Richard & Sylvia's RV Adventures

Day 84 Thursday, May 24 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 01:17:00 +0000

Nashville, TN

Well, we decided to stay another day in and around Nashville. We wanted to look around a little downtown and also take a look at an area that our neighbour at home in Woodbridge had recommended, the town of Franklin outside and south of Nashville. The small town was delightful and we had lunch at the local bakery. Yum! We love it when we find little Gems like this on our trip.

We visited the Music Hall of Fame in Nashville,

as well as the “old” Grand Ole Opry downtown.

We found Nashville a very modern city with lots of places to sit and enjoy the country music piped in over the loudspeakers.

Around the town square little stalls were set up selling organic vegetables, breads, meats and cheeses, even organic dyed clothing. Way to go Nashville!

Day 83 Wednesday, May 23, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Thu, 24 May 2007 05:03:00 +0000

Scott AFB, Ill to Nashville, TN – 301 Miles

This morning we got up early and headed out southeast to Nashville, Tn. We arrived at a Corps of Engineers campground (Seven Points Public Use Area) shortly after 2:30pm today; we set up the RV and then took a nap after another long day of driving. Later this evening we took Lucy for a long walk.

Tomorrow we’ll decide if we’ll drive on or spend a day in and around Nashville. We’re trying to get to Columbia, SC for the Memorial Day week-end; my sister and brother-in-law have a small place on Lake Murray just outside Columbia.

Day 81 & 82 Monday, May 21 and Tuesday, May 22, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Thu, 24 May 2007 04:55:00 +0000

Scott AFB, Il FamCamp

This morning we noticed that we had voice mail from yesterday. After checking we found that one of the calls was from one of the bikers who called to tell us that they looked all over for Lucy and even stopped a “blue van” to check to see if Lucy was on board. They just wanted to follow up to tell us of their search and hoped we had found her. The other call was from the BP Gas Station clerk who noted that Lucy had wandered into the store and that they had served her some ice water and just wanted us to know where she was. Both calls reminded us that people do care for others and this made us feel good and thankful.

We spent the last couple days at Scott AFB resting and re stocking for the continued trip. Sylvia made several calls to tire dealers including Sams and Costco to check on tire availability and found that in all cases we would have to wait 3–5 business days for delivery; this meant we were dead in the water since we did not want to take the chance of driving without a spare. Someone suggested I check with the base exchange to see what they could do; I did and I found they could get us the tire the next day. Hooray for the base exchange! We think we’ve had our quota of tire incidents….

Day 80 Sunday, May 20, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Thu, 24 May 2007 04:49:00 +0000

Platte City, Missouri to Scott AFB, Ill – 300+ Miles (via a Maifest in Hermann, Missouri)

Today we headed out for Scott AFB just east of St Louis, Missouri. However, we did make a slight detour to stop by a Maifest in Hermann, Missouri. This detour proved to be stressful initially and then interesting later.

En route to Hermann we came to a very narrow bridge that crossed the Missouri River into Hermann. I took the call and went to scout the bridge and determined that it would be very tight driving the RV over it with the very narrow lanes and the on coming traffic to be concerned about. So, rather than risk an incident, we decided to park the RV at a gas station, unhook the car and just drive the Honda over the bridge to the Maifest. This is when the stress really kicked into high gear… We had just rearranged things in the Honda putting down a blanket in the back seat for Lucy when we discovered that Lucy was missing and no where to be found!!!!!!!! Sylvia was in a frantic state of mind now… she told me that she had noticed a blue van that stopped in the parking lot near the RV; a man got out and opened the sliding rear door and a short time later drove off! After whistling and looking frantically for Lucy we quickly came to the conclusion that this guy in the blue van had dog napped Lucy and we were in a major panic to say the least! There was a motorcycle club group leaving the gas station… Sylvia quickly stopped them explaining the situation and they said they would look for the “blue van” along the route they were traveling and if they found it would check to see if Lucy could be found; so, off they went.

Sylvia and I continued to look all over for Lucy…. Finally after us almost giving up, Lucy came out from behind the gas station with her head down and tail between her legs! She knew she was in trouble; however, we were so glad to see her that we totally did not want to scold her for her wandering off. It just drove home the point that we have to be more careful when we let Lucy out of the RV…. There are a lot of strange people out there who would think nothing of stealing our sweet Lucy dog.

After we calmed down, Sylvia and I and Lucy drove over that narrow bridge and went to the Maifest in Hermann. We walked the town and had some wine and ate dinner at one of the Wineries. This was very enjoyable and reminded us of our times in Germany going to winefests.

Later we drove on to Scott AFB, another 100 miles or so, set up in the camp ground and made it an early night.

