Family and Food

At Ithaca Falls

Monday/Tuesday, Sept. 3-4, 2018

We had a really nice visit with Ed, and the more "extended" family. On Monday morning, we drove into Ithaca to visit with Ed's daughter Elisha, her husband Theo, and their two boys, one of whom we met for the first time. He is only about 3 months old, and definitely cute! We also got to catch up with Elisha's mother, Lisa, and her husband, who were also visiting. We were good friends with Lisa in high school, but we've only seen her at family simchas (bat mitzvahs and weddings) for the past few decades, so it was nice to see her with a chance to just chat. It's hard to really "catch up" at a simcha (especially with the mother of the bride!) so we enjoyed seeing her-- usually I have to ask Elisha, "How's your mom?"

After a couple of hours, we left so the kids could maybe take naps, and went to have lunch. Ithaca has a ton of great looking restaurants, but some were not open on Monday. We ended up at Mexithacan for some very tasty Mexican food. It was REALLY hot, and by the time we got into the restaurant, I was melting. So I had a frozen margarita to cool off .

Ed in his garden

From there, we headed back to Ed's, but we stopped of to be tourists for just a few minutes at Ithaca Falls, one of the several wonderful waterfalls in the town. Joe and I had seen Buttermilk Falls when we were here in 2013, but I think we missed this one.

And then we went "home." Joe took a nap, I read my book, and eventually we made some pesto with the basil from Ed's wonderful garden and had dinner on his deck (which had finally cooled down once the sun was going in.)  And that was it for our evening.

This morning (Tuesday) we woke up early. Ed had to leave soon after 7a.m. to go to the Syracuse airport to meet a friend. So Joe and I got going early as well. We had a bit of a time maneuvering ourselves out of Ed's yard-- the driveway wraps around the house. We came in from one side and Ed thought we could drive right out on the other side. But we discovered when we tried it that to get out on that side, we'd have to take a corner of the house with us-- it was just too tight. So we did a "k-turn", in spades! The space was so tight, we went back and forth about a dozen times, one foot at a time, to reverse the RV and go back out the same way we came in.

"Sam" (the RV) between the garden and house-- tight quarters to turn around!

We decided we had one more day for vacation, and by gosh, we'd use it! So we headed for Chenango Valley State Park about 60 miles away. It turned out to be only a short drive further to Binghamton, NY, and a friend had most highly recommended that if we were anywhere nearby, we should go to his family's absolutely favorite restaurant, Little Venice. So we decided to try that for lunch. We drove to the restaurant, and they had thoughtfully left us a big curbside space right in front (otherwise I was concerned about the parking--so it worked perfectly.) Little Venice turned out to be a family owned "institution" in Binghamton since the 1940s, and it was DELICIOUS. Home made pasta cranked out to order, and a secret house sauce. We completely enjoyed our lunch. Ironically, the two restaurant lunches we had, yesterday and today, almost doubled our previous restaurant meals. In 35 days, we've eaten "out" exactly 5 times-- Mexican in Cody, WY, Thai in Lava Hot Springs, ID, Quaker Steak and Lube in Erie, PA, Mexican in Ithaca, and now Italian in Binghamton.

Other than that, the only stop we made today was at a roadside vegetable stand this morning, where we bought some sweet corn, tomatoes, and some fruit. Joe ate an apple right away for a snack, and said it was delicious. We had the corn at dinner, and it was great too! So that was definitely a good stop.

Once we had lunch, we drove back north a few miles to the park, got a nice spot (it is virtually empty here), and both of us took naps! And since then we've been hanging out, reading, blogging, and otherwise relaxing. This is a good way to spend our last day of vacation. Tomorrow, we will have to head back to Highland Park. I hear it is stinking hot. In our RV tonight, thank goodness we have electricity so the AC is going again. If the house is too hot, we may just hook ourselves up at home and stay in the RV. After all, HERE we have CENTRAL air!

We Love Lucy

Sunday, Sept. 2, 2018

Our trip is slowly winding down now. We slept very well in our casino parking lot, where it was quiet all night. A torrential thunderstorm came along at about 9:30 a.m., but other than that, and the thousand or so seagulls who also spent the morning in the parking lot with us (poop!), it was really a nice pause in the action.

We continued on our way just after 10:00, timing ourselves to arrive in Jamestown, NY just before 11:00, the opening time for the Lucille Ball/Desi Arnaz museum in the quaint little downtown there. We were lucky to find curbside parking just a couple of doors down from the museum. We enjoyed it very much, although we didn't love it as much as we loved the Wizard of Oz museum in Kansas. It was similar in idea-- a background of both Lucy and Desi's life, and the of The Lucy Show, and of their lives after they moved on from that point.

The Lucy Show started as a radio show called My Favorite Husband, which Lucille Balll starred in (Joey said he's heard most of the episodes on the Olde Time Radio station he listens to on Sirius Radio.) When they decided to make it into a TV show, she suggested her husband Desi Arnaz for the part. The sponsors were not wild about the idea, but eventually they gave in (no Desi, no Lucy!) and the show became the most popular show on television. Interestingly, Jamestown was Lucille Ball's home town. Desi actually came from a very prominent Cuban family--his mother was one of the heirs for Bacardi Rum (her father was one of the three founders) and his father was prominent in Cuban government before Batista took it over. The family owned a lot of property, including in southern California ("Ventura" is a family name.) Desi and Lucy divorced right after the show ended, and she went on to continue her career on television while he concentrated on production behind the scenes. They remained close ,and their company, DesiLu, produced many other hit shows.

