Hurley Travels

Indy Adds Super Bowl Gear to the Mix

2012-01-28T19:16:00.001-07:00

What happens in the host city in advance of the Super Bowl? Just thousands of things. The residents have been learning about planning for parking/transportation, opening temporary entertainment venues, redesigning the downtown traffic patterns and various other preparations through the media for a long while. Now the changes are actually occurring. I thought it would be fun to cruise around last week while I was downtown working at my new job. (I’ll talk about that part later.) I heard that the numerals (XLVI) were going up on Monument Circle and that some of the street closings that we have been hearing of would be started. So, out I went. I had fun taking detours, making short stops for photos and watching the early developments. Here’s a ten-days-out peek at the goings on.

As I drove west on Market Street toward Monument Circle I could see traffic slowing more than usual. Half way around I could see a huge X had just been placed by a crane and there was a crowd of about 50 people gathering and a couple of photographers setup to catch the event. Luckily I saw a spot to pull over, so I jumped out to take a closer look and get a couple of photos. While I was doing this, the people who had assembled starting walking out toward the X. I presumed this was for a news photo or a local TV spot. So, of course, I joined them. Why not? Well, as I stood there listening more closely to the conversations and watching the photographer I realized that everyone but me was a part of the same group, perhaps a company photo for a publicity shot, or some kind of souvenir. At one point a lady asked me if I knew the photographer. Oh well, the only thing to do was stand still and be cool. Pretty soon, after a lot of cheering, they all walked off in the same direction…back to work I suppose. So if you hear of a stray person in a corporate promo picture for the Super Bowl, it’s me!

After my crashing-the-photo event I decided to head south, closer to Lucas Oil Stadium, to see how things were playing out for Super Bowl Village that is planned for several blocks of the city’s streets. As I was zig-zaging through the blocked streets I came across crews changing the direction signs, and stages going up in the middle of the streets. Anyone traveling in the area will also have these “Bowl Route” signs directing them to the stadium and many of the metro bus stops are “Closed for the Super Bowl.” I love these humongous banners covering entire sides of buildings which advertise the temporary restaurants, entertainment and gathering spots.

Plans are underway for many types of activities and entertainment, so that everyone who wants to join in can enjoy themselves, even without a ticket to the game. There’s free entertainment planned at the Super Bowl Village and the NFL Experience in the center of Indy. There’s even a beach that was hauled into Victory Field, the home of the Indianapolis Indians baseball team. I’m hearing that there are festivities as far as Lafayette and Louisville also.

Although the Super Bowl is dominating the conversation for the most part in Indianapolis lately, it is still business as usual in many ways, including at the State House. The legislature is underway and freedom of speech is in evidence. As I was in the midst of my tour of the city’s preparations, the ‘right to work’ opponents stood vigil with their placards to let their elected officials know how they feel. And many local citizens who aren’t NFL fans and have to contend with the crowds to get to and from their jobs aren’t necessarily looking forward to the hassles. But, after all, anyone who grew up in this city has some experience with the “Month of May” and will roll with it, as they are accustomed. All will be calm again soon. Meanwhile, party on!

If you are visiting Indianapolis for the Super Bowl, have a great time. We will be laying low and enjoying it from the suburbs.

Thanks again for stopping by at Hurley Travels. Stay safe. See you later.

A Sunny January Sunday Afternoon

2012-01-15T16:32:00.001-07:00

What do you do on a Sunday afternoon in January with the sun shining, football on TV and a granddaughter working at the local candy store? Why not make a combo out of it. Since the sun was shining after a couple of nasty, snowy, gloomy and low-temp days, we decided to get out for a visit with Caroline. Our favorite MCL (cafeteria) is close to the mall where Caroline works at the Inside Scoop, so our plan was quickly put into place. Before we knew it we were in the cafeteria line making those difficult decisions on salad, pie, fish, fried chicken or roast beef. We passed up those mile-high pies while reminding each other that we were cutting back now since we had eaten all the holiday leftovers. We did pretty well. The Tilapia, string beans and broccoli were very good.

But…..if you’ve had the chance to experience the Inside Scoop, you will understand how we could so quickly disregard our calorie counting. Oh well. This is a fantastic candy wonderland, with bins and bins of every sort of confection, from chocolate pecan caramel mounds to every Jelly Belly flavor in the universe. They also have a stuffed animal menagerie of the most unusual creatures that are fun to see. With C’s help we chose our favorite licorice and lemon delights, and just had to take her recommendation on the 1/2 price Christmas mints. Saying hi to our favorite granddaughter made the day even more sunny.

But for now we are stationed in front of the TV, relaxing with our treats and a libation, and watching the Green Bay/Giants game. I’m getting a few minutes of the game, then a few minutes of computer time. We all know I can’t sit still for the whole game anyway. And, since we can’t cheer for our local favorite Manning (Bubba, as Krissy calls him.), we are pulling for Eli (Little Bubba, as Krissy calls him.) Maybe the whole Manning family will have a reunion in Indianapolis in about a month!

However you are spending this January afternoon, hope it’s enjoyable.

Thanks for stopping by at Hurley Travels. Stay safe.

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T15:58:00.001-07:00

We want to send good wishes to all of our friends and family. The year seems to have gone so swiftly, yet so much has happened. So, I looked back through our year’s photos and put together a snapshot that reflects a sample of the 2011 story (below). Makes me think about how fortunate we are:

2011 Hurley Happenings

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We are appreciative of the ways that our lives have been touched by so many. Here’s wishing you a super duper 2012!

Merry Christmas 2011 -- From Nancy and Jerry

2011-12-24T08:28:00.001-07:00

Well, here it is December 24. We hope you've had a good year! Ours developed a little differently than the recent ones. We had a minimum of “Hurley Travels.” And we made a major lifestyle adjustment... one more time.

To start the 2011 year, we were hanging out in Florida, just enjoying the warm climate and relaxing. We picked a spot in Bushnell, northern Florida, and entertained ourselves in the local area for a few months. Nancy did make a short trip to Clearwater for a nice beach visit with our friend, Karen.

Then, in March we hit the road, north toward Indianapolis. We had decided to start looking for some kind of home base near family. Although we weren't ready to stop traveling in the motorhome, we were ready to have a place to spread out. The quest for our place in Indy resulted in our condo at Cape Cod Village on the northeast side, near our kids. Since the end of May, most everyone probably knows by now, we've been unpacking the storage facility, renovating and getting situated in our new little place. It's been very interesting reacquainting ourselves with home ownership – mostly fun, but time-consuming.

Although we've missed being on the road somewhat, the summer in Indianapolis was very enjoyable. We celebrated birthdays and holidays, attended family reunions and all types of gatherings. Here are two of our favorite family smiling sisters, Mandy and Jamie. Had to give them a post. These are good times.

In some ways, these seven or eight months have flown by while we kept busy in one place. There were two chances to get Ferd on the road though, one for a fabulous few days at the Irish Festival in Cleveland with our good friends, Mike and Suzanne, and one for Jerry to go on a father-son 4wheeling trip with Tim to Arkansas. The last one had its bad side, though. Jerry is recovering from an accident as we speak. This incident is keeping us situated for a while, but he is springing back with physical therapy and meds. Meanwhile, we are comfortable as can be.

Thanksgiving was low key, but still very nice. We had super celebrations with our families. And now we are getting ready to do the same for Christmas.

Hopefully, you have many good experiences to look back on for 2011.

We wish you the best in the New Year.

Family Recipes Taste Better and Mean More

2011-09-29T14:53:00.001-06:00

Recipes with a dash of family history are more tasty. They can please the palate and bring back unique memories at the same time. This could be as simple as a grilled cheese sandwich made with care by your grandpa or time-consuming canned goods of Aunt Minnie’s that are yummy in the winter months. Passing these recipes down adds so much to the flavors.

Over the past couple of months I’ve been reminded of what’s included in this tradition. At our family reunion in August a cousin’s homemade salsa with the recipe attached started a friendly bidding war. Another cousin won that item for his mother, Aunt Peg, and she used it to can salsa with her neighbor’s homegrown tomatoes. We are enjoying the salsa and the fact that it has that special family touch. Then Krissy kicked off the NFL season a couple of weeks ago by making the old recipe of cocktail meatballs that we always prepared at family holidays. You know, the one with chili sauce and grape jelly. Talking to me before the game she said: “Mom, it smells like Christmas in my apartment.”

Then, there was a recent occasion when Jerry and I took another short trip to south side Indianapolis. We were sitting around the kitchen table at my Aunt Peg’s with my cousin Marilyn having a great conversation. Peg was telling us about slicing cucumbers to make homemade pickles. We started picking her brain about the recipes she used for her canning this summer and her favorites for potato salad, etc. She grabbed her recipe card box and began relating to a few that were passed along by family and friends. By the time Marilyn mentioned an idea she had to put together a collection for her daughters and grandchildren, the ideas were running through my head for our next project. I would scan Peg’s trusted old recipes and add others from the family so that we could all savor them.

I had the opportunity to setup my scanner and computer on that kitchen table last week. What fun! Aunt Peg added tidbits of memories and people surrounding the recipes as we sorted and scanned. I gathered the tested lists of ingredients and her personal experiences with them. Her comments were the icing on the cake.

The plan is to see how many more “historical” recipes we can gather, saving some memories too. Of course, this isn’t a new idea. Many of us have those cookbooks from fund raisers and they have very good contents. But, there isn’t one from my family, yet……

Right now, however, I wanted to share a couple of those recipe recollections that came from Aunt Peg’s memory bank. The first recipe I’ll post is the best kind ever -- in her own handwriting on a small piece of paper with a story of how and why it’s special. Peg says she really doesn’t like hushpuppies. But, her brother-in-law, Richard Stull’s hushpuppies were always the exception for her. “He was a great fisherman. Whenever he and his friend had a good day fishing he would fry up his hushpuppies with the fresh fish. I loved his because they had lots of onions.” This is one that has a time-tested, irreplaceable ingredient as well. Read the last line on the recipe to the right to see what I mean.

I could go on and on with potato pancakes, hot peppers, spaghetti and meatballs, German potato salad, bread and butter pickles, dumplings, etc., etc. But for now, I’ve chosen to include the St. Jude Biscuit Recipe. The story behind this one is that Aunt Peg used to work at the cafeteria at St. Jude’s, her parish school that’s about two blocks away from her home. She liked those biscuits so much that she has used the recipe in her own family cooking for years. But, notice the size when this one is assembled in its full portion. On the back of the card it says: 1 gallon, 1 1/4 qts. Can you see the ladies in the school cafeteria sifting the 16 cups of flour and dry ingredients five times and cutting in the shortening to make 100 biscuits. Then they would cut them out individually. We don’t know how many times they duplicated these ingredients for one lunch either. Wow, the love that went into cooking for those grade-schoolers!

Hope I’ve made you think of a few family stories that go with something you ate for years. I would love to hear your best recipe and its story. In fact, we are on the hunt for a “Yeast Coffee Cake” recipe that was in the family many years ago that is lost now. This was melt-in-your-mouth scrumptious. Anyone know one???

Well, my mouth is watering. It’s time to see what special recipe Jerry’s cooking for dinner.

Thanks for stopping by at Hurley Travels. Talk to you later.

Technorati Tags: Indianapolis,Family Recipes

Reflection: Good or Bad?

2011-09-10T22:42:00.001-06:00

I was about to write a summary of Hurley Happenings for the past two weeks. After only a few quick moments of reflection I came up with a dozen topics. That many, and probably even more, events or interactions or good moments or unpleasant ones filled our lives in just fourteen days. It’s amazing how looking back brings up various kinds of feelings and thoughts. Now I’m writing about that instead of our events themselves.

So, you say, “For Pete’s sake, where are you going with this Nancy?” Well, wait just a second. I do have a point here. Lately, there’s been quite a bit of reflection going on with me and around me. For instance, our recent adjustment to a home base other than on wheels resulted in revisiting travels of the last eight years. Sharing old memories and writing family history for two family reunions stirred all kinds of thoughts in my mind over the past three months. And now, as a nation we are at a point of deep reflection as we look again at that horrendous day ten years ago on 9-11. Jerry and I remember our experience in Ireland on that day….. unbelievable, shocking, lonely…. while at the same time a tremendously-moving outpouring of sympathy.

Some say we shouldn’t dwell on the past or relive old times. Is it good or bad that we reflect back? Should we as a country be spending so much time thinking about the tragedy of 9-11? What about when we gather with family or friends and tell old stories; are we wasting our time? Should we avoid bringing back the emotions connected with the past? Many think recalling these times serves no purpose.

I guess my opinion is that a limited dose of reflection and reminiscing is good for the soul. Even though there may be a few tears shed. Aren’t there usually some bright moments that come to mind? Occasionally we gain some wisdom from the hard knocks. Discussion with friends can help resolve feelings. Thinking about the bigger picture of experiences Jerry and I have yearly, or over ten years, makes me realize our good fortune. Yeah, not all of our ‘happenings’ are the best. We sure wouldn’t choose to repeat them all in the future. Some are very sad. But many of those scenes that reflect back are generously-colored ones.

The key to the good or bad of our reflections may be in sharing and limiting it. The victims of 9-11 were robbed of the years of opportunities to reminisce. Maybe the best we can do is to give thoughts to them momentarily and respectfully. And then, have a safe and happy day of new experiences for next year’s reflection.

God bless all those who died on Sept. 11, 2001 and their families.

Have a safe and happy day. Thanks for stopping by at HurleyTravels. Talk to you later.

A Good Day, The Weber-Kuhn Reunion

2011-08-31T21:04:00.001-06:00

Seeing faces that bring back memories. Gathering hugs and smiles from cousins, aunts and uncles. Recalling childhood activities. Reminiscing while sorting through old photos. Catching up on children, grandchildren and great grands. Restoring family ties. Remembering those who are gone. All of these things were wrapped into one day last Saturday at the Weber-Kuhn Reunion, a gathering of my maternal family (Nancy).

It’s been quite a while since this family held a reunion. In fact, no one is sure about that date. Some of us are better than others at staying in touch. Of course, family funerals can be a form of a reunion. But, not really. So, a few of the Weber clan decided it was about time that we see who would be interested in a casual family gathering to catch up on life. We weren’t certain how it would go, but we would try.

The answer came quick. Just a few minutes from the time that the first family members strolled in it was obvious that the planning committee had no worry about the day’s success. The conversations spread quickly. Cameras captured new family photos everywhere. The precious three-week-old, little girl received cuddles. Historical photos and stories occupied many curious cousins. Bidding on the silent auction items was furious. Corn hole had several energetic participants. Quilt squares were created with care for a family history quilt. All in all, the Webers had a great day sharing laughs, memories and delicious food, too.

As I mentioned, one of the popular activities at last Saturday’s event was looking through old photos. Coincidentally, a couple of my photos snapped at the reunion matched up perfectly with those of days gone by. Naturally, these were the photos that had to make it to the blog.

First, below are my cousins Marilyn and Bill…..along with their photo from a few years ago. Wow, don’t we age well!

Then, here I am with my cousins Mary Anne and Rosie in about 1956. Fast forward to last Saturday and I have a photo with each of them, plus their brother, Jim. Good memories all around.

Of course, the basis of all families are those who led the way, fostered those earlier gatherings and continue to spread the love. Two of our family’s leading ladies are Peg Stull and Ruth Weber. Here are those two special aunts sharing a few moments at the reunion. They are super people.

To close this post, I believe I should give a salute to the six Weber siblings who brought us all together in the beginning.

They are in the photo below in front of the home where they all grew up at 2160 Singleton Street, Indianapolis: Bob, Gin, Rose, Dolly, Harry (Ruth’s husband), and Peg (above). Fortunately, our family reunion also included Uncle Mel, Dolly’s husband, and Aunt Emma, Bob’s wife. They all brought strength to this family. Sure was nice to have everybody together for the day and to remember those passed who helped make us who we are.

We’ll gather again next summer and hope to have many more good days like this one.

Sisters Day

2011-08-19T11:53:00.001-06:00

Recently my sisters, Martha (“Marti”) and Linda (“Lin”), and I had our own Sisters Day. Put together a birthday lunch and the Indiana State Fair with two sisters. Voila!…Sisters Day.

We started with a celebration of our sister, Lin’s, 59th birthday. She is still employed , and couldn’t get the day off, or it would have been a threesome day at the Fair. Regardless, we found ways to make the day work out. Marti, Lin, my niece, Nikki, and I met for lunch at Red Lobster. Meeting for lunch at this restaurant has become somewhat of a tradition since it’s located across the street from Lin and Nikki’s office and convenient for me and Marti. In fact, Lin is recognized by the wait staff as soon as she walks in the door. I suspect she makes quite a few other visits with folks other than her sisters. Let me say there could be parts of her personality that are memorable. Our waiter, Travis, even surprised her with a bowl of whipped cream drizzled with strawberry syrup and topped with a candle. Yes, whipped cream! (They were out of ice cream and cake.) Seems to work….she sure enjoyed it.

After lunch, Marti and I headed over to the State Fair. We realized that day we had never been to the fair together. Unbelievable, but true. Well, we made up for it. Some of our stops, for instance, were in the coliseum for the hunt seat competition, the Purdue soybean exhibit, and the displays of ribbon-winning crafts, such as crocheting, knitting, jewelry, photography and quilts. That’s just mentioning a few. We saw our share of cows, donkeys, mules, and horses. We enjoyed the tremendous lego creations that reproduced the Indianapolis 500 and Lucas Oil Stadium and paused a few minutes along our route for the parade of Clydesdales. Oh yes, don’t want to leave out the “German Experience.” This is a display created for this specific fair covering the German heritage in Indiana. Since we are through-and-through of German descent, this was particularly interesting for us. We also got our exercise walking through the vendors and the tunnel under the infield of the race track over to the Pioneer Village to watch blacksmith and spinning demonstrations. The workout was a good thing because we listened to music while we ate a delicious, humongous bowl of hand-dipped ice cream.

