I have had several requests to post instructions on how to leave a comment and become a follower of our blog. Well...thanks to my sister-in law Terri, I now have the information to pass on to you.
To leave a comment: At the end of each of our posts, next to the time of the post is the word "comment". Click on this and a new box opens for you to type in your comments. Below your message it asks for you to select a profile. If you have one of the accounts listed click on it. If you don't have one of those accounts just click on anonymous. HOWEVER, if you sign in as anonymous you have to sign your message, otherwise we will not know who it came from.
The envelope next to the word "comment" is to send us an email instead of leaving a comment. Everyone can see your comment but not your email
To become a follower: On the right margin there is a white box that says "follow". Click on this box. If you have a google, twitter or yahoo account, click on the account and it will ask you to sign in. Follow instructions. If you don't have one of those accounts, you will have to create a new google account. Click on the link to create a new account and it will ask you some questions. It is free.
Hope we get a lot of comments and new followers!
Joan & Ron
Monday, October 25, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Odds and Ends
Prophetstown State Park has a Halloween contest in progress. They have several scarecrows that line a section of the road as you drive through the park. Our favorites are the witch and the realtor...of course.
Trail of Scarecrows
Witch titled "Office Manager". I guess they don't think much of
their manager around here?
Rhonda the realtor.
Bob and Terri took us on a short jaunt around Purdue University. We ate lunch at the historic Triple XXX featured on Food Networks "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" with Guy Fieri. It is the first and oldest drive-in restaurant in Indiana, opening in 1929. An Indiana icon featuring 100 percent unfrozen sirloin, ground on site hamburgers and root beer. Their specialty is The Duane Purvis All-American - A quarter pound hamburger with all the trimmings including thick creamy peanut butter.
No we didn't try it....not sure of peanut butter on a hamburger-but apparently lots of people like it.
We were able to spend an evening with our nephew Steve at our coach. It was the first time we were able to visit with just Steve and catch up on whats going on in his life. We had a great time.
We also had dinner at our nephew Andy and Victoria's house in Indianapolis. They bought a house in one of the historic districts in need of updating and did a fantastic job of refinishing wood floors, molding, doors etc as well as totally renovating the kitchen and master bedroom/bath. We were thrilled to be invited to see their home.
On our way to do some site seeing.
Hope all is well.
Trail of Scarecrows
Witch titled "Office Manager". I guess they don't think much of
their manager around here?
Rhonda the realtor.
Bob and Terri took us on a short jaunt around Purdue University. We ate lunch at the historic Triple XXX featured on Food Networks "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" with Guy Fieri. It is the first and oldest drive-in restaurant in Indiana, opening in 1929. An Indiana icon featuring 100 percent unfrozen sirloin, ground on site hamburgers and root beer. Their specialty is The Duane Purvis All-American - A quarter pound hamburger with all the trimmings including thick creamy peanut butter.
No we didn't try it....not sure of peanut butter on a hamburger-but apparently lots of people like it.
We were able to spend an evening with our nephew Steve at our coach. It was the first time we were able to visit with just Steve and catch up on whats going on in his life. We had a great time.
We also had dinner at our nephew Andy and Victoria's house in Indianapolis. They bought a house in one of the historic districts in need of updating and did a fantastic job of refinishing wood floors, molding, doors etc as well as totally renovating the kitchen and master bedroom/bath. We were thrilled to be invited to see their home.
On our way to do some site seeing.
Hope all is well.
BACK ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Well...we are back on the road again after our visit to St. Louis. We enjoyed our visits with family and friends...we got in all of our medical visits and tests and even did some tourist type site seeing like the Zoo, Arch Museum etc. We were even able to complete a geocache in Babler State Park that we attempted twice before we left on our adventure.
Our travels, after leaving St. Louis, took us to a small town in Illinois for a layover. Our Lafaytte site was booked for the weekend so we had to make an extra stop. Casey IL has barely 3000 residents. Attended Mass, had dinner at a fish fry at the local VFW and visited their infamous covered bridge.
We arrived in Lafayatte Indiana after 4pm on Sunday October 17th. Later than usual. We like getting in around 2-3PM, so we can be set up and relax before dinner.
We use several resources to get directions and all of them were different. Poor Ron...I had him driving in circles, on very, very narrow roads, sharp turns and one-way bridges. He did a great job!! That's why I will drive on the interstates, state & county roads, in/out of truck stops & rest areas, but leave the entering and exiting of campgrounds to Ron. I'm doing everything I can to turn his hair gray to match mine..but it's not working.
