We came back to Delray Beach so we could be near Catherine and Scott for the season, and start looking for a place to settle down after we retire from our gypsy lifestyle. We arrived in the last week of October and will stay here till May 1st. We have really enjoyed our many meals out but enjoy Scott's cooking more. We have dinner with them often and then play a few spirited rounds of Mah Jongg.

Scott cooked a fantastic prime rib for his and Cathy's birthdays, which happens to be on the same day. For the Thanksgiving holiday Scott carved a fancy pumpkin for the occasion.

Michael came into town for a long weekend two weeks before Thanksgiving and we went to a favorite fish restaurant where we pigged out on oysters and stone crab claws. 

We have also enjoyed seeing our good friends Robert and Susan. We have only been able to have one dinner with them as Susan had her knee replaced and is now doing very well with her rehab. Scott and I joined Robert at a couple of Florida Atlantic football games, which included great tailgates. We also met up with them and their daughter Alyssa one evening after Susan's operation and watched the Florida Gators Bowl Game.

We work off a lot of the calories from these scrumptious meals by walking 3 miles almost every day, either around our neighborhood or on the treadmill at the gym. We also take a Yoga class twice a week designed just for seniors.  

Josie's family all came into town for the Thanksgiving Holiday and Scott treated us to scrumptious traditional Thanksgiving meal. With the fantastic weather we were able to eat out on the deck. A few days later we took an airboat ride into the Everglades and checked out the gators. Anne was able to hold a small gator and later tasted gator bites. Taste just like chicken. 

A few nights later Josie and I went into downtown Delray for the lighting of the 100-foot Christmas tree. You can also go inside the tree and look up onto the lights as well. One of the food vendors at the tree lighting was making Hungarian Horn Rolls, something we had never tried before. It had a sugar and cinnamon coating on a hollow roll of dough that after it was cooked was a hollow horn shape. 

One evening Scott took us on a Christmas Light sightseeing tour of the multi-million dollar homes in Boca Raton. So many fantastic light displays it would take pages to show them all. 

Missy was able to join me at Streamsong Resort in central Florida for a long weekend of golf. We walked the three courses with the aid of Greg our caddie for all three rounds. Large fairways with many traps and waste areas made for a stern challenge each day. We even had to dodge an alligator who decided to walk across the fairway on one hole. We had a great time and hope to have more trips in the new year. 

The Christmas Holiday Season started out with the Boca Raton lighted boat parade. We joined Catherine and Scott at their place along with many of their neighbors for a festive holiday buffet. Scott once again created some of his culinary magic, with a flavorful charcuterie of many varieties of meats, cheeses and olives. The parade was led by a fireworks boat and then followed by many lighted boats of all shapes and sizes. A good time was had by all. 

Scott and Cathy outdid themselves for our Christmas meals. On Christmas Eve we had a standing rib roast with all the fixing, including oyster dressing. On Christmas day we had mushroom raviolis with shrimp and asparagus covered in a sherry and bourbon cream sauce. We did extra workouts the following week. 

A few days before the New Year, Scott cooked a ham for dinner so we could use the bone to season our New Year's day black eyed peas. In the south eating black eyed on New Years Day brings good luck. For New Year's eve Scott once again outdid himself and served up a feast of grilled steak with all the great sides.  After dinner we played Mah Jongg till it was time to go out on the balcony and watch the fireworks at midnight.  It was a great and safe way to bring in the new year. 

We have traveled up to the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach to see the Broadway play Come from Away and the one man show My Mothers Italian, My Fathers Jewish and I'm in Therapy. Both were very good and we recommend them to anyone.  We also saw Jimmy Buffett in concert at the Palm Beach Amphitheatre. We had not seen him in many years and he did not disappoint. It was a fantastic show. At each of these events we had to show proof of vaccination and at the indoor shows we had to wear a mask. 

