South Dakota "ROCKS"!!!!!

Yesterday and today we spent wonderful times in South Dakota. The scenery keeps getting better and better, and we agreed it has been a wonderful way to spend our 49th wedding anniversary. We started off today by going to Mount Rushmore. How those people even thought of carving heads into the granite of that mountain is beyond me. They are so massive that a six foot person could stand in the eye of one of the heads. Again, we took a nice hike down 250 stairs to see the artist's studio and all of his models of the heads...Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, and Roosevelt. We learned how they carved the mountain by using strategically placed dynamite and then later hand tools while hanging precariously from harnesses. Humans are such strange but wonderful creatures!!!!! Then we hiked back up (what goes down must come up, or something like that) the stairs, and later drove through some of the most unbelievable rock formations imaginable.

Lunch was our next stop along the way and Vern found us a magnificent picnic spot at Custer State Park. It was hard not to just spend the rest of the day looking at the lake and rocks. I felt like we were in a landscape painting. After we left our picnic, we were driving along and had to stop for some wild burros who were very curious about us...we think they thought we were going to feed them. They were adorable, and wanted to get right into the car with us. Apparently they are descendants of the miners who let them loose when they were no longer mining gold and silver.

Fortunately, we were driving the car, not the rv. We came to an area that had tunnels carved through the mountain, and were really glad that we were in a small car. Don and Sue were thinking that they would not have been able to get their big pickup truck through some of the tunnels. Wow!!!!!!!!

Tonight at dusk Sue and I hiked over to the rv office/ restaurant and got a cappachino..we thought we would sit by the pool and sip it. There were lots of people in the pool, but as soon as we got our drinks and went into the pool area, everybody left...???? We soon figured it out. We were treated to a spectacular lightening storm. Not wanting to be toast, we decided to leave and so came the end of a perfect day.

Mary

ROAMIN' WYOMIN'

I forgot to mention that the beautiful Walker Ranch log home was built entirely from reclaimed fire damaged pine. It was interesting to see many of the logging trucks carrying burnt logs for this purpose. It's nice to know that some good things come out of the fires...of course they always say that forests need fires to thin them out so that new growth can occur. We saw evidence of much new growth in Yellowstone. Some areas looked like Christmas tree farms with all the new noble firs growing underneath the burned trees.

After we left the Walker ranch in Cody, we went to the Devil's Tower where they filmed the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Vern and I had been there before, but it was Don and Sue's first time and we enjoyed it again. We took a hike around the base of it and watched the climbers try to get to the top and back down before sunset. Quite a sight to see, and the hike was just what we needed to get some blood moving...sometimes the rv life is sedentary. Wyoming is such a beautiful state, and we took it all in. Along the route we saw more buffalo...believe me, there is no shortage of them. We loved watching the funny little prarie dogs scurrying around the prarie near the tower...and we were surprised and pleased to see quite a few pronghorn antelope.

The next day we arrived in a beautiful campground in South Dakota...we managed to get our laundry done that afternoon, and I tried out a new recipe given to me by Lethea (rally friend). It was wonderful..Hulls shared it with us, and then I was pooped and went to bed before Vern for a change.. Maybe it was the gin and tonic.

Mary

CODY,WYOMING ... AKA COWBOY HEAVEN

We had a huge day at the Buffalo Bill museum yesterday. Marilyn and Chuck Walker ...a real life "cowboy" and his ranch hand wife (retired corporate executive from Hewlett Packard!)were our personal guides through this extraordinary museum. It' a combination of an Indian, western art, gun, Buffalo Bill, and natural science museum. I have never seen so many famous western artists in one place....Remington, Russell , Borein, Dixon, and many many more. We spent the whole day there until we just couldn't process any more!!!!.

Don and Susan Hull rustled up a real cowboy breakfast for all of us this morning and Don made it in his trusty iron dutch oven over a charcoal fire. Those firemen sure know how to cook.

Today we were treated to an up close trip to Chuck's cow pasture, where all the cows came a runnin' to us as we approached them. What a fun morning....between the mooing of the cows, the neighing of the horses, watching the farm dogs run in the creek, I wanted to put on my cowboy boots and saddle up. In reality, Chuck and Marilyn put a lot of blood sweat and tears into their 350 acre ranch, and we were fascinated by the stories of calving season, how they obtained their registered brand, feeding the cattle, winter problems( chopping ice from the creek so the cows have water, etc.) They were so welcoming and gracious, we felt honored.

