Shenandoah in July: Why Big Meadows Won Us Over (8/16/2026)

We decided to go camping in Shenandoah National Park for a few days during the last week of July. We booked a spot at the Big Meadows Campground and headed off with our new Airstream World Traveler. I am happy to report that we had a blast – an absolutely wonderful time. The campground is huge with 221 camp sites, and it was mostly full, but it never felt crowded. It is just down from the Big Meadows Lodge. The temperatures were at least 10 degrees cooler than in the lowlands. It was in the mid-70s (22 degrees C) during the day and low 60s at night. It is off-grid, but we never missed the electricity that would be needed to run the air conditioner.

After arrival we spent two full days there. Friday evening was very busy, but that’s understandable, the park being so close to Washington, DC. We left on Saturday, so I have no idea what that looked like during the rest of the weekend.

We did three hikes: one up the highest peak in the park (Hawksbill Peak – 4051 feet), the other around the lodge on the Appalachian Trail, and the final one to the visitor center and back from our campsite (the Story of Forest Trail). On the first evening we walked on the main trail though Big Meadows. We left our dogs in the camper during the Big Meadows walk and Story of Forest Trail walk. The temperatures were sufficiently cool, so we were not afraid of them overheating.

On Friday evening we decided to treat ourselves to dinner at the lodge. Cooking in the Airstream is easy enough and usually very good, but it was nice to go on a date. My wife ordered smoked chicken and I had the trout. Both meals were good; the chicken was so generous that it came back home with us and was enjoyed a second time. I washed my trout down with a Big Meadows IPA, specially brewed for the lodge. For dessert we had blackberry ice cream enjoyed on the deck while watching the sun set. We were visited by a Chinese lantern fly, a pest that is slowly invading the eastern U.S.A. and wreaking havoc on the natural ecosystems.

Our overall opinion is that we need to return. It was delightful. This was our third camping trip in the Blue Ridge, this one in the National Park and the other two were along the Parkway in Virginia: the Peaks of Otter and Rocky Knob Campgrounds. While they were all off-grid, and we liked all three, Big Meadows was our favorite. The other two are tied for second.

Over the past three years we have camped quite a bit and if you are a regular reader, you must have noticed that we do not often stay in National Parks. The reason for this is that National Parks often do not allow dogs, and we always travel with our two beasts. The only other one we stayed in was Big Bend National Park which we absolutely love. But even there, no dogs allowed on the trails.

It is such a shame what the current administration is doing in Big Bend National Park. They are bulldozing a perimeter road and there is talk of constructing the famous border wall, completely screwing up the ecosystem. And this is an area with the lowest number of illegal crossings. It would take days of wandering in the desert to get somewhere.

It is not the case that we avoid U.S. Government camp sites. We love U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sites. In fact, one of our favorite sites was the East Totten Trail Campground (and <here>) in North Dakota.

Wow, although we are no longer camping rookies, we are still Airstream newbies and learning a lot. Where will our next trip go to?

Sunset on the Big Meadows

Big Meadows

Our site at the campgound

Below the Lodge

Hawksbill Peak

Virginia Campgrounds (8/4/2026)

I have spent some time in state parks and campgrounds in Virginia and surrounding states. I wrote about it a long time ago <here>. That was 2016 and I think that it is time to update this after 10 years. It includes a couple of additional state parks that we visited and a few that I forgot in the initial post.

1. Hungry Mother – This park has great cabins and great hiking. We stayed there in a cabin one time and camped there once. The camping was done during the partial solar eclipse of 2024. We enjoyed both stays, camping was good. Restrooms were clean and well maintained. This is one of my favorite parks
2. Grayson Highlands – We camped there twice once more than 10 years ago in a tent and once in our Transit. It takes some driving to get there; it is remote. It felt Alpine and yes if you like to hike it is great. It is a day hike from Mount Rogers the highest peak in Virginia. It is also on the Appalachian Trail. In the tent we were visited by the wild ponies, while at the slightly lower campground we spotted a bear. Restrooms are clean and well maintained.
3. New River Trail – A great (mountain) bike and walking trail that I visit a lot. Just look in my label list for Draper and you will find lots of entries ranging from the descriptive to the philosophical.
4. Shot Tower – On the New River Trail, just interesting to visit.
5. Claytor Lake – I visited this one for one or two hours for a hike and to look around. If you have a bass boat and like fishing, this one is for you. They have nice looking modern cabins. This one is not for us; we like hiking and biking.
6. Douthat – Another very favorite state park. We have been here twice, and stayed in log cabins that were built in the 1930s, or camp. Great trails for hiking. We absolutely love the place. I have multiple short entries and photos in my blog on this park; just look at the labels.
7. Shenandoah River – Another great park. Stayed here three times, twice in spring and once in late summer. We enjoyed it tremendously. We combined nature hiking with visiting some of the wonderful wineries in this area.
8. Sky Meadows – When we visited, this was only a hiking park with access to the Appalachian Trail, and I am not sure if this has changed. We had a great afternoon hike on the trail. I went solo another time.
9. Westmoreland – Nice park, along the Potomac River, near some nice wineries, Washington’s birthplace, and general Lee’s home. In other words there is a lot to do and a lot of history and culture to be had. On the beach you can even find geologic shark teeth. We stayed in a cabin three times and camped once. We had a lot of fun during all visits.
10. Belle Isle – A very new park; it is very flat and good for walking. We visited twice, once for a hike and we camped the other time. Make sure you have tick protection during the hikes.
11. York River – This is our home state park. It has great hiking, kayaking, canoeing, mountain biking, and riding trails. No camping or cabins. We enjoy going there and walking through the marshes and we kayaked there as well.
12. Kiptopeke – Looks great. We just drove through it to the shore to look at the concrete ships that were sunk as breakwaters just off the shore.
13. First Landing – A great park with great hiking trails. Cabins are really nice here. We stayed there once.
14. False Cape – We spent a day in March walking from Virginia Beach to North Carolina and back. It was all along the beach, looking at wild horses and shore birds.
15. Chippokes Plantation – Another “home state park”, although I’ve only been their once for the annual peanut festival. It looks nice for the rest, and we really need to rent one of the cabins one of these days.
16. Pocahontas – We go there for retreats of our church, and DCR had their annual personnel award ceremony there. It is great hiking, biking and kayaking/canoeing.
17. Holiday Lake – I was there once for a conference. It was nice. Not much else to say about it. It was far removed from everywhere.
18. High Bridge – This is another bike trail. I did this a number of times and started in Farmville. I have a number of blog entries on this park as well.
19. Twin Lakes – Interesting, this is an historic black state park. The cabin we stayed in was right at the lake and was really nice. It is more a recreational park. Hiking was fair and not well developed. We visited right after a storm and there were a lot of trees down. The story is that camping in a trailer or RV might be interesting, access is difficult.
20. Occoneechee – This is a park on a lake near North Carolina (Kerr Lake). You can guess that this is a park for people who have a bass boat and fish. It is a new park with great cabins but not many trails. We enjoyed our stay, but should have brought the kayaks instead of the mountain bikes. I actually wrote about it <here> in my blog.
21. James River – One of our favorites. It is a dark sky park. We rented a cabin twice. But we visited the camping areas and they looked good. This place has some wonderful hikes. It is very remote, bring everything you need.
22. Machicomoco – This park is 20 minutes from our home. It is brand new and developed to celebrate Pocahontas and Native Americans who lived in this general area. We go there at times to go hiking. It has a camping area which looks nice but very exposed and has little shade.
23. Caledon – We visited this park once for a hike. It is on the Potomac near Fredericksburg. The hike that we did was great.
24. Natural Tunnel – This is probably the most remote park (at least from where we live). It is almost at the point where Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky meet. We were camping there and loved it so much that we asked to stay another two days. The hiking is magnificent. One minor issue were the stink bugs that we picked up.
25. Clinch River – Located in SW Virginia, I visited the area (St. Paul) and went on a day hike one morning after visiting the region for work. This is a protected river watershed and at the time of my visit there were some trails but no amenities yet.
26. Bear Creek Lake – Another park in fairly remote central Virginia. Good hiking, a nice lake for fishing and swimming. We stayed in a cabin which was good, very much like all the other modern cabins in the park system. Friends of ours stayed there but were not enthralled by this park. At the time of our stay, it was important that it was relatively close to Richmond (about an hour and a half).
27. Fairy Stone – Another remote park, known for its famous fairy stones. We tent camped here once. It is a nice park with some great hikes. We never found a fairy stone but did find an arrowhead. Like with James River State Park, I would bring in everything. It is a drive to the store, but then again, the store is near the fairy stone area, which is actually not located on the state park.

