Author: Roger Engdahl and Susan Green

December, 2024.

We met Richard and Betty Bark from San Diego, CA at a Foretravel Grandvention in Columbus, Indiana, ten years ago. We have stayed in touch and met for a week one year in the Black Hills of South Dakota and a few days at Quartzsite in Arizona. And a couple of times for just a day or two at a time as well.

We have been trying to find a place and time where we could get together for a couple of weeks. This year we decided to make it happen on the Oregon Coast. It is one of our favorite places to go and gave us a chance to see Glacier NP again, our friends Klaus and Jean Peters in NE Washington, and my sister, Judy and her husband, Bruce on the Oregon coast. And as long as we were going, we added a (my) bucket list stop at the Boeing Museum and Everett Plant Tour. On the way home we planned a stop in the Tetons, another favorite place to visit.

All of this started with planning up front, the when and where sort of thing. To get reservations where, when, and in which sites we had to get online exactly six months to the day ahead of time and make reservations. We do this all the time these days, even as much as a year or more in advance. Richard and Betty had never made reservations that far in advance or for that long. But they were up for it. The Oregon State Parks reservations meant for them getting up before 6 AM and getting online and ready to click on the button to make our selections. We had been checking each day for several days in advance to make our best guesses as to which sites would be available. We made reservations at Ft Stevens State Park near Astoria. And then a few days later for a longer stay at Nehalem Bay State Park near Manzanita, Oregon. They overlapped by one day to get the sites we wanted at Nehalem Bay. There were a few anxious moments hoping for the days and sites we wanted but it worked. We were all ready and got what we hoped for.

Ditch Digging

Between getting the driveway paved and our pickup fixed and all of our other summer projects, my dermatologist was concerned about a spot on my head, so she took a sample. They said it was squamous cell carcinoma and it needed to get removed with a Mohs procedure. So that got squeezed in. Removing a small 1/2” thing left quite a hole. When the football shaped excavation was all stitched up I felt like my ears were raised.

All of my hair covers up the hardly visible scar now.

Load ‘em Up, Roll ‘em Out

After the broken tow bar incident in April, the coach got patched up well enough for travel. The pickup truck was finished just a week before we were scheduled to leave. A new tow bar had arrived and got installed and there was some last-minute wiring and connections left to get done on the pickup. It all got done in time.

We loaded up the coach and made ready for the trip west. It was more like a road trip than we have done for some time. We needed a wide range of clothes for different weather. Food choices for sharing. We were ready and we left.

Glacier NP

We headed off across North Dakota.

Good grief, it was hot. The last time we crossed ND it was 116°. North Dakota is almost as far North as you can get in the continental US, how come it is so hot? We ran the generator and all of the air conditioning. We stopped in a tiny city park in Buffalo in far eastern North Dakota and then in Medora, just about as far west as you can get in North Dakota. We have driven across South Dakota too at other times. Somehow crossing North Dakota seems to be a more interesting drive. And if it is hot in North Dakota, it is hot in South Dakota.

One more stop in Columbus, MT, and then to Wye, MT just south of Flathead Lake. The Eastern half of Montana was hot too.

Maggie helped with navigation. Jim and Mary’s RV Park was quite nice with lots of flowers, trees, and green grass.

Then North along Flathead Lake to the west side of Glacier NP to Mountain Meadow RV Park, about 8 miles west of Glacier NP. We were looking for a spot in the park but sites to fit even our smaller 36 ft motorhome were limited. And our friend Klaus Peters was driving over to meet us for a couple of days so we stayed just outside of the park.

We were surprised to find out that to get into Glacier NP you needed a daily pass for your car and everyone in it. These passes were only available on the night before you wanted to get in after 7 PM and only online and only good for one day. The last time we were in Glacier (1980) there was no such thing as “online” just “in-line”.

We wanted to drive the Going to the Sun Road, have lunch at McDonald Lodge, and visit the Many Glacier area.

We got a pass and drove over the Going to the Sun Road. It was crowded. That is why the daily passes. We stopped at a couple of turn outs for a look.

Klaus took a classy family portrait.

He took many, the scenery was spectacular.

The U-shaped valleys were carved by glaciers. When we were here in 1980 there were many more glaciers than there are today. And those left are much, much smaller.

Some people crossed the Road to the Sun the hard way. Whew!

Pretty interesting things to see in every direction.

We were going to stop at Logan Pass, the high point of the Road to the Sun but the parking lot was full and there was a long line of cars waiting to get in. We continued to East Glacier for a bathroom break and a cup of coffee. We wanted to go back into the park at Many Glacier but we were unable to get a one-day pass for that entrance. So we reversed course and went East to West on the Road to the Sun.

On the way back we stopped at Lake McDonald Lodge for a late lunch. It was closed for a special event. Best laid plans you know. We never did get there for lunch.

The fleet of rebuilt red touring busses is still running and for many would be a better way to drive, just ride and look.

So we had a long day of driving and sightseeing. That evening we got a pass for the Many Glacier entrance and had a nice dinner with Klaus.

The next day we gathered up Maggie and drove around the bottom of the park and up to Many Glacier. The road to the Many Glacier Entrance was almost all torn up. We drove over softball-sized rocks on the way in. No need for a speed limit here, no one went more than 5 mph. The Park Ranger at the entrance station said that the entire mountainside was slowly sliding downhill, there was no stopping it. The fix was going to be a very long elevated roadway above the moving rock. Someday.