We liked the museum, but thought they skimped on information about the actors who played Ethel and Fred Mertz-- they gave at least as much background on the writers and even on some of the people behind the scenes. They also didn't do enough to share the music from Desi's Cuban orchestra, which was quite successful in its own right before he became so involved in DesiLu. We would have liked more interview videos and things like that, and they really needed a small room where they played reruns of the various Lucy TV shows for people to watch (the Wizard of Oz museum continually runs the movie in the museum.) So we think the museum could have been "done" better in some ways, but we did enjoy the stop anyway.

We ran through another torrential downpour to get back to our RV when we left the museum--very glad to have found a parking space so close! We moved a few blocks to a park, to eat some lunch, and then hit the road in earnest to drive to Ed's house for the night. It was nice driving through New York for a change instead of Pennsylvania, although the scenery is similar. We did stop at one rest area and both of us took naps, before proceeding.

We arrived at Ed's, just outside Ithaca, NY, at about 6:30, and spent the rest of the evening just shmoozing. Ed made us a fabulous pizza with his own sauce and veggies from his expansive garden, super yummy! And that was pretty much our evening.

My impression of the Vitameatavegamin Commercial

Rolling on East

Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018

A short blog tonight, because I don't have ANY photos and not much to write about. We got a late start this morning-- I overslept!! Joe finally woke me up and to my shock, it was after 10:00-- he said he'd tried twice earlier but I was obviously SOUND asleep! So we didn't leave Walmart until about 11:00 or so.

Our first stop-- buy gas! We had forgotten the evening before, but we were almost entirely out. Then we headed back toward I96, US 23 (taking us through horrible Ann Arbor), and back to I-80. We did make one stop on US 23-- at the Beef Jerky Outlet. We spent quite a while tasting about 60 different flavors before deciding on a few to take home, along with some other goodies. Then we ate our lunch before really settling in for the drive at 2:30.

Other than a quick pit stop at a rest area on the Ohio Turnpike to dump our tanks, we drove right through all of Ohio, following I-90 rather than our usual I-80, up around Cleveland (we saw Lake Erie to our left) and then into Pennsylvania. By then we were getting tired and hungry and it was after 6:00.

We stopped for gas again, and decided we'd splurge and have dinner at a restaurant. So we stoppped in Erie, PA, and had dinner at Quaker Steak & Lube. This had the added advantage of many TV screens showing college football, and I caught the completely unexpected overtime situation and win by Penn State against Appalachian State. Then the Michigan-Notre Dame game came on, and I was faced with the dilemma of wanting BOTH teams to lose, but wanting Michigan to lose worse.

After dinner, we drove 3 more miles down I-90 and got off again at the Presque Isle Downs & Casino. We'd read on our RV Parky app that this was a better place than Walmart to overnight (the Walmart was literally behind the QS&L). It is a HUMUNGOUS parking lot, and quite dark in the area we are at. There are at least another half-dozen RVs parked here as well. It's too bad I wasn't really in the mood to go investigate the casino, I'm sure it would be fun another time. But this is a great free overnight stop.

And... hurrah for shadenfreude!!  Michigan lost! 

Great Day in East Lansing

Deb & Joe at Spartan Stadium

Friday, Aug. 31, 2018 [Note: I am missing a couple of photos]

Friday was just a great day for us! We started out with showers in the excellent shower house at the campground, and then drove about 90 minutes to East Lansing-- or to be precise, to Okemos, the town adjacent to E.L.Our reasoning was that we knew that the game-day parking lot would not open before 3:30 (and they DO stick to that!), but we wanted to get into town early for a particular reason--we needed white MSU shirts to wear to the game. They had decided to "stripe the stadium", meaning that depending what section you are in, you are supposed to wear either green or white. We only owned green shirts, which is what we had with us, but we were in a white section. So of course, we headed to Walmart. We knew we'd be able to park, and also that they would have a healthy selection of Spartan swag, including t-shirts.

We went inside, and the store did not disappoint us, having their entire "sports" section set up behind a Spartan sun tent. They didn't have as much fun "stuff" as I remembered from last time, but we did both find white MSU t-shirts that we liked. Then, resisting the impulse to buy new folding chairs in green and white, we went back to the RV and had lunch.

Walmart's Spartan Section

It was only about 1:30 by that time, however, and I was hoping to see just a little of downtown EL and maybe figure out how to get into the Student Book Store, where I just KNEW that I'd be able to furnish and entire house, if desired, with the MSU-themed items they would have. So we drove slowly into town, noticing all the new buildings, and the absolute mobs of people (not a big surprise on game day). We even caught a glimpse of our first apartment building, although we didn't drive past it for logistical reasons. Joe drove, and with me directing, we were lucky enough to find a large space on the curb a few blocks away from Grand River Avenue (the main drag through town) where we could slide the RV in and just fit!

At that point, Joe made the wise decision to stay in the RV and relax. I had a little over an hour to go shopping. I headed down the street, noticing all the students on their porches (so many of the houses are obviously rentals--I wonder why Joe and I ended up in a single apartment instead of a fun house?)  They were just starting to set up for their pre-game parties.

The town was simply MOBBED, and I noticed an awful lot of people closer to my age than to college age! There was hardly a soul who was not wearing and MSU t-shirt, if not a complete green and white outfit. DEFINITELY game day in the Big Ten! I went to the Student Book Store, and as expected, there were about three rooms devoted to Spartan swag-- I have no idea where the BOOKS might have been, because I did not see ANY! But I spent well over 30 minutes browsing through EVERYTHING (I WANTED everything, too, but I knew I truly did not need a deck of MSU playing cards, or any more MSU coffee mugs, or a Vera Bradly MSU-pattern tote bag, or ANYTHING else... and Cassie did not need a new MSU leash, and the car did not need another MSU magnet. The RV, however, DID need an MSU license plate frame , and Joe did need to replace his horribly faded Block-S green hat with a new one (identical). And I needed just one (ok, two) new magnets for my refrigerator. I *almost* needed an MSU garden stake, but then I decided against that too.