We are in Lafayette Indiana to visit Ron's brother Bob, sister-in-law Terri and his nephew & his wife- Andy & Victoria and nephew Steve and to meet Karen, his girlfriend.
We are staying at Prophetstown State Park. A beautiful site with full hook-ups (and after 16 days with no sewer or water..we were ready) The park was established in 2004 has over 2000 acres of natural preservation of the countless Native American villages and prairie grass. It is located where the Tippecanoe & Wabash rivers meet and was the first site where white frontiersmen began exploring this region. According to history the first frontiersmen were greeted by "a vast sea of tall grass stretching as far as your eyes could see". And that natural beauty still prevails to this day. A beautiful site for a park and campground.
Coach at Prophetstown State Park
Nice site with gravel pads, picnic table, firepit and bbq grill. Bordered by trees and bushes to add some privacy
Over 2000 acres of prairie grass.
Great, asphalted biking and hiking trails wind in and out of massive fields of prairie grass
We have a new rider with us-Yadi. While in St. Louis we visited Build-A-Bear at the Zoo and just had to get a little Yadier Molina stuffed bear to take with us on our travels. He rides on the bed and reminds us of home.
It's very chilly here...dropping into the low to mid 30's at night. Even have to bring our water hose in at night....looking forward to 80's in sunny Florida.
Hope all is well.
Our travels, after leaving St. Louis, took us to a small town in Illinois for a layover. Our Lafaytte site was booked for the weekend so we had to make an extra stop. Casey IL has barely 3000 residents. Attended Mass, had dinner at a fish fry at the local VFW and visited their infamous covered bridge.
We arrived in Lafayatte Indiana after 4pm on Sunday October 17th. Later than usual. We like getting in around 2-3PM, so we can be set up and relax before dinner.
We use several resources to get directions and all of them were different. Poor Ron...I had him driving in circles, on very, very narrow roads, sharp turns and one-way bridges. He did a great job!! That's why I will drive on the interstates, state & county roads, in/out of truck stops & rest areas, but leave the entering and exiting of campgrounds to Ron. I'm doing everything I can to turn his hair gray to match mine..but it's not working.
We are in Lafayette Indiana to visit Ron's brother Bob, sister-in-law Terri and his nephew & his wife- Andy & Victoria and nephew Steve and to meet Karen, his girlfriend.
We are staying at Prophetstown State Park. A beautiful site with full hook-ups (and after 16 days with no sewer or water..we were ready) The park was established in 2004 has over 2000 acres of natural preservation of the countless Native American villages and prairie grass. It is located where the Tippecanoe & Wabash rivers meet and was the first site where white frontiersmen began exploring this region. According to history the first frontiersmen were greeted by "a vast sea of tall grass stretching as far as your eyes could see". And that natural beauty still prevails to this day. A beautiful site for a park and campground.
Coach at Prophetstown State Park
Nice site with gravel pads, picnic table, firepit and bbq grill. Bordered by trees and bushes to add some privacy
Over 2000 acres of prairie grass.
Great, asphalted biking and hiking trails wind in and out of massive fields of prairie grass
We have a new rider with us-Yadi. While in St. Louis we visited Build-A-Bear at the Zoo and just had to get a little Yadier Molina stuffed bear to take with us on our travels. He rides on the bed and reminds us of home.
It's very chilly here...dropping into the low to mid 30's at night. Even have to bring our water hose in at night....looking forward to 80's in sunny Florida.
Hope all is well.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Finally back home!
After a brief stop in Central City, Colorado – the town with 6 casinos for every 20 residents, we made a few other short stops then arrived in Missouri. We spent a week in Platte City just outside of Kansas City. We know we are back in the Midwest when you get a free sauna every time you step outside. But it’s good to see trees & grass again.
Kansas is a pretty boring drive but we were glad to see flat lands again. We figured out how to reduce our normal 10 mph gas consumption to 4.5 mph – with the steep grade mountain driving in Colorado.
We played tourist in Kansas City, MO….visiting the Harley Davidson plant (Rons’ choice), Hallmark Center, Crown Center, Country Club Plaza, Union Station, Jazz Museum, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Federal Reserve Money Museum and the World War I Museum.
