BACK ON THE ROAD….BACK TO OUR BLOG!

This is going to be a catch up blog...

After our rally's in Gillette WY and a couple of weeks in Rapid City, SD we headed to Minnesota.   I have a dear friend who moved there 20+ years ago, and although we don’t talk that often, I couldn't be so near and not make contact.  We had a very nice dinner and visit at their home and we thank Debbie and Bill for an enjoyable evening. 

  

Our plans were to spend a week in St. Paul, MN and a month in Wisconsin but Ron’s mother went into the hospital the end of July  and he thought it best to head back to St. Louis.  So on July 30^th we arrived at Lakeside 370 campground in St. Peters, MO.    

Ron’s mother had been going between a rehab facility and the hospital and is doing well at home in hospice.   Each day is a struggle for her but she seems to be happiest at home.

   

This visit didn’t result in as many social activities as usually, however, we did get in some visits and dinners with my sister and brother in law,  a few of Ron’s siblings, our annual Scott winery trip including nieces this year and an afternoon shopping with my sister in law.  Ron’s brother, sister in law and their son and granddaughter came in for a short visit.  Ron and Bob took in a Cardinal baseball game .  I didn't get to a game this time….boo hoo!  

My second cousins, Lou and Lorie, were in town from California  to visit his second cousin which gave us an opportunity to visit over two great meals…one at the Lemp Mansion (no, we didn't see any ghost) and Favazza’s on the hill.  

One evening we drove into Washington, MO about 45 minutes from St. Louis and where we lived for the first 3 years we were married.   Ron worked for the local newspaper and I did “miscellaneous”  jobs.  We took in dinner at the infamous Cowans Restaurant known for their mile high meringue pies and attended a concert of 3 Southern Gospel groups.  

Ron and I took an afternoon drive to Belleville, IL to visit the National Shrine of our Lady of the Snows.  Ron remembers taking a school field trip there, many, many, many years ago, but I didn’t remember ever going and it has been on my list for awhile.   It is owned and operated by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, a Catholic order of priest and brothers serving the poor in 60 countries.   There are 12 areas of observation spread over 200 acres.  These include The Lourdes Grotto, scaled to 2/3’s the size of the original Lourdes in France.   Here are some of the other devotional areas:

                                                                  The Lourdes Grotto.

                                                               Our Lady of Guadalupe Hill .

The Annunciation Garden, feature larger than life Angel Gabriel and Blessed Virgin mounted on stone wall.  Each hour is marked by the tolling of the Byzantine Bells in the reflection pool. 

Main Shrine and Amphitheater

Agony Garden with a large Carrara marble statue of a kneeling Jesus. 

St. Louis skyline leaving  the shrine.

They also have a nice café where we stopped for lunch before heading home.

St. Louis now has 2 outlet malls.   These malls were completed in August within 2 weeks of each other and 5 miles apart.    Not sure why they built 2 so close together, but apparently these developers go head to head in other states.

One is so-so, but the other is really nice, so both were on my list of things to do while in St. Louis.

While in town we celebrated our 40^th anniversary.   Ron booked a room at a hotel, we took in a movie at a real theatre (that wasn’t a Redbox) and we had a very nice dinner.  

There are only a few things I miss from our house.   We had a beautiful deck that looked out on a heavily treed lot, I miss gardening and my bathtub.

So when Ron booked the room, he reserved a suite with a whirlpool tub.   I think I took 3 baths in a 20 hour period, but found I lost my touch and this is what happened…..

We left St. Louis on October 4, spent one night at the Crown Winery in Humboldt, TN.   We are members of  a newly formed organization called Harvest Host, where you pay an annual fee of $40.00 and can stay at over 400 wineries/farms at no cost.   The employees where very accommodating, although our first contact couldn't give us very good directions…how do these people get to work?

                                           Our "free" spot at the Crown Winery, Humboldt, TN.

The  parking area was gravel and very level.   They allow the use of jacks and generator and there was plenty of room to extend our slides.    Of course their incentive is you buy their product, so after setting up we walked to the wine sampling lobby and purchased a couple of bottles for our reserve.

Left early the next morning taking US 45 all the way into Marion MS to spend a couple of nights at Benchmark Coach and RV campground.   It’s a small campground with only 27 spots, but level concrete pads.    However, do you see a problem …..

