July 22nd – Greeley, CO

We had a leisurely breakfast at Windmill State Park before continuing our travels along I-80. We stopped in at the Buffalo Bill Cody’s ranch in North Platte, NE. This was interesting and also a very good place to stretch our legs.


We crossed into the Mountain Time zone just before turning onto I-76. Our goal is to stop driving just before reaching Loveland, CO in Greeley. Again, the weather was so hot we decided to seek out 30-amp service so we could run the air conditioner rather than sweltering in a Walmart parking lot.

The Greeley RV Park and Campground fits our bill nicely. For $16.67 we have a site with electrical service. We’ll utilize the showers tomorrow morning before we head into Loveland to genealogical research into Mary’s father’s family.



The Odometer miles: 12197 GPS Miles: 12897
Miles remaining till Home: 1230

July 21th – Windmill State Park

After leaving Walmart in Ankeny, IA, we headed south on I-35 and connected to westbound I-80. I-80 is a fast road thru Iowa with a speed limit is excess of 70-MPH. I tend to keep the Roadtrek cruising at about 65.

We arrived at the Windmill State Park at Gibbon, NE thinking we would stretchy our legs a little before continuing down the road. But, with temperatures reaching into the mid 90’s and the humidity well above 80%, we decide to stay here where a nice campsite, showers, and 30-amp electrical service was available for our air conditioner. The camping fee was $15 plus $4 for out-of-state park entry fee; it sure was more comfortable than sweltering at a Walmart.

The plumbing in the shower was a bit strange but we have seen worse on this trip.

Two very interesting windmills are setup in the park. Their third windmill is being rebuilt offsite.

July 20th – Mall of America & Spam Museum

I wasn’t able to talk Mary into staying at the Grand Casino RV park a few days longer, so we started our travels south on I-35 toward Minneapolis and the Mall of America.

The Mall of America has something for everyone. First, it has a Cinnabon bakery. We started our morning with fresh cinnamon rolls and planned our attack on MofA. Mary wanted to spend time in Nordstrom’s and a few other like stores. I wanted to see what the rides at the indoor amusement were like.

I bought an all day ride wristband. Not that I was going to spend all day riding but know that the 24.95 cost is easily justified after only 5 or 6 rides. In two hours, I was able to do 9 rides including 2 on one roller coaster and 3 on the other.

Mary resisted all temptations that Nordstrom’s offered and we were again heading south on I-35.

The Spam museum is located near the Hormel headquarters in Austin, MN. Yes, there is a museum dedicated to Spam. We learned the history of Spam, various advertising campaigns thru the years, and other assorted Spam facts. A Spam hostess gave out samples of Bacon flavored Spam. Yum…

We continued south on I-35 till we reached the Wal-mart store in Ankeny, IA. It’s oil change time again. While shopping, we picked up wristbands so Mary will be assured a copy of the new Harry Potter book at 12:01 Saturday morning. Not that that will be a problem. This Walmart had enough books to give one copy to every citizen of Ankeny and still have books left over.

Today is the final day of our “official trip”. From the start, we said our priority was for places east of the Mississippi and today we crossed back to the west side. It will take us about one week to cover the remaining 1900 mile to reach home. The places we select to stop will be based upon how tired we are verses our desire to click off the remaining miles. Most future stops will be either at Walmart’s or FlyingJ’s.

Our best estimate is that we will arrive home in Redding sometime between the afternoon of Wednesday, July 25th and Friday, July27th. We are trying to decide if we will spend a day or two in the Reno area before driving that last 200-miles home.

July 18-19 – Grand Casino RV Park, Hinckley, MN

The Grand Casino RV Park lives up to its name… it definately is Grand. All sites are paved back-ins with grass areas between sites. Sites have all the amenities including cable TV and WiFi. The bathrooms are cleaned three times each day and are spacious. The showers are great. The water flows at a rate that rivals Niagara Falls. There is a swimming pool, game room, and all the other stuff that one would expect.

We feel safe and secure because the only entry has a staffed guard shack, a card key is required to drive into the park, and security patrols drive around all night.

A shuttle bus to and from the casino passes our site at least every 30-minutes. There is a small flag on each site's post that you extend to signal the van to stop.

One of the best parts is that all this is only $19.12 per night.

We had planned to stay only two nights but decided a third would give me a better chance to shake this cold. And as the saying goes, “Feed a Cold… “. The Grand Casino has a nice buffet. I stuffed myself … but only for medicinal purposes, of course. Mary practiced a little proactive medicine by feeding her cold before she caught it.

We’ve had a restful and enjoyable stay. Tomorrow, we are on the road again.

July 17th - Superior, WI & Duluth, MN

We left our Flying J camp spot early in the morning and drove north on Highway 53 toward Superior, WI. We stopped at Mom’s Restaurant in Eau Claire, WI for a quick breakfast. Nothing fancy.

