We left the DC area after a great visit with my daughter Missy and drove to Clarksville, Virginia, where we parked the RV once again at Aaron's lakehouse. We spent 11 days helping Aaron get a few chores done. One of them was picking up driftwood and trash that had washed up on his property from the lake when they raised the level during the spring rains. It was sad how much trash we picked up, most of it plastic. 

​But we did manage to work in a little recreation too. On the first Saturday we drove down to Burlington, North Carolina and saw the last Burlington Royals game of the regular season. The following Saturday we drove into Norfolk for the first game at the new Old Dominion University football stadium. In between Aaron was able to get his new bass boat out to the lake and hopefully get it on the water as soon as he gets all his licences. While sitting on the porch one evening we heard the calls of a Barred Owl and with a little coaxing we were able to get him/her close enough for a great picture. 

After Labor Day we drove into Tidewater and stopped to get new tires on the Winnebago before we checked into the RV park in Va. Beach where we first moved into the coach 6 years ago. 

Six years ago today we moved into the RV at the Holiday Travel Park on General Booth Boulevard, here in Virginia Beach.  Today we again checked into the same park. We never dreamed we would be living the RV lifestyle this long.

We have had some great adventures and visited many new places. We have visited relatives and friends and made many new friends from all over the USA and Canada.

We guess one day, we will just know when it is time to settle down. Who knows we may just go for another six years. 

We spent our first weekend in DC visiting with my daughter, Missy. We took the Metro in from the RV Park and visited her at her apartment, which has nice views of the Capitol and Washington Monument. We were able to meet her roommate, Laura, who was from Rochester Hills, Michigan and at one-time baby- sat Josie’s granddaughters. Small world!

We then braved the steamy weather and took our first ever Uber ride over to The Union Market. Missy treated us to a fantastic small plate dinner at the St Anselm restaurant. We dined on Blue Crab Deviled Eggs, Roasted Oysters and many other great dishes.

Missy got us tickets to the Nationals game as a Father’s Day gift. The game turned out to be a slugfest. The Nat’s won 16 to 8, with both teams combining for 36 hits, 12 of which were home runs.  

We said our goodbyes to Missy after the game as she had to fly away on business for the rest of the  week. We will see her again next month while we stay in Virginia.

We rode the Metro into the National Mall and visited a few of the Smithsonian Museums. The new Star-Spangled Banner section of the Museum of American History was very nice. We waited till the lines went down at the new African American Museum and with our late entry we did not see all of it.  Earlier we visited the new Spy museum, which we felt was ok but nothing great. We ended the day at the DC Wharf with a tasty Lobster Roll.

For the past two weeks we have been in Delaware visiting Josie's sister Mary Ellen and her husband Rich. She even has a mini family reunion with her brother Patrick and his wife Patti and her cousin Sue and her daughter Liz. They had a great time following their mother's family history that Liz had documented in detail.   

We visited many of the local restaurants and even a couple of brew pubs. We even attended the August birthday bash at the local senior center, where Elvis entertained us.

August 10th was Josie's birthday and Mary Ellen made her a cake and Rich bought her a carton of Berger Cookies, which are a Baltimore tradition. They are made up of a thin sugar type cookie loaded with a thick chocolate icing. 

We played a lot of Mexican Train and if you are familiar with the game you can see from the picture below that I am absolutely terrible at this game. 

We took the Cape May Ferry over to New Jersey and visited an old Navy buddy of mine, Tom and his wife Barb. Tom and I were in the same squadron 50 years ago we were on the Aircraft Carrier Kitty Hawk in the Gulf of Tonkin. It was fantastic to catch up on what is new in our lives and reminisce about old times.  The following morning we took a quick tour of Cape May with its majestic ocean front guest houses and then visited the Cape May Lighthouse. 

We have been to Pennsylvania Deutch Country many times in our summer travels but this was the first time in the RV.  I came for the 4 nights of racing at various tracks in the area and Josie came for the great antique and collectable stores in Adamstown.  She was not disappointed and found 12 new pieces for her collection. Be careful if we are visiting you soon as we may have to drop some of them off for you to store. We now have pottery stored in Rhode Island, Montana and Michigan. She could go on line and find everything she wants, but the fun is in the hunt and we both enjoy looking for a hidden treasure and good deal. Josie has become very adept at bargaining with the merchants by bundling items and seeing if they will take less for them.  We finished our successful day with a great meal of sausages and kraut, washed down with a fine locally brewed stout. 

