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Welcome. Tomorrow morning Nancy and I depart on a two month road trip across mid-America. I’m calling it our “Freedom Road Trip” because we have been captive in and around our home since March. Fortunately we are both still healthy and ready for the road. Here’s a rough itinerary for us as we slowly work our way North:

24 June … Depart home, RON’ing in Perry, Georgia

26, 27 Jun …. Mammoth Cave NP, Kentucky

28, 29 Jun …. Kentucky Bourbon Tours near Lexington

30 Jun – 2 Jul …. Wisconsin Dells

3 – 12 July … At Nancy’s brothers house in Jim Falls, WI visiting friends & Family in the area

13 Jul …. Bemiji, MN

14 Jul … Minot ND

15 Jul … Malta, Montana

17 – 19 Jul … St Mary, Montana (touring Glacier NP

20 – 23 Jul … Travel to, tour around Yellowstone NP

24 – 27 Jul …. Fairplay, CO … visiting friends etc

28 Jul …. Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP

After this we are uncertain … will go South to I-10 … stop and visit friends in Albuquerque, Tucson, head East with stops in San Antonio, New Orleans, Ft Walton, and Panama City … then home.

I will be posting on our blog every day or so so you will know where we are/are going.  Hope to be home mid- August.

See You Tomorrow!

24 June, 2020 … Wednesday …. Got an early start and made it to Perry, GA early in the afternoon. Hot day … raining tonight. Nancy made a very good dinner and we are now catching up on our emails, Blogging, and watching TV … yup … That’s what Camping is all about … the air conditioner makes it difficult to hear the TV but them’s the hardship you face out on the road. I didn’t take any pictures along the way as it was just hiway pictures. So instead I will give you a little tour of our camper. Here ya go:

We drove 332 miles today … will continue tomorrow. Hopefully, we will be in Cave City, KY right next to Mammoth NP. See you then.

25 Jun 2020 … Here we are in Cave City, KY. We drove across Georgia, through Atlanta (right through the middle), up to Chattanooga, TN, then straight North cross country all the way across TN and into Kentucky. Was a kinda long day but pretty country … traffic was light (except in Atlanta) so it was a fun day. Didn’t stop anywhere special so all my photo’s today are from the drivers seat of the RV. Hope you don’t mind … Nancy thinks I’m crazy taking shots through the windshield and across the cab but … how else you gonna take a picture at 65 MPH?

Ok … Hope that was not too boring. Tomorrow morning we are off to Mammoth Cave … no camper movement. We are in a small campground .. a few folks out camping … not too many. So far 750 miles.

26 Jun 2020 …. Friday … Mammoth Cave National Park …. It was a cave and it was Mammoth. Nearly 400 miles of caverns, tunnels, etc carved into the Kentucky Sandstone a Long time ago (we only explored about 350 miles of the cave). When we made our campground reservations here a few weeks back, the proprietor recommended that if we wanted to do the cave tour when we were here we should book the tour in advance … so we did … and boy, were we lucky … the place was booked solid all day. It is not that there were so many people, just the way they have the tours laid out to insure social distancing and crowd avoidance, there are fewer, much fewer, tours a day. There was only one type of tour available, a 90 minute self guided tour of the main cave. That filled the bill. We had reservations for an 11:00 tour so we were all set. Sleep in a bit, couple cups of Joe to get started and we were off to Mammoth Cave. Our campground is about 5 or 6 miles from the park so it was a easy find. Even had time for a cup of coffee once we got there. The cave is impressive. We have been to several other caves around the country, and world, and never saw quite like this one. Most caves are shafts or tunnels that lead from one huge room to another. Mammoth is mostly just large tunnels that go on for miles and miles. The tunnels vary in size but stay under 20 feet in diameter or so. There is evidence of prehistoric man living and working in the cave, then modern man in the 1800s tried mining Saltpeter for gunpowder and another outfit tried growing mushrooms (a common thing in France). Today the cave is under the protection of our National Park System and hosts thousands of visitors per year. Here are some pictures of the cave … photography is difficult in the cave because you cannot use a flash and it is pretty dark inside.

