Summertime

Well this long hot summer is coming quickly to its simmering end here in Indiana. The past few weeks have set some records for heat index. But we've managed to stay cool through all kinds of activities. One of the highlights of our visits is playing with our "grand dogs." Here's one of them, Rio, who is absolutely devoted to retrieving anything you throw for her. She's intensely watching her "Gramps" for any twitch of his body that may indicate the ball will be going airborne.

Our trip to the Allen County Genealogical Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a couple of weeks ago was a great time. If any of you are interested in genealogy, this is a fantastic place to visit, with a huge selection of references, records and data. For those who aren't genies, it's a fully functional, new and impressive library in a nice town. There's a friendly, helpful atmosphere throughout. We spent a few days digging up some old bones and enjoying our spot at the Johnny Appleseed Campground. Do you know about John?
Wikipedia says:
Johnny Appleseed, born John Chapman (September 26, 1774–March 18, 1845), was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced the apple to large parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. He became an American legend while still alive, largely because of his kind and generous ways, his leadership in conservation, and also because of the symbolic importance of apples.
Well some friendly folk at this campground pointed out that Johnny is buried just up the hill so we had to go find his gravesite.




While at our home in the Johnny Appleseed Campground, we made some new friends who invited us to their sing-along night. It was a blast! You just never know who you'll meet out on the road. We are thinking that these will be some of our most cherished friends in the coming years. Whadya think?


And what better to complete the summer than a visit to the State Fair?! A few days ago I had a great time taking in the animals and eating everything fried with my daughter, Krissy. We had just enough time to watch the Percheron horse shows, see the worldest largest sow and the state champion piglets, peruse the photography, art and crafts building, sample the fair food-contest-winning Cajun Corn Dogs. Then for the perfect ending to the day, we had to get an elephant ear to go.

Midwest Summer

Greetings from the Midwest!
(Please read on down to learn about these handsome people in the photo that appears magically in two places.) It's been a busy summer at our lovely spot at "Tim Hurley's Haven." Even though work isn't high on our priority list we've been reorganizing our rented storage, cutting down on our space and also working on getting the "to do" list shortened, like cleaning the basement in the rig, buying two new tires and servicing the transmission. Yuck! So much for the necessary evils. The best part is we've been spending quality time with family and friends. Tim finally got smart and decided to buy himself a Jeep. Had to snap a shot of "Dad and Son with their toys."

But we recently decided to take off down the road again, just a short distance away to Cleveland, Ohio. You say -Why?! Well our very good friends, Mike and Suzanne, suggested we attend the 25th Annual Cleveland Irish Festival. Since we know it's always a great time when we get together with them and there's never a dull moment at an Irish fest, we were on it right away. Here's Mike, Jer, and Suzanne taking in some raucous balladeers. There was a lot of fabulous music, libations, dancing and some shopping for those required shirts and baubles. We had a great time catching up on our lives since we don't see as much of Mike and Suzanne any more. If you'd like to here a snipit of a super Irish tenor or the bagpipes, click on our Midwest 2007 file in the right column and go to our image site. There are a few photos and two short music videos.
We are now winding our way through various towns in Ohio, searching out tidbits of both of our families' genealogy and discovering nuances of the small town Midwest. Did you know that Zanesville, Ohio, has the best ever ice cream place - Tom's Ice Cream Bowl. They've been serving up delicious homemade ice cream since the 1940s. Don't miss it if you are passing through and happen over the unique and famous " Y Bridge" that crosses two rivers at once in the downtown area of Zanesville. Anybody can point you to Tom's.

Looking Back

Since we are staying put in one place for a while and planning for family reunions, Nancy is taking time to enjoy some genealogy research and reading. Recently she found this posting on the Genealogy Magazine blog and thought everyone would enjoy it:

"Shott Not Shot By Nott"

From the Weekly Nevada State Journal, published at Reno, Sat., 7 January 1882:

A duel was recently fought in Texas between Alexander Shott and John Nott. It was rumored that Nott was shot and Shott was not. (If so it was better to be Shott than Nott.) But it was afterward proved that the shot Shott shot at Nott shot Shott by accident, and the shot Nott shot at Shott shot past, and so shot him not. Thus the affair resolved itself into its original elements, and Shott was shot and Nott was not.

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Here's a photo of Nancy's grandparents' wedding. Family names represented are:
Keen, Kuhn, Weber and Paetz. Harry Weber married Otillia (Tillie) Kuhn on 4 June 1913 in Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Indianapolis, Indiana. Any long lost cousins out there?

Greetings from Indianapolis

We’ve enjoyed some great times here in Indianapolis even though the weather lately is either hot and extremely humid or pouring rain. There have been softball games, a band concert and a Saturday night at the stock car races with grandchildren. Other events include a mother-daughter evening at the horse races, a super Father’s Day, cookouts and other gatherings with our family and friends, lots of reminiscing at a family reunion and just plain wonderful one-on-one good visiting with our children and other family members.

The negatives, of course, are the doctor visits, insurance applications and RV repairs (yada, yada, yada….) But that’s no fun to talk about, so we won’t.