Wow, this is quite the list. Virginia has 44 state parks, and we visited 27 of them. We stayed or camped (sometimes both) in 13 of them; we just hiked or visited the other 14. Feel free to add your likes, dislikes and additional campgrounds below in the comment section.

Next time I'll post some more details on non-state park campgrounds in Virginia.

A little bit of a teaser.  Recently we camped in the Shenandoah National Park.  This photograph was taken there, but more about that in a future post.

Rooting for the World (7/19/2026)

I have been watching the FIFA World Cup and rooting for the country of my birth, the Congo, which was eliminated; the country where I grew up, Curaçao, also eliminated; the country of my original nationality, the Netherlands, eliminated as well; the United States, the country of my current citizenship, eliminated in a somewhat embarrassing way; and Belgium, because when I was born, the Congo was still a Belgian colony. No wonder I feel somewhat conflicted. Am I a man without a country, a man with too many countries, or simply a man of the world? Let’s assume it is the latter: a man of the world, free to root for any football team I choose.

As you may know, I have traveled extensively, lived in at least eight countries, and experienced a great deal. Let’s not even talk about all the countries I have visited. The other day, at our UU church, we did a word association exercise. When I heard the word “free,” it took me back to a day in late April or early May of 1979. We had been under a two- to three-week siege in Uganda, fearing for our lives almost daily. One day, just after noon, we heard tanks and heavy equipment approaching the front gate of the Leprosy Center where we worked. At first, we feared this might be the end. Then, suddenly, we realized they were Tanzanian soldiers. We had been liberated. We were free. The compound erupted with screaming, celebrating people. It was amazing to witness. We celebrated for the next couple of days. The strangest part came that on the evening of our liberation, when we listened to a Radio Netherlands broadcast. After the news, our names were announced as missing, with a request that we call home if possible. That moment captured what freedom meant.

In every country where I have lived, I have experienced something special—some moment that felt like freedom. I may not remember the earliest ones. We left the Congo when I was one and a half, moved to Belgium, and left there when I was three. Perhaps my birth itself was a kind of freedom: freedom from my mother’s womb and into life. My first real memory of freedom came on December 5, 1956, in Curaçao. I was three and a half years old when my father told me Sinterklaas had brought me a brother. Sinterklaas is the Dutch equivalent of Santa, except that we celebrate him on December 5. My brother was born that day, and I still remember my disappointment. I had asked Sinterklaas for a sister, but he gave me a brother.

The moments when I felt most free during my youth were usually spent in or on the water—swimming or sailing—or alone in nature, strolling through the bush and observing the world around me. I think I was awkward, a loner, and a bit of an introvert, with maybe one or two friends. I was never bullied or ostracized, but I do remember feeling different. My first-grade teacher told my parents, and me, that I was highly intelligent and would become a professor. My second-grade teacher hated me. I received many beatings from her with a ruler. I am sure I was no sweetheart, but she broke a yardstick on my behind almost every week. Corporal punishment was common in those days, especially in her classroom. I complained to my mother, and she told me, “The next time she does it, get up and walk out of the class to the principal.” Well, I got up—but instead of going to the principal, I walked home, more than an hour in the stifling tropical heat. Free at last. The teacher never reported my absence, so my mother eventually reported it to the principal. Things improved after that: freedom from the daily beatings. I still remember the teacher’s first name: Babs.

Has my ultimate freedom come with retirement? I wish. I am now the president of our church, I still have a mortgage, and I now have a loan for the Airstream. In addition, I depend on the government for Social Security and Medicare. I pay taxes and need a license to drive. I had better stop here. No, I am not a libertarian, but I am as free as I can be—or at least as free as I can feel. Maybe freedom is not the absence of obligations, but the moments I spend on the water, in nature, and out in the world: listening to a concert, traveling, and camping. I hope you feel free too.

We were happy to watch Spain win, although it would have been wonderful for Messi and Argentina as well. We had no strong favorite, which left us free to watch the game without bias and without ties to either country.

We were kayaking the other day (after a long hiatus).  It felt great to be on the water again!

From Transit to Silver Bullet (06/27/2026)

(with some excuses for some repeats).

After three years of camping, we realized we enjoyed it enough to up our game. Our Transit van was a lot of fun, but it had a low roof. As we often tell people, changing clothes — or putting on clean underwear while lying down on the bed — was getting old. So, we have been looking at campers since we got back from our trip to Michigan last year. We've visited dealers and found a few that we liked. 

