2017 to Fort Wayne

            White City is a small industrial town located 5 miles north of Medford. The town is the home of the WWII Army training post, Camp White. The many barracks of old Camp White are still used to capacity. They are not for active duty soldiers; however, Camp White is now a VA service center. Its main medical duties center on veteran drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

            White City is also where the western end of US140 tees into Hwy 62. This is important because US140 will take us to its intersection in the east with US 95. At that point it ends, or if you are a proud native of Nevada, this is where US 140 begins. Thirty one miles south on US95 is the city of Winnemucca. This is where we will make our first RV camp on the seven day journey to Fort Wayne, Indiana.

            Anne and I have two grandsons graduating high school this year. Liam, Chris and Jennifer’s oldest, graduated early from St. Mary’s, in Medford. Matt and Anne’s oldest son, Solomon, graduates on June 3^rd from Homestead High School. We should arrive in Fort Wayne a few days before the big day.

            Today is Sunday, May 21, 2017. We pulled away from the house around 10am. The propane burner for the Norcold refrigerator refused to stay lighted. Chris donated his time and experience to get us going. The flame box was cleaned and all looked good. One practiced approach for this problem is to just keep trying to ignite the burner. Over a season on non-use the flue drops dust and rusty chips onto the flame sensor. As we drove, more crud dropped. A technique is to use a straw to blow the flame detector clear of new debris. Oh. My kingdom for a straw.

            Excluding Klamath Falls, which Hwy 140 skirts, the two lane road wanders through some pretty lonely, boarded-up places; especially given today is Sunday. Bly seemed to be an exception. This town had a couple of businesses open. I glided the RV to a stop in front of the Bly Mercantile. Anne entered the store to buy a diet coke, with extra straws.

            With a straw in hand I opened the refrigerator access hatch. The flame box was now exposed. I blew vigorously into the chamber. Anne pushed the on button and the flame box immediately lit up. Now, will it stay lit? Yea! Success.

            This will be our longest travel day. The windy road and mountain passes dropped our average speed to around 40mph. We refilled the tank in Lakeview. There would be no fuel opportunities between Lakeview and Winnemucca.

            Traffic was light and the mountain scenery was springtime gorgeous. Roadside streams were carrying the year’s greatest volume. Sadly, the mountain beauty ended and we got dumped into eye numbing Eastern Oregon high desert sage and juniper busy boredom.

It was a little past 7pm when we pulled into the Model T Casino & RV Park. This was not an elegant park, but it would serve our weary souls for one night. After setting up, we walked to the casino restaurant. Anne supped on a chicken salad and I lavished a Model t Breakfast treat – 2 eggs, hash browns, 2 snags and some whole wheat toast. After dinner Anne tested the payout spirit of the casino’s machines. We retired, disappointed, to our RV for the night.

            I noticed the bedroom shades were showing light from outside. I got up to see what time it was. I really wasn’t still sleepy. The clock in the kitchen said 0500 hrs. Too early, but I was up. I fixed tea and got on Google Maps to see where our next night could be. I didn’t feel like a real long second day. I had planned on driving to Salt Lake City. But Salt Lake was a bit too far away.

            Right on the Nevada/Utah border is Wendover. The Nevada city of West Wendover is Nevada’s last I-80E stop for casinos. The drive to Wendover would be about 3.5 hours, vs another 3 if we were to go on to Salt Lake. Wendover Nugget Casino and Hotel here we come.

            The RV’s radio push on/off button has stopped working. We used the radio to broadcast audio books stored on the IPhone. We stopped at the Winnemucca Walmart of the way out of town. There we picked up a Bluetooth speaker, with amplifier. This would allow Harry Bosch to visit with us while we motored to Wendover.

            The Nugget Casino has a small, first come first served RV lot. They offer back-ins only, and full service hookups. The water tap has a fractured head and it wets the site if turned on. Anne presented the water problem when she signed us in at the casino.

             

I made three calls over the afternoon about the water tap. The first two calls brought “Someone will be right out” responses. The last call reported that maintenance didn’t have the part needed. I let it go.

            Anne beat me severely in a game of pinochle played before dinner. She prepared a very nice cordon bleu. Afterwards we visited Montego Bay Casino. Anne played some machines and I watched the craps table. We later drove the length of Wendover Blvd. It was kind of like being on a Las Vegas strip. This high desert city still had plenty of room to grow. The road we drove to the Nugget’s RV lot is actually the Nevada/Utah state line. With a city like West Wendover the Mormons next door don’t need to build any casinos.

            It’s Tuesday already. The extra day of short driving was good value. Today we are going to drive to the east of Salt Lake City to a town called Wanship. Near Wanship is Rockport State Park.

            We drove past Wanship around noon. What the heck. Let’s drive on a while longer. At 3:30 pm we drove into the KOA campground at Rock Springs, Wyoming. The RV Park is graveled and still 
under construction. Connie is the park manager. She shared that her mother lives in Medford, near North Medford HS. She was very happy to have us visit.

            I had granola and green tea for breakfast. Anne chose a yogurt. We were on the road by 0900 hrs. Lots of rolling hills, some grazing land, but mostly high altitude desolation. We never drove at less than 5,000 feet and we climbed as high as 7,600 feet. The southern barrens beside the freeway were laced with long, high snow walls. There was a massive amount of timber used in building these barriers. Speaking of timber, since we crossed into Wyoming we have seen but a handful of small trees. Hmm. Maybe the snow barriers are the reason.

            Our driving goal today was Kimball, Nebraska. There was no reason, except that it was beyond Wyoming. The rest stops on I-80 are few and far apart. To maintain bipedal functionality I stopped at each one.

            Cheyenne presented several highway intersection options along I-80. That chaos was compounded with freeway lane maintenance. Whew. That’s behind us.

            We pulled off the freeway for fuel at a station east of Laramie. We were jazzed with the diesel sign which read $2.27/gallon. This Exxon station had several truck pump lanes. We drove to the rear to line up. Each lane was packed two to three deep with trucks. We pulled behind a rig to wait our turn. After a few minutes, the driver of the truck in front of us came to my window to tell us the diesel pumps were all dry. There would be a 15 minute wait until they were on-line again. We were stuck. There was no backing up with the Honda attached. Besides, we weren’t going to find fuel this inexpensive anywhere else. So we waited. That was a good break.

Have you noticed that the majority of service stops along freeways are located at highway intersections? This usually means there is an underpass below the freeway. That is good. But it also means that you have to drive down to get the service, and consequently you must drive uphill to get back onto the freeway. Coming to freeway merge speed in a car is pretty easy. Doing it in a 40 foot long bus, with a towed SUV is not easy. That part is not good.

We were forty some miles from Kimball when we began to ponder closer RV park options. Pine Bluffs, Wyoming was a few miles ahead; and it featured a $20/night stay. Let’s do it.

Exit 401 brought us into Pine Bluffs. The GPS brought us to in front of City Hall on Main Street. The GPS said this was the location of Pine Bluffs’ RV Park. It turns out that City Hall is where you log in and pay for your stay.

We were near the Post Office.  Anne went inside to ask for the physical location of the RV Park. Inside she bumped into the lady who manages the park. Anne received some vague instructions and we drove in search. The woman’s instructions didn’t lead to the park. I saw a man weed-whacking his curb-side lawn and I pulled over to ask him directions. These instructions took us to the park.

The lady from the Post Office greeted us at the park entrance. She asked us to follow her on her bicycle and she would lead us to our spot. There were some 5^th wheel rigs parked off in the tall grass. The manager biked into the field and led us around to our spot.

We were introduced to the hookups and she was off. I didn’t get a chance to suggest that it was time to mow and bale the RV Park. The manager had explained that the park had once been city owned and it had been deeded to the school district. When school got out for the summer kids would maintain the park. She also explained that since the city once owned the park, they offered to continue to manage it from City Hall. It must be the type of water tap used in these parks. This one leaks, too.

Thursday night in Kearney, Nebraska, and you guessed it, the Kearney RV Park & Campground. This is a very nice park. It is sited on the shore of the North Channel of the Platte River.

Established originally as Fort Kearney, the city is situated at the point where early settlers from the east coast chose which route they would travel from here to the west. There were three primary trails: the Oregon Trail, the California trail, and the Mormon trail. The trail that had been established from the east to Kearney is today the route of the Lincoln Highway, or US30.

One of the most interesting visitor’s sights in Kearney is the Archway. The main visual feature of the Archway is that it is a bridge that spans I-80. The Archway is the only commercial venture of its kind in the world.