Here are a few photos of our latest activities:

Out at the ballpark - - Above -- Jerry and his granddaughter Caroline at one of her recent softball games. She’s a super player, of course.

Another momentous event was her 14^th birthday party this past Sunday. Here she is with her mom, Jenny. What a beautiful pair!

We all wish you many more fab birthdays Caroline! Of course her presents included awesome new clothes, jewelry, her fair share of cash, etc. It was a nice afternoon celebration, playing with the dog, listening to brother Ben play the drums, helping Jeff watch the Nascar race and the usual wild family conversation.

To Top It Off:

Uncle Tim gave her a birthday ride on his Harley.

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More Family Fun:

We were glad to be in town for a gathering of Nancy’s maternal family, the Webers. Everyone had a great time talking about old times and catching up a little on the latest, --- and laughing a good deal, too!




Here are some photos of the cousins gathered that day. We had one token male cousin in attendance and it just wouldn’t do but that we drag him into one of the photos. That wasn’t necessarily an easy task, but we managed to get one photo, even if we were mostly cracking up. Thanks Bill, for being a good sport!!


There are (and were) some pretty special mothers and fathers, a.k.a. aunts and uncles, in this family who were responsible for super memories for us all during our childhood. It was so good to visit with these folks. So they just had to be on the blog today.

Thanks so much to you all for the memories – Ruth, Mel, Emma, Gin and Peg. Let’s do it again soon.
And next time we’ll see how many more of the other twenty or so cousins we can gather.

Disappearing photos

Well this blog is driving me crazy! If you see a photo of a motorcycle in the blog posting below, that is in the Grassroots Art Center in Lucas, KS, and it is made entirely of pull tabs. It's a real site! Also, if there's a photo of what looks to be an eagle, that's a Kansas Jayhawk in someone's yard. People get very creative in this area of the country.

This blog has little surprises occasionally. The photos sometimes do not appear when they are uploaded and may pop up later or not at all - sometimes they repeat. I think we need our own website!!

Making Our Way East

We had a very interesting trip east to Indiana where we are now comfortably located at Jerry's son's house, visiting friends and family and taking care of business.

The trip through Kansas and Missouri was more eventful than we had anticipated when planning to "just jump on I70 and head east." We found a beautiful Corps of Engineers park in eastern Kansas called Wilson Lake where we spent four instead of the two nights we put into our very lose schedule. On our first day we explored the small town of Lucas, Kansas, where it turns out a man named S. P. Dunsmoor built what he called the Garden of Eden in the early 1900s. He started a trend toward "Grassroots Art" in this tiny town. His sculptures adorn the grounds of his home and are unique in their design and their message. Here is a sample of the pieces to be seen there. They include pieces relating to the Bible and political statements concerning his Populist beliefs.
As we "toured" the town we learned that Grassroots Art is blooming everywhere, including the local Art Center displaying various types of work of artists from Kansas. It was fun learning about this style that is totally open to any expression and doesn't necessarily include formal training of any kind. We were smiling a lot!!

One artist, Mri Pilar, has invented a style called ReBarb. Her works cover the walls of a home in Lucas. Here is a sample of one of her pieces. Who would imagine!!!



















Pictured here is Lonesome Joe Meets Flirty Gerti, one of the works at the Lucas Grassroots Arts Center. Don't you just love it.




As we took in a few other small towns in the area, such as Victoria, where we visited the Cathedral of the Plains and Wilson, where we enjoyed a great meal at the "Made From Scratch" local diner, we agreed this stop was one of our favorite surprises on-the-road. That includes Kansas' beautiful rolling hills of waving green wheat that resembled the scenery in Ireland.

As we continued East we stopped at Hermann, Missouri, a river town in wine country that we enjoyed at the beginning of our RV life a few years ago. It was another enjoyable visit, taking in a few wineries, the just-opened German brewery and a fabulous Swiss meat market. This is another place that we would recommend for a nice break for a few days.

Leaving Ken's Lake

Today is the last day of our three week stay in Moab, Utah. Tomorrow Ferd will take us on down the road once again. Making our home at Ken's Lake was even better than last year. There were old and new friends to spend time with and super times on the trails. Who could ask for a more beautiful backyard.


The last few days we've had the opportunity to get acquainted with our neighbor, Cliff, a young man who was a commercial writer and decided about ten years ago to sell out and live on his sailboat. Since then he made another lifestyle change when he went off the water to the road in his Airstream trailer. What an adventurer! He's a person who stepped outside the realm of expected behavior
to seek out unusual life experiences. It's been enjoyable listening and sharing with him. His latest exploration is in writing plays and we won't be surprised if his creative ideas end up being big broadway hits! Meanwhile, he's riding his mountain bike wherever he pleases.

There were some more good 4wheeling days last week -- thrills on many obstacle, good people to run with and desert spring flowers everywhere. Photos from these trails are posted on our images page. If you are interested in seeing a slideshow of them, click on Utah2007 in the right column. That will take you to the images page. Click again on Utah2007 and you will see the new files: Kane Creek, Golden Spike, Flat Iron Mesa and Poison Spider.

