10/10/2018  8/3 - 10/10/18

For our first August in Florida since 2012, we got reacquainted with Florida dog days of summer. We spent a lot of time indoors, making sure the a/c kept running and making plans.  We met with a travel agent, which so far has been a bust.  I guess when you give them too much of your itinerary, they decide to help someone who is less prepared.  Helping the unprepared is probably a lot easier too.

We took the camper to Jetty Park with Lisa & Dan in their new camper...getting the bugs out.  We found one in our camper when it didn't want to start when it got time to leave.  We finally got it going but decided to take it to a shop to fix it...more on that later.  Back home, we made arrangements to drop the MH off for some repairs. I drove the camper, Barb followed me across town.  When we got back in the car, no a/c in the car...wow.  So we stopped and had someone look at it and the verdict was $$$$. So we bought the parts and I proceeded to replace the a/c compressor, which turned into a big project.  I got it all buttoned back up in time for us to drive to see our friend Patti in Georgia.  The a/c worked fine.  We spent 3 days with Patti and they called and said the camper was ready. So we headed home to pick it up.  They had fixed the problems, so that is good.  It started first try. We spent the rest of the week going to two concerts and a couple of Dr appointments...end of a busy month.

Sept. is here...only 3 more months of hurricane season. But then it is time to start traveling again. First is a 5 day Blues Festival in Las Vegas...so we flew to Vegas, spent the better part of 5 days inside, avoiding the 106 degree heat that is very common in that city.  We saw about 40 gigs in those 5 days and enjoyed our time with a couple from NY that we met on one of the many cruises we have been on.  Then it was fly home and get ready for the next adventure, 40 days of camping & visiting more of Florida's 155 State Parks.  We missed Tyler's 21 B-day while we were gone, but got to take him out to dinner with his gal Emily.  Then we are off to Bradenton for our 1st stop, Little Manatee River SP for 8 days.  We visited all of the State Parks in the area with the car.  One day on the way back to the camper, the a/c in the car quit working so I found a shop and got a diagnosis...the a/c compressor I had installed before we went to Georgia, had failed. So I made an appointment and we got that fixed...the car is trying to tell us something.  Maybe after 225,000 miles, it is getting tired? But we got it fixed and were on our way, more sightseeing to do. We spent a day visiting more State Parks before moving to Sarasota and a spot at Turtle Beach Campground on Siesta Key. We visited more parks, areas we haven't been to in years and drove to the very end of Anna Maria Island and enjoyed the beauty of the Gulf Coast.  We even made it to the south end of Florida Mainland where the Gulf of Mexico becomes Florida Bay, which separates the Everglades & The Florida Keys...there sure is more to Florida than the Mouse House. After spending time on the Gulf Coast and trying to stay away from the Red Tide for 3 days, we headed north on I-75 and stopped for the night at O'Leno State Park north of Gainesville for the night.

Next up is 13 days in the Panhandle of Florida, which has taken a direct hit by Hurricane Michael today.  We are very sad it is getting rearranged and just hope everyone is OK. They are reporting 155 mph winds and 919 milibars (27.138 in Hg) which is the 3rd most powerful hurricane in the north Atlantic...not good.  Not to sound selfish, but we got to spend 2 weeks enjoying the beauty of the area before Michael disrupted it all.

We arrived at Grayton Beach State Park on Monday afternoon, our base for the next 4 nights. We drove all over between Destin & Panama City, visiting State Parks we had never been to and visiting 2 that we had stayed at before but failed to get a book stamped because we didn't have the book.  At the end of our 4 days, we drove west to Blackwater River State Park and on the way stopped in De Funiak Springs and had the 2 front tires on the motor home replaced.  They had a strange wear pattern that concerned us both.  Another unexpected expense, but something you have to do when we move around like we do.  They had been there since 2013, so I am OK with it. After arriving at Blackwater River, we got set up and relaxed for the night.  Sat & Sunday we spent getting the rest of the State Parks west of Tallahassee. We also drove to Pensacola and got our GPS in the car replaced under warranty at Best Buy that had quit turning on...at least that was free.

Monday morning, we were headed back east, this time at a State Park just north of the Gulf and just south of the mini-town of Sopchoppy, Ochlockonee River State Park, 6 nights in the woods.  Ochlockonee is home to white deer & a bunch of very rare white squirrels, both of which we were able to see & photograph.  We traveled to the rest of the State Parks on our map.  We have now visited 150 of the 155 Florida State Parks that are accessible.  We have plans to visit the other 5 in November.  It has been an amazing adventure.  Some parks are way prettier than others but they all have a story to tell.  We also went to Tallahassee to visit the State Capitol buildings, both the old building which has been turned into a very cool museum and the new building whis is sort of a bland building that was all locked up because Congress is not in session.  Then we walked across the street & visited the Florida Supreme Court building, which will have 3 new members come Jan.  The guards know nothing about the place, just where you can & can't go...6 armed guards to guard an almost empty building seemed a little over the top.  We moved on and drove back to the coast to watch the sun set.  Being within a couple of miles to watch the sun rise & set make this part of Florida pretty unique along with the Florida Keys.  Florida is an amazing place if you get out & look at it, I mean look at it.

So, on Sunday we set out for our current location.  We drove across north Florida from Ochlockonee River to Gamble Rogers State Park 3 miles south of Flagler Beach on the Atlantic Ocean.  We drove 243 miles across north Florida all on non-Interstates. We left Ochlockonee River State Park near the Gulf of Mexico and just south of the mini-town of Sopchoppy about 930 this morning and drove across a very pretty part of north Florida, staying away from all 3 Interstates (10, 75 & 95). We followed US 319 & 98, US 27, US 441, SR 222, 26, 100 & finally A1A. We crossed numerous rivers, passed through more small towns than I can remember, and a lot of memories because a lot of them had been a while since we there. We saw about 100 chuches surrounded by cars, lots of cars with tubes on the roof near Ichetucknee Springs, and a gazillion trees. What a relaxing day...minimal traffic (I think maybe a dozen cars passed us all day) Florida is a beautiful place, but you need to get off the Interstates & The Turnpike to really see it and enjoy it. We are at Gamble Rogers State Park on the Atlantic Ocean just south of Flagler Beach for the next 2 weeks. Tuesday, we will drive to Jetty Park and help our daughter celebrate another birthday, then come back here. Fall is a nice time to be at the beach. Be safe everyone, lots of beach time coming up. Stop by if you are in the area. 

It has been an amazing 9 weeks.  We will be here for another 10 days, then home for a couple weeks and then a trip south to finish off our quest to visit all 155 Florida State Parks...only 5 to go...stand by.

Steve & Barb Larson
Christmas, FL

8/2/2018   4/24-8/1/2018

Well, August is here. won't be too long and it will start to cool off, we hope.  We have enjoyed being home for the summer, almost forgot what it is like.  We planted grass and it is sprouting pretty good from all the rain.  We have had about 30" of rain since April. One day we got over 2" in 30 minutes.

We ended April & began May with a 2 week stay at the beach with our motor home near Flagler Beach.  It is beautiful up there, and still only 90 mins from the house.  We drove to Tampa to see Lynyrd Skynyrd and to Jacksonville for a James Taylor concert.  Joe Bonamassa came to St Augustine with his amazing band too, so we were busy between sitting on the beach, and listening to music...such a life.

We came home and celebrated Mother's Day, went to the last of a 6 show series at Dr Phillips PAC and started to get ready for Kaylee's graduation from High School....doesn't seem possible our little grand daughter is 18 y/o, high school grad, working girl & has started Seminole State College...where has the time gone? Barb's two sisters & their families came from Minnesota, friends from Oklahoma, lots of locals, and we had a big party. Half way through the party, I got sick.  I drove myself home and spent the next 36 hours sleeping...it was not fun. But, even though I missed the graduation ceremony, I got well enough to spend time with family before they all left.  My brother had been here for a month too...we hadn't seen each other for that long since we were in high school.  It was all good.  Then it was back to normal stuff, doctors & lunch with friends., and relaxing from the fun.

June brought time to work in my shop, doing projects we had put off for several years.  I refinished the kitchen table in the motor home, which turned into a pretty big project.  But it turned out great. We also attended 4 concerts, seeing several bands we had never seen before, which is always fun. In the meantime, we have been doing some planning for the rest of this year and our big trip to Europe next summer. It takes a lot of work to get ready for these adventures we go on.  I think we are going to recruit some professional help for our Europe trip...too many unknowns.