On the outside of the Archway is a beautiful park land featuring aspects of early American history. Inside the spruce log structure at the base of the Archway you enter a museum. The museum tracks the earliest westward migration of 19^th century Americans.

As you listen to audio through headphones you stroll past wonderful life-size memorabilia and depictions of early migration life. You are walking from early years

toward modern times. You experience conflicts with the Indians. You become a participant in the California gold rush. You ride the stage coach from Washington D.C. to Sacramento. You experience the transition from stage coach to the transcontinental railroad. Pretty soon you are in the early 20^th century. Automobiles are traveling the newly established Lincoln Highway. The Eisenhower years bring us onto the interstate highway system. Past malt shops and drive-in restaurants we find ourselves standing in front of the last exhibit in this museum of travel. In front of a large window we are looking down on the I-80 freeway. Cars, trucks and RVs are zooming toward us and then pass beneath. The shelf on the window holds a radar speed

gun and it displays how fast each vehicle passes.

This museum has taken us from the tribulations of travel in the early 1800’s to the interstate highway convenience of today. The visit has been a very fun way to spend an afternoon in Nebraska.

Now. There is more celebration to come. Upon leaving the Archway, we found the route to the Kearney Walmart. At this market these travelers stocked up on grits for the next few days of migration eastward.

Friday took us into Iowa. The freeway led us to a rest stop near Adair. Adair is not a city of note except it hosts the site of the first westbound railroad holdup. We learned that Des Moines is the birth city of the Duke, John Wayne. Des Moines is also where one can find the Bridges of Madison County.

We traveled to the West Des Moines KOA Campground. We were met on our entrance to the KOA by a gate keeper with a clip board. When he discovered that our name appeared nowhere on his list, we were shown how we could turn around for our exit. This is Memorial Weekend and they are booked tight. We are further advised that they are booked full for the August solar eclipse. I pulled to the side of the road when outside of the campground. We needed to do some quick RV park research for this evening’s stay.

Within a few phone calls Anne had us booked in at the Amana RV Park & Event Center. This park is part of the seven village facilities know as Amana Colonies. The Colonies are located 131 miles beyond Des Moines, east on I-80. The RV Park lies about seven miles north of the interstate on IA-151.

Two and a half more hours of driving and the GPS leads us to the park. Upon leaving the interstate we are driving on cement slab highway. The regular stress cracks created an unceasing undulation of the RV’s suspension. This pulled the speed down to under 45mph. We arrived at a busy time at the park’s check-in counter. There are several rigs in front of us. We checked in for two night’s stay. We followed a golf cart guide to our site. Whoa. We’ve never seen such long pull through parking spots. Each site is over 150 feet long. What was at one time a very large open flat pasture has been platted into a record breaking large RV Park.

The Amana Colonies are a group of settlements of German Pietists, who in the 17^th century fled their homeland and settled outside of Buffalo, New York. They called themselves the Ebenezer Society or the Community of True Inspiration. In order to live out their beliefs in more isolated surroundings and more open farm land they moved west to east-central Iowa. They purchased over 20 thousand acres of rich land holding the timber, stone and soil they would need to establish their new homes.

They moved to Iowa in 1855. From then until the mid-1930’s they lived a communal life. For eighty years they maintained an almost completely self-sufficient local economy, importing very little from the wider, industrializing U.S. economy. They adhered to the specialized handcrafts and farming occupations which they had brought with them from Germany.

Today, Amana is a major tourist attraction known mainly for its restaurants and craft shops. Included in the shops are woodworking shops, wine shops, metal shops, and the Millstream brewery. The colonies as a whole are listed as a National Historic Landmark.

Saturday morning we drove to Amana, parked and visited several of the historic sites. We toured the Amana Woolen Mill and we visited Amana Meat. Anne had a look at Heritage Designs Quilting & Needlework while I checked out Lehm Books & Gifts. Ready for a sit down break we stopped at the Millstream Brewery and enjoyed a pint of fine German ale along with lunch. Anne ate a chicken schnitzel on a pretzel roll and I had a bratwurst with sauerkraut and German potato salad. Now, it is time for a nap.

We spent an extra day in Amana and we were able to get a feel for the unique history of these early German settlers. Today we are bound for Joliet, Illinois. We have reserved a spot at the Hollywood Casino & Hotel. Arrival is expected in the early afternoon.

The RV has a Freightliner truck chassis. That means that everything underneath the coach is natively non-RV, or non-Itasca built. Before we left Medford I had taken the RV to the Freightliner service center to have a lube, oil change, and look over. The rig came back with only one gig – that was for cracked control rod rubber covers. They were full of grease and the center did not feel they needed to be replaced before our trip. I was glad for that. It is probably just a coincidence, but I began to notice that the RV dipped slightly on the front passenger’s side. The bus has airbag suspension and I figured one had released a little more than the other on the front.

We pulled into a rest stop that was about 80 miles west of Joliet. The name of the stop was the Great Sauk Trail Rest Stop. Anne made a small lunch and we walked around. I noticed the right front was dipping quite pronounced. Starting the engine pumps the air bags up in a couple of minutes. With full air pressure the right still sagged. I measured the height of both sides and there was a one inch difference. Well, this is something I could have checked out by Freightliner in Ft. Wayne. We began to drive away. Whoa. Something was afoul.

A couple of winters ago we were returning from a trip to the SW. We had overnighted in Susanville. CA. driving from the campsite we noticed that the bus was bouncing madly, like some giant was standing on the front bumper causing the coach to bob up and down. I pulled over and went over the gauges. The front air pressure was not pumped up. The coach effectively had no shock absorbers and it was riding on the springs alone. I restarted the engine, let the air pressure build up, verified that both the front and the back were in normal range, and we drove off. The RV rode perfectly.

We were feeling the same bobbing sensation driving out of the rest stop that we had experience in Susanville. This time I knew, however, to check the pressure gauges. The front and back gauges both read fine. I called Good Sam Roadside Assistance and they were going to dispatch a mobile service unit to investigate. While we awaited a return call from the service technician we unhooked the Honda. I then did a U-turn on the rest stop exit and returned to the parking pad area.

I noticed when returning to the parking pad that the bobbing seemed to have stopped. The parking area, and the entry and exit lanes were all concrete and they were very rough to ride over. I told Anne I was going to drive another loop around the truck bays and see if the bobbing had indeed stopped. It had. I left the engine on so the air bags wouldn’t try to empty and we reconnected the Honda. We were off.

Hollywood Casino & Hotel is located at 777 Hollywood Blvd, in Joliet. I take Exit 127 off I-80 and then I listen to the GPS. In a couple of minutes we were driving on a lushly maintained corridor which leads to the Hotel where we are to check in. I stayed in the bus and kept the motor running while Anne got us checked in. We were assigned to spot #1, right near the restroom building. That was ok.

Tomorrow we would be in Ft Wayne. Anne has made a couple of references to my need for a haircut. Her thought was that she cut my hair, then I use the nearby shower, and then we drive to the casino. I wasn’t going to be able to avoid it. I opened a tinny and got set up. RV haircuts have happened before. We carry a shaver in the bathroom cupboard. This was a very nice afternoon to be outside. The grass is lush and the birds are singing.

Hollywood Casino is built on sloping property. Soon after walking into the large entrance hall, which is festooned with floor to ceiling photographs of film-land legends, we are on an escalator going down to the second level. This level is filled with service businesses. Here we find a sit down restaurant. We go with Anne & Rob standbys: water and salad for her and ale with fish & chips for him. The dishes come quickly and the meals satisfactory. And then we waited. We could not get the attention of the service staff to bring our check. I stood and walked around but that didn’t attract any attention. We finally got the meal paid for.

We escaladed down another flight to the casino. At the foot of the stairs were the craps tables. This is where I would be when Anne came back with her treasures. I rarely put money on the table; I prefer to just watch the action. It is fun to observe the betting routines of the many players. I am always surprised at how many players place money on the single roll high odds bets. I have learned that the most frequent return comes when money is placed on the 6 and 8. Seven is the only number that has odds of coming up more often than the 6 or the 8.

If you are not the dice roller, then you don’t need to risk any bets on the pass or don’t pass line. You can bet on the 6 and/or the 8 after the come-out number has been rolled. If neither was the come-out, then you have very nice chances that one or the other will be rolled once or twice before a 7 is rolled.  Tonight every player place money on the pass line, no one bet on the don’t pass, and many played the 6 and the 8.

Anne took a $20 from her wallet but left her wallet locked in the car. After a while she found me at the table and presented me with a slots ticket valued at $0.40. It was through non-verbal communications what my next action should be. I picked a second $20 from my wallet. When she next returned Anne was again not beaming. We watched craps for a few more minutes and then returned to our home. Both of us read for a while and then it was off to nodville.