And then I started to do my research. Online research can be fun, especially Reddit. There were a lot of good and bad comments about the brands we had been considering. Some folks really liked one manufacturer, others thought that they were crap. Did we want a slide-out? The questions did not stop. Then the questions about weight and tongue weight. What kind of vehicle can tow such a behemoth? Do you need a weight distribution hitch (WDH for short) and anti-sway-bars? We even visited friends to look at their unit and setup; we wanted to know what their experience was. Our heads were spinning. 

We were almost ready to put our money on a 21 foot Imagine. We had some great conversations with the salesperson and were asked to put a refundable $2,000 down to lock it up while still thinking about it. That request turned the tide against the dealer. It felt, if not exactly like a scam, then at least like a way to apply psychological pressure. Then came the advice to have it inspected by a third party, even though it was new. It seems that the dealer that we were talking to did not allow that. And that did it. It even gave us stronger doubts about whether this was the right move. Is this particular dealer selling crap? The somewhat high-pressure sales approach and the refusal to have it inspected made us decide to look elsewhere. We ended up visiting the Airstream dealer that we had visited some 5 years ago. 

Yes, we ended up buying an Airstream. Our decision was based on the looks of these campers, but also on the quality and resale value. They are more expensive, but they felt right. After looking at various models we decided on a World Traveler, and the reason for that was the V-berth like beds, which makes it easier for us old folks to get in and out of bed in the middle of the night. We have now owned it for two and a half months. I wrote the first draft of the current post during our second trip in our new rig, while sitting at a campsite in the mountains of Virginia. All I can say is that this was the ultimate act of self-love, buying a new truck (Ford F-150) and an Airstream; a silver bullet. We named her Abigail, and then I read today that Abigail means: Father’s joy. Wow! 

The new Airstream and truck

What have I learned during these two camping trips, the drive home from the dealership, and the drive back and forth to the dealer for a small warranty job? First, it is definitively an upgrade from the Ford Transit we have camped in during the past three years. But then it is also less maneuverable than the Transit. You have to plan which gas station can handle you and the long setup we now own, or which parking lot is large enough for a shopping trip or lunch. We have to drive slower with a 22 ft (7+ meters) trailer behind us. When it comes to electricity, the camper has 300 watts solar and 200 watts storage in lithium batteries. The second site (Peaks of Otter) we camped at had no hookups (or shore power) and we never ran out of power. That site also had no water, and three days were about the limit of our freshwater tank. I have already researched how we can conserve water and we may be able to stretch it on our next trips. Lastly, we discovered that we are getting older. We are both in our early 70s and noticed that we need more breaks and limit the driving time to less than 4 hours (or less than 200 miles). We are just getting tired much earlier than the good old (younger?) days. Tired drivers are dangerous! 

From here on out, you will get occasional trip reports from an Airstream. We are definitely not slowing down and will report on some of the trips we will be making. Stay tuned!

Relaxing during our second trip

Sucking the Marrow Out of Retirement (05/21/2026)

It has been more than a month since I have written here and updated the world on what I have been up to. I am not planning to stop or disappear from the written word or the world, but these past five to six weeks have been absolutely jam-packed with excitement or activity.

It all started out with the delivery of our new travel trailer or camper: an airstream (model, World Traveler). We got a Ford F-150 the week before, so we had something to tow the airstream with. I drove the airstream home with a friend and backed up into our driveway in the dark. It was all successful. But we had applied for a loan to pay for all this, and that was the stressful part; all the hoops we had to jump through. We can afford all these purchases, but a loan made sense from an investment strategy.

Our neighborhood had a community wide yard sale three days after parking the trailer in our driveway. On a whim, I put a for sale sign on our camper van, and to our surprise we got an offer on the van that we could not refuse. Next was getting the van ready, emptying it. But we also needed to outfit our new rig. On top of that, my wife took off for California to visit the family. Followed by an exciting board meeting at our UU church (of which I am the president) where we decided to follow our principle and spend around $80,000 to put solar on the roof of our church. That weekend we had our annual cluster meeting where all the local UU churches come together. This was followed by a trip to the airport to pick up my wife. Subsequently, we needed to get ready for our shake-down cruise, our first (weekend) camping trip with the new camper, to figure things out. Mixed in to all of this is managing the church contracts for solar and another meeting or two. And here they tell you that life gets slower when you retire.

The word life, reminds me of a YouTube clip I watched where someone old stated something like “I don’t know how much longer I have to live, but I want to make the best of it: I am going to make sure that I use and enjoy the remaining time to the best of my ability.” This reminds me of the words Henry David Thoreau wrote in Walden: “Suck out all the marrow of life,” or “when I came to die, discover I had not lived.” I have noticed that you become more aware of your mortality when you grow older. “How much time do I have left” has been going through my head. It hasn’t stopped us from buying the camper; currently I am planning a three-to-four-week trip through the Canadian maritime. I hope to do this early in September. But first an off-grid trip to The Peaks of Otter campground on the Blue Ridge parkway to celebrate our 49th anniversary. Interesting fact, Thomas Jefferson thought that the Peaks of Otter were the tallest mountains in the entire USA.

So yes, life sometimes gets in the way of writing my blog posts, which are a form of diary for myself as well as an update to the rest of the world. I promise I will keep doing this as long as I can; but maybe not that frequent.

The airstream arrived in our driveway!  We are still debating where to place it.

Camping in Westmoreland State Park.  We decided to cook our first meal outside, which we will probably do with more.  It was just very pleasant to be there with the dogs.  Westmoreland is one of our favorite parks.  We have stayed here at least three other times in the cabins.  This is our first time camping. 

Our first meal in the new camper.  We cooked steak, fried potatoes with onions and peas.

More detailed account of our Sept. 2025 trip - Part4 (11/3/2025)

So now it was time to turn the front of the vehicle towards the south and southeast. That morning, we headed to the so anticipated Mackinac bridge. This is a 4.9 mile (8 km) long bridge that is 200 feet (61 m) above the water. It has four lanes (two each way) with the center lanes over a metal grid; in other words, when you look down you can see the water. This bridge seems to unnerve enough people that you can rent a professional driver to shuttle you across. Not for us, it actually was a fun easy drive across in our Transit on our way to Traverse City.