July has been pretty relaxing.  Four more concerts, 4 nights camping with our daughter & son-in-law, who bought themselves a gently used 5th wheel camper and were dying to break it in. So we spent 4 night at a State Park near Clermont, about 50 miles west. That stay also included a drive south to a couple more State Parks & the Bok Tower near Lake Wales, which we had never visited before. There are 161 Florida State Parks and we have visited 122 of them, 39 to go. We are going to go camping in Sept., Oct & Nov., all at Florida State Parks...we will have less than 5 left when we get done.  It has been a fun adventure, lots of beautiful places. And no, I am not going to pick the best one...I gave up on that practice as a young man when I saw what the judges had to go through to pick Miss America & Miss Universe...it is all too subjective and it is a bunch of opinions, none of which we are sure are even sane opinions...so, I will pass.  But we have seen some natural beauty not seen too many places on earth...but again, I have not seen everything on earth, yet.  Get back with me when we have.  We have been watching The Travel Chanel, reading the photography magazines that appear in our mailbox, we have a ways to go.  Our friends from Finland were at Nordkapp, Norway in the last week.  It is the furthermost northern point in Europe, only 2,942 miles north of where we are, guess where we are going next summer?  Maybe on a cruise ship...never know.  A lot of that is still in the undecided column, but we are getting there.

Steve & Barb Larson

4/23/2018  10/24/2017 thru 4/22/2018

I haven't posted very much recently because we have been busy.  Silence can be a good thing too.

When we got back from our trip to New Hampshire in late October, we spent the next month celebrating our Granddaughter turning 18 (wow, where did that time go?) and taking advise from 2 different people that I seek out a different doctor to address issues with getting dizzy, shortness of breath at altitude and other maladies I had attributed to getting old.  So I sought out a Cardiologist that had been recommended. They ran lots of tests, adjusted some medication, took me off other medication and put me on new meds, put me on a diet and sent me out into the world to see if his experiment was working. The next time I saw him in January, after going through Thanksgiving & Christmas, I had lost 12# and my blood pressure was where it needed to be and no dizzy spells whatsoever...amazing!!!  My Nephew had talked me into a Fit-bit and I was keeping track of the steps I was doing each day too. As of today, I have lost 34#, walked halfway to Atlanta and I have made a HUGE change in my health. We also had to deal with the loss of power for 5 days following a brush with Hurricane Irma.

The rest of 2017 was pretty quiet except for a few concerts, our niece & her family here for Thanksgiving and getting ready for the 2018 season. We really enjoyed Ken & Stephanie & their 4 boys here for 3 short days.  The boys are in constant motion when not sleeping. Fun times. We also attended 3 UCF games to complete their football season at 12-0 and earn a trip to the Peach Bowl, which they won too.  The University of Central Florida is only about 10 miles from our house and watching their undefeated season was a lot of fun...they had lost every game just 2 years prior, so they had made a HUGE change too. Their head coach then left for his Alma mater Nebraska...13-0 will usually lead to good things.  UCF hired a new guy who promises good results, we shall see.

January brought more doctor visits, ticket purchases, lunch dates with friends and a weekend trip to see friends in Tampa who were going on a cruise we had not booked. We went back to Tampa when the cruise came back and spent another 36 hours with the friends...great seeing everyone, especially our friends from Finland.  We also hosted another get together with the friends from up north wintering in Florida that we went to Alaska with...always good to see them.  Then it was another couple of concerts, getting our car worked on and washing our solar panels...necessary maintenance. I also did a bunch of maintenance to our 2004 truck...necessary stuff!!

Feb was more of the same, fixing the Spa, watching rocket launches, more lunch dates, concerts, a photo op at a wetland park 5 miles down the street at sunrise, a blues fest in Clearwater & a drive to Miami for our 4th Blues Cruise with Joe Bonamassa.  It was a pretty easy month, but we stayed busy.

March started out with the last of the Blues Cruise and a stop at a couple of State Parks on our way home from Miami.  We stopped for lunch in Stuart which broke the drive up. Then 4 concerts in 8 days kept us hopping...Blackberry Smoke here in Orlando, which included 2 couples staying over night, Ana Popovic in Melbourne, Marshall Tucker, The Outlaws, Charlie Daniels & Travis Tritt in St Augustine, and some Led Zeppelin by Classic Albums Live at Universal Studios Orlando...busy, busy.  Then the next day, we hooked up the motor home and drove to O'Leno State Park about 20 miles NW of Gainesville for a couple weeks.  We spent a lot of time visiting state parks in that area and spent 2 days at the Gator Nationals just north of Gainesville watching NHRA drag racing.  Watching a car go from zero to 325 mph in 1000' in under 4 secs is something you have to see to believe. We were close enough to be able to drive back to the camper each night. It was a fun couple of days. We also visited 19 State Parks and have visited all 38 of the State Parks in the Northeast Region of Florida and that pushes our total to 106 of the 151 Florida State Parks, roughly 2/3 of them. It has been an amazing journey!!  O'Leno SP is on the Santa Fe River.  Inside the park, the river has rapids, so there is a steady current, which is pretty rare in Florida's many rivers, as most are very flat.  About 3/4 of a mile from the rapids, the river disappears.  3 miles away, in another State Park, aptly called River Rise SP, the Santa Fe reappears in one of the most beautiful places we have seen in a while.  It then flows to the Suwannee River about 18 miles away. It is amazingly beautiful and unique! Visiting our State Parks has been so interesting, informative & certainly fun. On the way home, we detoured to Tampa and spent a night at Hillsborough River State Park and spent the night rocking to a band called Dirty Soul Revival at Skippers with about 16 of our friends there, including one of the guitar players in the band...fun night.  Then it was home, the 4th of a 6 concert series at Dr Phillips PAC and then the 2nd of a 4 week seminar at the courthouse where our daughter Lisa has spent the last 31 years as a Judicial Assistant.  The seminar was called 'Inside the Courts' and was an interesting look at the Judicial system of the 9th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida, which encompasses Orange & Osceola Counties (Orlando & Kissimmee)...67 judges & associated bailiffs, prosecutors, admin, assistants that work very hard to make sure our residents & visitors get the justice they deserve.  Orange County & especially Osceola County have been the epicenter of the migration of all the Puerto Rico residents who were displaced by the devastation to their island by Hurricane Irma.
The last night was a 2 hour Q & A with 5 judges, including the judge Lisa works with every day and the Chief Judge of the 9th Judicial Circuit Courts.  It was very interesting!! We are glad we went.

April has brought a lot of excitement. We have seen The Outlaws, a 4 day Blues Fest in St Petersburg, finished the Inside the Courts Seminar series, seen The Eagles, Jimmy Buffet & Bon Jovi, celebrated my birthday, our 49th anniversary, had my brother come visit, gone to a Celebration of Life for a friend's son who died at 27 y/o and tonight attend the 5th of 6 concerts at Dr Phillips PAC. On Saturday, we are going to the beach for 2 weeks and will go to 2 concerts while we are away.  When we get back, it is prepare for the High School Graduation of our youngest grandchild, Kaylee.  Boy that makes me feel old just typing that. But family & friends will be here and it will be a big time.  We are going to stay home this summer.  We have been in 48 of the US States plus DC (we missed Hawaii & Nebraska) 7 Canadian Provinces, Yukon Territory, Mexico, Belize, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Grand Cayman, Cozumel & on 6 cruise ships in the last 5 years...we have driven the motor home while towing our car almost 49,000 miles and our little car now has 218,000 miles on it, not counting the tow miles...break time. We will be on the road again in September...lots coming up.

