Retraction ...

OK, you knew it was coming ... About TV, I just finished reading my email from our local PBS station about upcoming programs and there are a number of them that peak my interest. I think my revised vow is to never just turn TV on unless there is a program I'm looking forward to. This will likely all change by tomorrow but I'll be sure to keep you posted ;)

Home Sweet Home

We have made it home safe and sound (Monday, June 19) and, although we are sad that the trip is through, we are immensely grateful that we made it without incident. Didn't make it to Sanduski thanks to the winds of Kansas killing our time, oh well!

For those of you who know how small our house is, let me tell you it feels HUGE after living in a tiny camper for 51 days. Kitty is speechless he's so happy. I think we were pushing his limits the past few days and I don't think he ever expected to see "home" again. To top it all off we came home to a freshly mowed and trimmed yard because our neighbors Tom and Nick are such cool people and good friends.

We will be posting more pics as we get a chance to reflect on them ourselves. Right now we're just thrilled to spread out and be in separate rooms without being able to see each other!! Looking forward to a very long shower, not having to crab crawl into bed, not having to shut the hot water heater and water pump off before bed, and absolutely love the fact that a machine will be doing our dinner dishes. However, we haven't watched TV in 51 days without missing it one bit and I personally have vowed to try never to watch again. Not sure how Dan will do with that knowing how much he looks forward to The Sopranos and Deadwood. P.S. - For any of you who watch Deadwood, E.B. (the hotel owner/mayor) was our campground host in Missouri and Dan does a great impression.

P.S. from Dan

After portaging once in Montana and driving through East Colorado and half of Kansas, Dan has confirmed that there is no Northwest passage to the sea and concluded that the world is actually flat!!! Also, no evidence of Yettie to date.

We're still here!!!!

Sorry there haven’t been any postings but, I’m rather happy to say, we have not been anywhere near internet access for some time. Kitty got a few funny emails asking where our bodies were buried, etc. (hahahahaha) We’ve been having a fantastic time but now we must start to head back East. Among other stops, we ended up spending 12 (or so ??) days in Glacier National Park, Montana. We were there about five years ago and were happy that we decided to return. Dan and I both agree that Glacier is our favorite park. I’ve tried to upload just a handful of pic’s from various places. We took a helicopter ride over the Continental Divide and Glacier NP which was spectacular. Oh yeah, we went whitewater rafting on the Flathead River but that was pretty lame. I saw a grizzly on the trail I was using to scout out a canoe portage in Glacier. If you’ve ever wondered what you would actually do if you came across one on the trail, as I often have, you can probably stop wondering – you will run (exactly what they tell you not to do) while possibly whispering obscenities hoping he/she doesn’t hear you!!! The North Cascades were incredible and we almost skipped them, so glad we didn’t. Left Yellowstone and weren’t planning to hit anymore parks but we couldn’t resist stopping at Rocky Mt. NP in Colorado just for a day or two. It was pretty but very crowded; Yellowstone was getting pretty crowded as well. We’ve never traveled this late in the season before and lately we’ve been reminded why. Plan to be back in PA around the 19th or 20th or something like that. We’re in Kansas right now and let me tell you Dorothy should have skipped town a lot sooner than she did. I thought Ohio was ugly until I saw Kansas. Oh, and it’s 96 degrees in the shade with 30 mph winds hotter than the sun itself, freakin’ lovely. Anyway, hope to make Sandusky, Ohio our final fun stop – lots of big roller coasters!! Promise to post more pics, etc. as time and access allows. Now for the pics from top to bottom (no particular order) 1. Canoeing in the Two Medicine area of Glacier NP 2. Lower Yellowstone Falls 3. North entrance arch to Yellowstone NP 4. Getting ready to take helicopter ride over Glacier NP 5. Canoeing Lake Josephine in Glacier NP 6. Hiked as far as you could go on Going to the Sun Road Glacier NP (that's where the BH Sheep were) 7. Great view of the Rockies and a glacier from helicopter tour 8. Big horned sheep 9. Dan walking Kitty in Olympic NP (Kitty prefers only old growth forests now) 10. Scarred black bear in Olympic NP. OK, sorry!!! I now see that they don't insert the way they appear when I draft the post but you get the jist.

Pacific NorthWest

We are in Olympic National Park right now, parked in Port Angeles just outside the park actually. Thought we would take a minute to post some more pics.
Left to right 1. OR Coast, 2. Crater Lake NP, 3. Road closed by snow in Crater Lake NP (notice legs whiter than snow!), 4. Cove along OR coast; saw grey whales there!!, 5. Another view of Crater Lake, pictures just don't do it justice.