Little did we expect that the drive through the northern part of Michigan would be so beautiful. We fell in love with Charlevoix (another French name) and Traverse City. The next day, we stopped over at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Park on our way further south. Sleeping Bear Dunes is another place we need to spend more time at during a subsequent visit. It is absolutely all that it is made out to be. That afternoon, after a nice hike through the dunes, we drove south to Weidman via Pontiac. But first lunch and coffee in the parking lot at the park. It is nice to be able to do that in the van. Our Anker Solix (no I am not sponsored by them) has been an invaluable during this trip; we had no problem brewing our own coffee while just sitting in a parking lot.

The KOA in Weidman was at least better than the one we visited on our way up; the owners had really made an effort, but our site selection was somewhat dismal. Our neighbor, a welding inspector from Texas, had been living there for a couple of months. When he returned from work, he sat outside a spoke very loudly over the phone with his brother who had his birthday. We learned more about that family than we wanted to know. We now learned that inexpensive sites come with their own challenges. But then the cheap off-grid $10 and $20 sites are sometimes much better.

We had missed Holland, Michigan, so this Dutchman had to go there. We first stopped in Muskegon at the Hackley and Hume Historic Site and had a nice walk along the harbor. The father of a dear friend of ours grew up in the Hackley and Hume house in the 1930s. The windmill and the New Holland Brewing were on our schedule for that late afternoon and evening. Holland reminded me a little of what I left in the Netherlands. For example the Dutch Reformed Church (de Gereformeerde kerk or Zwarte Kousen Kerk = Black Stockings Church), there were four on one block in the beautiful center of town. Shops in parts of the town were closed on Sundays, another relic from old Europe. The architecture downtown was charming.

The next day we went further south, with the Hocking Hills in Ohio on our radar. We left the interstate highway after a beautiful hike in Hudsonville and headed south to Bowling Green, Ohio. A little piece of highway near Kalamazoo and then we drove relatively narrow farm roads to our motel. While driving, we wondered how many people would enjoy the narrow rural farm roads and observe farm life, like we did. It was absolutely delightful; corn and soybeans were yellowing which cast a wonderful fall vibe to our drive. The next day down to the Hocking Hills we tried to do the same thing but eventually could not avoid the hustle and bustle of the highways around Columbus, Ohio. We did stop for a very brief walk at Stepping Stones Park in Upper Sandusky; another place where after exterminating all the native Americans we memorialize them; at least that was our feelings after visiting the place.

Hocking Hills is a must-visit place. It was crowded, but that is not surprising since it was a nice warm Sunday afternoon. We had a great hike in the canyon. The most expensive space at the KOA in the area gave us a concrete pad where we finally could get rid of some of the sand we had picked up in Michigan. We have an outdoor rug that we put out, and oh boy, did it accumulate a lot of sand during our beach camping nights

This brings us back to the post about September’s trip that I started out with; Douthat State Park. I hope that I did not bore anyone to death with these travelogs. Let me know. I have tried to add a few of my observations and thoughts in this four/five-part series and tried to stay away from a travelog that goes like: we went here to here and then here; although that is unavoidable. I promise, my next posts will probably again be more political, philosophical and educational. Moreover, one of these days I will write about my impressions of America after four extended trips through this amazing country. But I encourage all of you to travel, see your country and learn from the folks who’s lives you touch in your daily lives and during the trips you take.

Fall in Central Ohio

Hiking in the Hockin Hills, OH

The Hackley Hume Historic site

Camping in Weidman, MI

More detailed account of our Sept. 2025 trip - Part 3 (10/23/2025)

Back down the peninsula we go. The area was lovely to drive through. It has a mixture of agriculture fields, pasture and forest. There were some signs that winter was approaching: the trees started to show their fall colors, the corn and soybeans were yellowing and ready for harvest. We stopped at a road-side cheese store (Renard’s Artesian Cheese) or tourist trap, but that was ok. Wisconsin is the cheese state after all. The cheese was good but probably overpriced. Once we rounded the southern tip of Green Bay, we pointed our rig northward and saw the town of Green Bay speed by us at a distance. Later that day we wondered if we should have visited the town; however, our time to run around is short, and the cheese shop and our lunch stop delayed us enough and we reached our camp site around 4 pm.

We had a great lunch in Oconto at a funky coffee shop (The Shop on Main). Afterwards we went for a brief walk on the Oconto Marsh Bird Trail. We saw a few wood ducks, but I found the trail a little disappointing; you just should not expect many birds around noon. Ice stop in Menominee (Michigan) then up Highways 41 and 35 to OB Fuller County Park.

OB Fuller is in Bark River Michigan. It is situated on Lake Michigan, and we got a spot right on the beach. It was a wonderful place, but little did I realize how sandy Lake Michigan shore is. Even at the bath houses had a hose in front of the entrance asking people to wash the sand of their feet outside before going to the bathroom or taking a shower inside. In other words, sand is everywhere. I am still surprised we did not get sand in our bed; but I can still find sand in the van. The park was nearly a dark sky park. We loved sitting outside drinking a glass of the wine we bought at the cheese shop that morning and just enjoying the night sky, the sound of the waves on the beach and the honking of the Canada geese. The camp host was very nice and helpful, but she complained about her medical issues including her colonoscopy bag. I am amazed that she was still doing this. But it is a free space to stay for the season and that might be a savior if you are indigent or need to make some money while relaxing. Our mostly quiet and private neighbors could barely be heard; it was enjoyable to hear them play guitar and sing softly in the distance. After walking around, we decided that next time we should take a spot slightly inland, on the grass. Yes, there will be a next time; it was very enjoyable, and we plan to come back.

We departed for the Big Knob campground, the next morning after breakfast and a shower in the bathhouse. Big Knob was the campground that was highly recommended by our fellow steamship voyagers a few days ago. On our way there we got groceries in Gladstone, and lunch in Manistique. TAB 21 was a neat bar with some good bar food. We walked across the street to a tourist store named “The Mustard Seed.” The next stop was the Seul Choix Pointe Lighthouse.

Some of you may know that in January I will join Clay Jenkinson of “Listening to America” and “The Jefferson Hour” fame at the Lochsa Lodge in the Idaho Bitterroot just west of Missoula, Montana (here are two accounts of my visit this past January <part 1><part 2>). This time we will be spending a week discussing “Jefferson and the West.” I am required to read a number of books in preparation for this workshop and in Donald Jackson’s Thomas Jefferson and the Stony Mountains I learned that the UP (Upper Peninsula) of Michigan and the northern part of the lake were part of a trading route between French Canada and New Orleans. It was also settled by the French. Hence the French name for the lighthouse. The point on the peninsula was an important navigation landmark for the travelers. It seems that after the Louisiana purchase the future (short-term) President William Henry Harrison was instrumental in informing the traders that they were now passing through territory owned by the USA.