I attended four of the five nights of Pennsylvania Midget Week and every race was a barnburner with lots of passing and close finishes. I even got to meet NASCAR star Kyle Larson when he parked right in front of me one evening. Come to find out his birthday is the same as mine. Kyle got his start on these dirt tracks and he comes back to race on them whenever his NASCAR schedule allows.

We have spent the past 4 days camped at the Ohio State Fair. This was the first BIG state fair we have ever been to and it was not disappointing.  There was so much to do and see we did not get to see it all.  There was lots of entertainment stages spread around the grounds and we saw many of the acts and bands. I was even chosen to dance with the break dancers and did my best moves, which were not quite up to the class of the real act. We even got to see the Budweiser Clydesdales.

We tried to see every animal showing and judging at the fair. We particularly like to watch the junior divisions. The kids put so much effort and enthusiasm into it.  We saw goats, cows, pigs, sheep and chickens. The sheep shearing competition was very interesting as we had never seen this in person before. We missed seeing baby piglets born by a few hours and overnight a calf was born.  We also had to see the cow made of butter. After the fair the butter is melted down and used for industrial purposes. 

A big part of the state fair experience is the variety of foods. We had everything from fried bologna to bourbon chicken. But the oddest thing we tried were the chocolate deviled eggs, which were surprisingly tasty. We both enjoyed the Dole Whip, a cool refreshing dessert that has the texture of custard. I also ate my share of homemade ice cream. 

We have spent the past two weeks in Michigan visiting with Josie's son Michael and her grand daughters Abby and Anne. We were able to see one of Anne's volleyball games, in which she scored 6 straight points with her killer serve. We boated on Lake Orion in the speedboat and then out on Lake St Claire on Michael's 45-foot Mathews Cruiser. 

I was able to get in 2 rounds of golf with my RV friend Russ, and a couple of rounds with Michael and his neighbor Glenn. I also participated in a charity golf outing for Down's Syndrome and was paired with Brian and his son Ben and daughter Maddy. We had a great time and due to their superior golfing skills, we finished at 13 under par. 

We found out that our RV friends Jim and Darleen were going to be in the Detroit area near the end of our visit so we told them where we were staying and hoped they could join us for a few days. They were able to adjust their plans and pulled into the same campground where we were staying. The next day Jim drove us to The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village where we spent the entire day taking in all of the exhibits and historic sites. We even got to push the 80-ton railroad roundhouse track from one side to the other. Not sure we could have done it with a train car on it. We finished the day with pizza and a tasty Chocolate Stout at Woodward Avenue Brewery. 

The next evening, we had a cookout at their RV with good wine and even better conversation. It was great catching up with our RV friends. 

Tomorrow we drive to the Ohio State Fair!

For the past 12 days we have been in the Midwest so I could attend dirt track races. We first stopped in Jackson, Minnesota for 3 nights of the World of Outlaws racing tour. During the day we were able to get out and look for Josie's china in a few antique shops. She was fortunate to find the mother lode in Spirit Lake, Iowa. We also found a Spudnutz bakery and enjoyed a few potato flour donuts. We had been introduced to them by our friends BJ and Karin in Idaho Falls a few years ago. 

From Jackson we drove to Knoxville, Iowa for a week. We visited the nearby town of Pella, Iowa where the headquarters of Pella Windows is located. Pella has a rich Dutch history, and the largest working windmill in the US is located there. We saw signs for Dutch Letters in the local bakery so we had to try one. It consists of a flakey dough with almond paste filling made into the shape of an S. It was very good. We also bought some local made bologna that had blue and gouda cheese in it. 

A few days later we drove over to Oskaloosa, Iowa, with its beautiful county courthouse, for a Loose-meat sandwich at Maid-Rite. Our friends Gerry and Bridget told us about them and we had to try one. It was very tasty, like a hamburger but not in a patty. 

My brother, Tom drove up from Kansas, and we attended 2 night of racing at the famous Knoxville Raceway. It was great visiting with my brother.

We had to stop in Sioux Falls, South Dakota to renew our drivers' licenses and check in with our mail service Dakota Post. After we accomplished this we toured " our home town." The falls that give the city its name are impressive and the park around it is very nice. The heavy rains here in the Midwest did some damage to the park but since it is a major tourist attraction they are working hard to repair the damage.  