We arrived at the SS Meteor museum. It’s advertised as the “The World’s Last Whaleback Ship”. I don’t know if that statement is true or not, but the tour was interesting and we now understand that a Whaleback ship is one with a shallow draft and rounded hull.

Lake Superior is the last of the five Great Lakes that we had to touch. The friendly staff at the museum recommended that we go to Point Park in Duluth.

We were able to find a great parking space at Point Park and walked down to the beach. We did not want to repeat the problems we had in Lake Michigan so we asked a lady to took our picture while we were kneeling at the waters edge.

To get to and from Point Park, we had to cross the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge. Built in 1905 and modified in 1929, this bridge opens by lifting the span on accommodate water traffic. We spent the afternoon walking around the area surrounding the bridge. Two lighthouses flank the harbor entry and numerous shops and restaurants occupy the refurbished buildings in the area.

I’ve been recovering from a cold for the past few days and decided not to walk too much.

We took the carriage tour of the lakeshore. The driver, a lifelong resident of Duluth, told us a little of the history of the area and the changes she’d seen.

We drove to Grand Casino RV Resort in Hinckley, MN and will enjoy a couple days to rest while I recuperate from this cold.

July 16th -- Green Bay, WI

I’m not sure why we drove all the way to Green Bay, WI. It wasn’t because we are Green Bay Packer fans. One place we planned to see was the National Railroad Museum but before going there, we decided to drive down to the lakeshore for lunch.

We found Bay Beach Amusement Park. This is a small park family oriented park suitable for young kids thru pre-teen and just about perfect for Mary and myself.

We spend the entire day walking around the park, watching families having fun. We even road the Merry Go Round (twice), the Bumper Cars (twice), the Scrambles (once) and the Ferris Wheel (once).

We never got back to the railroad museum and our lunch was yogurts in the Roadtrek. Somehow the day just slipped away.

We drive to the Flying J in Black River Falls, WI. We were a little concerned because 4-hour parking limit signs were posted throughout the parking area. The clerk said that was just for people who park their car and go elsewhere. It was ok for us to spend the night. As the night progressed, many other joined the overnight camping group.

July 15th – Oshkosh

We said our Goodbye’s to Craig and Lynea over a cup of coffee and were on our way. Sunday’s traffic was light in the Chicago area and we crossed Illinois and into Wisconsin without encountering any traffic problems.

Oshkosh, WI is the home to the EAA, an advocacy organization for General and Recreational Aviation in the United States. Their museum is packed with original and replica aircraft ranging from the Wright flyer, many stunt, and a few military planes.

There newest exhibit a replica of Burt Rutan’s SpaceshipOne: the first private sub orbital spacecraft and winner of the X prize.

Just outside the museum is the EAA grass runway. Several airplanes and an helicopter were giving introductory flights. The hangers on the other side of the airstrip were open for tours. We spend a couple hours looking at some very nice old flyable airplanes and assorted inventory of aircraft parts, instruments, and engines.

We spent the night at the Circle R private campground just south of the EAA facility. The campground has nicely spaces grass sites with a strange selection of facilities. Some had cable TV. Some were without electricity while other had either 15 or 30 amp service. Free WiFi was available but it didn’t reach to the far end of the campground. We moved our site during the evening hours so we would have access to WiFi. The showers were clean and functional but were constructd with a strange assortment of plumbing fittings and valves.

July 14th - Indiana & Lake Michigan

The Studebaker Museum in South Bend, IN has a wide assortment of Studebaker vehicles ranging from an 1857 Phaeton coach through the last model runs of the company. I remember driving my parents Studebaker Larks.

One of my favorites is the 1932 President Convertible Coupe.

The 1951 Commander used in the Muppet Movie was there in all its dilapidated glory.

We took the South Bend Chocolate Factory tour. This would have been a better tour if we arrived on a workday instead of Saturday. After the tour, Mary and I both questioned their sanitary practices after watching one kid LICK the glass partition repeatedly. The tour guide didn’t know how to deal with this and only said, “isn’t that cute” with a bit of a frown. The parents didn’t understand her meaning and let the kid keep licking.

We drove over to the Indiana Dunes National Shoreline to touch our forth of the five great lakes -- Lake Michigan. We spent the afternoon enjoying the beach along with a number of other people.

We arrived at our friend Lynea for dinner and a nice visit. We were finally able to meet Lynea’s husband Craig, their grandson, Kaleb, and their puppy, Max. We camped in their driveway for the night.

July 13th - Kendallville, IN

The lighting bugs provided the evenings entertainment at Bixler Lake Park and passing trains provided background sounds throughout the night. We both slept well into the late morning. Just a typical down day.