Steve & Barb Larson

10/23/17  10/5-20/2017

We are off on our way to Silver Lake, New Hampshire to do some 'leaf-peeping' and some other stuff along the way.  How did we choose Silver Lake, NH?  That is a cool story all by itself.  We attended the Orlando Fire Dept Benevolent Assn's annual picnic in April of 2016, just prior to our jaunt to California & back.  We were told there was no charge but we made a donation anyway, so we were handed 5 'door prize' tickets, which Barb deposited in various hoppers relating to the prizes, and we forgot about it.  We spent several hours enjoying the company with long time friends and enjoying the food and the friendship...it was a nice afternoon.  It would also be the last time we saw Randy Tuten, as he & his family were going to spend a month at the beach.  Sadly, Randy passed away in his sleep while at the beach.  We left the picnic and went on with our plans to spend the summer traveling again.  We also made arrangements to go to dinner with Jeff & Sharon Heaney before we left.  At that dinner, Jeff told us we had won the Grand Prize door prize at the picnic...a week at a cabin in New Hampshire...holy cow!!  So that is the short story of how we ended up in NH for a week.  We contacted the owners and made sure there was no time limits, etc., and were on our way. When we got back in the middle of Nov, 2016, we started making our plans for 2017 and this trip to NH was part of the plan, an opportunity to see some colored leaves and lots of other adventures.

Our first stop was Emporia, VA, 700 miles in our little car, we were glad that was over.  We stopped at a Best Western, got some dinner & crashed.  It was a pretty uneventful day.  The next morning we are off to Bear, Delaware with a stop at the Delaware State Capitol & a few other government buildings in Dover, DE.  Our route took us across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnels between Virginia Beach & Cape Charles, VA and up through Virginia, Maryland & Delaware.  This took us through numerous small towns and fishing villages, factory towns and plenty of other sights to keep one occupied. We visited the State Capitol, the Supreme Court bldg., the Old Capitol Bldg., and the Constitution Square...named after the First State, Delaware being the first state to ratify the US Constitution in 1776...they are very proud of that, which they should be.  Delaware is a very small state, only 909 sq miles bigger that Rhode Island, and with only 3 counties, state legislators are pretty important people.  It is a mere 45 minutes from anywhere in the state to the Capitol, so the rules of assembly are very different than most of the other states and we were schooled on how it all works. We spent several hours looking around and then made our way to Bear, 45 mins up the road.  We discovered when we checked in that we were assigned this huge suite, fireplace, 2 TVs, one in each room and a couch besides the normal stuff.  So, we decided to just hang out and enjoy the room.

The next day was Saturday, so we were not sure how traffic was going to affect our travels.  We were off sort of early and made our way to Trenton, NJ, where we visited their State Capitol.  It being Sat, well, parking was easy, but finding our way into the building was tougher, met a few grumps too.  But we ended up with a nice gal who works on one of the committees in the Capitol and was very versed on all of the goings on.  She spent about 75 minutes with us 2 and gave us a very nice tour..fun deal.  Our destination for the night was in Ramsey, NJ, which is north of NYC but not far from The Tappan Zee Bridge across the Hudson.  We got involved in NYC traffic on a Sat again, but we got to our hotel before dark.  That is always a goal.  This hotel had an attached restaurant, so we didn't have to drive anywhere...nice.  We had a nice evening, got some sleep and enjoyed the stop.

Sunday morning, we are on our way to Boston and a stop at the JFK Library.  Lots of cars on the road and they all seem to be in such a dang hurry.  But we motored along through Connecticut on the Merritt Parkway and Wilbur Cross Parkway and eventually through Hartford and into Massachusetts and into Boston and the JFK Library.  We were there in 2015 but we didn't have the Library Passport then, so we stopped to get the stamp.  Then we were on our way north to New Hampshire.  Boston was pretty busy, Red Sox were playing the Houston Astros at Fenway and there was a lot of traffic. But we get out of the city only to find lots of cars & trucks heading north on I-95.  We also decide we will have an EZ-Pass for all the toll roads the next time we go north.  We stopped at a grocery store in Ossipee and found the cabin...before dark.  It is a nice 3/1 in the woods about 20 miles south of Conway off SR 16 not far from Maine, Kancamagus Hwy, Mt Washington & The White Mountains.

Monday morning & it's raining...boo!  So we drove to Concord to visit the NH State Capitol, forgetting it is Columbus Day.  But the parking was free, there was nobody but us touring and it was open.  We met a lady in the Assembly Room, where 400 representatives gather to run the state government along with 21 Senators...and she explained it all to us, very informative. We spent maybe 30 minutes with her...very nice lady.  Then we meandered out to our car and took a different ride back to the cabin. We stopped and got take-out BBQ and went back...we both have had BBQ that was a lot better.  It was an learning day.  400 Representatives get paid $100/year, Speaker gets a whopping $125...no wonder they want to go to Washington

On Tuesday, the sun had appeared, so we took a ride to see leaves.  The Kancamagus Hwy is close so we took that...beautiful ride.  About 1/2 way to I-93 we took a road up & over the mountain to US 302 then west to Bretton Woods where we stopped at the base area of the Mt Washington Cog Railroad.  We checked on tickets and made reservations for Thursday...turned out to be a very good decision.  We continued west and US 3 to I-93 south and stopped and rode the gondola to the top of Cannon Mtn., beautiful view from the top.  Then we moved 5 miles down the road and visited The Flume Gorge...lots of walking but a pretty place.  Then we got back on Kancamagus Hwy and rode that back to Conway, then back to the cabin.  It was a pretty day to be riding around in the New England woods, minimal crowds and lots of color.

On Wed, we drove to Augusta, Maine to tour the Capitol there.  We caught up to a tour and tagged along.  We spent time in the Senate & House Chambers...they even made Barb Speaker of the House for a few minutes. We really enjoy these tours, we have now been to 30 of them...and every one has a story to tell...it is very interesting.  Our guide left us alone and we wandered through some of the other parts, nobody bothered us.  We got our stamp in our book and asked the guards where to eat...they always have answers.  We made our way to Portland and stopped at Dimillo's on the Harbor for a lobster...can't go to Maine without having a lobster.  Then we made our way back to the cabin.

Thursday arrived with bright blue skies and not a cloud in the sky.  We drove to Bretton Woods and the Cog Railroad.  We took the train up the mountain, an hour each way.  While we spent the hour at the top, we took lots of pictures, one showing the current weather.  The guy on the train said 24% of the time you could see 10 miles, the other 75.5% you could not see 10 miles.  The day we were up there, the temp was 47, visibility was 130 miles and the wind was at .6 mph...what an amazing day.  We drove up there about 10 years earlier and there was snow blowing horizontally, a serious difference between the two...I told Barb we had seen both extremes...we could see Canada, wow. When we got back down, we took some more pics and took a different way back and just enjoyed the day.  We stopped at Jake's Seafood and had a great dinner...beautiful day with a great ending.

Friday we did some 'local' exploring, Chocorua Lake, Silver Lake, and then into Maine to Evan's Notch, Bethel & back to Fryeburg and back towards the cabin.  We stopped at Hobbs Tavern & Grill for dinner.  What a beautiful drive, very few cars and lots of color...what a fun day.  On Saturday, we drove to Effingham Falls, Ossipee and then SR 171 which led us to Castle in the Clouds.  We walked to a waterfall on the way up the mountain and then toured the Castle, another 1910's era house.  The view of Lake Winnipesaukee is pretty awesome from up there: https://www.castleintheclouds.org/

We made our way back to the cabin...a week in New Hampshire that has been great.  The cabin is owned by Tim & Heather McGuire, both Orlando Firefighters.  They will be happy to talk to you about renting their cabin in Silver Lake, NH. They can be reached at the following website:
http://www.lakesregioncabin.com/.  We have thoroughly enjoyed our stay.  But it is time to move on.

Sunday morning, we are on our way west.  There is sure more traffic on weekends than during the week.  After about 8+ hours, we arrive at Enola, PA, a suburb of Harrisburg. We went to get some dinner and spent the rest of the evening watching football and relaxing.  We were the only car in the parking lot except the lone guy working the front desk.  When we left for dinner 45 mins later, a 52 passenger bus had unloaded and basically filled the hotel.  The other puzzling is the lack of colored leaves as we passed from Connecticut into NY and west...Pennsylvania is totally green.

Monday, we ate breakfast and headed to Gettysburg.  I was there in the 60's, not since.  We toured the visitor's center and bought a 3-CD set that we followed through the battlefield for a little over 3 hours.  It is a lot different that I remember it, and Barb had never been there, so it was like a new experience to us both.  The CD was very informative and we both marveled at the statistics given: 15000 casualties (dead & wounded) in 3 days...awful!! We are both glad we went and visited the bloodiest battle ever fought on our soil...reminded us of the extreme hate and how it could happen again...we can never let that happen.  The difference between the firearms then & now is significant. We finished off the day by driving to Staunton, VA, about 3 hours south...lots of green trees.