Big Knob State Forest Campground was our destination for the night. It is located just south of the hamlet of Engadine, Michigan. We had a 7-mile dirt road drive, our second of the day; the trip to the lighthouse also required a dirt road trek. Big Knob turned out everything that it was promised to be and more. It is a primitive campground with no running water or electricity, but it had a hand pump well that yielded potable (drinking) water and a pit toilet. There was plenty of room at the campsite and we chose a spot behind a vegetated dune close to the lake. We had a nice interaction with the couple neighboring our site. They had a daughter with them who appeared to be in her early teens and on the “spectrum.” When we arrived, the girl was running around in a cat-suit, hopping around and digging in the sand. She acted shy, and the parents were nice. They told us they were from the northern part of the UP and came here for a week to relax. They could do this because they homeschooled the girl. The couple were amazingly decked out with a 500 liters water tank, loads of firewood and a generator which they used for about an hour to charge their house battery. The lady was in a sleek long black dress. In general, what we noticed during our travels, adults that travel with children during school season like this couple are homeschoolers and probably more conservative politically. We once overheard kids telling each other that in regular public schools you enter in the morning as a boy and come out that afternoon as a girl. I think that says it all!

At Big Knob I walked in Lake Michigan, it is very shallow. The only negative about the park were the mosquitoes so we spent the evening inside the van to avoid most of them. The next morning, we had a wonderful hike through a marsh-sand dune region. The dunes were completely vegetated with white cedar, maple, aspen, and pine with an understory of ferns, blueberries, wintergreen and cranberry. Of course, many more species, but this was what I casually observed. Nature was impressively abundant, and we spent an absolutely amazing time in the northern regions of Lake Michigan including Wisconsin and the UP of Michigan. To think we only explored a thin sliver, probably less than 25 miles wide along the northern edge of the lake. Little did we expect how gorgeous it was, and we need to come back to explore more.

Next, the return trip.

Camping on the beach at OJ Fuller

The night sky

Seul Choix Pointe Lighthouse.

In Lake Michigan

Hike in the woods at Big Knob

More detailed account of our Sept. 2025 trip - Part 1 (10/9/2025)

Looking over the railing we watched the lighthouse slowly drifting by. Quick a selfie. Soon, the vastness of the open space. Lake Michigan. The boat slowly started swaying and rocking on the waves of the lake. Not badly, but it was perceptible, especially when you watch the horizon. Just a pleasurable experience.

We are standing on the front deck of the Ferry “The Badger.” Built in 1953 as train ferry to shuttle trains between Ludington, Michigan and Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Now it only ferries vehicles across the lake. We are six days into our fall trip. A trip that will eventually take 16 days. It is taking us, somewhat on a whim, on a drive around Lake Michigan, or so we thought. This was partially prompted by the fact that Wisconsin was the only state in the lower 48 (for the non-US residents, these are the US states excluding Hawaii and Alaska) that I had not set foot in, and partially to try something new this year. We had yet to go camping in our van. I miss it. But, we did not want to do another cross-country drive to Los Angeles this year.

The initial plan was to drive up the eastern coast of Lake Michigan and down the west coast. As we all know, all good plans have the option to change; we wanted to stay away from driving in heavy city traffic. All said and done, we decided to drive to Ludington and take the car ferry across to Manitowoc. We would then eventually drive north along the shore of Lake Michigan and cross back over on the Mackinac bridge (a 5-mile long very tall bridge). Both were somewhat anxiety evoking to my wife. Honestly, both were very pleasurable crossings, and absolutely no anxiety was needed (more later).

You are required to travel a few days when you live in Virginia and want to catch the ferry across Lake Michigan. The first two days were spent at the Shenandoah River State Park, where we hiked and visited the Shanandoah National Park. We hiked 2 miles on the Appalachian Trail which gave us some gorgeous vistas of the Shenandoah valley.

After crossing 5 state boundaries (in order: Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, back to West Virginia and then finally Ohio) we ended up at a camping near Lisbon, Ohio. It was a nice ride, but the camping was so, so. The camping included a good education on how some people live. The manager (or camp host) was a gal who lived with her husband and two kids in a nice large trailer. They had moved to the area from Montana for his job at a nearby refinery. It seemed that the couple just moved from job to job. Follow the money. Then she would pick up some odd jobs here and there, while home schooling the kids. However, this year their oldest had wanted to go to a real (public) school. The next morning a school bus dutifully stopped in front of the camping to pick her up.

We visited friends near Ann Arbor the next night and in the morning, we continued our trip to Ludington. I had screwed up and booked the ferry a day earlier than intended. It meant postponing our planned trip to Holland, Michigan to our return trip. Once in Ludington we visited a microbrewery in town and to the delight of our dogs spent a night in a motel room. In the brewery our dogs provided a rich source of interaction with the folks around us. I do not remember any earth-shaking interactions with folks in Ludington. The beer was decent, but the pizza was strange and fair.

Getting on the ferry and the ferry ride itself was a different story. It was rich with human interactions. Folks with dogs get singled out and their vehicles are boarded last. We had fun walking the dogs before boarding and interacting with fellow dog owners. On board you kept running into the same folks and mid-voyage you were escorted down below to check on the pouches. We really got to know one couple with whom we discussed their vehicle set-up (Ford F-150 pickup with a hybrid package and a camper shell), in particular because we learned that they drove to Alaska in 2024. They also gave us the name of one of their favorite camping spots on the UP (upper peninsula) of Michigan.

The ferry ride was absolutely fun and relaxing. The ferry (the Badger) is an old coal-fired steamship that was built in 1953. Naturally, that fact created a bond between me and the boat, since I was born the same year. The boat served as a railroad ferry, and you can still see the railroad tracks on the boat’s vehicle deck. The ride was 4 hours and the waters on the lake were relatively calm. The boat has two restaurants/snack bars, gift shop, museum and of course the famous Badger Bingo.

The Badger

Breakfast in Manchester, MI

Lighthouse selfie

Boarding the Badger (see the old train tracks?)

Happy 2024 (1/8/2024)

The first week of 2024 is already past us and I noticed I haven’t updated my blog in a month or so. I guess writing every other day during the month of September and now trying to develop a personal photo book on our travel (self-published and heavily critiqued by my wife) has exhausted my writing skills. However, I do owe you an update. Moreover, I tend to write a review of the past year and I have not done that yet. It is crazy how fast time goes.