Eight hours from the time we roamed through the front gate with no real idea of the specific stops we would make, we shuffled by the corn dogs and ears of corn to find our car. We did decide to forego the fried green beans until another day. But, we still felt we had a healthy serving of Indiana, at the best state fair, that is.

All in all, I’ve concluded Sisters Days are good for any sisters to have.

A Wee Bit O Fun In Cleveland

2011-07-26T21:12:00.001-06:00

Last weekend we traveled to Cleveland,Ohio, for their 29th Annual Irish Cultural Festival. There were four or five times over the past ten years that we’ve enjoyed these Celtic festivities with our very good friends Mike and Suzanne Flynn. Each one has good memories connected and 2011 adds to that bank. We had a great time listening to music, taking in the cultural exhibits, shopping the Irish booths, sampling the brews, watching people and sharing life and laughs.

Of course, the recent Midwest temps of around 100 degrees and 90% humidity did make it less appealing to sit in a fairgrounds building or at a bandstand for daytime events. But,….we improvised. The air conditioning in the motorhome was working just fine, so we made our own festival schedule. Since we were parked on the fairgrounds where the Irish Fest took place, we could come and go as we chose. We worked in time for a good mix of everything, including our Celtic airbrush tattoos.

The evenings weren’t quite as sweltering and there was still a wide selection of entertainers. For instance, three of our favorites this year were a group called Girsa, seven young women with beautiful voices who interchangeably played the guitar, bohran, keyboards, accordion and fiddle; The New Barleycorn, a local trio of men who pleased the crowds with their renditions of the traditional Irish fare and the High Kings, four guys all based in Ireland who brought the house down with their talent and enthusiasm. And no Irish Fest would be complete without the sounds of the bagpipes and the energetic young dancers….just the icing on the cake. We had a good weekend of entertaining ourselves and being entertained, while staying reasonably comfortable.

But speaking of being comfortable, how about good eats? There were also some extracurricular dining ingredients thrown into the mix for the Cleveland trip. Suzanne and Mike suggested we go in search of an Italian restaurant called Geraci’s that they saw on “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.” Well, Guy sure didn’t steer us wrong on this one. We decided on their hearth-baked pizza and were very pleased we did. The marinara sauce was especially tasty and the crust is just right! When we’re in town again, maybe we’ll try a spaghetti dish with that scrumptious marinara sauce. Then, on Sunday we had an outstanding brunch at the 100th Bomber Brigade Restaurant near the airport. It’s an interesting place, with memorabilia of the WWII bombers and crew throughout the facility. Then there’s the array of superb food. It’s difficult to describe the quality selections; shrimp, crab, prime beef, fajitas and omelets to order, chicken marsala, and too many cheesecake and other desserts to list. That’s just a smidgeon of the menu. And everything tastes fantastic.

We enjoyed being out on the road in Ferd for a few days after working on our half-time home for the past few months. And it was doubly nice that we had Mike and Suzanne to share ‘ a wee bit o fun in Cleveland.’

Glad you stopped in at Hurley Travels. Talk to you later.

Good Times with Good People

2011-07-16T21:14:00.001-06:00

Four people just going with the flow and enjoying whatever seemed like a good idea - That’s how I’d describe our visit this past week with our good rving friends Chuck and Jan Moore. They were passing through Indianapolis between family in Chicago and friends in Cincinnati. So we lucked into having time with them for four days.

We shared lunches and dinners, roamed in cemeteries searching for Hoosier ancestors, shopped for new electronic gadgets, toured the city a little, researched genealogy and challenged each other at pegs and jokers. Of course, some of the best times were our animated gab sessions catching up on travel stories and laughing about life.

When we first met about three years ago in Quartzsite, AZ, at a Boomer RV rally, we all discovered we had a common interest in genealogy research. So when Chuck mentioned he was seeking a few Hoosier ancestors nearby, we were ready to take part in his hunt. We all had fun on our quests to locate graves within the spacious Crown Hill Cemetery in the middle of the city and at a remote, tiny family graveyard in Boone County north of Indianapolis. And then we went downtown to search for a few more family history details at the Indiana State Library Genealogy Dept., make a quick tour of a few city sites and stop for lunch at Shapiro’s Deli with the yummiest corned beef sandwiches around.

Over our few days of hanging out together we managed to squeeze in some shopping, jewelry-making for Nancy and Jan, discussions of campgrounds and rv life and plans for wintering in the Southwest. We even found time for Mexican food at Toucan Annie’s in Cicero and Tijuana Flats in Fishers.

How nice to have the good fortune to share good times with good people. Thanks Jan and Chuck.

Sixty Days in Our Lives -- Seems Like Sixty Seconds

2011-07-11T21:12:00.001-06:00

We all say it. TIME FLIES!!! Lately that’s been especially true for us. The last sixty days or so have included a myriad of happenings. Let’s see…. renovating and furnishing our condo in Indianapolis, reorganizing, transferring stuff and storing the motorhome, traveling to and with old friends, garage sales, helping family with moving, family birthdays and friend gatherings, family history and family reunions. A whole lot has taken place in about two months, but it seems like two minutes in time.

The major portion of those “two minutes” relates to our living situation. I mentioned briefly in a prior post that we decided to take the step into owning a “stick home” once again. We wanted to add to our options, having some kind of home in Indianapolis, but keeping the freedom to live the rv lifestyle for a number of months of the year. So, we went on a hunt for something near our family that would be easy to maintain. We found a condo that seems to fit, small enough not to be too demanding, yet big enough that we can spread out a little for a few months while we visit and take care of business. About two months ago the process of making this place our own began. One of the interesting realizations is that after 7 1/2 years of the rv lifestyle some of the skills or knowledge we both had acquired from maintaining homes for years had faded just a tad. I believe some pieces of that home-ownership know-how were overwritten with our rving knowledge: selecting the best roadways, conserving water and energy and finding out-of-the-way parking places. But we are recalling fast as we get into our latest home projects. As you can see in our photo, the garage is our temporary work room and storage at our new place. Laminate flooring, cut loop carpeting, paint, repairing eaves and gutters, tree trimming and filling rooms of furniture – it’s all coming back to us now.

However, there have been several welcomed interruptions to the home projects. A couple of weeks ago we had the easy job of dog sitting for one of our grand dogs, Emma, while Krissy’s friends helped her move. That was a lot of fun.

Then there was the long weekend that Jerry and his good friend, Mike, traveled to Virginia on a quest to find a new home for Mike. Mike’s wife, Suzanne, and their children, Lauren and Sean, will all make the move eventually. For now, the guys had a scouting job to find a temporary home for Mike. They left Indianapolis on the day that Mike retired from the Indiana State Police after 32 years of service. There are so many laughs when these two get together that the rest of us can’t translate sometimes. So, we know there were good times on this trip. (Not sure that Suzanne and I have yet heard all about it.)

We are excited for Mike on his new adventure with the National White Collar Crime Center in Virginia. They are fortunate he chose to make the NWC3 his next step in life. He brings his expertise in cyber crime and his excellent training and communication skills. Our next scouting job will be to find places near Fairmont, Virginia, for rv parking so that we can have our time with them.

And then there’s the short trip that Jerry and I made yesterday, along with about 100 other members of my Niehaus family, to the Pioneer Park in Mooresville, Indiana. The annual Niehaus Reunion has been bringing my paternal family together since 1939. The relatives ranged from my Aunt Charlotte, who is 99 and still loves to see all the family at these gatherings, to the tiniest three-week-old infant. Some of us don’t always remember each other, but all it takes is a few smiles and nods and the conversations start. The family historian in me was thrilled when one of my cousins from Virginia showed up with photos of my great grandparents who immigrated from Germany in 1885. Having never seen their faces, I was grateful to my cousin for sharing. This reunion is a time for us to take an afternoon from our busy lives to say hello to many relatives we rarely see, outside of funerals. I am always glad when I get the chance to go.

That brings us to today…..Looking forward to visiting with our RV friends, Chuck and Jan, this week as they stop by on their travels through Indiana. Next week we’ll get Ferd rolling again for a short trip to Ohio and northern Indiana. Another sixty seconds will pass, I guess.

Glad you stopped by at Hurley Travels. Talk to you later.

Way To Go Wes!

2011-06-27T15:56:00.001-06:00

You know that happy surge in your gut when someone you care about tells you of a great accomplishment? Right!…the goose bumps, then a big smile and the high five! That’s what happened to us when my nephew, Wes, gave us some fantastic news the other day. He won the 2011 Ultimate 64 Challenge at the Edgewater Sports Park in Cleves, Ohio. Great job!!!

Wes and his dad, Gary, (Nancy’s BIL) race at this track often. Drag racing, that is. As my sister, Lin, says: “We don’t do the round-y-rounds, straight tracks only.” Well the latest win for Wes is something to make Lin and Gary pretty proud parents (and gives Aunt Nancy some braggin rights, too.) We were sure excited the other day to hear his news. It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Wes has given us very generous assistance with our plumbing and air conditioning needs for our Indy home base. He is sales manager for Winnelson Plumbing Supply in Indy. When he stopped by with our new air conditioner, he brought along the evidence (below) of his victory to share with us. I think I’d carry this with me for a while, too. Wes has been tuning, tweaking and racing his 1982 Buick Regal since he was 15 years old. He’s had his share of wins, but this one will stand out for a good long time, I’m sure. Don’t have a picture of him winning the latest one yet. But we have a news release that tells the story of how he worked his way into the winner’s circle, defeating NHRA champions along the way. Here’s the link.

Wes and Gary and Lin’s whole family spend many summer days at the tracks around the Midwest. They’ve had great family times along the way. But the win at Edgewater a couple of weekends ago was definitely a super high. And Wes’s family was there to celebrate with him as he lit up the green light. Now that’s a real turn on! And here’s a photo of the May family after Wes took the prize:

And I have a few photos of Wes and Gary at a Muncie, Indiana track that include super action shots. To take a look, click on the album at the end of the post. Okay so once I got started looking around and uncovering everything, it was fun to add it all into this post. So, here goes. I found a YouTube video of Wes racing at Edgewater track about a year ago. If you want to hear some great rumble and roar, here’s that link: Wes runs in May 2010

We plan to fire up Ferd and roll on over for a few races this summer. Should be more stories to tell then. Meanwhile, glad you stopped by here at Hurley Travels. Talk to you later.

May Drag Racing

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Time To Celebrate–With a Special Lady

2011-06-14T16:51:00.001-06:00

Celebrating an 87th Birthday recently with my Aunt Peg was so much fun! She is always full of passion for the people in her life and the projects she takes on. I know that when I visit her she’ll be anxious to learn where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing, as well as having lots to share with me about what’s she’s been up to.

As usual she’s been burning up the sewing machine. Her latest endeavor is sewing doll clothes like crazy for her great grandchildren’s American Girl dolls. Here she is with a lovely coat. She had created a great variety of clothing: dresses, pantaloons, jeans, blouses with pearl necklaces, capes and even silk pajamas and karate outfits.

These grandchildren will definitely have the best-dressed dolls in the state, if not the country. The details and love put into each garment were just beautiful. I can picture the smiles these will bring to the children’s faces.

My sister, Marti, and I are always pleased to have the chance to make this short trip to the south side of Indianapolis to see our aunt. Sometimes we have another cousin or three or four stop by. On this visit we were lucky to have two more of our super cousins, Marilyn and Bill, join in for Aunt Peg’s “Happy Birthday” lunch at the MCL. Here we are: Marilyn, Marti, Bill, Nancy (me) and Aunt Peg (pictured at right) during our long and very pleasant meal. We always enjoy these gatherings, lots of reminiscing and laughs. In fact, this time we were all laughing so hard at Bill’s stories we thought they might ask us to leave. But, oh well, they say laughter lengthens your life. And, after all, we were celebrating a birthday with a special lady.

The Graduate

2011-06-05T18:24:00.001-06:00

High school graduation….a momentous time. We were happy recently to be able to participate in the celebration of the graduation of one special young woman in our lives. We’re proud of you, Caroline!

Wherever your path takes you, we wish you many exciting days. And we are confident you will find your own way to a happy future.

Love, Gramps and Nancy

Caroline

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A Few Thoughts on Memorial Day

2011-05-30T10:14:00.001-06:00

What should we be about on this day? Should we be enjoying our gatherings, cookouts, shopping the sales or catching up on chores? Should we be absorbed in the hundreds of activities that are currently consuming our own day-to-day lives? Or should we be stopping the mad rush of everything to remember those who preceded us and made it all possible? I think maybe both.

But for the brave souls who put their lives on the line we wouldn’t have the luxury of living as we do. We wouldn’t be free to criticize and protest and vote in this imperfect, yet still grand, country that we call ours. As far as our own dna, we can’t deny that we are all a conglomeration of our departed family. So, on Memorial Day, why not do it all!? Let’s remember our personal loved ones who had so much influence in our lives. Let’s thank our lucky stars for those who died preserving our freedom. Let’s enjoy this day with friends, family or just in any way we choose to do. Because we can.

We were thinking this morning of past Memorial Days; for instance the ones on the road, sometimes visiting cemeteries decorated with red, white and blue. We were also doing some reminiscing about raising children. This led us to looking back on growing up in Indy, listening over ‘race weekend’ to the 500, as we did yesterday. One of our favorite parts was always the moving tradition of the national anthem and the flyover that salutes our armed forces before the race each year. We remember visits to family graves, leaving a few flowers for parents and grandparents. Just these old folks getting sentimental for a short time.

Later we’ll gather with our children, adding to our memories. It’s a great life. Thanks to everyone involved.

Glad you stopped by at Hurleytravels. Postings have been sparse, but we will be doing more updates soon. Talk to you later.

Happy Easter: Hope Spring Brings Some New Life to Your Life

2011-04-24T10:49:00.001-06:00

Wishing everyone a Happy Easter!

Wanted to pass along this springtime story:

A man is driving along a highway and sees a rabbit jump out into the middle of the road.

He swerves to avoid hitting it, but unfortunately the rabbit jumps right in front of the car.
The driver, a sensitive man as well as an animal lover, pulls over and gets out to see what has become of the rabbit.

Much to his dismay, the rabbit is the Easter Bunny, and he is DEAD.
The driver feels so awful that he begins to cry. A beautiful blonde woman driving down the road sees a man crying on the side of the road and pulls over.
She steps out of the car and asks the man what's wrong.
"I feel terrible," ! He explains, "I accidentally hit the Easter Bunny with my car and KILLED HIM."
The blonde says,"Don't worry."
She runs to her car and pulls out a spray can. She walks over to the limp, dead Easter Bunny, bends down, and sprays the contents on him.
The Easter Bunny jumps up, waves a paw at the them and hops off down the road.
Ten feet away he stops, turns around and waves again, he hops down the road another 10 feet, turns and waves, hops another ten feet, turns and waves, and repeats this again and again and again and again, until he hops out of sight.
The man is astonished. He runs over to the woman and demands, "What is in that can? What did you spray on the Easter Bunny ?"
The woman turns the can around so that the man can read the label.

It says..

(Are you ready for this?)
(Are you sure?)

(You know you're gonna be sorry)

(Last chance)

(OK, here it is)
It says,

"Hair Spray"
"Restores life to dead hair,
And adds a permanent wave."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here’s a “permanent wave” to you all.

We aren’t traveling far today, just a short walk up to Tim and Jamie’s for Easter Dinner with family. Thanks for stopping in at Hurley Travels. Talk to you later.

Catchin’ Up

2011-04-17T21:19:00.001-06:00

Once upon a time there was a blog named Hurley Travels that in March 2011, unexpectedly and for no real reason, became a little neglected. The owners continued to experience various comings and goings that might rate a post. But no, for over 30 days the words did not come. A few thoughts would get written without that final click of the publish button. Good ole’ Hurleyblog was patient, however, waiting for a nod or some kind of recognition. It’s not for lack of subjects or inactivity that I’ve been silent. Maybe I just needed to think for a while. But now, I’m in the mood to get back to the forsaken, lonely blog. Finally, after the 35th day of isolation and lack of communication, we have a happy blog once again. Let the posts continue…..

Our travels in mid-March were from our winter spot in Bushnell, Florida to Indianapolis. We arrived in Indy as a cold snap hit and had the blankets, sweaters and heaters out for several days. As always, seeing family smoothed over the shivers from the climate. Besides, in late March after the basketball tournaments are completed, everyone can count on the budding of the trees and the grass growing to begin in earnest in these parts. The blossoming trees and lawn mowers are spreading those familiar sights, smells and sounds all around us now. We’ve shared good times already; meals, softball, rock bands and lots of gabbing. There’ve been more than our share of “something to smile about” happenings. A few were photo ops. Today’s post includes deer grazing in our front yard as we have many evenings here in Tim’s backyard. And also there’s the smiling little guy, Eland, who has some mischief in his mind at most times and it shows. (Made you smile!)

But really, this 30-day period has seemed like a blink of the eye. In fact some of our visiting with friends and family has been curtailed by time spent on our newest project. What now? Well……we are in the “next phase of the Hurleys’ adventure.” We’ve decided to acquire a “stick home” (not on wheels) in Indianapolis. So we started looking for a small home or condominium that would suit our situation. The situation is: continuing to travel at our leisure in Ferd, yet having another place to spread out for whatever length of time needed, located near family. Now that’s a gigantic consolidation, or summary, of a boat load full of discussion, debate, examination, considering various options and determining our next steps. After all is said and done, we are getting into our “next phase” at this point -- enjoying the hunt.