Hope you enjoyed that … we did. The temperature was about 85 when we went in … it was 54 in the cave …. and 92 when we came out. The walk back up the trail was a little more effort than the walk down so we rewarded ourselves with an ice cream (Salted Caramel if you must know) … perfect ending to a nice tour. There is not much else to see here in Cave City, Kentucky … Half a dozen Rock Shops, a Water Slide, Canoeing (which we plan to do in Wisconsin), and horseback riding. Tomorrow we are off to Lexington hoping to find a Bourbon Distillery that’s open and doing tours … See you then. Oh, by the way, some of the photo’s I downloaded from the internet so you could get a good look at the cave … can you guess which I took and which were from the internet?

27 & 28 June, Saturday and Sunday …. Short wet story here folks. We left Cave City on the morning of 27 June with Versailes, KY as our destination. Our original intent was to get to the campground and check out the area … maybe see a distillery or so (We are now on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and ready to tour some distilleries). When we left it was raining, along the way it rained harder … and harder. We traveled North on I65 to the Bluegrass Parkway and turned East towards Lexington. The Blue Ridge Mountains are beautiful with abundant trees, everything is green … very nice. We got as far as Bardstown, designated “The Most Beautiful Small Town in America”.

We noticed the Kentucky Bourbon Trail started right there … and there were several distilleries right there to start with. So, we drove in. The visitors center was very nice and offered a lot of information, souvenirs, and … Bourbon. After a brief chat with the nice ladies that womanned the information booth we found that almost none of the distilleries were doing tours because … guess … of the COVID-19, and only some were doing tastings. Some were closed completely to visitors but many had their welcome center/sales spot open in case you needed some bourbon from them. We said “Thanks” and went to another distillery just down the road … the weather was bad, we didn’t really have that far to go, so .. why not? Here’s a couple of pictures from the reception center:

The Distillery we visited was the Willets Family distillery that had a long and interesting history. They once sold out in the 1980’s to a company that was going to produce ethanol. They crashed in a couple years and the daughter of the founder, took the place back in the 1990’s just when Bourbon was regaining popularity. She has ran it since and it is doing well. We were lucky in that they had an opening for a tasting a little while after we arrived so we booked it and had a Latte while we were waiting. Two things happened during the tasting … 1. I enjoyed the variety of the bourbons they offered and 2. Nancy decided she did not like bourbon all that much. At the tasting we were each provided a small glass and we were invited to taste any of their products. A hostess poured in just a taste of the bourbon. Interesting but not intoxicating. We left and decided to try a few more distilleries using a guide the ladies at the first place had provided. We found no tours available and the tastings were all booked until Monday … I guess that happens on a rainy weekend. Here is a shot of the bourbon tasting: (No, She is not Muslim!)

One of the most interesting aspects of the distilleries is the huge warehouses they use to store the barrels as they age. Keep in mind these bourbons age anywhere from 4 to 50 years so you need a place to keep them. The science is interesting in that they use the increase in temperature as you go to the upper stories to produce different tastes … who would’ve guessed? Lastly … A bit of trivia … There are some difference between Bourbon, Rye, Whiskey, and Scotch … mostly the mash used to make them … However, Unique to Bourbon … It is always made in NEW white oak barrels … each barrel is used only once to make bourbon, then it is passed on to make Whiskey, Rye, Scotch, wine or brandy.

So that was our Bourbon Tour Experience. We were scheduled to spend two nights near Lexington but there was nothing there we wanted to do so we just camped one night … one rainy night with no internet or phone service.

We got up on Sunday morning, hooked up the Jeep and left. We stopped in Versailes to go to church, then headed North to Frankfurt (the Capitol of Kentucky) and had a nice breakfast at Starbucks. We decided to head back West to Louisville, then North towards Indianapolis. Thus, here we are in Columbus, Indiana where we are in a nice campground, the sun is shining, we had a nice dinner at a brew pub, and now we are catching up with our duties. We have logged just over 1000 miles so far and all is well. Tomorrow is another short day and we will be stopping at a State Park near Bloomington, IL. See you then.

29 & 30 Jun 2020 – Here we are at Sherwood Forest Campground located in Beautiful Wisconsin Dells … Wisconsin. Been an interesting two days … at least one was. We camped last night in a nice County operated Campground (Colanta Campground) near Hudson, IL. It was nice, quiet, not many people there so it was a restful stop. The drive up from Columbus was fairly routine … BIG Indiana farms, lots of corn, soybeans, etc. Excellent farm country … I get excited every time I go through it. A small set of buildings, usually a nice house, a large machine shed, and several grain storage bens, then really big fields.