It has been an eventful year, ranging from the death of my father-in-law in February, to our purchase of the camping van in April, to our retirement on June 1, our trip to the west coast in September, after all the foundation work in August. This was capped off by my solo-trip and camping in the Kannapolis area. Per my previous post, I visited the area to attend a bonsai show. The rest of the year was more or less on cruise control.

Getting older is interesting. I am increasingly becoming aware of my mortality. I mentioned before that I think that getting old sucks. The other day my wife and I could not figure out why the stove wasn’t working. We bought an induction stove and the frying pan we have regularly used on that stove wasn’t working any longer. After approximately 10 minutes of trying and diagnosing, I suddenly noticed that we were trying to turn on the wrong burner, which was why the stove was giving us an error message. We are getting dense! That entire day we joked with each other about our impending senility. Still, it bugged me.

It has been a decent year for us. Retirement is good. While it is a sign of getting older, it beats the alternative. I was made to feel really good during my “Jan’s big goodbye tour,” and that will always stay with me. The cards, hugs, compliments and even a lunch date with the staff of Virginia Beach all made me feel special and good. It seems that I did make an impact during my career. I hope that I can consider that my legacy; well together with maybe this blog (this blog turned 10 years old this past June) and what we can do for my daughter and the environment. Come to think of it, I need to look at my top 10 posts list and see how life has changed over the ten years. The top 10 list is posted on each page of my blog in a column on the right.

The number one cliché of retirement is that you will be busier than when you were employed. Darn it, they are correct, although we have finally settled into a routine. We go to bed around 11 to 11:30 and wake up between 7:30 and 8. It seems that after reading the newspaper, breakfast and walking the dogs we usually start our day around 11:30. At least our Fitbit shows that I have an average of 12,000 steps each day. In other words, we are no slouches; we are very physically active. September was the month with the fewest steps. That was because we sat in the van and drove back and forth across this great country.

My bonsai (my true hobby) survived my absence. I have a major spring replanting ahead of me, but we will cross that bridge when we get there. I have been doing some pruning and wiring these past few months in anticipation of this spring task. Only one tree died this year, and that was before we left. Plants looked healthy throughout the year. Based on some of the stuff I saw on Mirai (a learning platform I follow) I treated my plants with diatomaceous dust in spring, I fertilized too little perhaps, but treated all plants with bone meal right before we left on our trip in August. Mirai is finding that silica and calcium are two under-rated or under-used elements. Diatomaceous dust contains silica and also functions as an insecticide. Bone meal provides calcium. The plants reacted beautifully to the two treatments.

To conclude, I am looking forward to 2024 and really hope to continue my writing and thinking. I hope you all have a great, productive year.

My evergreen bonsais enjoying sunny, relatively warm weather (50 degrees). 

Getting old sucks! (12/7/2023)

Getting old sucks! It really does! The past weeks have been menacing, period. Here I thought that retirement was easy street but forget it. I feel more stressed now than when I was working. Let me explain.

For one, multitasking is getting more difficult to do. Then there is making decisions, it seems that all the decisions I have made lately are rash decisions that come back to bite me in the behind; in other words, I seem to make the wrong ones or maybe costly ones. I feel more stressed out, compared to when I was working, and of late more anxious. Having read that anxiety may be an early warning sign of a pending heart attack does not help., it heightens the anxious feeling. Having joints that hurt more and more is another of my symptoms of getting old. Finally, there are the peeing issues at night when my full bladder wakes me up or first thing in the morning. It seems that I need to take the dogs for a walk (after coffee, the newspaper and breakfast) before the dam breaks. I can come up with a few more reasons why getting old sucks, we’ll find out by the end of this post (if I don’t croak from that heart attack first).

The details please! Except for the urinating issue, I have been detailed enough on that subject in the previous paragraph.

What happened in the past few weeks? It is mostly a combination of things. The news on things like the war in Israel; the state of our climate; the rating that our current president is getting even though he and his government are doing good work; we can go on. Reading the obituaries of famous people like Sandra Day O’Connor, Mel Brooks, or even Kissinger doesn’t help. These all contribute to my state-of-mind. Guess I am feeling my mortality. On top of that everything seems to go wrong in our home.

I mentioned that we had work done on our crawl space. We needed to get this done after we discovered that our toilet leaked all over our floor when we flushed. We had known that this would most likely happen since the builders of our home had made a huge structural mistake (in 1970). As part of this work, we had the entire powder room taken out and decided that we were going to put it back together by ourselves. This was going to be our first item of business when we returned from our trip in October. Deciding what materials to use and how to install everything took us some time, but I decided to work on it maybe an hour or two each day. Then we were able to borrow a wood splitter from friends to finally split the huge amount of wood that had been in our back yard since March. In other words, another week or so of no bathroom work. I think there is a saying about hell being paved over with good intentions.

In the meantime, we decided to throw a dinner party for friends and finally to make good on an item we sold at our church auction, a pizza dinner for four. We need to heat our pizza stone to 500 degrees (F) to successfully bake pizza in our stove. Lo and behold, here we notice that the glass in the interior of our stove had burst. Quick order a new glass so that this (YouTube) do-it-your-self guy can replace it. Once I got what I thought was the correct glass, we had problems. First the door did not come off the way YouTube told me it should. I found a work around, but then the glass did not fit, and we cannot find a replacement. Time to buy a new stove and postpone the party until the stove was delivered.

We decided that we wanted an induction stove to replace our gas stove. We had read that gas stoves fume off gases that are bad for the lungs, especially lungs of asthmatics. Well Donna is asthmatic and after some research we decided to check out LG. We found a nice one on sale at Lowes, or so we thought. After some good research we went for it; however, these rookie non-gas/glass top cooks bought an electric stove instead of an induction stove. We found that out after the installers had put it in and we briefly turned it on. We asked the installers to wait for us to figure it out, but they took off with our old stove, never to be seen again. Here we had a new stove we did not want. The weekend before we had bought some new steel pots and gave away some of our favorite aluminum pots and pans; aluminum does not work on induction. We spent almost the entire rest of the day wanting to return our new stove and looking for a replacement. Naturally we had already canceled the pizza dinner. We were now envisioning having to postpone the new date that we had agreed on since we expected to have to wait for the next stove.