Day 79 Saturday, May 19, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Thu, 24 May 2007 04:19:00 +0000

Council Bluffs, Iowa to Platte City, Missouri -156 Miles

Wow, what an exciting day today. We had intended to drive a bit over 250 miles and stay at a campground somewhere east of Kansas City, Mo; however, about 80 miles south of Council Bluffs we experienced our first BLOWOUT! As I was driving down I-29 I came down a hill and at the bottom of the dip the left rear inside dual tire blew!!!!! I was able to maintain control pulling to the side of the road at the top of the hill. I called our friendly road service and then we proceeded to wait for the next 2 hours for them to arrive to change our tire! Sylvia and I just got our camping chairs out and our artificial carpet out and set them up in the grass and watch the cars and trucks roll by.

A good samaritan stopped to see if we were OK and if they could help. Johnny and his 2–year old son Cash hung out with us and kept us company as we waited for the service to arrive.

The Service did finally get a truck out and the nice fellow changed out our tire. You might recall that early on in our trip we had a flat tire with we had apparently run over a nail. This was quite different and very dangerous with the tire just blowing out. It did do a little damage to the wheel well but nothing that will keep us from moving on down the road; we repair this minor damage once we complete our trip.

You can see in the photo above the big hole in the tire the blew!

After the repair/tire change we drove on to find the nearest campground to camp for the night and decompress after this stressful incident!

Oh, tomorrow’s another day in our adventure.

Day 78 Friday, May 18, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Thu, 24 May 2007 04:05:00 +0000

Mitchell, SD to Lake Manawa, Council Bluffs, Iowa – 256 Miles

Today we drove south and east to outside Omaha, Nebraska and Council Bluffs, Iowa. We found a Iowa State Park campground at Lake Manawa and stayed there for the night.

Day 77 Thursday, May 17

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Thu, 24 May 2007 03:38:00 +0000

Ellsworth AFB, SD to Mitchell, SD via Wall Drug and the Badlands National Park – Miles

Today we started our trip south and east by drive I-90 to Wall SD where were stopped by the famous Wall Drug Store. Wall Drug was bought by the Husteads in December 1931. Just after the depression they were trying to make a go of it but it was very difficult. They came upon a idea several years later to put up signs along the interstate advertising free ice water and since then everything else is history. Mr. Hustead has said: “Free Ice Water. It brought us Husteads a long way and it taught me my greatest lesson, and that's that there's absolutely no place on God's earth that's Godforsaken. No matter where you live, you can succeed, because wherever you are, you can reach out to other people with something that they need!”

You can visit their web site at: http://www.walldrug.com

How do you like Sylvia’s new hat?

From Wall Drug we drove the loop through the Badlands National Park.

The Badlands National Park was created to preserve the scenic and scientific value of a portion of the White River Badlands for the benefit and enjoyment of the people. Here natural processes have uncovered and displayed a concentrated collection of rutted ravines, serrated towers, pinnacles, and precipitous gulches. The park contains world renowned paleontological features and geological formations of the Eocene and Oligocene epochs with recognized scientific and educational value. This spectacular setting contains a fine example of a vast mixed grass prairie ecosystem. The landscape encompasses an 11,000 year legacy of human use and occupancy. Located in southwestern South Dakota, Badlands National Park consists of nearly 244,000 acres of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires blended with the largest, protected mixed grass prairie in the United States. Sixty-four thousand acres are designated official wilderness. Established as Badlands National Monument in 1939, the area was redesignated as a National Park in 1978. Over 11,000 years of human history pales to the eons old paleontological resources. Badlands National Park contains the world's richest Oligocene epoch fossil beds, dating 23 to 35 million years old. The evolution of mammal species such as the horse, sheep, rhinoceros and pig can be studied in the Badlands formations.

As we started our drive through the park we notice a few of the “locals” sitting up on the hill watching the tourists drive by… We could just hear them saying to each other: “Well Myrtle here’s a couple more and they’re taking pictures like the rest. Check me out, do I have grass in my teeth? Smile for the tourists!”

Here’s a panoramic photo made up from 10 photos as I panned and took pictures of the barren wasteland.

From the Badlands National Park we drove on to Mitchell, SD where we stopped for the night. Before bedding down for the night we went to the Cabella’s Sporting Goods store.

There they had an incredible selection of sporting goods, clothing, etc. We especially like the live fish in the fish tanks and the stuff animals display.

Here we finally got to see a Moose… but unfortunately he was not alive…. someday we’ll see a live one!!

Days 74-76 Monday, May 14 to Wednesday, May 16

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Thu, 24 May 2007 02:51:00 +0000

Monday, May 14 – Ellsworth AFB, SD

Today we did much of nothing except relax and did a little maintenance on the RV. I went over to the auto hobby shop on base and changed the oil in the RV, it was due. It was really windy and really cool to cold today, so, much of the day we spent inside. Later in the day I took the Honda down to the dealer in Rapid City to have the 50K service done on it as well. Our friends and traveling partners, Andy and Emily, went on down to see Mt Rushmore.