The others that inserted out of order are obviously a sunfish in a tidal pool along the Washington coast and a Pacific sunset in OR. On the freak note had a barefooted man with leather bound ankles bicycling into the sky at our last campground, and he thought a cat on a leash was weird!!! Gotta go for now. More pics and freak stories to come. And yes, we have pics of Kitty to post :) Miss you all.

Catch up ...

OK, sorry for the delay. As for Seamus, he loved the Tetons as much as we did.

After Tetons we hit Craters of the Moon in Idaho which fortunately required a visit and stay in Arco, Idaho. Now that was an interesting place. A very proud community with a very wierd history.

The crappy WiFi connection we are lifting from the RV park we refused to stay in but are now parked in front of is hindering any more pics. Will post more later. In the meantime, we are now in Washington at Olympic National Park. Oregon was absolutely beautiful. Spent a few days on the coast after a few days in and around Crater Lake National Park. Plan to head to Glacier next, at least that's how we feel today. Will post as soon as possible, TTFN.

We're in Oregon right now (Friday, the 19th ???) Absolutely beautiful. Have many pics to share when we return to something resembeling civilization. Off to Olympic NP in Washington State tomorrow. BYE!

Some quick pic's from the Tetons. We are sitting in town right now on stealing someone's WiFi. 8 mins left on batter must go!!!

We're not dead ....

Sorry we haven't posted in a while. We've just been staying in places without access, or towns for that matter. Will post ASAP.

Badlands of South Dakota

We got to spend two full days in the Badlands and they are just as beautiful as we remembered. Here are some pic's.
We left the Badlands this morning and we're crashing in Casper, Wyoming for the night before we head for the Grand Tetons in the morning. After that our plans, as of right now, are to visit Craters of the Moon in Idaho, Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area and World Center for Birds of Prey in Snake River Canyon, Idaho (Dan says Evil Knevil tried to jump it in a rocket in the 70's?!?!?), then on to Crater Lake in Oregon. I'll update as soon as I get a chance. Hope everyone is doing well. P.S. - Campgrounds make for excellent freak watching!!!!

The world's only corn palace.

Pretty cool actually. AKA the world's largest bird feeder, and before I could even ask they told me the corn, etc. was not treated so it was safe for the birds to eat. Best part is Loverboy and Eddie Money are playing there this summer, ha!




We should be in the Badlands by late afternoon. We'll likely be out of touch for a while. Living off the grid baby!! At least until we leave the Badlands and hit the next rest stop with WiFi.

Getting there is half the fun!?!?!

Well, it's been four days on the road and we're finally in South Dakota!!

We've been keeping ridiculously accurate records of mileage, expenses, etc. because, well, because there is really nothing else to do when driving through the Midwest for four days straight. Oh, except for scanning the sky for funnel clouds. Sunday was Western PA which was pretty with lots of farms. Monday was Ohio (yuck!) ending up in Laporte, Indiana (not much different from Ohio). Tuesday we crossed Illinois to reach Waukee, Iowa. After Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois I thought Iowa was kind of pretty. Today it was the rest of Iowa ending up in Mitchell, South Dakota. Home to the world’s only Corn Palace!!! We're there tomorrow :) before we drive the last 200+ miles to get into Badlands National Park.

Kitty has been an exceptional feline of course and the campgrounds have turned out to be pretty decent. Oh, except for the serial killer I decided to name Toby. He lived in a shed at the campground in Indiana. Lil' creepy!!!

Here's a synopsis of what we've been looking at for the past four days.


Farm after farm after farm after ...

this just happens to be one in Iowa.







But here's what some of you have really been waiting for ...

Seamus "Rust" O'Rudder in Iowa!!
Seamus is our "traveling gnome" if you will, or the foam finger for some of you ;)

Seamus is a leprechaun (obviously!) that our friend Patrick brought back from Ireland after Dan's request for a Mexican from Arizona was denied.

We hope to bring you more pictures of Seamus' adventures at some point. Oh, and there will definitely be one of Dan walking Kitty.

I better hit the shower. It's full hook-up tonight, we're livin' large!!

Here we go ....

Tomorrow's the big day!! As someone, I think Nick, said last night it's like the Disney commercial and "we're too excited to sleep". Some last minute details to take care of, but we are for the most part ready. It was so great to get together with some good friends last night before we hit the road. Bubba you "forgot" your bottle of Jack ;)

Dan's already quoting Chevy Chase with "We're gonna have so much !@#! fun it'll be coming out of our !@#!! !$!#!!!". First stop, Pennsylvania - ha! Hey, it's a big state to cross in one day. More specifically Mercer, PA. We'll do our best to provide updates and photos on a weekly basis whenever possible and we look forward to reading your comments. If it's something you don't want published to the blog just let me know. We can still read them without posting online. See ya soon from the road!!!!!!!!