The next morning, it was south again, this time Burlington, NC our destination.  We arrived at our reserved hotel about 3 pm and waited about 20 mins for our room to be ready.  Got changed and drove the 30 mins west to Greensboro and got there early enough to park right near the entrance,  When the doors opened, we made our way to our great seats, front row in the balcony...cool!  We spent the next 3 hours listening to the greatest hits by the Eagles, with Deacon Frye & Vince Gill joining the rest of the group.  Having just heard them in NYC in August, our treat was better seats and the difference between the sound outdoors vs. this smallish coliseum.  It was a great night.  Back to the hotel, got a good nights sleep, a great breakfast and we are on the road again...great stop.

Off to Knoxville, about 5 hours west on I-40.  We are going through Asheville and are hoping for some more colored leaves...nada.  We got to our hotel about 3 and relaxed a bit, then called Uber for a ride to the Thompson-Boling Arena on the campus of University of Tennessee.  Got there plenty early so we checked out the arena...pretty slim on the concessions so we bought a burger (awful) and went to our seats...The Struts from England opened for the Foo Fighters...another great night on Rock & Roll.  Show was over about 11 and by the time we got Uber & back to our hotel it was almost 1230.  It was a long night, but a great night too.

The next morning, we had breakfast and got on the road.  We stopped in Hayesville, NC and found our friend Jeff Heaney, who was a rookie on my fire truck in 1986 or so...he retired with 30 years on OFD in 2016 and has a really nice place on 20 acres outside of Hayesville...he seems very content. From there we went cross country and made our way to West Augusta, GA.  We got there shortly after dark, filled up the gas tank and bought subs to eat in our room while we watch Thursday Night Football.  We will be home tomorrow.  We got a good nights sleep.

We are on I-16 and I-95 near Savannah so our ride home will be pretty easy.  We got an early start and made our way south. It is Friday and there is the normal traffic on I-95, with a twist.  There are lots of motorcycles & cars & trucks towing trailers with motorcycles for cargo headed to Daytona for Biketoberfest.  They all seem to be in a big hurry, so it makes driving sort of strenuous, trying to avoid it all.  As soon as we pass Daytona, that all goes away.  We stopped in Titusville and pick up a few groceries and we are home about 530.  We have been gone 15 days and we have enjoyed our trip a lot.  No tickets, no car issues, no problems.  It is good to go, but nice to get home too.  We will be here a while...things to do here, people to see.  The holidays are coming and we have birthdays to celebrate and more concerts coming up.  Stay tuned, we will write when we can.

I have posted a lot of pictures on Facebook that correlate with this time (Oct 5-20) frame.  I hope you can look at them if you want.  Our internet system at home has seriously degraded so it it hard to post a lot of pictures.  Christmas is just ahead and then we will be back on the road enjoying Winter & Spring in Florida.

Steve & Barb Larson

8/27/2017 8/1-26/2017

We  slept in on Tuesday, we both needed it.  We did some bill paying, etc., and about 4 pm we took a ride.  We have made a habit of finding the dams that create the reservoirs that these cool ACE Parks are on, mainly because the search is part of the fun and the topography near the dams is super fun to see.  We headed into Huntingdon as I had seen signs on our way to NYC.  We found a road and followed it until we arrived at an overlook of the dam, pretty cool spot.  We took some pictures and proceeded to try another approach to the dam itself.  We ended up on a gravel road that went through peoples front yards and finally arrived at the dam and the park next to it, it had been quite an adventure.  We headed back to Huntingdon via a different route, stopped and got some dinner and made our way back to the camper...tomorrow is moving day again.

We are on our way to Washington, DC and a stay at Cherry Hill RV Park.  We arrived about 3 pm and got set up and drove to our cousins John & Bev for dinner and the always fun conversations.  We got back to the camper and got some sleep.  It was raining in the am so we just hung out and relaxed.

We made our way to Annapolis the next morning to visit the Maryland State House, oldest building in the US still in use as a State Capitol and Legislature chambers. It is also the building where George Washington resigned his Commission as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, so there is a nice rendition of that moment.  We walked across the street and had a nice lunch at Harry Brownes. We drove to the port, got a few pictures and headed back to the camper.  About 330, we drove to the closest Metro Station and took the train downtown DC.  We arrived at Gallery Place and we were within a block of Verizon Center at F Street and a night of Roger Waters and the Us & Them concert. What an amazing show...Roger never fails to impress.  After the show, we took the train back to our car and returned to the camper.  What a fun night, no problems on the Metro and a very cool concert.

The next morning, we were back to John & Bev's house and a day of sightseeing in the DC area.  First stop was Hillwood Estates and the tour of Marjorie Post's gardens & her home. From there, it was a trip to the top of Watergate, a swing through Georgetown and a stop at the JFK Performing Arts Center where we sat in on a 1 hour musical.  Then we drove around the White House and observed all of the extra security fencing that has been installed...looks like a fortress instead of the pretty White House we have all seen...sad!  Bev & Barb went to take pictures at Trump International Hotel while John & I drove around avoiding trying to find a place to park.  Then it was a tour of Navy Yard & Washington Nationals stadium areas and a stop for dinner at Mininas Italian Restaurant near Nationals Park.  Then it was back to J & B house and back to our camper.  It was a very fun day.

The next morning, we were off again, Boydton, VA our destination.  The GPS took us on a route through downtown DC, past the Capitol, Arlington Cemetery & The Pentagon.  It was cool to see these buildings on a Sunday morning with a minimum of traffic.  Then it was south on I-95 and a pass through Richmond.  We arrived at Rudd's Creek too early and we had to wait for the current occupant to vacate our reserved campsite.  About 3, they told us we were allowed to go to our site and about 15 mins later our niece and her family arrived.  We spent the rest of the afternoon chatting with them, letting their 4 boys go swimming and having grilled burgers for all.  It was a nice time. They left about 8 pm for their drive back to Raleigh.  We have seen a vast majority of family this summer, which has been a lot of fun.  My sister's 9 grand kids are great kids, she would be proud.

The next day, we spent the day doing a few things at the camper and finding cell service so we could make some plans.  We had a nice lunch at Applebees and went back to the camper...moving day is tomorrow.  We are headed to South Carolina for 2 weeks, waiting on the eclipse, 6 hour drive.

Our trip was as long as we expected.  Our site in SC is as nice as we expected too, right on Lake Hartwell and trees separating us from neighbors.  We set up the portable dish, as we are here 14 days. It had been a while since I set it up, so it took me awhile.  Later that day, we discovered we had been infested with ants, in the car & the motor home.  So we sprinkled Comet around the tires & jacks and sprayed inside too...we hadn't had that issue since San Diego last summer...they even got into the microwave.  So it was an ongoing war.  We also changed some reservations so we didn't need to move the motor home so far, internet is a very handy thing to have on board.

The next morning we were off to Columbia in the car to visit the State House.  The SC Capitol has been in operation since 1907, although it was begun in 1851 and because of the Civil War, work was suspended from 1865-1867 and the building was damaged by Gen Sherman and his army.  So the building is one of the few that survived Sherman's march to the sea, kind of cool being in a working Capitol that survived Sherman and is still a very nice building.  After our tour, we asked a guard where we could get a sandwich and he gave us a great place to go...Beezer's in downtown Columbia.

We headed back and found a place to wash the car on the way too...car gets pretty nasty in tow. We got back just before sunset and sat outside until it started to rain.  The next morning, the awning collapsed from water collection and damaged one of the arms.  That is the first time that has happened to us since we started camping in the 1970s, so it was a strange incident.  I looked up dealers in the area and we even drove to one to see if they could help...he tried to sell me a new camper...yikes. So we drove back and made a few phone calls and then ordered the parts we needed. We went to Publix and got some groceries and relaxed at the camper.  The next day, we are just relaxing and FedEx pulls right next to our camper with the parts we ordered from Amazon. Amazing! 22 hours, one place said 3-4 weeks. So the next morning I fixed the awning  and shortly after I got done, it rained...HARD, with no damage to the awning...cool!  I used the awning to BBQ some pork chops...all is well.