Tuesday, May 15 – Sight seeing to Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse

Today we drove the 34 miles south to see the Mt Rushmore National Memorial. It we really quite impressive indeed.

Here’s the entrance and the “hall of flags” leading to the memorial.

While walking the path through the memorial we ran in to the German couple that we had seen in Yellowstone when we stopped beside the road to see the animals. What a small world for us to have run into this couple again a couple states away and a week or so later!!

After visiting Mt Rushmore we drove about 14 miles further south to see the Crazy Horse Memorial.

Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski and Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear officially started Crazy Horse Memorial June 3, 1948. The Memorial's mission is to honor the culture, tradition and living heritage of North American Indians. When completed, this will be the largest mountain sculpture in the world. Because of several factors, such as the uncertainty of the weather, the availability of financing and the challenges of the mountain engineering, there is no way to predict a completion date for the mountain carving. When Korczak died on October 20, 1982, his parting words to his wife were, "You must work on the mountain -- but go slowly so you do it right." Crazy Horse Memorial is a project that will never end, even after the mountain carving is complete. The Ziolkowski family and the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation are dedicated to making careful and steady progress on all of the Memorial's humanitarian goals as well as on the mountain carving. His wife and 7 of his children and their families continue to work on the sculpture today.

I hope you can see from this picture the magnitude of this work in process. It is already taller than the Washington Monument. When completed the Crazy Horse mountain carving will be 641 feet long by 563 feet high. Crazy Horse's completed head is 87 feet 6 inches high. The horse's head, currently the focus of work on the mountain, is 219 feet or 22 stories high.

The photo on the left shows a model of what the carving will look like when completed. Korczak depicted Crazy Horse with his left hand pointing in answer to the derisive question asked by a white man, "Where are your lands now?" Crazy Horse replied, "My lands are where my dead lie buried. "

The official web site can be visited at:

http://www.crazyhorse.org/

The Web Cam is at:

http://www.crazyhorse.org/webcam.shtml

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Today we rested and re-stocked the RV for our trip south.

Day 73 Sunday, May 13, 2007 - Mother's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Sat, 19 May 2007 02:41:00 +0000

Ranchester, WY to Devils Tower National Monument, WY – 179 Miles

Mother’s day in Ranchester started by us going out for a great Mother’s day breakfast in the one and only diner/restaurant in Ranchester. I guess the single place to eat is what would be expected in the booming town with a population of 701! It was an interesting experience since it was the place were all the locals came in for breakfast each morning and chatted about things going on around the county. We over heard one fellow who came in greet another with something like: “I like those shoes you have on; they look like the ones I have at home.” The other fellow replied with: “Well, that’s what happens when you leave home without them!”

The breakfast special was really great: 6 oz New York Strip, 2 eggs, hash browns, bacon, 2 pancakes all for $6.95. They forgot to mention the hot cakes where the size of dinner plates. Everything tasted great.

While eating we took in the small town USA flavor by listening to some older local fellows bantering with one another and the waitress. The discussions centered around politics, the river rising, where the good fishing is (Walleye)?, and my kind of topic, Indians. Yup Indians – the town borders on the Crow Indian Reservation. They discussed fights breaking out in local bars between whites and Indian fellows. I did hear one comment something to the tune of ”well we took enough away from them, don’t you think”. We were told that the main industry of the town was coal mining and ranching.

While I got the Coach ready to hit the road, Sylvia walked Lucy around town one more time and noted every house having a large Propane tank in their backyard. A local artist decided to turn them in to a piece of art by painting them like a watermelon, bumble bee or caterpillar. Clever!

Before leaving Ranchester, SD we had to take a picture of this interesting place; note the sign that says drive-in window… never saw a bar with a drive-in window!!

We hit the road and drove a bit over 3 1/2 hours and arrived at Devils Tower, WY. My only familiarity with this place was from it being in the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. Actually this is a real historic monument.

President Theodore Roosevelt established Devils Tower National Monument on September 24, 1906; it was the first national monument. The spectacular rock formation known as Devils Tower and the surrounding countryside, home to a myriad of plant and animal life, attract visitors from around the world. Climbers test their skills on vertical rock walls. Visitors delight in the beauty of the area and enjoy the activities offered at the monument. Also known as Bears Lodge, American Indians consider the area sacred, a place for prayer and renewal. Devils Tower rises 1267 feet above the Belle Fourche River. Once hidden, erosion has revealed Devils Tower. This 1347 acre park is covered with pine forests, woodlands, and grasslands. Deer, prairie dogs, and other wildlife are seen.

Note the climbers on the photo above!

From here we drove on to Ellsworth Air Force Base just outside Rapid City, SD – 115 Miles.

Here we plan to spend several days re-stocking, resting, doing some maintenance and going to see the sites of Mount Rushmore and the Crazy House Monument. You see this information and pictures in my next posting.