The Noble County Fair is just a short distance from our camp. The livestock entered include cattle, cows, a few horses, hogs, alpaca and lamas. Assorted chickens, ducks, and rabbits were also represented. They have an Old Time Gas and Steam display but we didn’t see any steam engines. There were a couple stationary gas engines but most entries were tractors from the 1920’s thru 1950’s, some completely restored and other in original condition.

We watched and listened to the auctioneer for a while. We both kept our hands in our pockets out of fear that we might be forced to take a cow home with us and there isn’t that much room in the Roadtrek.

We had the worst Italian Sausage sandwich ever. Six dollars got something served on hotdog roll with very little grill onions, a bland sauce, and the sausage had very little flavor. The 4-H club had the best bargain with their large cups of soft serve ice cream for a dollar.

A couple of kids had a few beagle pups they were trying to find homes for. I thought Mary would be taking one home with her.

The new Kendallvale Library is fantastic. It has an open floorplan with good spacing of their bookshelves. Also, the bookshelves are not over 4-feet tall providing easily accessed for everyone. They have a nicely furnished computer lab and WiFi is available throughout the building. An area that resembles a living room, including sofa, chairs, and fireplace is provided for everyone’s comfort. We spent more than an hour relaxing in comfortable chairs while we used their WiFi and read newspapers and periodicals.

More people arrived at the campground in the late afternoon but there were still plenty of spaces available. The campground has paved internal roads but the entire camping area is grass. Electric & water utility towers are scattered throughout the grassy camping area. We didn’t notice any site numbers. You just park where you want and run your electrical cord to the nearest utility tower.

July 12 – Cereal, Cars, and more cars

We had a comfortable night at the Walmart in Jackson, MI. Lady Luck was smiling again when she provided an open WiFi connection in the parking lot. We were able to research travel options, check email, and read about world news without having to leave the comfort of our Roadtrek to search out a WiFi hotspot. This is the first night in some time that we haven’t had rain.

I woke a couple times during the night and found we were just about the only car and definitely the only RV in the parking lot. Many times we find a lot of traffic in and out of Walmart Superstores regardless of the time of day. Not this night.

When I was a kid, I sent much of my allowance to Kellogg’s in Battle Creek, Michigan for just about everything they offered for just a box top and 25-cents. So, we just had to stop at Kellogg’s Cereal City in Battle Creek. Kellogg built Cereal City in order to keep tourists’ interest when they no longer offered factory tours. We had read that it was no longer open, which is true, but we had to see what the build was like. It seemed a little like what Hershey did in Pennsylvania. We didn’t like the Hershey thing and I’m sure we wouldn’t of like Cereal City but I wish we would have had the chance to experience our dislike.

Our next stop was Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, MI. We didn’t know what to expect and since this was just one day after seeing The Henry Ford Museum, our expectations weren’t high. But, were we surprised at the cars housed in the barns and out buildings among the farmlands of Michigan. Nearly 200 classic gas, steam, and electric cars were housed in 6 buildings. Muscle cars, luxury cars, prototype and true horseless carriages were represented. There was even an extensive collection of hood ornaments. Kiddy cars were hung on the wall around one building. Some of these were really old because I remember having one just like one that was on their wall.

The car “staring” in Walt Disney’s “The Gnome-Mobile” and the set used in film Gnomes were nicely presented.

Our last stop was the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, IN. This museum is housed in the renovated and converted administrative and engineering building of the Auburn Motorcar Company. More than 100 Auburn, Cord, and Duesenberg cars are housed in the two levels of this building. Most have been restored but a few are unrestored. Of the unrestored, most are in amazing condition and a few will take enormous effort for their restoration. Each car had its ownership history, specifications, year and model displayed. We found the ownership history a real plus. This museum was a ”Duesy”

Both of these museums are rated at AAA Gems and we agree. We said this was turning into a Plane, Train, and Automobile vacation before we spent the past two days in three fantastic museums. These museums have only confirmed that to be the case.

We are camping at the Bixler Lake Campground in Kendallville, IN. It’s reasonably priced with electricity and showers. We decided to spend two nights here so we can have a little time to relax and catch our breath. We passed the country fair grounds on the way to camp and saw the Fair was in full swing. We’ll probably spend some time their tomorrow. I can almost taste the Italian Sausage and Pepper sandwich.

July 11th - The Henry Ford Museum

If the Smithsonian Museum is referred to as America’s Closet then surely The Henry Ford Museum has to be America’s Garage. I only wish they were holding a garage sale. Even they were, I couldn’t afford anything they have. It’s all priceless.

We spent the entire day at "The Ford". Not only do they have a vast collection of cars but also have old steam and gas engines, industrial machinery, and household appliances. One area documents America’s industrial development from the early 1800’s thru modern times.