Over seven years ago when we sold our home and started our fulltime RVing lifestyle we didn’t have a specific plan or know where exactly the road would lead. We enjoyed the freedom immensely and had so, so many fabulous experiences, seeing a whole gamut of places. The people we were fortunate to meet and revisit are a favorite part of those years of roaming, too. We have no plans to end all of that. We’ll be having more good times out there, as well as in Indy!

That’s the synopsis of our lives in the last thirty days. More to come…..Talk to you later.

Some Things to Smile About - Week of March 13, 2011

2011-03-16T20:42:00.001-06:00

There’s no question that some of the latest events in the world are down right depressing! We are all saddened by the horrible disasters in Japan and are praying for relief for the victims. Add to that the current overdose of political bickering, protests and turmoil all around. There are sure reasons to frown…big time. But, what else is there to do but find “some things to smile about?” Look around. They’re probably close by. Here’s my contribution to a few smiles for this week:

Walking around the park here in Florida, I found a few happy spots:

The peacefulness of the natural bird sanctuary behind our park brings that contented grin:

Here’s some humor found along an Internet path. -- Keep laughing as you fill up:

Hope you found “Some Things to Smile About” here and along your route this week.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to one and all:

Glad to have you visiting at Hurley Travels.

Click On Our New Page of RV Lifestyle Aides

2011-03-10T18:32:00.001-07:00

Everybody has their own way of doing what they do. Right? I bet you just had two or three thoughts flash through your mind. You have your own particular way of working on the car or making a favorite recipe or packing for a trip. Whatever it is, you have certain resources you count on to help you decide how to get it done. Well, that applies to RVing as well. Over the years Jerry and I have come to count on some key resources for planning our travels, including the experiences that were passed forward by friends. So, what would be a better use for a page on Hurley Travels than to share a listing of our resources? Ta Da! You will notice at the top left a link to our “RV Lifestyle Aides” page. Hopefully, you’ll find a few pointers to add to your enjoyment of RVing.

We also invite suggestions for making this list more “resourceful.” Feel free to comment about your favorite sources. There’s room for expansion on our list.

Thanks for stopping by at Hurley Travels. Talk to you later.

Flashback Friday - Our First Winter in the Desert, 2004-05

2011-03-04T08:34:00.001-07:00

Blooming white primrose spread over the deserts in Arizona and California where we spent a good deal of time in the winter months of 2004-05. Oranges, yellows and blues of all types of wild desert flowers paved the way along the road from Yuma to Quartzsite. The rains had showered just the right amount for a wild population explosion. We had a colorful winter welcome to the southwest. Nice of Mother Nature to arrange for the beautiful array.

Besides the desert bouquets, we had several lifestyle discoveries. First, we learned a great deal about boon docking, using our solar panels to the utmost and our storage tanks efficiently. It was fun practicing around Ogilby and Sidewinder Roads west of Yuma – wide, open space of quiet, sage and brush, surrounded by distant sand dunes and chocolate mountains - land where RVers migrate each winter to settle intermittently on a piece of the desert. When we got hitch itch in one spot we would move 20 to 50 miles or so to more Bureau of Land Management areas near Imperial Dam, Quartzsite or Blythe, California. Learning where to get water and dump tanks wasn’t difficult at all. That’s another revelation we had out in the desert. RVers are friendly and helpful folk. Most everyone we came across was ready to share; recommendations on parking, dumping, water, trash, restaurants, roads or whatever experiences they had. We found these fellow nomads offering to show us around, do some hiking or geocaching, take a trail to an abandoned mine in the hills or lend a hand with a repair.

After this introduction to desert living, we decided there was one aspect we wanted to take to another level. We were drawn to those trails we’d experienced on a limited basis in our Ford F550 truck. Yes, we didn’t get too far off road in that monster. It was super for traveling the highways with the 5th wheel or venturing a limited distance on the desert roads. But that’s all. And we were bitten by the off-roading bug.

The solution: Ole Yeller, our Jeep Wrangler, became a part of our entourage at that point. Of course, it was completely stock. And we also had a lot to learn about our new hobby. But, some very patient and hospitable RVing friends took us out “4wheeling” anyway. We snaked through slot canyons, paused for some fantastic mountainous views and enjoyed the camaraderie. That was all it took. We were off to the customizing shop in Phoenix. And the story goes on from there in many directions and over many obstacles.

The winter of 2004-05 completed one year of the RV lifestyle for us. The season was eye-opening in many ways.

Thanks for stopping in at Hurley Travels. Talk to you later.

Girls’ Getaway – Safety Harbor, Florida

2011-03-01T11:52:00.001-07:00

Jerry gave me a hall pass last weekend. I used it for a “girls’ getaway” in Safety Harbor, Florida with my good friend, Karen. We had a blast.

The Safety Harbor Resort and Spa provided a generous bit of luxury, lots of good food and the perfect atmosphere for two old friends to catch up on life. Karen used her contacts to arrange for us an upgraded room. Our balcony overlooked the pool and Tampa Bay. We enjoyed the twinkling lights on the causeway in the evening and here’s our view on Sunday morning while we had coffee.

Safety Harbor is one of those quaint villages with cozy restaurants, interesting shops and a dose of museums to browse through when you’re not relaxing at the pool or spa or enjoying happy hour.

We talked. We walked. We watched. We shopped. We sunned. We drank. We ate. We laughed. We cried. We remembered.

Friendship…..such an important ingredient in our lives. Thanks, Karen.

Glad you stopped in at Hurley Travels. Take care.

Flashback Friday – Green River Lake, Wyoming – 2006

2011-02-25T16:59:00.000-07:00

Think about what you would define as “God’s Country.” We’ve been to multiple places that would fit that description during our seven-year rving escapade. But, for sure, one spot in Wyoming is in our top five list. Green River Lake, at the edge of the Wind River Range of the Teton Mountains, near Pinedale, Wyoming, is one of the most beautiful temporary homes we’ve had.

In early 2006 we were prospecting for a volunteering job in the northwest part of the U.S. On the volunteer.gov website we learned of the positions available in the Pinedale Ranger District of the Bridger-Teton National Forest. The location sounded good. And we liked the idea of experiencing the National Forest Service. However, we were hesitant to take a campground host slot as we had heard some not-so-great stories about camp hosting elsewhere. But the Green River Lake Campground sounded so tempting – 52 miles from the small town of Pinedale, Wyoming, 26 miles of that on a dirt forest road, next to a wilderness area. Doesn’t that make you want to be there? Spending a few months at the edge of the Bridger Wilderness could be invigorating. We decided the location would keep our camping visitors to those who were serious hikers, fishermen, etc. Besides, we were attracted to trying the remote experience for a few months, without hookups or cell phone. Long-story-short, we took the spots as camp host and trailhead host, proceeded to Pinedale in mid-May for our training and had a super summer.

There are so many experiences to describe here. This post could be a book. I’m keeping my recollections to a minimum for now, but maybe this one will have to be continued. Our peek inside the NFS was positive and intriguing overall. The industry behind fighting the annual ravaging wild fires and hiring employees was enlightening. And, we encountered helpful and hard-working people in the Forest Service.

Our means of communication with the rangers was via a two-way radio, other than when someone stopped by weekly to check on us or we went to a meeting occasionally in Pinedale. We were happy that our luck came through when we tried to setup our satellite dishes. Jerry was able to magically find a small break in the thick forest cover to get the TV and Internet operating. We felt safe, yet removed. However, when a wild fire was within two miles and ashes were falling on us, we were somewhat concerned. The campground was closed and we were ready on a moment’s notice to evacuate. Get the picture so far?

Fortunately, our predictions about the majority of the people who came to our campground and all of the people who hiked the 13-mile trail through the wilderness were correct. They were basically nature lovers who respected their surroundings. Working up towards the campground in the valley where the Green River flows is mouth-dropping. You follow the forest road with the Bridger Wilderness on the right and the Tetons on the left, while sometimes a moose or wolf crosses your path . The scene at Green River Lake, just down the hill from our campsite, where Square Top Mountain stands watch, is out-of-this-world! (See first photo in this post.)

Add to all of this that we were able to bring our grandson, Ben, at eleven years old, to visit us for two weeks. He tried his hand at trout fishing in the ponds and streams even though the giant mosquitoes chose those two specific weeks to swarm in our locale. Yes, he did catch a few trout and they were scrumptious.

What a memorable summer! We haven’t had the chance to revisit the Pinedale, Wyoming area, but would definitely like to do so.

P.S. Fast forward to today………Our current home is still in Bushnell, Florida. This is a new scenario for us - two months (Jan-Feb 2010) in one location when we are not committed to volunteering. Seems as though there’s been a shift in our needs/outlook. We’ve been taking a good deal of time for pondering the future while in a friendly park with a nice climate. Stay tuned for more developments.

Thanks for visiting Hurley Travels. Talk to you later.

Flashback Friday – Valley of the Fires, NM – 2004-2008

2011-02-18T13:34:00.001-07:00

If you are ever traveling on US 380 east or west through New Mexico, watch out for the lava. All of a sudden the valley turns from the brushy desert to black frozen wavy shapes. The first time we came this way we were drawn into these formations and made a stop. Soon the Valley of the Fires became another of our favorite flashbacks. We’ve visited three or four times. Why? Answer: Nice camping facilities. Beautiful views. Interesting locale.

The Valley of the Fires State Park and Recreation Area is 4 miles west of Carrizozo, New Mexico. The campsites there are on a hill, staggered so each one has a nice view overlooking the valley and surrounded by mountains in the distance. Most have electrical hookups and a dump and water are available. The park is small, 20 campsites, but we easily found a good spot each time we stopped. Just perching at our campsite, soaking up the 360 degree expanse and following the train circling through the valley was a satisfying attraction.

But we found much more. Add to the mix the established park trail that walks you through the lava field, providing information on the history of the valley and pointing out examples of nature along the way. A part of what you learn on this short hike is that the lava field is 2-5 miles wide and 40 miles long and is thought to be 2000 years old. Just a youngster as volcanic eruptions go. The vegetation growing out of the lava is one of the fascinating features of this natural event. Cacti, trees and wildflowers are popping up everywhere. And there are lots of creatures flying and crawling around in their homes inside the black holes.

Although the valley itself is enough reason to stop, we had fun doing our usual exploring in the vicinity also. On our way west on 380 we had a good time in Lincoln revisiting the story of Billy the Kid and Pat Garret. You can put yourself in the shoes of the outlaw at the courthouse that captures the jail cell setting as well as the courtroom. About 25 miles south on highway 54 from Carrizozo is Three Rivers Petroglyphs Recreation Site. The thousands of pieces of prehistoric rock art at this site are amazing. There are also the remains of the Mogollon village where the people who created the petroglyphs lived in 900 to 1400 AD. Jerry and I inquired about the volunteer camp host at this park, considering that it would be another unique experience. But that never worked into our schedule somehow.

Lastly, I have to mention the Four Winds Restaurant in Carrizozo, at the intersection of highways 380 and 54. There’s room for rvs to park and they serve a tasty Mexican breakfast or lunch at a reasonable price. We have stopped when we were camped down the road or as we were passing through with our 5th wheel and in Ferd. On another occasion Krissy and I were in the Jeep on our way to the petroglyphs on a mother/daughter trip. She liked it too.

For now, I’ll end this recollection about Valley of the Fires. Even though I’ve left out some ingredients. There’s a slide show below that gives samples of the area. Let me know if you were left hanging out there on a limb waiting for some tidbit of info. We are happy to share.

Valley of the Fires, New Mexico

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A thought on Flashback Friday: I’m finding these Flashback Friday posts bring back so many details from our years of wandering that I have trouble keeping the posts to a pleasantly-readable length. Before starting this blog series I was concerned about how much I’d be able to recall. Looks like the opposite will be my problem. The process starts with Jerry and I talking about each of our memories on a certain place or event. Then I find a photo or two; and, sometimes, I Google a few details of the location or mileage. Pretty soon the old brain is reeling with too much chatter. I have to filter out what we most want to save from each RVing experience. This is good for me. Right? I think so. If nothing else, we’ll have these flashbacks when we lose that flashback capability. If you know what I mean.

Thanks for visiting Hurley Travels. Talk to you later.

The Latest News from Hurley Travels

2011-02-14T21:44:00.001-07:00

Take a look at the new tab at the top left of our blog. Yes, we’re proud to expand the blog slightly with new formatting. But mostly, our new Alaska tab contains some special experiences, a rundown on our trip this past summer. For instance, I’ve summarized our route and listed our camping spots, to name just two features. We hope these details help others to enjoy themselves up north as much as we did. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask us. You can comment below or email us.

Thanks for visiting Hurley Travels. Talk to you later.

Flashback Friday - Del Rio, Texas, March 2004

2011-02-12T13:07:00.001-07:00

This story illustrates why occasionally it is better being uninformed. We often enjoy ourselves more when we cruise along taking things as they come, appreciating the beauty around us.

In March of 2004 we were traveling west through Texas, enjoying our first trip through the Hill Country. We decided to drop down a little further south and take 90 West, in keeping with our goal to avoid interstates when possible. We liked what we read about the National Park Service camping area at the Amistad National Recreation Area near Del Rio. So we stopped for a few nights. The campground where we stayed was outside Del Rio about five miles or so, as memory serves me. There were only about 50 campsites and we could see that the setting would mean we had those quiet nights with skies lit by zillions of stars. A camp host was stationed at the entrance, so there wasn’t any concern about the scarcity of occupied spots. We settled into one of the sites on the outside where Jerry could position both our TV and internet satellite dishes. The Direcway Internet system was new to us, only about a week and two setups. We were prouder each time we successfully found that “golf-ball-sized” satellite out beyond the clouds. So anyway, we were comfortable. Other than a few partying teenagers at the end of the road late on a Saturday night, we were completely pleased with our home site. The next two days we explored the town of Del Rio and spent some time at Lake Amistad. As you can see by the photo below, the scenery is nothing but peaceful and natural. We ventured down the road along Lake Amistad just a few miles and came upon the bridge and border crossing area into Mexico. Ciudad Acuna, Mexico is just over the bridge. We turned around, not having prepared to leave the country yet.

One evening as we relaxed on our patio in our chairs, just gazing out over the desert and contemplating our next day, we noticed a van pull off into the desert and stop just outside our campground. The two people inside seemed to be waiting there for a while. Then they got out and walked out into the desert until we lost sight of them. About 30 minutes later they returned, got into the van and left. This seemed suspicious, but who knows? Perhaps they just needed some exercise.

When we had our next destination plotted, we headed west again agreeing that this would be a campground we would recommend to others. So we did just that. The next time we setup the Direcway satellite and fired up the Internet, we emailed friends to let them know about the nice spot in Del Rio. Before long a response came from a couple we had seen on another stop in Texas. They wanted to let us know that they had read a report on the Internet that classified Del Rio as the second most dangerous camping area in the country due to the illegal border crossings and drug trafficking through that section near Lake Amistad. We could only say that our experience was pleasant.

We have good memories of the short time we explored around the Del Rio area. Chances are that these seven years have made a difference and we would not feel as safe at that same location today. We haven’t returned and would hesitate to do so. But, maybe there are some circumstances when it turns out better not knowing everything.

Hurry!! Be A Part of This Important Survey

2011-02-09T15:55:00.001-07:00

As we travel the highways and byways, we have come to appreciate the availability of our favorite wines. So when we recently learned of this survey, you can see how we wanted to participate. Please read on:

Wal-Mart announced that, sometime in 2011 it will begin offering customers a new discount item...Wal-Mart's own brand of wine. (We know this already exists. So there was some real concern on our part at first. But then we concluded that they were looking to perhaps expand. And the announcement continued.)

The world's largest retail chain is teaming up with Ernest & Julio Gallo Winery of California to produce the wines at affordable prices in the $2 to $5 range.
Wine connoisseurs may not be inclined to put a bottle of the Wal-Mart brand into their shopping carts but, 'There is a market for inexpensive wine,' said Kathy Micken, professor of marketing at University of Arkansas , Bentonville. "However, branding will be very important".
Customer surveys were conducted to determine the most attractive name for the Wal-Mart wine brands and varieties.
The top surveyed names in order of popularity were:
10. Chateau Traileur Parc
9. White Trashfindel
8. Big Red Gulp
7. World Championship Riesling
6. NASCARbernet
5. Chef Boyardeaux
4. Peanut Noir
3. I Can't Believe it's not Vinegar
2. Grape Expectations
1. Nasti Spumante
The beauty of Wal-Mart wine is that it can be served with either white meat (Possum) or red meat (Squirrel).
P.S. Don't bother posting a comment to tell me that this is a hoax. I know possum is not white meat.

P.S.S. We thank Krissy for forwarding this information to us. I am gathering our own tally and will be delivering it to the nearest store to be sure they hear from far and wide on any future expansion. I choose #9 and #5. Let me know your two top choices.

Thanks for visiting Hurley Travels. Talk to you later.

Flashback Friday– Our Beginners’ Story, Jan 2004

2011-02-04T13:37:00.001-07:00

The Hurley Travels blog is still alive! The silence for a month or so is only temporary while we've been percolating some new ideas. For now, how about "Flashback Friday?" This is an idea that came to us as we were looking back over these last seven years of fulltime rving. We have a million experiences in our personal RAM. 99% are fantastic memories. Hopefully, our recollections will stand the test of time. But we do know that those that we've shared on this blog over the past four years are handy when we want to refresh them. But that instant recall isn't available for the first three years. So....abracadabra! Flashback Friday was created. We plan to post on Fridays about a place, a person or an event in those first three years. It will be fun revisiting. Hope you enjoy going back with us.