It gets worse and worse, don’t worry. For a new stove to fit, I had to widen the opening in the countertop by maybe a half inch. I bought a diamond blade for my circular saw and went to work. I installed a guide for my saw, but halfway through it slipped and now my cut wasn’t even. Panic and disgust not only from me but also from the wife (“look what you have done to the resale value of our home” … honestly, I thought we were going to live here for at least another 10 years and by then the new owners would want a new countertop). We can and will fix that with spacers in between the top and the new stove. However, another week of powder room fix up lost. We finally received our induction stove, and we are happy for now.

For months I had planned a trip to the Winter Silhouette (bonsai) Show in Kannapolis, NC. Should I stay or should I go? I had booked a campsite in the Salisbury area. By Friday noon I got the assurance that it was OK for me to go on my solo trip even though Lowes was picking up the stove that we did not use as a return. I had a great time at the show on Saturday and around 5 pm I went to look for my spot.

Next issue. The camping was closed, gated up and what looked like, no way to get in. I had told them in my reservation that I would be late, especially since the website said that the office would close at 5. What to do, but to find a motel room. Finally, after checking in and dinner during a call with my wife she encouraged me to check my voice mail (about the stove removal). I had turned my phone off during the show. Well, there was also a message from the camping giving me the secret number to one of the padlocks on the gate (the gold one). Damn or better fuck, here I wasted another chunk of money on something I did not have to. I had my eyes on a bonsai that was for sale at the show, but it cost as much as my room and that Thai dinner I had (I was planning to make macaroni and cheese from a pack that night).

I went camping the next night and it was nice and relaxing. It brought down the anxiety level, but I just cannot look back at these days wanting to complain about old age. I know this is a long post, but as my wife tells me, I need to take time to relax and take it the way it comes (and express myself … sorry Madona).

Our busted stove

Enlarging the slide-in opening

Relaxed after a night of camping, ready to take on the world again

Best if show bonsai (American hornbeam)

Another favorite, a bald cypress

Advice anyone? (10/12/2023)

How would I have reacted as a 55-year-old if I, as my current 70-year-old self, was able to return and tell that 55-year-old self what to do, how to live his life, or what not to do? Or how would I react right now when my 85-year-old self returned with all that advice, if I even make it to 85? An interesting question, isn’t it? I based this question on a YouTube video I saw, in other words, I am not that original, but it got me thinking.

We recently came home from our trip across the country. As I wrote <here>, we followed part of the Lewis and Clark Trail going west, but had to cut the voyage short, and dropped south to the Los Angeles area after we got to the continental divide <here>. At the divide we came upon (one of) the source(s) of the Missouri river. When they reached the divide, the Lewis and Clark expedition spent some time in this general area, meeting the Shoshone Indians, figuring out the trail further west, and negotiating for horses. Lewis celebrated his birthday during that stay, and he wrote the following “self-assessment” in his diary:

"This day I completed my thirty first year, I reflect that I had as yet done but little, very little indeed, to further the happiness of the human race, or to advance the information of the succeeding generation. I viewed with regret the many hours I have spent in indolence, and now sorely feel the want of that information which those hours would have given me had they been judiciously expended. (Spelling corrected by me)

I dash from me the gloomy thought and resolved in future, to redouble my exertion and at least endeavor to promote those two primary objects of human existence, by them the aid of that portion of talents which nature and fortune have bestowed on me …"

The man who led the expedition to open the west had self-doubt and did not think he had achieved anything to further the happiness of humanity. Lewis discovered and described a large number of new plant and animal species. He described the medicinal use of these plants by the Indian population he came across. He studied the various tribes they encountered. In fact, he greatly advanced the information for succeeding generations.

A few years after their return, Lewis reportedly committed suicide. Some say he was murdered, but the interpretation of events has been questioned. Regardless of Lewis’ untimely death, if his older self or we were able to go back now and tell him what a hero he would be considered, or how revered he now is by humanity, what would have happened? Would his depression have lifted, or would he have quit and gone home, would he have lived to a rip old age? We will never know, will we? But I had that thought on top of the divide: if he only knew.

Wow, this is a post with a lot of question marks, I feel like I haven’t found that key in a lot of my posts. But this question got me thinking. What would I like to tell my 55-year-old self that I know now but did not know then? Or conversely what would I like to know about me in the future 15 years from now? (when I told my wife what I was pondering her immediate answer was: “eat more vegetables.”)

My posts go back only 10 years, so I have no reference here. This blog started out as a photo diary anyway, and I have never kept a diary to find out where my head was at the time. I was most likely unemployed sometime in 2008. They had closed the office where I was working; thank goodness I had a few consulting jobs and the conditions of my lay-off were good. In addition, I was drawing social security during the weeks I had no consulting income. It was tight, but we weren’t hurting.

It was around this time fifteen years ago that I was getting excited about a job with the state that I applied for and was about to be interviewed for. We all know now that this was the job that I was going to get for the next 14 years until my retirement. Is there anything that I would have told myself to dissuade me from taking the job? Hell no, there have been very few moments that I hated the job or regretted taking it. I love to teach and that’s what the job turned in to. Eat more vegetables? I lost around 20 lbs. since then and I have been able to keep them off. Yes, I would love to lose an additional 20. The only thing I can come up with is: “follow your bliss.”

What would I want to learn from my 85-year-old self? I am not sure, I currently love life and I just hope that I can hold on to it for another 20 years or so, of course in good health. On a positive note, my financial advisor estimated the other day that I will live to the ripe old age of 92! Guess, I need to eat more vegetables and salads. This post isn’t a “rest of my life resolutions.” As I mentioned in that post, I hate resolutions. But this was something I was pondering after that YouTube video where the maker asked exactly that question: “what advice would I give my 10-year younger self about van life?”

Lemhi pass, the continental divide and the border between Montana and Idaho.

The supposed source of the Missouri River in Lemhi pass

The valley where Lewis camped and celebrated his birthday

Nomads, the conclusion (10/8/2023)

We are home arriving a few days ago. On arrival we felt both happy and sad at the same time. Happy to be home, sad that it was over, thirty-four days of travel of which most of them on the road. Yes, we spent a week sleeping on a guest bed at our daughter's and four nights in a motel bed, but we did spend the majority of those days that we slept in a motel in the van.