The car collection is amazing. From the earliest steam, electric, and gas cars all the way to cars of the 60’s are presented. They have a 1952 Oscar Mayer Weinermobile,

the RV Charles Kuralt used in the “On The Road” series,

the presidential limousine that President Kennedy was riding in when he was shot in Dallas, and the bus that Rosa Parks was riding when arrested is also housed here. You can sit inside that very bus.

It wasn’t crowded and the item are well spaced giving a very open feeling. There was things for kids to do, including yours truly, like making paper airplanes. They have an area to test fly your creations.

We are hanging out at a Panera in Jackson, MI waiting till later before pulling into a Walmart for the evening.

July 10th – Across Ontario

We managed to get thru Canadian Customs without much of a wait. We arrived at the Roadtrek Factory in Kitchener about 1-1/2 hours before our tour was to start. This gave us plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast.

The GPS pointed us to Oscar’s Restaurant only a few miles away. I had Hash with Eggs. The hash was prepared with lightly corned beef that was sliced then shredded. Mary had her eggs with Peameal Bacon . We found out that Peameal bacon is side bacon. Kind of like Canadian bacon in the states but this was thicker and had a very good flavor.

The Roadtrek factory tour was great. It took more than two hours to cover all the steps that go into making one of these vans. Sorry, no pictures. Roadtrek’s 135 employees turn out about 500 vans per month but their backlog keeps growing since the price of gas climbed over $2.50 per gallon. A few years ago they were able to build vans for dealer inventory. Now, they only built-to-order because the demand is so great.

We showed our guide, Tupper, the mods we made to our van and he called out one of the engineers to look at the sliding shelves. We may see that feature in vans some day.

Crossing back into the US at the Port Huron entry was also easy. Cars were routed separately. The truck line had many trucks whereas the car line had few and moved quickly.

We camped at Lakeport State Campground located a few miles north of Port Huron. It cost $31 because we have to pay an out of state entry fee of $8 just to enter the park. At least we were able to touch our third Great Lake… Lake Huron. Only two more lakes to go.

Tornado warnings were issued for northeast of here. We had high winds and rain showers. A small branch blow down from a tree and hit the window on the top of the van with a thunderous bang.

July 9th - Niagara Falls

Today’s tour to the American side was great. The high point was taking the Maid of the Mist boat to the bottom of Horseshoe Falls. It was wet and wild. The boat operators didn’t over crowd the boats so we had room to move and had a good viewing positions.

We also walked down to the bottom of the American Falls. The sound and feel of the water so near to the bottom of the falls is incredible.

The worst thing we attended was a film called something like the “Legend of the Falls”. This is hyped as a 4-D movie. A little bit of water is sprayed from the ceiling while we watched the screen with 3-D glasses. The entire movie was just a bunch of video effects to showing 3-D with Niagara Falls in the background. I can’t believe they would try to get people to pay $9.95 to watch this crap if it wasn’t included in a tour package. Not one person on our tour had a positive thing to say about it.

The two tours we took were worth the money. We saw all the things we wanted and had a fair amount of time at each stop. Our tour guide was able to get us into the head of the line at each attraction and we didn’t have to find parking, which could have been a major problem. Many lots were full.

WiFi at this KOA is worthless. When we made our reservation we asked if they had WiFi and if is was working. They said yes. It hasn’t been working more than a couple minutes before it stops. I asked at the office about it this morning and they said it hasn’t been working for more than two weeks. Also, they won’t call professional help in to resolve their problems.

July 8th – Erie Canal and Niagara Falls

With little sleep, we started on a very full day. First off, we needed to find a place to touch Lake Erie. We arrived at Woodlawn Park at around 7am. There was no one to greet us at the entry, so we quickly parked in an empty parking lot, nearly ran across the beach to the water, took a couple quick pictures, and left before anyone else arrived. We never did find out if there was an admission or parking fee.



We stopped for breakfast at Tom’s in Lockport. They have a normal breakfast menu in a funky little joint.


In Lockport, we took the 1-hour cruise in the Erie Canal and passed thru two of its locks. The canal is not the one we read about in history books. No mules are left and the original canal has been expanded and the old locks replaced with bigger ones. It no longer serves a commercial propose and is used almost exclusively for pleasure boating. We saw several boats that may have come up from Florida along the Inland Passage.

Still, remains of the original canal and locks are visible and we could only imagine what a great accomplishment building the original canal was using only man and animal power.







It started to rain during the last 20-minutes of the cruise. We are growing accustom to rain in the afternoon. Everyone moved to the shelter of the lower deck leaving Mary and I alone to wander around the upper deck as we pleased.



The Herschell Carrousel Museum is also located in Lockport. This is a nice museum housed in one of the original Herschell manufacturing buildings. We both think the New England Carrousel Museum has a wider range of carrousel horses and better displays but this museum does have an operating carrousel that we both rode twice.



