Washington's and Oregon's rolling hills and well maintained roads aided our completion of the trip to Redmond. The magnificent mountains in Oregon provided some foothills we navigated and also some outstanding scenery for the Good Sam Rally. With over 3000 rigs parked in a variety of lots surrounding the Deschutes County Expo Center buildings we enjoyed a variety of activities including looking at new RVs, browsing through vendors offering “must have” stuff, seminars provided by vendors on new concepts and information, and opportunities for meeting others the Good Sam way. The Good Sam CEO gave very inspirational presentations to Life Members explaining his efforts to make the Club and supportive organizations user friendly. The evening entertainment offerings included Vince Gill's concert delayed by rain and Peter Noone's (Herman's Hermits) electrifying performance ... read more

Stampede Parade. Friday the 8th begins before dawn with dressing in the Rounder uniform and remembering music, mouthpiece, water bottles, uniform fanny pack (in New Zealand it's called a “Bum Bag”), etc. Driving from our RV park to the hotel for a buffet breakfast and school bus transportation to the parade is a breeze with little traffic. After loading the truck with instruments we board the buses and rendezvous with other bands at a local high school. At the appointed hour we caravan, with police escort, through barricaded streets, non stop and direct to our band mobilizing area for the buses to park for the duration. The Visiting Band Committee has arranged a “watering hole” at this spot since the parade begins and ends here in its rectangular pattern and dehydration has been a problem in ... read more

Whitewater Rafting. Gathering at 5:45 AM we sign the necessary waivers and board vans for an hour and a half ride across the plains and into the mountains, crossing the Continental Divide at Rogers Pass. This is an excursion put on by Malmstrom AFB's Outdoor Recreation Dept which provides all the gear and guides. We begin donning our wetsuits, PFDs, helmets, etc and receive a very thorough safety briefing. We're told that the water is 58 degrees (the soakings we receive later feel a lot colder) but that doesn't stop some of the younger folks from taking a volunteer swim. Our first 7 miles is a smooth paddle as we learn how to sit on the side of the inflatable, jamming our feet into the space between the floor and sides as an anchor, and paddle ... read more

Cheyenne to Hardin, MT A beautiful day in the western US. The morning dawned clear and cool and we got underway at around 0830. Light traffic, rolling hills and a memory of a nice group of people at the Flying J while filling up. In fact, you have to thank the Nebraskans for their positive outlook on life. Flying J is going through corporate computer challenges in their merger with Pilot and it makes customer relations a piece of work. We again saw full rivers, creeks and ponds and non moving power generating windmills. Stopping at Hardin, MT in a nice commercial campground we participated in an ice cream social with accompanied conversation about traveling and local activities. We learned that the local Flying J had a problem last week with contaminated fuel and that we ... read more

Wednesday morning, 22 June, and we pulled out of our Florida driveway on the road to Calgary, Canada. It was hot already in the Sunshine State but with both the coach A/C on (supplied by the generator) and its RV driver's A/C we were comfortable. Traffic was reasonable until we reached Gainsville, naturally, but we pulled in to Ft Rucker, AL's RV park and enjoyed a great evening among the trees. Underway the next day we enjoyed the hills and green landscape of 'Bama and into Tennessee, crossing over the border into Ft Campbell,KY’s RV park. Again the camp hosts were excellent and friendly and steered us to the largest PX in the Army. Of course getting around the base is a challenge for us Navy types but it was great to mingle with the young ... read more