What would be best as the first Flashback Friday? Beginning at the beginning with a beginners' story seemed appropriate. Some of you have heard it, but we'll put it here for posterity anyway.

We were on what we considered the trial run for the fulltime lifestyle. Our agreement was that if this three to four-month period impressed us, we would return in the spring to our Indianapolis home and sell out and hit the road. We had purchased our fifth-wheel and dually a few months earlier and planned to leave Indianapolis after the Christmas holidays. Jerry even went through the winterizing process since the weather can be nasty in the December/January time frame. This winter is a vivid example of that.

We were already Escapees members and had become familiar with the parks and learned a lot online in the discussion forums. We even had one Escapade (a gathering of hundreds of rvers to learn and share) under our belts from the previous September in Elkhart, Indiana. But, neither one of us had a great deal of “rving” experience. A total zero in that area would be a better description. But we had grown up in Indiana's sometimes zero temps. So we felt confident in planning this winter getaway. We made a plan to go as far as the closest Escapees park in Heiskell, Tennessee, that first night in mid-January. At that point it would be safe to clear the anti-freeze out of the lines and be ready to proceed on to warmer winter climates.

Although a snow storm did threaten to keep us in Indiana and the temps were in the teens, we got out of town that morning and were in our park and settled into a spot before dark. Before too long the campground host came around to tell us that it could get unusually cold over night, possibly in the 20s, and we should be sure to take precautions with the water hookup. So, of course, we listened and did so.

Remember that I mentioned we had both been attuned to freezing problems? Well, when we got ready to pick up in the morning to continue our travels, there it was. We had shut off the water for sure. But....our hose was still attached to the spigot. Neither one of us had thought to detach it. Now we had a rock-hard frozen, totally unbendable hose to detach and store somewhere inside our rig before we could leave. We were both quite embarrassed, but as soon as it warmed up we were laughing and have been ever since.

What's your silly, embarrassing or ridiculous rving story? I know we aren’t the only ones who found themselves in a similar situation. We would love to hear your “flashbacks.”

Thanks for visiting Hurley Travels. Talk to you later.

Our New Neighbors

2010-12-31T11:18:00.001-07:00

We’ve settled in northern Florida for who knows how long. The sun is streaming in the windows as I write and we are relatively pleased with the Internet speed, so that will do us for now. Our spot here at the Sumter Oaks RV Park in Bushnell is reasonably priced, off-the-beaten-path, situated on the back row where we prefer and the neighbors are nice. What more could we ask?!

Speaking of neighbors, let me introduce them. Each day we hear the trumpeting of three feathered friends. This Sandhill crane family comes for the vittles. I believe it’s the same mated pair that we have seen in past winters when we stopped at this Escapees’ park. But now, they have a juvenile that is growing rapidly and will probably by next season have his own mate. The humans that live in back of us are trained to bring out the bird food as soon as they see mom and dad and junior approaching every day. In my photo they are just outside our door as they were exiting after a yummy meal. The youngster is displaying the happy courting dance that he is perfecting. Should be quite attractive to the ladies. Don’t you think?

Also very friendly are the precious-looking donkeys and their buddy who live next door to the park. While out for a walk the other evening I just happened to have my camera. Apparently :), these animals are very accustomed to attention. As soon as they caught sight of me they came meandering over. As might be expected in this type of gathering, there was one pushy fella that had to be in front when I tried to get a pic of the adorable little one. But, I persisted.

I’d been at the fence talking with these guys for a while when I heard a snorting sound. Yes, there’s one little piggy who lives here too. Don’t know my pig species, but this long- haired orange and black creature seemed different somehow. Anyone out there who knows what kind of pig this is? Or maybe he’s not unusual. I’m very uninformed on pigs. That’s for sure. Anyway, he thought he might be missing a treat and came to check me out. Disappointment. I didn’t bring goodies.

But how about other types of neighbors that speak English? We learned via email that friends of ours are volunteering at the nearby Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge, where the endangered West Indian Manatees (see first photo in this post) migrate to the warm waters this time of year. The refuge is only about 40 miles west of us, so we visited Bonnie and Joe the other day. We met a few years ago at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico when we were all donating our time to help with the refuge’s bird habitat preservation. Haven’t had the opportunity to cross paths in a couple of years. Two hours at lunch over a few beers and a super hamburger at Cody’s in Crystal River and we were somewhat caught up on all of our lives. Then they introduced us to the folks at the refuge while we had a pleasant look around the visitors center where they are volunteering three days a week. We learned that the manatee is declared by scientists to have evolved from the elephant. Not surprising considering the humongous gray creature that can reach 13 feet long and over 3,000 lbs. If you’d like to get more info on manatees, here’s a link.

We didn’t spend a great deal of time outside since a cold snap that destroyed a great deal of Florida citrus crops was passing through that day. Lots of sun, but cooler than normal temps. As far as activities, we weren’t in the market for a touristy event that day. But, from past experience I know that it is sure fascinating to see those underwater swimming elephants that one can watch in abundance at the local Crystal River State Refuge. This was a different type of visit. After the quick tour of the town, we spent a few more hours at Joe and Bonnie’s motorhome meeting their new kitty, Shadow, and doing what we do well, talking. As you know, we are experiencing our first Apple technology with the iPad. These friends happen to have an impressive Apple setup that they use extensively and happily for communication, movies, photos, music and whatever. Sooooo, we proceeded to pick their brains about MacBooks, MacAirs, Mac minis, software and setups and on an on. Of course, there were several other humorous and stimulating topics of conversation….Good to see you Joe and Bonnnie.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!! Talk to you later.

Merry Christmas To All

2010-12-24T00:01:00.001-07:00

We wish everyone a very special Christmas. I was thinking that this is the time of year when we find ourselves reflecting back on past holidays and remembering all kinds of good times. Well, in relations to that, I was just looking around at some Christmas music on YouTube and I came across this one that takes you a few decades back. I thought it might give you a smile or two. If you’d like to take a short journey, click on the following words: Christmas Past

Enjoy. Be safe. Talk to you later.

Time to Melt Our Icicles

2010-12-19T11:00:00.001-07:00

Brrrrrrr. Bring on the above-freezing temperatures! We are heading south now, leaving the ice and snow behind. When the snow began piling up and icicles forming all around Ferd in early December, we really thought it would warm up a little and melt. But that didn’t happen this time. Those temperatures in the teens kept us busy trying to keep things unfrozen. So, we had some early Christmas celebrations and made plans to make our exit when the snowstorms took a break. We are now seeking out the sixties south of Indiana.

This time, departing was more of an adventure than usual. Tim helped Jerry unthaw the locks on our bay doors and on the hitch so that we could store everything and hookup the Jeep. Jamie sent us off with fresh Christmas cookies. Thanks so much kids for the “warm” sendoff. We don’t even have a definite destination, but so far Florida is looking good.

Stay safe. See you down the road.

Creative Christmas Crew

2010-12-15T19:58:00.001-07:00

This time of year brings out the imaginative and creative side of some of us. I (Nancy) have the pleasure of a close relationship with one Creative Christmas Crew. For the last five years my daughter, Krissy, and her two good friends, Lisa and Darrell, have created a Christmas box for family and friends filled with their homemade baked, pickled and/or roasted treats. The boxes themselves are painted, decorated, stamped or wrapped with a different festive theme annually. (The photo to the right is the stamp Krissy designed this year.) The crew begins the planning early to select the right combination of six or seven recipes; some repeats, some new ones each time. Speaking as a recipient, the final product is fantastic.

The other day I stopped by while the trio had their first cooking and painting session for this year’s Christmas creation. We are usually traveling in warmer climates by the time they get into their actual production stages. So this was especially fun for me. It turns out that these sessions are a celebration of their own. We had a spread of delicious munchies and libations to keep up our strength during the process. While the kids baked cookies, shortbread and spiced nuts, I helped consume the Beaujolais and bacon jam, Darrell’s latest recipe. Trust me! Bacon jam is really tasty on a cracker with brie. Also, Krissy recreated some “spicy feta” that we all love at a local Greek restaurant. In fact, I think her’s was a little better. Lo and behold, I had discovered the party going on in these afternoon “work” sessions.

Being in the middle of this was a treat for me. First, I had the fortunate job of supervising and sampling. And… I had a front row seat as three of my favorite people enjoyed creating their gifts. I’m glad I could be a part of the celebration. Thanks kids, for letting me share.

Stay safe and healthy. Talk to you later.

Holiday Mail for Heroes

2010-12-07T19:24:00.001-07:00

We are extending our visit in Indianapolis for a little longer to take care of more medical appointments and such. There’s a silver lining in that change of plans, -- these times with friends and family in Indy are always good for the soul. And, of course, we were sure there was still plenty of time before the snow and temperatures in the teens arrive, right?….oh no, here they are. It hit us three days ago, first snow, then the plunging temps. Apparently, this cold snap is tormenting most of the country. Oh well, we have the heaters cranked up and the cabinet doors open and are crossing our fingers. So far everything is fine. Actually, we have a beautiful scene out our picture window. This is an appropriate time for me to start writing our Christmas letter. As I got involved in looking over the past year and digging out the address list on the computer, somehow I ended up at YouTube watching these videos on “Holiday Mail for Heroes.” Don’t even remember how that happened. But anyway, it struck me that I should be sure to include a few of our heroes on my list. And before I knew it, I’d decided to pass along the tributes and information here on Hurley Travels. I can’t imagine any one of the troops who doesn’t deserve our thanks and good wishes. Below are some links to videos that are sure to get your attention, if not a few tears.

Thank You Soldiers

Holiday Mail for Heroes

And here’s some more information from the Pitney Bowes site (www.pb.com) on participating in the program.

Dec 6, 2010
Remember to Send "Holiday Mail for Heroes" Greetings to U.S. Military Members, Veterans and their Families by December 10

Smart Multimedia Gallery

WASHINGTON, December 06, 2010 - For the fourth year in a row, Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE: PBI) and the American Red Cross are collecting cards from the public to distribute to U.S. military service members, veterans, and their families across the country and abroad this holiday season. However, the December 10 deadline for cards is approaching fast.

“During the past three years, Americans helped send three million cards to our service members and veterans through Holiday Mail for Heroes, and we are expecting another high volume of cards this year due to positive response,” said Vicki O’Meara, executive vice president and president of Pitney Bowes Management Services. “To help make sure there is enough time to process, sort and deliver cards before the holidays, we are encouraging the public to send their greetings for the campaign by December 10.”

“There are currently 1.4 million active duty service members, and tens of thousands of will find themselves away from home during this holiday season,” said Sherri Brown, senior vice president of Service to the Armed Forces at the American Red Cross. “Through Holiday Mail for Heroes, Americans can help send a touch of home to our men and women in uniform, their families and many of our nation’s 24 million veterans.”

To participate in the campaign, the public can send holiday cards with personal messages to:

Holiday Mail for Heroes

P.O. Box 5456

Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

Roads Lead to Indy

2010-11-20T11:09:00.001-07:00

Hurley Travels currently are in the Indianapolis area. Whenever we come “home” we find open arms and welcoming smiles. The past few weeks delivered more of the same. There were shared lunches and dinners at favorite restaurants, mother-daughter shopping trips, weenie roasts and pitch-ins, meeting new boyfriends and girlfriends, sharing stories from the road and getting the latest news from everyone. But the best part is just being with them. Family, that is.

Here’s a beautiful crew of my family visiting over lunch at the MCL cafeteria near where I grew up on the south side of Indianapolis. In this photo on the left is my cousin Marilyn and my sister Marti, and on the right is my cousin Rosie and aunts Peg and Ruth. I have to brag on the talents of my two aunts who are extraordinary quilters. They can turn out some masterpieces. These two ladies and our cousins relate to warm childhood memories and are always fun to spend some time with. My sister and I try to plan at least one of these gatherings when I’m in town. Someday maybe we’ll pull together the loads of other family members for a Weber family reunion. What do you say cousins?!

Another important ingredient in life for a few members of this family is football. Of course, the Colts play a significant role in that drama. But, for some every game is critical. For instance, my daughter Krissy has become a little obsessed – in a good way. She and her friends have their own personal contest to pick the winners each week. At the end of the season whoever has the most wins is the owner for the year of the trophy at the right.

But, a slightly different kind of fan is Rio, the smartest border collie in the world. She is absolutely intent on possessing any ball that is in her hemisphere. She will fetch and return as long as you can throw. Not only is it the game of fetch, but this obsession with balls includes the ones on television. It can be a baseball, golf ball, basketball, tennis ball, ping pong or football. She hears the cheering of the crowd and knows that it is time to set her sights on the screen. Her owner, Tim Hurley, says she knows when the weather man finishes his portion of the news and comes running to see the sports. Here she is watching TV in our motorhome while she visits with us for an afternoon. Her eyes follow the ball intently. But she does rest between plays.

And, of course, we have the chance to celebrate family birthdays while in town. This month is Jenny’s.

I won’t say which one - just 40-something. We had many laughs at her birthday dinner the other night. Here with smiles-for-the-camera are Jenny’s friend Joe, her brother Tim, Jamie (Tim’s fiancé and Jenny’s friend) and the beautiful daughter of my hubby, Jenny.

One of her most treasured gifts that evening came from Tim. It is a “fragile (FRA-GEE_LAY) leg lamp” night light. Anyone reading this that has ever watched “The Christmas Story” will recognize this prized possession . No need to say anything further.

Thanks to everyone for making us feel loved.

We wish you good times and safe travels. Talk to you later.

Remembering Our Veterans – November 11

2010-11-10T22:46:00.001-07:00

We travel this country -- free to enjoy the splendor of it all. On Veterans Day we stop to contemplate how we came to have the freedoms that we do. Since the Revolutionary War our military forces have stepped up to protect the freedoms of every United States citizen. We will never be able to thank them enough.

Our recent travels held a few reminders of our veterans’ accomplishments. During our trip this summer in Canada and Alaska we traveled the entire 1,422 miles of the Alaska Highway, built in the early 1940s to establish a defensive route to protect the country against attack by Hitler and his allies via Alaska. It was eye-opening to learn about the situations the soldiers working on the road endured to build a path through the wilderness connecting Alaska to the lower 48. They chopped the way across treacherous terrain to make our lives safer. There are stories told and markers laid remembering the Alaska Highway workers. Thanks to them, we can explore the area slowing only for the frost heaves that continue to plague the highway crews each spring. As we continued through Alaska we encountered memorials to veterans of all stripes. They gave us pause to count our blessings. Below are a few examples from our Alaska trip.

If you are a veteran reading this, Jerry and I want to say “Thank You.” For every veteran, whether still here enjoying our freedoms with us or traveling in the heavens, we appreciate all you did and do.

Stay safe. Talk with you later.

Halloween Memories – Traveling through Time

2010-11-01T00:02:00.001-06:00

How did you trick or treat? Jerry and I got to talking about that a few days ago as we noticed the signs of the holiday everywhere. What we remember is digging up some kind of “costume” around the house, maybe with a purchased mask that didn’t necessarily have any relation to the rest of the outfit. At our house we had various clothes and masks stored in the cedar chest in the attic. We would dig them out each year. I do remember especially an ugly rubber devil mask that I never wanted to wear for my evening’s outfit. I would slip it on to try to scare my younger sister, Linda, if I could. But she was pretty tough. (Still is!) Here’s a photo of me and my older sister, Martha. See what I mean about the potpourri of costumes.

After designing our attire, we would wonder the neighborhood with friends gathering our goodies. I recall passing others along the way, sharing the news and giving advice on who was giving out the best candy. And then we would go home and dump our treasures on a piece of newspaper to sort it into stacks, saving the favorites. There would be rejects, of course, like the popcorn balls. The leftovers might be traded or offered to parents.

I can’t remember anybody worrying about bad things in the candy or whether adults were escorting the children from house to house. Maybe the parents were watching us up and down the street and all I had on my mind was my bag of treats.

It appears that the basic fun of it all has survived, even if some parts of the event are different. There are more organized programs, rather than visiting homes where the kids may not know the occupants. We saw children dressed in their costumes when we were in a restaurant on the night before Halloween. All the wait staff were wearing costumes too. And today we watched the NFL football fans in some ingenious attire. It’s a wider celebration all around.

Passing along my family Halloween customs, I sometimes created my daughter’s costumes. One year when my daughter, Krissy, was about six I made this witch gown from a spare piece of black fabric. Isn’t she cute? We used the household broom, found a hat and she selected a store-bought mask. Now that I look closer, I think this is a Kiss mask. Oh well, that carries on my non-matching costume tradition.

What kind of costumes did you wear? Or how did your family/neighborhood get into Halloween?

Hope you had a nice Halloween. Talk to you later.

Ruffles and Flowers Make a Nice Day

2010-10-25T15:56:00.001-06:00

This afternoon my hubby went to the grocery to get the ingredients for a crock pot dinner. I’ve been enjoying the new recipes he’s chosen lately from a slow cooker blog he’s following. The latest choice to look forward to is Tex Mex Roast. Sounds yummy.

But, on top of the recipe ingredients he returned with flowers and one of my favorite bad snacks, Ruffles.

He made my day. What a nice guy!

Youth In Our Lives

2010-10-17T16:41:00.001-06:00

Over the past week or so we’ve been reminded of how the youngsters in our life stir our imagination and bring us happiness.

A few days ago after leaving the Elkhart area, we stopped at our good friends’ home in Marion. Mike and Suzanne alerted their congenial neighbors we were arriving. They were more than willing to have us park along their street, offering whatever they could to accommodate us. As we pulled in Lauren and Sean, the 9 and 7-year-old members of the family, came running to greet us. Isn’t it great how those hugs and smiles give you an injection of the happies?!

