May 16 - Illinois, Indiana, Ohio

Driving across Illinois, Indiana, and into Ohio, we’ve never stopped or researched attractions. So there wasn’t any stopping other than rest stops and gas. 

We usually try not to drive through those states because their roads are so rough. Our RV shakes and the spice drawers open. Definitely not our favorite roads. We usually drive I-40 but we saw the bridge crossing the Mississippi River was closed because they found a crack in it. 😩. 

We did find a gem of a place to stop north of Columbus. Dalton Union Winery, Brewery and Cidery is a Harvest Host   We thoroughly enjoyed the beverages and the stay. In fact, I’d be willing to drive that way again, just to stop there (as long as we headed south from there!). 

Last leg of the trip. We stopped at Lew and Denise’s place. Denise’s sister, Brenda and Doug were visiting on the deck. Then after a nice 3 mile walk through their woods, we got back and Bree and Jesse pulled in with their new to them RV. Ryan stopped over and Lloyd walked over. A good reunion for Bill. 

The dogs were singing and Lenny had to check them out. 

That’s it for this blog session. It was a great 2-month trip, seeing the kids, helping with their projects, and just being part of their life. Can’t wait to go back. 

Having sun and blue skies for all but 2 days in California was so nice after a dreary Central PA winter. We 16 BLM lands for boondocking and Harvest Hosts and 2 weeks of moochdocking at Shan and Carl’s and Lew and Denise’s, which saved a bunch of money. For our next trip, we’ll be searching for more places to boondock and visit Harvest Hosts!  Till then, if you haven’t tried boondocking, you need to see if it’s for you. 

May 15 - Missouri to Illinois

Tonight’s rest is at another Harvest Host, Tuscany Hills Winery in Effingham, Illinois. Good wine, delicious pizzas and lots of green space for Lenny and Banjo to roam. 

Tomorrow we hope to make it to Columbus to another Harvest Host Location, Edison Brewing Company. 

May 14 - Kansas into Missouri

As we drove across Kansas on our way to Kansas City, MO, the landscape became greener and greener, but also colder. 

Still off the Interstate, we came through a little town that had sheaths of wheat on their light posts. Perfect for Kansas. 

No BLM land in the Midwest so we looked up Harvest Hosts. Tonight our place of rest for the night was a Harvest Host, Green Acres at the Red Brick FarmHouse BnB. Great stop after a long day of driving. 

Saturday we are going to try to make it to Terre Haute, IN. 

Night, all. 

May 12-13 - Great Sand Dunes, Colorado

Leaving Mesa Verde, we headed east across route 160. Country roads are more interesting than Interstates. As we drove  through small towns, we saw some very vibrant towns, some not so much, some are mere ghost towns. The towns are so far in between each other and low populations that Walmart’s haven’t ruined the small towns. 

As we climbed from Durango to Del Norte, Colorado, we could see the San Juan mountains to our right. Lots of snow still there. In fact, some people were X-country skiing still. 

Next we saw the Rocky Mountains majestic even from a distance. 



Finally, our destination- BLM land near the Great Sand Dunes NP and Preserve. The mountains you see are the Sangre De Cristo Mountains, elevation 8,000 ft. Temps in high 60s in the day, 30s at night. Glad we have our furnace and lots of quilts!



The Great Sand Dunes were so hard to believe they were there with mountains behind. The tallest dunes in North America are the centerpiece in wetlands, grasslands, forests, alpine lakes and tundra.

The best part for us was that we could take the dogs on the dunes.

The Park also had a nature hike Lenny and Banjo were allowed to walk. Pretty quaking aspens lined the trail.

As we were heading back to the RV, we decided to explore Zapata Falls. Probably wasn’t our smartest decision. The road was VERY rough and was 3 miles up the side of a mountain. 15 MPH was the fastest we could go. When we got to the top, the view was nice with the sun casting shadows.

There wasn’t much water coming off the falls but there was a cave you could walk into if you wanted to get your feet wet.