We'll be heading east for a visit with family. There will be an intermission in the blog until we have internet communication. Happy days everyone!

More Moab Happenings

What a playground Moab is! It's fun to participate and, sometimes, as much fun to just watch. There are people enjoying the trails on all variations of transportation, bicycles, motorcycles, atvs, and 4wheel drive vehicles. Of course, there are also the sturdy people hoofing it and some on horseback as well. Many take a trip of their choice on the Colorado River. Just cruising through town you will see all variations of people and transportation.

Take a look at the Jeep (above) that we found when we were out and about. Two of our friends' children, Patrick and Tristin, were interested in the license plates from everywhere used to make up the body and the wrenches and other tools forming the tires.

The other morning as we were preparing to leave our campsite this fellow came riding by our motorhome with his inflatable friend onboard. We just had to snap a photo. He said she sparks lots of attention as he takes her along on his rides.


















We've been on several trails this past week, including Golden Spike, Eagle's Dare, Kane Creek and Hell's Revenge. Golden Spike was another lengthy and challenging one.


This is a photo of one of the spectacular views as Jerry came up a steep incline. It was our last day of 4wheeling with our n2Jeepn group. They were great to be with again this year.




A few days before that we went on Kane Creek trail which runs through, around and above Kane Creek. The trail through the valley is fantastic and it winds up out of the valley by way of a narrow, sometimes rocky, ledge road that has exciting spots. As we approached the end of the trail we came to this steep obstacle.
Here is Jerry maneuvering up the rocky incline.


More photos of our crew on this trail will be posted soon in the Utah 2007 files. Stay tuned!











We've been offroading since Monday with the FMCA 4wheelers (Family Motor Coach Association), a gathering of friends in Moab. This is only our second opportunity to be with this group and the welcome we've received is great. It's a diverse group, all out to have some fun! On the trail here showing us how she can tackle this crevice is Judy, a 68 year old and proud of it.
















What we've also learned is that there's always plenty of help whenever anyone needs it. This wheeler bounced off course just a little and got quick assistance to hold him upright while he moved off this pinnacle.




















Below are a couple of especially nice (and skilled) 4wheelers that we have had a good time getting to know better here in Moab. Jane and Rick here easily taking an obstacle in their Rubicon Unlimited.


















Some "extra credit" on the first day out was the "gravy boat." Several went in to the boat after our fine four-legged escort, Brandy, showed us how deep the water was.


















With a little spotting this guy made it out of the gravy without getting a drop on him.

In the next couple of days, as we have some time between trails, you will find all kinds of new photos of 4wheelin in Moab. Check back under our Utah 2007 files.

Keep smiling!

Fantastic Friends and Food

For the past week we've made our home at Ken's Lake, a BLM campground near Moab, with a super bunch of "Fulltimers." The group began with four rigs and gradually, as more wandering friends joined us, we swelled to ten rigs at our max. Some left as others arrived, different sizes and types of rigs, some with pets and some with toys. These gypsies hail from New Jersey, New York, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Montana and California. We range from five months to seven years on-the-road. The stories being shared of fulltimer experiences are never-ending.

A big thanks from us all goes out to Jerry and Dee who have offered their site for campfire gatherings and hosted delicious Dutch oven meals. This morning's fare was scrumptious cinnamon rolls.

















Here's Jerry doing his magic with the coals and iron pots.



It's difficult for us to be on the South Beach plan with this going on.
But we can always do that next week. It's been fun and we'll have to do it again down the road!

Wheelin' on Steelbender

A few days ago we were invited by our friends Geir and Jan to come along with their family on the Steelbender off-roading trail here in Moab. It took us seven hours to go about 15 miles on the trail. But it was an exciting day. The trail crosses Mill Creek in several places, takes some steep ledges and affords many panoramic views of the valley and mountains surrounding it.











We also enjoyed the many desert spring flowers popping up everywhere. This is a Desert Paintbrush pushing up between the rocks along our way.












We all appreciate Geir's spotting advice. In this photo he points to the best route for his son Jon to take up this little (ha, ha) rock.















Jon's wife Sarah, son, Tristin, and seven-month-old daughter, Valerie, watch as he does some fine wheeling up this grade.
Lockers came in handy on this one!






















Little Valerie was a great sport all day long. Here she is with her father, Jon, and grandfather, Geir.



One of the most challenging obstacles on Steelbender trail is what they call the shelf road. This is slick rock that starts with a gradual slope and then drops about four feet so you have to free fall down. There's a cliff next to this drop off which means you don't want to get your vehicle too far to the right when coming down.






In these photos you can see first, the cliff that's to the right as you slide down this obstacle.






The next photo is Jerry bringing Ole Yeller over in fine fashion.
Next is Andy and Allison taking the plunge in their Jeep equipped with a V8 Corvette engine. We enjoyed listening to their rumble as we followed them on the trail.
It was a long day that included lots of exciting 4wheeling. And what a great group!