We spent a week in Pequot Lake, Minnesota visiting with our Arizona and Full-Time RV friends, Gerry and Bridget. Gerry is working as a starter at Grandview Lodge Golf Course so we got in a few rounds there. While we played golf, the ladies hit the road and must have hit every antique and collectible shop within a fifty-mile radius. Josie was able to find 2 more pieces of the Hall Pottery she collects. We had many nice dinners out and one evening at the Breezy Point Resort, the King himself, Elvis made an appearance. There was a large boisterous crowd and the Mudslides were delicious. It was a fun time. We really enjoyed eating the fresh walleye, that is on almost every restaurants menu. 

The water tower in Pequot Lake is painted like a fishing bobber. and just up the road is the town of Jenkins, population 376.
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​We had a great visit with our Arizona winter friends, Gerry and Bridget. 

We left Las Vegas and took 2 days to drive to Vernal, Utah. Vernal is located near Dinosaur and Flaming Gorge National Monuments. We visited Dinosaur National Monument on our first full day in town. We took a tram up to the Bone Quarry site and viewed many of the over one thousand fossilized bones still in the mountain they were found. We then visited a cabin that was the homestead of Josie Bassett, who lived there alone for over 50 years. She was an alleged associate of the outlaw Butch Cassidy. From there we drove a 30 mile Jeep trail to a scenic overlook of the Green River in the northern part of the park. Along the way we saw many petroglyphs and wild flowers.

The next day Josie drove with me as I played a round of golf at Dinaland Golf Course.  Every morning in the RV Park, we were greeted by a small flock of Wild Turkeys.  

On our last day in Vernal we drove the Flaming Gorge Scenic Byway. At our first stop we toured the Flaming Gorge Dam on the Green River.  It is considered a small dam and its main purpose is for flood control and not hydro-electric power.  We were surprised to learn that it is controlled by the Glen Canyon Dam which is further down the Colorado River. From the dam, we drove to many of the scenic overlooks along the rim of the gorge. 

We then took the Sheep Creek Geological Loop Road and were treated to more of the stunning scenery. Along the way we saw many mule deer, a couple of elk and even a coyote. 

From Vernal we drove to Cheyenne, Wyoming and spent the night before driving on to North Platte, Nebraska. We hit a few of the local Antique and Collectible shops in the area, the most unique one being the Grain Bin Town. A local lady has bought and preserved 15 old wooden grain bins and rents them out to local collectors. 
We spent one afternoon at Buffalo Bill Ranch.  The guides were dressed in period clothing and they were very informative. Buffalo Bill put on a show with trick riding and shooting one fourth of July and it was so popular other towns ask him to do it for them. Thus, the Buffalo Bill Wild West Shows were born. During the show he would release live pigeons and shoot them out of the air. But sometimes the birds would fall into the crowd and bloody the dresses of the ladies. So, his manager developed a clay disc that he put feathers in and when shot out of the sky would look somewhat like a real bird. They became known as clay pigeons. 

I played a round of golf at the Wild Horse Golf Club in Gothenburg, Nebraska. It is rated as the Best Course You Can Play in Nebraska by Golf Digest. The course was built into the existing sand hills and required very little earth moving and they only had to dig a hole in the existing sand hills to create a trap. There is not one tree on this links type course. The tee markers were horse shoes and cow skulls, different to say the least. 

On our last day in town we visited Pals Brewery, the only one in North Platte. It was also rated the best restaurant in North Platte by Travel Advisor. We ordered a very good pizza and the beer was outstanding. Later that evening a severe thunderstorm came through and we took cover in the laundry room. Some of the hail was as big as a quarter, but it did no damage and did not last very long. The locals took it all in stride, I don't think they get excited till the sirens go off for a tornado. 
  

The day after the storm we drove north on Nebraska Highway 83 to Valentine, Nebraska. Along the way we came to an area where the overnight rains had flooded the road way. We followed a few other cars down the middle of the road and had no problems. 
The first full day in Valentine I played the Dunes Course at The Prairie Club. It is rated the 76th best public golf course in the USA by Golf Magazine. It was a challenging round with lots of sand traps and elevation change. Once the wind came up it was even harder. I did not hit one trap from the tee but found 4 bunkers with second shots and on the 18th hole I wound up in bunker on my second and third shots. The pictures below do not do justice to the wide-open spaces and beautiful sand hill vistas.   

One morning we drove through the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge. We saw a few Bison and a nice sample of grassland birds.  Another highlight of the drive was Ford Falls. 

On our final day in town we walked to the trestle that goes over the Niobrara River on the Cowboy Trail, an old Burlington Northern Rail Line. We then had a Runza Sandwich while we sampled the beer at Bolo Brewery.  A Runza is a local sandwich made up of hamburger mixed with onion and cabbage. It originated in Lincoln, Nebraska over 65 years ago.