Following is a chronological travelogue of our journey. Carol has had fun organizing the many pictures she took along the way (digital cameras are the greatest!), and hopes you enjoy browsing through them, as well.

Atlantic City and New York City

Most of you have already seen the pictures from Atlantic City and New York City; we’ll fill you in on a few of the details. We really enjoyed our time at Chestnut Lake, our New Jersey TTN preserve. We were parked facing the little lake, where Larry spent many hours fishing off the dock. It was catch and release, so no eating. A special delight there was watching the families of Canadian geese with their little yellow fuzz-ball goslings. They matured right before our eyes. We had fun in Atlantic City, walking the Boardwalk, seeing all the streets named in Monopoly and, of course, watching all the interesting people and poking our heads in the shops. We donated a few nickels and pennies to Bally’s and Trump’s Taj Mahal, but mainly we were there just to soak up the atmosphere.

Next we stayed at a New Jersey County Park called Mahlon-Dickerson Reservation, very much like a National Forest Park. So big, in fact, that Carol got herself lost on the trails, finally making her way out to the road and having someone call Larry to pick her up! As most of you know, she does not have a well-developed sense of direction! Our whirlwind day trip to The Big Apple was everything we envisioned. We first took the water taxi from Liberty Park over to Manhattan and visited the newly restored World Financial Center. An escalator ride took us up to the observation floor where we could look right down into Ground Zero. It was hard to imagine the mess that used to be there, but we were awestruck when a tour guide showed a picture of the debris clear up to where we were standing. In the downstairs lobby is a Wall of Remembrance, which shows a progression of pictures pertaining to 9/11 and the aftermath, including a model of the new construction and memorial. Though it’s hard to find remnants of the horror, the pain is still very close to the surface for New Yorkers. Chatting with a gentleman while looking at the proposed memorial, I asked if he was there that day. He said he lost a close friend, then his whole demeanor changed as he said, “It was a horrific day,” and turned and hurried away.

We walked up to Battery Park to see the WTC sphere, which is there as a temporary memorial. There are other war memorials in the park, as well. The atmosphere was fun—there were street vendors all about and lots of tourists lined up to take the ferry to Liberty Island. We then walked back to the water taxi all along the river, a beautifully landscaped trail with small parks and playgrounds along the way. Just before the WTC, there were men on their lunch hour playing volleyball. We came away with a very different feeling about New York City.

After grabbing our lunch from the car, we caught the ferry to the restored Ellis Island Immigration Center and Museum and Liberty Island. Security to board the ferry was as tight as any we’ve encountered anywhere. The museum poignantly portrays the fascinating history of the massive migrations to the U.S. in the early 20th Century and how the people were dispersed around the country-- a story mixed with hope, hardship and political responses. Then we reboarded the ferry to pay our respects to “Lady Liberty”. We hooked up with four young women, three of whom had come to NJ to help the other get settled in a new house. We took each other’s pictures on the ferry and in front of the Statue of Liberty. It was a thrill to stand there and look up at the massive symbol of hope to so many. We were blessed with a spectacular day weather-wise, and were able to get some beautiful pictures. Even the drive in the computer traffic went smoothly! It was a truly memorable day.

The twins and Washington, D.C.

What a joy it was to meet Jacob (Jake) and Caleb (Cal), our twin grandsons in Alexandria, Virginia. They were close to six months old, a great age! They spent a lot of time in our arms, and it was fun to note their very different personalities. Amie and Matt are thoroughly enjoying parenthood and handling twins extremely well. We went into D.C. one evening to watch Matt play the drums with a little band in a hotel lounge. He is very accomplished. He’s also just started a new job, one he can still commute to on his bicycle and which gives him enough increase in pay that Amie can comfortably stay home for awhile with the little ones. We were able to park our motor home in a business lot behind their house, and were thus able to be part of their daily routine and thoroughly enjoyed our time with all of them.

Larry and I made a foray into Washington on the commuter train and visited two of the Smithsonian Museums, and just enjoyed walking around the area. Carol returned by herself another day to take pictures of the new World War II Memorial and walked the whole loop around the reflecting pool before her appointed time to visit The Holocaust Museum, a deeply moving experience.

