Graham Reunion, Aunt Ann, Boogie Home, Summary (8/12 - 8/18)

We are home now and in the process of cleaning out the RV and adjusting from the Nomadic lifestyle. On 8/12 we left our Angola Indiana campground and headed to Bear Run Campground in Portersville, Pa. My last remaining aunt lives here with her daughter nearby.

Because it was near Aunt Ann's 92nd birthday, and many of the cousins were going to be in the area we put together a small "Cousins Reunion". One and a half days of sharing pictures, stories, and talking family. It was great. We basically visited with Aunt Ann, ate, drank, and talked. It was really nice to see everyone and catch up on each others lives. It's always nice to know that I'm not the only one starting to show my age.

On 8/16 we packed up and headed home. We had stops in Winchester, Virginia and a final stop in Ashland , Virginia. The campground in Ashland is directly across the highway from a large Bass Pro Shop. This Bass Pro has a restaurant in the store so we ate and shopped. We also took and hour or so to look at new RV's in a large dealership nearby. Maybe the dream is still alive.

On Thursday 8/18 we drove the remaining miles to Emerald Isle. I always feel sad when these trips end because I love seeing this country so much, but I will also admit it's nice to see the homestead.

I will try to summarize our trip below but I have to say that parts of this ride offered some of the best scenery we have seen during our six trips west. Surprisingly California, Nevada, are very unique and Idaho is off the wall gorgeous on the west side. The people we met in Idaho, even a New Jersey transplant, were exceptionally nice. A great place to visit.

Trip Summary:

Drove through 23 states
Visited  three National Parks and two National Monuments
Drove 8,484 miles in the bus and 1,674 in the car a total of  10,158 miles
We stayed in 36 campgrounds

Some Highlights:

Hot Springs National Park
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Canyon De Chilly in Arizona
Durango and Silverton Railroad Ride
Antelope Canyon on Navajo Reservation near Page Arizona
Purchases in Sedona
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
Camping in the Redwoods/Henry Cowell State Park (The Redwoods)
Visiting Sadie and Fran
Visiting our California Family
Lake Tahoe
Snake River Stampede (Rodeo)
Canyon Pines RV Pollock, Idaho
The entire ride up the west side of Idaho
Jet Boat ride to Hell and Back (Snake River Idaho/Oregon into Hell's Canyon)
Comstock Country RV, Big Timber Montana
Everything about Cody Wyoming except the forest fires
Devils Tower and the ride through the Bighorn Mountains
Saint Josephs Indian School and the Akta Lakota Museum
The Cousins Reunion

Other things were nice but these were my highlights!!

I hope you enjoyed our trip as much as we did. I do hope that we can continue to travel the country as long as our health allows. This is a great way to see our beautiful country. Until next time. Remember Life is Good take the time to enjoy every day.

My first home Michigan City, Indiana

My TV viewing spot for 69 days.

The Reunion Group minus Bob

There's Bob.

The Cousins.

Fine looking family!

Chamberlain SD, St Joseph Indian School, Akta Lakota Museum (8/7 - 8/9) Boogie (8/9 8/12)

On Sunday 8/7 we boogied to Chamberlain, SD. There is an Indian School here that I have been contributing money to for years and I wanted to see the facilities. The school is located at the end of town and it had a marvelous museum right on the campus. A visit to the museum allowed us to get the history of the school and we viewed  a very well done movie that profiled the history of Indian schools around the country. Very enlightening and somewhat sad what we have done to these people.

The museum was very nice and the people were also. We also took a ride around the campus and visited a small church on the campus.

After visiting the school we had lunch in a small café on the main street. The people were very friendly and it turned out that it was a family run business and the daughter was a former Marine wife who had lived with here husband in Hubert. They knew Emerald Isle very well.

This was a quiet little town with nice people and high food prices. Chamberlain is on the Missouri River and it was one of the main stops for Lewis and Clark during their trek West.

I'm glad we took the time to stop. It gave me a good perspecticve of the school and a closer understanding of the Indian History.

