Rovers2

We pulled out of Lewis & Clark State Park, N Dakota on July 20. We have until August 1 to get to our next camp host assignment in SE Wisconsin. The plan is to go around Lake Superior on the north shore, reenter the US at Sault Ste Marie, and then head south into Wisconsin. The first night we stayed at Fort Stevenson, a ND state park near the Garrison Dam, which backs up the Missouri River to form Lake Sakakawea. one of the largest reservoirs in the US. Lewis & Clark S/P, our home for the past month is also on this lake, a hundred miles or so to the west. Fort Stevenson was built in 1867, primarily to protect settlers migrating to the west. It is a big park, with large grassy sites right ... read more

Well, summer has arrived in Florida, and it's time to to make our escape to the Great Northwest. We began our trip on May 31. We will spend the next 5 months as volunteer campground hosts in various state and county parks. Our schedule is as follows: June 15 -July 15 Lewis & Clark State Park, Williston, North Dakota August 1-31 Richard Bong State Recreation Area, Kansasville, Wisconsin September 1-30 Lake Fairfax County Park, Reston, Virginia October 1-31 Highland Walk Golf Course at Victoria Bryant State Park, Royston, Georgia The plan is to head north toward cooler climes, and then turn west toward North Dakota. Along the way we hope to find some sights worth seeing and some golf courses worth playing. We first hit paydirt in Manchester, TN, where we found a nice state park ... read more

After leaving Harriman, we had two days before we were scheduled to be back at Massacre Rocks so we decided to make a swing through western Wyoming for a quick visit with Bob’s nephew, Pat Renz, his wife Lori, and their sons Patrick and Andrew. We first passed through the southwestern corner of Yellowstone National Park. We had spent several days in Yellowstone in 2007, so we didn’t take time for much sightseeing there on this trip. We came out of the south exit of Yellowstone and dropped down into Jackson Hole, the beautiful valley almost completely surrounded by rugged mountains. Our destination was the resort town of Jackson, located at the southern end of “the Hole”. We soon entered the Grand Teton National Park and followed US 26 along the edge of Jackson Lake. We ... read more

Near the end of the last ice age (about 14,500 years ago) most of what is now Utah and parts of Nevada were covered by Lake Bonneville. In what was the second largest flood in the geological history of the world, the lake was drained through a breach in the natural dam at Red Rock Pass, flowing down the channel of the Snake River. The flood lasted several months, and the water flow at its peak was four times that of the Amazon River. Huge boulders (some bigger than a house) in its path were rolled hundreds of miles, smoothed and deposited along the Snake River where the park is located today. Fast-forward to the mid-19th century. Pioneering settlers in covered wagons are heading west along the Oregon Trail, which in southern Idaho follows the Snake ... read more

We left Lewis & Clark State Park on June 19, and headed south. We have about 2 weeks before we are due in Idaho, and our plan is to head down to Colorado to do some exploring. We have been on several ski trips to CO, but haven’t spent much time there in the summer. Our first stop was Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora, ND. Teddy Roosevelt came to the N Dakota badlands in 1883 to hunt bison, only to find the population had been almost hunted into extinction. He became very enamored with the lush grasslands and beautiful rock formations in the area, and before he left he bought a cattle ranch, followed by the purchase of a second ranch the following year. When his wife and mother died (on the same day) in ... read more