We drove to Niagara Falls, NY and stopped at visitors’ information. After discussing all the options, we bought tickets for two tours. Tonight, we are going on the nighttime Canada side tour and tomorrow the American side. With so little time and so many things to see, these tours seemed like the best way for us to see everything we wanted.

We checked into the KOA-Niagara campground and barely had two hours before our first tour bus was schedule to pick us up at 5:45PM. The campground doesn't seem to be all that busy. I'd estimate more than one-half of the sites sit empty. It does offer free wifi but I don't know how much time I'll have to enjoy that benefit.

Our Grayline tour stopped at three locations: the Horseshoe Falls viewing platform where we could see that fall from above and below. It was interesting seeing the Maid of the Mist boat and thinking we would be on it tomorrow.


Second stop was the Niagara River Whirlpool. Our final stop was the Skylon tower where we saw the falls illuminated from the top of the tower. This isn't a good place to observe the illuminated falls. The distance is too great and the crowds made it difficult to get a good viewing point.

Of course, a stop at Souvenir City was slip into their itinerary.

It was well after 11pm when we finally got back to our Roadtrek. Tired but happy that we could see everythings we wanted. This was a good tour and our tour guide, Al, was entertaining. We wished we could have spent a little more time at some places and less time at others but all things considered, the tour worked out well for us.

We were glad we had our passport along. This made getting into Canada and back into the US very easy. We were told that crossing the border is easier on a tour bus than in a private vehicle. It will be interesting to see how that process works when we are driving thru Canada in the Roadtrek and not on a tour bus.

July 7th – Corning, NY

The Wings of Eagles Museum is located in Elmira, NY. A wedding was scheduled for that evening and the tables and all the other wedding items were in place. The collection of aircraft and displays are not as extensive as other aviation museums we visited but our tour guide made all the difference. He talked continuously for almost 1-1/2 hours. Telling us about his time in the service and the many times he ran into General Curtis LeMay. He know the history of each aircraft, how it was used, and the pilots that flew them.


One of Mary’s “A-list” stops is the Corning Glass Museum. It has a vast collection of glass items dating back to the civilizations that first used glass. It is such a vast collection that it can overtax one’s ability to comprehend everything. We were a little disappointed with the “technology” of glass. We both were hoping to understand the manufacturing processes thru the ages.

We stopped at the Flying J near Buffalo, NY. After filling the gas and Propane tanks, we tried to get some sleep. Within the first hour, the lawn sprinklers came on and started hitting the Roadtrek. 20-minutes later they were off and we mistakenly thought that was over for the night. After getting back to sleep, the sprinklers came on again splashing the Roadtrek. This cycle repeated three times before I finally moved the Roadtrek into a dryer position. I’m afraid I didn’t get much sleep.

July 6th – Westcott Beach to Watkins Glen, NY

Today is primarily repositioning in preparation for our visit of Corning Glass Museum tomorrow. We tried to visit the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse this morning but parking was a problem and it didn’t look all that inviting from the outside. Anyway, we will get our fill of the Erie Canal Sunday when we are in Lockport, NY.

We passed thru Geneva in the afternoon. It is an interesting city located at the north end of Seneca Lake -- one of the finger lakes of New York. The city is filled with historic houses and building. We saw many being restored or renovated along route 14. I wish we could have spent the day wondering the streets of Geneva.

The town of Watkins Glen was decked out with banners advertising this weekends running of the Watkins Glen Indy Car Grand Prix. People were everywhere and it was barely Friday afternoon. Originally thinking we didn’t need campground reservations, we arrived armed only with hopes. We quick decided to go directly to the campground hoping to secure a place for the night. That was a good decision. We arrived at 1:30 PM and only 10 campsites of the 305 total remained.

We relaxed in camp for the remainder of the day. Mary fixed a great chicken salad with the last chicken breast from the dinners we got in St Regis BBQ on the 4th.

July 5th - Seaway Trail

Robert Moses State Park near Massena is only a few minutes from the Dwight Eisenhower Lock on the Saint Lawrence Seaway. The limited number of commercial ships that use the lock surprised me. This day, only 3 ships were scheduled. The first would arrive at 10:30. We decided to wait the hour since we had a short travel today. There is a small museum at the lock that we wondered through for 15-minutes. It wouldn’t be worth the time if we didn’t have to wait.

The 10:30 ship arrived traveling up river. It entered the lock, was raised 42-feet, and continued it’s voyage all within about 40-minutes. We could see about 8-people handling lines and operate the locks. It was a fast and efficient operation.

A few pleasure boats used the locks as we prepared to leave. I have to check the cost for their passage. I was a little ticked off when we were charged 25-cents each to stand on the observation deck about the museum. It’s certainly not the money; it’s just that the American people paid the initial construction costs and now have to pay to see what was built.

