Kentucky weed

Yup, Ohio has cows, also. And the country's slowest drivers. Kentucky, on the other hand, has drivers that rival Californians for speed and stupidity.

Saw more family this morning for breakfast, then went down to Lexington, Kentucky for a visit with Sara's side of the family. Hopefully, Miles can keep his various Aunt's straight, now.

Okay, so the pictures include Ione, Joan, Sandi, and Barbara. Did everybody get them right?

Friendship, Indiana. Home of the NMLRA and the National Championships of Muzeleloading. Also, the place Tom camped every fall with his Dad. Sara had never heard of it, so it was time to go.

It also has no cell service at all, nowhere, something we didn't plan on. This tends to panic Fathers-in-law, but it was actually kind of nice not being in contact. Sara still had satellite radio so she could keep up with the Angels.

Tom completely broke the Keyboard, so it will be short, handwritten entries until we get another one.

In true Friendship fashion, it was muggy as hell for 2 days, then it rained. And rained, and rained. The creek rose 4 feet in a matter of hours. Miles drew a crowd with his puddle-splashing antics. And we did a little bit of shooting, and a lot of shopping. Sara got to meet Homer Dangler, the gunsmith who crafted her rifle, and a friend of Tom's Dad. So now Sara has competed in the National Championships.

Now we are back in signal range in Toledo, Ohio. Nothing like dropping in on relatives without warning. Its time to seriously load up the motor home with family memorabilia, then turn aroundand head West. Yes, the return trip begins tomorrow.

ALIVE

We are still alive! Spent 6 days with no cell access. Now driving down the road, will post more later.

Spam, spam spam spam...

Sing along with me...Spam spam spam Lovely spam,...

The first spam comment has shown up. That's 3 comments, and 1 spammer. I'll be nice and not count Dave's comments as spam.

We'll ceep watching. (Lost the cay on my _eyboard yesterday) If it gets too heavy, I'll start moderating comments.

By the way, the beard is gone. Votes didn't do it, but 98% humidity has done it. Damn thing had to go. They ITCH!

Corn!

Ah Illinois! The land of rolling corn fields, flat corn fields, and ... well, more corn fields. Started out pretty dreary today, but cleared up nicely in the afternoon. The promise rain for tomorrow, we'll see.

We're sitting in central/southern Illinois, ready for the final dash tomorrow to Friendship. Bet we'll see more cornfields. And yes, we found more cows today.

Sara spotted a Denny's today, bringing the world series of Denny's spotting closer. It's now 8 to 5 in favor of Tom. This is after a 3 state drought when we wondered if they just didn't have Denny's close to the Mississippi.

We have lots of pictures of corn fields, but thought they might bore you...

And we saw a fellow California traveler. Later, Miles got to hold a real live squirmy earthworm in his hand. Right next to the campground is a farm, so he got to watch the tractor wor_ing, also. And Cicadas! I forgot all about those! Man, those suc_ers are loud!

Made an early stop today in southern Wisconsin, at the Rustic Barn Campground. Here's the rustic barn.

There was the mighty Mississippi, not loo_ing too impressive, yet.

welcome to Wisconsin

Sometime around noon, Miles began as_ing, "Daddy, can you find us a state without cows?" Just then we passed in to Wisconsin, and cows too_ on a whole new significance.

We bid farewell to Mecca today and travelled east. A horrible tragedy struc_. The _eyboard bro_e! Can you guess which letter bit the dust? Yup. The _ is gone. And the J and H next to it are misbehaving, also. So much for the fancy wireless bluetooth _eyboard. Do you have any idea how many words have that fuc_ing letter in them?

The Hajj

Wondering where we went? What Mecca is to Muslims, Forest City Iowa is to Winnebago owners. We made it in last night, and Tom had an 0700 service appointment this morning. Precisely at 0700 legions of Winnebago service technicians march out to meet the faithful, waiting with their prayers of repair.

The holy technician re-repaired several items that our local California dealer had "repaired". They also installed metal valve stems to make it easier to check tire pressures. Our California had demanded $580 dollars for the chore that Winnebago did for $108.

We did the factory tour. Pretty dang impressive. Sure, it's got corporate spin written all over it, but the manufacturing is quite impressive. Watched 3 parallel assembly lines cranking along. Actually saw several View/Navions under construction, it gave us a good feeling. We're leaving town rested and rejuvenated, and once again with a happy refridgerator. Besides, you have to love the original owner of the company. "Booze, Sex, and Weekends - you can never take them away from Americans!"

Tomorrow we changed plans. Time to duck up to Wisconsin for a night. We haven't seen enough cows yet.

TANSTAAFL!

South Dakota is a big state! We drove all day and we're still in it. We managed to retain control and went right by Wall Drug without stopping.

However, we could not pass Cabela's in Mitchell. They lure you in with free RV parking, then suck you into the store. Free RV parking it was not! But the store was incredible, Miles named off most of the animals. And an aquarium with 4-foot long catfish!

Tomorrow it is off to Iowa. We'll see where our motorhome was made, and have them work on it, too. And it's time to get back off the interstate!

Vote!

Okay, it's been a week. The more that grows in, the more I look like my brother Guy. This is not a good thing. I said I'd give it two weeks before deciding, but I'm not sure I can wait. Miles thinks it's cool, Sara thinks it's stupid.

Do you side with Miles or Sara? Keep it or shave it?

Dinosaurs!

Watched the mass exodus from the park today, felt guilty about not having to go back to work. It's just us and the retirees now.

Went into Hill City and toured a dinosaur exhibit. Miles knew several of the names better than I did. Of course we toured the gift shop, also. Had lunch at a local restaurant. The food was good but the wait staff was having major grumble wars with each other. Miles' placemat had drawings of tools on them. The conversation went something like this:

"Miles, I need to cut a board in half, which tool do I use?"
He pointed to the saw, and said, "this one".

"Miles, I need to tighten a bolt, which tool do I use?"
He pointed to the wrench.

"Miles, I'm a vodka and orange juice cocktail, which tool am I?"
Darn kid pointed right to the screwdriver. Either he is very smart or a mind reader. I don't even like screwdrivers!

Sunday, September 3rd (we think)

Wow, what a day. If South Dakota could keep every day like this, nobody would live in California. Started with a pancake breakfast at the campground. All you can eat for 2$ means nobody else cooks! We also spotted another View in the campground - only the second one of the trip. They are Mike and Betty from Minnesota, and they already knew all about the Yahoo group, turbo resonators, etc. We played show and tell with our different rigs. They tow a trailer with an incredible Goldwing in it. I am so jealous! These roads were made for motorcycle touring. David, they even beat the Santa Cruz mountains!

Today we went for a drive around the area and did some geocaching. This got us off the beaten path and away from the tourist spots. We drove the "Needles Highway" - a tight twisting road with multiple tiny tunnels. The View would have fit through all but one of the tunnels - fortunately we were in a rental car, not the motorhome.

Miles loves his "treasure hunting"