We left Hudson this morning enroute for Wisconsin Dells. More farm country, crossed into Illinois, smaller farms, a few more towns, more traffic (Indiana and Illinois have the WORST roads in America. Indiana had the highest gas prices and Illinois has tolls all along the way but they must spend their money somewhere else cuz it sure isn’t on their roads!! Anyhow, we made it into Wisconsin and continued North.

We stopped at lunchtime in Madison to visit a friend and classmate of ours. Lynn Bruley retired in Madison after working for the Wisconsin Court System for many years. We had a delightful visit with Lynn and her Cat Olive, caught up on the class news, had a delicious lunch and left mid afternoon. Thanks Lynn … very nice and very good to see you again!

We arrived in Wisconsin Dells later in the afternoon, got our campsite, set up, unhooked the Jepp and went exploring Wisconsin Dells. Nancy and I were both raised just about 100 miles from here but neither of us have ever spent any time here. They have just about anything a family on Summer vacation could want. Boat rides, (Ducks, Speed boats, tour boats, dinner boats) water parks (both indoor and outdoor), go cart tracks, deer petting zoos, I even saw the Coliseum and the Trojan Horse!

So tomorrow we are off doing exciting things … Lotsa pictures coming your way … till then I will load a couple teasers before I sign off. But first we have chores to do tomorrow. We have been on the road for a week now, traveled 1503 miles, been in rain, heat, cool, and muggy weather so tomorrow morning Nancy has the wash to do, I have to change the sheets on the bed do a little policing up around the camper. See you all tomorrow!

1 July 2020 – Wow … What a Place! We did two boat trips, saw all sorts of cool things, met some nice people, and had a great day … and we got our chores done as well. As I mentioned earlier we spent the morning doing our chores … got them all done by noon or so. We drove down town to the Duck Boat Tour place and bought ticket s for the Duck boat tour … and they were offering combo tickets for the afternoon Upper dells Boat tour at a drastically reduced price so we bought that too.

So lets talk about the Duck Boat tour … The Ducks are WW II landing craft that some guy got a great deal on through Army Surplus. He refurbished a bunch of them and offers rides through and around the lower (below the Dam) Dells and surround ing area. They hold about 15 people or so, make a lot of noise, but are really cool. Our driver was a young man who grew up locally and was a college student at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Very nice young man, well spoken, rotten jokes. Anyhow, we boarded the boat and started out tour in a parking lot. Here’s a duck:

So we went through a bunch of woods, up and down hills, past all kinds of ferns, and finally got to the water.

So then we “Drove down the river” … Lotsa people out enjoying the river doing all sorts of things. The Wisconsin River runs across Wisconsin and flows into the Mississippi at Prairie Du Chien, WI. It is unique in that it has 29 Hydro Power dams along its course because it runs so deep and fast. It was once used to float logs from Northern Wisconsin to sell in New Orleans …imagine that! Anyhow .. here’s some pictures of the river and all the stuff going on along it:

The River is a deep brown color … looks like its muddy but it is not. As it flows through Northern Wisconsin it picks up Tannin from various pine trees forests that make it look like a dark tea … this coloration, and source, is used in teas, Colas, and coffees. Can’t taste it, it won’t hurt you. The Unique aspect of Wisconsin Dells is that the Sandstone deposit here forces the Wisconsin River, which is normally quite flat, wide, and shallow into a narrow, deep gorge that runs for about 20 miles creating the grandeur of Wisconsin Dells.

So then we went out of the Wisconsin River and into Lake Delton. In 2008 Lake Delton’s dam broke and took out a bunch of homes, trees, and dirt on it’s way to the river. Since repaired it is again a beautiful lake.

So Then we drove through some more forest area … The tour was quite interesting and the Guide had a great presentation as he drove along. The forest was as interesting as the river.

So that concluded out “Duck” Tour. Highly recommended, Highly enjoyable … a fun time.

I promised to show you some of the local scenery … So here it is:

All these things are available for your entertainment and fun. Water Slides, Amusement Parks, a big firm has bought up many of the little local hotels and made them into a huge Roman Resort … all interesting stuff.