New Hampshire Camp

After spending a couple days in Salem, NH, visiting with our friend Lee at the Rockingham Race Track, we arrived at our camp in late May and hit the ground running. Larry immediately began mowing the 15-inch high grass, while I sorted and tagged stuff in the garage to put out for a Memorial Day garage sale. Between that weekend and the next, we sold or gave away everything we didn’t need, except for a few things we left for whoever bought the camp.

We put up a For Sale sign, and Larry spent a lot of time showing people around; of course, everyone loved the property and wanted it, but not everyone could afford it. Property had recently escalated, especially waterfront, and even though ours was in flood plain, we were able to ask a good price for it. Toward the end of our stay, we put it in the hands of a realtor and it sold at our asking price in six days! We closed on it July 8. So now, we are officially “homeless” again—and loving it!

We spent quality time with our friends and neighbors, including our mentor Topsy whose husband Alex had died last August. We made a little video of our property with the digital camera and said our goodbyes. We enjoyed it for 15 years, shared wonderful times up there, and have many beautiful memories to take with us. We hope the new owners enjoy it as much as we did.

Upper Michigan

As you may recall, our original plan was to go to Niagara Falls from New Hampshire, but Larry figured we could save about 450 miles by traveling across Canada from Montreal to Ste. St. Marie. Considering gasoline prices and that we’d seen Niagara several times, we opted for the shorter route. We arrived in the UP in time to ferry over to gorgeous Mackinac Island with Larry’s brother Mark, sister-in-law Bonnie, niece Karen and her husband Rick. We attended the pow wow of the Mackinac Band (to which some of Larry’s family belong), enjoyed the Lilac Festival Parade, and ended the day with a special meal to celebrate Mark and Bonnie’s 5oth anniversary. Mackinac Island is a soul-lifting experience—quaint, clean, omnipresent views of the water, and no cars—only bicycles and the clopping sound of horse-drawn taxis and carriages. Another breathtaking day!

We drove Rte. 2 west across the UP, stopping in Gladstone to tour the Heough Industries, the oldest maker of pet caskets, which they market to pet cemeteries all over the country. It was fascinating—a fun quirky thing to do. We camped at a beautiful county lake in Ironwood, then proceeded the next day to Duluth, MN, where we spent an overnight with John and Lyn Pegg. Carol was John’s secretary at a UCC church in Gloversville, NY, years ago, and Carol and Larry were married by John in his backyard—26 years ago. They have been down to Koinonia a couple times, so we seem to connect every so often. They had just returned from a three-week ferry trip to Alaska, which further piqued our desire to go there, hopefully in 2006.

Medora, North Dakota

Our next destination was Medora, ND, with a stop in Bismarck on the way, to view the statue of Sacagawea (the Shoshone Indian woman who helped the Lewis & Clark expedition) and spend a little time in the Heritage Museum there. We had heard about Medora when we camped at the north end of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park on our way to Regina years before. We learned that they had a wonderful outdoor musical there, and decided we would attend it in celebration of our own anniversary. Little did we know what a fascinating story the town held or that the musical was an integral piece of its history.

The town was founded in 1883 by the French Marquis de Mores, who was bored with high society in the east and decided to open a meat processing plant in the West. He named the town Medora, in honor of his beautiful, cultured wife, and they built a lovely chateau overlooking the Badlands that lead into the National Park. After several years, his enterprise failed and he left, later to be killed at the age of 38 during a venture in Africa. Medora returned to their chateau for a brief visit in 1903, and we were privileged to attend a living history presentation on the porch of their chateau where a woman shared Medora’s life story.

Theodore Roosevelt fell in love with the area when he came out to hunt buffalo in the fall 1883 and invested in cattle raising, eventually owning two large ranches--one seven miles south of Medora and the other about 35 miles north. The Theodore Roosevelt National Park is situated on 110 acres on the north edge of Medora, with the campground where we stayed just five miles from the center of the town. In the park, we saw dozens of prairie dogs, deer, a bison, and some of the wild horses that still roam the area. It was in North Dakota that Roosevelt regained his health and healed from the deaths of his wife and mother. He credited his years in Dakota as preparing him for the presidency at age 42.