We all knew from early school that Illinois is known as the “Land of Lincoln”. We have learned that Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana are three states which do not need irrigation, at least along the I-80 corridor, to keep things green year round. When we left the Amana Colonies campground our GPS selected a route to the interstate that was different from our entry. What the heck. We were going to see a bit of the rural Iowan country side. Without exception for the 15 miles it took us to reach the freeway, every single home and business had a front lawn that would put golf greens to shame. Some of the frontages even rivaled the size of smaller golf courses. Every property had to have had a riding mower. Some of the slopes seemed dangerously steep to be mowing. The green didn’t go away when we crossed into Illinois, but the manicuring did. Iowa might be proud to have an aka such as the “Land of Lawns”.

We left Joliet a little before 9am. It is just 170 mile to Ft Wayne. Matt arranged for us to park on the back lot of his place of work, Sweetwater Music. Matt had shown us around the Sweetwater property the last time we visited Ft Wayne. The company is the largest internet provider of music related gear. This is Sweetwater’s only facility and they employ over 1000 people. Sweetwater is privately held by Chuck, and Chuck has spared no expense on ensuring that his employees have an enjoyable place to work.

From Joliet I-80 goes past Chicago. I was not looking forward to the traffic we might come onto. Today is Memorial Day and most business will be closed. We had no traffic jams. The GPS was told to go to 5501 W US30, Ft Wayne. The GPS didn’t show us how it planned to get to that address. I mapped out earlier exactly what route I wanted to follow. The GPS had not selected my route planning. My plan was easy: turn south on I-65; then turn east on US30, the Lincoln Highway. It was that easy and it was a two lane freeway all the way.

Matt had told us to give him a call when we arrived on the front lot at Sweetwater. We got there a bit past 12 o’clock. In a few minutes he and Solomon drove up. We visited a few minutes and then Matt had us follow him to the back lot. I was guided to a spot next to a large multi bay storage building. An extension cord had been run from the building to provide us with 110v ac. We had

pulled alongside a large white trailer. I discovered when I walked around the trailer that printed in large green letters on the other side was the word “BATHROOMS”. I have never seen such a fancy loo.

Anne’ was at a CrossFit function this afternoon and Gabriel was at the house babysitting Zola. Bella was with her boyfriend, Adam, at their rental home. They have been dog sitting for the landlord and they were busy trying to rid the home of dogism’s. It was sure great to see Matt and the boys again.

The school year has come to an end in Ft Wayne. Solomon graduates on June 3^rd. This is the prime reason we are here. We are very proud of all of our grandkids and we want to be in on any special celebration occasions. Gabe will be a junior next year so in 2019 we will get to make the trek once again.

The first week of June has many special things to celebrate. Besides Solly’s graduation on the 3^rd our great granddaughter, Zola Mae, has her first birthday on June 1.  On June 2^nd Anne has a birthday. I will stay mum on which one this one is. Suffice it to say, she is still young and beautiful. (I think I got by on that one.)

Matt and I trekked to the store to buy meat for tonight’s dinner. Matt was going to barbeque for us. Anne’, Bella, and Adam had eaten dinner elsewhere. Anne wanted chicken breast, Gabe preferred hamburger, and Matt and I were going to have steak. In a few minutes Matt and I returned home with our bounty. Matt started the Barbie and we all visited in front of the open garage.

Zola has begun walking and she is quite good at it. Earlier this morning she was on the driveway with Matt and she took a spill. Zola got back up again and was apparently completely unaware she had skinned a spot on her forehead. Apparently the fun of being outside was greater than her pain threshold.  Everyone in the family is enthralled with Zola Mae and her busyness. For mom and grandparents, that too will pass.

Dinner and the evening went very well. Matt and his uncle Tim are the sports gurus in the family. For either of them there is rarely an event which goes by that isn’t watched on TV. Tonight we watched a bit of Aussie Rules Football or Footie as the natives call it.

Footie is basically an 18 man per team free-for-all with a fat football. There are no line-ups and no yardage minimums. No one wears protective armor and you can punt the ball to co-players or you can kick the ball. A player can’t just run with the ball it must be gotten rid of. That is where the free-for-all comes in. Players are on the run 100% of the time and they are continually beating up on one another in some way. When you get the ball through the center goal posts you earn 6 points; through the side goals and it is just one point. There are a few more rules of play, but that is most of it. Footie can’t be topped for action.

Tuesday, May 30^th, and Matt needs to go to work. He checked in with us on his way to the office. Bella and Zola drove here. They and Anne are going to do some light shopping. Anne is looking for fabrics and Bella needs diapers. While they were gone I had a look at Bella’s Honda. She has been having problems with the running lights not coming on. This is no problem except that the running lights are the tail lights at night. They need to be on. I metered a couple of circuits and found that some power wires were common with chassis ground. This shouldn’t be. When they returned I told Bella what I had found.

We went inside Sweetwater to have lunch. The lunch line is basically buffet style. When you get to the check-out point you use a touch screen to choose the icons which represent what you have on your tray. Once the food has been selected you swipe your employee card, or a credit card, and your account has been charged. The line moves fast and it’s best to know what you are doing.

Matt joined us for a quick visit. He is conducting a training class for new sales staff. Each new employee has a degree of training and the new sales staff will spend 13 weeks learning about all products and company procedures. Today Matt is giving a lesson on different types of amplifiers. He will stop by when he is ready to head for home.

It is Thursday, June 1^st. Today is the first birthday of our great granddaughter, Zola Mae. She has become a full time dynamo of activity. Anne has lavished Zola with unselfish attention and they are now the best of mates. Zola will come to me when I call her and she will bring me the toy she is playing with. However, she will only let me hold the toy for a few moments before she demands its return.

Bella has done a great job during her first year of motherhood. However you can feel the relief that comes over her when another parent figure steps in to look after and play with her daughter. Young mothers who care for their toddlers learn to carry a very heavy load of responsibility. There is never going to be a complete relinquishment of concern for how their baby is doing. Bella is special, however. She brought her baby into a family which owns no end to the love and caring they have for their new niece and granddaughter.

Liz and Mike Nichols, Anne’s mother and stepfather, arrived early this evening. Liz and Mike live in Jacksonville which is just a few miles to the west of Medford. They began their day around 3am, but they are holding up well. The have come to spend a couple of weeks with Matt, Anne’ and the family. It will be good to be able to share some of our time with them.

The opened from of Matt’s garage seems to be the place of social congregation. This evening it is shared by Bella and Adam who are taking turns following Zola to and from the curbside mail box which has a security key fob dangling within Zola’s reach. Adam is Bella’s fiancé and they share a rental home together. Adam has become very much a father to Zola and one can see that the love flows both ways.

Matt decided to barbeque hamburgers and a few bratwursts for dinner tonight. But first, he and I need to go to the local Kroger’s grocery store to buy some supplies. While Matt tends to firing up the barbeque, Anne

and I get things ready in the kitchen and dining room. Solly is working late tonight at McDonalds so he will not be joining us for dinner. Gabe busied himself in the garage crafting a new weapon for the Live Action Role Playing, LARP, in which he and Solly participate. Each has developed costuming and weaponry for the ancient character they portray. It is amazing how much detail goes into the LARP participation.

The dinner went very well. It is always unfortunate to see the host, chef, and creator of the evening’s enjoyment be the last one to sit down for his meal. It was a little bit past 9pm when Matt got his chance to eat. The sun had set but it was still quite light outside at 9:30. Anne and I said our goodnights and headed back to Sweetwater a few minutes before 10pm. Anne collapsed when she got inside the RV. She had spent a very busy day watching after Zola. She had loved every minute of it.

A very happy Birthday Anne. The morning sky is cloudless blue and the Sweetwater back parking lot is beginning to fill up. It appears that the same people park in the same spots each morning. I can hear the Hog on the road behind the trees. A tall, pony-tailed woman slowly rumbles her girl toy into her chosen parking spot. There is no helmet law in Indiana so once the Harley’s kickstand is down the biker is quickly dismounted and walking away.

The last weekend in June the owner of Sweetwater, Chuck, hosts a function called Gear Fest. Huge tents are set up on the extensive blacktopped lot and venders of all kinds of music paraphernalia display and hawk their products to the public. Anne and I have been to a Gear Fest in the past and it is almost a carnival atmosphere. The weekend event helps cement Sweetwater on the musician’s map of hardware sources. The gala event takes a toll, however. Matt has shared how much of an extra work load Gear Fest is for several weeks in advance. Arranging for vendor’s participation and determining product lines to highlight all has to be done on top of the normal international marketing business of Sweetwater Music. Matt is relieved each summer when Gear Fest has concluded.