We kept a close watch on  tropical storm Karen because our next stop was Foley, AL about 10 miles north of Gulf Shores.   We arrived in Foley on October 8, pulled in, hooked up, put slides out,  mopped floors , put rug down etc...   and Ron received a text saying his mothers blood pressure dropped and he should head back.   SO the next day at 6:30 am, after pulling the slides in, unhooking and packing we hit the road by car arriving at her hospital room around 8:00 pm that night.   

In the meantime my sister also had to go into the hospital for about a week stay.  As it turned out I am glad we were already in St. Louis.   We stayed long enough for both of them to return home, then headed back to the coach.    Our return trip resulted in one over night....I just couldn't do another 12.5 hour drive.     We have been back for about a week and are just relaxing, enjoying the nice weather and rooting our Cardinals to a World Series victory.   

Hope all is well!

Rally #1 and Devils Tower National Monument

We arrived in Gillette, WY on June 17 after spending a few days in Cheyenne.  The highlight of our visit to the capital city was a day spent with our nephew Joe and his family - Shani, Lucy and Daniel.   They live in Montrose, CO but drove to Laramie, WY to visit friends that had moved there.   The day was spent at Vedauwoo, a popular rock climbing area within Medicine Bow - Routt National Forest.

Lots of wildlife in Vedauwoo.  We saw this moose while taking a walk. 

The FMCA  (Family Motor Coach Association) rally ran for 4 days and the agenda was jammed back to  back with seminars, exhibits, nightly entertainment, catching up with friends for dinner and meeting new friends.   This was our first FMCA rally and we really enjoyed it....already talking about attending the 2014 one in Georgia.
This is a huge rally with over 2,300 coaches in attendance and takes place at the Cam-Plex, a 1,100 acre facility with plenty of room to park and several buildings to hold all of the events.   We did experience a rather nasty hail storm at the end of the rally,  with horizontal winds that damaged the fins on our radiator.   Many were parked on grass/dirt and had a trying time getting out with a few getting stuck and having to be towed/pulled out.    Yes....we were one of the coaches that had to be pulled out.   But not because of our parking situation.  Because Ron walks with a cane we requested handicap parking.  That can mean many things to different groups, but in this particular case, we dry camped on asphalt and had easy access to the handicap trams.   How do you get stuck on asphalt, you ask?    Well you don't unless your (dumb, stupid, adventuresome) (you pick the word to insert here)  to drive the coach to use their dump station that is all dirt, grass, gravel and what we found..MUD.....   But the complex sent over a huge tractor, tied a rope around our tow hitch and with the coach in reverse very nicely, smoothly and quickly got us to drier ground.

We then relocated to a "real " campground with full hook ups and 30 amp electric for a couple of days between the two rallies we are attending at the same complex.

Catching up on daily chores and resting from the many seminars and activities we also took one day to explore the surrounding area.

In particular we drove about an hour northeast to Devils Tower National Monument.   Best known for its more than 150 routes of numerous climbs up to 500 feet peak ; it's formation to this day is still a mystery.  Some geologist consider the tower to be an intrusion of molten rock that pushed into surrounding sedimentary rocks before solidifying, while others call it a volcanic plug or remnant of a volcano's neck.   Although, they admit, there is really no evidence in the area that indicates any volcanic activity took place here.  So they have come to agree that it is a small intrusive body formed by magma which cooled underground and was later exposed by erosion.  Whatever.....it is still a very interesting monument to visit.

It is the first declared National Monument in the U.S. by President Roosevelt in 1906 and covers 1,347 acres.  It is a sacred site to the Lakota Sioux who often camp nearby where they perform ceremonies.  Prayer offerings are still left on the trail surrounding the base of the monument.

Out of respect for Native American beliefs, climbers are asked to not climb during June when religious ceremonies are held.   The is a voluntary request and although the numbers are less, some climbers still feel it is their right to climb whenever they want.    The fastest climb was 18 minutes in the 1980's but the typical climb takes 4-6 hours.   No we didn't climb but I did take the trail....which took me 75 minutes when the brochure said it would take 45 minutes.   I guess they didn't take my age, physical condition, photographic encounters and time to chit chat with a few people into consideration.