We continued along the Seaway Trail toward Alexandria Bay. This section of Route-37 is designated a scenic route and it is green and attractive but we had hoped to see the Saint Lawrence River but it was only visible from a few turnout along the way.

The Welcome Center near Alexandria Bay had free WiFi. We have found free WiFi at many welcome centers. The only exception being Vermont where they charge for its use.

We had planned to turn south at Alexandria Bay but decided to continue along the Saint Lawrence to the Tibbits Lighthouse. It’s located at the point where water from Lake Ontario enters into the Saint Lawrence River. A baby skunk was our greeter when we arrived at the lawn outside of the lighthouse. He was so cute that you wanted to pick him up and give him a big hug. But, we decided to just watch from a distance.

Our friend Jeff came up with the idea of touching each of the Great Lakes. We touched our first today, Lake Ontario.

We spent the night at Westcott Beach campground on the shore of Lake Ontario. Of the 129 campsites, only 5-campsites were available when we arrived at 4:30PM. Those filled up within the next hour. Summer travel season has arrived.

Note: 3 flopbook series of pictures in today’s picasa folder.
- Ship arriving (pic 12 – 21)
- Lock gate closing and lock fill (pic 38 – 53)
- Ship departing locks (pic 55 – 69)

July 4th - Lake Placid to Massena, NY

We toured the Olympic Ski Jump Complex at Lake Placid this morning. A competition was being held on the 90-meter jump with about 30 competitors from around the country. Watching a winter sport in the summer while wearing shorts and a tee shirt is just a bit bizarre. The kids did fantastic. I’m sure one or two will be in the next winter Olympics.

We rode a lift to the top where we were able to watch as the skier left the end of the jump and sailed down slope. It seemed very much like sky diving without a parachute.

A ride up the elevator in the 120-meter tower was included in our tour package. That is one scary place. Not only is it 120-meters tall but also it sits on a steep mountain making the experience even more unnerving. We could look down the run that the skiers would use. Their landing site isn’t visible until they reach take off from the end of the ramp. I certainly have more respect for their courage.

We stopped at the St Regis, NY 4th of July BBQ and celebration. We arrived too late to watch the parade but the displays and BBQ was still in full swing. It was the standard small town 4th celebration with all the vendors and displays. The fire trucks were parked in the driveway for viewing and this allowed their garage to be converted into a dining hall.

We bought two BBQ chicken dinners to go. We should have only purchased one. Each came with a half chicken, large scopes of potato salad, coleslaw, macaroni salad, and baked beans, two dinner rolls, and a brownie. One meal provided both lunch and dinner for the both of us. The other is stashed in the refrigerator.

We decided not to eat at the BBQ and continued on our way thinking we would find a nice spot for lunch. Just passed the town of Bombay, we entered the St Regis Indian Reservation and found a herd of buffalo resting near the highway. This is a domestic herd but they didn't appear too domesticated. There was one large guy that appeared of be the Alpha Male. I wasn’t going to debate that point with him. Good fences make good neighbors and after insuring the fence was sturdy, we had our lunch of BBQ chicken with sides.

The chicken was prepared with a good marinade and cooked to perfection. Mary wishes she had the recipe for the macaroni salad. The coleslaw was the finest chop I have seen used. Everything tasted wonderful. Maybe we should have purchased a few more extra meals.

We stopped for the night at Robert Moses State Park in Massena, very near the Saint Lawrence Seaway. The sites are level with moderate spacing. Mary reported that the bathroom had a strange smell.

We had the remainder of the first BBQ chicken dinner tonight. The rain started while we were eating and continues even now.

We drove only about 100-miles today and had many memorial experiences. What a nice 4th of July.

July 3 – Waterbury, VT to Lake Placid, NY

We stopped in Waterbury to connect to the internet. The Library WiFi wasn’t working again this morning so we went back to the place we used yesterday. Here’s a hint. If someone has assigned a name to their WiFi site but have not set security, then we have found they want people to use it and we do.

The drive across Vermont toward Burlington and down to Charlotte was easy. Even a Ben and Jerry’s truck lead the way for a while. We took the Charlotte-to-Essex Ferry into New York then drove to Lake Placid.

Prior to reaching Lake Placid, we passed a group of what appeared to be athletes training for the next Winter Olympics Cross Country skiing event. We were both thankful we could ride up that hill in the comfort of the Roadtrek.

I started feeling out of place when everyone we saw looked as if they were gods that just descended from Mount Olympus. They were trim, tan, and had more sparkling white porcelain in their smile then can be found in the average American’s bathroom.

I’m afraid I didn’t schedule enough time in Lake Placid. With all the activities and museums, one could spend a week here. Well, maybe three days. Either way, part of one day and part of the second just isn’t enough time.

