SCORED

NOW THAT WE HAVE RETURNED HOME WE HAVE BEEN BUSY ENOUGH TO MAKE US THINK MAYBE WE OUGHT TO GO AWAY AHAHAH00oops--we have gotten right back in the swing of things being busy..especially around the homestead..the garden in now in not as mush as we usually plant as we hadn't planned on any garden so what we have in will be a bonus..

i also filled the bird feeders and in less than on hr the hummers were back and also the squirrels and chipmucks..they are a nusciance so we catch them in a trap and lar's takes them for swimming lessons..we have had problems with the chi[pmucks getting in the house and we sure don't want that as they can cause problems ...

lar was a happy person that we got home before the end of the spring turkey season and every morning he has been getting up at 3AM to go see if he can find a turkey..he has seen several hens and only 1 tom so far..he had shot a one but guess what he missed...so this morning out he went and said he would be back in time to go to church so around 7 i hear someone in the house that wasn't mitch..lar had returned with his morning catch..so finally he scored amen..now we won't be waken by an alarm>>> he is quiet when he gets up and has his clothes all laid out in =another room but i still do wake up and some day have a hard time going back to sleep but tomorrow morning NO alarm and we can both sleep in ...amen..now it is time to go take a shower and go to church and lar can thank him for a successful turkey hunt..

lets us all remember what we are celebrating tomorrow MEMORIAL DAY. especially all the fallen soldiers that have fought for OUR freedom and keep us safe...so go enjoy the day...

WEATHER/HOME

now that we are home the weather has been nice as a matter of fact it has been "HOT"...today temps are over 80 something we just aren't used tooooo...the stormy clouds have left us for awhile ahahha...

trying to get unpacked and think about a garden and mowing the lawn...we had decided that getting home in lar=te june there was NO need to plant a garden as the veggies woukldn't have time to grow but today we bought some stuff to plant and it isn't even memorial day yet--sometimes we don't get it planted till then so we are not behind schedule if there is one... can you believe we are already talking about our next trip and next winter...sure don't want any grass to grow under our feet....

WE'RE BACK

mitch's favorite thing to do...sleeep

lar did most of the driving and did a good job at it
and for me i had to job of telling lar where 'to go" ahahahhaahhahaahhaahah

137 days

12,426 miles

36 national park stamps

27 states

and we are now back in enfield..did we see alot "yep--" do alot "yep" --glad to be home "yep" and we are ready to go again....but not right away we have some pressing projects to get done around the homestead...one of the main things is to get the winter wood supply on the back porch...just enough to get us to january when we will be on the go again...we have the first habitat already scheduled..a return back to dade city for 2 weeks and we haven't decided where to afteer that...we have tossed around going to texas as we hear that there is a need..so we will have to wait till the car a vanner newsletter comes out and then we can make a decision of where we might want to end up...

we have some great caretakers of the house and prorerty and without them are travels wouldn't

be a easy as they are...roy and carol do a great job for us..water the plants-feed the birds-check on the electric-recieve our mail and forward when told where to send it to us-we just are so fortunate to have such good friends and caretakers...we are blessed....

everything was in good order when we finally got home...and mitch even acted as he knew we were home...lar says he knew the trail to walk on when taken for his walk in the woods...so i guess he was also glad to be home...

we thank all of you for said a little prayer or 2 for us for safe travel and to up above for being with us also and guiding us along the way up and down those rockies mountains we sure do appreciate all the little things in life...

ALMOST

lar and his mom in judy's back yard

finally back in NY

peonie garden in ann arbor just about ready to bloom(sorry we missed it)

we are now in NY but right now we are at lar's sisters so we can visit his mom who is only a short walk away...it has been god to see her and after this winters fall and a broken hip/femur she is doing remarkable...she had a dentist appt yesterday that lar and his sister took her to..(i stayed

at ther apartment and was the laundry lady haah) but anyway she had to go up 4 flughts of stairs and lar said she just about flew up without a problem...she just took one step at a time but without any hesitation...so it appears that she is on the mend big time...which was good to see...for someone 92 she seems to be in good shape...

yesterday also found us a lar's brother bill's house helping him cut up some trees on his property...too bad we don't live closer cause we could have taken the wood home for the wood stove...that is one big job we have to do when we finally arrive back in enfield fill the back porch with wood for the winter..or at least till jan 2011 when we leave town again ....

it has been a good winter and we are only a day or two from arriving back home....we just marvel at all there is to see and do---and we have only touch a wee bit of an iceberg in seeing it all and doing...there is way far more to do and see...of course we will try to do it all (never) but we will give it the old college try...