We also spent one day in Independence visiting Harry S. Truman home and library/museum, and another day in St. Joseph touring the Pony Express Museum. We’re museum’ed out!!
We are now in St. Louis and glad to be back to visit family & friends!
Hope all is well
Kansas is a pretty boring drive but we were glad to see flat lands again. We figured out how to reduce our normal 10 mph gas consumption to 4.5 mph – with the steep grade mountain driving in Colorado.
We played tourist in Kansas City, MO….visiting the Harley Davidson plant (Rons’ choice), Hallmark Center, Crown Center, Country Club Plaza, Union Station, Jazz Museum, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Federal Reserve Money Museum and the World War I Museum.
We also spent one day in Independence visiting Harry S. Truman home and library/museum, and another day in St. Joseph touring the Pony Express Museum. We’re museum’ed out!!
We are now in St. Louis and glad to be back to visit family & friends!
Hope all is well
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Rifle Gap State Park
Well...we are working our way back to St. Louis. Looking forward to seeing family and friends....it seems like we have been gone longer than 10 months. After leaving Montrose, our first stop was about 160 miles where we
stayed 3 nights at Rifle Gap State Park in Rifle, Colorado. This was only our 2nd time staying at a park rather than a commercial campground. The park surrounds a 350 acre reservoir and spectacular mountain vistas. Somewhat isolated, we were without cell coverage, satellite, cable or Internet. We were able to find a Redbox for a few movies. The area is beautiful so we spent our time touring the many state and city parks in the area. Also were able to get in 9 holes of golf at the Rifle Creek Golf Course. This is the first time we have played since Ron's knee started bothering him. It was fun to get out again.
Our view from one side of the coach....so quiet and peaceful.
View from the other side of the coach.
Beautiful sunsets. Without all of the distractions of TV, internet etc we found we actually enjoyed the natural beauty around us even more.
I know St. Louis has some awesome sunsets too...but never had or took the time to enjoy them.
Hope all is well!
Joan & Ron
stayed 3 nights at Rifle Gap State Park in Rifle, Colorado. This was only our 2nd time staying at a park rather than a commercial campground. The park surrounds a 350 acre reservoir and spectacular mountain vistas. Somewhat isolated, we were without cell coverage, satellite, cable or Internet. We were able to find a Redbox for a few movies. The area is beautiful so we spent our time touring the many state and city parks in the area. Also were able to get in 9 holes of golf at the Rifle Creek Golf Course. This is the first time we have played since Ron's knee started bothering him. It was fun to get out again.
Our view from one side of the coach....so quiet and peaceful.
View from the other side of the coach.
Beautiful sunsets. Without all of the distractions of TV, internet etc we found we actually enjoyed the natural beauty around us even more.
I know St. Louis has some awesome sunsets too...but never had or took the time to enjoy them.
Hope all is well!
Joan & Ron
We really enjoyed our long stay in Montrose Colorado. We spent a day at the Blue Mesa Reservoir with our nephew and his family and also enjoyed the 4th together with a parade, BBQ and fireworks. One of our best days was a full day with just Lucy and Daniel. We ate breakfast at McDonalds (Daniels choice) and Denny's (Lucy's choice)...yes...we drove through McDonalds and took Daniels happy meal into Denny's. I'm sure that wasn't the first time they have seen that happen. We swam at the RV park pool, BBQ'd hotdogs for lunch, watched 2 movies & swam again. They are really fun to be with.
Telluride,Ouray, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Ute Museum, Box Canyon, Daniels birthday party, dinners at Joe & Shani's, dinners out, geocaching, watching Daniels' baseball practices and 3 games, wineries & visitng kept us pretty busy!!
Tram between Telluride & Mountain Village.
View from tram. Up there pretty high...
Ron's acrophobia didn't like this too much!
Blue Mesa Reservoir
Box Canyon. The walk takes you into the canyon..the rushing water is deafening.
Daniel enjoying his 7th birthday party.
Lucy at the pool.
Daniel playing 3rd base...waiting to make the big out.
Cool hat...wears the bill always facing the sun.
Lucy noodling in the sun.
Ron with his geocache find
Telluride,Ouray, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Ute Museum, Box Canyon, Daniels birthday party, dinners at Joe & Shani's, dinners out, geocaching, watching Daniels' baseball practices and 3 games, wineries & visitng kept us pretty busy!!