Eight years ago today we started our Journey, full time living in the RV. We never thought it would be this long. We have traveled over 57000 miles and visited all but 3 of the lower 48 states, 3 of the Canadian Provence's and one Mexican state. We have stayed in hundreds of RV Parks, Campgrounds and even a Walmart parking lot or two. We also have parked in the driveways of Cathy and Scott, Mike and Jeannie, BJ and Karin and at Aarons lake house. We sometime spend only a day in a place and at other times a whole winter season. Our longest stay was seven and half months in Delray Beach during the 2020 Covid outbreak. 

We have met a lot of fantastic and interesting people along the way and we now call many of them our friends. We also lost dear friends Jerry Anderson and Colleen Adams. 

Right now we plan to make it up to the Northeastern USA and the Canadian Maritime Provence's this coming summer. Then come back to Florida and move out of the RV and settle down in house in a 55 plus community.

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We left Lake Charles, Louisiana and drove east on I-10 to Fernandina Beach, Florida where we stayed at Fort Clinch State Park. The campground was just a hundred yards off the beach which most days we had almost to ourselves. The drive into the park is called the historic canopy road with hundreds of sea oaks covered with Spanish moss forming a tunnel through the entire five-mile drive. The Fort was built to protect the mouth of the St Mary's River which makes up the border of Florida and Georgia. It was active through WW11 and then it was handed over to the state and they turned the area into the park. 

The Park had plenty of wildlife and we saw many Gopher Turtles, a lot of deer including the 8 point Buck in the picture below, and lots of shore birds.  

As luck would have it for Josie, the town of Fernandina was having an off season shrimp festival. It is usually held on the first weekend of May, but due to covid they had to cancel it for the past two years. So, they decided to throw a mini festival this fall. We had to try the Shrimp Pie that was offered by the local Vietnam Veterans Association. A few nights later we had a drink at the Palace Saloon, the oldest bar in Florida. We followed that up with a fantastic meal and boat drinks at the Thirsty Pelican down on the waterfront.  

It was great to get back to the coast and see shorebirds again. I found a nice mixed flock of Skimmers, Terns, Willets, Turnstones and Sanderlings out on the point in the park and they were very cooperative. A juvenile Royal Tern, who was begging for food from a parent had a band on it and I reported it to Fish and Wildlife. Turns out the bird was banded at Fort Wool just off the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel in Virginia on July 10th of this year. Very exciting that it came right from our old back yard. 

Our next stop down the coast was Sebastian Inlet State Park. A very nice campground but the no-see-ums and swamp gas rotten egg smell when the wind blew from the south made sitting outside impossible. We came here to check out the Melbourne, Sebastian and Vero Beach area as a place to settle down in a few years.

On one of our days here we drove up Highway 1 to Titusville and checked out a few antique stores along the way. after that we had dinner at the Dixie Crossroads, one of our favorite restaurants, where the specialty is Rock Shrimp. Rock Shrimp look like miniature lobsters and they are very tasty. On another afternoon we found Waldo's restaurant and bar right on the beach in Vero Beach, where we had boat drinks and listened to a live band. The local brewery had a name we had to look up on Google and if you are curious to what it means you can look it up too. Besides a good porter and stout, they also served tater tot poutine, a great twist on a Canadian dish. ​

Just down island from the park is the nation's first National Wildlife Refuge, Pelican Island, founded in 1903. The Jungle Trail, and 8-mile road passes through the refuge and it is a nice drive. The birds were not as cooperative as I would have hoped but I will blame it on the hot and humid weather.  I also came across many spiders along the trails. The most prevalent one being the Golden Ord Web Spider.  I also found a unique plant in the dunes that looked like a spider. 

Our final stop on the Florida coast, was Hobe Sound and Jupiter. This is also an area we were looking at to one day settle down in. We stayed at Jonathan Dickinson State Park, between Hobe Sound and Jupiter. The highest natural point in south Florida, "Hobe Mountain" is located in the park and we had to laugh that they called an 80 foot high dune a mountain. We did climb the tower a few evenings to watch the sunset and the full moon rise. The Park has a growing population of rare and endangered Florida Scrub Jays, and I was able to find at least seven of them, all with bands on. 