We had a leisurely lunch at Nicola’s. We split a wood fired pizza and a veggie pannini. Both were quiet good. So good in fact, I was so involved in eating that I forgot to take pictures when they arrived at our table.

We watch Ice Skaters in two different rinks go through there training. It was fairly easy to tell which would possibly be the next Olympic stars and which would not reach that goal.

While the Zamboni prepared the ice for the next event, we toured the 1932 / 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics Museum. This museum has a wonderful collection of memorabilia from both winter Olympics held here. Skies, skates, bobsleds, clothing, metals, and an assortment of flags, banners, and printed literature fill the relative small room. Well worth the time and $4 admission.

The Can/AM Hockey Training Camp took the ice after the Zamboni finished. It was great fun watching these little future Olympic athletes go through their training.

We checked into the Meadowbrook Campground located about 6-miles outside of Lake Placid. It’s a nice New York State campground with free showers for only $16 per night. We arrived without reservations but that wasn’t a problem since less than half of the sites are occupied.

July 2nd – Waterbury, VT

Breakfast at the Park Row Café in downtown Waterbury was a treat. I had a Corn Beef Hash omelet with hash brown and cinnamon swirl toast, Mary had a blueberry pancake. Both were excellent. My omelet was so filling; I took the toast in a doggie bag.

Next came laundry. Normally we try to have the washing machine running at the same time we are eating but that can make our meal a little hurried. We didn’t have that much scheduled today, so we opted to wait until after breakfast. Much more civilized doing it this way.

Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory Tour is only a few miles outside of town. We were both looking forward to this tour and ended up being a little disappointed. It was interesting but it didn’t have the personal touch we liked in some of our other tours. Of course, Ben & Jerry’s isn’t a small operation any longer. In fact, it’s really not Ben & Jerry’s any longer. Unilever, the Dutch multinational corporation, bought out their entire operation a few years ago. Both Ben and Jerry are out of the company and off doing their own thing. The ice cream is still good and the flavors and names are very unique.

A little further out of town is the Cold Hollow Cider Mill. Another disappointment. Their ad said they pressed apples every day but I guess today was an exception. Nothing was going on. Their ad also said they had this fantastic Apple Cider donut that we had to try. No samples offered, so we bought one. Glad we only bought one. They offered samples of some of their jams and jellies. The Orange-Pineapple marmalade was fantastic. We left with a jar. I can’t wait for morning so I can have some on toast. I hope it’s good on cinnamon swirl toast.

The number of vacation travelers continues of increase. Waterbury was swamped with people driving from one place to another. Just another sign that the summer travel season is starting.

We returned to camp to review and modify our travel plans for the next few days. July 4th is still a bit of a worry although we have reservations in the Robert Moses campground near Massena, NY.

Rain started falling in the early evening and continued thru most of the night. The couple in the next site are traveling via motorcycle and have to spend the night in their tent. At least it’s a fairly good size tent. We were surprised at how much stuff they could carry in the small trailer they pulled behind their motorcycle. They have the tent, sleeping bags, two folding chairs, ice chest, food, clothing, and I don’t know what else. Still, staying in our Roadtrek is far more comfortable.

July 1st – Little River State Park

It’s our 234th Month-a-versary. Our 20th anniversary is only 6-months away. It’s a cold morning. The outside temperature is just 50-degrees. This is quite a difference from the temperatures we had just a few days ago. I almost feel like clicking on the heater. The weather radio says this weather pattern will continue for another day before warmer temperatures return.

This campground was full last night. Also, the Quechee Campground was full yesterday. I guess the summer travel season has started. The only full campground we preciously encountered was Horses Neck State Park in West Port, MA on June 16th.

Today is a down day. Our chance to relax and maybe do a little more trip planning, reading, and taking a nap or two. We had the last of the oatmeal we brought from home this morning and we split an English muffin smothered in the Chock-Cherry jam we bought yesterday. The jam had only a slight hint of cherry, very mild in flavor and not overly sweet. Other than that, I can’t really describe its taste.

The three young campers in the site next to us were packed up and gone this morning. Within an hour the Vermont Campground cleaning crew had the site restored to pristine condition. Vermont has the cleanest state campgrounds we have seen. The staff seems to be fanatic about cleanliness. The bathrooms are checked and cleaned at least four times each day and the interior roads are checked daily and spots not meeting requirements are raked into compliance.

The bathroom facilities are standard campground issue. The showers that are nearest our site charge 25-cents for 5-minutes. The volume and temperature are preset. I would have liked to set the temperature a little hotter. It still was a nice shower. The attached dressing area was large than average.

June 30th – Quechee to Waterbury, VT

We were going to stop at the Musicbox Museum in Randolph, VT but they didn’t allow pictures, so we bypassed it.

