ARE WE REALLY BACK IN KANSAS?

Our stop in Denver was a mixed bag.  We had a delightful evening with Laura Kagan at her home. We were all set to catch up with Sandy Speedy when she ended up in the hospital for emergency gall bladder surgery!  She's home and fine, but we missed seeing her this trip!  

Our next overnight was in Garden City Kansas, and a wonderful gem in an otherwise desolate countryside, The Buffalo Dunes Golf Course! We played a round on the course which could rival any on the Philadelphia Mainline for maintenance and condition. Kansas is pretty flat, so it is a great walking course! We loved it!

 

 Then on to Dodge City. What's a trip to Dodge City without a taste of the Wild, Wild West!  We off-loaded the scooter and set off for Boot Hill, a reproduction of Front Street in the 1870s. Boot Hill is named for the cemetery where gunslingers on the losing side of the barrel were laid to rest in shallow graves, generally with their boots still on. The museum was very interesting.

In the gallery of Honorary Marshals of Dodge City I found a picture of Roy Clark, friend Susan Thomsen Clark's Dad, who visited the Museum in 1978 and was named a Honorary Dodge City Marshal! Small world!

Do I need to say anything about this?

And what Wild West Town would be complete without the requisite Stagecoach!  All in all it was good fun.  We're on our way to Hutchinson KS for the FMCA 6-State Rally starting Monday.


HAPPY TRAILS!


Laura, Geoff, and their little dog too!

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK AND THE GRAND TETONS

We arrived in the Park on Sunday and checked in at the Fishing Bridge RV Park. Given that the sites here were built decades ago we were very lucky to squeeze into our reserved site. We met a Bison on the way in strolling up the middle of the highway.
The following morning another (or maybe the same) bison trotted through the woods in front of our MoHo, ostensibly headed for the men’s room!

This was our first lesson  in fire management. This is a wild fire under observation by the park service. Current policy is that they only intervene where the fire is arson (human started) or where structures or people are at risk. This one was neither.






The geysers of Yellowstone simply defy description. Suffice it to say that living on an active volcano for 10 days is a life altering experience. The geysers are magnificent and mystical, no two alike, some predictable, many not so much.

The Riverside Geyser was kind enough to give us a show on cue although the picture doesn't really do it justice.  I made several attempts to video Old Faithful, with limited success, so you'll just have to go see it yourself! 


After a 5 day stint with full hookups in the RV Park at Fishing Bridge we moved down to Grant Village Campground where we boon-docked for the next few days with no hookups. It was much more spacious and we thoroughly enjoyed our tours on the Scooter to Biscuit Basin and surrounding areas.  From there we moved on to The Grand Tetons, with it's lovely Jenny Lake and rugged mountain profile. We took a dinner wagon ride out to the lake where we were treated to this spectacular sunset skyline over Mount Moran. 

As we left the wilderness of Wyoming we looked forward to reconnecting our phones and internet service, but it was a truly lovely period of relative isolation and tranquility with the bison, elk, geysers and the raw beauty of the Wyoming landscape. 


If you haven't been there, put it on your "Bucket List."


Laura, Geoff & Yoshi

SOUTH DAKOTA MEMORIALS - CRAZY HORSE & THE PRESIDENTS

What a great week with the Escapees RV Club in Gillette Wyoming.  Who knew there was so much to learn!  Many thanks to the RV Boot Camp Instructors for all the great tips and experiences shared!  The rally ended with a trip to the great monuments of South Dakota.  We were so inspired by the story of the Lakota Indians and there commitment to having a memorial representing their great heroes.  The memorial at Crazy Horse, SD has been under construction with no government assistance since the late 1940's out of the dream of a Lakota Chief and the commitment of a polish sculptor. Today his children continue his legacy to complete the memorial, a task which will likely take another 25 or more years!  For more information go to http://www.crazyhorsememorial.org

Scurrying around on the ground were there adorable little furry friends who came out of their holes to check us out. They are marmots and they all around the memorial sunning themselves.


Equal in grandeur but completed with federal dollars is the Presidents Memorial at Mt Rushmore. Every angle presented a different perspective of the men who left as much of a mark on history as their images have on this mountain. 

Now we are off to Yellowstone National Park, the never-neverland of internet and cell signals, so we will probably be offline for a week or two! Yikes!

Until then... Laura, Geoff & Yoshi

REMEMBER TO PACK YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR

Life on the road has some things in common with life back home. When systems bite the dust it’s usually on a weekend or in the middle of a heat wave, etc. We have two zone heating and A/C on the MoHo but the front unit decided to quit working as we were wrapping up our Las Vegas stay.  The good news is that the bedroom A/C is working just fine.  We called ahead and made an appointment to have the front unit serviced in Salt Lake City as we have learned that our emergency does not necessarily get us a spot on the RV service schedules, and most of them are booking one to three weeks out!

We got to Salt Lake City last night and had a great visit at the SOC Headquarters today, and planned to stay over for our service appointment tomorrow.  We met Kody Bateman, CEO of SOC, and he told us that we were living HIS dream! Imagine that! What an amazing operation. We got the grand tour Shua.

