Our Favorite Stops August 19-September 9

Marysvale UT - we had a great time quadingwith Buddy (in the milk crate).

We were joined by Bill Wager and Larry Gilman from Reno who generously shared their quads with us.


























This video clip (press the play button) is Troy showing off - splashing through the Deer Creek trail.

Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park - We met John and Bev Whittaker here and spent several days exploring and photographing the mountains, lakes and bison, egrets, beaver, etc.

John helped me hammer out some nasty dents in my fancy slide out storage tray (that was one of my first dumb accidents of the trip).

Spearfish, SD - We stayed two nights in the nicest city park - and had a great time with Jon and Diana Reth. Jon biked in a race on Sunday and it was like old times seeing him do so well. He has bought a dental practice in town and has a gorgeous place to work and live.

Then we also were able to spend some time with Jon's parents, Fred and Cheryl Reth. We parked our RV on their very spacious hilltop ranch (of 60 acres) where they live (along with Betty and Art Garner who have retired there too.) It was fun seeing all four of them.

Mount Rushmore and Custer State Park and Crazy Horse Monument - Cheryl and Fred Reth took us on a whirlwind tour of all these sites in one day and we loved this whole area. We really had fun Jon and Diana is such a nice setting and enjoying their new life and his gorgeous new dental office.

If you look closely, you will see the actual (after 50 years of work and 80,000 tons of rock removed already) in the background (in stone) with the final appearance in the foreground




Bill, Jon and Haley (below) and Diana and little Freddy (right)

Sheridan Wyoming KOA - This was not our best overnight accomodation. It taught me I must have a voltage protection gadget for my power cord. On plugging in the power cord, something fried a number of electronic appliances in our RV including the microwave, fridge, satellite receiver, and most significantly, the 2000 watt inverter at the heart of our RV. I have ordered a replacement and we are learning to get by without all our gadgets. Luckily the refrigerator, could be rejuvenated with a new fuse. But this can't dampen our excitement and joy with the freedom of our trip. We are doing fine. (I maybe should have considered one of those maintenance policies, huh?)
Tal and Anita Steig and family - When we got to Iowa we got the impulse to look on the internet for the little boy for whom we named our youngest son, Tal. When we were in Iowa City in 1971 we lived next door to the Steigs and just loved their 7 year old blond-haired, blued-dyed boy, Tal. So Marie vowed to name any future son by that name. We found him on the internet and while we were camping at Le Mars, Iowa in a lovely city park, we called him and found he and his family live just 20 miles from where we were camping. So they drove over and met us for breakfast for a grand reunion. Nice family with 5 kids. (click to enlarge any picture)Iowa City, Iowa - We arrived at Iowa City on Friday September 5 and stayed until Monday in the driveway of Jan and Jerry Denehy. Since we had lived in Iowa City in 1970-1971 we have enjoyed coming back and seeing our old friends from there. (Troy was born here in January 1971) We had a great time visiting old haunts and also on Saturday drove to Dyersville and played some ball on "The Field of Dreams" where we enjoyed the reality of Kevin Costner's film. It is worth visiting. We left them on Monday September 8 for the next adventure. (a great microwave repair shop near the freeway got that appliance working again so we are making progress). We will be able to use the microwave when I replace the inverter at Carl's in Ohio. This Iowa Hawkeye Herky hat was what Jerry tried to talk me into - to demonstrate my true allegiance! Yea, Right!

September 9, Bill's birthday, was spent driving through Indiana and stopping at malls so Marie could enjoy Indiana while Bill updates the blog site (and pays bills by computer). This is a great trip and we both are loving the freedom of going and stopping anytime we want. We have been going between 200 and 250 miles per day and that makes it very relaxed. Thanks to many who called me today.

September 14 - We drove 225 miles to the Evangola State Park in New York (just south of Buffalo) and found a wonderful state park by Lake Erie. We liked it so much that we stayed here two nights before going on to Niagara Falls (34 miles north).