We are parked in front of an open faced storage shed. The main thing stored in the shed is stacks of wood pallets. For the last few mornings a forklift has zoomed past the side of the RV on its way to and from the shed. While there the driver picks up 4 or 5 pallets. With each passage by the RV the driver honks the horn. This must be to warn anyone coming around the end of the RV to come out carefully. If that is not the reason for the honks, then the driver is just saying “Hi” and “Bye” to Rob and Anne.

Anne wanted to spend her special day sewing in the quiet comforts of the RV. I packed the car with my ham radio gear. The Sweetwater lot is not a good place to be hoisting a 130 foot long antenna wire, but the Duncan’s backyard is. I made arrangements to return later in the afternoon to pick Anne up for a family dinner celebration.

The back of the home is on a large common lawn shared by several homes, each fronting on a sizeable lake. Matt and Anne’ have a large maple tree near the border with one neighbor. I chose a limb high in the tree and cast the antenna wire over it. This would then drop down to the radio on the picnic table. The wire beyond the tree was hoisted 32 feet up and then staked to the ground at the far end. This arrangement formed what is called an inverted vee antenna. To get the height for the center of the antenna I used fiberglass military tent poles. The 4 foot hollow pole sections are designed to stack together to create a desired height. I used 8 poles. Within a few minutes I had spoken to hams in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and South Dakota. It was fun to get back on the air again.

I returned on schedule to get cleaned up and dressed for the night out. Matt had made reservations for the family at Don Hall’s Gas House. This is a very popular restaurant and it will be busy, but it is one of only a few which will take reservations. This was the right place to be.

Everyone had a great and satisfying dinner. The Blackened Cajon with Bleu Cheese Filet I had topped my best experience. Anne and I treated everyone to the meal. It was our way of celebrating Zola’s birthday, Anne’s birthday, and Solly’s graduation. What a 3-day weekend.

Matt and Anne’s back yard is very big. Matt has built a fire pit just beyond the tree. It is enjoyable to sit and visit with a nice fire blazing. We burned through a lot of scrap wood this evening. Anne and I said our good nights around 10pm. Both of us arrived at the RV drowsy from the evening’s meal. It was directly to bed.

Saturday morning we needed to be at the house by around 9:30am. Anne’ had already driven Solly to Fort Wayne’s Allen County War Memorial Coliseum for the Class of 2017 graduation rehearsal. Solly had worked feverishly earlier in the week to complete his Work Experience homework and get it turned in.  Solomon has been working part time at McDonalds. He has received school credit for doing this, but it came with extra paperwork. Had he not completed the last minute assignments he would not have been permitted to walk in the graduation. He was successful. Whew. We were all a bit worried.

Solly’s class has about 570 students. There were some before walking speeches, after which the two seated halves went row by row to the front. Names were called from the left and then from the right. The students were handed an empty diploma folder. They shook hands with administration staff, received a flower, and walked back to their seats. The actual diploma can be picked up at the school next week.

We met Solly at the coliseum exit. He was all smiles and very proud that he got to walk on his graduation. When we reached home we gathered in the back yard and took photos. All of the permutations of parents and grandparents shared photo ops with the man of the day.  

Tour de Fort is a bicycling event held each year in Ft Wayne. I am not sure of the reason why or the exact details of the Tour’s operation, but the gist of Tour de Fort is to ride bicycles as a group. The bike riding is all done downtown and the group stops often at local businesses. The business stops are not for normal shopping. Each of the stops is at a pub, or tavern. So, the whole Tour thing is about surviving a stop lighted, car congested and cycling beer-a-thong. This is what Matt and Anne’ did after the graduation ceremonies. They joined up with another Cross Fit couple for the afternoon. Shane and Amanda joined us for a barbecue chicken and snags dinner and evening. This had been a busy day.

Saturday had been the warmest day of 2017 for Ft Wayne. When Anne and I returned to the RV we found the inside to be 86F. This temperature was way too hot for comfortable sleep. I started the generator so that I could run the rig’s air conditioning system. Somehow, in the process I tripped the circuit breaker on the ac line from the building. The tripped breaker is not going to be reset prior to Sweetwater’s business opening on Monday morning. It is not a crisis to be without ac services. It just means that we run things, except AC, with the house batteries. The batteries can be recharged with the generator and the roof top solar panel. This is the normal boon docking process when no hookup services are available.

Sunday morning Anne and I both got up early. I was up a little past six and Anne made it out of bed around 7am. I sat in the lounge chair reading my Jo Nesbo book, The Redeemer. It was my hope that I would doze off while reading. That didn’t work. In the meantime Anne went back to bed to get more sleep. At a little past 8am I loaded my knapping tray in the back of the Honda and headed out for the Duncan’s.

I hadn’t thought of it, but I guess I should have. At 8:30am no creatures were stirring. I opened the trunk of the Honda, sat down and knapped an arrowhead. In a short while Matt was up and he came outside to great me. I showed him what I had been doing and I showed him some wooden arrows that I had put obsidian tips on. I put the gear away and joined him in the kitchen for a cup of tea.

Storms were forecast for this afternoon. The front and back lawns needed mowing. I figured it would be bad if we let the dry morning go to waste. I asked Matt to pull the lawn mower from the garage so I could do some cutting. He has a wheel powered mower and I was able to make quick work of the smaller front lawn. With the front done I took a break before starting in the rear. I completed about a third of the large back lawn before I had to take a break. Matt had heard the mower shut off and in a couple of minutes he came out and volunteered to finish the back. That wasn’t my intent, but I guess I was grateful for the relief.

The sun had been beating down and I had taken off my pullover shirt. When the lawns were done and I had cooled off a bit I asked Matt if I could use his shower to freshen up. Boy. That was the right thing to do.

Matt reminded me that at 2pm we were all supposed to go to Bella and Adam’s home for a birthday party for Zola. Although Zola turned one a couple of days ago, Adam’s work prevented having the party sooner. Plus, I don’t think Zola will know the difference. Bella and Adam had set up a fine brunch spread for their guests to enjoy. There was a short bit of discussion whether we should all muster in the back yard or the front yard. Their rear yard has a nice deck, but it also doesn’t have a lick of shade. We all settled in the front yard, beneath the wonderfully spreading Maple tree. This spot felt good.

After a while Bella brought out Zola’s high chair. One of the women had made a birthday cake for Zola. She was lifted into the chair, the cake pan was put on her tray and we all sang happy birthday. Zola didn’t know what to do with the large tray containing the multicolored thing. Bella scooped a finger into the top of the cake and put it to Zola’s mouth. Zola’s first reaction was a whole body shake. This was reminiscent of someone accidently tasting something very sour. She soon took to the flavors and in the end it would be a tossup whether Zola had gotten more cake in her mouth or on her body. Thank goodness she was dressed only in her diaper.

The storm which had been predicted came. There was an initial barrage of thunder and the wind picked up. Then, all of a sudden the sky opened up. We all dashed into the house. High winds blew the cloud burst horizontal. Within a few moments the street was flowing like a river. Intense downpour lasted a few minutes and then tapered off to a drizzle. The weather abated for several minutes and then another storm center came over. It was more of the same.

Family and friends had brought gifts for Zola. Bella tried to open a few gifts with Zola on her lap. Zola, however, was more interested in playing with what had come out of the boxes. Bella and Adam had hosted a very nice party. Maybe we will be able to share next year’s, too.

We all collected back at the house. The wind had blown over my 32 foot high fiberglass antenna pole. Matt helped me re-hoist the pole. Later in the afternoon Matt, Mike and I watched a bit of Aussie Rules football. Well, maybe the footie was just an excuse to take naps.

The doors were left open and the storms breezes blew in and out freely. Anne, Liz and Gabe made a Costco run. Anne had a list of things we needed in the RV and I believe they were also going to pick up some Costco lasagna. At 7pm a new storm front moved in. This one was forecast to have winds of 40mph. The front swung a bit south of Fort Wayne and we didn’t have much excitement. 

Today is June 6^th. It is Dave’s birthday. I called him this morning and visited a few minutes. He and Joy are in Carlisle, Pennsylvania to be at Skye’s graduation from Army War College on Friday. Skye’s next posting will be at the pentagon. Dave and Joy are  next going to head to head north and tour a bit of eastern Canada. This should be a wonderful time of the year to be there.