We decided to go on the Upper Dells Boat Tour in the afternoon so we made our way over there and got on board. Bigger boats, interesting but maybe not quite as exciting. The sandstone you see along the river actually only occurs four places on earth … Germany, Switzerland, New york and at the Dells … the stone on the surface at the Dells is the largest of the four deposits. we saw something like them in New Zealand … they were called pancake rocks along the West Coast ….Here are some Photos of the Upper Dells boat trip:

We stopped two times during this tour … The first was at Witches Creek which was a “Glacial Melt Canyon”. This is a cut into the sandstone caused by glacier melting. It got very narrow, was very interesting.

It was about a 10 minute walk from the dock to the concession stand. The walls were higher and higher and more and more narrow.

The other place we stopped was Standing Rock … It is a large flat rock on top of a tall pillar of rock. There we witnessed the “Jumping Dogs of Junu County” Tourists could once make this leap but lawyers ruined that so the insurance companies stopped it. Here are some photos from there:

So that was it for today … A load of fun … exciting stuff. Met a few people in the campground that were out. The COVID has had a big impact here. Many people are not going out, some are, businesses just opened up but without adequate help. Many of them use foreign students who now cannot get VISAs to come in. Quite the mess. We continue to be careful, wear masks when appropriate, and avoid sneezers, coughers, and nose drippers. Been doing okay so far. Tomorrow we plan to visit the “House On The Rocks” built by some guy who was trying to diss Frank Loyd Wright. We read a book where it was featured. More on that for tomorrow. Meanwhile … Happy July. Here’s a better picture of the Dog Jumping:

Oh … One last thing … They have a lot of Moose here … we see them everywhere … Here’s a Photo of some of them:

2 July 2020 – The House on the Rocks … Before I start with the house let me say this about Wisconsin (Nancy and I were both raised in Wisconsin, about 100 miles North of Wisconsin Dells). In June and July, everything in Wisconsin is Green … The forests, the crops, the pastures, the rolling hills, everywhere, everything is Green. So the drive to the house was about 50 miles so I took some windshield shots along the way … here they are:

Before I start my story allow me to post what a newspaper write once said about the house:

Jane Smiley wrote this about the complex in 1993:

Though most people outside of the Midwest have never heard of it, the House on the Rock is said to draw more visitors every year than any other spot in Wisconsin. Also in the Wyoming Valley, but on top of a huge monolith, the House on the Rock reveals the spirit of its builder, Alex Jordan Jr., to be as single-minded and eccentric as Wright’s, but in substance almost absurdly opposed. … And it is hard not to be overwhelmed by the House on the Rock. The sheer abundance of objects is impressive, and the warmth most of the objects exude, the way that the toys ask to be played with, for example, makes the displays inherently inviting. But almost from the beginning, it is too much. The house itself is dusty. Windowpanes are cracked. Books are water damaged. The collections seem disordered, not curated. In fact, there is no effort to explore the objects as cultural artifacts, or to use them to educate the passing hordes. If there were informative cards, it would be impossible to read them in the dark. Everything is simply massed together, and Alex Jordan comes to seem like the manifestation of pure American acquisitiveness, and acquisitiveness of a strangely boyish kind, as if he had finalized all his desires in childhood and never grown into any others.

That said, let me say we throughly enjoyed seeing “The House on The Rock”. You cannot actually “see” the House on The Rocks because it is closely surrounded by rocks and trees. You must get a feel for it by walking around inside which quickly became confusing. It is claimed that the builder, Alex Jordon Jr., was shunned by Frank Loyd wright, who also lived in the area, so Jordon set out to prove he could build a special home. It was added to a number of times during his lifetime then he sold it shortly before he died. The buyer also added to it as well as increasing the number and size of the many collections there. The result is a confusing labyrinth of rooms, hallways, and walks that lead you from one area to the next … all filled with collections of nearly anything you can think of or imagine. The rooms are all very poorly lit (I think mostly to hide the 50 years of dust that has collected everywhere) with small beams illuminating some of the favorite collectibles. I do not mean to project a negative opinion or picture but the house is both interesting and frustrating at the same time. Consequently you finish up kind of impressed but kind of confused and disappointed. I suppose the best thing is to see it for yourself if you ever get the chance and see what you can make of it. Here are some pictures I took. I took many more but because of the poor light and distance between the viewers and the displays, most of them came out out of focus. Here’s the best of them:

So that was The House on the Rock. We spent about 2 to 3 hours going through it and glad we did … although I would never do it again. One of those interesting one time things. The number and amount of collections, and the eclectic nature of them keeps you on your toes.