The next morning we drove the 50 or so miles to Pete & Shelly McNeil's house and spent the day visiting with them...they are doing well.  We left so we could get back before dark.  Our trip took us through numerous little towns and on pretty country roads.  We had a nice time seeing them.  We spent the next day hanging out at the camper and trying to clean up the camper and get rid of the ants.

The next morning, we headed west on I-85 in the car and stopped in Sugar Hill, Ga where we met out friend Carol, who lives not far away.  She worked with Barbara for many years at the Credit Union. It was fun catching up.  Then we went further west on I-85 to Newnan, Ga, where we spent a couple nights with our friend Patti.  We spent time with her in May in south Georgia too.  We went out to eat and gabbed.  The next day, we drove into Atlanta and first visited the Georgia Capitol, taking a self guided tour through the place.  Two stories are a museum and then the Governors office & the House & Senate Chambers are there too, so there is a lot to see.  Then we drove the 4 miles or so to the Jimmy Carter Library & Museum.  We took a self guided tour of the museum and we were almost out of time when we left...lots of stuff there too.  We have been to every Presidential Library except Gerald Ford now, they are very enjoyable to tour.  We need to go to Lansing Michigan and go to Ford's...that will require a special trip  It has been a fun adventure.  We went back to Patti's & had pizza and gabbed some more.  We spent the night again and drove back to Anderson in the morning.

We are going to hang out at the camper for the next few days.  The first evening, 28 Canadian Geese came to visit and I took some pictures.  I made a batch of baked Ziti for dinner and we watched the Nascar race on TV.  The next day we just stayed in the A/C and worked on this blog and just relaxed.

The next day was The Great American Eclipse, the reason we reserved  our site here in Anderson way back in January.  We wanted a place near the 100% totality without lots of people, and boy did we hit it perfect.  The skies were clear, the sun was right over head and we had a perfect place to take pictures.  Our camping neighbor gave me a filter that fit over the lens of our Canon 250 mm lens and, with our tripod, I was able to take some amazing pictures.  It cost us $182 for 14 nights on the lake with 50 amp electric and water...I saw folks paying $800/night.  I'd say we did really well. Perfect!

The next morning, we are moving east to Dillon, SC.  Our first choice was at Little Pee Dee State Park east of Dillon.  We drove out there and mutually decided we really didn't want to stay there.  So we made our way back to Dillon and decided to check at South of the Border north of town next to I-95.  We settled in and spent the night relaxing.

The next morning we were on our way north in the car.  We stopped in Richmond and joined a tour of the Capitol there.  It is a very pretty building. Then we were on our way north to Aquia, Va where we have reserved a hotel for the night.  After a bit of a hassle to get checked in, we put our stuff in the room and drove the 28 miles west to Bristow, Va at Jiffy Lube Live.  Edgar Winter, Alice Cooper & Deep Purple...fun night, decent seats & sound, new artists.  Except for Edgar Winter, we had not seen the rest before...very enjoyable evening.  We got back to the hotel about midnight and got some sleep, it had been a full day.  The next morning, we headed south again.  We took a detour to Raleigh and visited the Capitol there.  The Capitol is mostly a museum and the Governors office.  The Legislature is in a new building a block away.  We walked through both buildings and even got to sit in on a House session where they were discussing a veto override...same stuff as every other state.  We left and got in our car and headed back to our camper.  We are headed home tomorrow...been a busy summer.

We drove what I figured was 1/2 way home and stopped for the night in Townsend. GA.  We stayed in and watched a guy try to park a travel trailer across the street...pretty comical.  The next morning we were off pretty early and drove home.  Our daughter and son in law had cut the grass, dusted the house and opened the gate.  It is always fun to come home and be made to feel that welcome.

Our totals for the summer:  Left May 1...returned 8/26/17  118 days on the road
Motor Home miles: Start 76,814 Finish 84061  Total 7,247
Car miles: Start: 194, 188  Finish 203,211  Total 8,818
Total miles driven 16,065 divided by 118=136 miles per day

Steve & Barb Larson
                        

7/1 -7/31/2017

I am posting this without pictures.  Most of the pictures have been posted previously on Facebook. I will work on the pictures when we return home.

July is here...on to Quebec City.  Everything is in French, even the store marquees, and the one that tickled me the most was NAPA...pieces de auto'.  Guess that makes sense.  We arrived at Camping La Relache about 1:30...rain the whole way and lots of traffic, it being Canada Day & all. We went exploring on the south side of St Lawrence where we are camped, found the ferry location and saw a festival going on.  Lots of folks out & about, Canada Day is a big deal to these people.  We ended up at a park below the main bridge that crosses the St Lawrence...talked to the fisherman trying their luck at trying to catch giant Muskie (60 lbs.), no luck today. But there was plenty of folks trying.

The next morning we drove south to the Chutes-de-la-Chaudiere (chutes=waterfalls) on the Chaudiere River.  Again, lots of folks out & about.  We spent an hour there and then made our way to the Ile d'Orleans, a 34 km (21 mi) x 8 km (5 mi) island in the St Lawrence River.  It is the oldest French settlement in Canada, so the French is really entrenched there.  We spent the rest of the day driving the 75 km (47 mi) perimeter road and stopping numerous times as we rode along. Straw berries are a huge crop on the island and they make lots of different jams, etc., to sell to the southern folks who come by (yep, we bought jam and other items, maple syrup too).  We ended our trip to the island at the Micro Brassiere La Milan Pub & Brewery ( even Wikipedia is in French) and had some of their pub fare and met a couple from Maryland (at least they spoke English).  We stopped at Chute Montmorency on the way back, closed but we were able to get some pictures...more big water.

The next morning was a ride to Old Quebec and the chore of finding a parking spot.  Second time through the city we scored a spot not far from the center of town.  We went and got tickets for the Hop-on Hop-off bus, hopped on and it started raining...oh boy. We hung in there and got to see most of the city from the bus.  It is amazing how they have preserved buildings from 1600 and added new buildings to look like they are 500 years old.  We stopped & had some lunch after we got off the bus & then went back across the river to our camper.  We are both about tired of rain.

The next morning we are moving east, Metis-sur-mer, Quebec our destination.  We went all day with no rain :). We stopped at Camping-Annie, a cool little spot along the St Lawrence River 4 hours east of Quebec City.  The St Lawrence has grown to be about 57 km wide (35 miles) and stays roughly that width until Cap-Chat where it doubles in width in about 60 km (36 mi) The head waters go all the way to Hibbing, MN (1900 mi) and is the the outflow of all 5 Great Lakes and all of the tributaries which totals 590,000 cu ft/second...lots of water.  It is an amazing body of water to look at and study.  The river from the east end of Ile d'Orleans until it passes into the Atlantic is considered the largest estuary in the world and becomes tidal east of Quebec City.  We spent the next week in this area...lots to see & do.  We are now east of Maine and on the Gaspe' Peninsula. Small towns are numerous & gas stations are scarce, so we keep a close eye on the gauge and drive on the upper half of our fuel tank.  Lighthouses are everywhere and in some pretty cool spots. The 132 highway is just a few feet above the ocean/St Lawrence.  Windmills are everywhere, using the steady breezes to make electricity for all the small towns & numerous farms.  Neither of us can imagine what the place must be like in the winter.  Look this place up on Google or your atlas...Gaspe Peninsula...great adventure.  After 2 nights at Camp Annie and several drives along the coast...time to move.

From Camp Annie, we drove south across Gaspe Peninsula to Campbellton, New Brunswick.  The camper will stay here and we will drive the rest of the Gaspe Peninsula with the car.  We had a beautiful sunset from our spot at Campbellton.  The next morning, we are headed east on the south side of Gaspe. We made numerous stops along the way which bordered Chaleur Bay the whole way to Perce, then it is the Gulf of St Lawrence the rest of the way.  If we had some super binoculars, we could maybe have seen Cape Breton & PEI.  We arrived at Gaspe about 5:30, got our room and went to dinner across the street...sitting under a canopy next to the street listening to the rain....go figure.

The next morning we drove east again, to drive through Parc National Forillon de Canada, a cool National Park on the very tip of Gaspe Peninsula. Then we finished the perimeter drive and back to Gaspe for another night.  It was a beautiful drive up and over some mountains and along rivers that began up in the mountains and got more volume as we went down.  We went back to Petit-Cap and found a place called Resto-Pub La Revolte and sat by the bar looking at the Atlantic and made a fun conversation with a couple from Ottawa while we ate a pizza...nice way to end a very fun day.  We drove back to the hotel in the rain...back to the camper tomorrow.