By the time I left the store, it was time to start heading back to the RV so we could continue with the main event of the day. We carefully drove back through the residential streets, dodging large groups of students who were gathering on porches everywhere, and found our way to the RV parking lot at the very fringes of the campus. I didn't mind driving down there, because the route took us past Holmes Hall and Akers Hall, our freshman year residences. The trees seem a lot taller on the East Campus than they were 40 years ago!!

At 3:36, we were already the 6th RV into the lot, meaning we didn't get a place along the curb (and grass) at the edge of the lot. But that was okay, because we wanted to be as near as possible to where the shuttle would pick us up. All in all, there were about 15-16 RVs in the lot by 6:00pm. Most of them had tailgate parties going on, or at least dinner-- but at MY RV, my husband decided to put on the new license plate holder. Of course, it turned out not to be the 10 minute job he expected (something about "locking bolts" holding the license in place, which had to be removed and replaced with something more manageable.) I, otoh, was not stupid-- I sat in a lounge chair in the shade cast by the RV, eating chips and dip and drinking a vodka and tonic.

In the end, we did NOT make any dinner-- at 6pm, Joe had finished the license frame renovation, and it was time to start heading for the station. We had to walk a short distance to catch the shuttle bus. On the ride, we chatted with other passengers, one of whom happened to come from..... Metuchen, NJ!  I mean, how CRAZY is that?

So we got to the stadium, and wending our way through the huge crowds of tailgaters at the foot of the Sacred Building (and past a couple of idiots waving placards and begging us to come to Jesus), we found our way inside, trudged up the zig-zag ramp to the very highest reaches of the stadium, treated ourselves to some stadium food in lieu of a healthier dinner, and finally looked down on the Kingdom of the Spartans from a very fine birds-eye view (our favorite vantage point.) We were in time to see the Spartan Marching Band's pre-game show, enjoy the gentle breeze cooling the warm eveing, and just drink in the atmosphere.

The game was much closer than we expected (or hoped!), which made it exciting, since in the end the Spartans narrowly avoided being upset by a supposedly much inferior team (which was, in truth, quite a good team!) All in all, it was a marvelous evening, and we totally loved it. Joe was so pleased that physically he was in good shape, despite all the walking the event entailed. The game ended sometime around 10:30, and we went DOWN the endless ramp, found our way back to our shuttle point, and rode back to the RV lot again. We waited for a little while, so that some of the massive traffic could clear out of the campus, had a snack, and finally just before midnight, we pulled out of the parking lot and returned to the Walmart. According to our "parking app", it was legal to spend the night there, and we have done it before... but just in case, we waited until the store closed at midnight so there was nobody to ask permission from, in case they would have refused it!

And finally we went to sleep-- it was very quiet, the temperature was low enough to be quite comfortable, and we felt completely happy with the way our day had gone. YAY! V-4-MSU!

Driving All Day

If I'm a little over 5' tall, the corn is 10 feet!

Thursday, Aug. 30, 201

Today was a day for driving-- I don't even have any photos except one! Just as we left the campground this morning, I asked Joe to take my picture next to the corn. It looks much shorter from the highway, because of the embankment of the road. But we were right next to the cornfield, and elephant's eye height (or higher!) it certainly is!

Also before we left the campground, I checked my email for the football tickets for tomorrow--I bought them through Stub Hub and they were due to "arrive" in my email today. Sure enough, they were there. To make sure that they could be scanned from my phone, I called the MSU ticket office, but the guy there said that these are "print at home" tickets. He said if they could not be scanned off the phone, then they wouldn't be able to help us at the gate. So we realized we'd have to find a way to get them printed from my email, and we don't have a printer with us.

Luckily, email and internet have greatly evolved since our early RVing days. We decided that we could probably get our job done at Staples. So we checked our Next Exit book, and discovered that 9 miles down the I-80 in Peru, Illinois, at the exit there was both a Staples and a Walmart. So we first went to the Staples. In the parking lot, we set up the computer with our own wi-fi system, downloaded the tickets into the laptop, and then transferred them onto a thumb drive (I brought several with me.) Then we went into the Staples, found a copy machine, put the thumb drive into the machine, told it to copy the file with the tickets, and voila! For 22 cents, we had our printed tickets in our hand! We were just as pleased as punch.

Tonight's campground location

After that, we went to Walmart. Joe rested while I bought water (we were TOTALLY out), eggs, milk, and a couple of other items. When I got back to the RV, he made us some lunch. Then we drove 2 more miles to a Flying J where we filled up the gas tank. And finally, we hit the road for good. Joe still didn't feel great, so I drove all day-- through the rest of Illinois, the horrible south-of-Chicago traffic, and up into Michigan. We stopped once we crossed the border and I had some dinner. Then we looked about one hour's worth of driving down the road, and found a very nice county park in Kalamazoo County, which is where we are now. It would be a nice place to stay for a day--there's a lake, walking paths, etc. But tomorrow morning we will get up and finish the drive to East Lansing.

GAME DAY TOMORROW!

A Great 47th Anniversary

Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018

Today was our 47th anniversary, and I say a day which starts with a hot shower and includes a stop at the World's Largest Truck Stop just HAS to be great! And that describes our day.

We started the morning in our beautiful park--after rain during the night, the temperature was down in the low 70s and the humidity was all gone. The park's shower house actually had HOT water.  And I was thrilled, because Joe gave me a beautiful bracelet--he bought it in the gift shop at the Elephant Museum in Lincoln a couple of days ago, and surprised me! So we started the day feeling just great.