MOVING ON

sister sylvina and guess who

nephew andy-sylvina-stu- and lovable lar

we have made it all the way to ohio so it looks like we ought to arrive back in NY before june....spent a couple of days visiting my sister and of course it rained but yesterday was a nice day for travel NO rain...

we thought maybe we could make it to erie, pa but by 4pm we both were ready to STOP for the night...so today we will push on to erie...

we were concerned about going thru cleveland at rush hour but guess what we beat rush hour and the traffice wasn't too bad...so it all worked out a-ok....at the time we have done over 12.000 miles with a few hundred more to go before arriving back in NY...

FAMILY-FRIENDS

at the mounds

the mounds

an eagle nest

we have visited some of our habitat friends..christine and tom in wisconsin who are getting ready to go full time...their house sold now they have to decided what tey want -what goes in storage and even what state they want to be from...some very important decisions to make...it sounds like they are doing it right...good seeing them even if it were a short visit..lunch..we al like to eat..

then we moved on the indiana and visited with bill-judy-russ-peg....good seeing them as this past winter we didn't work with them as they didn't get into the same build as we did and they arrived the weekend we left...so we only had a evening again a short visit...

so we spent the night in their driveway then went out to breakfast with their "redneck" group on monday...a fun time..

after visiting in indy we headed to michigan to visit my sister sylvina and stu...again we had a good visit even if it rained so we spent most of the time catching up and all that has been going on since last thanksgiving...it seems that when ever we move on the rain/snow clouds follow us...today we are on the move again not exactly sure where we will end up..

THE MOUNDS

we have been to the indian mounds and this is the first national park that i have not been impressed with...it is alot of mounds that the indians have built up and that is exactly what it is mounds of dirt...oh i know it took the indians alot of time to do this...in under the dirt there is mounds of stuff the form bears and other things....

it was a nice day so we did do a hike up the side of the mountain..when we arrived there were 2 school buses there on a field trip..oh not the first park we have been at that schools were there on field trips just that time of year...

SUN IS FINALLY OUT

we are finally lucky we had sjun today and it got above 60 so we are happhy campers...swe are now in wisconsin and spent the day visiting habitat friends who live here and are about to become full-timers...their house sold and now they have to decided what to put in storage and what to pack in the rig...it was fun seeing them...we met half way from where they live and where we are camping...(we think they drove further)...tomorrow we are heading in a easterly way..not sure how far we will go oh where we spend tomorrow night but life is good and travels still ok..have been to a couple more national parks and i would send pictures but we are at mcdonalds as the campground dosen't have wi-fi...that's it for now...

PIPESTONE

peterglyphs in the stone

lar's trying to hold up the rocks

the cold stone face

can you believe that today was another rainy cold day..and i sure hope the rest of you are enjoying some warm weather...but we went off the pipestone national historical site anyway...took the hike before it really started to rain..most interesting this is a quarry that the indians got stone to make pipes out of--a reddish type stone not as soft of soap stone...the hike was along the pipestone creek and was really running due to all the rain that the area has had lately...we both joined the junior ranger club so we had to find stuff along the way..this made it more interesting..after the hike we watched the movie along with 60 grade students i think

4 graders after they had lunch and we did the museum...

then we took a ride thru town not much there but we did find a dollar store lar favorite store hahaha...so we went in and of course we didn't need anything but we found some stuff to buy...tomorrow we head towards iopwa and the effigery mounds and another stamp...

MOTHER'S DAY

sunset over the badlands

my new friend

larry is trying to cheer up his new friend

when we got up yesterday it was a beautiful day the sun was out and it felt good...so it was off tto wall drug store for breakfast...this place first started 1933 by a couple bought a drug store and it was hard to get customers so the wife thought (smart lady) why not put a sign out on the highway to say stop by for FREE ICE WATER ..you all know what free does----it brought people to stop by and most everyone bought something even if it was an ice cream so the business just grew and grew from there...now it is several buildings with lots of little speciality shops in it...you name it and i bet you can find it there...there is also aa couple of museums along with a cafe ...coffee is only 5 cents and if you are a veteran you get a free homemade donut. (lar got his and even gave me a taste)...so it was a deal and breakfast was good spent a couple of hrs there looking around..

