June 16 Leaving Maryland, our next destination: the Berkshires in Massachusetts, about an eight hour relaxing drive from Maryland if you are not traveling with Destination Dave. After leaving the congestion of routes I-95, the Garden State Parkway and 84 we took route 7 north of Danbury, CT and began what I had hoped was a lovely drive along one of my favorite New England roads. Destination Dave needed decompressing from his big city driving experience to morph into It's The Journey Dave but I enjoyed my portion of this peaceful trip when I was behind the wheel“up” memory lane in spite of my occasional white knuckles. The Thaddeus Clapp House Bed and Breakfast in Pittsfield, MA was a comfortable, well appointed old mansion convenient to Stockbridge and Lenox, where we planned to explore the many ... read more

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: 2009 GREAT WESTERN ADVENTURE WEEK NINE: NORTHBROOK, IL TO SARASOTA, FL : THE LAST LEG Tuesday, July 21 There were fond farewells to Ellie and Lou as we took off mid morning for the table top flat land around the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. I had a delightful reunion when Dena, Mandy’s nursery school teacher, met us near I-74 to give us a tour of the campus. The Illini Union was as beautiful as ever but I stopped at the university building most memorable to me, the Krannert Center for Performing Arts where, under the direction of Dr. Harold Decker I had joined the University of Illinois Oratorio Society in singing Daphnis and Chloe, The Creation and Beethoven’s 9th among many other wonderful pieces. Champaign-Urbana is the home of John Phillip Sousawho ... read more

KELLEY AND DAVE’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE The Big Trip West…Notes From the road: WEEK EIGHT. Thursday, July 10 . All was quiet on the Eastern front until the plumbers started drilling and banging on the pipes at 7am installing the Fire Department Connections. But the sun was shining and a cool breeze made it a very pleasant morning. Dave and I had our breakfast then joined the kids at the town Bakery Shoppe for a morning treat. I had a ginger and apricot scone while Dave had a chocolate glazed donut. We needed to walk off those calories so Dave and I walked the route of the house tour I had taken yesterday which gave him the opportunity to see another side of Rehoboth. By 11am it was too hot for town so we packed up and ... read more

WEEK SIX: CHOTEAU , MT TO CUSTER , SD Tuesday, June 30 We took our time leaving Choteau lingering over long expanses of soft green prairies and buttes and memories Jen’s hospitality,. Civilization seems an ugly interruption of this lovely land. The Ulm Pishkun State Park, ten miles out of Great Falls is the historic Buffalo Jump of the First Peoples. For hundreds of years the Great Plains Indian Tribes hunted buffalo by driving them over these and many other cliffs. To get to the edge of these impressive cliffs you must walk through a prairie dog town on top of the butte. It was fun to listen to the chirping animals send their warnings to their colonies and then dive into their burrows as we approached. We tried to imagine a thundering herd of buffalo ... read more

WEEK THREE: WALSENBURG , CO TO TELLURIDE, CO Tuesday, June 9 The drive to Le Veta brought us through the wide open spaces of the Front Range giving us a dramatic view of the snow covered Spanish Peaks and the Greenhorn Mountain Wilderness Area. To the north and west were the Sangre de Cristo Mountains . The snow still clung to these mountain peaks surrounding this lovely valley giving us a wonderful taste of what’s to come. We followed the precise directions up to Valley Winds, Marta and Dave’s llama ranch in the mountains outside the charming little town of Le Veta . As we approached the ranch we saw amazing “dikes”, natural volcanic outcroppings rising from the mountains’ edge looking from a distance like an enormous rock wall snaking its way down the mountain. These ... read more