We drove highway A1A down the length of Jupiter Island, which is home to many of the pro golfers including Tiger Woods and soon to be Phil Michelson. We would love to show you some of the many waterfront mansions but the whole road is bordered by high hedges and you really can't see any houses. After the drive we enjoyed a couple of boat drinks and a great dinner on the river with the beautiful Jupiter Lighthouse across the river. 

Cathy told us about a restaurant called Leftovers that she and Scott had eaten at on a visit to Jupiter We found out that it and its sister restaurant the Food Shack were the top two restaurants in Jupiter. She recommended the Sweet Potato Encrusted Daily Catch. Glad she did as it was very good.   Our friend Robert said we should try Harry and The Natives restaurant in Hobe Sound. We had a great lunch there on our last day in town. 

Tomorrow we move to Delray Beach for the next 6 months. 

When we drive east or west on Interstate 10 across Louisiana we usually stop in New Orleans for the food and fun that the town has to offer. We also stop in Breaux Bridge for the same reason but to also pick up some of the Popcorn Rice we like from the Konrico Rice company. This trip we decided to skip those stops since Hurricane Ida had just been through there and things were still unsettled. 

We decided to make a stop in Lake Charles instead. Having never been here before it would be new territory for us. We had forgotten that Hurricane Laura had passed through here in August of last year with winds of over 140 miles per hour. We saw plenty of buildings in Lake Charles that were still in bad shape and even one of the large casinos still had roof repairs going on a year later. Lake Charles has numerous oil refineries and businesses that support the off shore drilling rigs. We had   to try three RV parks before we found one that had an empty space for us. We were the only tourists in the park everyone else worked in the refineries or oil fields. 

We took the Creole Nature Trail south towards the Gulf Coast and passed through the Sabine National Wild Life Refuge. The terrain was very similar to that of the Everglades, a never-ending river of grass. As we entered the town of Cameron, we passed a church that was almost completely destroyed. The light pole in the parking lot was bent all the way over and the top was touching the ground. Almost all of the homes were gone and in their place were RV trailers. The only building of any size that was still standing was the library which as you can see below was built to withstand the storm. The oil refineries in the area were all up and running and at least these people have jobs.  We took the Jeep on its first ferry ride across the inland water way to Cameron National Wild Life Refuge where we did not see many birds.\ but the water lilies were in full bloom. When we stopped to look at a small alligator in the ditch we had two more join him and all three came right at the Jeep. we are sure that people are feeding them and that's why they came to us. 

Back in Lake Charles we were stunned to see the former bank and office building in downtown with many boarded up windows. They are still deciding whether to fix it or tear it down. We then had an early dinner of Steamed Shrimp for Josie, no surprise there. I had Crawfish Etouffee and we split a Boudin Ball. It was made of pork sausage and rice with plenty of Cajun spices rolled up into a ball and deep fried. It was served with a spicy dipping sauce that was heavy on the fillet, a Cajun herb made from ground sassafras leaves. On our last night in town we again treated ourselves to the local cuisine. Josie ordered the crab cakes but the crab boats did not go out today because of the stormy weather, so she ended up with, you guessed it, the shrimp. I had the Shrimp Crayfish Gumbo with rice and a Pistolette , a French roll that is lightly fried and stuffed with a creamy crawfish cheese sauce. We finished up our meal with a fantastic bread pudding with bourbon sauce and topped with ice cream. 

I did get in a round of golf here at the Golden Nugget Casino Country Club Golf Course. It was right on the river with great views of the Interstate bridge in the background. A ship containing large white cylinders entered the harbor as we were playing. My playing partners who were locals said they were the bases for the wind turbines that are going up all over America. They are made in Germany and shipped to the US. Glad to see them going up but not so glad they are made in another country. 

We came to Arlington, Texas to attend a Rangers game in their new stadium, so we could keep up our goal of seeing all the Major League Baseball Stadiums.  Why they needed a new stadium when they has such a beautiful one right across the street is hard to comprehend. The locals told us the indoor climate controlled new stadium was better to see a game in during the hot summer months. Before the game we had a great snack of buffalo shrimp at the Texas Live Arena which is attached to the stadium. From the arena we could look to the west and see the Cowboys stadium, or as the locals call it the Mother Ship. It really is huge. 

