At Bob & Betty's in New Carlisle, OH

Left: Lunch break (& swim) during

canoe trip down the Mad River in Ohio.

Center: Betty & Bob's Gardens Right: Busy Hummingbirds at B&B's deck

Leaving Michigan was a bit of a challenge as we had some difficulty finding a road that was well-marked on my map, but the road signs were somewhat lacking. After going nearly all the way to Grand Rapids (which is North) and we wanted to go Southeast I found an alternate route which took us through some very lovely scenic Michigan countryside! Eventually we came to our Interstate 75 which would take us to Troy, OH and our exit to get us to Bob & Betty's. Arriving at their home in New Carlisle (after missing the sign for their road and having to do a bit of back-tracking) late in the afternoon , it was great to sit on their deck and enjoy the shade. They had been experiencing heat and humidity the likes of what we see in FL. Long story: Bob's son-in-law had given him a Fishing trip on Lake Erie for Father's Day and between them the caught a boatload of Walleye. Betty frys a mean fish and dinner was that fried fish which was really really good! Their daughter and son-in-law live next door and joined us for the meal. We had met them when they visit in FL and enjoy their company! Bob had prepared a place to set up our camper in their side yard and we continued to enjoy our own "space" in our tin tent. The next day the six of us spent a delightful day canoeing on the Mad River not far from their home. The water was moving swiftly enough to make the paddle interesting without having to work very hard, and there was enough shade so we didn't get fried! We had taken a non-picnic lunch with us (Hank doesn't like picnics!) but we enjoyed eating in the great outdoors! That evening after dinner we enjoyed some games of Cribbage and Quiddler. The next morning after a blueberry pancake breakfast at Bob & Betty's daughter's we were on the road once again.

Photos from Holland, MI

Left photo: Pier and lighthouse at Grand Haven, MI

Middle: Holland Tunnel Park exit onto Lake Michigan

Right: Martha and sister Lucille enjoying the gorgeous summer day at Tunnel Park

Holland, Michigan (3 days there...)

We spent three days with Lucille and Stewart in Holland, MI while spending the three nights in our lil' tin tent. We didn't want to make work so we slept and had breakfast in our traveling home before joining family. Had a good time catching up with them and their children and grandchildren. We met my niece, Piper's husband, Ray and had a great time getting to know him. Piper and Ray have three cats and two dogs -( And Ray has two nearly grown children from a previous marriage.) The three cats and two dogs are an interesting mix-remind me to tell you all about them at some point! We drove to Grand Haven where Piper works and explored the channel from Lake Michigan into GH. After a great lunch in an outdoor patio restaurant along the channel we explored the pier and light house at Grand Haven Point. When we got back to Holland we were invited to have dinner at Piper and Ray's-so we got to play with the animals and we also shared some of the photos taken on this journey And Ray showed us photos of a mission trip to Guatamala that he took with a church group and his son and daughter. Lucille took me to her therapy pool to soak in very warm water, and then to the Holland Farmer's market which is great. Stewart took Hank to see the Corvair he's restoring, then we all went to Tunnel Park and hiked up the dune after experiencing the tunnel. Hank and Stewart went to Beer Church with Ray and some of his cronies. All in all a good time was had by all. But guests get tiresome after awhile, so we figured it was time to move along. Next stop is at Bob and Betty Leonards in New Carlisle, OH.

Sawyer, MI to Holland, MI

Having slept many hours and rested well we were ready to resume our journey to Holland, MI where we'll see Lucille (my sister). Didn't see anyhing photo-worthy along the 75 miles to Holland and accomplished the trip quickly. Now we're in a very nice campground which will be our base for the next couple of days while we visit family. There probably won't be any blogs until we resume travelling....

The Corn Palace, etc.