Anne did a bit of sewing this morning; until she received a call from Bella. Bella has finished the baby sitting she was doing for a friend and she wants to go with Anne to get her feet worked over and then to lunch. I stayed behind where I did a couple of Sudoku puzzles and a bit of reading. I made the mistake of turning on the TV news. There had just been a terrorist attack in France. I turned the TV back off.

Earlier I had texted Matt about joining him for lunch.  I waited until a bit before 1pm and not hearing back, I walked to the Sweetwater café. I made a salad and had a chocolate chip cookie. Sitting in the large, open dining hall I looked around and realized that inside Sweetwater was like being inside a small, well presented mall. This mall has several stores for musical gear, a medical clinic, a spa, recording studios, music instructional labs, a self-serve cafeteria, and an arcade area. I know I’m leaving out several other venues, but this is what I could see from my lunch table.

I walked back to the RV and did some more reading. I received a message from Matt saying that he was just too jammed to be able to join me for lunch. I also got a message from Anne. She was at lunch and she sent this photo of Zola eating a dill pickle. I think Anne snapped the shot before Zola had actually taken a bite. Her expression would no doubt have been much different.  

It is very hard to say “so long” to your loved ones, but this we did on Thursday morning. We had started the day at 6:30am. Sweetwater has a Sweetsite which is their name for the RV dump station. After breakfast we visited Sweetsite where we also loaded up on fresh water. We hooked up the Honda and pulled out to the open parking lot. Matt drove over from his office and Anne’ and the boys drove from home. Thank you’s and hugs all around and we were off.

Our goal is to make the 177 mile trip to Hollywood Casino, in Joliot, Il. Of course to do this we need to drive past Chicago, on I-80. Freeway construction was happening for miles and miles on I-80. Lanes expanded and then they merged again. Traffic came to a crawl.  There were at least 63,234,746 freight trucks going our direction and I got behind all of them.

Somewhere along the way we stopped at a Walmart. Anne wanted to make sure we were stocked up on fruit, lean meat, and veggies needed for our 17 Day Diet. Written by an MD nutritionist, his book presents an easy to follow meal schedule. The only food caveats were some food avoidances. Naturally, what would you expect a diet to avoid? Anyway, we are going to give it a go. We gave it a kick-off right there in the Walmart parking lot. Anne whipped up a tuna salad for lunch. She made a balsamic and olive oil dressing to add a little jazz. It was a nice lunch.

Three o’clock found us a site #7 at the Hollywood Casino RV Park. I got the RV all set up while Anne called ahead for tomorrow’s park stop. We were planning on the Newton KOA but they are full. There is a big concert affair tomorrow. Two more calls and we landed a spot at Timberline Campground in Waukee, Iowa. It’s a Good Sam RV Park so it should have a degree of OK. We’ll see.

I clipped a towel over the bedroom window shade. I have been getting up too early and I think it is because I am noticing the early morning light. I’m anxious to see how it will work.

For dinner protein we bought chicken breasts at Walmart. Once sited in #7 at Hollywood I set out the tailgating satellite antenna and dug out the Barbie for the first time. The breasts cooked well and we had a great dinner. After dinner we got to watch a couple of NCIS programs. These shows had Tony still in them, so they were a little old. We had seen all we could stand regarding ex-FBI Director Comey. I called it quits at 10 o’clock.

Well, I don’t know whether the towel worked. It had been quite warm in the bedroom. I got up during dark time and turned the AC on. The cool breeze felt good and I fell back to sleep. I re-awoke a short time later. I could see that the night was changing to day. I got up. Shucks. It was 5:45am. I was wide awake. A cup of tea and a Sudoku puzzle and maybe I can snooze off. No luck. Anne got up around 7:30am. This is when she shared with me that we were an hour earlier here. That means I had gotten up at 4:45am.

Today’s drive was to Timberline Campground in Waukee, Iowa. We left Hollywood Casino RV Park at 8 o’clock. It was going to be at least a 6 hour drive to Timberline, with no stops. I made it my driving goal to stop at every rest stop the I-80 had to offer. Miles and miles of new corn fields later we pulled into site #14 at Timberline at 4 o’clock. Boy. There are no corn fields near this campground, but there are a lot of trees. We had a tree at the site which made our turning a little scary. It is always very nice to be able to stop moving after a long drive.

We are able to pick up several local channels with the RV’s roof top antenna. The three national channels are represented locally. It is good to be able to watch the NBC Nightly News. We are unable to receive the nightly news on ABC, CBS, or NBC when we use the satellite antenna.

We were greeted with strong crosswinds on I-80W when we left Timberline RV Park. The winds lifted the slide-out’s cover on the driver’s side. This created a flapping and clunking. I stopped at a closed weigh station on the freeway to see if I could lash the rollout awning so it wouldn’t keep unfurling.  I dug out a piece of ski rope, climbed atop the roof and tied the rail so it couldn’t unwind if the wind tried to lift it. This seemed to stop the flapping and banging that had been going on. It didn’t end the battle I had steering in the crosswind.

Near Minden, Iowa we turned off of I-80W onto I-680. This new interstate would take us to the connection with I-29N, which is the road to Onawa, Iowa. Our destination is the Onawa/Blue Lake KOA campground. Our GPS has been unfailing in its accuracy. We checked in and were assigned to a long pull-through, #18. While I set up the rig Anne sorted laundry.

Lewis & Clark passed through this part of Iowa on their way to Oregon. Blue Lake is about 175 acres and is the home of Lewis & Clark State Park. The lake is just to the east of the Missouri River. The park hosts a Lewis & Clark weekend with lots of pioneer activities.

When we had turned off I-29 onto Dogwood Road we didn’t miss either the KOA sign or the Casino sign. We Googled local grocery stores to find one for some lean meat for dinner. There was one about 6 miles down IA-175. We followed the road and ended up in a town on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River. An aged steel bridge arched over the wide river. At the entry of the bridge there was a 2 minute red light. That is how long it took the traffic from the other side to cross the river. The bridge was one lane only as it was being sand blasted and painted.

Following the IPhone directions we ended up in front of a very third world looking market. Three elderly men were visiting on an outside bench. They watched as we walked into the store. Anne looked very carefully in all of the refrigerated glass fronted coolers. No meat was found. However, we did end up with a bag of frozen strawberries. With the strawberries we can make some smoothies. Two or three motor boats played way below us when we had received the green light to re-cross the bridge.

The Blackbird Bend Casino was a couple of miles on Dogwood past the KOA. The small parking lot was full. Whether you are a person or a business when you are meeting someone new you are given only one chance for a first impression. This probably wasn’t going to be a fine casino. The landscaping around the front was unplanted, non-dressed dirt. The two short flights of steps had at one time been painted yellow on the vertical edges. Today these edges are randomly flaked and unsightly.

We were greeted by a hostess when we came through the foyer into the casino. That was positive. We walked the rows of slots and Anne chose one or two to try. I suggested a couple for her to try, also. I suspect the casino has a pretty nice bottom line at the bank. We contributed our share.

Iowa’s cornfields curved as they approached the horizon. What America can do with all of the corn that is grown in the Midwest must be amazing. West of Sioux Falls, South Dakota I-29 intersects the east/west freeway, I-90. This highway will take us across South Dakota. The road is much smoother than all of the other freeways. Cornfields give way to pasture lands and hay fields. Large cylindrical bales rule the lands after the spring mowing. We’ve seen a couple of herds of beef cattle, but nowhere near enough animals to eat all of the hay. Flat expanses slowly change into low rolling hills.

Chamberlain, SD is where I-90 meets the Missouri River. This is where we find a large rest stop and scenic center. We drive into the Lewis & Clark Information Center. Lewis & Clark began their journey in 1804 in St. Louis, Missouri. President Jefferson had instructed the two men to travel westward, on the Missouri River, to do two things: one, make peace with the Indians, and two, find an ocean marking the western boundary of the new United States.

Lewis & Clark took to the river on a specially designed keel boat. The keel boat used oarsmen, sails, and tow ropes during its voyage. The Corp of Discovery brought the team of around 50 men to be camped a couple of nights at a site overlooking the river. Their former camp is now the exact spot for the Information Center.

One of the main attractions of the Lewis & Clark Information Center is the overlook of the river far below. One can’t see that view without walking past Dignity – of Earth & Sky. The Dignity sculpture is a stunning combination of innovation and history. Representing the rich Native American culture of South Dakota, the 50 foot Native woman gracefully wears a quilt featuring 128 stainless steel blue diamond shapes designed to flutter in the wind. During the day, her star quilt – a representation of respect, honor and admiration in the Native American culture – glitters in the sun with pieces that change color depending on the amount of light. At night, LED lights cause the diamonds to glow in the night sky, casting a peaceful presence easily visible from the interstate.