Day 72 Saturday, May 12, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Fri, 18 May 2007 03:52:00 +0000

North Yellowstone to Little Bighorn (229 Miles) and to Ranchester, WY (54 Miles)

This morning we left the Yellowstone Mammoth Hot Springs campground and drove to Little Bighorn Battlefield Monument just south of Crow Agency, Montana.

The picture above shows the original North Entrance to Yellowstone built in 1872.

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument is the site of the June 25, 1876 battle between the U.S. Army's 7th cavalry and several bands of Dakota Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho.

The above pictures are looking up to the top of Little Bighorn where Custer made his last stand. The tombstones you see are markers showing where the last solders fell as they were killed by the Indians.

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument near Crow Agency, Montana, commemorates one of America's most significant and famous battles, the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Here on June 25 and 26, 1876, two divergent cultures clashed in a life or death struggle.

Four hundred years of struggle between Euro-Americans and Native Americans culminated on this ground. Like a handful of battles in American history, the defeat of 12 companies of Seventh Cavalry by Lakota (Sioux), Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors rose beyond its military significance to the level of myth. Thousands of books, magazine articles, performances in film and theater, paintings, and other artistic expressions have memorialized "Custer's Last Stand."

In 1879, the Little Bighorn Battlefield was designated a national cemetery administered by the War Department. In 1881, a memorial was erected on Last Stand Hill, over the mass grave of the Seventh Cavalry soldiers, U.S. Indian Scouts, and other personnel killed in battle. In 1940, jurisdiction of the battlefield was transferred to the National Park Service. These early interpretations were largely mono-cultural, honoring only the U.S. Army's perspective, with headstones marking where each fell.

The essential irony of the Battle of the Little Bighorn is that the victors lost their nomadic way of life after their victory. Unlike Custer's command, the fallen Lakota and Cheyenne warriors were removed by their families, and "buried" in the Native American tradition, in teepees or tree-scaffolds nearby in the Little Bighorn Valley. The story of the battle from the Native American perspective was largely told through the oral tradition.

Even so, today, no memorial honors the Native Americans who struggled to preserve and defend their homeland and traditional way of life. Their heroic sacrifice was never formally recognized - until now.

Here you can see the marker of Custer among the other fallen.

There was also a monument to recognize the Indians who fought and won this battle.

A panoramic of the Indian Memorial is below.

If you’re interested there is a WebCam at the battlefield; the address is below.

Little Bighorn Battlefield WebCams: http://www.nps.gov/libi/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm

From the battlefield we drove another 50 or so miles south into Wyoming to Ranchester where we found a very nice campground for the one night stay before heading out in the morning to see Devils Tower Monument south and east in Wyoming. See tomorrow’s post for the details.

Day 71 Friday, May 11, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Thu, 17 May 2007 13:08:00 +0000

North Yellowstone

Today, we broke camp at Lionshead RV Park in West Yellowstone and headed out to camp in the park itself at the Mammoth Hot Springs campground up by the North Entrance to Yellowstone. On the map below you can see the yellow route we took through the park to get to the North Yellowstone campground.

After some lunch we head out to see the Mammoth Hot Springs and the Northern road highlighted in Green on the map above.

There’s a really nice place provided by the National Park Service to take a virtual tour of the springs: http://www.nps.gov/yell/tours/mammoth/index.htm . It really gives a great description of the place and even has a live webcam at: www.nps.gov/yell/mammothcam.htm .

Here are a few of my pictures from our walk around and through the springs.

We saw a bunch more Elk along the route but NO MOOSE!! Where are the MOOSE??

As we drove on we noted that there were a lot of cars stopped and even a park ranger out on the road directing people to park completely off the road. What were they all looking at?? A mama Black Bear and her two cubs.

The little guys were playfully fighting in the picture to the right above.

We drove further and found another really great water fall.

Day 70, Thursday, May 10, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Thu, 17 May 2007 12:35:00 +0000

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

This morning we were up and out of our campground to see the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, waterfalls and, of course, more animals with our traveling partners, Emily and Andy. We still need to see a Moose!

We entered at the West Entrance on the picture above and traveled on a 30 mile route to take us to the canyon. Our first stop was to see another hot springs in the Monument Geyser Basin.

It’s a little hard to tell in the left picture above but the water was super clear and right below the main bubbling water the color was a beautiful aqua-marine color.

We were on our “Moose Watch” and came across a Grizzly Bear in the distance and were happy he was at a distance.

Next stop was at Gibbon Falls.

Last stop for the day was the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

The canyon had a magnificent waterfall in it where the water dropped more than 380 feet, a much larger drop than Niagara Falls!

We saw some more buffalo on our way back to the campsite but NO MOOSE!!

Day 69 Wednesday, May 9, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Thu, 17 May 2007 05:05:00 +0000

West Yellowstone to Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park

This morning we got up and checked with our camp host at Lionshead Campground to see if they would keep an eye on Lucy while we headed into the park. We had found out previously that National Parks are not pet friendly since they are concerned with pets possibly chasing wild animals.