A geologic feature protruding out of the rolling prairie that surrounds the Black Hills

Climbers

Hundreds of parallel cracks make it one of the best climbing areas in North America. 

One of many prayer offerings.

Trail circling around the base of the tower.

Ponderosa Pines.   I got my hug in....did you know it  is suppose to be good luck if you hug a Ponderso Pine?
I think the people around me thought I was crazy, but I can use all of the good luck I can get and besides, they
smell like vanilla!

Panorama view from highest point on trail.

Ron in front of Tower.

There are lots of prairie dogs.

And lots of  wildflowers.

A sculpture - "Circle of Sacred Smoke" honors the American people as a gesture of world peace and is located near the monument.   It is designed to help raise visitor awareness of the importance of the tower to over twenty tribes.  This is the third of seven works planned by Japanese artist Junkyu  Muto   around the world, with  one located at Vatican City and the other in  Bodhi  India, where the Buddhist reach enlightenment. The sculpture represents the first puff of smoke from a newly lit pipe.  The Italian black granite base comes from the same Quarry as Michelangelo's marble.  It sits on two large  stones that  were transported from the Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills of neighboring South Dakota.

An adjoining picnic area where we stopped to have lunch lets you take in the beauty of this sculpture as you look over the prairie to the tower.

Hope all is well!

Are we a jinx?

What is with this weather.   We arrived in Colorado Springs, CO (my birth city) last Friday for what was to be a week of calm, quiet sightseeing and relaxation.  Instead we left 3 days early on  Tuesday night at 8 pm to outrun the Black Forest wildfires.  This area is so very dry and had record breaking high temperatures.   The campground  was at 100% capacity, but several families were arriving in their RV's hoping for a place to park since they were in the evacuation boundaries.  The picture below is taken from our coach window showing what the skies looked like around our campground.   We were only 15 miles from the fire and they were predicting a wind shift that would have brought it even closer.  I looked at Ron around 7 pm and he said "you want to leave don't you?"    We checked out at the office and told them to give our spot to those being displaced from their homes.   We spent the night in a Denver Walmart and left Wednesday for Cheyenne, WY which was our next stop anyway.    We did get to tour the United States Air Force Academy, Mesa Overlook and Manitou Springs.   We didn't get to the Royal Gorge (which is where a second fire is burning  out of control), Garden of the Gods, Seven Falls etc.   Guess we will have to go back another time.

The Air Force Academy was established in 1954 and moved to their present location in 1958.   It encompasses 18,500 acres at the foot of the Colorado Rockies.  Although the grounds are very impressive we spent most of our time touring the Chapel with 5 distinct areas for Jewish, Protestant, Buddha, Roman Catholic and "all other" worship. They have a nice museum and film highlighting the life of a cadet.

The Cadet Chapel, an all-faiths house of worship. is made of glass and steel and soars more than 150 feet with 17 spires.

  The Jewish synagogue's  foyer is paved with over 1,600 pieces of Jerusalem brownstone donated by the Israeli Defense Forces and the walls are made of purple stained glass panels.  A Torah scroll saved from the Nazis during WWII is displayed.   

Buddhist area of worship.

The Buddhist Chapel (Vast Refuge Dharma Hall) is 300 square-feet and is made of Port Orford Cedar, a rare, fragrant wood used for temple building in Japan.   The altar and alcove are also constructed of wood, American Cherry and Ash.   

Behind the altar of the Catholic chapel are abstract glass mosaic mural composed of varying shades of blue, turquoise, rose and gray tiles.    On each side of the altar are two 10 foot tall marble figures of the Blessed Mother and Archangel Gabriel.  

By far the largest area is the Protestant Chapel located on the upper level with a 99 foot high pinnacle ceiling .

The choir loft houses a classical pipe organ with 4,334 pipes.   The largest pipe is 32 feel high and the smallest is pencil size. 

The all faith room is void of any religious symbolism to make it acceptable to a variety of faiths. 

Taking a rest at the statue of Hubert Reilly Harmon, the Founder and first Superintendent of the Academy.

What's a visit to an Air Force Academy without a stop at the B-52 on display.

We attended Sunday Mass at Corpus Christi Catholic Church.   I was waiting for Ron to ask me why I didn't pick a closer church.   He is so easy going he never questioned it.   I chose this church because this is were I was baptized  ??@@!! years ago.

