We made it!  :)
We arrived on time for a week with friends and playing music until our fingers hurt.  Wendy finally got back to playing her bass and we had a wonderful time!

Dwaine and Nancy were our next door neighbors.  Dwaine shared a "mod" with me and I will soon attempt to duplicate his table.

Here are some pictures of the grounds.  We've been to this park 3 times now and nothing really changes but for the friends and good times we have enjoyed.

I think Wendy is going to straighten me out about something.  There's no place to hide around here!

Larry and Debbie, organizers of this event, are taking a much deserved rest.  What a fantastic job they (and many helpers) did!

Time to break camp and move on.

Jan and Mike were kind enough to let me take this picture.  I was honored to shake the hand of a Purple Heart recipient! 

I caught Todd and Randy cuttin' up here.

Chick and Kathy are quite the musical duo!  They play many songs on their Ukuleles :)  We hope to see them again at the Blue Bonnet Rally next month.

We're very thankful Howard caught up with us before we left the rally.  We really enjoyed his singing and guitar playing!

Trivia question...….can anyone guess who this is?

Pre-beard :) 

After Arkansas we left for Tunica, Mississippi.  We only spent 2 nights there (in Tunica) and it was pretty tame this time, until we left in the middle of a severe weather event.  Tornadoes hit parts around us and in Texas, our destination.  Wendy navigated us around the tornadoes, keeping us 50 or so miles away, until we reached Grapeland, Texas.  At least the driving rains washed off the film of bugs from the truck and trailer.

We started out on time!  Hooray!!!!

I wish I had taken a departure picture of Gwyn and Belle.  We hope to be back to see them on Gwen's birthday, at the end of October :) 

We left for a Cracker Barrel in Adairsville, Ga. and another in Arkadelphia,Ar. 

A tight squeeze but fine since we were there first :)  Really good food and very friendly folks.

As I may have mentioned in another post or two, Wendy does not like to be cold.  She managed a pose and a smile in spite of the temps.

I thought I was seeing things when I passed a tree covered with shoes.  I missed the photo op but was able to download a picture from the internet.  You can get most anything off the internet, lol.  It turns out that many places around the country follow this tradition.  I couldn't find a reason for this practice for the one in northern Alabama.

We will depart on Saturday for our new adventures!!  We are very thankful for all that has been put before us and look forward to showing ya'll the roads we will travel :)  We hope and pray for many wonderful blessings in your lives and look forward to the times we will be together again :)  Thank you for being with us.

As you can tell by reading our previous post, we were surrounded by frigid conditions.  Sub zero wind chills are not permitted inside!  Hence the tape.

We made it back to Hollywood....the one in Tunica, Mississippi :)  This place has quite a history concerning Blues music.  BB King even performed here once

We tend to rely a little too much on the reliability of our navigation app to pick the best road to take.  As you can see we get into some tight spaces.  This road closes at night and, of course, our app missed that fact :(   The road edge was a little too steep to wander off the gravel surface.  After a 17 point turn, we were back on to our destination.

We left Tunica for Huntsville, Alabama, and we're not out of the cold yet.  Wendy braved an outing to pose by her rocket to warmer climates!

Our campsite in Huntsville.  US Space Museum RV Campgrounds.

One last stop by Lake Hartwell, Pendleton, SC.  It's across the lake from Clemson Stadium.

We are sure glad last year is over.  We hope and pray this year is much better!  We're currently in Tunica, MS, awaiting single digit windchill temps sometime tomorrow.  We'll be winterizing the trailer tonight and hunkering down for the next few days.  We've done a lot since my last post.  I'm going to try something different with this post.  I'll start with where we are and go back in time :) 

We tried outrunning a winter storm from Hohenwald, TN, and didn't succeed.

I can tell you from experience...Wendy does NOT like cold feet!