3, 4, 5, 6, 7, & 8 July 2020 – So … sorry I have been delinquent about posting but between spousal demands, holiday revelry, and poor internet service I have not had a chance to update anything. Let’s Ketchup!! On the 3rd we drove from Wisconsin Dells to Nancy’s Brother’s house in Jim Falls, Wisconsin, just North of Eau Claire (pronounced Oh Clair). We had time to golf 9 holes at Wissota State Park’s Whispering Pines Golf Course and met Deb, Brian’s wife for dinner at Pine Drive Supper Club. The 4th we played 9 holes of golf with Brian and our nephew Alec and the afternoon we spent on the Chippawa River tooling around on Brian & Deb’s new Pontoon boat … very nice.

That night we drove over to Paradise Shores in Holcomb and watched a awesome fireworks show over Lake Holcomb:

On the 5th we spent the day floating above the Dam on Old Abe Lake … got a nice light burn.

On 6 July we drove over to Galesville, WI and spent the afternoon with my cousin Marge and her Husband Tom Patzner. A long game of Up & Down the Creek and best of three playing Euchre pretty filled in the afternoon … then a nice dinner at a local Golf club and we were on our way back to Jim Falls. Thanks Marge & Tom for a lovely day. 7 July we did chores most of the morning then in the afternoon we did some shopping at WALMART and then had a very pleasant dinner with Zack Wittke and his wife Sharol at Re-Pete’s Supper Club in Black River Falls. Zack is a High School classmate of Nancy and mine and he and Sharol are featured in our Iceland Blog. Great couple … good friends. On 7 July we drove up to Northern Wisconsin to a lake area where Nancy’s family once had a cabin on a lake called Bass lake. It connects to Long Lake and a bunch of other ones via little channels that vary in size, near Gleason, Wisconsin. Nancy’s Cousin Tim Ludwig, his Wife Diane, daughter Jamie and a small herd of kids were at the cabin enjoying the water (it was 90 degrees here today!) … it was good to see them all again. On the way up Nancy commented on how much Farmland there is in Wisconsin … American’s Dairyland!! (New State Motto … “Come Smell Our Dairy Air!”) Then we drove over to where two of her second cousins have homes on the same lake. Stewart was not home but his brother George Lemke was so we had a beer with him and met his daughter Jeanie and her husband. Then we drove farther around the lake and spent a few minutes with Nancy’s cousin Curt Fenske who has a home there. Then home and tonight we are having dinner at Old Abes Supper Club .. it’s been closed, is a favorite of ours, and we are looking forward to going. So now we are caught up. More tomorrow. Thanks for waiting.

9,10,11, & 12 July 2020 – Another ketchup posting …. again … been busy, poor internet, the dog ate my homework …Hmmm. Anyhow, it has been a great weekend, we are camped in Lake Haley near Chippawa Falls, WI, just had a great Pizza and a couple beers with Deb an Brian before we said our farewells. Tomorrow morning we head North on Hwy 53 until we get to U.S. 2 near Superior , WI, then take a left and head due West to Bemiji, Minnesota … where we will spend the night. Thursday was rainy and we were tired so we just vegged out in the camper. We went shopping, did a few odds and ends, then we went to Alma Center, WI and picked up Nancy’s other brother Dennis and took him to the Castle Hill Supper Club located half way between Merrillan, WI and Black River Falls, WI. After a couple;le of Brandy Old fashions we had a fine Prime Rib dinner and a pleasant evening.