We headed into the park and right off the start Emily spotted a Eagle sitting on its nest.

There were abundant Buffalo roaming around freely. Their gentle nature can be misleading as several tourists have been gored when they came too close to them. They weigh upward to 2000lb and can run 30 miles an hour (3 times faster than humans). OK got it! Do not get too close! We saw new babies less than a week old hanging out with mama.

We next came upon a few Elk grazing across the river.

Not far from the eagles nest we spotted something moving in the woods…. a gray/white wolf..awesome. I came eye to eye with a gray wolf (via binoculars). His eyes where gray blue and totally mesmerizing. I swear he looked right at me, it gave me chills. It just made our whole day.

Later on we came across a Grizzly, again via binocular. Before today I though of bear as rather large animals heavy on their feet swathing a things somewhat comical. I now have total respect for the animal, for all it size it moved deliberately and gracefully full of power and purpose. According to a Ranger, Grizzles used to be common in all 48 states, they are now relegated to mainly the western mountain states with numbers ranging in the 1200. Ask if it is the most dangerous animal in the park, he replied the most dangerous animal in this park has two legs and comes with 4 tires. Point taken…be mindful when driving in the park. Still no Moose sightings….

There were many visitors in the park from all over the US and even from Europe. As we drove through the park we would see cars stopped along side of the road and found that was always a good sign that some animal had been spotted. Not unlike rubber necking on 95, you have to pull over as well to be sure to get a look. While pulled over at a particular busy spot where the Grizzly had been sighted I passed our binoculars over to a German couple for them to get a better view of the Grizzly. At the next animal sighting stop when I saw the couple again I had to ask them where they were from; they were from Leipzig, but now living in Munich.

As we drove along we came across the first Geyser Fields and had to stop and walk the board walk to get a closer view of these things.

Moving on down the road we came up to the Old Faithful Geyser area. We went into the Visitors Center

and noted that they had actually posted the time they had predicted the next eruption of the Old Faithful Geyser; we had about 15 minutes to look around before taking our seats at Old Faithful to see the show. As predicted, the eruption took place within a couple minutes of their estimate. A really awesome sight to behold!

Day 68 Tuesday, May 8, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Sun, 13 May 2007 03:33:00 +0000

Victor, ID to West Yellowstone, Montana – 103 Miles

We regretfully had to leave the Grand Tetons behind and headed for West Yellowstone where we would stay for a visit to Yellowstone National Park. West Yellowstone is just outside the west entrance to the park and our campground, Lionshead RV Park was just 7 miles west of West Yellowstone.

Before we hit the road we prepared bacon, eggs, pancakes, strawberries and lots of coffee and sat down with our traveling partners, Andy and Emily, for a wonderful Cowboy style breakfast. On a very sunny and warm day we head out.. on the road again…

On this trip out West we have become very conscious of weather. We found it is very difficult to drive during windy conditions – thunderstorms and such. We’ve heard chances of thunderstorms are on their way on Wednesday so we decided we’d rather be in Yellowstone rather risking another drive in bad weather.

Being at this elevation, around 6000 feet, the air is dry; the sky is clear and the sun is very powerful. After getting sunburned a few times just wearing his OU ball-cap style hat we decided that Richard needed a new hat. That’s right we’re in Cowboy country now… and note the star…. Richard even got deputized(-:

Day 67 Monday, May 7, 2007 Late Morning and Afternoon

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Fri, 11 May 2007 05:00:00 +0000

After returning to the campground about 10:00 from my early morning photo shoot all four of us got in the car for a sight seeing trip to Jackson WY and on to see the Snake River (Evil Knivel jumped) and the Tetons.

Here’s our traveling companions, Andy and Emily.

We stopped many times along the way to marvel at the beauty of the landscape and took many pictures. We stopped at Jenny Lake, a mountain lake created by glaciers 200 feet deep and clear as glass.

Above, this is a photo of Jenny Lake and next one is of Jackson Lake.

We all wanted to see Eagles, Elk, Buffalo and Moose. We were fortunate to see all the animals including a baby Buffalo except a Moose although we traveled through Moose Junction(-: To be lucky enough to see a moose we decided we would all have to think Moose and one or more might appear. I think we may have been in the wilderness too long, what do you think? We also stopped and took pictures at the point were Ansel Adams took his famous pictures of the Grand Tetons, at the Snake River Overlook.

We had a very late lunch in Jackson at Bubba’s BBQ place – and he did do justice to the BBQ.

Upon returning to the campground we all had a long nap to recouperated from our exciting day. Later on we had a chance to talk to the folks that ran the campground. They were part of a workcamper program where they work 20 hours per week for a free campsite. This is usually a seasonal employment but there are year round work camp sites. Hmh…You get to stay for free in this beautiful place…..might be worth pursuing in the future.

