd like to visit Hot Springs on our way west and chose this park. Our site was next to the road which wasn't so great on one hand, but it did allow us to meet some nice people who passed by and wanted a tour of the TD. They were a couple who were there from Colorado with their 2 kids. They said thay had just graduated from a VW camper to an Airstream. They were there to show their kids the area because the husband's gret great grandfather (Fordyce) had built several buildings in Hot Springs in the 20s. He told us that one of the buildings was a famous bathouse that had gone out of business some time ago but had been given to the National Park Service and restored to its original state. It is now a museum. Jolley and I decided to take an extra day here to give us time to visit Hot Springs. The following day we did. You can see some of the pictures we took. In addition to the campsite, there is one of the Fordyce Bath House (from across the street) and several of the inside (the glass ceiling in the men's bath area, the gym on the third floor, and the lobby). Hot Springs is a pretty neat place to visit. The next day we headed west. --- Dave

June 27, 2009

June 27, 2009

It’s actually June 30, as I write this while sitting in Room 102 of the Fairfield Inn in OK City. We’ve been so busy and we couldn’t find a Starbucks until yesterday and when we found it, we didn’t have time to download photos and catch up on our blogs.

When we left Three Rivers Park on June 26, we drove to Tuscaloosa and arrived at the Lake Lurleen State Park (named for former Governor George Wallace’s wife). It was really a beautiful park—I have the feeling that I’m going to be saying that a lot! We got there around 5 p.m. and called my Aunt Mary Jolley to tell her of our arrival. Last year she moved from the lovely country home she shared with my Uncle Dick to a small apartment on the University of Alabama campus. When Candace and I visited her last year, she was still living in her Moundville home but showed us her apartment. She was having lots of anxiety over the move. Downsizing was going to be a very difficult job for her because she’s very sentimental and can’t bear to part with anything that was a gift or anything that had been my Uncle Dick’s. I was curious to see how she would finally be able to pare down her possessions enough to fit in her much smaller new space. I was very happy to see that her new place is so comfortable and tastefully decorated. It’s sort of a smaller version of her other home.

She served us the best dinner. We had roast pork tenderloin, fresh summer squash casserole, tomatoes with fresh basil, fresh green beans, potatoes with butter and horseradish sauce and for dessert, a pound cake with fresh peaches and ice cream. She’s an amazing cook. All the fresh vegetables she served were grown in her very own garden, tended by her! We had such a nice visit with her. She sent us home with a huge package of cake, pork, squash and a dozen or so peaches. We had a feast the next day. When we got back to Lake Lurleen, it was around 10 p.m. and it was pitch dark, as you can imagine. We pretty much just crawled into bed and went to sleep. I read The 19th Wife for a few pages, but that was all I could handle.

We got up and left as soon as we had breakfast. We’ve really enjoyed the early mornings in the parks. There’s nothing like sitting with a cup of coffee and just looking around. We then hit the road for Hot Springs, AR. --- Jolley

June 26, 2009

June 26, 2009

The adventure has begun! The Dropouts didn’t get a very early start this morning. We finally backed out of our driveway at about 9:20 a.m. As always, there were a few extras thrown into the car—just in case. I’ve been reminded by everyone that “there are stores”, but something in me wants to prepare for any eventuality, no matter how improbable.

We ran into a number of really hard rainstorms, but our little Teardrop held its own, never giving us a moment’s worry. I guess a Teardrop feels at home in water. We really should get some Rain-X for our windshield.

When we drove up to Wisconsin to pick up our TD (Teardrop), we reintroduced ourselves to McDonald’s. We had always avoided it like the plague. We discovered the Southwestern Salad with chicken and thought it was pretty good. We stopped there for lunch today and were almost driven out by the number of flies. We got some coffee later this afternoon and found the service to be lacking even more than usual. Maybe we’ll have to start avoiding McDonald’s again. Subway? Burger King? Grocery stores and picnics? If you have any good ideas, let us know.

We arrived at Three Rivers State Park today at about 5:00 p.m. It’s really a pretty park. We had to drive for quite a while before we got to the area around the lake where our campsite is. On the way we were greeted by a cute little deer. The campsites are only O.K. There are lots of trees around, but they placed the sites very close together. Everybody’s very quiet, though, so it’s working out just fine. We didn’t bother setting up our gazebo or little side tent, since we’re leaving tomorrow morning. We registered at the park office and chatted with the Campground Host. Every state park, and probably every national park, has a Host. They’re volunteers who live for free in exchange for the work they do at the park. Our host is a 60-ish woman from California. She said she was here so she could be close to her son and grandchildren in Georgia. I think she’s really here because her boyfriend is a resident at the Florida State Prison nearby. Don’t ask me why.

We’re going to cook some hamburgers, broccoli and linguine for dinner tonight. Sound exciting?

We downloaded all kinds of stuff on our I-Pod. I can’t wait to hear all my new Splendid Tables, This American Life, This I Believe, etc. In addition, I just joined Audibles.com on the advice of my friends Lynn and Laurel. I downloaded a book called The Help and I’m dying to get into it. It’s so great to have these podcasts going when you’re traveling. --- Jolley