Tomorrow we are heading out, and it may be a few days before I blog again. I have to get busy and do laundry and clean the rig...those jobs never disappear...till then "adios, pardner".

Mary

YELLOWSTONE

We arrived at Yellowstone national park in Wyoming Wednesday afternoon. Had no reservations, but were hoping to stay at the fishing bridge rv area, where they could accomodate a 40 ft. rv. We called ahead and recieved the last space. What a treat when we pulled in, we had to chase away two deer who were not happy about leaving our space!!!! I can't describe our luck the three days that we were there. We saw deer, elk, bison, canadian geese, black squirrells ( not the pesky kind from California), and we saw them up close and personal. We even managed to see a mama and baby grizzley bear, even though it was just their rumps .Many times we had to move out of the buffalos' way or get walked on!!!! I will let the pictures speak for themselves. It was spectacular!!!


Our friends the Hulls met us and spent the day sightseeing, and then the next day took us to their daughter Vicky's in-law's beautiful ranch and lodgepole pine home in Cody, Wy. Chuck and Marilyn Walker treated us to a lovely dinner and are going with us tomorrow to the fabulous Cody museum. If you are a western buff it's a must see. Don and Sue are going to travel for awhile with us. It will be so nice to have company!


We've had no phone service in Yellowstone so I couldn't do my blog, or make any calls. So nice not to see everyone with their cell phone glued to their ear. We will be here for two days then on the road again.....till then my camera will be clicking.


Mary

Vern is Happy

As I said, we lost all of our indicators on the dash on Sunday. We arrived in Coeur d' Alene and called Monaco on Monday. They told Vern to check the fuses in the electric compartment. He did, and they were all ok. Still no indicators. We went on a boat ride on the big beautiful lake, (even though it was raining), and had a lovely dinner Monday night at a floating restaurant.
We decided that we would drive to Missoula, Montana on Tuesday to try to get someone to fix the problem. Vern called Britz (a Monaco Dealer there). They were absolutely no help, and gave us no suggestions. He then called Cummins in Missoula and they said bring it right in. Soon as we pulled in they were right there to help...but they had no luck either, however, one of the guys had a personal phone number of a tech at Monaco. This guy said "Turn off the chassis battery disconnect switch and then turn it back on so it will reset the computer." Just like magic...it worked!!!! Wish we had known that on Sunday! Vern is always happy when he can solve a problem!!

Now we are at a beautiful campground in Deer Lodge, Montana and the sun was shining as we pulled in . Yea!! I cooked us a nice dinner, and even used the special features on the combination oven and the food was perfect. Boy, my brain is working overtime. Now if I can just figure out hot to post pictures on here, I'll have learned a lot. Stay Tuned.

Mary

1st 3 weeks

Well here we are in Couer d' Alene Idaho at about week 3 of our latest oddessy. After we left the Monaco factory in Coburg, Oregon (where we spent 3 days fine tuning the new Camelot) we spent a week in Salem, Oregon at a Monaco rally with 350 other Monaco owners. Met lots of nice folks, saw lots of new rv's and decided that ours is perfect for us. We were treated to delicious breakfasts and dinners, went to rv seminars, and enjoyed some evening entertainment.

Then it was on to Redmond, Oregon for more of the same, except that there were about 3,400 rv's. What a sight to see!!! It was well organized with really fast tram service to the center of the activities. Again, we met lots of nice people, traded e mail addresses with hopes of seeing them again. My new friend Lethea told me how to do a blog, so here I am. The weather was beautiful..a bit hot on some days, but we never did use the air conditioner...just the fans and lots of beer and water.

After leaving there we spent the night in Pendleton, Oregon and went through the woolen factory there. Makes you wish you needed all those beautiful warm blankets and clothes...well not really!!

We arrived in Couer d' Alene on Sunday the 19th of August after driving through rain all day. It was good to cool off but since we are parked right on the river we are hoping the weather clears tomorrow. Just before we arrived we stopped for gas and for some reason when Vern started the engine again we had lost all of our indicators...the engine ran fine, so we got to our destination safely. Vern will call Monaco tomorrow and find out what to do. Don't think it's serious. We plan to stay here a couple of days and then forge ahead to whatever looks good...hopefully we will meet up with our friends Don and Susan Hull somewhere around Yellowstone.
Stay tuned for more excitement ha ha!!!!!!!!!!!! Mary