Yesterday we boogied to Albert Lea Minnesota. The campground was surrounded by corn, the crop that dominates the countryside. Today we boogied across Southern Minnesota and East Central Iowa.
Tonight we are near I80 in Davenport, Iowa. We are headed for a mini Graham cousin reunion near Butler, Pa. this coming weekend. I will sign in after we have left Butler.

More miles tomorrow. We head for northeastern Indiana.

Original Building.

Our Lady of the Sioux.

Catechists on Left.  Keeping of the Soul on Right. Windows in the church.

The Sacred Pipe, a messenger of the Great Spirit. On Left.       Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American to be canonized. On Right.

Statue at the entrance to the school.

Downtown Chamberlain. This is why you live in the South.

Entered this morning. 8/10/2016

The changing landscape of the Midwest. Corn and Windmills.

Tuff to follow!

In the museum. Carved in stone.

Marvelous museum.

Wonder where he got his name. It wouldn't be easy to go through life with this name.

Downtown Chamberlain.

Very interesting.

Our view from the campsite last night. It goes on for miles.

The suicide of this bug ruined our picture.

Trip through Bighorn National Forest / Devils Tower Wyoming (8/5 - 8/6)

On 8/5 we left Cody and headed East to Devils Tower. The trip took us through the Bighorn National Forest. The last section of this ride was a little rough but very beautiful. The elevation change to get over the Bighorn Mountains is up 6000 feet on the west side then down about 5000 feet on the east side. The road was a little windy but a drop dead beautiful drive. We stopped for lunch at one of the brake check stations near the top of the mountain and watched a Wyoming cowboy moving some cattle at the edge of the woods.

Devils Tower is not a town it's just a couple of stores and a campground in front of the gate to the nations first National Monument. We had a campsite in the back of the campground with a view of the Tower. This is the filming site of the Spielberg movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind starring Richard Dreyfuss. The guy at the campground told us that Spielberg sat on the ground in their parking lot for two hours then said this is the place for the movie. The money that the campground got for the movie helped them get their Good Sam Franchise.

There was nothing quiet about this place while we were here. This is one of the prime tourist destinations for the Sturgis crew. The second day we were here there were at least 200 motorcycles in the parking lot and the rumble of the motorcycles was a constant sound.

We used our "Old Peoples Pass" and went to the mountain on the second day. It's a short ride up the mountain. We went to the welcome center then took a walk around the mountain. You can see the different sides of the mountain and some of the 5000 people that climb the mountain every year. We saw about eight people climbing and we ran into two guys who were on their way to the base for a climb.

There are three theories on how the mountain was actually formed but all agree that it was molten magma. The tower rises 867 feet from its base and stands 1267 feet above the river below. 5112 feet above sea level. The original formation was about 50 million years ago. Erosion has brought this solid structure up to the surface.

Devils tower is a pretty place. The location was made our first National Monument by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. It's a little off the beaten path, but I would also add this to your bucket list if you are in this part of the country.

Life is Good!!

The Bighorn National Forest.

Keep an eye on that white rock.

Going Up!

This tells the story about the work the CCC did in this forest. It is a beautifully kept area with wooden fences, great signage, and many recreation areas.

One of the recreation areas.

Our lunch stop near the top. Get along little doggie!!

Wasn't as bad as it looks. This was the first of two signs.

Going down.

Our first view of Devils Tower as we were coming in.

Just a small group.

At the store first day.

On the walk in. There is an Indian Legend that the marks on the mountain were made by a great bear trying to get to the children who had climbed the mountain to get away from him. It may be true.

This climber was only up about 200 feet.

The beautiful valley from the base of the mountain.

This is an Indian Prayer offering. One of many at the base of the mountain.

This guy was near the top.

The sky doesn't get much prettier.

These were the two climbers heading up to the mountain.

Love that sky.

This is a designated Prairie Dog Refuge. There are thousands of them down in the valley below the mountain.

Our home in Devils Tower.

The red rock is along the river.

Camera selfie. Is that a spaceship in the back?