Here is a summary of our itinerary, listing the places we spent the night: (Home –) Twin Knobs Campground, Cave Run Lake (near Morehead, KY) – Babler State Park (near St. Louis, MO) – Big Lake State Park (near St. Joseph, MO) – North Sioux City (SD) – Gettysburg (SD) – East Totten Trail Campground (near Coleharbor, ND) – Miles City (MT) – Lewistown (MT) – Great Falls (MT, two nights) – Dillon (MT) – Logan (UT) – Cedar City (UT) – Henderson (NV) – Long Beach (CA, a week) – Kingman (AZ) – Flagstaff (AZ) – Albuquerque (NM) – Alamosa (CO) – Dodge City (KS) – Lee’s Summit (MO) – Rend Lake (near Mt. Vernon, IL) – Ashland (KY) – Natural Tunnel State Park (VA, three nights) (– home)

 

We drove 4695 miles going and 3277 miles returning. This makes sense considering on the way there we ended up north in North Dakota. I don’t know the exact amount of fuel we bought, but at 18 miles per gallon I can estimate that we burned 440 gallons of gasoline. This could have been less if we did not have to idle the van to keep our doggies cool.

We visited or drove through: VA, KY, IN, IL, MO, NE, IO, SD, ND, MT, ID, UT, NV, CA, AZ, NM, CO, KS, MO, IL, IN KY, TN, VA, a total of 19 different states. Personally, I added North Dakota and Nevada to the list of the states I have set foot in. Before this trip I had been to all the other states on this list. How long did we spend in these states? In total we spent 8 nights in CA, MT 5 nights, MO 3 nights, VA 3 nights, SD 2 nights, UT 2 nights, KY 2 nights, AZ 2 nights. We did not sleep in IN, IO, ID and TN and in the others only one night. Does this reflect our love, enjoyment or dislike of a certain state? To some extent, we really liked Montana and Missouri; in addition, we drove from one side of the state to the other (east to west, and in Missouri again from west to east on our return trip). Both states are big, but yes, we enjoyed both and fell in love with Montana. Kansas was liked least <here>. While I loved the countryside in certain areas of Kansas, we were bothered by all the feedlots, the looks, the smell that they produce and as a result the huge number of flies we had at our camp site. It was almost too much and it made us wonder if vegetarianism was the answer. Getting the hell out of Dodge seemed appropriate.

What did I or we learn from this trip? This country is damn big! No wonder it took Lewis and Clark so long to get across <here>. I realized that I still miss the desert, or maybe being an arid-land ecologist, observing all the changes in the plant life. I am and will stay a biologist or ecologist at heart. You read that folks complain about the monotony of the Great Plains; however, to me this area is fascinating. This includes the land use, differences in vegetation and most likely soils, the prairie potholes, the limitless sky, you name it. Moreover, I realized during the trip that the desert still remains my second love (after my wife/family/dogs of course). I have often written about forest bathing and my love dor wandering in the wood; I even presented a sermon on the subject. Yes, we drove through forests in Montana, New Mexico, Colorado and even in Missouri, Kentucky and Virginia, and loved it. However, I wonder if traveling through and spending time in the prairie and desert gives you the same benefits as experiencing the forest.

What did we learn about camping? You run out of time! Our van is small, and with two dogs we tend to cover the bed, a place where they spend most of their time while driving. The cover is used to keep the allergens (read dog hair) off our pillows and bedding. It generally took us 30 to 45 minutes to set the van up for sleeping once we decided it was time. Getting ready to get on the road in the morning is a different story. We never got on the road before 9:30. Stowing everything and cleaning up takes a long time. Thank goodness we both have our tasks and overall, it went very smooth. Usually, Donna would walk the dogs while I got the van ready for sleeping and driving the next day. I would make coffee in the morning while the dogs got their walk and breakfast, and at night I would make our evening coffee while Donna did the dishes. But still, it is a process to arrive at a site and depart the next day.

A little about camp sites. We stayed at commercial RV sites, KOAs, US government and County sites, and a town park. While KOAs started out as the last resort, they are the most expensive, later in the trip they became a great fall-back option and actually a preferred option at times. We found that commercial sites packed as many campers or RVs into their places as humanly possible. The sites were on gravel, which is a pain for the dogs, and two of the sites were next to livestock holding areas, smelly and teaming with flies. With the possible exception of the camping in Lewistown, MT, we left none of the commercial sites with the thought that it was so nice that we should return soon. Commercial sites charge around $50 per night.

KOAs are generally cleaner, have larger plots per camper, often have trees, clean restrooms and shower facilities, recreation facilities, a store, and sometimes a restaurant of sorts attached to it. Now, if you are passing through this may not be important, but it is nice, albeit more expensive. The cost for a night is close to $80 or even higher in desirable locations.

We fell in love with the State and County parks in Missouri and Virginia. They are relatively inexpensive ($20 to $35) and as good or better than the KOAs in my opinion. They miss the miniature golf, camp store and swimming pools, but they are clean, have nicely spaced sites and are well managed. With the special government pass, the US government sites are $10 per night. We stayed at one in Kentucky and in North Dakota. They were the two favorite sites on our trip. Finally, the city park site in Gettysburg, SD <here>. It seems that some of the small towns in the mid-west have opened their city parks to camping. They even provide electricity, water, bathroom and shower facilities to the weary campers. This is all for free, but a donation is welcomed. Moreover, you are expected to spend some money in town. We had breakfast at a local coffee shop the next morning. We loved the place and will return.

Something we never realized is that the public camp sites, like those owned or operated by the federal, state, or county governments have camp hosts. We encountered a camp host for the first time during our camping outing in July <here>; I wrote about them thinking they were unique; however, I now realize how ubiquitous they are. Hosts are folks that are volunteers who stay in the campground for free and manage things. At the campground in Lee’s Summit, Missouri and Rend Lake, Illinois <here> they even handled the registration and money. Camp hosts will bring firewood and ice to your camping site, and they all seem to drive around in golf carts to check on you and occasionally to chat. Now the town park site in Gettysburg <here> had no host and we were all alone, but the sheriff lived across the street.

As I mentioned above, we stayed in motels four times during our trip. Three of them were weather forced, in North Sioux city we read 108 on the thermometer <here>. In Cedar City we were hit with thunderstorms, and just outside Las Vegas we hit the heat again <here>. We had agreed to meet up with our friends who were moving from Yorktown wherever our paths crossed and stay in a motel <here>. The dogs behaved in the motel rooms, so it was actually not bad. Motel rooms are more expensive than camp sites and therefore are something to avoid.

Concluding this long post, we had fun. Will we do something like this again? Yes, probably but we need to plan the season better to avoid extreme heat, cold or inclement weather. Thirty-four days? Who knows, but first some shorter trips exploring our immediate area and the East Coast.

Google gave me a location map for September, and this shows the route we took.

Our dog Jasper is happy to be home, not to wear a harness and cuddle with mommy.