We had a nice breakfast at the hotel and started back to Campbellton. We didn't get back until 4, lots of small towns and one detour. We did a little exploring and drove up to Sugarloaf Provincial Park south of town.  We startled a bear cub that was upright, otherwise not much to look at.  They were serving food at the ski lodge so we ordered dinner...sitting on an outdoor deck, listening to rock & roll while eating dinner at the top of a mountain in New Brunswick, hard to beat. It has been great.

The next morning, we are headed to Pokemouche, a little town on  the Pokemouche River on another little peninsula in the Gulf of St Lawrence.  We got our site and took the rest of the day off.  The next day, we drove north to the very tip of Miscou Island and went to the top of the lighthouse.  We spent the rest of the day exploring the area, found several more lighthouses and tried & failed to find a few more...directions not the best. We stopped for dinner in Shippagan and got chased inside by rain...not the best service ever nor the best food.  We decided this town wasn't really ready for tourists.  The next morning we went lighthouse hunting again, found 2 near Grande-Anse.  On the way back to the camper, we found an ice cream stand...more ice cream than I could eat, but it was good.  We are ready to move on...pretty much covered this peninsula.

The next morning, we are off to Fredericton, NB.  We went trough there in 2013 but never really slowed down, going to do some exploring.  We went & found a steak for the grill for dinner & had dinner looking at the St John River.  It is a main attraction in Fredericton, and as we found out, a producer of a huge amount of the electricity the area needs at the Mactaquac Power Plant, just west of downtown, we even got a tour of the plant.  The next day, we drove downtown and stopped at the Visitor's Center and learned not too much.  We tried to go on a boat ride and that turned into such a hassle, we gave up. We then went looking for some dinner and found a nice outdoor restaurant (and ate dinner with no rain) and then went into a place with a live band, pretending to be Alice in Chains & Nirvana...not bad, but hard to tell the difference.  We listened to most of 2 sets and went back to the camper. The campground was pretty quiet at midnight...lol. We decided to take a day break and watch the craziness at the campground...Barb cleaned the camper, I putzed around and did some minor repairs. The next morning we drove south to the City of St John and its attractions, The Reversing Falls, the tower in the center of town, where it was so foggy, you couldn't see 10', let alone 10 mi., and the St John Harbor, which we bypassed because of the fog.  Then we headed to West Quaco on the shore of the Bay of Fundy, got some very cool pictures there.  Then we were off to Moncton to try to catch the Tidal Bore.  We made it with about 3-4 mins to spare...yea, we know how to do that?  Just lucky.  We found the Pump House restaurant where we had been in 2013 and had some dinner.  And guess what?  Yep, had to drive home in the rain, in the dark.  Time to move on.

We packed up pretty early and started our trek back to the US, taking a different route than we took in 2013.  This route took us on a lot of 2 lane roads and through a very small Port of Entry in Vanceboro, Maine...tiny place.  The border patrol was very nice, but for the very first time, the BP came inside the motor home and searched cabinets (even the medicine cabinet) and the pantry.  He found nothing of a problem and sent us on our way.  The road between Vanceboro & I-95 is in serious need of some work, but we took our time, even stopping a couple of times to enjoy the scenery.  We had also changed back from Atlantic to Eastern time zone, where we will be all the way home.  We arrived in Palmyra, ME about 3 pm and got set up...time to relax a bit.  We called everyone and let them know we were in the US and our phone calls would be included in our plan ($.20/min in Canada).

The next morning it was raining, again.  So we got some bill paying stuff done and waited.  About 11 am, we started south, Owls Head our destination.  We visited the Owls Head Transportation Museum (at the suggestion of our friend Helge Hagen from Norway) We took 3 hours walking through, looking at a lot of old cars, airplanes, motorcycles & firetrucks, etc.  Lots to see. We then drove to the Owls Head Lighthouse, walked to the base of the lighthouse and it was so foggy we couldn't even see the water, so we figured it was not worth the trouble to climb to the top.  We walked back to the car and headed to Bucksport. We were headed to Harbor View Grille only to discover they are closed on Tuesdays...so we went to Carrier's Mainely Lobster and I had a lobster for dinner...darn, I hate when that happens.  We headed back to the camper and stopped and got some groceries to replenish what we didn't buy in Canada.  It turned into a long day. We had spent almost a month in Maine in 2013 and had visited most of the state then, so we are on our way to Vermont tomorrow.

The trek to Randolph Center, Vermont & Lake Champagne Resort took 6 hours because of the route placing us on a lot of 2 lane roads and a LOT of little towns...need to slow down to 25 in a lot of them, then by the times you get back up to 50, time to slow down for the next town...pretty driving, just time consuming.  We had reserved the same site we had in 2013, beautiful Site 8A.  Upon arrival we had both agreed we would just stay put and enjoy the beauty of our site.  We had bought a steak and a roast and we did the steak on the grill the first night and put the roast in the Crock Pot the second night and just chilled.  Barb did a little laundry and I worked on pictures...we had great internet.  We never even talked to anybody but each other for 36 hours...very relaxing.

The next morning, time to move on, Carlisle, NY our next destination.  Our friend Dana Rudgers had married a very nice lady named Cindi Shelly last Sept and they had a party planned on their farm for 7/22, which we had planned for since Jan. About 75-85 people showed up and we spent the next 3 days, visiting, having bonfires, eating homegrown meals, listening to great music and enjoying life on the farm.  Nick Kody & the Creek Road Band along with Hannah Jo Lally, Jamie Lee & others spent about 4 hours playing new & old favorites for us. Dana had us parked in a pasture and some of us even had electricity...we had a great time.  On Monday, most everybody had gone home, but we wanted to do some exploring. So we drove to Hyde Park, NY to tour the FDR Library, home & grounds of the place FDR was born & grew up and where he & Eleanor are buried.  They are the longest serving President & First Lady in US History, so there is a lot to see & do there.  We drove back through Albany and also walked through some of the NY Capitol, which was getting ready to close when we arrived, but we got to see some of it.  We stopped at Outback for some dinner on our way back to Carlisle.  It was a fun day.  Tuesday was more exploring, first to Secret Cavern just a few miles from Dana & Cindi's farm and a tour all the way to the end, where there is a 150' waterfall, underground.  It is pretty unusual. Then about 330, we loaded up and Chris Chlumsky drove the 5 of us to Saratoga Springs, NY, where we enjoyed a concert of Chicago & The Doobie Bros.  The venue was nice (once we got parked and inside, which turned into a hassle) and the music was great.  I hadn't seen Chicago for almost 50 years and none of the rest had ever seen them, so it was a fun time.

Wed turned into a nightmare day pretty quickly.  We got up early to get a jump on our 7 hour drive to our next stop, 7 Points Campground in Hesston, PA.  It had been raining overnight, so the grass was wet and the ground soft.  As I tried to maneuver up a hill to exit the pasture, I would lose momentum just as I had to slow to turn through a gate and the tires would spin...with the drive wheels directly below the engine & transmission, well, it wasn't good.  I tried several different things and nothing worked.  Finally, I got almost to the top and we hooked a tractor to the the front of the MH and Dana was able to tow me just enough for me to make an exit...2 hours to go about 1/8 of a mile.  So I backed up close to the house and used a hose to rinse the huge amount of mud packed into our wheel-wells.  We got hooked up, said more goodbyes and were on our way.  We still had a 7 hour drive ahead, so we forged ahead.  Barb drove for about 1.5 hours, thank you.  I took a 20 min nap, needed. We stopped for fuel and kept going.  As we drove past a golf course in Huntingdon, PA, Barb was commenting about the golf course and I see a golf ball, in flight, just before it hit our motor home.  I kept going and never stopped until it was time to register at the campground 8 miles later.  We walked around the front of our MH and Barb noticed a broken clearance light, which is part of the headlight assembly and will be a project to replace on a 17 year old MH...finding the replacement may not be easy either.  Then we go to our assigned site and some knucklehead is parked in our site.  The part about him not being there made it even more fun.  So we parked the MH in a vacant spot and drove back to the office in the car.  We ended up spending the night in the vacant site.  Then our friends from Roaring Spring stopped by and we went to Huntingdon to get some dinner.  The first place had closed their kitchen, the second place served us awful pizza.  Then it was back to the camper, where our squatter had returned but still had not moved.  We went to sleep and when we got up, the guy and his wife? had moved to the correct site sometime overnight...weird.  So we moved to our site, got all settled in and as I was walking around the MH, I see this birdbrain watching me like a hawk...he didn't say I'm sorry, kiss my butt, nothing...it has been a crazy, crazy 24 hours...we are glad it is over.