then of to the badlands --we had been here before when on our return trip from alaska but I needed a stamp and it was just a short jaunt from 90..it was a beautiful day so we thought why go any further lets stay in the national park 1/2 price for golden age pass holders..it of course was dry camping but that didn't matter as it was so nice out...we even sat out and enjoy a drink...but today is a different story it started to rain in the night and it has been raining hard all day long-very foggy-so we decided to stop around 2..which finds us in murdo, sd...but first we stopped another national park the minuteman missle historical site...we had a tour of the place and saw where all the action could have taken place it russia decided to do something drastic to us ..(glad they didn't)...it is a small place and we just happened to be lucky as a couple had made arrangements for a tour and we just stopped in when they were getting ready to go so we just tagged along... this time of year you have to make reservations to be taken on a tour as there aren't alot of visitors...so if any of you come by this way and want to see where it all took place call ahead and make sure you can be taken on a tour....

MOUNTAIN DAY

this tells the size of crazy horse when finished

if you look close you can see crazy horse's face in the mountain

to prove that we were relly here

flags from all 50 states fly at the entrance of mt rushmore

we got an early start this morning as we wanted to go to both mt rushmore and crazy horse mounment...and we wanted to make sure we had enough time to do both as they are konly about 15 miles apart...so off we went and guess what the sun is out first we've seen it all day in some time...no rain-snow...

first mt rushmore as that was first on the road...soend about 1 1/2 hrs there looking at all that there was to see and watched a movie..most impressive and sue worthwhile seeing..then on to

crazy horse...there are several buildings to go thru all about indian culture and crafts..but first a movie about the history of the making of the craving...sitting bull came to this man and aasked him to do something to honor the indians and this is what they came up with...it has been in the carving stage for over 50 years already and who knows how long it might take to finish it ..not in our life time..,it was interesting on how they do it alot of the work is done by dynamite and it has to be placed very carefully as they don't want to take to much mountain off or even make cracks so more will fall off than they want to...all the museums had lots of intersting stuff..way too much to really see and appreciate...could have been museum overload hahaha...we were there over 3 hrs (some of it lunch)...so now we are happy we have seen the mountains...

8 years ago we wanted to see them and had stopped in rabid city only to have forest fiees all around and it wasn't safe to go to them we also had a very sick dog that we wanted to get home to see or own vet...we had taken her to a vet here in rabid city and she spent the night there and was told she had kidney failure (not a reason why) so we passed on several things we wanted to do in the area so now we have done them...

life is still good and we thank god each and every day we get up and can start another day of this adventure...

CAVES-WILDLIFE

today we decided to head off to jewel cave which we did around 11 or so due to the weather..it was rather foggy and snow-rain most of the way ...we did a qqick tour of jewel cave as we had been told the wind cave was so much different than any other caves we have been in...

then it was off to wind cave and i even decided to go underground (after the lava tube i wondered if i would ever go in a cave again)to take the tour...i must say we had a young ranger and she really enjoyed her job and like being underground..she even likes to do the crawling tours that takes 6 hrs..(not for me)..anyway she was very good and informative about the caves..and i must say the cave was different than any other i have ever been in...and it was exlpored by a young man --who kept diaries of the caves..the cave is 153 miles log and there is lots of it thatt hase not been explored yet...

the most intersting part of the day was all the wildlife we saw..and it ranged from white tailed deer-mule deer-buffalo-antelope-big horned sheep and i don't mean just a few but lots and lots of them..every field was just full of some sorta of wildlife...just a good day...

DEVILS TOWER

if you look close you can see the climbers

the indians hang prayers cloth on trees

devils tower

at the base of the tower

yesterday we adventured on the devils tower in northern wyoming and again what beautiful country we drove thru..we were told of a route that would take 60 mils off the drive so we took it...we might have cut 60 miles off the trip but it added time...that was ok because it was a pretty ride and we saw wildlife..antelope-deer-praire dogs and some great sights.....the sun was out and it felt good ..

as we round a bend there stands the devils tower what a thing to see..we got there and looked around and it was such a nice day we took to 1 1/2 mile around it which was worth it as we saw some climbers on the mountain climbing (crazy people)..each side around looked a wee bit different..we then decided to spend the night at the national park (dry camping)..arrived at the camp site got set up--then a ranger arrived with the news to be prepared the they were expecting 8 inches or so of the white stuff called snow...lar comes in the rig to say i think we ought to go on to a place where we can get electric..i agreed i think it was a smart thing....so we checked our camping books and checked miles and decided on a campground then decided to drive further and closer to mt rushmore-crazy horse-wind and jewel caves...so we ended up in black hawk , sd...