Day 67 Monday, May 7, 2007 Early Morning

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Fri, 11 May 2007 04:38:00 +0000

Victor, ID to Grand Tetons, Wy – 45 Miles

This morning I took off from our campground at 5am to catch the sunrise on the Grand Tetons. I drove the 45 miles over the Teton Pass and through Jackson, Wy into the park and found the great spot mentioned in the Photographer’s Guide to Yellowstone & the Tetons, a book Helinka Papison loaned to me for this trip. The spot was off of Antelope Flats road down Mormon Row; there are several abandoned old barns there that make for good material when taking photos of the Teton Cathedral Group.

It was very cold out there this morning, high 20s I’m sure! The first photo above was take just before sunrise and the other one shows the sun just illuminating the barn and the Teton Cathedral Group.

Here is a panoramic photo made for 7 pictures took as I panned from right to left to get a complete picture of the Tetons.

At the barns another photographer told me about another great place for some photos. This was just down the road to a gravel road leading to Schwabacher Landing on the Snake River. I parked the car and walked down an old fisherman’s trail leading north along the banks of a small backwater of the Snake River. As I was walking the path the same photographer from the barns viewpoint showed up and took me along to show me some great viewpoints for photos.

Day 66 Monday, May 6, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Fri, 11 May 2007 02:45:00 +0000

Hill AFB, Utah to Victor, Idaho – 252 Miles

We’ve got ourselves a convoy. At the campground we met Emily and Andy Gleason from New Jersey – they are doing a three month trip as well and they are also on their way back to the East Coast. They had debated going to Yellowstone or not since they had heard there had been some snow up there. After talking with us they decided go ahead and join us to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. So, we got the CBs fired up and headed down to highway. The scenery again was breathtaking with rolling hills, meadows with horses and in the background tall snow capped mountains. We entered Idaho, the spuds state, with pleasing hills and fields prepared for the spring as far as the eye can see. The scent of wet overturned soil was in the air. We were definitely in Cowboy country. We made it up some pretty steep hills to our campground which was surrounded by mountains. Just what the doctor ordered. A point worth mentioning – some of the roads have had quite steep inclines and as you can imagine this coach is slower than molasses in January negotiating these steep hills. When ever possible we try to pull over to let the normal faster traffic go by…Idahoians were very appreciative of this jester of consideration; everyone of them honked their horns and waved as they passed by. I, a cynical 95 driver, did not recognize their appreciative honks at first, rather thinking they were upset with us; however, Sylvia set me straight; it’s good to get a different perspective.

Every campground has different amenities. This one provided WiFi, yeah! however, we were so far in the mountains there was no TV reception – no problem! We rely on our emergency radio for our weather forecast anyway.

Having Andy follow us was a good thing as he pointed out to us that our bikes hanging on the back of the RV were hanging too low on the ladder obscuring our right break light on the coach…not good. We took care of this right away moving the bikes up clearing the view of the break light.

Days 62 - 66 Wednesday, May 2 through Sunday, May 6, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Thu, 10 May 2007 13:57:00 +0000

Sylvia returned on Wednesday. As I mentioned in the last posting I kept myself busy while she was away by pulling some maintenance on the RV and the Honda. I washed and waxed the RV, Honda and even Lucy with a few naps here and there… The weather was warm during the day chilly at night.

Hill AFB has a great Gym which is located right across the street from the RV park. It appeared to be brand new. I knew Sylvia would love it when she returned and she did; especially since I had set her up for a massage for the afternoon she arrived back to the RV. The prices were just too good to be true, about a third less than in Virginia. We spent a lot of time this week going to the Gym utilizing their great exercise machines and taking advantage of the sauna and steam rooms. Sylvia even found her a Yoga class to go to!

We did drive down to Orem, Utah to visit our good friend from Germany, Gloria Gorden. Gloria was our traveling partner on our trip to Moscow and Leningrad while we were all stationed in Germany. Gloria and Sylvia also worked on a project together to collect clothing in Heidelberg, DCSENG for Rumanians after Romania opened up. Clothing was collected and shipped to Romania via a German Relief Society.

We had a great lunch while we caught up; we had last seen each other when Gloria visited us in VA several years ago. Later on we enjoyed dinner with her family Mike, Martine, and Matt (8) at a great Chinese place. Matt recommended his favorite, Teriyaki Chicken, a good choice Matt!. Martines’ parents joined us as they were in town from Manassas for Matt’s First Communion, talking about a small world to run into someone for Manassas while in Utah!

After we enjoyed a glass of wine – it was time to say goodbye but not before Sylvia and Gloria discussed a get together this summer in TN.

Saturday, we made a trip into Salt Lake City to look around a little. The weather was really cold, raining and downright ugly, so we really only found the best German Deli in Salt Lake and had a great lunch of Weiss Wursts, potato salad and a good German beer.

Later on the way out of town we drove by the Mormon Temple and also noted the they had European-like street cars in Salt Lake.