We left Hohenwald, TN, to get here.  The Oliver Travel Trailer (OTT) factory and a separate showroom are both located in that town and we were there to pickup "Bessie", an Oliver Elite II travel trailer that we patiently waited 10 months to get.  It's about the best trailer we could find to suit our needs.  It's now our home for however long we can live in it :) 

The prior night we stayed at Meriwether's Retreat, a B&B in downtown Hohenwald.

On the way to Tennessee we stopped at another B&B in Helen, GA.

We walked to a restaurant in Helen and came across a bridge that had these locks, with people's names on them, attached to the railing.  Not sure how the tradition got started so we may visit another time when it's a bit warmer.

Our dear friends Gwyn and Veston are a few states away at a ski resort celebrating brother-in-law Frank's birthday.  Just wanted to share those wonderful smiles :)

And yet one more picture from another birthday celebration.

Griff won the beard contest for sure!

This about catches us up.  Here are a couple pictures on the way to Ohio for Thanksgiving.  We stayed at yet another B&B in Mt Airey, NC.

Many businesses were closed downtown because of it being Monday, but we did see Andy and Barney out protecting the streets of Mayberry :)

Oct 27, 1954 - Nov 28, 2021

I can't begin to express the loss we feel with the passing of my dear brother, Don.  He was a loving father, grand father, brother and friend to everyone he met. He was a Navy veteran, commercial truck driver and avid Clemson fan.  I think he was happiest while gathering around the grill and cooking for family and friends.  We will miss you dearly.

Another quick stop landed us here at Gator Den park (privately run) in El Dorado, Arkansas.  Uneventful stop and very quiet.

We finally made it to our fiberglass trailer rally!  The weather was beautiful and there were many trailers in attendance.  We stopped here 3 years ago and were happy to return.  Lots of new friendships and a little jamming with our instruments!  All went too fast!

This guy made our trailer a little nervous, lol!  Parked right behind us...it turns out the couple owning the trailer brought their flying machine along :) 

New friends are so much appreciated!  We hope to see them again next year.

Mark and Mary were our next door neighbors.  Mark has a Ford truck and likes to give me a hard time about my Chevy.  Since Mark is a retired US Marine AND a retired State Trooper, I behaved myself :)  Mary keeps him straight though!  I wish I had taken a picture of Rob, our neighbor on our other side.  He was the leader each morning for our devotionals and I had a chance to help him erect the antenna for his Ham radio. 

After the Cracker Barrel we pressed on to Tunica, Mississippi.  Of course we stayed in "our spot" :)  No "breaking the bank" at the Casino...even steven on the penny machines lol.  This was another quick stop.

Since I have only 1 picture of this and the next stop I'll include it on this post.

Not much of a stopover!  Quiet and dark here at Lake Columbia in Magnolia, Arkansas.  The host told us of some 16 foot alligators and asked if I wanted to borrow his gun for our walk around the lake.  I said "no thanks", and decided against the walk.  1 foot longer would have made it as long as our trailer.  I think we would feel much better inside the trailer vs the alternative!  Yikes!

One quick picture of Mom's backyard before we move on to our trailer rally in Texas.

Our first stop takes us to unchartered territory.  It's the first time we've stayed in a Cracker Barrel parking lot!  Many CB's across the country welcome RVs and trailers.  It's just a 1 night stopover in Elizabethtown, Ky, on the way to our rally.

The next morning we were greeted by Corvette rally :) 

Breakfast was great and fast!  CB's are not known for their speedy service but this one was the exception :) 

Georgia June Shoemaker

This has been a really tough year.  My father passed earlier this year and Wendy's mom just 2 weeks ago.   Our families are holding up pretty well, considering.  Many, many tears have been shed but God's love is evident through the many friends and family that surround us.  I'm at a loss for the right words to say but will say June was a bright, shining light for us all.  She led a 2nd life in South Carolina as we took her to our home with us for the past 10 years or so, each winter since her beloved husband Wes, passed.  We were blessed to have traveled together across our wonderful country and Canada many times.  I know we racked up 50,000+ miles over the first 8 years of retirement :) So much fun!