We always enjoy getting up to date with Lauren and Sean’s activities. Sean acquainted us with his latest wrestler action figures, such as Jake the Snake and Matt Hardy. And there were many other professional-type names that I should remember. (Sorry Sean.)

Lauren demonstrated her Star Doll website where she can choose from a wide variety of clothes and accessories to design her outfits. Then they went off to socialize with their neighbor friends while we adults found a relaxing spot on the back porch, catching up on the past year. By the time we saw the kids again they had filthy feet, hands and faces that were hard to explain. Then we saw why. They had been creating this life-size, chalk artwork covering the complete driveway. Obviously, the artistry involved a considerable amount of crawling around on the “canvas”. Take a look at these youthful imaginations at work.

After our super visit with the Flynn family, we traveled the 100 miles or so south to Indianapolis. We were glad to be seeing our family again after a long stretch for our trip north to Alaska. As we turned into Tim’s, our home base, the water was filling his new swimming pool. The next two days were unseasonably warm for October, mid 80s, and the heater was cranking. So there were definitely good pool times, especially for the children. Snorkels, rafts, water basketball and water guns, they all got a workout.

We loved hearing the latest news from everybody and sharing our stories, as we were entertained by the water shenanigans. We were also introduced to granddaughter Caroline’s boyfriend, Brayton. (Yes, he is polite and personable, in addition to cute.) Our girl is becoming a lady, soon to be off to college. Wow, just yesterday we were watching her and her brother, Ben, spread out construction paper and finger paints to create their own imaginative art projects in our living room.

Another type of youngster in this mix is my daughter Krissy’s beautiful Emma. She’s been to doggy obedience school recently and is showing great progress. She waited patiently as we all chowed down on the delicious Green Chili Stew that Krissy brought us for dinner the other evening. Emma is very loving and energetic and wants to please. She’s glad to have been rescued.

We’ve been happy to have all this vitality around us. No adults were allowed in this particular message. It’s all about the youth. Ah, how they keep us young.

Thanks again for visiting Hurley Travels. Talk to you later.

We are Soooo Cool Again

2010-10-10T23:23:00.001-06:00

Thank goodness our refrigerator escapade is over!! Maybe you remember the ups and downs over the past year or longer. There were occasions when our refrigerator stopped cooling completely. Then there would be a period of no issues. And again, sometimes when it was a warm day the fridge just couldn’t stay in the safe zone. But with the cooler temps, we squeezed in the three-month Alaska trip without too much difficulty. But who knew when its last day would come. Well, we chose to end this period of insecurity in Shipshewana, Indiana a few days ago.

Thanks to Leon Hershberger at National RV Refrigeration we are cooling away. After a friend’s recommendation and learning that Leon gives a three year warranty on his work, we chose to replace the cooling unit rather than try to fit a new refrigerator into the place where our out-of-production unit was designed to fit. He replaced our cooling unit, the entire back portion of the refrigerator, without taking the unit out of the motorhome. We were relieved that it wasn’t necessary to take out one of Ferd’s windows to get the refrigerator outside. There is no way our double-door refrigerator was coming out the space of our entry door. To make room to work in our slideless motorhome, Leon disassembled our table from the wall. He brought the fridge out onto the floor to do his work on the spot.

Here are the before and after shots:

Three days have passed and we are pleased. The temperature fell inside in a reasonable period of time and is holding steady. We have no need to play with the gas and electric switch while crossing our fingers that it would operate. And we aren’t maneuvering the motorhome so that a minimal amount of sun shines on that side of the rig.

Yea!! We are sooo cool. Thanks for visiting.

Now and Then in Centerville, Iowa

2010-10-10T22:38:00.001-06:00

I’ve had a little writer’s block lately, I guess. We’ve moved east from Iowa to Indiana while I simmer the ideas for the blog. So, it’s time to bring us up to date with a few quick posts.

About a week ago we were in Iowa, at the Buck Creek COE Campground ….just enjoying the nice surroundings. Pieces of that scenery were these long-stemmed, bunches of daisy-type wildflowers waving brightly in the breeze around the park and the roadways into town.

Speaking of the nearby town, a funny thing happened one evening on a trip into Centerville. We had decided to have a late anniversary dinner at the Continental Hotel, a slightly upscale restaurant on the town square. But, the plans changed quickly. When we arrived that Saturday we found signs on the doors saying they were closed to the public for that one evening due to an alumni gathering. Great timing, huh! We could see through the windows a smiling group of our own generation getting reacquainted and perusing the menus at their white-clothed tables. Crash the party? No, not this time.

As we laughed about our good timing and took a walk further around the downtown square, we noticed young people dressed in unusual attire – girls in heels and evening dresses, boys in dress pants and ties. And there was one more distinctive clue – wrist corsages. About the time we were adding it all together we spotted the sign: Welcome to Homecoming Weekend. Then we also noticed the other restaurant on the square that was drawing people inside, George and Nick’s. We like to try the non-chain, local places when we can find them. This one seemed to fit that description.

As it turns out, we couldn’t have been more pleased that the other dining establishment was occupied. This was one of those finds that you reminisce about down the road. We had delicious Italian food and fabulous people watching. Actually, our timing was just right. As we were ordering and consuming our creamy alfredo and pesto pastas, we had a front row seat to discreetly follow the teenagers socially interacting in their finery. Although the tried and true tradition of the Homecoming event seemed to be preserved, the current influence was also evident. Not far from each young person’s hand was their trusted texting machine. As the under-twenties enjoyed their dates, other local citizens of another generation roamed in to fill the room. We were sure that the atmosphere was as good as we could have hoped, a mix of then and now.

See you soon.

How and Why We Make Our RV Home Choices

2010-09-29T11:37:00.001-06:00

We make choices all the time about where our home will be. After seven years of fulltime rving (yes, it really is.), we’ve developed a quasi evaluation process for selecting our parking spots. Although from time to time we’ve talked about a favorite parking spot here on Hurley Travels, it occurred to me recently that I’ve never focused on the hows and whys of our choices. It’s about time.

Short-time options -- So, how do we make choices? The answer depends to a major degree on how long we are stopping. Is this an overnight resting stop or a longer visit to the area? While traveling from point-to-point and pausing for an overnight rest our usual selection is a convenient boondocking spot. (Boondocking = no electric, water or sewer hookups.) We might look for something close to our route thereby saving fuel and making it simple to continue our trip in the morning. Many times we combine an opportunity to shop, eat or buy fuel. There are numerous quiet, safe boondocking sites along the road that are perfect for these overnights. For instance, a choice might be a WalMart or Cracker Barrel, a visitors’ center parking lot or a casino. We’ve experimented with them all and had good experiences overall. Our rule is that if we ever feel uncomfortable in any way, we start the wheels rolling for another location. We find many of these locales online at OvernightRVParking.com or the DaysEnd CD, a handy Escapees RV Club reference. (Note the hyperlinks above and below that take you to a relative site or the Google map showing the campground.)

Longer-term stops - But, if we are looking for a longer respite there are different goals. Over these years the factors that came to be important are space/privacy, settings/surroundings, cost, and communications. After sampling many locations, a few types of stops have proven to be most dependable. Based on our experiences, Corp of Engineer parks and county/city parks get automatic consideration whenever they are available. We have also found reasonable accommodations at several Elks Lodges across the country. And, when we are in the southwest we have a love for the plentiful Bureau of Land Management areas that offer a million-dollar view in the wide open spaces. This is where our solar panels and large holding tanks are most rewarding. We can live comfortably, sometimes with the company of a few of our fellow rvers, sharing thousands of acres and mountain scenery. We have been known to go out of our way for a few days stop at an attractive-sounding campground or a boondocking site with a beautiful view.

Since we left Deadwood, we’ve been leisurely crossing South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa, enjoying September in the Midwest on our way to Indianapolis. With no specific destination along the way, we’ve made some good finds. That’s one of the bonuses of this lifestyle. Surprises.

Choice in South Dakota -- . Above are two photos of the Left Tailrace Corp of Engineer (COE) campground on Lake Sharpe, near Fort Thompson, South Dakota. While traveling east on I-90 we located this campground in our COE reference book and then found online the GPS coordinates. Since we wanted to spend a few days relaxing, we traveled the 20 miles north off the highway with perfect guidance from Tillie, our Garmin GPS. The price is right; $7.00 for electrical and water hookups, with a free dump station available. I have to mention, however, that this price is one-half of what we would pay if we did not have Jerry’s Golden Age Pass. The campground is well kept, sites are clean and roomy. There’s a pleasant area next to Lake Sharpe to take walks. Overall, we rate this location an 8 out of 10 since the Verizon cell and Internet reception is intermittent.

Nebraska Selection -- Moving along southeasterly we chose another COE campground at the Lewis and Clark Lake on the Nebraska-South Dakota state line, the Nebraska Tailwaters Campground. This park is just a few miles outside the town of Yankton, SD. We liked Yankton, not too big and not too small, with all the conveniences we might need. The price of $7.00 and the hookup provisions matched our last stop. All the sites are long and narrow as the campground stretches along one side of the lake. Every campsite faces the lake. We could all watch the fishermen and migrating waterfowl without leaving our spots. (See two photos above.) Although it doesn’t fail on cell and internet reception or immediate surroundings, the sites were quite unlevel and narrow. This stop wasn’t one of our favorites. Sometimes it’s difficult to say why. Just a feeling about the overall make-up, the starkness of the long row of us all backed up into our shoots, facing the exact same direction. So, after weighing all the factors, this one gets 6 out of 10.

Iowa Stop -- Our next choice came after we stopped in Des Moines, Iowa, for our “First Byte of an Apple.” We wanted to stay in the area in order to test out the iPad for a few days before we left the vicinity of the Apple store. Therefore, we checked our trusty sources and found Pickard Park in Indianola, IA, a city park with electric and water for $8.00, a mere 20 miles south. Didn’t take long to decide to drive down for a look. The park is only two miles from town. We found Indianola an attractive small college town with good restaurants and friendly people. I even came across a skilled haircutter at a shop on the downtown square where I watched the hometown parade go by as my locks were trimmed.

Our Verizon reception was excellent at this location. There is no dump station, but we were okay at this juncture without it. It rained heavily for a couple of days so we were very observant of the grass area where we were parked. This is one of those small (10 sites) city parks that are often empty because they aren’t near the major highway. We shared the park with one neighbor for our four night stopover. But that’s a mark on the positive side in our book. Pickard Park is across the road from a small ranch with cows who serenade you occasionally and bordered by rolling green meadows. We’ll give this one 8 out of 10 points.

Finding a 10 -- Lastly, we are currently situated in the Buck Creek COE campground at Lake Rathbun, near Centreville, Iowa. Again, we drove a few miles off the highway to this quiet and comfortable temporary home. We have a lake view site that scores high on the roomy, quiet and private scale. The cost is $8.00 with the Golden Age Pass for electric and water. We took advantage of the free dump station when we arrived. A special note here is that when we reported an issue with the electric outlet on our site we had an electrician fixing it within an hour. Internet and cell phone reception is excellent. Since this one has so many positive features, it receives a 10 ranking.

I’ll wrap this up with a peaceful look at Rathbun Lake during my evening walk at Buck Creek Campground.

Seven years and counting – Our years in the fulltime RV lifestyle have seasoned us for making all kinds of menu choices. Of course, there are other opinions within this gypsy-like group about how to live. But, for what it’s worth, we are happy to pass along our experiences. Should anyone wish to take advantage, just ask.

Safe travels. See you down the road.

Our First Byte of an Apple

2010-09-24T19:19:00.001-06:00

Three days ago we decided to sample our first Apple product. We’ve listened to the stories over the years about the friendlier functions, the convenience and, above all, virus free operation of the Steve Jobs machines. Then, our friend Jerry Thomas let Jerry Hurley play with his iPod Touch a few times. He kept mentioning how he liked many of the apps and how much fun it was to use. So, when the iPad rolled out...a bigger yet still very portable and, maybe even more usable version of the iPod….I guess we were ready to look into possible uses for us. We had questions though.

Soon we were checking for Apple stores in various cities on our route eastward through Montana, South Dakota, Iowa and Indiana. Turns out there’s an Apple Store in West Des Moines, Iowa, easily accessible as we traveled through the state. You know how it goes. We said: “We’ll just stop by to get some answers to our questions. Won’t buy anything yet. ” So we drove the motorhome to the shopping mall to see one of these hyped machines in person. We immediately came across an informative and congenial representative named Larry who had an answer for all our questions and patience in explaining every operation. The store is all about teaching and letting customers have hands-on time with the machines. Larry introduced us to Apple thoroughly, without pressure.

Okay. So we learned. Then we went to have some lunch. Time to consider whether to justify the expense or not. As we were sitting in Panera Bread discussing the whys and why nots, a young lady conducting business on her iPhone and laptop at the next table overheard us. She let us know that she is planning to buy an iPad as soon as possible and her brother is crazy about his. I guess we were really already well down that road and this was one more encouraging push.

The memory we chose was the 32GB, the middle ground between the smaller 16 GB and the max of 64GB. The capacity was one of our issues. Being used to thinking about computers with 200 GB hard drives, why would we choose something smaller? Here’s one of the points that became clear. As Larry explained, the iPad is not a computer replacement. It’s a tool for making your life easier and more fun. After all the considerations, testing and questioning, we became enamored with jumping into this Apple world that so many folks are enjoying. So…..here’s our new friend, Maude the iPad. This is a new type of technological world for those of us who’ve lived in the Bill Gates neighborhood for so many years. There are thousands of apps, for anything imaginable, lots of techy stuff at your fingertips, and almost instantly. We can walk around, stand up and change chairs, all while reading an online newspaper or email. There’s only one button, home. Mostly, it’s a screen touching thing. No mouse, no clicking, no pointer. The searching is quick and easy. Moving to another application is a swipe of the finger. But, there’s one problem. I think Jerry’s enamored with Maude. He’s been completely absorbed by iTunes syncs and downloading apps for two days. I may be a tiny bit jealous of the “Angry Birds” game, podcast downloads and streaming HuLu. Not. There really will be a time when I get my turn. :)

Jerry’s impressions can probably be summed up in the laughter I hear as he finds a new feature or some unique app; or the quiet when he’s listening to music or a podcast download, all of the above while seated comfortably in his recliner. Examples of the apps downloaded as of today are USAToday, Kindle, Epicurious and eBay. All in all, the first byte of Apple for us was sweet, with a bit of tartness. Adjustments to the touch of it all are a challenge. But, as we become more acquainted with each new function, we’re liking the taste a lot. I’m not ready to give up Windows and all of its associated menu items….not yet. But this sampling is somewhat fascinating.

Thanks for visiting. Talk to you later.

East to Deadwood, South Dakota – and More

2010-09-16T00:08:00.001-06:00

Sept. 7 – 13: Big Sky Country of Montana and South Dakota was our panoramic view for the last few days. There’s a calming feeling about soaking up the expanses of wheat fields, sage, cattle and horse ranches, rolling hills and mountains with bright blue sky at the edges.

One night we took advantage of the rv boondocking area at the information center outside Broadus, MT, on U.S. highway 212. A display there contained information about the Montana man who wrote a poem that became the lyrics for the song “Don’t Fence Me In.” “Gimme Land, lotsa land, stretching miles across the West.” Sure isn’t difficult to imagine how he was inspired.

Our next stop on this eastward trek was Deadwood, South Dakota…..returning to the place we were married ten years ago this month. ( Why and How? It’s a long story that I’m not sure we remember completely. Who needs Vegas!) We were curious to see how the town had changed in ten years and if the “cottage” behind the Franklin Hotel was still there.

The expansion of Deadwood jumps out as soon as you drive in on U.S. 85 past the new businesses. The hotels, casinos, hotels, gift shops and restaurants offer a myriad of choices for visitors. Historic preservation dollars have restored a considerable number of Victorian era buildings and homes to resemble the days of the town’s mining heyday. Fortunately, the preservation included the veranda on the front of the Franklin Hotel where we said “I do.” And the little house where we stayed, behind the hotel, hasn’t been demolished – or renovated. (See the veranda in left photo and our lodging in right photo. I won’t go on about the details. :)

Deadwood seemed popular, though not overflowing, on the weekend that we visited. The parking lots and streets had a healthy amount of people for an early September weekend, one without a rally or festival nor Fall colors to attract the big crowds. Actually, our timing was just right. Judging from the availability of sightseeing tours, advertisements for entertainment and numbers of casinos, campgrounds and hotels the town is drawing considerably larger crowds than it was in 2000. The one show that hasn’t changed is the shootout at Saloon #10 where Wild Bill Hickok meets his fate. But, now there’s an enactment of the trial of the shooter, as well. Missed that one.

There are, of course, the hooks designed to draw people into one establishment over another. You’ve maybe heard about Kevin Costner’s place. If not, he owns a casino/restaurant/museum in Deadwood that displays costumes, props and various items from his movies, including Dances With Wolves that was filmed in South Dakota. One of those attractions that I thought was fun was the “Car Museum.” Among the several recognizable vehicles were Magnum P.I.’s 1983 Ferrari used by Tom Selleck and a Jeep from M.A.S.H. Didn’t see Radar, Klinger or Hawkeye around though. Yes, I did try a slot machine before I left the building. Just very quickly. Profit=$1.00.

Our brief revisit of Deadwood didn’t bring us any huge surprises or disappointments. From outward appearances, the town has managed a revival and survival. The ghosts of the wild west and the gold-mining pioneers linger. That’s a good thing.

Travels now are continuing eastward across South Dakota. Stay safe. See you down the road.