Day 59 - 61, Sunday, Apr 29 through Tuesday, May 1, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Wed, 09 May 2007 03:47:00 +0000

After about 2 months on the road I thought it was a good time to take some time and wash and wax the motorhome while waiting for Sylvia to return so we could continue our adventure. You really do not realize how big this RV is until you start waxing it; this was a full 2 day effort to complete the job especially since I did have to take some breaks for a nap or two.

I took only a few pictures during this work period but I did take a few that I’ll share. This is a panoramic photo of the area looking out from our campsite; not bad, huh?!

I did take off on Tuesday and took a drive up into the mountains in the photo above. Lucy and I took a hike into the snow and enjoyed the cool and clear mountain air.

On the way I ran across this small waterfall.

Day 56-58 Thursday, April 26, 2007 through Saturday, April 28, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Tue, 08 May 2007 05:45:00 +0000

Richard Travels from Travis AFB, California to Hill AFB, Salt Lake City UT– 714 Miles

I took off early out of Travis towards Salt Lake City. It was a pretty drive across CA past Truckie, CA by Lake Tahoe and on into Reno, NV. I stopped in Reno and overnighted in the parking lot of the Home Depot there. The manager was very accommodating.

After resting a little I unhooked the car and drove down town Reno to check out the Casino’s and to see how the Reno Strip differed from the one in Vegas.

I found the Reno Strip to be far less exciting as the one in Vegas but none the less it was neat to see. Went in and checked out the Circus Circus Casino, played the penny slots and broke even.

Up early and off across Nevada on Interstate 80 towards Utah. After a good long drive I stopped off in Elko, NV and overnighted in the Wal-Mart parking lot along with several other RVs en route to other destinations. Here’s a panoramic photo of some of the country I drove through.

Saturday morning I drove into Utah driving across the salt flats past the Bonneville Speed way. This is really the most desolate and barren part of the country I’ve ever seen. It is flat (but at an altitude of about 4100 feet) and barren as far as the eye can see!!

Here’s a photo that I took out my driver’s window where you can see the other lane going the opposite direction and you can see the utter flat desolation of the white salt flats.

I made it to Hill AFB shortly after noon on Saturday. Here’s a view of the mountains from the campground; what a view!!

Day 55 Wednesday, April 25, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Tue, 08 May 2007 05:14:00 +0000

Sylvia Flys Out of Oakland International to Washington

Got up really early this morning to make the hour drive into Oakland to take Sylvia to the airport for her flight back to Washington.

She arrived back in Virginia and said she was amazed at the size of our kitchen and bathroom at home after living in the RV for a couple months. She said she felt like a visitor and her short time at home did not allow her to get too excited about all the things we normally do in the spring to get the yard in shape. Linda and Romano took excellent care of the house and she said it was nice getting together with them to catch up. So with not enough time to worry about what we have to do once we return she just enjoyed visiting with friends and family. It was so good to see John and Christine again. The grandkids, Tanner and Sophia, must have grown at least an inch in the past 7 weeks. She loved getting caught up on all the going ons in their busy lives. The First Communion was very touching and we were so proud of our young man. Afterwards they celebrated at John and Christines’ house with family and friends. Family, friends, laughter and good food are ingredients for a great recipe for good memories of this special occasion.

While Sylvia was flying back to DC, I took the opportunity to visit the Jelly Belly Candy factory. It was really interesting taking the tour to see how the Jelly Belly Beans are made and to hear the history of the company.

The were Ronald Reagan’s favorite and official White House candy. This, in fact, is what did it to put this candy company on the map and made their sales sky rocket. Here’s a Jelly Belly Bean mosaic of Ronald Reagan.

Day 53 Monday, April 23, 2007 & Day 54 Tuesday, April 24, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Tue, 08 May 2007 04:55:00 +0000

Back to San Francisco

Today we headed back to San Francisco; we decided to try to drive into the city to give us some more options on seeing some outlying areas. On the way in we routed ourselves such that we could go to Sausalito, the town you see across the bay from San Francisco. We walked along the Bay and stopped for coffee at Caffe Trieste, taking in the sun and people watching.

Afterwards we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco. We drove into China Town, parked and found a nice little place for lunch. We walked around China Town and were able to visit a Fortune Cookie factory where we watched them make the cookies and add the fortunes. Fun!!

We then visited the Fisherman’s Wharf

and of course had to purchase some of the famous Sourdough Bread from the Factory. According to the poster they invented the sourdough soup-bowl.

We walked on down to the famous Pier 39 and were entertained by the Sea Lions as they made a lot of barking noise and playfully pushed each other in the water as they seemed to play “king of the hill”.

Got some good views of Alcatraz Island from Pier 39.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007 – Rest

Today we took it easy riding our bikes around the base and walking Lucy. With Sylvia leaving tomorrow to fly back to Woodbridge for Tanner’s first communion we took the opportunity to get her packed up for the trip.