June wanted desperately to pass away in her home of 60 years, as her husband did 11 years ago.  We had a very difficult time getting her home from the hospital but was finally successful.  After settling in at home it soon became evident she needed more help than we could provide.  The 2 Hospice nurses that came to the house strongly suggested we allow her to go the Fairhope Hospice House for a day or 2 to better manage her pain and medication.  It was a very difficult decision for everyone but felt it was necessary for her benefit.  We could bring her back home in a couple of days.  Well the next morning were were told to come to Fairhope as soon as possible as things had taken a turn for the worse.
As Wendy and I came to her room we noticed this sign on the door next to her room.

Wendell was June's husband's name....quite a coincidence!

We then came to her room and saw this sign...

Connie is her youngest daughter and Phillip is her son!

Mom then passed and were all numbly sitting around the room and I noticed this on her bed frame.

I stared at it for a minute or 2 and asked Wendy, sitting next to me, didn't your dad pass away in March?  She replied "Yes.  March 22nd".  After telling the rest of the family about the date, Becky calmly remarked "she was supposed to be here".  We felt much better about the move to Fairhope!
Still not convinced?

There are 4 benches surrounding the entrance to Fairhope.  Only one had a memorial plaque.

June's sister she spent the most time with and traveled several times to New York City, was JoAne (slightly different spelling).  Born the same year!!! (1930)
I don't know how God does these things but I am confident these are not coincidences.

We joined Harvest Hosts since the membership is pretty cheap and it opens quite a few more boondocking opportunities for a quick, overnight stop. 

These places encourage you to buy a few things from their shop.  They didn't have to twist our arm very hard :)

Lured by another tourist sign, we made a pit stop to see Iowa's largest frying pan.  As you can see it is pretty big.  The hosts at the park were very friendly and informed us of the "American Pickers" site in LeClaire, Iowa and we were off again playing tourist.

Of course the place looks a lot different from what you see on television.  Naturally, neither Mike nor Danielle were there, but we had a fun time anyway!

Our next stopover was pretty uneventful, until we were ready to leave in the morning...

Trying to let Wendy sleep in, I figured to add a little oil as we were 1/2 quart low.  Who would have figured it was going to be a problem!  This little oil cap slipped right out of my hand and into the abyss.  That's what I call the engine compartment.  Much searching resulted in no success and after 45 minutes of looking everywhere I decided to start removal of numerous covers the cap could be hiding behind.  Of course I had to wake Wendy to find where the jack was...she seemed very understanding :)

2 1/2 hours later the wayward part was found and we were underway.  Yay!!!!

I was going to include the following in combination with the previous post but thought it deserved it's own place, so here goes ...

Our next door neighbors, Katie and Jim from Florida, are enjoying a visit from bighorn sheep.  Joe's a musician and had his 12 string along with him and so we had a jam session one night, much fun!

The sheep then began heading our direction!

I'll be the first to admit I have become too dependent on electricity.  Out here we have none, along with no water, no bathrooms, no generator....and we're loving every minute of it in spite of 98 degree temps outside and inside the trailer, and no shade whatsoever!  The shade situation has changed as we put up our tent and it makes quite a difference :)  The 1 lone 98 degree day was immediately followed by 56 degree temps the following morning, and we were freezing, lol!  Seems like I'm complaining about everything :)  But I'm not.  We're not totally "off the grid" as we have a verizon signal and thus, internet.  Our solar panel is happily recharging our battery, come on sun!  Our fresh water tank WAS full until half was dispatched to our gray water tank via 2 showers this morning......YAYYYYYYYY!!!  We'll reload a 5 gallon water jug from somewhere for another shower in a couple of days.  Meanwhile, Friday's temps will be over 100!  The plan is to stay for a week but maybe we'll stay longer, it all depends on my wonderful booking agent.  Kidding aside, this is one beautiful place and we are very blessed to witness it.  No pictures I take seem to capture it's essence.  In spite of numerous campers around, some with generators humming throughout the day, it is a very peaceful and relaxing visit.  And, God willing, we'll be back for another visit someday.