Once inside Globe Life Field the air-conditioning was nice and the views of the field were great. Two outlandish concession treats were the 24 inch hotdog with all the fixings for $24 and the 5 pound Gummy Bear for $60. The lady behind the counter said they sell a lot of the hotdogs but only one or so of the Gummy Bears a week. 

On another day we visited two local collectibles and antique stores to look for Josie's pottery. Unbelievably we found the two final specialty pieces she needed on the same shelf. Now all she needs are more of the common everyday used pieces, like plates and bowls. 

Since we were heading towards Florida for the winter we decided to go farther south to Houston and take Interstate 10 back east. We wanted to visit with our friends from Katy, Texas, Sarah and John. We joined them for a very good Mexican dinner one evening where we caught up on what's gone on in our lives in the past 4 years.

The following day we attended the Astros, Arizona baseball game at Minute Maid Stadium. Before the game we had dinner and a few beers at the Truck Yard, an outdoor venue with pickup truck beds for tables and food trucks for dinner. We then took a pedicab to the stadium with the girls sitting on the guy's laps. Our driver said he could take all four of us and he did not fail. He got us to the game in great time. 

​The weather in Houston was hot and humid so we spent some time each day at the pool in the RV Park. On our last night in town I took in a game at the Astros Triple A team the Sugar Land Skeeters. This was my 260th baseball stadium that I have seen a game.

We left Sugar Land and made the short drive to Galveston.  In all our travels this is one place we had never visited. We found the downtown are of the city to look much like New Orleans, with the same architecture and feel. One of the attractions on the waterfront was an off shore oil  

We left Branson a day early so we could get over to Springdale, Arkansas where we had an appointment to have our rear slide hydraulic hose replaced. As some of you may have seen on Facebook, we believe the hose was chewed on by rabbits at a site we had in Iowa a few weeks before. When I reported this to my insurance company, they were not too surprised by that as they have heard of it more times than one might imagine.  We spent a night in a hotel while the hose was removed and the new one was made and replaced. 

Our main reason for visiting this area of Arkansas was to visit the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. It is a world class art museum built by Alice Walton, the daughter of Sam Walton, founder of Walmart. We really enjoyed the many fine pieces of art and other exhibits. We particularly enjoyed the Infinity Mirrored Room with its mirrored walls and many lighted glass balls hanging from the ceiling. The museum gets it name from its use of glass walled bridges built over a lake. Also on the grounds was a home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright that was rescued from a flooded area in New Jersey and moved to Arkansas. At the end of our visit, we took advantage of a small plate and drinks happy hour at the museum restaurant which occupied one of the bridges. That evening after dark we took in an outdoor exhibit on the grounds entitled North Forest Lights. We were treated to five "Installations" or light and sound shows along a half mile path through the woods. It was hard to take a picture with my phone that can show how fantastic and beautiful this event was. 

Walmart was founded in this section of Arkansas. The whole area made up of Bentonville, home of Walmart, Rogers, home of H.B. Hunt Trucking, Springdale, home of Tyson Chicken, and Fayetteville, home of the University of Arkansas just a few miles to the south make up a thriving and busy metropolis. Any corporation that wants to do business with these companies has an office in the area. We saw offices for Proctor and Gamble, Heinz, Kellogg and Wrangler Jeans just to name a few. 

On the downtown square in Bentonville we visited the Walmart Museum, which is housed in Sam Walton's original 5 and 10 cent store.

Over in downtown Rogers we visited the Daisy Airgun Museum and I really enjoyed looking for the BB gun model that I had as a boy. We were also pleased to see the display about the movie The Christmas Story, and see a larger copy of the leg lamp we have in the front window of our Coach. We were surprised to find out that Daisy did not make a model gun like the one in the movie with the compass and sundial, but did make 4 of them for the movie. 

