Home Sweet Home

Today was the last stretch of our trip; we experienced some overnight showers at our campsite in central New York state, but avoided rain and even saw some sunlight on our way home today. Overall, our weather in the past three weeks hasn't been as fair as it could have been, but at every step of the way we seemed to be just ahead of or just behind the worst of it --- no complaints!

Unpacking and cleaning a motorhome can be a daunting task, but it's great to be home. Having said that, there is a part of us that already misses life "on the road"; we're already talking about possibilities for our next trip!

In the mean time, thanks for following our blog!

"THE END" for now!

Yours Till Niagara Falls.....

We've spent the last few days visiting family and friends in the mid-west; good times but not too much site-seeing to report on.
Today, we took the Canadian route out of Michigan, which had us re-entering the U.S. across the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls. Neither of us had been to the Falls since the mid-1970's. For me, it brought to mind three random and unrelated thoughts about Niagara:

(1) Thomas Cole, often considered to be the father of the Hudson River School of Art, painted an interpretation of Niagara around 1830; the original is on display at Vermont's own National Park (Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller) in Woodstock. The painting portrays a placid scene, but even in Cole's day, the true view would have included hotels and tourist traps, not too different than today.

(2) I remember reading years ago that among other daredevils to survive a ride over the Falls, there was one named "Jean Lussier" of Massachusetts (no known relation) who did so in a large rubber ball. See http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/niagara8.htm or GOOGLE "Jean Lussier Niagara" for more information.

(3) Of course, who can forget the 1950's Marilyn Monroe / Joseph Cotton film titled "Niagara"? Apparently not the Niagara Falls souveneir shops that now sell DVD copies!

Enjoying the Scenery

Yesterday was an uninterrupted 450 mile stretch to get to the Chicago area; a great day to just sit back and enjoy the scenery.

Iowa farmland:

Mississippi River:

Indiana farmland:


.... and the name of a town in Iowa that says it all:

The Cornhusker and Hawkeye (and Corn Dog) States

Today was a day focused on adding eastbound mileage, and not so much on seeing the sights. Still, we have to pay tribute to the Cornhusker state with a couple of pictures of, well....corn fields.

We reached Iowa in mid-afternoon.

Unable to photograph a "Hawkeye" (see dictionary definitions at http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hawkeye), here instead are pictures of the Iowa welcome sign and some windmills along the I-80 west of Des Moines.

East of the Continental Divide

Yesterday, we crossed the Continental Divide in Rocky Mountain National Park; we're back to where all streams and rivers flow into the Atlantic Ocean.
Today, we said good-bye to all of those mountains and mesas, and drove out of the Rockies and into the Great Plains.

We took an unplanned detour into Cheyenne Wyoming and serendipitously came upon the old Union Pacific train station and a chili festival.


Cheyenne's got some great old architecture; the train station neighborhood appears to be on its way to more restoration:


From there eastward, it was nothing but plains and wide-open views. We discovered a previously unknown (to us) factoid along the way: Sidney, Nebraska (population 6200+)is the world-wide headquarters for Cabella's.
It also turns out that the old Oregon Trail paralleled what is now I-80 in parts of Nebraska - how fortuitous for those pioneers to have had a Cabella's along the way! :-)

Rocky Mountain National Park

RMNP boasts the highest point of any highway in the U.S......an altitude of 12,183 feet.

There's not much more we can say about the scenery; there is still plenty of snow at the summits of the 12,000+ footers.

RVing Advantages

There are many advantages to RV travel; here are two: (1) Never having to wait in line for restrooms (and the potential of charging for use of our facilities as a means of funding our trip)

(2) Having lunch at our favorite 11,000+ foot restaurant.