Friends Along Our Way in Oregon

2010-09-12T18:26:00.001-06:00

Sept. 3-7: We are fortunate in this RVing lifestyle to make good friends and see them along the road. While passing through Oregon (Our first time in Ferd.) we had a chance to visit with Jerry and Dee Thomas at their hosting campground at Catharine Creek State Park, eight miles south of Union, Oregon. What a nice place to spend some time. The park is in the Oregon hills, away from it all. The cost is a very reasonable $9.00, no hookups, pleasant setting. We had the perfect weather, sunny and low 70s with cool nights. They had a prime pull-thru spot next to the creek selected for us when we drove in on the Friday of Labor Day Weekend. The next four days with them and, of course, Jaxson, their special Schnauzer, were a pleasure.

There were hours of catching up on news, travel, family, mutual friends and plans for the future. We shared meals, campfires, walks, laughs and drives around the area. One day we drove to La Grande, Oregon, about 20 miles away, where we came across a 50s-style diner called Haught’s. In addition to their specialty of hamburgers just about any way you could ask, they have 24 flavors of ice cream. Most of the flavors were something unique, like licorice, bubble gum or huckleberry. We can attest to the superbness of the lemon meringue pie and peach cobbler. The company, atmosphere and the vittles were all excellent.

I can’t make a post concerning the Thomases without saying a few words about our four-legged pal, Jaxson. He always adds some smiles and loving to the mix, especially when he does his wonderful howling routine. It’s hysterical. Here’s Jerry prompting him to let out with his throaty sounds. This talent was first discovered when he heard another animal howling and just started responding. Now his owners and friends are known to encourage him by starting their own serenade. Before you know it, Jaxson is yawning a few times to warm up his vocal cords. And the concert begins. And it is something to behold. What a talented dog!

This relationship is a bonus of living wherever our wheels take us. We first met the Thomases in Utah, have had great visits when they welcome us to their place in Arizona, said hello back in Indiana, and now we’re fortunate to cross paths in Oregon. I know that other fulltimers would agree that we all value every one of our friends from all avenues of our lives. Isn’t it nice that we have a unique avenue by which we meet folks like these? We have shared many laughs and a few serious times as well. All of it adding to our good memories. Thanks again friends.

Stay safe. Talk to you later.

A Northern Exposure Stop in Washington

2010-09-12T01:43:00.001-06:00

Sept. 1-2: We’ve been on the road in the northwest, enjoying the state of Washington. However, timing is keeping us east of the Cascade Mountains on this journey. Maybe another year we’ll take in the crabbing and beautiful west coasts of Oregon and Washington. But for now, there is one historic little town in central Washington that fell right into our path – Roslyn. This one has a slight connection to our recent trip to Alaska. And where better to have a birthday lunch than at The Brick, in the shadow of KBHR and Ruth Anne’s General Store. Come on. Let’s go!

This trip of about 250 miles kicks off in Omak, Washington, continuing south on SR 97 and 17 through the grandeur of the Grand Coulee ( Learned that a coulee is a steep-sided ravine formed by glacier erosion. This one stretches for sixty miles.) and the rolling amber-colored hills of central Washington. The drive was pleasantly flat, sparsely populated and offered beautiful Columbia River views. Turning west on I-90 at Moses Lake, we passed by George, Washington, (We smiled about that one.) and then on over to the eastern edge of the foothills of the Cascades, to the small town of Roslyn. Herein lies the connection of which I spoke above. Some of you already know my point. We can see the grins appearing on your faces as you conjure up images of “Chris in the Morning” at KBHR, Holling and Shelley at The Brick, Dr. Joel and Marilyn in the town’s clinic, and conversations between Ruth Anne, Ed, Maggie , Maurice, etal. For anyone still wondering, Roslyn is the setting for Cicely, Alaska, the fictional town of the 1990s TV series Northern Exposure. Many of us were greatly entertained by the situations dealing with life in the tiny remote Alaska town and the sometimes peculiar, but captivating backgrounds of the people who made their way to Cicely. Perhaps the series might be equated with small-town Seinfeld, a story about nothing, yet so much.

By late afternoon of September 1 we pulled into the town of Cle Elum, about three miles south of Roslyn. One of our Internet sources for overnight boondocking sights recommended a spot near the Los Cabos Mexican Restaurant. We found it just right, safe and quiet. After settling into our spot, we walked across the lot for some tasty enchiladas. The next morning we drove over to Roslyn in the Jeep to see how friendly the town is to rv parking. After talking to a couple of residents, we got the message that there would be no problem: “Just pull out of the way and enjoy.” We were soon parked off a side street just two short blocks from “town center.”

Of course, the true history of this coal-mining town contains many dramatic human-interest tales of immigrants and natives building lives that extend into today’s descendants. I looked into that story, too. But for now, we’ll talk about our short time of getting in touch with Cicely, Alaska and its inhabitants. We walked around the corner from Ferd and came upon the Roslyn Cafe. The cafe’s familiar mural started each episode. And then there was the moose walking down the middle of town. Remember that mug? If only the moose had appeared for us!

At the other end of town, “The Brick” played a major role as a gathering place for Cicely residents. You will recall it was the saloon owned by Holling Vincoeur, a robust octogenarian. He lived at the Brick with Shelly, the waitress, a 20-something, flamboyant fashion statement. Our activities at the Brick for September 2 also involved Jerry’s birthday. But actually, we’ll call it the somethin’ day because he would rather not pay special attention to this day. :) Regardless, we wanted to have lunch and sample the Roslyn Brewery beers. The food was well above average, jalapeno cheese burger for Jerry and more halibut for Nancy. The stout and the pale ale were excellent, went down smoothly. Although we weren’t mentioning the birthday, it was a happy time. The bartender and patrons we chatted with were very hospitable. The social atmosphere of this establishment seems to be carrying on today.

The Brick is actually the oldest operating saloon in the state, established in 1889, just after the town of Roslyn was founded by the Northern Pacific Railway. I learned at the local historical museum that there were 24 saloons during the heyday of this coal-mining-railway town in the early 1900s, each one a social spot for a different ethnic group. One feature of this particular bar that stands out is a running spittoon stretching across the foot of the bar. Jerry said, “I’ve seen many spittoons in my day, but never one equipped with a constantly running tap and where you don’t even have to get up from your bar stool to use it.” (See, just in front and below his foot. There’s a portion of this long metal crevice that runs the length of the bar, about 40’. Water is flowing in it.) I guess it served the purpose, but glad it’s just for show now.

But back to Northern Exposure, walking around in the three blocks of the main business area of Roslyn, we came across other reminders of the show. The General Store is there, where Ruth Anne offered citizens various staples, and more importantly, her sage advice. Today the store provides souvenirs and a selection of wines and still has friendly merchants. The gift shop in town is identifiable as Dr. Joel Fleishmann’s medical clinic, with his name still inscribed on the front window. The set for the KBHR Radio station, owned by Maurice’s Minnifield Communications, still exists. The radio broadcasting gear is just as it was when the TV crews pulled out of town. It doesn’t take much to imagine Chris Stevens, the DJ and ex-felon, at the microphone offering his philosophical tidbits in the morning.

Just next to the Roslyn Cafe I found the local historical museum with a knowledgeable hostess. I learned there were 24 ethnic and fraternal cemeteries established by the folks who built the town of Roslyn between 1886 and the point of maximum population of 3,000 in 1920. Many of the miners were recruited from eastern Europe and an African American group migrated north as well. Don’t you think cemeteries tell stories too? These sounded unique and were just a few blocks outside town. Sure enough, there are graveyards covering several hills and signs explaining the background of each one. But the divisions weren’t apparent. They all blend into each other, seemingly making one large resting place, just as the variety of people who came together to make the town. It seemed that the real people of Roslyn were somewhat similar to the mix of folks who made up the fictional town of Cicely. Everybody has a unique story, but everybody can relate.

This northern exposure made for a delightful day and a reluctant, but happy celebration. (Ha, Ha)

See you later.

Pausing in Omak – Washington State

2010-09-08T15:14:00.001-06:00

Aug 23 – 31: I guess we needed some down time. We didn’t plan to stay any particular length of time when we pulled into the small town of Omak, Washington, 50 miles south of the Canadian border. But, Omak is where we paused for nine days. The Stampede Campground provided a comfortable home in our shaded pull-through site with full hook-ups. The price of $20.00 was reasonable and I could take walks around the park, watching soccer games, kids riding their skateboards and families having picnics.

No, we didn’t even visit the local museum or venture out exploring the 50-mile radius, as per usual. We had TV, Internet, cell phone, Sirius radio, grocery stores, a Wal-Mart, a Home Depot, a laundromat, a car and rv wash and the tasty Hometown Pizza shop. Visits into town, about one mile, suited us fine this time.

There were 70s daytime temps and nice cool evenings in Omak. We surfed the net to our hearts content and charted our next route…with the windows open. Washing the vehicles and stocking up on groceries was handy. Jerry made a trip to the local Home Depot for the right bolts and whatever hardware he needed to work on our airbag issue. He was able to remove the valve from Ferd’s air leveling system in the rear and, temporarily permanently, set our ride height. Of course, he would give a more accurate description of this situation. But, you get the picture.

One feature of this area we wanted to be sure to experience was the local farmers’ markets, offering the fruits and vegetables grown in the fertile Washington farmlands. Every Tuesday from 3:30 to 7:00 p.m. Omak opens their market in the park in the center of town. The peaches, apples and nectarines looked yummy. There were both yellow and white nectarines. So I tried the white ones that the friendly merchant explained were sweeter than the more common yellow ones.

I also learned from the local orchard owner about a different type of apple, Akane. He described them as a cross between Jonathan and Worcester Pearmin. Ever heard of that one? It has a little tartness, which I prefer, but there’s a juicy sweetness, too. Here’s a link about the Akane: Click for more info.

And Jerry promised to make some fresh Pico de Gallo with the jalapenos, tomatoes, etc. The peppers I found at the market were plenty hot and the tomatoes had that perfect juicy, crisp texture. Jerry’s Pico de Gallo turned out great, even if it was up just a smidgeon on the temperature scale. It spiced up our pork tenderloin well. And we saved some to share with friends.

And then it was time to move along. See you all down the road.

Wrapping It Up – Alaska Adventure 2010

2010-08-31T01:48:00.001-06:00

Aug 20 - 22: We had mixed feelings when we pulled out of Hyder, Alaska, on the final leg of our Alaska Adventure. The three-month trip has been a feast for the senses, packed with excitement and yet also with a certain kind of peace. We have our own chronicles of the “Land of the Midnight Sun” and of the “last frontier.” It was an outstanding time! But, we both agreed we were ready to wrap up the trip. We have the right combination of things we did and didn’t do. Maybe we’ll come back to complete the exploration some other time. So, we chose a wrapping-it-up route back to the lower 48. Here we go.

For the end of our trip we decided to cross back over into the United States at the Canadian town of Osoyoos, British Columbia, having heard that it is a less congested and, possibly, quicker way to go. So we headed southeast. First, on August 20, we jumped back on the Cassiar Highway (37), south to the Yellowhead Highway (16) and then east to our overnight stop in Fraser Lake. Forestry is a mainstay of the economy in this mountainous area. Signs marking the regenerated sections of the forest are along the byways. We ran across the occasional loaded logging truck and passed several sawmills with pile after pile of lumber and sawdust. We had this in mind as we rolled along…and began to see a lot of smoke. Many of our views of the mountains and rivers were clouded that afternoon. The wildfires were burning over thousands of acres somewhere in those forests. At about 325 miles down the road we found a nice overnight stop behind the Fraser Lake Visitor Center in a tree-lined empty parking area next to the town’s recreation center. We had a good start on our wrapping-it-up journey, about one-third of the way to the border.

When we went outside to stretch our legs we took a walk around to the other side of the center and came upon the firefighters’ “housing” area, a large tent city. Putting two-and-two together, we weren’t surprised when people started arriving at about 6:30 p.m. for some kind of community gathering in the recreation center. In fact, we laughed at our situation. By 7:00 our rig was completely hemmed-in by vehicles, as far as we could see. Then the officials arrived carrying their large paper rolls (surely diagrams of the fire) and briefcases, ready to inform the citizenry of the fire situation. But, we were okay. We ate our Subway sandwiches, purchased while on our walk, and Jerry talked with a local teacher about the possible dangers. There was no cause for alarm in Fraser Lake or the road we would be traveling in the morning. We enjoyed a quiet night when everyone went home.

The next morning, heading southeast again, the spruce-lined mountains began changing to plateaus with valleys of sage brush, interspersed with bright green irrigated fields and sprawling ranches.

A place called 100 Mile House was our next overnight home. This small B. C. town was established as a post house on the Cariboo Wagon Road to the goldfields in the 1860s. What a strange name, right? We found this name, and the 108 Mile Ranch, the town of 70 Mile House, and others similarly tagged, a little humorous, especially since they were on roads marked in kilometers. But then, we supposed that when they were named the mile measurement was in use. It must have been mostly a convenience for the miners who had to frequent the trail.

August 22 - The last day of the wrapping-it-up route, south on Highway 97, wound through resort communities, many steep and windy roadways and into the fertile agricultural valley. The twisty mountain road runs along the Skaha and Okanagan Lakes. It was beautiful sunny day and many Canadians were out enjoying themselves in the Okanagon Falls beach community. Soon we were in the valley area, lined with orchards and vineyards. Everywhere we looked there were winery signs and fruit stands tempting us to stop. But since we weren’t sure of what foods we were allowed to transport into the U. S., we resisted.

When we reached the Canadian Customs at Osoyoos at 3:25 p.m. we were happy to see only three vehicles ahead of us in the line. Whew! But we did note the border agents asking each driver for their keys and opening the trunk of each vehicle. We were the only rv. So we wondered what was in store for us. Maybe this time we’d have to empty our rig. So, now it was our turn. We showed the courteous border agent our passports and answered the questions about where we lived and how long we had been in Canada and why. He didn’t ask us for keys to the Jeep. Everything seemed great…until…he tells us “Please pull forward to where the agent is standing.” We see ahead of us about 30 feet a uniformed lady waiting. She had more questions, like, “Do you have any pets? Do you have any alcohol? (Yes, one-half a bottle of wine.) Are you transporting anything for anyone else? Then she came inside the motorhome. “Do you have any fruit or vegetables?” Remember, we didn’t stop at those stands. Oh yeah, I remembered that I had two tomatoes, so I said so. She proceeded to look through our refrigerator and open some closet doors. Then she finally asked for the tomatoes. (I had them in a cabinet.) Turns out that they are one of the forbidden vegetables from Canada. This experience coming over the border was a little different than three months earlier crossing into Canada. That time we had thrown out wine and eaten all the vegetables. But, nobody asked. After all is said and done, we only lost two tomatoes! Makes you think though..are there bugs? Yuck! But, as we cruised back onto 97 south toward Oroville, Washington, we noticed the lines crossing into Canada, three of them, stretched several blocks long. Glad we weren’t going that direction. But can you blame them for making a weekend trip over the border to buy groceries and fuel? Those prices are one thing we won’t miss.

Of course, we’ve been thinking and talking about our time up north as we hang out here in Washington enjoying the nice weather. Maybe we’ll put together some of those impressions and conclusions and thoughts…..save them here with the other Alaska Adventure posts. We’ll see.

For now, I’m wrapping-it-up with these two closing shots:

Ninilchuk, Alaska - Summer Solstice - June 21

British Columbia, Canada -- August 21

Thanks for coming along with us on our Alaska Adventure. Take care. Talk to you later.

Tiny Hyder Is An Eye-full – Alaska Adventure 2010

2010-08-25T22:42:00.001-06:00

Aug 17 –19: Some say Hyder is the place of all places to watch the bears. They also say that the Cassiar spur leading there is an exceptional drive. Since our plan was to go south on the Cassiar Highway on our way back to the lower 48 anyway, we decided to make it our last destination for the Alaska Adventure. The small town of Stewart, B. C. and the even tinier town of Hyder, Alaska, population 100, are about two miles apart along the Portland Canal, that forms the natural boundary between Canada and Alaska.

As you drive out of Stewart on the two-mile stretch toward Hyder, you pass unnoticed by the Canadian customs office and the Welcome to Hyder, Alaska sign greets you. There are about two city blocks, dirt road that is, of the town of Hyder. The businesses include the Glacier Inn where people are “Hyderized,” the Sealaska Inn, a few gift shops, two “general stores,” and Camp-Run-A-Muck. Yes, Camp-Run-A-Muck became our home for three nights. It’s a clean and friendly establishment that’s the closest place to the bear-viewing location. The water and electric hookup sites are $22 and we had a shady spot in the pine trees to keep the refrigerator happy. We enjoyed our stay.

Our three days in Hyder included bear watching, halibut eating, limited shopping, bakery sampling, glacier viewing and mountain road driving. Did I forget to mention “The Seafood Express” in my description? Oh yes, there is one more block of businesses. Off the main drag in Hyder is this fabulous converted vehicle where Diana makes the best deep fried halibut and scallops ever. We know other menu items have to be good too, but we were getting our fill on our favorites. Diana’s husband is a commercial fisherman who brings in the supplies. They own the fish processing facility next door. She’s been making her fresh dishes for 12 summers now, ever since she tired of hearing their processing customers say they thought they were coming to a restaurant. Loved the place! (See photo below.)

Taking in the surrounding Tongass National Forest and the ambiance of this little piece of Alaska was a great way to fade out of our Alaska Adventure. Each photo below tells a bit more of the story of our time in Hyder. If you would like to get the picture, just run your cursor over your choices for a few more details.

Junior is cleaning up the scraps.	Our choice of restaurants in Hyder.
Grizzly Mom enjoys salmon while cub plays.	Beauty of the Tongass National Forest
	The Toe of Salmon Glacier
Wise warning in Stewart, B. C.	Fish Creek, 3 miles west of Hyder, where many bears come to get their fix of salmon in August and September.
Black bear says: “Yummy, which one will I choose?”	When the bears finish, the birds feast on the spoils.

