Charlotte, Michigan, Spartan Factory

All the work was completed on Monday so this morning we will go back to Elkhart, Indiana to complete the under bracing on the coach.

Charlotte, Michigan, Spartan Factory

We didn't get all our work done on the coach in Elkhart, IN so when we are done with Spartan work we will be heading back there for a couple more days. While in Elkhart we toured the Studebaker Museum and the History Museum. I have photos in My Photo Gallery of both of those tours. I included a photo here of Royle next to his dream convertible. Actually, I think his dream convertible is a 1972 Triumph.

Charlotte is only about 120 miles NE of Elkhart, Indiana. We are in a very nice parking area and, again, we have 50 amp. A coach parked here has WineEnthusiast written on it. The owner was just talking with Royle and said he builds wine cellars. He was telling Royle about all the expensive wines he has tasted and his favorite wine is a $1000/bottle. Wowie! Sounds like he is a wine enthusiast. He invited us over for a glass of wine tonight and said just to bring our own glasses - we only have acrylic - hope that isn't to crass.

ELKHART, IN

We are in the parking lot of the Supreme RV Services. They will put in the under brace on our coach tomorrow. Our kitchen slide won't slide out, that happened last night, so they try to fix that as well. We have 50 amp power so we are all set.

In the mid 80's here! It is close to 8:00 p.m. and we still have the air conditioner going.

MONTICELLO, IN

We are at the White Oaks on the Lake Western Horizon RV Park and leaving today for Elkhart, Indiana to get some coach work done. We'll be back here again in a week or so after all the coach work is finished. From Elkhart, we'll go to Charlotte, MI for more work on the coach. We will be staying in the parking lots while getting coach work done and not sure if there will be electricity; no electricity means no updates to blog. So, if you don't see updates, that's why.

SPRINGFIELD, IL

We stayed 2 nights at the Double J Campground which is just a few miles outside of Springfield. Springfield is the capitol of IL.

Again, a lot of history in this city. Abe Lincoln moved to this area when he was in his early 20's. He ran for and became president when he was living here. We toured the house he and his family lived in as well as the Lincoln Museum.

The above photo are the wax figures of Lincoln and his family standing in front of a replica of the White House. Abe and Mary Todd had 4 sons, one died when he was just 4 years old, another when he was 11 and another one died when he was 17. Their oldest son Robert lived until he was in his 80's. Robert had children but none of his children did so there are no descendants of Abe Lincoln.

More photos located in My Photo Gallery, 2008/2009 Winter Season.

This morning we will be heading for Monticello, IN and will stay one night at the White Oaks Western Horizon Resort.

GATEWAY ARCH, ST. LOUIS, MO

We visited this memorial yesterday. So interesting. The building of the arch began in 1962 and was completed in Oct. of 1965 but the plans for a memorial began in the early 30's. Close to the arch is where the Missouri river empties into the Mississippi. Lewis and Clark outfitted here in 1803 for their exploration west. This city was the stopping off place for supplies as people headed west. Thus, the arch is also referred to as Gateway to the West.

I hope you go into my photo gallery to see more photos of this area. Just click on 2008/2009 winter season - the link to "Photo Gallery" (off to the right, screen down). This link will take you to all albums, click on the arch photo and that will take you to all the photos within this album. Click on each photo to enlarge and see captions. Royle took a tram to the top and was able to get photos from the windows at the top of the arch.

Heading for Springfield, IL this morning.

BOTANICAL GARDENS, St. Louis, MO

We went into the city to see the Botanical Gardens - this tops our list and we try to see them wherever we go. San Antonio was at the top of my list but it now comes in 2nd. The founder, Henry Shaw, was a bachelor who made his wealth in hardware and selling goods to settlers setting off for the West. He devoted the rest of his life to creating a garden at his county estate (which is now within the city). The gardens cover 90 acres.

The photo above is what you first see when you enter the Visitor Center. There are more photos in my photo gallery section of this blog - off to the right, screen down, click on 2008/2009 Winter Season, click on the botanical garden album and then click on any photo you want to enlarge.

EDWARDSVILLE, ILLINOIS

We arrived at the Red Barn RV Park, Edwardsville, IL. It is located about 20 miles east of the Mississippi River and St. Louis, MO. The Mississippi is the state dividing line between Missouri and Illinois.

We plan to start our sightseeing in the morning. It sounds like The Arch is the #l thing to see in St. Louis. It is located in the city, by the river, in an area called Forest Park. It sounds like all kinds of touristy things are in that area. I would love to take a steamboat cruise down the Mississippi so maybe that will work out. Since we both like botanical gardens, we plan to do that tomorrow and the Arch (plus whatever else we find to do) on Saturday.

KANSAS CITY, MO

Today we took a tour of President Truman's home. It is located in Independence, a suburb of Kansas City. It was built in 1867 and was Bess Truman's family home. Truman moved into the family home when he and Bess married in 1919. Harry and Bess both lived there until their death.

It is hot here today - low 80's. The fuel for car is $3.49/gal and the lowest diesel so far is $3.97.

In the morning we will be are heading for an RV Park just a few miles east of St. Louis, MO.