We heard a lot about Eureka Springs being the Switzerland of Arkansas so, we drove over and spent part of a day walking the steep streets and visiting the many eclectic stores it had to offer. The whole downtown area is listed in the National Historical Registry. On our way over to Eureka Springs we visited beautiful Thorncrown Chapel, which was built by a retired school teacher who felt the site was just the right place for quite meditation. It is now one of the premier sites in the area for weddings. 

Our RV friend Carol, who is from Rogers, told us to try the chicken dinners at the Monte Ne Inn. Glad she told us about it as we would have never found it ourselves. All you can eat chicken dinners with all the fixings is all they serve, nothing else, and they are only open 3 hours each night. Reservations are almost a must on the weekends the waitress told us. The dinner was fantastic and we were able to bring home what was left over. 

When I played Buffalo Ridge Springs in Branson a few weeks ago I was paired with Tim who lives here in Springdale. I told him we were going to be in the area in a few weeks and he graciously asked me to join him and his son Jonathan for a round of golf. We had a great time playing the Highlands course at Bella Vista, Arkansas. Besides the fine company the other highlight of the round for me was an Eagle 3 on a par 5 from 162-yards out. It is amazing how many nice people I have met playing golf during our travels. 

I selfishly wanted to visit Branson to try to get on some of the new golf courses that have been added to the area. But you cannot go there without seeing a few of the many shows, and I mean many, possibly hundreds of shows that line the strip and the surrounding area. Josie and I came through here over 20 years ago and stayed only one night, taking in a show in the afternoon and one that evening. The place has exploded since our first visit and if we thought The Wisconsin Dells was glitzy it doesn't hold a candle to Branson.  

The Shepherd of the Hills outdoor drama has been performed in Branson for over 60 years. So, we made it our first must see. The show is based on the book by Harold Bell Wright and before being performed in Branson it was made into a movie starring John Wayne in 1941. The show featured a very talented cast and many live animals. There was even a shootout and house fire. We really enjoyed it. We opted for the pre-show dinner and we were treated to tasty country meal of BBQ and chicken with all the fixings.  

Before the dinner and show, I took the Zip Line ride from the Inspiration Tower in the park. It was the first zip line I have ever taken and the half mile ride was a blast, reaching speeds of 50 miles per hour.  

While visiting with Doug and Cindy in KC they told us to see any show that was playing at the Sight and Sound Theater while we were in Branson. Then our neighbor in the RV park told us the same thing. We had never heard of it but we are so glad we attended a show there. They put on Christian Bible based productions, the one playing this year is entitled "Jesus".

The story of Christ performed on a huge 200-degree stage with over 50 actors and numerous live animals, from camels to real flying birds. Even if you are not a religious person you should see this show just for the sets, visual effects and outstanding performers. It is one of the best productions we have ever seen. It is one of the most popular shows in Branson and sells out almost every night in season and on the weekends the rest of the year. 

One evening we took the Branson Scenic Railroad Dinner Train. We sat in one of the dome cars and as we ate a very nice dinner of fish and prime rib, we took in the sights as we went over the lake, through a couple of tunnels and over a 100-foot high trestle. 

There are hundreds of places to eat and we had some really nice meals. But the best one we had was at The College Of the Ozarks Culinary School. The students prepare and serve the meals which are outstanding. I had seen the sign for the College of The Ozarks on my way to the golf course and was amused by their slogan "Hard Work U." Come to find out the highest rated restaurant on Travel Advisor in Branson was their culinary school restaurant. 

We took in three musical shows. Motown Downtown, a very good show that had us dancing in the aisles.
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The Legends Show, where we were entertained by tributes to Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury, The Blues Brothers, Pat Benatar and of course Elvis. I had purchased VIP tickets for this show so we would have a table to ourselves in the front row of the balcony. There were 24 tables in this area and it turned out we were the only ones there, very weird.

Our neighbors in the RV Park told us that their favorite show was The Haygoods, a family of 5 brothers and their sister. All of their night shows were sold out but we were able to get tickets to their Sunday afternoon show, which sold out also. If you come to Branson, make sure this is one of the shows you see. This family has been performing here in Branson since they were children, over 30 years. 