Neighborly Farm is a small organic farm that manufactures several styles of cheese. We watch as the owner made Jack cheese. We have been on several cheese making tours in the past but this has to be the smallest and most visible. The batch they were making used about 3,200-gallons of milk to product about 320-pounds of jack cheese. This farm tends their own herd of cattle, grows their feed crop, makes their cheese, and sales at their store and thru mail order. We bought feta cheese made from cows milk and a jar of Choke-Cherry Jam. Neither one of us had heard of Choke-Cherries so had to give it try.

Of course, we couldn't resist petting a few animals.

Rock of Ages quarry in Graniteville, VT produces blocks and slabs of gray Vermont granite. It has been extracting granite from their quarry since the late 1800’s. Their primary products are for cemeteries and mausoleums but they also manufacture some building materials.

Bragg Farm was a disappointment. We were hoping it would be similar to Neighborly Farm but it turned out to be simply a storefront.

We parked in front of the Waterbury Library and connected to their WiFi to upload pictures and check email. Many of the countries libraries have open WiFi available and we were glad Waterbury was in that group.

We arrived at the Little River campground just outside Waterbury. Sunday is going to be a down day as we prepare to finish our Vermont travels and move on into New York next week.

June 29th – Quechee Gulch

Today is quiet day for two weary travelers. Our leg muscles are still moaning a little because of our hike down Cannon Mountain three days ago.

We arrived at the Quechee campground yesterday and got a chance to investigate it a little today. It’s a nice place with wide spaced sites. Our site, like most, is set far back from the interior road and the neighboring sites are not visible.

We decided we had done enough downhill hiking for a while so we only walked across the Highway/pedestrian Bridge to get a better look into the gulch. It is only 165-feet deep but looks much deeper when standing mid-span on the 1911 vintage bridge. The waist high guardrail didn’t help that perception.

The campground has one of the best recycle centers we’ve seen so far on this trip. They have bins for at two-plastics, cardboard, paper, propane bottles, and refundable containers. It would make a good model for other campgrounds.

We had completed the planned for most of the remainder of our trip. We should be back home in Redding on July 31st. We have several more days touring Vermont’s cheese, maple syrup, and Ice Cream factories and stores before traveling into New York to see Coring Glass Museum, the Erie Canal, and Niagara Falls.

Our Streets & Trips plan show we have 4727-miles yet to go. We have already traveled 8951-miles.

June 28th – St Johnsburg to Woodstock, VT

We were rudely awakened by thunder and lightning at 6am this morning. Some of the strikes were so close that we couldn’t detect the time difference between the flash of light and the rumble of thunder. Statistics show close to 100 people are killed by lightning each year. We only hope we won’t be part of that statistic for 2007.

It’s been nice to have wifi available in the Roadtrek since yesterday afternoon. We have all our pictures uploaded and refreshed many of the websites that we carry around on our computer for offline reference. Moose River campground is a nice place to stay not only because of the wifi but because the sites are nicely laid out, the staff is friendly, and the bathrooms are kept clean. Lastly, they sell Ice Cream in their lobby.

We only had a few blocks to drive to our first stop at the Maple Grove Farms factory in St Johnsburg. According to the AAA tour guide, they make maple candy Monday thru Thursday year-around. Of course, today is the one-day they are doing inventory, so tours were not being offered.

Highway 91 from St Johnsburg is both fast and scenic. The rolling hills are covered with green trees and a many farms all the way to White River Junction. We had very little traffic on this well maintained highway.

Mary read about the King Arthur Flour bakery-store-school as we neared Norwich, VT. What a great selection of baking supplies and baked goods. We bought a bell-pepper focaccia and a couple of rolls. The fmadocaccia made a great lunch and dinner and the rolls somehow evaporated all by themselves.

The Sugarbush farm near Woodstock makes cheese and maple syrup. We liked all the cheese samples and bought a pound of Jack and smoked jack cheese for our travels. They also had a steer, goats, and chickens we could pet and feed. You get a big bag of feed for only 50-cents. It made one city girl feel a little country. It was interesting to walk thru the maple grove and see the sap collection tubing. This would be an interesting place to visit during the winter… except for the cold. They said the temperature drops below zero.

The Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Park is a grand place where Lawrence and Mary Rockefeller once spend their summers. The house tour is conducted in a much different manner than the FDR and Vanderbilt tours in Hyde Park, NY. You actually felt as if you were a guest rather than a trespasser. The National Park service could learn a lot from the people who work here.

This park and a number of other national parks were gifts from the Rockefeller estate. Even today, money from the Rockefeller Trust provides the upkeep of the house and grounds. My mental picture of the funding and management of our national parks continues to change as we travel.

We camped at the Quechee Gorge State Park near Woodstock. This is a nice park with widely spaced sites that are set far back from the park roads.

We both fell asleep soon after dinner of salad and the last of the focachia .