We had elected to stay in Mitchell, SD so that we could see the Corn Palace that we had heard so much about. It certainly is like nothing we'd ever seen before. We watched the video explaining how it came to be and saw photos through the years as it has evolved. What a clever way to entice folks into visiting your community! Then it was back "on the road again" heading from there into Iowa-lots more cornfields-and more cornfields in various stages of maturity. We crossed the muddy Mississippi at Rock Island and then headed toward Chicago-figuring that on a Sunday the traffic wouldn't be too awful. Except for a few macho (or at least they thought they were) young men on motorcycles doing wheelies down the highway at over 70 miles an hour and NO helmets-guess they think they are invincible! Didn't see any crashes, but maybe that's because my eyes were closed. Then it was on into Indiana for just a few minutes before we hit the Michigan state line where we stopped to locate a campground as we were exhausted!
The only thing unusual that we saw along the way today was another huge wind farm with hundreds of gigantic windmills-not quite sure what they were gathering energy for, but they were all turning so obviously there was something...

Mt. Rushmore, The Badlands, & Mitchell, SD

Hurrah! Have a connection, so will try to get caught up!
I think it was day before yesterday when we left the Mt. Rushmore area and drove toward the Badlands. (Have been on the road a month and still enjoying sunny weather.) As we left I-90 and headed down Rte. 44 the landscape began to change and we were into the Grasslands-lots of cattle-and horses. And gradually the landscape began to change to some pretty foreign (to our eyes) land and rock formations. Eventually we passed through the official entrance to Badlands Nat'l Park (once again thanks for our Senior Pass) and the landscape really got bizarre. We stopped to explore the strange looking scenery. ( Hope I will be able to attach photos! ) We walked across the pathway of packed limestone-was hard as pavement, then climbed up onto some of the protrusions and the view through a break in the rocks was beyond description. I don't have the words to describe it. Hank says it sort of looks like a giant had been building sand castles! A bit farther on we stopped again to walk on a wooden boardwalk out into the formations a bit. It was a bit disconcerting to see a sign along that boardwalk that read " Beware of Snakes" showing a curled up rattler...Fortunately for both me and the snakes they didn't show themselves and any self-respecting snake would have been far away from all the spectators that day! Knowing we still had some mileage to put on we headed for Mitchell, SD where we'd spend the night in a gravel parking lot with an electric and water hook-up which euphemistically called itself a campground.
Have not been successful with photos, sorry!

Mt. Rushmore, The Needles Hwy & Crazy Horse

From the moment in school that I learned about Mt. Rushmore I have wanted to see it in person and today I experienced it first-hand. The ride up to Mt. Rushmore is quite impressive with all those black hills and unique rock formations. (Hank was incensed that we had to pay to park the car-thought our Sr. Pass for National Parks should have covered it. ) In any case as we were walking up to the Visitors, Center, etc. there were those huge granite sculptures with the morning sun on the president's faces. It's so impressive! If I gush too much so be it! We rented those audio wands which explain much about Mt. Rushmore as we made our way around the Park. We even got to see a mtn. goat along the trail, but if the truth be known, I suspect that goat is either well trained or somehow tethered to the rocks. We spent probably two hours at the site and enjoyed every minute of it. I had hoped that we'd make it back to see the lighting ceremony in the evening, but we just ran out of time.

After leaving Mt. Rushmore we drove to the nearby town of Keystone where we found some lunch and then began the slow but scenic drive through numerous tunnels carved out of the rock on the sides of the mtns-some of which are one way only-into Custer State Park. Only had to give the right-of-way to one buffalo-see his photo! Then we drove onto the Needles Hwy-incredible scenery and rock formations. We stopped numerous times to get photos of the Cathedral Spires and others. With our new camera Hank made a few stops to get photos of thistles, clover, etc. Also made a stop at Sylvan Lake as the scene was just so idyllic. When we got back out to the main highway it was into the evening, but because of where it is in the time zone it doesn't get dark until after 9 Pm in the summer so we decided to go see Crazy Horse! What an undertaking by basically one family-very impressive. We sure won't live to see that project done, and it's hard to imagine that our children will! We saw the film about the sculptor and his dream and the dream of his Indian friend for a statue to honor the red men. There was some Lakota Indian dancing going on on the viewing patio and was watched for awhile, but as the sun got lower it began to get chilly, so we called it a day. We were told that there would be a laser light show at 9:30 PM, but we'd had a full day and decided not to stick around for it.