Hyder Post Office	Camp Run-A-Muck
Fireweed at Salmon Glacier	Hyder surroundings

Thanks for sharing our Alaska Adventure. Talk to you soon.

Up and Over and Around – Alaska Adventure 2010

2010-08-24T01:38:00.001-06:00

Aug 14 – 17:

What day is it and where am I? During these four days we did occasionally lose track. Our travels brought us up, over, out, around and back, covering 970 miles from the U. S., into the Yukon, over to British Columbia and around into the U. S. again. The last I wrote we were in Haines, Alaska, monitoring the wildfire burning near the Cassair Highway in B.C., our next destination. Would the road stay closed and keep us from our planned route? The news on the Forestry Service site let us know we could not necessarily count on going south on the Cassair (37) once we came to the junction on the Alaska Highway. And then there’s the continuing issue of Ferd’s air bag. Would the temporary fix keep us level for a while? On the 14th of August we decided it was time to go, regardless. Time to begin the exit to our Alaska Adventure, south to the lower 48.

The first 250 miles from Haines, AK, to Whitehorse, Yukon’s capital, was smooth going. We were glad to be retracing the Haines Highway north, one of our favorite chapters in this three-month trip. There’s nothing but nature, deep valleys with rivers running, abundant spruce and mountains painted in whites, browns and greens. No roadside fuel stations, no McDonalds, not even very many fellow travelers. This day was up out of Alaska, into the Yukon.

Our next day of travel was another 260 miles east on the Alaska Highway, thankfully without any road condition issues. But there was one unique experience. Maybe this situation could be closely equated with camping out at the box office for concert tickets….Just waiting for an end result, hoping things work out the way you want. When we arrived at the junction of the Cassair (37) and Alaska (1) Highways we could see around the corner a short line of vehicles stopped. At first, this looked like a good sign. They must be waiting to move on down the road, right? Then we noticed that the rvs in line had awnings out and lawn chairs setup. People were walking around and gathering in conversation. So we pulled into the line and asked: “What’s the story?” Answer: “We’re waiting, hopefully, to go down the highway tomorrow. They say that if all goes well there will be a pilot car to lead us through around 9:00 a.m.” Okay, so what do we want to do? It was already 6:00 p.m. and the parking spot’s free. So, we chose to stay too. What a mix! There were a few locals just trying to get home in cars and trucks. The distant travelers ranged from Pennsylvania to Kansas and Vancouver to Ontario. We even had a participant from Sweden in his Class C anticipating the next leg of his trip. As the evening progressed, people were making new friends, sharing halibut recipes and petting each others dogs. And yes, the next morning, August 16, the pilot car did bring a line of travelers from the other end. Then it was our turn. All of us, by then the line was about a mile back around the corner onto Highway 1, proceeded along the smoky road south. After running the 42-mile gamut of the restricted road, we questioned whether these closures were necessary. Smoke, yes, but no fire was visible anywhere. We were released at the end of the closure to enjoy at our own pace. We found a fantastic spot for lunch, at a rest stop on Summit Lake. During our break a few of the folks we met the night before, stopped by to chat. In our photo (right) Jerry and two compatriots from the Cassair Highway lineup are consulting the Alaskan Camping guide we have depended on throughout our trip. And later, we met some rving friends from the night before to share a pleasant pull off for the night.

The Cassair through B. C. held up to our expectations for views as we continued south on August 17. But we did take one side trip, exiting at the Stewart-Hyder Access Road, leading west for a spectacular 40-mile stretch. This highway winds through the steep-walled Bear River Canyon before moving up next to Bear Glacier in its frozen grandeur, hanging right out there along the highway. The terminus spills out into the Mezaidin Lake, feeding its murky water. Here you can see nature at work as the annual melt of the glacier flows out of this massive, aged ice structure. (Put your cursor on photos for more info.)

We had an extra bonus on this piece of road, also. Just as we came along, black bears were out hunting berries or other vegetation for lunch. We had four different sightings along the highway, the last being a black bear and her two cubs. We gawked and they looked somewhat puzzled or aloof.

As I was saying, this brings us up, around and over to the tiny town of Hyder, Alaska. (More later.) After all the events and considerations, we were happy that we took this particular route with this particular timing. It all adds up to another unique segment of our Alaska Adventure -- interesting and fun.

Talk to you later.

Haines, With a Splash of Skagway – Alaska Adventure 2010

2010-08-13T23:02:00.001-06:00

Aug 7- 12: What happened to the last six days in Haines? You know how it goes. First you have coffee. Then you check email, etc. and have some more coffee. Maybe you make a little breakfast. Oh yeah, there’s the time it takes to discuss the blogs your hubby’s been reading since he got up four hours before you. Some days start by picking up where you left off on the book you were reading as you fell asleep last night. Of course, there’s the Jeep to get washed, the windows to clean and the floor to sweep. And, how about the days when both of you just quickly get dressed and go out to explore the town. Occasionally you have an appointment to keep, such as the ferry across the inlet to Skagway. That’s where the six days went!

We’ve been comfortably situated at the Elks Lodge in Haines since August 6. The full hookup sites are very reasonable at $20 (lowest we’ve paid for hookups in Alaska) and the location is quiet. Even though the lodge is on “Main Street,” there just isn’t a great deal of traffic. The most activity in our area is when the lodge has their Friday Feed, hamburger night, and Tuesday Taco night. We sampled the $8.00 tacos along with four of our rv neighbors the other night. The food and the company were great. We enjoyed talking with the four solo rvers traveling together through Alaska. I should say, they are caravanning together. Two ladies have Class C’s and one lady and one gentleman each have their own motorhomes. They are from four different states and became acquainted through their singles rvers group. You can imagine the kinds of stories we all had to share.

This small Alaska town is adding a few favorite stories to our list. But if you crave the metropolitan lifestyle, Haines could disappoint you. The population, including the entire borough, is 2300 (some say that count is high). We arrived by way of the only road to town, the Haines Highway, that leads directly to the shores of North America’s deepest fjord. For those who aren’t sure, a fjord is a long narrow waterway cut through bedrock by glacier activity. This one is called the Lynn Canal, about 2000 feet deep and 90 miles long. It channels the inside passageway from Haines to Juneau and Skagway. Haines is surrounded by glacier-topped mountains rising from the sea and rivers. You might say this is a picturesque place. Duh!! Again, as in other isolated Alaska villages or towns, it’s one of those places where you find a fair share of hardy, independent and self-sufficient individuals. People that enjoy the close-knit community where everyone knows your name, but where you might also get lost if you wish. The weather during our visit has been a mixture of cloudy and sunny, temps in the high 60s to low 70s. They say there is plenty of snowfall in the winter for all the winter sports enthusiasts. Get the picture? That’s what we like doing. We find it nice to wander around, see what’s where, listen, talk, observe and just gather the feeling of these towns and the surroundings.

So, I guess I answered my own question about where the last six or seven days have gone. Let’s see, I’ll list a few of the ways we’ve wiled the time away:

--Drove out to Chilkoot Lake State Recreation Site to see the bears feeding on the spawning salmon. But our timing wasn’t that great. So we watched the many fishermen casting for salmon, perched on there own chosen rock or choice spot in the swiftly flowing river. A grizzly and her cubs were there just before us.

--Ate scrumptious halibut lunch, twice that is, from Big Al’s Salmon Shack, the trailer-type restaurant we found parked across the road from the wine store. After tasting the halibut we could see why the locals were frequenting this little place. On different days out, we also discovered the excellent soups, sandwiches and coffee at the Mountain Market Cafe. Each time we drove within 1/2 mile to find perfect locations on the inlet to enjoy our lunches and the views.

--Visited the American Bald Eagle Foundation. Since Haines is known for the 4000 bald eagles that gather every fall at the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, this is a logical home for the foundation. During this time of the year there are only about 400 eagles here, mostly nesting and caring for the young. Fortunately our timing was good to see the live raptor presentation and wildlife talk. We met Zilla, the Lanner Saker Falcon, who can fly up to 200 mph to catch prey, and Hunter, the Barred owl, who can rotate her head 270 degrees. And she did so to keep her eye on everybody. Since Zilla would like to have Hunter for dinner, they were carefully separated by their handlers.

We weren’t sure if we would stay for the wildlife talk. But, were pleased after a few minutes of hearing the speaker who provided some new details of various animals, for instance, the various types of salmon, their habits and traits. Of course, being in Alaska has made us more well-rounded salmon partakers. But, more questions do come up. Do we like sockeye, king, silver or what? What’s the difference between sockeye and red and chum? And why do they struggle desperately to swim upstream? Why do we see different colors and shapes of the same type of salmon? Well, we learned that the life cycle of an Alaska salmon is another wonder of nature. Among the many interesting facets is that the fish moves from river to salt water and back, readapting during the life cycle. During this readaption they change color and shape. And when these Pacific salmon adults swim upstream, they are returning to the exact place where they were born in order to spawn, just once, and then die, thereby fertilizing the stream for the new fish. After swimming over 2000 miles in the Pacific Ocean, maturing, they instinctively return to their birth streams, fighting all the way, sometimes up waterfalls. That is determination! As far as which tastes the best, we’ve done another one of those unscientific surveys and concluded it’s a personal thing. But one thing we did learn. The Chum is what they call Dog salmon and most everyone agrees that it should be kept for dog food. Now, wasn’t it important that you know this?

--Increased our reading materials at the Babbling Book. From our travels around the state and Internet reading about Haines we learned of a local author named Heather Lende. She has written a couple of books, among her many other types of writing. Her latest, “Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs” sounded like a good read to me. And Jerry’s interest was peaked by “If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name.” We stopped by the local book store and grabbed signed copies of each. If I hadn’t been writing blogs maybe I would be close to finishing my first choice, as Jerry is his. She has an engaging style.

--Rode the Haines-Skagway Fast Ferry. Without going into a long explanation of why, our general delivery mail was delivered to Skagway, a 45-minute Fast Ferry ride for humans or a one-hour Alaska Maritime Ferry ride for both the vehicles and humans. The two ferry transportation costs are logically much less for one than the other, but we were also comparing the miles to drive to Skagway, 359 miles compared to 15 across the water. After considering our options, cost of ferries, etc., we chose to make it a girl’s day, when I would have a few hours of leisurely time in the shops and museums. Skagway is the historic Klondike Gold Rush town where the multi-decked cruise ships frequent, a town that would be dubbed a tourist trap by some. One that Jerry might not find so stimulating and that I would sort through much better as a loner. So, with some concern on Jerry’s part about me going alone, I purchased the $68.00 round-trip ticket and cruised off with about 150 other passengers, mostly from the small cruise ship docked there in Haines. There was ample sunshine so the views on our short boat ride were even more outstanding. We had a guide/steward, presumably for the cruise ship passengers, who provided a few tidbits about the ice age and the gold rush. Did you know that John Nordstrom was a Klondike gold rusher who came in 1897 to Alaska, made $13,000 on his gold mine stake and returned to Washington to open a shoe store? You know the rest of the story.

The ferry ride was smooth and quick. We were soon being dwarfed by the mammoth cruise ships on both sides of the Skagway harbor. Even though I’ve seen them before, riding alongside in the catamaran ferry conjured up images of a whale swallowing a flea. Once at the dock, it was a short walk on the 1/2 mile pathway to town and I was soon surveying my day’s activities. In a nut shell, I was pleased to find that the historic district is a national park and surprised at the number of diamond/jewelry shops in the tiny town. I chose to go with the historic walking tour first. A small group of us followed our ranger a few blocks through town, pausing at the structures where events occurred from 1897-1900. She did a superb job of keeping us absorbed in the stories of the entrepreneurs who used their imagination and determination to build the town and become wealthy by accommodating the needs of the thousands who rushed there to find their fortunes. In essence, the business men and women in town were more successful than the miners who went into the mountains to look for their gold. I had a pleasant day of history and shopping, but passed up the diamonds and gold. And, of course, I picked up our mail at the Skagway post office. My ferry back to Haines was right on time. Here’s a photo as we cruised out into the Lynn Canal, away from Skagway, leaving the floating cities behind. My yellow chariot was awaiting me at the Haines dock about 40 minutes, 15 miles, southwest.

As I’m writing my post, we are still in Haines. I’m sure I’ve left out something. But this is too long already. Maybe we’ll take another drive to see if we can get a look at the bears fishing for salmon dinner or just hang out at the harbor for a while. Talk to you later.

Ride Along With Us Again – Alaska Adventure 2010

2010-08-09T14:38:00.001-06:00

August 2 – 6: Are you still with us on the road trip? The next segment takes us to Haines, Alaska, via the Tok Cutoff, Alaska Highway and Haines Highway. This might be the lengthiest post in miles and words in a year or so. It just belongs together. So here we go.

On the morning of August 2, after having coffee with the view of the Mount Sanford volcano, we resume our northerly trek on the Tok Cutoff. We encountered a few patches of buckling road again (photo below), but mostly we had smooth sailing with the Wrangell Mountains and Copper Valley views. Ninety miles north we were back in the crossroads village of Tok for our second visit. We’ve written about Tok on our way into Alaska on June 2. Our one-night stopover this time was a fill-up and clean-up stop. The Chevron offers free water and dump with fill-up, plus a free overnight parking spot. They also have an rv and car wash, more seriously needed by those coming from the east on the Alaska Highway. We took advantage of everything, including a nice out-of-the-way spot for the night, next to a quiet and congenial trucker. This was an opportunity for Jerry to ask a question about a peculiar feature he’s noticed in this state. See these yellow strips attached to the rims of this trailer’s tires? We’ve also seen many tires marked with yellow paint in the same manner. Why? The trucker informed Jerry that when the driver sees these markers turning he knows that his axles are not frozen. That’s how cold it gets in Alaska!

The next morning we decided to have breakfast at a popular Tok restaurant, Fast Eddy’s. The accommodating parking lot had an assortment of rvs, semis, pickups and motorcycles. One ambitious motorcycle traveler from California had loaded his/her moose antlers onto the back. Seems to me that this biker must have wanted this rack badly. We had to post a couple of these shots for Tim, Bobby, Tammy, Ron, Dick and our other biking friends. Can you imagine riding from Alaska to California with this baggage? Maybe they were on the way to their new cabin in the Alaska wilderness….just up this road.

For us, it was time to travel a stretch of the Alaska Highway that we had covered in early June. At that time we were pleasantly surprised as we didn’t find the treacherous road conditions that we had heard stories about before this trip. People had warned us we might damage our vehicles on the frost heaves, have road crew delays and hit long gravel sections. This wasn’t the case when we arrived.

But, wait. On our return two months later it’s a new story. We became acutely aware of how the thawing of the permafrost does cause havoc. The Alaska Highway trip from Tok to Destruction Bay was considerably different than when we came over a portion of this road before warm temps.

For about 175 miles, we rode the ruts, kept our eyes peeled for the orange warning flags and took it slow through the gravel areas. The ground crews were busy trying to make some sections more travelable. It’s evidently a never-ending battle. I tried to get a good shot of the heaves, but these are the best I could do, even with the new camera’s features helping to steady me. There’s one photo here of the efforts of American and Canadian scientists and engineers to slow down melting beneath the roadbed for a stable embankment. The theory is that these devices (pipes) inserted into the ground will keep it at the proper temperature so that frost heaves will not occur. Seems to be an ongoing dilemma.

The freezing of the soil also creates an issue for the black spruce trees. Traveling through this area, probably for 150 miles, you can’t help but notice these spindly bottle brush trees covering the hills and valleys. Again, The Milepost gives me the answer. “Where black spruce thrive, few other plants can survive. They spread their roots in the boggy, shallow soil above permanently frozen ground.

Permafrost blocks water drainage and limits root growth and soil fertility. ….a tree two inches in diameter may be 100 years old.” Also, their drooping branches invite forest fires to spread, forming a stepladder to the cones on their crown. The fire’s heat opens these resin-sealed cones, spreading the seeds for new trees to begin. Is that amazing?!

On today’s trip (August 3) on the Alaska Highway, if you are still with us after the bumps and dips, we are passing alongside and through places such as Deadman Lake, Beaver Creek, Snag Junction, Pickhandle Lake, Burwash Landing and Destruction Bay. We crossed once again through Canada Customs, into the Yukon Territory, without any concerns, passports ready. We averaged 43.9 miles per hour and traveled 237 miles in 5 hours and 23 minutes (according to Tillie the GPS). Our highest speed was 63 miles per hour, one time when we had a smooth stretch and passed someone moving at a snail’s pace. Even though bumpy, it was a good day.

In the late afternoon we stopped at what is one of my favorite spots over the past ten weeks, Congdon Creek Campground on Kluane Lake. It is a Yukon government campground, $12.00, no hookups. We were able to get a site facing the lake and shading our temperamental refrigerator. I am including a few photos that might explain somewhat my opinion of this location. The fireweed in the woods is just behind our camp site. And then, of course, there we are playing around at the lake, a short walk from Ferd.

The last part of this road trip I’ll take you on was shortened unexpectedly. On August 4 we left our Kluane Lake home, looking forward to the long stretch of lakeside driving as we continued down the road flanking this scenic waterway. But…..just a couple of miles into what would be the day’s 202-mile trip to Haines, Alaska, I smelled trouble – literally. Any kind of burning smell, of course, sends off alarms, especially when you’re riding down the road in your home. It seemed to be only in the front of the rig so we narrowed it to the small electric fan that Jerry was using for an extra breeze. Yeah, that’s it. Must be the fan motor. A quick stop at the pull off and we had replaced the fan and were smoothly rolling along again…. Not! Whiffs of that mysterious smell were back in a few minutes. And the ride seemed less smooth, too. It took us three stops, checking everyplace inside and out, in both the motorhome and the Jeep, to finally narrow down that lingering smell. Low and behold, we looked yet another time at the tires and saw up underneath the wheel well that the back, passenger side tire was definitely rubbing. Long story short…..we have a problem with our leveling system. The valve on that air bag lets out too much air (in my simplistic terms). The next town, Haines Junction, was 70 miles away. Don’t ask me to explain it technically, but with Jerry’s magic maneuvering of the leveling and the ride height on Ferd, we slowly made our way into town.