Wendy sits with her back against the trailer as she looks at the front door view.

As you can tell, we are close to the edge on 2 fronts!

Wen comes up with an idea!!!

If we can move one of those trees to the west side of the trailer, we'll be set!

It was a "no go"  :)

Mornings around are very beautiful and very chilly...

We get an occasional visitor every once in a while :)

This person missed an opportunity as a visitor leisurely ambled up the cliff and stood for a good 5 minutes watching her.  Luckily the next door neighbor informed her of the event and she was then able to enjoy the visit!  

The park does get a fair share of campers each day.  This view shows a mile or so in one direction and in the other direction the road winds another 1 1/2  miles.

A few pictures of Mt Rushmore and some other stops before moving on to our next destination.

We were thankful this part of the park was deserted for the duration of our visit :)

On the way back we visited a tourist trap, er, attraction for dinner and a show.  Sasquatch was the main draw.

The show was fun.  The tall guy is 7'2 and is a pancreatic cancer survivor.  Both were very friendly and accommodating :) 

Last stop today......Wendy makes some new friends :)

I must admit we are gluttons for punishment when it come to signs for ice cream.

The only ice cream to be found here was in the form of old ice cream sandwiches and popsicles.  BOOO!  But we did get to meet a few prairie dogs :)

We made it to South Dakota in good shape.  We holed up here for the Labor Day week to make it a little easier on Wendy's trip planning.  We have visited many sights and so I have my timeline a little out of order.  We'll start with the Bad Lands!

Here we go...led by my tour guide whom I dearly trust.  WAIT...what does that sign read?  SNAKES???

Although you can't see them in this picture, I'm armed with my new snake stompers (hiking shoes) and am ready to go!

Not to worry, my trusty guide makes another wonderful choice.

We make it to the top and enjoy the view!

Our parking lot is down there somewhere.

Curiously, someone left a Mexican dollar coin at the top.  We examined it and set it back where we found it for the next explorers to discover :)

Here's the view from the bottom.  Can you spot the 2 at the top?  :)

On the way to Robidoux City Park in Gering, Nebraska we stopped by an old acquaintance...Chimney Rock. 

After Chimney Rock we ventured down range to the next Oregon Trail landmark...Castle Rock and Jailhouse Rock.

Campsite at Robidaux

The next day we visited another old friend...Carhenge, a few miles away.

Followed by Scottsbluff the next day...whew...busy, busy! :)

While talking with this traveler from the past, we learned they used these buffalo chips as fuel for their campfires when they couldn't find wood.  Stay upwind!!!!

This is such a welcome temperature change!!!  Yesterday's 113 vs today's 85.  In the shade it's almost chilly :)   This is a first come first serve park, and it was sparsely populated when we arrived.  No so 3 hours later.  We watched as more and more rigs arrived.  So far things are quiet.  A trailer moved in next to us as we heard a persistent high pitched barking from within.  Up go 2 puppy pens for 11 puppies!  A weekend dog show was in their future.  Really, they were very well behaved and quiet overall.  A mom and daughter were were the only ones handling the trailer setup and puppy duties.  Quite a great job by those 2 :)

We had a pretty decent spot at the state recreation area.

Wen sporting her new hat acquired at an enroute gas station!

The only thing I picked up at that gas stop was a hitch hiker!  (just below the handle)

 Another beautiful sunrise on a much cooler morning :)

We were greeted with a beautiful morning as we left Big Bend.

We left for Kansas, which is r e a l l y flat!  And r e a l l y hot in mid August.  They grow a passel of sorghum in Kansas.  The countryside has really changed and has a wonderful beauty of its own.  We arrived at a city park in Ellis, Kansas.  No one regularly monitors this campground so we have to look out for each other.  Tom and Sue moved in next to us in their Airstream trailer.  An Army veteran next to you can be a good thing!  We planned to stay a couple of days but the temps are 113 degrees on the sunny side of the trailer, so the A/C is struggling a bit.