Friday morning we got up and I started taking the camper down as we were going to drive it South to Ontario, WI which is the Kayaking Capitol of the Kickapoo River. We got there early and after a little Kabookie dance with camp sites we settled in for the weekend. Nancy and I, Brian & Debbie, their daughter Lexie and her friend Kacey, and Brian & Deb’s Son Alec and his fiancé Allison, with their dog Xena all camped at Wildcat Mountain State Park in anticipation of a long Canoe/Kayak drift on the Kickapoo River. Friday night, after everyone got settled in we had Tin Foil or HoBo dinners on the campfire and a nice evening of campfire talks and celebrating. Saturday morning we had breakfast and loaded up to head down to the Kickapoo. We took two trucks loaded with boats and Kayaks and a car. Dropped most everyone and all the water craft at the starting point and took the trucks down to where we were going to get out. After an hour of running down “Oh, I forgot!” we were in the water an floating. Great time, only a couple spills, so many people on the river. Five hours later we pulled up at bridge 7 and took our boats out.

After we made it back to camp everyone took showers and put on some comfortable clothes and we settled in for an evening of campfires, brats, and beers. It was a great Day:

The night was fun and this morning we broke camp and returned to the North. Had a great Farewell Pizza with Brian & Deb at The Blue Marble Pub in Chippewa Falls … Super Pizza, great time. So now we have said our good byes and are getting ready for a good nights sleep. Thank You Brian, Debbie, Lexie, Alec, Allison, Kacey, and Zena for a great visit. Milage so Far 1900 in the RV, 800 in the Jeep … 2700 Miles.

13 July 2020 – We got a comfortable start this morning and left Lake Halye Northbound on Hiway 53 towards Superior, Wisconsin. Just before Noon we got to Superior and crossed into Minnesota and Superior’s twin city Duluth, Minnesota. There we picked up Highway 2 and headed west to Bemiji. Minnesota, where we are now camped. A great abundance of trees and long views on the way up:

So then we toured Minnesota for a while and finally got to Bemiji … Famous for two things:

1. Paul Bunyan and Babe The Blue Ox Winter here: Here’s a Picture of them … They were back home, taking a break:

2. The Mississippi River Starts here: Yup … Right here flowing out of Lake Itaska:

So now we are in the RV, Showered, Fed, ready for bed. Got an early wake-up tomorrow morning … I’ll tell you how it went tomorrow evening. Milage so far 2000 in the RV … 800 in the Jeep … 3000 miles.

A Short footnote regarding Bemiji and Lake Itaska. 45 Years ago I was assigned to Grand Forks AFB just across the border in North Dakota. we had always liked camping and there was not much else to do here so we bought a little pop-up camper and a small fiberglass canoe. We camped and canoed from Grand Forks to Bemiji, from The International Peace Gardens to Winnipeg and North all the way down to Fargo in the following two years. Andy was only 3 or so at the time so he sat in the middle, Nancy rowed up front, and I rowed and navigated from the rear. That was a very long time ago but the memories are still there … a great family time enjoying the great North.

14 July 2020 –Long day on the road today … Highway 2 has turned out better than we had hoped … two lanes each way and in daily good repair. We had some heavy rains last night and it was still raining when we left. We drove the first 135 miles and stopped in Grand Forks for Gas. We left Grand Forks and all the trees disappeared and we were out on this flatland with a strong Head Wind that kept the RV in 5th gear (it has 6) all the way here to Minot, ND.Many big farms raising sugar beets and potatoes all along the way. For those of you who don’t know, this entire region was once covered by a huge lake, believed to be as big as all the Grear Lakes combined … Lake Aggassiz. Look it up!

Anyhow, we continued on to Minot … Another thought … Ever Hear “Why Not Minot?” Know the answer … few do but now you will … “Freezen’s The reason!” Something that caught our eye along the way was the huge Rape fields. Rape is a pretty yellow flowered plant that when harvested is processed and produces a common cooking oil. No one wants to cook with Rape Oil so it has been marketed as Canola Oil!!

There was also a lot of water in North Dakota … I guess from Lake Agassis but it made farming more difficult but looked nice along the highway:

Only Devils Lake was of significant size but there sure was a lot of water. The last interesting point is we passed through Rugby, North Dakota … know what’s special about Rugby? … No Rugby was not invented there …. It is the Geographical Center of North America … They even have a marker that says so!

So there you got it. A long, interesting, windy, day with wonders to behold every few miles. 350 miles today … so Far 2550 in the RV and 800 in the Jeep … 3350 miles and going strong. We went out to Minot AFB after we checked into our site. Very well kept Air Base. Nancy and I stopped by the BX and Commissary to but a few supplies and get rebelled a little. Ready to roll tomorrow.