NEBRASKA CITY, NE - sightseeing

While in Nebraska City we did a little sightseeing.  On Sunday we drove into Bellevue, suburb of Omaha, to see if we could find the apt. we lived in our first year of marriage.  Steve was 8 and Marcy was 10.  It didn't take us very long to locate it.  We took photos so the kids can see what it now looks like.  Still in pretty good shape.  The businesses below the apt. complex look pretty run-down though.  In our time, they were pretty nice.  We also drove by Offutt Air Force Base where Royle worked as a private contractor.

On Monday we drove to Beatrice, NE to see the Homestead Nat'l Monument.  I've heard and read some about the homesteaders so this museum was very interesting for both of us.

See photos of our sightseeing by clicking on the "photo gallery" link which is located to the right of this blog.    

This morning we heading for an RV park located just a few miles east of Kansas City, Missouri

NEBRASKA CITY, NE

We arrived at the Victorian Acres RV park this afternoon.  This is a beautiful park with lots of green grass.  Haven't seen much green the last week so it is nice to see again

DATASTORM LOCATION LINK

Note that I have added a link (on the right-hand side of this blog below the photo of the sail boat) to our data storm locater.  You can click on this link and it will bring up a map which shows where we are parked - you can screen down to see the Zoom in/out buttons so you can get various views of the map.   Currently there is no one else around us but as we begin to move to the popular sunny south locations you will start seeing many other users.  Note that our locater # is 1825 so you can search for us that way when that starts to happen. 

The way this locater works is that when we get to a new location Royle puts the Lat/Long and other specific information of our new location into this website.  This will only work if we have internet.  It does not track us as we go down the road, just when we get parked and as long as we can get into the internet and the website.  We are finding more and more parks have wireless so even if we are in the trees and cannot use our own satellite dish, we can use wireless.

NORTH PLATTE, NE

We are staying at the Holiday RV Park in North platte, which is located just off I-80 and a couple hundred miles east of the WY border.  We'll be here for just one night and plan to head for a park in Nebraska City in the morning.   Nebraska City is close to Lincoln and we will be there for 3 night so we can do some sightseeing.

I am working on getting photos set up in a link off to the right of this blog.  That way, the photos won't take up so much space in the writing area.  Keep your eyes open for it.

FT. LARAMIE NAT'L HISTORIC SITE

Today we spent the morning touring this historic site.  Many of the buildings have been maintained, some are barely standing and others are no longer standing but you can see remains of foundations.  Another interesting part of our history.

We'll be heading for Nebraska in the morning.

WYOMING

Last night we stayed overnight at a KOA in Casper. We had a short drive (130 mi.) today to our new location, Fort Laramie, The Pony Soldier RV Park; we will be here 2 nights so we can do some sightseeing of the Fort Laramie National Historic site - lots of history in this area.  We have been traveling I-90 and then to I-25 just south of Sheridan and then traveled Hiwy 26 to Ft. Laramie.

LITTLE BIGHORN BATTLEFIELD NAT'L MONUMENT

We visited the National Monument yesterday. This is the location where Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and more than 260 soldiers met defeat at the hands of several thousand Lakota and Cheyenne warriors.

A stone memorial dedicated to the over 200 soldiers and 100 indians who were killed in the 1876 battle of Little Bighorn sits at the top of what is now call Last Stand Hill.

They have some beautiful artwork at the memorial site.

Inside of the visitor's center is a very colorful painting illustrating the Battle of Little Bighorn.

A hill where the battle took place overlooks the Little Bighorn river.

BIG HORN COUNTY MUSEUM

We are staying at the Grandview RV Park in Hardin, MT from 9/6-9/8. Yesterday we went to the Big Horn County Museum - just a few miles from our park. It was a great Museum with many buildings brought in from around the county and refurbished to show how the people lived in the early 1900's.

TALL CHIEF PHOTOS

We finally have my photos from Tall Chief uploaded to our computer and thought I would share a few of them here.  We celebrated their birthdays; kids went to arts and crafts and they had their faces painted for the parade

BILLINGS, MT

We had planned to go to Hardin, MT but ended up in Billings so we could go to Costco for new cell phones.  The battery died (again) on our old one and wasn't worth it to replace another battery.  We spent Friday night in Billings and traveled to Hardin on Sat. morning.  We'll be sightseeing Custer and Little Bighorn Battlegrounds

BEGINNING OUR FALL TRAVELS

 9/4:  We arrived in Garrison, MT after being held up for 1 1/2 hours on freeway east of Missoula due to vehicle accident.  Royle turned on his CB to find out what was going on.  Sounds like the backup was 9+ miles.

9/3:  We had a great week at Tall Chief.  Marcy, Darin and the grandkids came for dinner on Thurs. evening.  Darin and Marcy went back home and left the kids with us for the weekend.  The campground had arts/crafts activities and a parade which the kids participated in.  They found new friends and had a great time.  We  left Tall Chief this morning and arrived in Sprague, WA this afternoon.   Heading for Montana in the morning.

8/27: Goodbye to "Gone with the Wells"

We left Latitude 49 and headed for Tall Chief Campground in Falls City, WA.  The grandkids had been with us the previous week and we had a great time with them.  They wanted to see our sailboat for the last time - the sale went through without a hitch.