We knew we were basically "just driving" today, but a look at the map showed us that we were going to go right past the Amana Colonies, which we had visited back in 2007. We bought a really cute lawn thingie which we still love. So we decided to stop there and go back to the same shop. We drove about 45 minutes to Amana, then parked and walked to the shop--which was exactly where I remembered it, even after 11 years! And we bought another lawn thingie this time too.

Then we had some lunch and got back on the road again. As I drove, I saw a billboard which reminded me that we were going to pass the World's Largest Truck Stop, the I-80 Truck Stop at exit 284 in Iowa. It was about 4pm when we got there, and of course we had to stop. We were not in the mood for the truck museum adjacent to the truck stop, but we loved the enormous building with its vintage filling station just outside the door, and it's unashamed celebration of the truck driving life.

The I-80 Truck Stop has been described as "Disneyland for truckers." It has all the things a regular truck stop has, but much more of it-- food (8 restaurants), souvenirs, gifts, CDs, DVDs, and books on tape, etc. It also has a huge department for aftermarket upgrades on everything from horns to lights to hubcaps and tire nut covers. There is also a chiropractor, a dentist, a laundromat, a barber, a movie theater, and a library, as well as the usual TV lounge, showers, and of course restrooms. Outside there's a truck wash and a dog wash too . 

Joe found windshield wipers, which we still needed to replace, and we both had something to drink before we went back to our RV (we did not wash the dog!) And after that, it was back to driving. Soon after that stop, we crossed the Mississippi into Illinois. We stopped at the Visitor's Center and overlook just on the Illinois side, but it was closed "indefinitely", the sign said. So we used our wifi and apps, and determined that about an hour down the road was a likely-sounding campground.

And that is where we are tonight-- at Condit's Ranch. It appears to be a multi-purpose kind of place-- it is HUGE, and has a lot of "seasonal" RVs parked here, as well as people like us passing through. There seem to be several houses on the property, and I suspect that these barns near us are not unique. We are adjacent to a cornfield which is also owned by the same people (and the corn, by the way, is taller than Joe and I! There is a LOT of corn being grown in this country, that is for SURE.)  The grounds are very spread out, though, so it seems quite uncrowded, and the trees make it seem like a gigantic park. Definitely a good choice for a stopover for tonight.

And that was our day!

Salt & Pepper

Just ONE room full of Salt & Pepper Shakers

Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018

We started today with a definite destination in mind. And a definite route in mind. And a definite time frame in mind. None of that worked out as expected.

We left our campsite around 10:30ish, heading east toward Indianola, Iowa, to the National Balloon Museum. We deliberately turned away from I-80, because we wanted to avoid it, even though we knew the trip (approximately two hours or so) would take longer that way. So we discovered ourselves traveling down a semi-paved road for well over 30 minutes just to avoid the interstate! Joe loves those roads, although I hate all the little stones that get thrown up by our tires. But it’s all part of the adventure.

S&Ps all shaped like fruits and veggies

GPS kept trying to reroute us back to the interstate, admonishing us that it would STILL take less time if we would just turn around and go back! But we persisted until GPS gave up, although we all recognized we were adding an hour to our drive.

At about 12:30, we were still an hour away and we stopped for some lunch in a larger-than-usual town. Joe also changed the windshield wiper-- we’d encountered some scattered rainstorms, and realized the one we had was falling apart suddenly (luckily we had a spare.) Then I began driving, and I told Joe to put in the exact street address of the museum. And that was when we found out-- it is closed Monday and Tuesday!

50 states with related item for each: "go-withs"

So all our back-roads were in vain-- we needed to reimagine what our day would be like. Luckily, I had exactly one Iowa tourist book from some previous trip, and Joe was able to find us an appealing quirky alternative-- the Traer Salt & Pepper Shaker Gallery. I am sure I’d seen this when planning a few months ago, but it had seemed not that compelling. Now, however, we wanted SOMETHING in the more-or-less general direction we were driving, so we chose this.

Fat lady and fridge "go-withs"

We immediately headed north-east, and it was almost two hours before we arrived in Traer just after 4pm, knowing the “museum” closed at 5pm. I was not expecting too much, but I thought it sounded like our brand of quirky.

Well, once again, our expectations were vastly exceeded! We were greeted by a lovely volunteer (whose name unfortunately I have totally forgotten), who gave us an excellent “tour” of the S&Ps. The entire collection--all 16,000+ items-- were collected by ONE woman, Ruth Rasmussen, who is now 94 years old and resides in a local nursing home (and who still adds to the collection from time to time, as a result of gifts she has received.) She started collecting in 1946, and any and every type/style/material/subject S&P was included.

It was immediately apparent that the volunteers who operate the S&P Gallery had exercised their own creativity in presenting the S&Ps. In the front office area are an elaborate birdcage filled with bird S&Ps, a big area called the “Traer Market” filled with “produce"-- all kinds of fruits and veggie S&Ps, and a Hoosier cabinet displaying food-themed S&Ps. The first room we went into from there included more than 300 pairs of dog S&Ps, shelves of Christmas themed S&Ps, and some highly collectible S&Ps made by specific pottery companies and china manufacturers. In general, animals “of a kind” would be found together-- hence you can see all the cats, for example, shelved together. There are several display cabinets of “go-withs"-- pairs of S&Ps which did not match but made a pair, such as a toothbrush and toothpaste tube, a tent and a folding cot, and a hot water bottle with a pair of feet.

