Big Bend National Park The Big Bend Park gets its name from its location on the Rio Grande where it makes a northward turn. Due to its location, this is not a park that people arrive at when they are on their way somewhere else. People that arrive at Big Bend are here because this is their destination. The bend of the Rio Grande is big, but so is the park. It encompasses 801,163 acres, the Chihuahuan Desert and the Chisos Mountains. The park has Mexican black bears that reintroduced themselves into the park. The Peregrine population is the only [View Full Entry]

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Davis Mountain We camped at the state park and opted for a full hookup site. It was a pull through and had cable TV!!! We could watch my favorite channel…..The Weather Channel. I felt we were a couple weeks early and would have enjoyed the greening up that had yet to take place. The weather can swing radically from balmy to freezing. One day we were out hiking and able to do some of the hike in short sleeves. That night a cold front came through and we had a wind chill of 19 and snow flurries. Our water hose [View Full Entry]

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Pioneer Plaza, Dallas This was a wonderful surprise . It’s located in Dallas by the Pioneer Cemetery and is a 4.2 acre plaza. It’s the world’s largest bronze monument. The Texas 2008 State Travel Guide states there are 40 Texas Longhorn steers being driven by three cowboys on horseback. We didn’t count the steers, but did see the three cowboys. [View Full Entry]

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We’re on the road again, letting the good times roll. It takes a while to get in the travel routine and to start blogging. We left Michigan Feb 16th. It was later in the month than we originally planned, but the weather looked more promising for our trip out of the cold north. Last year the trip was during an extreme cold snap, so this year was much better by comparison. We had planned shorter driving days, and they were relatively shorter. We took more stretch breaks of longer duration. George’s back handled the new routine without a problem. We arrived [View Full Entry]

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Upper Peninsula We headed north from Hayward to rejoin US#2and our journey east. It was a hot and humid day and we feel the heat more, since enjoying a cool summer in Alaska. As we headed east on US#2 we decided to take another detour and go north to the Keweenaw Peninsula. We felt that it would be cooler there and we could wait out the heat before heading south. We arrived in Hancock and camped along the waterway. A nice cool front rolled through and brought lots of rain and fog. We haven’t been in this area since the 1980’s, [View Full Entry]

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Northern Wisconsin is a beautiful area with a great north woods feel. We camped one night near Drummond at Two Lakes Campground. It was colorful with vibrant leaves on the trees and the ground. The day we arrived was sunny, which made it a great day to walk and take pictures. During the night the weather changed, so we were glad that we did our walks the day before. We moved to Hayward to visit with my cousin Sharron for a couple days. It was fun to see her again. George got to recite “The Cremation of Sam McGee” again. This [View Full Entry]

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We continued along US 2 through northern Minnesota. This area is more and more like home. We’re seeing trees that have their bright fall colors. It was a surprise to see the Mississippi River this far north. It’s much smaller than when we saw it further south. We camped along the banks of the Mississippi River near Grand Rapids at Pokegama Recreation Area, a Forest Service campground. [View Full Entry]

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US#2 This has been a good road. It apparently has been greatly improved since the description in “Blue Highways” (copyright 1982) by William Least Heat Moon. He states: “Montanans call U.S. 2, paralleling the Canadian border all the way to Lake Huron, the High-line. The most desolate of the great east-west routes, it was two lanes of patched, broken, rutted, mind-numbing pavement running from horizon to horizon over the land of god-awful distance.” The road is now in good condition, smooth and straight. It is still a long road that stretches to the horizon. In [View Full Entry]

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This is a great park with different personalities on the east and west sides. It is 1,600 square miles and was created in 1910. We spent 5 days exploring the park and could have spent many more. We began on the west side of the park at the Apgar Campground on Lake McDonald. The fall colors were beautiful with the yellows and gold against the dark green evergreens. The campgrounds were closing down for the season or switching to primitive camping. We had lots of campsites to choose from. This was a great time to be at the park with fewer [View Full Entry]

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Wed Sept 19: Arrived in the lower 48. It feels great and prices are very exciting! Crossing the border was different with the agricultural person coming onboard to se if we had any banned substances. Our fridge was pretty bare, so once we got through customs we headed to the store in Oroville to stock up. Drove south to Tonasket and filled up the RV with gas before heading east on 20 through the mountains. We stopped in Coleville to buy some RV supplies at Walmart and ended up spending the night in their parking lot. It’s across the street from [View Full Entry]

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