We toured the Information Center’s main building. Inside we found a museum of displays which depicted the life of the Corp of Discovery expedition during its 2-year journey, much of which was done on America’s longest river. They discovered the Pacific Ocean after an overland trek where they linked up with the Columbia River. The Columbia empties into the Pacific at the Port of Astoria in Oregon.

Staying the night at Kennebec KOA will leave just 170 miles until we arrive at Mount Rushmore. Kennebec, SD is a spot on the north side of I-90 and it is 100% downhill from the freeway. The RV Park is clean and well presented. When you arrive you park at the front of the office to register. The road in is between the office and the fenced swimming pool. I was tempted, but I didn’t do it. A boy had hurried to the pool and lay down his nice bike at the edge of the driveway. When Anne got out she moved the bike.

We woke up in a new time zone. What better way to celebrate our visit to Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills than to have them exist on Mountain Time. It just means we left Kennebec an hour earlier than we thought. They have been banned in many, but roadside billboards abound in the fields beside the freeways in South Dakota. Anne noted that South Dakota sure seemed to have a lot of things to see and do. I guess billboards were banned in other states because those states had nothing of entertainment value to offer.

The billboards tend to feature very touristy businesses or attractions. However, this south western region of South Dakota owns title to the Black Hills National Forest. Besides Mount Rushmore, this forest contains Crazy Horse Memorial, Jewel Cave National Monument and Custer State Park.  There is no doubt that the state is home to America’s most prominent granite sculptures. The endless miles of grassy plains were a great part in creating the history and legends of early America’s Wild West.

Rapid City is the gateway city into the National Forest. From here to the border with Wyoming visitors should leave their 21^st century outlooks in the glovebox. This small part of America is a warp back to the 19^th and early 20^th century. Near Sturgis, to the north of the forest, is a small town called Buffalo Chip. Early settlers documented herds of buffalo numbering in the thousands grazing the plateaus. I suspect there may have been many village meetings about how towns should honor the once threatened herbivore.

We pulled into the Mt. Rushmore Resort & Lodge at Palmer Gulch at 1 o’clock. This was a good time to be getting setup. I got the RV opened up while Anne made us a chicken salad for lunch. We lay back for a bit and decided it would be a good time to drive to Mt. Rushmore National Memorial.

One of our nation’s most recognizable and popular icons is found in the Southern Black Hills. As one of the world’s most spectacular artistic and engineering achievements, Mount Rushmore is a timeless monument, not only to our national pride, but to the patriotism and determination of a sculptor and the miners he guided in carving a mountain into a work of art.

Mount Rushmore is one of the largest sculptures in the world. It measures 250 feet across and each head is about 60 feet tall. Washington’s head is as tall as the entire Great Sphinx of Egypt. The noses of the four presidents are approximately 21 feet long, while the mouths are about 18 feet wide. Men on the scale of the Mount Rushmore figures would stand as tall as a 40-story building.

The presidents were selected on the basis of what each symbolized: George Washington, the struggle for independence; Thomas Jefferson, the idea of government by the people; Abraham Lincoln, ideas on equality and the permanent union of the states; and Theodore Roosevelt, the 20^th century role of the U.S. in world affairs.

Between October 1927 and October 1941, Sculptor Gutzone Borglum, a native of Idaho, and 400 workers sculpted the four presidents. Notably for a project of this size, no workers died during the carving.

The Mount Rushmore KOA at Palmer Gulch is the third largest KOA in America. The grounds are expansive with spaces and lodges climbing into the hills. The resort features tons of entertainment for youth: wet and wild, climbing wall, panning, and mini golf. The KOA has a large horse stable and offers guided rides and it will be hosting five rodeos in 2017. Naturally, all of these special guest camping features come with a price. It is, however, nice to be able to spend a couple of days in luxury.

Yesterday had been cloudy and a bit muggy. Around 8 o’clock lightning and thunder started, and then the rain came. I was still coming down when we turned in for the night. I watched a nearby tenting couple pack up their shiny black Cadillac Escalade during the early rain. They had just set out their Coleman stove to begin dinner preparation. They abandoned tent and stove and drove off. I suspect to a nearby lodge room or motel. Tuesday morning arrived bright and with a clear blue sky. No sign yet of the tent couple.

Custer State Park is on the lower eastern edge of the Black Hills National Forest. The park is one of the few places in the world where you are able to see an abundance of wildlife in their natural habitat. The park has 71,000 acres. It is suggested that for the best results siting animals, one should drive the park’s loop road during the early morning or later in the evening. This is when wildlife is most active. We are going to spend the day visiting the park.

At the park’s entrance we purchased our pass and received directions to the park loop drive. For the first few miles the loop seemed to do nothing but climb. The two lane road was adequate but it often had no shoulder. In the mountains the curves were many. We were feeling disappointed thinking there was no way buffalo would want to forage on these hillsides, and then we broke into open, rolling fields. This is better.

We stopped a few times to watch prairie dogs scurrying from hole to hole and sitting erect atop their home mound. At one bend we found several cars stopped. This was a sure sign there was something besides dirt rats to look at. About 100 yards away on the slopes were three male buffalo. They were calmly grazing. A short distance beyond this sighting we came upon two roadside burros. They were very passive about the cars driving slowly past them. I asked the white burro to smile when we stopped to visit. It just looked at me.

There was nothing I could imagine more springtime peaceful and beautiful than the grass filled hills. A constant breeze blew the tall strands and left waves moving up the slopes. There is a herd of ~1500 buffalo kept in the park. In the fall they are rounded up; new ones tagged and vaccinated. The herd is culled, if necessary to ensure that there will be enough grass for the herd next spring. I could not imagine that a herd of that size could graze down these hills.

 We were approaching the park exit. It had been a beautiful drive, but we were disappointed that we had seen nothing of the much published herds of buffalo. Ahead a couple of cars had stopped in the other lane.

We were the first car in our lane to also stop. Just off the edge of the road was a 10 foot diameter puddle of water. Collected from last night’s storm the puddle had a couple of buffalo standing in it and a further handful sipping from the puddle’s edge. More animals crossed the roadway as we watched. Soon there were enough buffalo on the highway that cars weren’t going anywhere. Sad, but fortunately a couple of Harleys cut the line and rumbled to a stop in front of us. Their approaching noise scared the initial group from the water, but they were immediately replaced. The two bikes slowly made their way past the crossing animals. Anne nervously followed behind. A few large male buffalo paused briefly at the edge of the road to look at our hood and then they casually crossed without interference.

 “At last, we are free at last.” I don’t know why Dr. King’s pronouncement came to mind as we were able to leave the last of the highway herbivores behind. We soon stopped again, however, because a photo op of the larger herd came up. The excitement was over. We found outside the park boundary a lunchtime deli. Both of us enjoyed Chef Salads and the chance to sit outside in the mountain air.

Spending a second day at Mount Rushmore KOA was a good decision. Anne wanted to revisit the memorial to look at the Artist’s Studio. She came back beaming with information about how 1/12^th scale models had been made, repeatedly. They used the models to design around flaws in the granite. Anne described quite a complex amount of engineering that had to be done before, and during the actual sculpting. My hip wasn’t going to put up with the hiking involved with the revisit. I stayed behind and did some RV busy work.

We were up early Wednesday morning. Today we are relocating to a new RV park. The new park is Rafter J Bar Ranch Campground.  The Black Hills of South Dakota has gobs of RV parks and campgrounds; the next park is just a few miles away from the last one. Rafter J Bar Ranch is less than four miles from the KOA. The park is large and well laid out. It is set up with five isolated site

clusters. Each cluster can accommodate ~30 RVs. The office and store is located at the hub of the clusters. We chose site #222. This site is a large back-in located at the end of the cluster. There is a large field outside our window and a mowed hillside to our rear. We will be at the Ranch for two days.

We loafed around the RV until the KOA checkout time came up. We did some cleaning while waiting. We were checked into the Rafter J Bar Ranch by 11 am. After setting up camp we drove 8 miles to visit Lake Sylvan. The lake is at an altitude of over a mile high. The lake has a lodge, store and a well presented park and picnic area. The perimeter of the lake is ~1 mile and there is a well-developed hiking trail for the inclined. Sylvan is a man-made lake established in the 1920s. A lodge was soon constructed and tourists found it on the maps. The original lodge burned down but was quickly replaced.