Jonah in the Whale

There were farm animals (some displayed in a barn setting); zoo animals; more birds; as I said, almost any animal you can imagine. There were groups based on advertising, from Disney movies and cartoons; on occupations; on foods. There were shelves with cowboys, Indians, and covered wagons. There was a shelf covered with Black “Americana” S&Ps, and several collections from 50 states. There were shelves organized by material: all wood, or copper, or clear glass, or silver, or bakelite. There were shelves of feet, of hands, “double-sided” faces (smiling in one direction, frowning in the other). There was a shelf of S&Ps which were from Iowa, or referenced certain Iowa things (such as Hawkeye football.) And then there were shelves from all the other states referencing places and things such as the Liberty Bell or Statue of Liberty. And then of course the ones from foreign countries-- all gifts to Mrs. Rasmussen, who never traveled to any of those countries.

There were also more unusual types of S&Ps, such as “bobble heads”, where the S&Ps included a stand and they moved back and forth in the stand (waving, or kissing, or a cowboy shooting a gun!); there were hugging pairs; hanging pairs; kissing pairs, miniatures; and even a closet that included “naughty” S&Ps!

Political S&Ps. Clintons and Obamas heads' "bobble"

Our guide was wonderful at telling us about a number of different items, and pointing out some of the more unique ones (it would be easy to miss certain details amid the sheer mass of S&P pairs.) For example, there was a shelf of Presidents. Among them were two bobble-head pairs-- the Clintons and the Obamas (which was made to copy the Clintons). In both cases, the S&P shakers had the heads of the president and first lady, and were set to hang inside a base which looked like the White House. When used and replaced (or simply pushed with a finger), they bobbled back and forth-- with the President nodding “yes”, and the first lady shaking her head “no”. On a shelf with various miscellanous subjects was a pair with an explorer in a large cooking pot, and a cannibal leaning beside him against a tree reading a book entitled, “How to Serve Your  Fellow Man.” I also enjoyed the Jonah inside the Whale set, as well as several Betty Boops and Marilyn Monroes. Joe liked Lady and the Tramp best, from the cartoons--I liked Tweety Bird and Sylvester.

Cannibal and Missionary

We spent over an hour enjoying the collection--impressed with both the extent of it (who wouldn’t be!) and the creative ways it was displayed. They may seem silly or "trivial," but we found them charming and entertaining. We were the only ones there, and we kept our guide/hostess chatting until well after the 5pm closing time. At that point, it started to rain, and first Joe, and then I went back to the RV. (I almost had to swim back--the heavens opened and SHEETS of rain were blowing sideways for about 5 minutes, causing a mini-flood of the sidewalk, just as I tried to leave the building.)

We spent a little time waiting for the rain to stop, and then headed to a nearby county park which the S&P lady had recommended to us. It was about 30 minutes away from Traer, and the sky was dark and foreboding almost the entire way. We got to the park and to our surprise (especially after last night’s experience), it was EMPTY. At the VERY end of the camping loop, we found 5 trailers in sites, but not one tow vehicle there with them. We ended up in a different area, camped on the grass right next to the lake, with not a soul in sight other than a flock of Canadian geese, who we had to gently urge out of the way as we drove into the site.

It started to rain again as we hooked up (we wanted electricity again, because despite the rain it was muggy), and the ranger came by soon after and hand-collected my payment so I didn’t have to walk in the rain to the check in area. I asked, where is everyone? And he said that the trailers were probably from people who were staking out a spot before the holiday weekend, and that in the next day or two he expected the place would fill up again. But for tonight, we have it entirely to ourselves. The connectivity is spotty again, but we are very satisfied otherwise.

NEBRASKA! GIANT MAMMALS! AMAZING!!

Elephant Hall display

Monday, Aug. 27, 2018

We got up a little earlier today so we could have time to spend in the Nebraska State Museum on the University of Nebraska campus in Lincoln. We drove 3 straight hours, getting close by at around noon, and stopping for lunch first. Then we negotiated the roads in the city, including on the campus of the university, until we came to the museum. It was located right by Memorial Stadium, the home of the Cornhuskers, which holds 90,000 screaming fans when it is full (and it has been sold out for every game since 1962!!)

Our problem was not 90,000 fans, however, but a parking lot made for cars, not for RVs. There actually was a section clearly labeled "For Museum guests ONLY!", but all the spaces were metered and were, of course, normal size slots for cars. We were lucky, I guess, because those spaces were half empty, including a stretch of about 10 of them in a row at the end of the parking lot. So we decided to park parallel to the side instead of like a normal car, and take up four whole spaces. This worked fine-- except of course, we had to stuff quarters into 4 parking meters to make ourselves "legal". Luckily, we also had a LOT of quarters (despite using up quite a few doing laundry last week, and using up others when we ran out of singles and needed to pay $12/night for camping at Stillwater campground.)

Early four-tusker elephant

Anyway, we each simultaneously slipped quarters into the meters until we'd put in enough for an hour (each quarter was only good for 12 minutes!!) I added a sign on the window for good measure saying "Visiting Museum", and we went inside.

We were immediately WOWed!!!  The museum is largely a museum of paleontology, and it turns out (who knew???) that Nebraska is a huge repository of... well, HUGE bones! They have found a complete fossil record of the development of elephants in Nebraska. There were more than 10 complete skeletons of elephants, beginning with some with 4 tusks (instead of only two), shorter legs, etc. and going to mastodons, mammoths, and modern elephants. ALL of which developed in Nebraska! They were fabulous!

Giant Mastodon (modern elephants in front of him)

In the next room over, we saw camel skeletons-- it seems a giant camel evolved in Nebraska, too. It was only later that they migrated into other continents. The llama, also, is a descendant of this camel; it ended up in South America. So both the dromedary (one hump) and bactrian (two hump) camels which are seen in the middle east and Asia, and the llama in South American, developed from the giant camel in Nebraska!

There were other galleries-- giant rhinos, horses (we should have come here instead of the Hagerman Fossil Beds!), one of "weird animals and fish", including a shark with teeth that looked like a buzz saw blade, large armored fish, and a 5 foot tall invertebrate of some sort which was just horrible looking! Speaking of horrible, there were several animals, some dead-end evolutionary "experiments", with truly ugly skulls. There were also skeletons of a giant sloth, a giant deer, and some kind of huge round THING, I can't remember what exactly it was (I'm posting a photo.)