Tram between Telluride & Mountain Village.
View from tram. Up there pretty high...
Ron's acrophobia didn't like this too much!
Blue Mesa Reservoir
Box Canyon. The walk takes you into the canyon..the rushing water is deafening.
Daniel enjoying his 7th birthday party.
Lucy at the pool.
Daniel playing 3rd base...waiting to make the big out.
Cool hat...wears the bill always facing the sun.
Lucy noodling in the sun.
Ron with his geocache find
Monday, June 14, 2010
Colorado Geocaching...
Even though Ron is walking with a cane and knee brace, we ventured out on our first geocaching adventure in Colorado. (For those of you who are saying "What in the heck is geocaching....go to the end of this post for an explanation.) We tried to find 4 of them but was only successful on the 2 earthcaches. The earthcaches took us to south rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Even though we have visited numerous, magnificent canyons over the past month, this smaller canyon holds its' own charm. The 2 overviews we visited to obtain the answer to the geocaching questions had the Gunnison River running through the middle....I'm always in awe of the size, depth and rush of the river. We will visit again in the next couple of weeks to take the entire 12 mile tour through the canyon.
Drive into Black Canyon of Gunnison...the clouds were threatening but we only
encountered a short drizzle.
The Gunnison River looks so small from this viewpoint even though the river bed descends an average of 95 feet per mile throughout the 48 miles of the canyon. At the steepest point the river descends 480 feet in one 2 mile stretch.
Another view of the Canyon.
We even saw some "wildlife".....
Cute, little chipmunks scampering all around.
Eagle circling overhead....probably looking for dinner - the cute, little chipmunks.
The other two caches were geocaches and we were not successful in finding either one. The most interesting of the two was a walking tour of downtown Montrose. The city has placed numerous placards on the sidewalks noting the history of the town and its buildings. There were 8 questions that you had to find the answers to on the placards. Once you found the answers you added the numbers and applied to a formula to find the missing links in the coordinates for the final find. We found all the answers but were not able to find the final cache....so we either missed on one of the answers or in our calculation. Finding the cache is fun but the best part of geocaching is the places it takes you and the sights you would not normally see..or take the time to see. It took us on a nice stroll of downtown. We won't give up....will try it again another day!
Hope all is well.
Joan & Ron
P.S. Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with handheld GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Caches like the tour of downtown Montrose are called a "mystery or puzzle" cache.
An EarthCache is a special place that people can visit to learn about a unique feature or aspect of our Earth. EarthCaches include a set of educational notes and the details about where to find the location (latitude and longitude). Visitors to EarthCaches can see how our planet has been shaped by geological processes, how we manage the resources and how scientists gather evidence to learn about the Earth.
To learn more about geocaching visit - www.geocaching.com
Drive into Black Canyon of Gunnison...the clouds were threatening but we only
encountered a short drizzle.
The Gunnison River looks so small from this viewpoint even though the river bed descends an average of 95 feet per mile throughout the 48 miles of the canyon. At the steepest point the river descends 480 feet in one 2 mile stretch.
Another view of the Canyon.
We even saw some "wildlife".....
Cute, little chipmunks scampering all around.
Eagle circling overhead....probably looking for dinner - the cute, little chipmunks.
The other two caches were geocaches and we were not successful in finding either one. The most interesting of the two was a walking tour of downtown Montrose. The city has placed numerous placards on the sidewalks noting the history of the town and its buildings. There were 8 questions that you had to find the answers to on the placards. Once you found the answers you added the numbers and applied to a formula to find the missing links in the coordinates for the final find. We found all the answers but were not able to find the final cache....so we either missed on one of the answers or in our calculation. Finding the cache is fun but the best part of geocaching is the places it takes you and the sights you would not normally see..or take the time to see. It took us on a nice stroll of downtown. We won't give up....will try it again another day!
Hope all is well.
Joan & Ron
P.S. Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with handheld GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Caches like the tour of downtown Montrose are called a "mystery or puzzle" cache.
An EarthCache is a special place that people can visit to learn about a unique feature or aspect of our Earth. EarthCaches include a set of educational notes and the details about where to find the location (latitude and longitude). Visitors to EarthCaches can see how our planet has been shaped by geological processes, how we manage the resources and how scientists gather evidence to learn about the Earth.
To learn more about geocaching visit - www.geocaching.com
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