The sunset gave us some pretty colors.

Kansas will be the next stop - Horse Theif Reservoir in Jetmore, KS.

Saw two mule deer driving away from the Great Sand Dunes.

From there, it didn’t take long to reach the Plains. No more mountains.

Horse Thief Reservoir, Jetmore, KS, is a small recreation area north of Dodge City. It was so windy there were white caps on the reservoir. That continued all night, but we had a nice sunset.

May 10-11 - leaving California

We made a change of plans. We were going to Carlsbad Caverns, but decided it would be too hot to boondock. So we headed north east from JTree to BLM land in Flagstaff, AZ. 

The landscape and the temperature changed from high desert to mountains and 70 degrees. 

This is still desert

Trees and mountains started to appear. 

We arrived at Cinder Hill OVH land. This is a great place to bring your ATV to explore. It’s part of the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. This crater erupted years ago in 1085 leaving a mountain cone of cinders. The land around where we camped was mainly cinders. Lenny didn’t like walking on it so we didn’t get too much hiking done. 

From Flagstaff, AZ, we motored up the road to Mesa Verde on Route 89. Lots and lots of red rocks. Drove through Native American lands. Four Corners, where you can stand in the corners of Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico was closed because the Native Americans have been hit hard with COVID. 

Good thing his paw isn’t bigger or he might have honked the horn. 

We ended up in BLM land outside the entrance to Mesa Verde. This is our view. 

Unloaded the car and drove to Cortez, largest, closest town. Well what do you know, there was a nice quilt shop to visit!

After some quilt shopping, I found a hike in the Hawkins Preserve, part of the Cortez Cultural Center. 

This is a claetcup cactus. 


Bill is looking over a small canyon that has been burned. Not sure if it was a control burn or not. 

Back to the RV for cast iron pizzas. Sat outside for awhile. Nice evening but supposed to drop in the 30s. 

May 9 - Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day was very emotional. We all visited Sawyer and Avery’s memorial Joshua Tree. Shan and Carl visit it several times a year. So thankful that Shan and Carl shared this time with us. 

Joshua Tree is a special place to our family because Shan and Carl were married here 10 years ago. That’s why they chose JTree to spread Sawyer and Avery’s ashes here. 

Once we said “till we meet again,” we went to Kya and Caleb’s new home on Twenty Nine Palms marine base for a virtual wine tasting Shan had arranged for us. 

The base is huge. There are about 100,000 marines who live there. Even though Kya has only been there a little over a week, she knows her way around quite well. 

Drew and Erin needed to leave to drive back to Sacramento, quite a long trip for one day. So thankful they were willing to make the trip. 

Kya and Caleb made and brought tacos and all the fixings to our camper around the fire. Shan and Carl joined us after their anniversary meal at Pappy and Harriet’s Restaurant. 

This is our last night in JTree. We will start the trek back East tomorrow. But lots of memories to take back with us. 

Till we meet again. 

May 8 - visit JTree Park, dead battery, brewery

Saturday morning we met Drew, Erin and Winnie in the Park at Keys View. This is one of two places dogs are permitted on a trail. 

Winnie was resting to save up for the hike!

From this viewpoint, you can see to Palm Springs. Beautiful view. 

We met lots of dogs and Winnie found another corgi!

 The Joshua Tree forest. 

Some photo ops

I love the unique looking ones

When we drove onto the JTree Visitor’s Center, our car wouldn’t start. Thank heavens we were not in the park. A National Park volunteer was our Good Samaritan. He had battery cables (ours were in the motor home) and we used Drew’s car to give our car a jump. Drove to an auto parts store for a new battery. On our way without too much fuss. 

Saturday night we drove to Thousand Palms near Palm Springs to meet Drew and Erin at the Chocella Brewery. Shannon and Carl had arrived. Kya and Caleb drove them to meet us , too. Another wonderful memory. Look at Winnie. She’s in her backpack, and likes it.