The owner of Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's, Johnny Morris, has created three world class 18-hole golf courses and two top notch par 3 courses just south of Branson at his Big Cedar Lodge Resort. Tee times were sparse as they sell out almost everyday but playing as a single I was able to get tee times and not have to stay at the resort. 

I played the newest course first, Payne's Valley, named after golfer Payne Stewart  who was from nearby Springfield, Missouri. The course was designed by the Tiger Woods Design Group. There is a 19th hole island green with a waterfall behind it. After you play this hole, you drive your cart right up the cliff face using 8 or 9 switchbacks and going over and behind the waterfall. 

The Buffalo Ridge Springs course features a herd of Buffalo that graze alongside a few of the holes.
The course also had with many waterfalls, scenic lakes and covered bridges. 

The Ozark National Course followed the ridge tops out and back from the clubhouse. There was a scenic view of the Branson Valley below on almost every hole. Some greens were built right on the edge of the ridge and if you went over the green you were toast. 

We discovered the Spirit Lake area in Iowa a couple of years ago when we drove down from Jackson. Minnesota, where we were attending a three-day dirt track race.  We were looking for Josie's pottery and she hit the mother lode at an antique mall in the area. After that we drove over to Lake Okoboji to check out the rest of the area and it looked like a nice place to spend more time. So, we made a note of it and planned for a visit this summer. 

First things first, we went back to the antique mall and Josie again found a very nice and rare piece for her collection. We tried a few other pieces in the area but to no avail.

Then we drove over to our mail service Dakota Post in Sioux Falls, South Dakota to pick up mail we had not had delivered since we left Lake Orion, Michigan over 6 weeks ago. The mail run gave us a chance to check out the top rated place for "Chislic" in Southeast South Dakota,  the Red Rock Bar and Grill in Rowena. Chislic is very popular in South Dakota and is the official nosh food of the state. It consists of cubes of red meat that have been dredged in flour seasoned with garlic and other spices, then deep fried in hot oil and served with a dipping sauce of some sort. I like BBQ but most use a hot sauce or ranch dressing. You use large tooth picks instead of a fork to eat them. It is one of those regional foods that we have discovered in our travels. Another regional food that is not so localized as Chislic, but more over all midwestern is the pork tenderloin sandwich. A pork tenderloin is butterflied, pounded out for tenderization, dredged in seasoned flour and then fried in oil. It is served on a bun that is never large enough to hold it and garnished with mayo, or horseradish mayo, pickles lettuce and tomato. I grew up eating these as a kid and had to find the best place in the area to have one for dinner. 

When we were in the area a few years ago they were giving tours of the Indian Motorcycle Factory located in Lake Okoboji. We were too late in the day to take one and had planned on taking a tour during this visit. But they are no longer giving tours and all you can do is look at some of the old and new cycles and buy merchandise. 

The town of Arnolds Park on Lake Okoboji is famous for its 150-year-old music hall, the Roof Garden Ballroom. It is now in its fourth rebuild after fires and tornados had taken it down over the years. It has been host to so many famous musical acts over all these years that it would be impossible to list them all. So when we found out the Grass Roots were going to be there we decide to see the show. As the lead singer said this was music's version of the senior tour and a Q tip convention, because of all the gray heads in the building. They put on a great show for a bunch of guys in their 70s, although none of them are from the original group. 

We drove to Kansas City and I was able to visit with my mother who is 95 and in a nursing home. At first, I was told she could not have visitors because of Corvid protocols but with a little persistence and a quick covid test I was able to visit for a short period of time. She seems to be doing well despite being so isolated. The Delta variant is a threat here in Missouri and there is a mask mandate in the KC area. I stopped by my father and brother's grave sites and since my brother was always lighting church votive candles for us when he was alive, I left battery powered ones on Tom's and my father's grave. We spent our last evening in town having dinner with my brother's best friend Doug and his wife Cindy. They were truly great friends to my brother. We met at Jack Stack BBQ one of our favorite places when we are in my home town of KC. 