Baptismal font, although I doubt this is the original one.  

We are safe in Cheyenne, WY  hoping we didn't bring bad luck in the form of snow or a hurricane!

Hope all is well!

"if God is willing and the creek don't rise!"

Thanks to everyone who has inquired about our safety.  It does seem that we have been battling with Mother Nature for the last 2 months.

We spent about 5 weeks in St. Louis, doing the normal doctor appointments, visiting with family and friends.  We normally visit in August & September but had two reasons to move our time frame up several months.   One was a second cousin got married in May, so since we are mobile, we do try to make as many of these type of events that we can.   The second reason is we have yet to travel the northern states, so wanted to spend the months of August, September and October up north.  

The happy newlyweds.   I took a bad picture.....but cute couple!

 We arrived in STL on April 11 at the Lakeside 370 park.  This park is city owned with level, wide open sites.   Our plan was to spend our entire time  there.   Well....Mother Nature had a different idea.   The park is anchored between 2 levees in a flood plain.    (What campground is not in a flood plain, near a creek, air path and/or near RR tracks?)    To be safe the rangers knocked on our door one evening and told us we would have to evacuate before 4 pm the next day...just in case!    The city offered 2 nights at their rec-plex facility with  a large back parking lot to give everyone a chance to find another campground.   As most of the campers had Missouri plates, we suspect they just gave up, called it a night and went home, because we were the only one on the lot.   We then moved to a state park then on to a KOA to finished out our time in this area.  You know we had to be desperate to stay at a KOA!   But 4 moves in 5 weeks does not make for a peaceful time.

After leaving STL our goal was San Antonio, TX for 2 graduations.   One stop over was in Waco, TX at a beautiful core of engineer park on  Lake Waco.      That was the night the first tornado hit OK city, and although we did not encounter any tornado warning, the winds were hitting us sideways making it almost impossible to open our front door without it being torn off.  So we just sat tight and waited it out.   A second cell was approaching Waco predicting 70 mph winds and large hail, so we said a prayer  and within minutes the local meteorologist announced, "Waco has been spared", the cell has split and is travelling  north and south of town.    The power of prayer!!   Or maybe a birthday present for Ron!


The next morning broke  with cool, dry beautiful blue skies    Off we went to San Antonio.   We arrived at the San Antonio KOA, (yes another KOA, because of it's proximity to my nephews home) on May 17.


We were so glad we were able to participate in celebrating our great niece's (Ali) graduation from Incarnate Word High School and the next week our great nephew's (Jack) graduation from St. Lukes.   Both ceremonies were beautiful as were the after events.    I sure don't remember having an elaborate graduation from grade school.   On the other hand I don't remember ANY 8th grade ceremony.   Ron said at his school they handed him his report card and said have a nice summer.

Ali in line to receive her diploma.

Jack at Ali's graduation thinking about all of the things he would rather be doing.

Proud parents!

Jack receiving his diploma.

Proud family!

We had been planning to attend these graduations for months, but were still sorry we had to miss our niece Sarah's graduation from the Southern College of Optometry, Memphis , TN on May 19th.     After 4 years of very hard work she is now Dr. Sarah.   We are very proud of her too!

Congrats...Dr. Sarah!

Then the rains came.....9 inches in 3 hours, flooding many of the city streets and the back half of the campground.  The KOA is on a creek that exceeded its banks within 45 minutes, sending the campers and personnel scrambling to get everyone to higher ground.    Luckily we were parked on the high side and did not have to move.

Water gushing off the street into the creek.

The ground became so saturated so fast, it uprooted bbq pits and electrical boxes.  

This family barely made it with the help of their neighbors.   They just bought their camper a week before.


I have some great video, but can't figure out how to upload it...duh!!

Also, want to thank those who asked about our family in St. Louis after the EF 3 tornado went through last week.    All family and friends are safe with little to no property damage.    Is it just me or is the weather patterns getting more severe and frequent?   

We are now in Albuquerque, NM for a few days.   Our original plans were to spend several days in Santa Fe, NM, an area we have never been to before, but again Mother Nature stepped in and with the Pecos & Thompson canyon fires we did not want to be confined to indoors or to breath smoke all day long.   So Albuquerque it is....we will just drive through Santa Fe on our trek up north, and catch it another time.