Next stop, the RV place where they told us they had our A/C units in stock.  Well long story short, they don’t have our unit in stock and it will take a week to get it there!  After a little “lateral thinking” exercise we scurried off to the nearest Home Depot and bought one of those little free standing A/C units made by LG. For $250 we don’t have to worry about Yoshi getting heat exhaustion, not to mention us!  We off to Wyoming where we will have a unit delivered and installed while we are at the rally there next week, or maybe Friday if we are lucky!  We have learned to keep out sense of humor and look for the opportunities in the breakdowns, because there will always be breakdowns!

So we headed off into Wyoming a little earlier than planned in search of lower temperatures. Tonight we're in Evanston, WY as we work our way over to Gillette, WY for the Escapees RV Boot Camp and Rally, and hopefully a new air conditioner!

You never know who you are going to meet in the Walmart Parking lot! We had a lovely evening swapping stories with Shirley and Dave Hinds from Golden, CO... and the temperature has dropped to 59... yipee!

From the open road with open windows...

Laura, Geoff & Yoshie

FREEDOM ISN'T FREE

What a week in Las Vegas! as we set off from an overnight at Zion National Park, I can reflect on the events of the last week.  What a spectacular SendOutCards Convention in Las Vegas. Among other things, the company has introduced new product videos and a several new retail options that remove all of the upfront costs, and allow you to get started sending cards for as little as $9.80/month (plus postage.) As I ride down the road in my MoHo, MiFi on and sending cards along the way, I just can’t believe how easy it is. I can take pictures along the way and as soon as we’re back on the road I’m uploading them and sending them to friends and family! How fun is that!  For more information check out the new video at www.LauraSendsCards.com

While the Convention was sizzling, it seems like we have been in temperatures above 100° day and night since we left Pennsylvania!  Oh, did I mention that our front Air Conditioner went out on Saturday? (We plan to get it serviced or replaced when we get to SLC. Last night in Zion National Park the temperature dropped to 67° and an amazing cool breeze swept through the Canyon. We opened all of the windows and slept all night with the cool breeze blowing through the MoHo, no bugs, no humidity, just a constant cool breeze!

We will be in Salt Lake City tonight and planning to tour the SOC production facility tomorrow! I have been there but Geoff hasn’t, and there are several new processes since I was there last year. We’ll be boon-docking on the back lot! 

Come on! Send those cards today!

From the Utah Canyons,

Laura, Geoff & Yoshi

NATURE'S CATHEDRALS

The view from our campsite at Heaton Bay, Dillon CO

This is my first trip across the country “on the ground” and each mile seems to be more magnificent. We have been through the tornado warnings in Kansas (once is enough), through The Rockies and onto the desert bluffs in Utah. We are guests in spaces that have been here for millions of years and only rarely infringed upon by mankind. One cannot help but be humbled by the vastness and desolation that those who pioneered these places must have felt. Pictures don’t do the magnitude justice, but alas it is what we have to share. This is such an amazing way to see our beautiful country!

 We have had periodic breaks in the heat, first in the Colorado Rockies and now in the cavernous canyons of Utah. Before we left Colorado we visited the Monument National Park near Fruita, CO. We camped at a CO State Park, one of many struggling for survival.


Yesterday we left Fuita and drove the scenic Utah Route 128 along the Colorado River through the canyon lands into Moab, UT, but not before a brief respite at the Red Cliffs Winery. You can’t help but stop along the way to catch your breath and take in the massive canyons.

We reached Moab in late afternoon and set off to The Arches National Park.  The redrock monuments appear to defy gravity at times. It often feels like you are in a huge natural cathedral that has been waiting for you to arrive for millions of years. The majesty rivals any manmade cathedral on earth.

We are pressing on to Las Vegas tonight where we will be for the next week, attending the SendOutCards National Convention.  It is really SendOutCards that has given us the opportunity to generate income while exploring this wonderful country together! We are so blessed.  Thank you all who are joining us on our adventure.

By the way, Yoshi now has his own Facebook page! You can find it by searching Yoshi’s Great Adventure on Facebook.

From the Wild West!

Laura, Geoff & Yoshi

GATEWAY TO THE WEST

 What a great stopover in St Louis! This is the view from I-64 as we entered the City. 

Who would have thought that our cousins would have a ready made RV pad between their condo and the pool! Well actually it was tennis court/pool parking but nobody seemed to mind. We were the neighborhood attraction!

We had a wonderful visit with Val & Don Fitzpatrick and we now know that we always have a "slip" in St. Louis. The heat was intense but the martinis were good, we were well fed and caught up on lots of family stuff. Thanks for the great hospitality!

 We're on to  Independence MO tonight making our way to Denver, where we hope to catch up with another member of the Fitzpatrick clan, Don & Terry and little Lola!  

Yoshi is doing great and making friends along the way. Geoff and I are learning a lot and getting our routines established. It takes so much more than you think to move your home around the country! We're fast learners and happily enjoying the journey.  Rushing is not allowed, we stop when we stop and we get there when we get there.

Until next time, happy trails,
Laura Geoff & Yoshi