14,15, and 16 July 2020 – I’m lumping these three days together because they were all on the road. There were things of interest along the way so I will kinda separate them out and show you some of the exciting things we saw along the way. Our last night in this sequence was in Essex, Montanna just South of Glacier NP. We had to make some significant changes to our schedule because the BlackFeet Native American Tribe closed all of the East side of Glacier including the entrances which are apparently on their reservation. They have a major beef with our President because they felt he did not allot enough of the COVID Recovery Funding to them … so they closed down one of the more popular National Parks during Peak tourist season claiming COVID Caution just to show him who really is Chief! So, we are diverting South of GNP and back up the West side and hope to see some of the park going in from that side. The big loop up into Canada is Nixed because the Canadians don’t want us and The Road To The Sun drive by St Mary Lake looks doubtful. The drive from Minot to Malta, where we spent the night of the 14th was interesting in that it went Williston, ND which is the epicenter of the American Oil Boom. In 2016 they set the record one day for pumping 1.5 MILLION barrels of oil …. in a single day. Since the drop in price of oil it has come to nearly a standstill. There is standing equipment everywhere, empty hotels and housing arrangements all along the way. Still producing enough oil to keep OPEC on its toes but a shell (pardon the pun) of what it was 3 to 5 years ago. So here’s some pictures:

Many of the pumps were standing still, others were pumping. That night we made it to Malta, Montana … Yes, we finally saw North dakota in our rear view mirror (an old Air Force Saying) and we are in Montana. In Malta there was …. nothing. A little hotel and a campground. Two gas stations (one had a casino). Our campsite was so close to the train tracks that we not only could count the boxcars but we could read the writing and graffiti on the sides of them. So we just cranked up the Air Conditioner and that pretty well rounded out any exterior noise … nice source of white noise. Anyhow … no pictures of Malta.

From Malta we drove to Essex, Montanna always on Highway 2. We saw a dinosaur, a real cowboy herding cattle, buffalo, and caught our first glimpse of the snow capped Rockies:

We made it to Essex and Spent the Night there. We are about 100 miles from the West Entrance to Glacier and will start out for that tomorrow Morning. Because this Trip is getting long I’m going to Split up the Posts and this will be the last post for this section. I’m Calling it GETTING AWAY because it was our escape from Florida and all the COVOD stuff. My next post will be called PARKS & FRIENDS. It will be available right under GETTING AWAY. Travel so far 3300 miles in the RV and 800 in the Jeep. See you in PARKS & FRIENDS.

April 2015 – Being able to sail a significant boat is always something I wanted to be able to do. Being raised on a farm in Wisconsin did not present many opportunities to do so. One day I decided to check for sailing lessons around Tampa and see what was available. Turns out they were all classes where you took your turn steering the boat but mostly watching someone else at their turn and listening to some instructor tell you how much fun it is and all his harrowing experiences … and I was surprised how expensive they were! So, going outside the box a little I checked out renting a sailboat in the Caribbean and seeing if I could find a way to do it that way. I found this place that would rent a 48 Ft sailboat for a week that was fully furnished with an ASA (American Sailing Association) Certified instructor, a First Mate who would prepare all our meals and take care of us, and all our meals for a reasonable price. I booked the boat and bought tickets for our trip to the BVI. Before I left home however, I was required to complete three courses that ASA offers to help prepare you for your lessons. While I never really liked school very much I did enjoy studying and learning about sail boats and sailing. Terms (sailors have their own language), knots, rules, navigation, etc … I studied hard for several months before we set off … and then we were off. We drove to Miami and caught flight to Tortola in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). Interesting flights with each connection producing a smaller airplane until I thought we would have peddle.

Anyhow, we made it there and met a gentlemen there that took us to the marina on the other side of the island and introduced us to our Skipper and First Officer … Scott & Renee Sawyer. They were married and had an impressive background in both sailing and hospitality. Scott had a successful career in the Navy as a Special Teams Boat Driver (These are the guys that get the SEALs to their destination). He is also a fully qualified Ship Captain and a very interesting guy. Renee is a licensed Chef and has worked in some very impressive hotels before she ran off with Scott. Anyhow, they are a lovely couple to sail with and we had a wonderful time. Scott introduced me to my schedule so I was aware that the days would consist of instruction, demonstration, testing, and fun … I liked the last part best! So here is our boat. A 48 Ft monohull with a full jib and lots of room.