Hope all is well!

Sick IN Red Bay...or sick OF Red Bay??

Both Ron and I have been fighting the crud for the last 10 days .  First me then I guess I gave it to Ron.   A lot of chest congestion, achy, coughing, sneezing ...you get the picture.   We finally broke our low grade fevers and feel a little better.

Our coach went in for repairs on Monday- April 01.    We arrived at the service bay at 6:45 am and were back at our site by 10:30 pm.    They were able to get all the repairs completed including the washing machine.    The last thing I felt like doing was laundry, but I had to test out the repair before we left, so that is what I did all morning.

We have one more service that was scheduled for sometime Thursday, but we never got a call.   We walked over to the scheduler and made an inquiry.   Not the friendliest guy on earth, but I guess he has to deal with a lot of people who really don't want to be here.  We were originally number 6 on the list and as of Thursday we were number 5....huh....they only got to one coach in 3 days and they are using 4 bays for this repair????

I'm not the brightest light bulb in the box but something doesn't add up here.  I was told that once they take the cap rails off of some of the coaches and see damage to the roof they have to make further repairs which can take up to 1.5 days longer.    Still doesn't make sense to me....if you have 4 bays and 4 coaches in each bay on Tuesday and even if all 4 needed more repairs that take 1.5 days all 4 should have been finished in  3days????

It's one of those situation that if you don't squeak you may not get serviced and if you squeak too loud they get pissed and may keep moving you to the bottom of the list.    I'll send Ron over next time....he is much more diplomatic....my Italian temper flares up.

On the bright side the delay gave us time to get over our illness, gave STL time to get rid of their snow and gave us time to complete more Find-A-Grave requests.  After we responded to the first Find-A-Grave request we have now received 8 more.    Apparently this area does not have a volunteer.

Today is St. Louis Baseball Cardinals opening day with ceremonies starting late morning for a 3:10 pm game.   I'm glad we don't have tickets...boy would I really be upset if we missed it.   Instead we will probably pull up our chairs and watch the game outside...the high today is 74 degrees, mostly sunny.

Go Cards!



Hope all is well!

You gotta love small towns!

What is there to do in Red Bay, AL (pop. 3177 ) after you have visited the Coon Dog Cemetery, Elvis' homestead in Tupelo, MS, walked the downtown area of Russellville & Florence AL and Belmont, Golden and Dennis MS and eaten at all 5 of their restaurants?    

Well we can always entertain ourselves geocaching but we have now found another activity.    We have signed up with Find-a Grave to be volunteer photographers.    If your are not familiar with this organization they put genealogy enthusiast in touch with volunteers in areas where they may have family buried.   As a volunteer photographer we receive a request via email with the name of the person and cemetery and go out and take a picture of the grave and headstone.    Sounds easy huh?   Sometimes it is but quite often we feel like Lewis and Clark.  

The hardest ones are private, family plots dating back to the 1800's.    They are usually set back off the road   without any signage.    You have to be a local to know where they are.    We got a request for one in Belmont, MS.     We got as close as we could using our GPS then stopped a gentleman working in his yard and asked him if he knew where Byram Family Cemetery was located.    He lived here his entire life and use to play as a boy in the cemetery.   Of course he couldn't give us directions  but got in his car and lead us to the spot.  We had to park on the road and go through a chained gate onto private property.   But since he knew the owner, he walked up, unchained it and in we went.   We never would have found it if it weren't for him....and only in a small, friendly town would someone stop what they were doing to help a stranger with a very strange request.

Most have not seen any upkeep for years and the headstones are turned over, faded or gone.

Below is the path leading to the grave sites.

Not only did Mr. Williams lead us to the spot, he helped in locating different headstones, turning them over and brushing them off.

We didn't find the one we were looking for, but will send pictures of the area to the person who made the request.

This is another interesting family plot  we visited while in Brunswick GA a couple of months ago.

This is the road leading to the cemetery in GA.   To find this "road" we had to go to the county administration building and get a map.   The lady there made it very clear that we were traveling this road at our own risk.   In other words..."don't sue us if something goes wrong"!

Ron wonders where I come up with these activities , but he is very good natured about it and always comes with me.


Hope all is well!