Soon after we got our rig settled in, we are off to Grove City to see our brother-in-law and our nephew & his family. It is a 3+ hour drive in the car.  We get there about 2 and spend the afternoon doing some catch-up.  Larry's life is a lot different since my sister died and it is good to see him moving on.  He had surgery on a hernia, which at 75 can be serious. But we had a nice chat.  Then Scott & his bride and their 5 kids came by...constant motion.  We had pizza again & salad and spent the evening with them.  We slept at Larry's and the next morning we drove out to Scott's to visit & help their son Matthew celebrate his 5th birthday.  They had built a huge 'tree house' for the kids, sleeps 10...lol. Their daughter had cancer at 3 and spent 3 years fighting it.  She is now 13 and doing so well, it is great to see.  They still have to monitor her very closely, but she seems pretty well.  She was having 3 friends for a sleep over in the tree house, stuff normal kids do.  After lunch, we started back to our camper.  We stopped for a drive through Punxsatawney and a visit to Gobbler's Knob to see if we could get a glimpse of Punxsatawney Phil...maybe if he sees his shadow, we will get 6 more weeks of good luck, or something.  We got back late afternoon and relaxed and got ready for the next adventure...a 3 day trip to New York City for 2 days of Rock & Roll...Classic East.

It is 5 hours from Hesston, PA to Flushing, NY, our destination.  It is Saturday, so we are expecting lots of traffic...we were so right.  We pass through the Holland Tunnel, which puts us right in Chinatown in Manhattan...holy cow the traffic was thick,  But we get to the Williamsburg Bridge and escape to Long Island, drive a few miles and get trapped in Flushing Chinatown...twice in one afternoon.  We finally get to the hotel and there is a line out the door to register.  It takes over an hour to get to our room.  So we left at 830 to drive 5 hours and we get to our room at 4 pm...great.  The concert starts at 5.  So we get changed and call Uber for a ride of .7 mile...simple.  We missed the first 2 songs, get to our seat about 5:15.  But our seats are great, we are in the shade and the music is great & we are at Citi Field for 2 days.  The Doobie Bros finish up and we go pee & get a burger and spend $47 at the concession stand...yikes!  Steely Dan is next, haven't heard them in a while.  They have Larry Carlton playing with them...nice sound.  Then The Eagles come on...not sure how they will sound minus Glenn Frey.  Glenn Frey's son Deacon was great!  Vince Gill killed it.  What a cool show. We really enjoyed the day.  Then the fun started again, an hour plus to get back to our hotel...time to get some sleep.  Been a long day...glad it is over.

We both slept in and we just hung out in the room until about 2 pm.  We walked a few blocks and found a Chinese place that looked interesting.  We had a Chinese lunch and went back to the hotel and called Uber for a ride to Citi Field.  We got to our seats about 15 mins before Earth Wind & Fire started their set.  We had never seen them before in concert, but their set just didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the groups assembled.  They rank #6 with no fault of theirs, someone has to be last.  We enjoyed the set, just not as much as the rest.  Next up was Journey, #5 in my list.  Their new lead guy is OK, but the sound is different.  Not bad, just different.  Next up was Fleetwood Mac, starring Stevie Nicks, who is still mostly on top of her game.  Their setlist included most of the old favorites as well as some new stuff...very enjoyable.  So our cool 2 day music fest is over: Eagles # 1, Fleetwood Mac #2, Steely Dan #3, Doobie Bros #4, Journey $5 & Earth. Wind & Fire...my list.

We walked back to the hotel instead of even trying to find a ride.  It was an interesting walk, rather have been in a car.  But we made it back OK, went to our room and got some sleep.  In the morning, it was a little breakfast and we are on the road.  We took a different route, across George Washington Bridge and south on I-95 to I-78 and headed west. We stopped in Harrisburg, PA and toured the capitol and the very nice park across the street dedicated to our veterans...it was a nice stop.  Then we finished our trip back to Hesston & Seven Points Campground...it was deserted, it is a work week day.  We enjoyed the peaceful evening and went to bed, it has been an amazing week.

August is up next, so we have a lot more on our agenda, so stay tuned.

Steve & Barb Larson

5/26-6/30/2017

I am posting these without pictures.  Most of the pictures have been posted on Facebook previously. I will work on adding the pictures when we return home.

We are in Mantorville, MN for 10 days.  Lots of family time and hopefully see some old time friends too. We are 2 miles from Barb's sister's house, so that will be handy.  We drove here from Iowa City in 4 hours, got set up and waited for folks to get home from work.  Sue & Brad drove over and we had dinner at the Hubble House...walking distance away.

So for the next week, we spent time with family.  It is Memorial Day weekend, so everyone is off. We drove to Red Wing, put some flowers on Barb's parent's grave and then spent a few hours at the Harbor Bar with some friends...known some of these folks since the late 1960's...50 years. We also got everyone together in Red Wing on Monday...15 at lunch is quite a group.

We spent some time with my brother Jonathan & Lynn.  He had been working on their house and it was good to see the progress.  Fixing up a 60 year old house has its special problems but progress is happening.  The next morning we were off to pick up our grandson Tyler & his gal Emily at the airport and then we went to Target Field & watched a Twins/Astros game with Paul, Stacey & Grace...great seats, Paul. Houston won 17-6...not a boring game.  Then it was back to the airport to pick up our daughter Lisa & Kaylee, and back to Kasson-Mantorville HS for an awards presentation for the Class of 2017...Alyssa got 5 different scholarships...nice.

The next morning, we were off to Minneapolis/St Paul again.  First stop was the Capitol in St Paul, then a stop at our friends Whitey & Deb then another trip to the airport, this time to pick up our son Mark.  We stopped to get something to eat and then it was back to the camper...another long day. The next 4 days surrounded the preparations for a party, going to the graduation and having a party for Alyssa...with lots of family & friends around..lots happening.  We are glad we made the trip.

The next morning, we were off to the Duluth area.  We drove through Wisconsin on the way, 2 lanes the whole way.  We got to Superior, WI about 2 pm and got set up in the Northland RV Park before driving into town to check it out.  Ate dinner at a marina in Duluth at Barker's Island then back to the RV.  The next morning, we start out for Grand Marais on the north shore of Lake Superior.  We made lots of stops along the way, being the good tourists we are.  We got to Grand Marais about 7 pm, put our stuff in the room and opened the windows for some cool air...no a/c.  Then we went to find some dinner, found a cool roof-top bar (Gun Flint Bar) overlooking the bay...pretty spot.  We sat there and watched the moon rise over the lake...fun evening.

The next morning, we drove further north to Grand Portage, Mn., where we caught a boat ride to Isle Royale, the largest island in Lake Superior, which is also a National Park.  We spent the next 4-5 hours touring, by foot, the largest island in the largest lake in North America.  Then we took the boat back to Grand Portage.  It was a fun day, something neither of us had done before, even though both of us grew up in Minnesota.  Then we made the drive back to Duluth where we met up with Matt Sadowski, Barb's sister Linda's grandson, who couldn't be at Alyssa's graduation.  We had a nice dinner on the roof of a restaurant (Granny's) overlooking Duluth's iconic Lift Bridge...cool spot.  The next day we went driving to the area near the Apostle Islands near Ashland, WI.  We spent most of the day in & out of State Parks, and other locations near the water.  We had never toured that area either.  So we got to see a pretty big portion of the area from Ashland, Wi to Grand Portage, Minn., probably 2/5 of Lake Superior's shoreline... some of it new, some of it old, but beautiful anyway.