The Wisconsin Dells bills itself as the Indoor Water Park Capital of the World. That is why Josie wanted to visit here, to see how many she could visit in a week. If you know Josie then you know that is false, but thousands of people from all over the Midwest come here for the water parks and I think that most of them came the week we were here. Honestly it's a pretty tacky place. 

We chose the Dells because it was located an equal distance from The House on the Rock and Sand Valley Golf Resort.

Our friends Tommy Fisher and Leon Hoots have told us for years that we had to visit the House on the Rock. It is hard to explain exactly what it is but it is definitely a whole lot more than a house. Alex Jordan built his house on the rock outcropping and then over many years collected so much stuff he had to build multiple warehouses to store and display it in. There is not enough time or space for me to list the many collections he procured over the years but I will give a few highlights. Once you enter the grounds you start seeing weird flower pots all along the driveway.  Then as you walk to the house you go through a beautiful garden. The Infinity room is an over 200-foot room that extends out over the valley from the house and has over three thousand windows for great views of the surrounding area. There is the worlds largest indoor carousel, a multitude of coin operated music makers some with over 100 musicians. He collected Tiffany Lamps and also has over 200 Doll Houses. This only begins to scratch the surface of his collections. You might want to go on line to see the full extent of what he collected. The whole experience was over whelming to say the least. 

Sand Valley Golf Resort has two of Golf Digest's best courses that the public can play. The Valley Course ranked #18 and Mammoth Dunes ranked #27. I played the Dunes course. Both courses are walking only, so I opted to get a caddy and I was assigned a very personable young lady named Taylor, who has been caddying for 4 years when she was home from school for the summer. 

The course basically went up and over a huge sand dune three or four times. Who knew there were t big sand dunes in Wisconsin? The course definitely lived up to its name, Mammoth Dunes, sand waste areas and traps everywhere. Fortunately, you were allowed to ground your club and remove your ball from foot prints in all sand areas. With Taylors help I played very well and was only in the sand twice. My phone fitness App said I walked 6.8 miles during the round. 

As I said the Dells are a very touristy place. We did make reservations for a sunset dinner cruise but it was canceled due to high water on the river. Besides the 20 waterparks there are lots of other attractions, like the Ducks amphibious rides, Ripley's Believe It Or Not, magic shows, go carts rides, indoor skydiving, you name it, they have it and more than one of each. 
 
We only went into the tourist area one evening to eat dinner at an Italian restaurant that had lobster ravioli, one of Josie's favorite meals. That made up for the dinner cruise we missed. 

On my drive to the golf course, I saw a sign for the Corn and Tater Festival in Grand Marsh. So we decided to check it out. We purchased food tickets for a full plate of food. Included was a tasty beef sandwich, a red potato and an ear of corn. You could go back for as much corn and potatoes you could eat, till they ran out of food. Looking at the pile of corn next to the cooking pavilion I don't think they would ever run out. The children's tractor pull was very entertaining but we saw a sign for a Chicken Drop and there was a big crowd so we had to find out what the buzz was about. One or two chickens were placed in a round pen with 25 numbered sections marked on it. People paid two dollars each for one of those numbers and when a chicken pooped on that number you won half the money. It is amazing how often a chicken poops, the longest we had to wait for a winner was about 5 minutes. Definitely something we had never seen before and something we will not forget. It was a lot of fun. 

I had not been out birding in a long time. The heat of the summer is not usually a very productive time for seeing birds, but when a cool front came through on Friday, I decided to try my luck the next morning.  I drove the 35 miles north to Necedah National Wildlife Refuge and as you can see below it was a crisp 47 degrees at 7:18 AM. 

I was surprised to find three Whooping Cranes on the refuge ; an endangered bird that I rarely ever get to see. The picture below is of poor quality since they were very far away and my camera and just maybe my eyesight are not so great anymore, but you can clearly see they are Whooping Cranes. They may have bands on their legs, just can't say for sure. I also saw at least 5 pairs of Sandhill Cranes.  I was surprised to see 5 warbler species. In all I tallied 42 species, and lots of butterflies too.  It turned out to be a good birding day.