July 8 - Bike George Mikelson Trail - Deadwood

Up early and on the road by 9 to catch the George Mikelson Rail to Trail staring in Deadwood. 

We road 20 miles one way. Most of it was uphill. We had decided to turn around when Bill’s battery showed 40%. Good thing it was downhill on the way back because when we pulled into the parking lot in Deadwood, Bill’s battery was at 8%. Phew. 

Along the trail we stopped to read a few interesting sites. 

Look at what is covering the building in the next 2 pics - Lids. In the mining days they used cyanide, which came in buckets. Frugal people in the Black Hills used the lids as shingles and siding on their buildings!!  




The building behind the sign was called the Bulk Dog Ranch. Historians says it had many reputations. It was a stagecoach station on the Custer to Deadwood line. 




Phew we finished, just in time - 42 miles. And it was starting to sprinkle. Lenny and Banjo wouldn’t have been happy. 




Now to find a beer and a burger!  

After our lunch, we stopped Belle Fourche to see the monument that depicted the GEO center of the US. It used to be Kansas until Alaska and Hawaii were added to the US. 

A good day. 

March 17-18 - Globe, AZ

The Globe City Park isn’t anything to write home about so I won’t say more about that, except they have a very clean laundry room. 

This area is also a huge copper mining plant. 

This “campground” is in the historic part of town. It’s also close to the Tonto National Monument which is where we drove today to get my stamp. Loved the park. It is a dog friendly park, so Banjo and Lenny were able to hike to the ruins and became Bark Tanger dogs. 

Tonto National Monument preserves the homes of the Salado Culture from 1250-1450. The people were farmers, foragers and craftsmen. As you can see we are in saguaro country. 

After visiting the ruins, we drove to Roosevelt Lake to check out the camping for the next time we are here. We really enjoy this part of Arizona. 

After lunch we decided to see what Stairazona was. The town of Globe is built on hillsides. The steep streets put Bellefonte streets to shame. The Stairazona are sets of stairs that take you through some of the historic parts of the town. Their local artists made it fun to climb all those stairs. 

With the walk to the ruins and these stairs, we got our 10,000 steps in today. 

Sunset was pretty. 

Next up is a drive to Quartzsite, AZ to watch the NCAA Wrestling Championships. 

Marc 16 - Salinas Pueblo Mission and Socorro, NM

On 2-lane roads, we traveled to tiger Salinas Pueblo Mission National Monument for a stamp in my Passport book 

At its peak, the Pueblo was home to 1,500-3,000 eastern Tompiro/Jumano people. Plains people directly interacted and traded with the Pueblo people. It was a hub of cultures gathering in those times. 

Back on the road to our Box Canyon boondocking site in Socorro. A walk around, we see lots of cholla cacti. 

From a top the hill, can you see Belle?  


Views are beautiful here. 

March 1 -2 - Countermine’s Campground

Last night’s stay at Loves Truckstop Campground wasn’t as noisy as we anticipated. It’s newly constructed with 8 camping spots with full hookup. We would stay here again since Draper Mercantile isn’t an option anymore. 

On the road early. As we were close to Bristol Tennessee, an eagle flew very close to our RV. Thank heaven it changed direction quickly so we didn’t hit it!

Arrived at Terry and Sandy Countermine’s place around noon and parked in their driveway. 

It’s been great catching up. Lunch was at Main Street Cafe. Delicious food and fun staff. Then Terry and Sandy took us to their newly renovated Theater for a tour. Beautiful venue for movies and music. 

This is our view from the RV. 

Visited Terry and Sandy’s church to hear Terry’s Praise band and listen to Pastor Mike’s message about listening to hear God. 

Sandy is a quilter as well as a knitter so we had a lot to catch up our projects. I love the Tree of Live one she did. 

 A hike at Persimmon Ridge was relaxing. Lenny and Banjo had good smells with Abby and Sadie. 

A couple games of Left Right Center where Sandy won 3, Peg 2 and Terry and Bill won ZIP. Lots of laughter. 

Tomorrow we leave to drive farther south to Oat Mountain State Park. We stayed here on our way to Gulf Shores and enjoyed hiking there. Temps are supposed to be in the 60s. 

January 22 - Begin the BIG Melt

We woke up to 7.5 inches of snow. Beautiful but not exactly what I was hoping to see at Gulf Shores. Sun is shining though, so there will be some melting. 

Remember, they don’t have the equipment to remove the snow like we do. They don’t even have salt. 

Belle is really having an initiation!

The birds are out to see what this white stuff is. 

Looking from the inside out. 

Now we are layering up to go outside for a walk. 

Back outside for a balmy 35 degree walk in the sunshine. Lots of melting and some fun snow people. 

This one even has a carrot!

January 21 - Meteorologists were right

Yep , for once, the meteorologists were right. It started snowing today around noon. 

We did get a walk in before the historic white stuff started. Then we were inside for the day except when Lenny and Banjo had to go outside. 

The beginning

A video of the snow around 5 pm. It’s still coming down. 

Historic Snow

This isn’t my picture but wanted to have a picture of snow at the beach in Pensacola. 

July 23 - Gettysburg National Park

Winter asked us if we wanted to go to Gettysburg National Park. So I made a camping reservation at Round Top Campground and here we go. 

After we set up, we drove to the Visitor’s Center to make our plans to explore the park. We decided to start the audio tour. We used the NPS app to hear the history at each stop. 

The Eternal Peace Memorial. 

From atop the Oakridge Observation Tower

These two photos were taken atop the small tower. We stopped at Stop 6 and went back to the RV for dinner. 

Day 2 

Continued the audio tour at Stop 7, the Large Tower 

Then on to Little Big Top. We walked around some and then listened to a ranger tell the history in more detail. The next 7 pictures are all at Little Round Top. 

Lunch at the Upper Crust for wood-fired pizza. 

A couple more stops on the audio tour before heading to the Visitor’s Center to listen to the Cyclorama. The painting was first brought to the US in 1913 and was restored and became part of the new Visitor’s Center in 2008. It is a 360 degree depiction of the battle of Gettysburg. Next was the museum. Winter has been here several times and she said she sees new things each time she comes. 

On the way back to the RV, we stopped at the Pennsylvania memorial. 

Winter and I walked up to the top of the memorial on the spiral staircase. Shuff took our picture. 

The last thing we’ll do today is listen to a program at the cemetery. 

A very moving way to end a very thought provoking  day.