Giant Camel

This floor of the museum was so utterly fascinating that we spent well over an hour in it--I had to run out and shove MORE quarters in our parking meters! We had about 30 minutes left to go upstairs where the "real dinosaurs" were-- including a stegosaurus which came from, guess where? Utah's Dinosaur National Monument! So we had visited the place it was buried, and here was the skeleton itself! They also had an Allosaurus from there as well. And in the room next door, there was a plesiosaur neck in the floor--it went from one end of the gallery to the other.

Plesiosaur skull and body found in Nebraska

This museum has a number of really rare fossils, such as a fossilized early deer which was pregnant, and the bones of the fetus were also fossilized. There is a giant something that I never heard of, which is very rare, and an entire flying dinosaur skeleton still embedded in rock for display-- it is rare to find an entire skeleton in one piece, so to speak. All in all, we simply were boggled by the richness of the fossil record in Nebraska, and plan to come back again. For one thing, we didn't find out until today about the Ashfall Fossil Beds in northern Nebraska. We easily could have stopped to see them on our way west a few weeks ago. They are a paleological version of Pompeii-- a volcano erupted in Idaho, killing hundreds of now extinct animals at a waterhole area in what is now Nebraska. I took a photo of one fossil from the site which was in the museum, but I am avid to go see the original site now, which, I believe, is also enclosed inside a building like Dinosaur National Monument is.

"Round thing"-- a Glyptodont, related to an armadillo

There was also an exhibit highlighting the fossils found through the State's "Highway Paleontology Program," where there is cooperation between the state and the scientists when new roads are being put it-- the paleontolgists work side by side with the road construction crews to deal with fossils that may be uncovered at the time of the work being done. It is one of the first cooperative programs of this type in the country. All in all, this was one of the most fascinating museums I've ever seen, and just standing in the "Elephant Hall" was to be in awe. As Joe said, Nature is truly incredible! This museum is worth a special visit-- I hope to go back there someday soon. We had to skip entire galleries due to lack of time and energy (and quarters!)

Complete flying dinosaur skeleton

By the time we finished up at the museum, Joe was pretty wiped out (he'd done almost all the morning's driving), so we found a park to stop in while we looked at our options for the rest of the day. There are a LOT of places to "overnight" in parking lots near Omaha (Walmart, Cabela's, Cracker Barrel, and even the highway rest areas), but we needed electricity tonight--it was in the 90s and SO hot, and we knew we wanted AC tonight.  In the end, we decided to go to a county park campground near Omaha, about 45 minutes further east. But when we got there, it was full.

Plesiosaur paddle

Allosaurus

Stegasaurus from Dinosaur Nat. Monument in Utah

Fossilized animal burrows (bottom one has animal remains in it)

A very weird animal-- I have no idea what!

So we did MORE thinking and mapping, and headed east again, crossing the Missouri River into Iowa until we came to another county park, Arrowhead Park in Neola, IA. We were lucky yet again to get one of the last spots available. So we are in Iowa now, about 2 hour's drive from tomorrow's destination. I can't upload today's photos because we have very little connection for some reason, but I will certainly do that. The skeletons we saw today were, as I said, mind-boggling! If they are not here when you read this blog, come back again!

I have no idea what this is!

Heading East

Cassie rolls in Nebraska grass

Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018

We turned out backs on the Rocky Mountains this morning and headed east--it’s finally that time. East is never as much fun as going West--especially on Interstate 76 in Colorado. This is truly one of the most boring and unattractive stretches of road we have ever had to drive on-- but it happens to be the best connection between the Denver area and I-80, the direct route home. Meanwhile, it was hot as heck again--into the 90‘s. That’s what coming down out of the mountains will do, I guess!

So we drove.... for about 3 hours without stopping, until we finally crossed the state line into Nebraska. It is amazing how Nebraska is immediately more attractive than that stretch of Colorado! We stopped soon after crossing the border at a Flying J, where we ate lunch, and then filled the propane tank. Cassie rolled in the grass. The entire stop lasted about an hour altogether--for some reason our lunch stops always do! We got back on the road again at about 2:00, and about 15 minutes later, it was 3:15! We’d crossed over into the Central Time zone.

The loss of an hour wouldn’t matter too much, except I wanted to stop at the Golden Spike Tower, and I thought it closed at 5:00. It looked like we’d be passing by at about 4:20, and I knew that wasn’t long enough. But Joe said, “lets stop anyway and maybe it IS long enough.” And then Google told me that it closed at 7pm, not 5:00! And Google was right (the website I’d looked at earlier was wrong?) Anyway, we got there at 4:30, with plenty of time to visit.

The Golden Spike Tower is an observation tower overlooking the Bailey Yard, the world’s largest rail yard, in North Platte, Nebraska. There is an introductory film which gives a brief overview of the activities at the rail yard-- how the cars get sorted by going over two “hump yards”, the enormous engine shop for repairs and overhauls, etc. Over 10,000 railroad cars go through the yard per day over 315 tracks. The tower has two observation decks-- the 7th floor, which is open (and you can hear the sounds of the yard), and the 8th, which is completely enclosed (yes, there is an elevator!)

View of green Nebraska fields.

We went inside, and were greeted by several lovely women, and a sign that said that “well behaved dogs were welcome.” They even had dog biscuits waiting! So we went back to the RV and brought Cassie in with us. She showed off her tricks for dog biscuits, and won them all over. Meanwhile I was looking around the gift shop, which was full of train-related toys, clothing, and other items. We watched the film, then went up to the 8th floor.