Renee, as I mentioned is a Chef … she is also a Fish Wisperer if you go diving with her (more on that later). Back to her Cheffing … Renee created not only very tasty meals but eye catching as well. She had fully stocked the galley with all our favorite foods (Pre-sailing survey) and drinks. The boat had an ice maker, an air conditioner, and with Renee in the Galley, we suffered no pain. Here are some of her creations.

We got on board, got settled in, and we were off. It was into the afternoon by the time were out of the marina so we just sailed across Sir Francis Drake Bay and anchored just off shore by a small resort. While Renee was getting dinner, Scott took us on Sir Charles into shore where we walked around a bit, looked through a gift shop, bought some provisions and went back to the boat. We had a lovely dinner and sacked out early … it had been a long day and the rocking boat put us right to sleep.

So this how our days went. We sailed for seven days (they are numbered 1 to 7 on the map at the from of this post). Our schedule was pretty much the same each day. We would get up and have some breakfast and check out the weather for the day … every day was perfect! After breakfast Scott and I would retire to the salon for instruction or testing, sometime both. Then lunch and getting underway. The afternoon sail was my hands on training as I would direct the disembarking procedures to the crew and sail to our next destination. Once we got there I would direct the crew in the docking procedures until were were anchored, buoyed, or docked. Then we would have some recreational activities (on shore excursion, diving, basking, whatever) until dinner. Then it was usually an early bedtime. As I mentioned, Scott is an excellent instructor, so he had everything mixed together to a point I didn’t even realize I was learning, being evaluated, or getting better much of the time … it was all fun.

You can see we went from Island to Island … each one was new and unique. I was learning how to sail and we were both having a great time. One of the first places we stopped was the island called Virgin Gorda which covered with huge granite boulders, called The Baths. We have seen boulders like this in other parts of the world but were surprised to find them here in the BVI. Our Afternoon recreation was to go ashore and climb through them and follow the Devil’s Bay Trail to a beach … beautiful.

Then there were the sunsets … every night different … every night better.

We stopped at another Island the had a large area around the marina that was dedicated to sailing and boating fun. There were shops, bars, restaurants, and a show in the evening. While there I had the opportunity to buy a Conc shell that I have learned to “Bugle” with. Pretty impressive if you ever hear it. Anyhow, we had a very nice afternoon and evening there.

Our Last Stop on the Southern Islands was near one of the Islands that owner of Virgin Airline owned. There is a big resort there with some very interesting heights to see from. We took a cab ride there and very much enjoyed the scenery.

Okay … So we left there and did our first Open Sea Leg … where you could not see land. The Eastern most Island in the BVI is Anagada or Drowned Island. It is very low and much of it is covered by high tides or surges. Here we anchored with about 500 other boats, went ashore and enjoyed an amazing Grilled Lobster Dinner.

Going back was good … we did a man overboard, where I had to turn and retrieve the target … not as easy as one would think under sail. Nancy also practiced in case we ever sailed alone and I fell off … she did well. Then we came into a norther Island that had a bunch of interesting things to see so we toured around for a while. It was one of the earlier settlements in the BVI and is still kept up

The little islands in the North East creat a great shelter for sea life so we took advantage of Renee our Fish Whisperer. Scott told us whenever she dives, there are always a lot of fish around. So we did some snorkeling. Great stuff.

Then off to our last night on the Fidelity and our last night out. Went to Foxy’s on the smallest of the BVI’s called Yost Van Dyke. In the event you never heard of Foxy’s it is supposed to be the most popular spot in the world for New Year’s Eve … was an interesting place. We all walked around and enjoyed the afternoon.

The next day we sailed back to Tortola, checked in through customs, said a sad farewell to Scott and Renee and took a cab back to the airport. I got all the ASA sailing certifications I was shooting for, we made some great friends, and had a super week.

The flight back was interesting. there was trouble getting our flight in to take us out and it ended up with just me and Nancy in this really shaky airplane that took us to Puerto Rico. Then a connection to Miami. We made it.