After pulling into the first empty lot we saw, we unhooked the Jeep and went into the local library to use the Internet, planning to contact fellow Foretravel owners on the internet forum. Jerry monitors the site constantly and has learned to trust the regulars for providing knowledge and advice. So, he posted a question about our problem. We hoped for some good and quick suggestions.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…..we took Ferd slowly about two blocks further to the Kluane RV Park. Without belaboring or relating the next two days of happenings, we gathered the best advice we could and adjusted and duct taped and tested. Great news. The fix seems to be satisfactory, at least for now. But, should we make a change in our plans to go to a larger town east instead of going south? Our best evaluation is that we can proceed as is. So, we cautiously and hopefully, resumed our travels south on the Haines Highway (August 5). We haven’t noticed any more alarming smell or listing to the right side. The air bag is holding steady. Things are good until we can get back to a dependable repair facility.

Having said all of that, we were happy we kept to our plan. The road to Haines is another byway of tremendous natural vistas. It reminded us of being in Denali National Park or the wilderness of the Denali Highway. There are no commercial entities and very little traffic for the 146 miles. Just lots of beauty.

Well, it’s been nice having you along on this portion of our journey. I’ll leave you with these last two photos from the Haines Highway, the view at our lunch spot at the summit, Chilkat Pass, and of a small creature who joined us there.

Take care. Talk to you later.

Come Along With Us – Alaska Adventure 2010

2010-08-08T00:49:00.001-06:00

Aug 1: Recently our travels might be depicted as up-and-down. The scenery is a pleasure -- some of the roadways weren’t so perfect. Regardless, we’re happy to have taken this route after our latest Fairbanks stop, along the Richardson Highway south and the Tok Cutoff north. Yes, it sounds like backtracking. But, not really. These are two sections of Alaska byways we wanted to add to our ‘been there’ list, to complete the major roads of the state.

After two months of wandering Alaska, it’s still difficult to choose which of the awesome views are our favorites. Every time we take a new road, we seem to lengthen the list of possibilities. Maybe you’d like to come along on this road trip and give us your opinions. I’ll take you with us us via photos mostly…..with less than usual comments.. if I can.

Here’s the route: You’re taking the Richardson Highway (4) southeast from Fairbanks, about 240 miles, to the Tok Cutoff (1). Then you’ll go northeast on the Tok Cutoff for 35 miles to our overnight spot at the Chistochina River.

So climb in and get comfortable. We make our way east out of Fairbanks, soon passing by Eielson Air Force Base, the largest aerial range in the country, 60,000 square miles where military flight training happens on F-16s. We stopped at Delta Junction for our clam chowder lunch that we stocked in at Fred Meyer in Fairbanks. (Highly recommend their deli soups.) Then Ferd angled us right, taking the Richardson south at the split instead of the Alaska Highway east.

It isn’t long until you’ll start to notice the views of the trans-Alaska pipeline snaking along the Richardson, popping in and out, underground and over ground. Why isn’t all of it buried? Nature made that decision, I guess. In spots where the warm oil would cause the icy soil to thaw and erode, the pipes are above ground. The pipeline even has an earthquake detection system that checks critical valves and supports after any activity.

(Pass your cursor over these two photos if you’d like a little more info.)

But… I just remembered. This is a photo trip, with limited commentary. So, let’s get back to that. The following photos are of glacial and river and lake views as we travel southeast on the Richardson Highway……They don’t need any words.

When we are about 240 miles from Fairbanks, we make a sharp left (might even be called a u-turn) onto the Tok Cutoff, Highway 1, the northeasterly part of today’s trip. One part of the journey so far that I didn’t mention is the frost heaves that started providing loop-de-loops on about the last third of the Richardson Highway segment. Well, the problems continued on the Tok Cutoff, but worse. Jerry slows down. You’ll have to help now. Concentrate on watching for those orange flags stuck into the burm marking the holes, dips and bumps. This isn’t much fun, but with the thawing of the ground after Alaska’s frigid winter weather, that’s just how it is. I guess I was too busy watching the road to get a good shot today of those heaves. Later.

When we were ready to settle in for the night, the Chistochina River trailhead offered a spacious, paved parking area well off the highway and the views were exceptional. With several hours of daylight still available at the 6:00 p.m. hour, we watched the clouds float by and had a restful night.

Hope you enjoyed the trip. Talk to you later.

Fairbanks Flotilla Fun – Alaska Adventure 2010

2010-07-28T17:56:00.001-06:00

July 25: The summer is a festival! That’s how it was put to us by an Alaskan who worked at one of the visitor centers where we stopped to ask what was going on for the next few days. We understood. The summers are short and there’s so much daylight that each week there’s another reason to celebrate something. As we have wound our way through and around towns up here we’ve come across different types of festivities.

We encountered the Golden Days Festival last weekend in Fairbanks. Felix Pedro, an Italian immigrant, discovered gold in the hills outside Fairbanks in the late 1880s and the rush was on. The Golden Days Festival celebrates the founding of Fairbanks, establishing the biggest boomtown in the north. And everyone sure seemed to be having fun.

Our parking spot at the Elks Lodge, next to the Chena River, was perfect for one activity during the festival – the Red Green Regatta, described by the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner as “a watery …spectacle without compare.” The name is after The Red Green Show, a comedy on Canadian public TV that was a parody on home-improvement and fishing shows. The only rule we knew about for the floating entries was that one roll of duct tape be used on the craft. But it isn’t really about racing, it’s about do-it-yourself, non-motorized watercraft and having fun on the river. It was a hoot to stand on the bank and watch imaginative people making their way, sometimes with crossed fingers. Some rafts were riding very low and a few might have been bailing as they went. It was hard to tell for sure if the water inside some of them was from the water fights or seeping through in between some of the duct tape. Mind you, there were judges taking note of the special features and creativity. Some of the awards were for “Most Un ‘fathom’ able,” “Best Appreciated at a Distance,” and “Harold’s Debacle.” There must be some history to that last one. The Grand Prize went to “Possum Lodge Space Program.” I don’t believe I got a photo of that one, but you can use your own imagination based on the title. Our favorite was “The Octopuses Garden,” a floating trampoline. These young men won second place and were doing back flips off their raft all along the waterway.

Alaskans do know how to have a good time. Hope you are doing so. Talk to you later.

Humor Break – Alaska Adventure 2010

2010-07-27T12:57:00.001-06:00

Since we are in the big city of Fairbanks for a few days we have a nice Internet connection and some time to catch up on email, etc. I felt like this forward from my sister merited a blog post. They say laughter extends your life. Here’s a few more seconds.

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A new teacher was trying to make use of her psychology courses. She started her class by saying, 'Everyone who thinks they're stupid, stand up!' After a few seconds, Little Larry stood up. The teacher said, 'Do you think you're stupid, Larry?' 'No, ma'am, but I hate to see you standing there all by yourself!'

Larry watched, fascinated, as his mother smoothed cold cream on her face. 'Why do you do that, mommy?' he asked. 'To make myself beautiful,' said his mother, who then began removing the cream with a tissue. 'What's the matter, asked Larry 'Giving up?'

The math teacher saw that Larry wasn't paying attention in class. She called on him and said, 'Larry! What are 2 and 4 and 28 and 44?' Larry quickly replied, 'NBC, FOX, ESPN and the Cartoon Network!'

Larry's kindergarten class was on a field trip to their local police station where they saw pictures tacked to a bulletin board of the 10 most wanted criminals. One of the youngsters pointed to a picture and asked if it really was the photo of a wanted person. 'Yes,' said the policeman. 'The detectives want very badly to capture him. Larry asked,"Why didn't you keep him when you took his picture ? "

Little Larry attended a horse auction with his father. He watched as his father moved from horse to horse, running his hands up and down the horse's legs and rump, and chest. After a few minutes, Larry asked, 'Dad, why are you doing that?' His father replied, 'Because when I'm buying horses, I have to make sure that they are healthy and in good shape before I buy. Larry, looking worried, said, 'Dad, I think the UPS guy wants to buy Mom ....'

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We’re gearing up for more Alaska discoveries, planning our next few moves. But for now, it’s time to restock, clean and whatever while here in Fairbanks. Talk to you later.

Encounters in Nenana – Alaska Adventure 2010

2010-07-25T23:34:00.001-06:00

July 23-24: Our Alaska Adventure is a sum total of the places, the events and the people. It all adds up. The tiny town of Nenana (50 miles south of Fairbanks on the Parks Highway) provided yet another piece of the Alaska experience. Mind you, this is not at all a resort location. Actually, this is a barge town, supplying villages along the Tenana and Yukon Rivers when the river isn’t frozen. The history of the tiny town of 553 includes the Nenana Ice Classic, an annual event that yields a large cash prize for guessing the exact minute that the spring break up occurs on the Tanana River. This fund raiser dates to 1917, starting with a group of local railroad workers who bet each other when the ice would make its annual surge signaling the welcomed flow of the river for another season. There’s a picture here of the tripod that is placed on the ice and then wired to a tower so that when the ice gives way an ax hits the line, an alarm sounds and everyone can come to watch the tripod collapse and float away. The total prize last year was around $280,000. Of course, we did enter. Now our name will be in those record books they publish every year listing each ticket sold, the person’s name, date and time of their entry. Hopefully we’ll be in the record of the annual winnings. What a great way to celebrate the end of the long winter.

The uniqueness and friendliness of Nenana is just there for anyone to find. First of all, we were hungry and looking for a local eating spot to enjoy. Wasn’t difficult to find Brandi’s Cafe on Main Street and we had some great Mexican food. Yes, Mexican. The owners, Brandi and Bob, are formerly from Belen, New Mexico, another small town we know from our travels. It was great to taste the green chilis from Hatch, NM, one more time. Bob was a congenial guy, so we inquired about where we might park in order to experience Nenana. His answer: “Just drive down toward the cultural center and there’s plenty of room for you to park in the lot. That’s no problem with anyone around here.”

We followed his direction, drove about three blocks to the other end of town and found a nice area next to the river. Thinking it the courteous thing to do, we went inside the cultural center to let someone know we would be next door. That’s the next part of this short story. We met an interesting and cordial citizen who is the host at the Nenana Cultural Center, Russ Kesler. You know how it happens. We were just asking a few questions because we recognized that Russ is a native. Because he was willing to share, we talked about his grandparents’ and parents’ involvement in Nenana. He pointed out photos of them in the historical displays. We have been curious to meet someone that was Alaska born, older than 20 that is. Russ is the guy. He can trace his family’s history generations back in Nenana, where he and his family live today. Along with relating the past for us, he showed us a plan for the future roads system in Alaska. Quite extensive, whenever it happens. He even filled us in on some of the local oil exploration developments. Also, somehow we started a conversation about fishing. Can’t imagine that subject in Alaska, right?! (Ha, ha) Anyway, Russ is a subsistence fisherman. For anyone who is unaware, this is an allowance given to Alaska natives to catch fish for their own food over and above regular fishing limits. The state fish and game department announces the certain dates this fishing is allowed.

Russ was patient with our many curious questions, explaining that he was going out, along with a partner, at 6:00 that evening to set his nets to catch King salmon, pointing in the direction up the river a little, to “his spot.” The story is that they catch enough fish in a couple of weekends of this fishing to last the entire winter for both families. He noted that this is many pounds of salmon and fills several large freezers. In fact, he says they usually give away some of the catch, after everyone’s freezers are full. It takes the whole family and lots of friends to clean them all and package them for storage. He also mentioned that many qualified people do not take advantage of the fish allowances because of the expense and the hard work. The nets are heavy, boats take upkeep and freezing facilities and other equipment cost also. But it’s worth it to many Alaskans. By the way, Russ’s favorite is sockeye (red) salmon. We enjoyed sharing his personal Alaskan life experiences.

In town later we were looking for a bank machine. The ATM sign hanging on the outside of the Jester’s bar brought Jerry inside. I was waiting in the car. But….he was gone longer than it takes to get the machine to spit out your money. Soon, he came to the door to wave me inside. Turns out the machine was out of order. Alas, this was the only machine around….but the owner was busy with repair. We took a seat and had an Alaskan Amber while we talked with the bartender and a few local citizens. What can I say. That’s just how it goes. This is where we ran into Jack Coghill (among others that we could talk about later if anyone’s interested). Jack is an elderly man who just happens to have been lieutenant governor of the State of Alaska and among the writers of the constitution of Alaska, in addition to an entrepreneur in several respects. He’s one of those characters that make up the history of any place that any of us have been. In these small communities though, you might run into them more easily. Jack’s journey brought him back to his hometown of Nenana, to the apartment where he and his wife lived many years ago and where he built his rooming house, oil business and others. Now, he’s situated in the little town where he has so many good memories. The people are thrilled he’s back. He can take it easy, running the general store that he owns and being a business partner in this local pub. His dog can come inside with him. Everyone in town knows him. He has a history longer than anyone can imagine and the fortitude to pass along his wisdom.

Our last encounter in Nenana occurred over a yummy (late morning) breakfast back at Brandi’s. Chatting with a few fellow patrons and Bob and Brandi again, we learned about a regular customer named Camper Jack. The pelts adorning the restaurant wall were pointed out as his contributions. Bob very lovingly explained that Jack “ran out of runway,” but is a good friend and local citizen. A few minutes later the folks at the next table said thanks and adios all around. Then one more customer walked in and sat down. Yes, that’s right. It was Jack. We were entertained for about 20 minutes by the stories he had to tell of his life. He had me touch each fur, the lynx, the wolf and the fox, to see that the lynx was the coveted coat over all. He’s right. There doesn’t seem to be any comparison to the richness of the lynx. Jack was another person comfortable in Nenana with people with whom he likes to share coffee and stories.

The history in the cultural center, the railroad depot museum and other buildings of Nenana did relate many interesting stories of the town. But our encounters with these citizenry surely added some ‘special features’ to our Alaska memories that we wouldn’t have gathered if they hadn’t reached out to us.

We’re moving along again. Take care and stay cool if you are in the high temperatures we are hearing of in the lower 48. Talk to you later.

Regrouping and Revisiting – Alaska Adventure 2010

2010-07-25T21:46:00.001-06:00

July 18-22: Sometimes it just rains. Sometimes things aren’t perfect. These last four or five days could probably fit into that category. There’s the rain and more rain. There’s the airplane ride canceled again. There’s another tooth problem. And because of circumstances, we’ve been repeating some driving routes. However, things are “fine.” It’s a simple matter of some regrouping. After all, our plans are always in jello.

As far as revisiting some of the same routes, there’s more than one reason. First, there are only a few roads in Alaska, so retracking becomes necessary. But really, these repeats of scenery are a pleasure. Second, we headed back to Talkeetna so that we could try again to take the small airplane ride over Mt. McKinley and land on the glacier. Rats, foiled again! The rain and cloud cover hung on for several days and no one was flying anywhere over those mountains. That’s okay….we did see “the mountain” already and glaciers by boat. So instead we roamed the hills and lakes around Talkeetna, walking in some drizzle, but seeing these local sites more closely than we might have otherwise. For instance, just nosing around Lake Christiansen we came across these unusual-to-us mushrooms. Does any mushroom expert out there know why they are so bright orange? Or what particular type this is?

Also exploring more around the lake we encountered what seems more common in Alaska than anywhere – a float plane docked alongside a fishing boat. In fact, according to our personal, non-scientific study, there are more licensed pilots and private planes in this state than any other. Without many roads and with the vastness of the state, small planes are more often used for transportation. Anchorage has an airport downtown where lot after lot of small private planes are parked. We see the float planes often as we travel. After traipsing around local lakes, forests and roads, a stop in town at Mountain High Pizza Pie sounded great. Well, the pie was going down just perfectly when I felt something strange. Yes, to add to my other dental nightmares, I broke a tooth. It took a little regrouping on this situation, too. Since I had found a dentist that I felt very comfortable with in my recent dental escapade, we went south on the Parks Highway about 100 miles to Eagle River -- once again. But wait, it could be worse. Dr. Land stated that, “It was a clean break.” As a temporary fix and “being as kind to the tooth as possible,” he filed off the jagged edge and advised I get a crown later. As it stands, I’m doing well. It was a quick visit and we’re back on our way north on the Parks Highway.

And again - we enjoyed the gorgeous views. One of our favorite scenes on this roadway was in Broad Pass, where a tremendous valley stretches out between two mountain ranges. This is the divide where the rivers and streams of Alaska empty either into the Cook Inlet to the southwest or the Yukon River to the northeast. It was nice to have an opportunity for another look.

Also, on our repeat north, we stopped at a restaurant along the Parks Highway that we missed previously. Way back when, on our trip through Canada in late May, we met a couple from North Pole who recommended we stop at Rose’s Cafe in Healy. But it didn’t work into our plans on our first pass. This time up the road we added the stop to our regrouping plan.

Not only was the special of the day excellent, turkey etal, but we enjoyed the owner as well. Rose was a great conversationalist and a delightful lady. She told us the story of her family building the restaurant themselves six years ago and her experiences in being a small business owner in Alaska. Rose’s Cafe would be a revisit for us if we came this way again.

In short, regrouping and revisiting ain’t always so bad! Take care and stay tuned.