In the early 1960’s, along came Harold Shaffer (founder of the Gold Seal Wax Company, Snowy Bleach & Mr. Bubble), a true rags-to-riches story, the youngest winner of the Horatio Alger Award, and a down-to-earth humanitarian. He decided to restore the Theodore Roosevelt Hotel, and ended up financing much of the restoration and modernization of the town. Under Shaffer’s patronage, The Medora Musical was created to keep alive the Dakota story and to pay tribute to Teddy Roosevelt. It is performed on a stage at the foot of a steep slope to an audience seated in an amphitheatre looking out at the badlands. In its 40th year, it is a rousing musical review with specialty acts, a gospel medley, reenactment of Roosevelt leading his Rough Riders in the charge up San Juan Hill during the Spanish American War, and ends with a patriotic medley as a huge flag is displayed against the night sky. It was uplifting and heartwarming! Preceding the musical, we attended the unique and delicious Pitchfork Fondue steak dinner in an open-air shelter on the bluff. Steaks are skewered on the tines of pitchforks and fondued in caldrons of hot oil. A chuck wagon buffet was served as accompaniment!

P.S. For you RVers, you can volunteer there for one week and enjoy all town’s attractions free on your off hours, plus free camping. Call 1-800-MEDORA-1 for information. All the volunteers we talked with really enjoyed their experience.

Montana – Big Sky Country

Our destination in Montana was the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Great Falls, Montana, where Lewis and Clark had to portage around 5 large water falls, an endeavor that took them almost three weeks. We spent the morning in the Center, then walked along the Missouri to Giant Springs State Park to view the phenomenon of Giant Springs, where water from the mountains flows through cracks in the limestone, eventually coming up to the surface at a force of about 300 pounds per square inch and discharging 134 gallons per minute. The water is excellent for trout, and empties into the world’s shortest river, the Roe (fish eggs) River, 201 feet long. A state hatchery for cutthroat trout is operated at the park.

We then drove to see 4 of the 5 waterfalls (the fifth is under water). All of the falls have been dammed to produce electricity and it was sad not to be able to see them as Lewis and Clark did. Nevertheless, the river and scenery were beautiful and worth seeing. 2004-06 mark the Bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, a mind-boggling feat that is singular in the annals of exploration and resulted in a wealth of knowledge about our fledgling new nation.

An unexpected treat for Carol was spending a couple hours in the museum and gallery of the great Western artist Charles Russell, who painted and sculpted most of his 5000 works in Great Falls. Most interesting were the illustrated letters he sent to friends.

We headed into the mountains on scenic Route 200 around six o’clock, as dark clouds dropped water ahead of us. Fortunately, we didn’t encounter the storm but did capture some beautiful pictures of the clouded mountains. After crossing the Continental Divide at Clark’s Pass, we stopped for the night at a rest area about 40 miles from Missoula. In the morning we made a Wal-Mart stop in Missoula, then made our way back onto Route 200, retracing last year’s drive on that spectacularly scenic highway that winds along several rivers, through mountains, and along pristine Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho. This time Carol was armed with her digital camera and hung out the couch window snapping pictures—the ones she dreamed about getting last year! She’s honed them down to a modest number, and hopes they inspire you to travel that route someday yourself.

Route 200 intersects Route 2 west in Idaho, about 10 miles from the Washington border. From the town of Newport, it is just 13 miles to the campground from which this was written—and now you are back to where our travelogue began. We hope you have enjoyed sharing our adventure. It was too awesome to keep to ourselves!

We are excited about beginning another chapter of our lives as full-timers in the Great Northwest. We look forward to time spent with family and grandchildren, campground life, working with the numerous Habitat for Humanity affiliates in the area, and doing programs on volunteering at the campgrounds. We also invite you to consider a visit out our way. We’d love to see you and show you around. If you’ve never been to the Northwest, you owe it to yourself to see it. You won’t be disappointed.

We do hope that all is well in your lives and that you will drop us a line now and then. We hold you all in our hearts and prayers and ask you to keep us in your prayers as well. As always, we look forward to finding out what life has waiting around the bend--

Bountiful blessings,

Carol and Larry (Patches, too!)