yep this morning we woke up to snow on the ground..where we are it is just covered but watching the weather where we were gots lots more than we did..not sure what we will do today as it is not a day to go to see anything carved on a mountain as it is still snowing and foggy...not to worry we will find something to do

CUSTER'S PICTURES

here we are at the ranch

markers of soldiers who were killed at the fight

custer is buried here along with 200

we are now in black hawk, sd..and we have wi-fi so i'm sending pictures of custers mountment..

CUSTER'S

no pictures today as we have wi-fi but it is slow so rather than try to put anything on i''ll just give an update as to what has been happening...

first the last 2 days have been windier than you can imagine..we stopped in bozeman , mt due to the weather it was snowing-sleeting-windy so we thought no need to adventure any further as we don't really have a schedule..

monday found us on the road again and going thru some beautiful country over each mountain and down the other side was like a different world..country that a person has to seen by their own eyes to enjoy the beauty of it...we first stopped in laurel, mt to go to a monument only to find out that there was only a marker and NO stamp so we bought dog food instead...then while getting back on route 90 lar spots a CABELAS not even been to this one so we just had to stop..then we spot a sam's club and needed gas...lar runs into cabelas to get something and i walk mitch..(we see a jack rabbit funny looking thing)..we both return back to the rig about the same time...then on to sam's for lunch YES a hot dog and we purchase some things (no tax in montanna) and get gas...cheapest in a long while 2.75..wish we had a couple of tanks to fill up at that price...

check out camping books and find a place in gerryowen, mt near custer's battlefield..it is an working ranch that put in a camp ground..up on a hill where the winds does blow..

today we spent several hours at the battlefield..saw a movie-listened to a ranger talk-got a stamp-then took the driving tour of the battlefield...the campground lent us a cd of the battlefield so we could hear about the place...but we had heard it from the ranger talk and movie..still interesting...we did not take all the walks we could as we could have been blown off the mountain as there has been some very strong winds today...the rig just rocks and rolls and NO not from that...out coffee just sloshes in our mugs good thing we weren't having soup for dinner as it probably would have been more on the table than our stomachs....

tomorrow we are heading for the DEVILS TOWER in wyoming..also we are beginning to see some NEW YORK plates which we haven't seen in a long time...

life is still good..

TRAVEL DAY

snow on top of the pass

lar and his horse ahhaha

our new "rig"

we left missoula this morning by 9:30 and was it dark to the east as we drove along route 90..yep it is the same 90 that goes across NY but there is NO toll on this part...

we stopped at a national park that was a ranch and spent an hour there could have been there longer but it started to rain so we hurried up...we did drive in some sun today but most of the day was dreary and rainy except on the mountain passes and the tops were snow covered..the roads were clear ..so it was a fairly good travel day..we decided to stop in bozeman, mt due to the weather by then we were getting heavy rain and some snow and it was dark in the directon we were heading...no deadline for us so we thought why not hole up just in case it should get worse where we are heading...

next stop should be custer battle ground unless we decided to do something different which we might..but we do need to get a stamp...

MISSOULA

montanna state university emblem on the mountain

just one the the elk

lar and tom

todaay was kinda a quiet day...first tom arrived from kalispell around 8:30 had a cup of coffe or 2 then went out to breakfast--then back to the rig to visit...tom had to leave around 11 as he had a meeting he had to go to..short but good to see him again..

then we adventured to the elk federation where we saw lots of elk...no not real bronzed and stuffed...

after which we took a tour out missoula..went to cosco ang ot gas for 2.82 a gal and of course had to do some shopping and NO did not buy me a hot dog ....

then we really did go out to dinner found a nice place and even with a TV..a couple next to us asked to have the station put on the kentucky derby so we got to watch the race...didn't have any money on any horses but it was exciting noe the less...couldn't hear it but could read it...

it has snowed on the mountains all day today and even down where we are..it has been a very wet snow and has not collected on the road but the mountains sure have gotten alot..glad we hadn't planned to go to glacier nationa; park as they got a foot and hald of snow the other day and we might have needed chains which we don't have...tomorrow heading east again...