The next morning, we are on the move again, this time on our way to International Falls, Minnesota, home to beautiful Rainy Lake, Voyagers National Park, and Rainy River which starts at Rainy Lake and flows to Lake of the Woods, where other rivers take the water to The Hudson Bay on its way to the Arctic Ocean.  We asked where the Falls were, and two local fisherman looked at me like I was asking for a non-existent fishing license before starting to laugh...there are no Falls...I did find this: In the late 1800 the village was known as Koochiching Falls, which is an Ojibwa word meaning "mist over the water". There was once a 35 foot waterfall, which was where Rainy River met Rainy Lake and the waterfalls carried a mist-like rain in the air.  So that is still a mystery, but we tried.

We spent 2 days exploring the area, which included a stop at the Sha-Sha Resort on the tip of an island in Rainy Lake and another spot far east out of Intl. Falls at a place on Kabetogama Lake...yep, we checked it all out.  We even took pictures with the giant Smokey the Bear...moving on.

The next morning, we got hooked up and made our way into Canada.  Mounties were real nice, just wanted to make sure we had no firearms, or pets.  East on Canada 11 to Thunder Bay, another first time visit.  We have a place reserved at Sleeping Giant Provincial Park (a peninsula from Ontario extending into Lake Superior) which actually put us pretty close to the north end of Isle Royale.  But we got set up and enjoyed that we were there, it has been a bumpy day and a long day too.  It was trying to rain, mosquitoes were out, so we just enjoyed our home on wheels.  

The next morning was pretty so we are sightseeing...1st stop is Thunder Bay Lookout...9K up a bumpy road, but what a spot. A cantilevered lookout high above Lake Superior with a great view of Thunder Bay across the Bay. Then we went north to Ouimet (we-met) Canyon and a 2k walk to see a very cool canyon.  Then it was a quest to get a picture of Sleeping Giant (which we managed) from a marina at water's edge. Then it was off to Kakabeka Falls which was gorgeous, and a quest to get back to Thunder Bay Lookout to get a sunset picture.  On the way, we came across a park/memorial dedicated to Terry Fox who tried to cross Canada on foot with one leg to raise money for cancer research...his quest ended in Thunder Bay in 1981 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Fox  We stopped at the Terry Fox memorial and just barely made it to the sunset...it has been an amazing day.

The next morning we are again moving east and following Can 11 to Can 17 and following Lake Superior's shoreline.  The roads up there take a beating in the winter, can't imagine what it must be like east of Lake Superior.  We arrived at White River Provincial Park...it is actually pretty full.  We walked down by the lake and decided the skeeters wanted to be there more than we did, so we went inside and stayed there.  The next morning, we drove to Pukaskwa National Park, which was basically a hiking area.  Then we went to Pebble Beach in Marathon...strange looking west at Lake Superior, never seen it that way.  We picked up a tomato & went back and had BLT's...moving day.

We are headed south now, Pancake Bay our destination. We will be just north of Sault Ste Marie, on a beautiful bay on southeastern Lake Superior.  It has been a cool experience to see so much of north America's largest freshwater lake...like my sister Ann has said, there is a reason they call it Superior, amen!!  But our arrival is delayed by the numerous times we stopped along the way for picture opportunities galore. But we made it, to be greeted my those hungry skeeters again, so we were not that disappointed that the clouds were going to keep me from getting a good sunset over Lake Superior once again...guess I'll have to settle for the Gulf of Mexico when we return to Florida.  We took a ride to Sault Ste Marie with a few stops along the way, a few rain clouds and the sight of a freighter passing through the locks from the Canadian side...it is interesting seeing things from the other side.  We are headed east again tomorrow, so we went back and relaxed a bit...moving on.

The drive across Central Ontario is pretty straightforward, it is just a huge place.  We left at 730 am, stopped for fuel in Sault Ste Marie and spent the next 6 hours navigating our way to North Bay.  We are camping near Lake Nippissing, which, excluding the Great Lakes, is the 3rd largest lake entirely in Ontario (Nipigon & Suel are larger).  There are 4 other big lakes but they share area with either other Provinces or the USA.  So it is near the top.  The point I am trying to make is all of the fresh water everywhere we go in Canada, they have a big chore keeping it all clean. They seem to be doing a fair job, great to see. We arrive mid afternoon and get set up, while fighting off hummingbird sized skeeters and a few raindrops.  Our friends who call North Bay home, Bruce & Danika, stopped by and we made plans to see the Armed Forces Day events, which include demonstrations by the Sky-Hawks & Snowbirds, two elite teams of Canada's Military.  So we moved downtown and sat overlooking the field while we are entertained by their precision maneuvers...great stuff. Then we went for pizza & spent the evening with Bruce & Danica. Next day was a tour of the military base in town where Bruce spent a good many years and then wings at Moose Cookhouse...a very nice way to end a weekend.  It was a very enjoyable visit, but time to move on.

Monday morning, 3+ hours south, we drive thru Toronto and around the west end of Lake Ontario and back into the US near Niagara Falls and end up at Four-Mile Creek State Park on the south shore of Lake Ontario, about 37 miles across the lake from Toronto.  We were able to see Toronto several times, especially at sunset.  We spent 3 nights at 4 mile creek SP with visits to Niagara Falls in the day and from the Canada side at night. We also drove south to see Stephen Kowalski and his family and had lunch, then back to the Falls at night...what a sight.  I also tried to understand the tail lights blowing fuses issue and made an attempt to make repairs.  We then made a trek across NY to Lansing NY and a night with our friends Bud & Helen.  Good to see them again. Bud helped me get the light issue fixed for good too. The next day, we followed Bud & Helen & their daughter to Augusta, NJ, where we will spend 3 nights with a lot of friends & 2 days of great Rock & Roll at the Rock, Ribs & Ridges Music Festival.  We had a great time, lots of friends including Seppo & Mari from Finland & Kingsley from England were there, along with a slew of friends from cruises. and 3 other couples from our Alaska Adventure in 2014.  And great entertainment by Farmer Phil Band, The Steppin Stones, Kentucky Headhunters, Charlie Daniels, Marshall Tucker Band, Stolen Rhodes, Molly Hatchett, The Outlaws & Blackberry Smoke.  What a great weekend...like to do that more often.

Monday, we are on the road again, headed back north.  First stop in Plattsburgh, NY on the shores of Lake Champlain in northern NY.  Our friends Mike & Cindy Lou live there so we got to have dinner with them.  We did some exploring too, and we had a fun time, good friends in a new environment for us. We drove south of town to the Ausable Chasm, we asked to go look at it.  A young lady showed us the way and away we went.  When we decided to go back to the car, they had locked a gate and gone home...lol.  We found another way out, but it is just an added adventure to our summer.  Then on the way back to town, we stopped at a place called Dana's Rusty Anchor...waiters refused to wait on us for some reason...back to town.  It was a very puzzling hour...lol. But Mike & Cindy seemed to enjoy our company, that's all that really mattered.  The next morning, we are off to Montreal and the first of 19 days back in Canada.  We fueled up at the last exit in the US and it wasn't long and we were back in Canada.  

The camp ground I had made a reservation at did not have us on the books but found a place for us...then we had to go find a bank and get Canadian money, as they took neither credit cards or US money...seems like we have had a rough stretch of non-cooperation we need to get over, but we will. We stayed in and waited out some rain and made arrangements to go to town the next day.  After a half-hour car ride, we took a mostly empty boat ride across the St Lawrence River and walked into Montreal the next morning. Lunch with a horrible waiter and later tickets for a Hop-on Hop-off bus along a lot of the same streets I walked when we were here sometime around 2003 for a rewards trip for Barb.  We walked back down to the river and took a boat ride on the St Lawrence River.  Then we walked back to the boat which gave us a ride back to the car.  The next morning, we went to take the same boat back across the river only to discover that it was not running.  So we went & found a parking place and took the subway into town, found the bus and got on for a loop around the city, in the rain. 

One of the highlights of the bus ride was a stop at St Joseph's Oratory, a minor Basilica on Westmount Summit.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Joseph%27s_Oratory  It was quite a challenge to climb to the sanctuary, but the escalators were a welcome assistant.  We marveled at the friendly city and the beauty of the place versus when we were there about 15 years earlier.  They are preparing for the Canada Day celebration of 150 years...it is an interesting time to be in Montreal. We took the train back to our car and found our way back to the area near our camper.  We stopped and had a great dinner in Candiac and then back to the camper.  We both are tired of the rain.  It is the end of the month, July will find us moving east and new places to visit.  Stay tuned for more.

Steve & Barb Larson