Lake Sylvan is just inside Custer State Park. This area of the Black Hills is distinguished by the numerous tall, naked and craggy granite peaks. The lake is nested among a circle of these granite peaks. It is extremely rugged in its appearance. The lake is a rock climber’s heaven and haven. Every peak had several climbers at different positions on the stone. A large trailer in the parking lot offered climbing training and personal assistance. The lake prohibited motor craft and the store rented canoes and kayaks. Standing pads have been built near the water’s edge. The pads are used by fishermen. Trout is the main lake specie.

We bought packaged salad lunches at the store and drove to the picnic area. The sky was blue, but at the lake’s altitude and with a constant breeze we found a place in the sun to eat. After lunch Anne decided she was going to take to the trail around the lake. I brought out the folding chairs and a book. My goal was to stay warm in the sun. After a chapter of the book I returned to sit in the car. Anne returned soon and told me about her hike. She had enjoyed the scenery and the opportunity to exercise.

This afternoon we have a conference phone call we wanted to make at 3 pm. The chill at Lake Sylvan didn’t make it our first choice for the wait. We also could not receive enough bars on our Bat phones to make the call. We drove to the camp to wait out the short time. The Ranch does not have reliable cell service either. At 2:30 pm we drove a couple of miles to Hill City. We knew we could get good signals at the grocery store; besides, we needed to do some shopping. All went well and we were back in the rig in time to watch NBC Nightly News on the provided cable service. Sadly, tonight’s news was almost 100% on the congressional ballgame shooting. Then, too, there was the UPS worker in San Francisco who went “postal” - killed three co-workers, and then himself. It’s nice to be able to get away from it all, but with cable TV it doesn’t work out too well.

“There’s gold in them thar Hills.” In 1876, thousands of prospectors descended upon Deadwood Gulch. The promise of gold and a better life inspired a flood of fortune-seekers into the canyons and peaks of the Lakota’s sacred black Hills.

Though many gold rush towns died almost as soon as they started, Deadwood was different. The town was practically lawless in those early years, and the men and women who first came to Deadwood were people of fortitude and strength – folks who didn’t mind a little struggle on the road to fame and fortune. The nearby mines went through booms and busts, but the gold kept coming. Generations of miners toiled underground and when their shifts were over, they came to Deadwood saloons, brothels and gambling halls to unwind and relax. It didn’t matter that that this was all mostly illegal; Deadwood had always been a town on the edge of the law, and the people who came for a good time didn’t mind bending a rule or two.

Things changed in 1989. After more than a century of gambling on the down-low, Deadwood became the third place in the United States (after Atlantic City and the state of Nevada) to allow legal gaming. The card tables and slot machines came out from the back rooms, and the town boomed. Fueled by the new tax revenue, the town began an ambitious historic preservation effort that continues today.

Although Wild Bill Hickok is Deadwood’s most famous resident, he was in town less than a month before he was shot down on August 2, 1876. The former gunfighter and lawman was famous long before Deadwood. He arrived by wagon train from Cheyenne in the company of Charlie Utter and Calamity Jane. Despite talk of prospecting for gold, Wild Bill didn’t stray from the Badlands, a section of Main Street known for its bars, brothels and gambling houses. He was playing poker in Nuttal & Mann’s when Jack McCall walked in and shot Wild Bill in the back of the head. Bill was holding two pair, Aces and Eights, which became known as the Dead Man’s Hand.

Jack was first tried by a miner’s court in Deadwood and found not guilty. Because Deadwood Gulch was in Indian Territory it was deemed the miner’s court did not have proper jurisdiction to try Jack McCall. He was later tried and executed in Yankton, the territorial capital, and buried with the noose still around his neck.

Much of early Deadwood tried to put on a genteel Victorian front, but the area of saloons, brothels, and gambling parlors along lower Main Street made no attempt at respectability. This strip of Main Street was known as The Badlands. The Badlands, also home to Deadwood’s tiny Chinatown neighborhood, was well known for its wild and wooly ways. The notorious Gem Theater and the Green Front Saloon were Badlands landmarks. So was Nuttal & Mann’s Saloon, later named the Saloon No. 10. It was so named because the owner’s mining claim was #10.

Martha Jane Canary was born in Missouri in 1852, the oldest of six children. By 1867, both parents were dead, and the 15-year-old Jane, living in Wyoming, supported her younger siblings as a dishwasher, cook, nurse, ox team driver, dance-hall girl, occasional lady of the night and later army scout. In 1870 she joined Wild Bill Hickok and Charlie Utter traveling by wagon train to Deadwood. She was a wild, hard-drinking woman who dressed like a man and swore better than most. But she had her compassionate side, tending the sick. Calamity Jane died in the nearby town of Terry in 1903, and was buried at Mount Moriah next to Wild Bill.

We visited Saloon #10 and had salad lunches at an outside, 2^nd floor section of the building. We then took a city transit trolley for a $1 ride to where it went, and back. The trolley stopped convenient to a return to Saloon #10. We arrived for a 1pm reincarnation of the 3pm, August 2, 1876 card game which ended with the death of Wild Bill Hickok. The actor playing Bill did a prolog of the history of Deadwood and of his history. It was a good show.

Old Main Street is lined with nothing but buildings with a 19^th century motif, all of them retail of some nature. We walked into Diamond Lil’s which appeared to be a gaming establishment. As we walked through the two-storied building we passed many slot machine, some small eating tables, and lots of Hollywood posters and framed articles of clothing from the movies. All of the posters and hangings had one thing in common. They featured Kevin Costner. This was his business.

At the end of Main Street there was a shootout re-enactment scheduled for 2pm. We found our way to the crowd which had formed in front of The Lizzy Gaming Resort. We were early and we got to catch Calamity Jane tell of her history before, and after arriving in Deadwood. The shootout was conducted from a gaming table set in the middle of the blocked street. One shot was fired and everyone walked away, including the victim who had received a gun wound to the forehead. He reportedly lived another six months before dying of a bone infection at the site of the wound. The best part of this enactment was that Anne bought us each an ice cream cone.

 

Mount Moriah Cemetery, Deadwood’s Historic “Boot Hill” was established in 1878. This was after Wild Bill had been buried at the Ingleside Cemetery. He was exhumed and reburied at Mount Moriah. We spoke to a man assisting tourist outside the Wild Bill Saloon. He gave us a street map of Deadwood and marked on it how to drive to Mount Moriah. The drive was up a very steep road through a period residential section of the town. The cemetery was at the very top of the bluff. With a walking tour guide we found our way to Wild Bill’s and Calamity Jane’s grave sites. Theirs’s, of course, were the main attraction at this beautifully maintained cemetery. Our Deadwood tour finished after the visit to the cemetery. We returned to our campground and relaxed after a busy day.

We pulled away from Rafter J Bar Ranch KOA at 9 am. Our goal today is Casper, Wyoming. We are going to be staying at Casper KOA. The route is not complicated, however, the “Dash Bitch” did not show us what roads we were going to be taking. What I had mapped out was not how she decided to guide us. Until we had reached a point where the GPS literally had no choice but to go my way, we ignored what it was telling us.

The city was established east of the former site of Fort Caspar, which was built during the mid-19th century mass migration of land seekers along the Oregon, California and Mormon trails. The area was the location of several ferries that offered passage across the North Platte River in the early 1840s.

We knew right away when we had passed from South Dakota into Wyoming. It may have been the time of year or the region of South Dakota we had visited, but we leave the state giving it “high fives” for beauty: lush, green, and well managed. Wyoming seems to be a state, visually speaking that you want to be leaving. The scenery is much harder. The green on the hills seems to have browned. The hills are more damaged and less rolling. Once again we are seeing snow fences on the slopes beside the highways. I know there will be something wonderful to see as we visit this state.

 On the way out of Casper we stopped at Walmart. I found a parking spot while Anne shopped. An SUV drove by as I waited. The tailgate of the SUV lifted up and a box of orange juice cans fell out. Full cans rolled everywhere. A young man got out of the SUV, closed the tailgate and got back in. When they left, I got out of the RV and picked up the cans. You sometimes get some great deals at Walmart.

Our last night in Wyoming was spent at Rock Springs/Green River KOA. As we drove into the KOA we recognized that we had stayed here on our way to Fort Wayne. The highway from Casper to Rock Springs was much more appealing. We rode over high plateau rolling green hills. They weren’t the jagged, rocky hills we had seen so much of.

We pulled out of the KOA at 9 am. I was planning about four hours to our next park, which was in Tooele, Utah. Tooele is a few miles west of Salt Lake City. Today is Sunday, Father’s Day. I didn’t want to drive the freeways across Salt Lake City with the Monday morning going to work traffic. We had stayed at Vorwaller Homestead & RV Park on a past trip. The RV Park is occupied mostly by monthly and seasonal occupants. We found only one spot available. We took it.