View of the rail yard

The view was beautiful from up there, over the green Nebraska fields to the south, and the multiple train tracks to the north and west. The engine repair building was longer than 3 football fields (the entire rail yard is 8 miles long!) The coolest thing was watching the cars going over the humps to get sorted. The train gets pushed up a hump, and then each car individually rolls down whichever track is designated for it, and it automatically couples with the car in front of it when it rolls into place. They are precisely placed, so I am sure it is entirely computerized, but watching the cars just rolling onto each track all alone is fascinating. And so the entire train is put together depending on where it is headed.

There were two retired railroad men up on the 8th floor, chatting with visitors and answering questions. They mentioned that the volume of rail traffic had increased in the several years since the video was made. The rail yard runs 24/7, so trains are constantly moving in and out.

Besides the views and the information from the railroad guys, there were several displays, and a corner where a video from PBS called “Orphan Trains” was running. The latter was about the years when children (ages 6 to 18) were shipped from New York out to the midwest and were basically “given” to families who wanted to adopt them. The idea was that they had no family in New York, and the people out west needed extra hands to work on their farms. Sometimes the children were not orphans; their parents would relinquish their parental rights so that the child would presumably have a better future, if the parents could not afford to raise them, or didn’t want them. But this was, of course, traumatic for the children. I watched the video for a while--it wasn’t really about trains per se, but the trains were the means of transport, and midwestern families would go down to the train depot and pick out a child from those on the train. This actually went on for 75 years, even though it sounds utterly barbaric now!

Time line of the Baily Yard

We spent over an hour at the Golden Spike Tower, and then decided that rather than stay in North Platte, we would put some more miles behind us. So we drove about 45 more minutes before stopping in Cozad, a small town which is located along US 30. US 30 is the original Lincoln Highway route through Nebraska, and we picked up some traveler’s guides in the Tower telling us all the historical places along US 30, which runs very close to I-80. Anyway, Cozad is on the route, and their town park has about a dozen RV parking places. For $10, we have electricity, water, and there’s even a dump. It’s a nice little park-- a lot of green right behind us, with a walking/exercise path, and of course playground and volleyball courts. The railroad is nearby, and the trains will be going by all night--we feel quite friendly toward them (it sounds like being home in HP.) Really a good deal for the night, especially since if the weather doesn’t cool down enough, we may want the air conditioning.

So that was today. We are eating a little bit late, because of the time change, I guess. Tomorrow we will continue along the Lincoln Highway and/or I-80 toward Lincoln, Nebraska, where we are planning to stop at a museum on the campus of the University of Nebraska.

Two Low-Key Days

Colorado River near Kremmling

Friday/Saturday, Aug. 24-25, 2018

When we woke up yesterday morning and looked at the lake, and Joe said, "OMG, just LOOK at how beautiful this is!", I decided that there was really no rush to go anyplace, and our lakeside view was too good to give up. Unfortunately, we did have to move, because our site was reserved for Friday night. But the next site on the road, about 25 feet along, was a "first come" site. So we rolled forward and claimed it before anyone else could come along.

We spent the rest of the day just relaxing! I put our chairs up, and I fell asleep for about an hour or so in the sun (I put my sweatshirt over my face to protect me from sunburn.) Joe napped inside. Cassie spent most of the day outside, tethered to our picnic table, which provided ample shade. The temperature reached perhaps the high 60s, although the sun made it feel warmer. I chatted with one of the camp hosts for a while, and she told me that it hadn't gotten above 80 degrees there all summer! The altitude was about 8,000 feet, which made it quite nippy at night, down into the 40s. So we just loved it.

Selfie of me, sunbathing

This morning we packed up, though, because we had plans to meet up with our friend Noah sometime around dinner. He texted us that he had to go in to work, however, so it was unclear when he might be free. Nevertheless, we needed to head east. And although the least mileage was to drive through Rocky Mountain National Park, we just weren't up for it. Joe has been feeling the altitude, and I did not want to be freaked out by the 12,000 foot road through the park. The closer alternative was US 40, but that went over a 12,000 foot pass also! So we retraced our steps past Sulphur Hot Springs and Kemmling, down to I-70, and took the Interstate through the Eisenhower Tunnel, which went through the mountain instead of over it (at 11,000 feet, still!) We did a lot of gasping for breath.

Soon we stopped at a Walmart, where we picked up some groceries and some other household necessities. Then we tried to figure out where we could possibly meet Noah, although we hadn't heard from him yet. But it was after 4pm. So we decided to drive to the Cabela's which was not terribly far (we thought) from where he lived, and hang out there. We were getting worried about camping, because due to city ordinances, the Walmarts and the Cabela's did not allow overnight parking. Our only choice seemed to be the Cracker Barrel, not too far from Cabela's.

Anyway we got to Cabela's, and I went in to browse while Joe rested. I actually found a vest just like I'd been wanting, at the price I had wanted to spend ($15!), and I splurged on a pair of earrings. By 6pm, we still hadn't heard from Noah, and he didn't answer his phone. So we assumed he got tied up at work, let him a message that we'd see him sometime soon, and tried to find a place for the night. I thought it was kind of early to stop at the Cracker Barrel, and was thinking we should just start heading east on the interstate (tomorrow's route) and see if anything turned up.

Joe, meanwhile, was also searching on his phone app for any possible campgrounds, and found Standley Lake. It was only 16 miles away, and he convinced me we should just try it, even though I was convinced that this late on a Saturday night, it would be full. I drove and he navigated, and when we got to the park, the ranger station was still open, and the girl inside told us that she thought there were still spaces in the "walk in" section. There were only 12 to start with! But we got the very last one!! Ironically, we are only about 6 miles from where Noah lives (much closer than we were before), but he sent a message that he got tied up at work with his team and had no idea when he might be free.