Day 52 Sunday, April 22, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Tue, 08 May 2007 04:24:00 +0000

Napa Valley

Today we headed back to Napa Valley so Sylvia could do some serious wine tastings. We visited Hagafen Cellers on the Silverado Trail

and Clos Du Val with it’s lovely picnic grounds and flower garden, but kind of snooty

and the Hess Collection Winery.

After sampling Sylvia purchased one bottle of wine at each winery, as the RV is packed to gills. However, she took notes in order to purchase some of the other types of wines once we return to VA. Needless to say by the end of the wine tasting she was very “happy”. She decided she must return to Napa again and she thought this would be a perfect place for a “Ladies’ get away”. I wonder if they have a place like Napa Valley for beer and have Micro Brewery tastings????

Day 50 & 51 Friday, April 20, 2007 and Saturday, April 21, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 04:35:00 +0000

Friday…. a day of rest and maintenance

After the nice day yesterday in Napa Valley we took a day off to take care of some normal daily maintenance activities around “the house”. We also rested up and relaxed by biking around the base and taking Lucy for some long walks.

Saturday – San Francisco

Today was our first day to visit San Francisco. We could have driven; however, we decided to drive to Concord, CA (45 minutes) and take the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) metro into the city from there (50 minutes). Saturday was an overcast day with rain threatening in the afternoon; however, we were excited to see the city and the sites.

After getting off the BART we surfaced at Powell and Market Streets and purchased an all day passport on the city public transportation system that included the famous San Francisco Trolley. The turn around for the trolley was right there at Market and Powell so we watched as the trolley pulled in and was manually turned around on a “lazy susan” type device!

We hopped aboard with Sylvia sitting inside and with Richard standing on the outer step rail and holding on like the guy in the picture above. This was pretty exciting to be hang on with one hand and taking pictures as we rolled down the street with the other hand!

We road the cable car down to the Fisherman’s Wharf area and the walked directly to Ghirardelli Square, built in 1893 as Domingo Ghirardelli’s chocolate factory.

The factory was moved in the 60’s but still has a Ghirardelli cafe and candy store where we immediately ordered some fabulous hot chocolate and purchased some chocolates before leaving.

Now that we warmed up with the hot chocolate, we grabbed a bus and headed for the Golden Gate Bridge. We were determined to get our exercise and walk across the bridge (1 3/4 miles) hoping to catch a bus back across from the other side.

The bridge was quite something to behold! The bridge is named for the deep Golden Gate Strait (400 feet deep) that it spans. It was opened in May of 1937, is 1 3/4 miles long, the towers rise 746 feet; it was designed to withstand strong winds, able to swing up to 27 feet.

You get a really good view of the San Francisco skyline from the bridge.

Well we made it across the bridge and looked for the bus we hoped to take back but found that there was no such bus and so we hoofed it quickly back across as the sky began to open up with some sprinkling of rain. We were lucky in that it only sprinkled very lightly and so we really did not get wet; however, we were a bit concerned that we would; so, we made it back over the bridge quicker than we did going across the first time!!

We grabbed a quick bite to eat in at Mario’s Bohemian Cigar Store across the street from Washington Square Park in North Beach area. And then made a bee line to the bus to get back to the BART for the trip home.

A very nice day…. and healthy with that long walk across and back on the Golden Gate Bridge. Got to get back for at least one more day to see some more sites of San Francisco…

Day 49 Thursday, April 19, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 01:40:00 +0000

Napa Valley — here we come

After stopping by the Visitors Center at Napa Valley we headed out for our tour – driving through the valley reminded us of the Mosel River, the Rhein and of course vineyards in Italy. The houses with their red clay roofs just added another touch to this deja vu experience. Many little bed and breakfast along the way invite you to spend the night. Which is not a bad idea. We did learn that now most wineries charge for the tasting to deter college kids stopping in and getting a little wasted before heading to the next wine tasting down the road.

We stopped at Brix for lunch, I had an August Briggs Shiraz with the best burger ever. Sylvia enjoyed a duck sandwich with an a glass of Pinot Noir from the Acacia Winery. We plan on visiting this vineyard!! We drove on up the road and stopped in at the Robert Mondavi Winery where we looked around the beautiful grounds and gift shop.

We then drove on to the V. Sattui Winery that was built with stones imported from Europe. There you could enjoy various cheese and Italian lunch meats with crusty bread topped off with a bottle from their winery at picnic tables provided by the winery in their back yard. Since we just eaten we voted for a chocolate cheese cake with a latte instead. Definitely a place we would like to return.

We also stopped by the CIA, yes, you heard right…Culinary Institute of America which is housed at the former Christian Brothers Estate Winery.

Of course we had to look at all the gadget the cooks use their to whip up their fabulous meals. For a fee you can watch them prepare a dish and then sample it. Again … love to try this one as well.

We are planning on visiting several wineries in the coming days.