On the way to Tooele we stopped at Utah’s entry rest stop. Anne made us a wonder chicken salad which we ate at the stops picnic table. A freight train was passing just below the ridge. The length of the train extended the tracks out of view at both ends of the long ravine which held them. This morning we had seen four long train caravans. This one had engines at the front, rear and in the middle.

We watched ground dogs dashing to and fro across the drying lawn. They would occasionally stop at a mound, sit erect, look around and then dash to a random spot on the grass. We watched one animal casually munch its way toward our table. It would stop, bite a piece of grass, chew it up and then move forward a few feet. The animals were ever cautious and alert.

After lunch we climbed a steep walkway to the top of the nearby hill. We had spotted the arched white fabric of a small covered wagon up there and it looked like a great spot to look over the region. Whoa. This was quite a hike. The climb was worth it. At the top was a welcome to Utah dedication to the pioneers and natives who had come before. The panoramic view was spectacular. No question. The walk down was much more pleasant.

The Tooele Valley had no permanent settlement when Mormon pioneers entered the Great Salt Lake Valley in July 1847; it was covered with abundant tall grass. The Mormons first used the valley as wintering grounds for their herds. In September 1849, three families settled on a small stream south of present Tooele City. Other families slowly joined them, and by 1853 Tooele City Corporation was organized. During the nineteenth century, the town was primarily an agricultural community; its population was about 1,200 at the turn of the century.

I stepped outside to walk around the Vorwaller park and I heard, “Hello, neighbor”. The man in the 5^th wheel next to us was sitting with his elbow out of the side window. We visited a few minutes. He has been in the park for eight months. I was told that the spot we are in and the next one over are the only two which are used by overnighters. All of the rest are long termers. The grass is growing high around the RVs. The outside spaces of some of the sites are cluttered with materials only time can create. The park is basically only about one step above an RV dump site. I tried to get a snapshot of the nicer view of our spot.

Site #2, the one we are in, was the only vacant spot in the park. We had tried three times to call for reservations but all we got was a, “No messages available” recording. The lady who owns the property doesn’t answer phone calls on Sundays. I guess a park can do that if there are only two spaces to let. There is a do-it-yourself form and envelope, which is what we used.

West of Salt Lake City are the salt flats. Bonneville is perhaps the most noted of the flats. Driving with a bright morning sky and having expansive white fields on each side of the road re-radiating the sun’s brightness is very tiring on the eyes. I welcomed the opportunity to pull into each rest stop I found. The last rest stop before leaving the flats was built such that visitors could walk onto the salt surface. Anne and I did that. Neither of us could resist scraping up a bit of the salt and tasting it. It’s for real. I got the empty cheese container from the RV and went back to the flat to collect a load of the salt. When we get home I will dissolve the salt and separate the dirt and settled atmosphere from the solution. It will be fun to reclaim the new salt crystals.

Elko, Nevada is on I-80 located about halfway between Wendover, Utah and Winnemucca, Nevada. When we reach Winnemucca we will turn north and then west toward Lakeview, Oregon. However, Elko is an excellent city to play in. We have stayed here before at casino RV parks. We have found none which don’t actually just farm the service out to a large, local parking lot. None have provided satisfactory service. We decided we would find a stand-alone RV park.

The desert edge is not the best place to look for nice, cool RV parks. Google brought up a few to look at. I read the visitor’s comments on most of them and they were not overly friendly observations. One park stood out – Elko RV Park at Ryndon. Ryndon, NV is a small community a few miles to the east of Elko. Google Maps showed that this park has many trees. Yes. This will better suit our comfort parking desires.

Though Elko lies along the route of the historic California Trail, it was first inhabited only in 1868, when it was at the east end of the railroad tracks built by the Central Pacific Railroad (the portion of the First Transcontinental Railroad built from California to Utah). When the railroad crews moved on, Elko remained, serving as a center for ranching, mining, rail freight and general supplies.

The park is just off the freeway at Exit 314. We pulled to the office and found a “Closed” sign on the door’s window. Instructions were to fill out a form and choose a spot. The box for the forms was cluttered with some leaves inside, but no forms. Although much more up-scale than the Vorwaller RV Park, it seemed to be operated with the same loose style. Another sign asked new arrivals to check in with the bar tender when the bar is opened at 2:30 pm. This is the first ever park we’ve seen that actually had a pub and a gaming room. Hmmm. Maybe we won’t have to drive the few miles to Elko, after all.

Anne had purchased chicken breasts at Wally World yesterday. She marinated the breasts and asked me to set up the Barbie. I had just dug out the BBQ, tools and briquettes and the wind started to blow. The greater Elko region had been warned about thunderstorms. Winds came fast and limbs were blown onto the drives. I took a look at my Weather Channel App on the Bat Phone and saw that a violent cell was passing over. The winds lasted about an hour.

When the winds calmed I moved the Barbie in front of the RV. This blocked the remaining breezes. It was quite warm, which probably explains the storm buildup. I set out chairs and we drooled together while the chicken cooked. This became a great dinner. The only thing spoiling the evening was Anne’s challenge to me for a game of Pinochle. Naturally, she won. We then turned our limited attention reserves to an Antique Roadshow program on PBS.

The concept of Manifest Destiny – that it was God’s will and the right of Americans to expand west. ”Ho for California!” Free land. Gold. Adventure. Between 1841 and 1869 more than a quarter million people answered this call and crossed the plains and mountains to the goldfields of the West. By 1849 the lure of instant wealth and tales of riches beckoned at the end of the 2,000 mile California Trail.

Elko is located on the California Trail. The BLM maintains a California Trails Interpretive Center a few miles west of the city. We spent the morning touring the center. Murals, artifacts, and life-size figures with historic descriptions walk one through the emigrant’s tribulations as they gained access to the western frontier. As years and experience progressed more tracks to California opened for the travelers. In the end the trails into California mapped like the end of a much frayed rope.

For all of the travelers there were at least two very daunting regions they had to pass. The first they all came to was the Great Salt Lake Desert. The 80 mile stretch was very hostile. Loaded wagons quickly broke through the salt-pack top layer and became mired in the mud below. Non essentials had to be discarded from the wagon’s load. The wagon trains averaged around 15 miles per day, the lack of water and fire wood quickly brought disaster to many as they crossed the desert.

The second most treacherous bit of wagon work came with the approach of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. Crossing the range could not be avoided. This is where different routes were tried. Many were not successful, as in the case of the Donner/Reed crossing. Many trails required the wagons be dismantled and hoisted over tall rock ledges. Snow and the cold were present year round at many crossing points.

The BLM and the artists who created the displays inside the Center definitely get two thumbs up for the excellent presentation of the West’s early history. It was fun to see staff at the Center dressed in period garb. Outdoors is a historical walk as you approached the entrance. To the side of the building wagon camp sites were set up and they could be explored.

It was time to explore the Red Lion Casino in Elko. Anne browsed the slots and I sat in the lounge and watched Texas A&M play TCU in one of the College Baseball Championship games. I made it through 5 innings before giving up and searching for Anne among the noisy electronic boxes. She collected winnings and we enjoyed a salad lunch at the casino’s 2 for 1 buffet.

Parts of the West are experiencing record high temperatures. Cities such as Phoenix are having days exceeding 120F. We are expecting >90F at the Juniper Park. We stopped at a spot in the road known as Denio for our lunch break. A couple of big rigs were in the expansive front lot. Denio, however, needs a little upkeep.

We stayed at Juniper Reservoir RV Park a couple of years ago. Our visit happened on the night of the last lunar eclipse. We were in the park’s “front row seats” for the event. Our site had been facing the open fields and was perfect to watch the eclipse. Juniper is 9 miles west of Lakeview. One needs to navigate a long but well posted gravel drive past, and partly through, a working ranch’s equipment yard. The drive is worth it. At a level below the ranch homestead is a bright green and well treed park.

 Juniper RV Park is where we are headed today.  The route is very familiar to us by now. We drive I-80W to Winnemucca and then turn north on highway 95. In thirty miles Hwy 95 intersects Hwy 140; to Lakeview and then on to Medford. Google Maps logs this trip to be over five hours long. With rest stops and a lunch break it will toll much longer. We pulled into the RV Park at around 4pm. We had left the Elko Park at 7am. So, it was a nine hour day. We arrived tired but relaxed that the big drive was over. On this trip Anne and I had driven 4,877 miles. We saw many new sites and some beautiful American country. Besides the miles, we logged a lot of special memories.