Standley Lake Campground in the evening

In any case, we feel lucky to have found this site, given the lack of other options. I feel that Denver is, overall, a very RV-unfriendly city. Besides the traffic (as with any large city), the western suburbs are very "steep" whenever you leave the highway, which makes it hard to get around. And with the no overnight parking laws, it means there's really no place to stop and rest! So I will add Denver to the list of places I will drive around rather than through, from now on. It's too bad we have friends here!

Tomorrow we will head for Nebraska. I have some stops planned out, and it should not be too arduous to get to East Lansing in time for the football game next Friday night!

View of Standley Lake on Sunday morning

More Hot Springs

What's out there??

Thursday, Aug. 23, 2018

We got a slow start this morning--it’s kind of nice not having a heavy itinerary to keep up with! It was raining during the night and into the morning, but it stopped around 9a.m., which was when we rolled out of bed. I updated my blogs with photos, walked Cassie, called home, and did whatever while Joe got himself going. Our one “must do” for the morning was to dump our waste tanks--we’d filled with fresh water when we arrived at the campsite last night, but there was no dump.

When we finally rolled out, it was about 11 a.m., and we stopped to ask the campground host where we could dump. He directed us to the Waste Treatment plant for the city of Frisco. I thought I understood his directions, but when I put “waste treatment plant” into the GPS, it told us something else. We got turned around in the city where the GPS led us (after going over Independence Pass, I should know better than to believe it for ANYTHING!) but finally were back on the road the camp host had indicated. However, we left what seemed to be most of Frisco, and still hadn’t seen the high school, which was supposed to be our landmark for the dump.

So we turned around and went back toward Frisco again. As we stopped for a red light, I looked to my right and there was a fresh fruit and veggie stand there, and-- it was flying a Spartan flag! I said to Joe, turn here, park in the big lot behind the veggie stand, let’s buy something (we HAVE to support a fellow Spartan, right?) and maybe they know where the treatment plant is.

So we pulled in and bought some fresh corn, heirloom tomatoes, and a few other things Joe wanted. The woman in the stand, however, didn’t know where the treatment plant was, but she did tell us that there was a visitor’s information place only a few blocks away. So we drove down Main Street of Frisco, which was all kinds of tempting touristy shops, food places, and cute buildings of all sorts. Clearly, Frisco is basically a tourist town! And I am lucky it’s so hard to find parking for an RV, because it saves me a lot of money when we go through towns like this!

Selection of Flags: Colorado, US, Planet Earth, and SPARTANS

We did find a spot a block off the main road, however, and Joey waited while I went and talked to the lady in the visitor center. She gave me a map and some info about the dump-- turns out we were on the right road, but just didn’t go far enough. So we went back down Main Street again, and drove farther out of town until we found it. By the time we’d finished dumping, it was well after noon.

Main Street, Frisco, CO

From there we drove back through town AGAIN (we’d gone up and down the same main drag 4 times by the end) and headed north. Our goal was Hot Sulphur Springs, a very small town whose main claim to fame was a hot springs “spa and resort.” It got mixed reviews online, but the attraction was 20 hot springs pools, of varying heat from 98 to 112 degrees. So we drove up there, following the Blue River, and stopping at a pull out on the way for a fairly late lunch. We finally got to the hot springs at about 3:30 pm.

The place was interesting-- I understand the mixed reviews. It was not flashy in any way-- it had a very low-key vibe. The cabins were not fancy, but looked relatively comfortable (I peeked through the window and saw they were fairly basic). The reception area for the pools was reasonably attractive without being flashy. They also do massages and other spa treatments there, so they were promoting quiet, peace, and relaxation. There were some kids, but not a lot-- there are only 4 pools which the under-12 set are allowed to use.

Four hot pools (one is inside the tan building)

Anyway, we changed into our suits in the RV after we paid to get in, and came back with our towels and shampoo. Joe put his stuff in a locker, but I took mine with me so I would have my camera this time, a water bottle, sunscreen, and a few other items. The pools began at ground level (98-101 degrees) and went up the side of the mountain. So we climbed the stairs until we found a small pool labeled 106-108 degrees. I thought it might be too hot, but it was probably a little less hot than advertised-- it felt perfect, and that’s where Joe stayed the whole time. I wandered around after a bit to see the other pools, but “ours” was best. It was just the right size for 2 people.

2 more hot pools

So we spent an hour soaking and resting there. There were areas with sun shades over them, and lounge chairs, and there were not a lot of people, so it seemed very comfortable and quiet. There were “quite zone” signs everywhere, which helped too. I liked it. It wasn’t fancy, but it was comfortable. At about 5pm, we were sufficiently “cooked”, so we went into the bath house and took showers-- hooray for clean hair!! And then we walked slowly back to the RV.

Joe in a hot pool

Now the issue was, where to spend the night. The town we were in had a small park with some free camping, but all the sites were taken (I’m guessing that some of those folks just live wherever they can find free camping!) So I looked at our map, and realized that there wasn’t that much too nearby. The closest seemed to be some National Forest sites about 30 minutes away, so that’s where we went.

Campsite view--Lake Granby

At about 7pm, we ended up on a lovely lake in the Arapahoe National Recreation Area. It seems that all the sites are reserved for the weekend, but we almost had our pick for tonight, given that’s all we wanted. We are at a site overlooking the lake, which is beautiful, and again we get 50% off the fees (and a free pass to be here-- a day pass costs about $5/day). So we are quite satisfied with our day, all in all! We are now discussing where to go tomorrow--I want to head to Loveland (we were there in 2011) but it requires driving through Rocky Mountain National Park on yet another twisted road with high elevation. I will do some research on that subject right now.