We got to Many Glacier Lodge, did some exploring and had a nice lunch.

We drove down to the campground where we stayed in 1980. It was a nice campground, we chatted with the campground host who was from Wisconsin. It didn’t look like what we remembered. Actually, we didn’t remember much at all.

We could see remnants of the Angel Glacier. I hiked up there in 1980. Not much left now. But we did remember the scenery and mountains in the Many Glacier area are some of the best in the park.

By the time we got home it was well over a 100 mile day. But a good one.

We were glad to go back to Glacier NP if for no other reason than to see what was left. It was surprising how crowded it was, how they had to limit the number of incoming vehicles each day, and how that changed the experience of the visit. We have heard that other very popular parks are on the verge of implementing similar plans to protect the parks from overuse. If you have been to Yellowstone in the summer recently you can see the overcrowding, too much traffic, and the impact on the park itself.

NE Washington

We headed west into Idaho and then towards the most NE corner of Washington. Right near where the Columbia River comes into Washington from Canada to visit Klaus and Jean Peters.

They have been to many corners of the world with Klaus’ Mobil Oil career. They could have ended up anywhere after they retired but chose this corner of Washington.

Their property was just land when they bought it 30 years or so ago. Since then they have built several houses, barns, and sheds. Their main house burned down and is being rebuilt. The house near the entrance to the property got sold with some land to now good neighbors. Two other houses get used to live in and for guests.

One of the houses in use today.

The new main house being rebuilt.

Three Great Pyreneese dogs and a German Shepherd. And three horses in the barn.

Jean takes care of the horses.

And they have a mountain top cabin.

And some more property with a horse ranch, a runway, and a hanger.

Klaus took us for a drive to an overlook of the Columbia River.

It was fun to visit for a few days. They seem to have lots going on all the time. We appreciate the hospitality.

North Cascades NP

Our next stop was going to be at North Cascades National Park. There was no way to get there. All possible roads were closed by wildfires. So on to Anacortes, WA on the north end of Puget Sound.

Anacortes, WA

The traffic in the Seattle area is crazy. We got to I5 near Everett and spent 3 hours on a 1-hour trip to Anacortes.

We stayed 3 nights in 2 spots in the county campground. Both sites were in the woods, very close quarters, winding, hilly roads, and tight turns.

We know several folks who have spent the summer in Anacortes. It is a nice place but I don’t think they were staying in the county park. There are a few private RV parks nearby and a new one just opening up on the edge of town on the water. It would be nice to go back, maybe explore the area more, maybe stay on the other side of Puget Sound on the south end. That’s a whole other trip.

Southbound

Our next stop was Fort Stevens State Park in Oregon near Astoria. Apple Maps suggested it would take about 4 hours and 30 minutes. It did not figure in Seattle traffic. It was almost 8 hours.

Richard and Betty were delayed for a few days so we had to entertain ourselves. That didn’t take long. Klaus had mentioned he was looking for a Mercedes Benz-based camper. My sister and her husband had a Leisure Travel Van that they wanted to sell. I gave them phone numbers to let them talk directly. My sister and her husband were at their beach house near Nehalem Bay an hour south of Ft Stevens. The camper was in Portland 2 1/2 hours from Ft Stevens.

The talking was done, a deal was close, and Klaus wanted me to look at the camper and report.

My sister’s husband Bruce picked me up in Ft Stevens and we drove to Portland. I did an amateur-level inspection, best I could do, took it for a test drive, took pictures, and thought it looked pretty good.

I reported to Klaus what I had seen. There were a couple of things to fix which Bruce arranged to get done. Klaus drove to Portland the next week in his Jeep and completed the deal. He hooked up his Jeep and towed it home behind the Leisure Travel Van the next day. Everyone was happy.

This is getting long, I will finish the Out West Trip in the next post.

More Later, Much Love

Susan, Maggie, and Roger

Work Camp is over, now it is down to our projects. Our list was made before we left Fredericksburg and we added to it on the way home. Many more items have been added since. As we saw with the Work Camp, project creep happens all the time to almost everything.

The projects were broken up into groups; House, Coach, Maggie, and Shop, pretty much the priority as well. Here are some highlights.

And while all of this was happening I was back to work at Habitat for Humanity, usually two days a week.

House Projects

Trim work

The highest priority house project was to install a door between the work/storage room and the room where the water heater, water softener, and water pump are located. For some reason, we call it the water room. And then finish up the woodwork trim in two closets downstairs and the newly installed door. Upstairs there was some trim left to do in the hallway between our bedroom and the bathroom and in the closet. Everything downstairs is done except painting the new door. The upstairs closet is done and almost everything in the hallway is done. What is left there is the threshold between the hall and the bathroom and the trim pieces at either end. All of the parts are made I just ran out of time to finish installing them. The threshold and the trim pieces at each end have 35 individual pieces, some very small. They require great care to cut safely. I will finish them soon. Or maybe not. Priorities shift.

Flag Pole

We got a Flag Pole kit last summer and debated for months about where it should go. Susan read that it should be visible from the street. We live in the woods, no matter where we put it, seeing it from the street was going to be challenging with the leaves on the trees. I wanted to be able to see the flags from the house. Our compromise location was towards the NE corner of the shop, between the House and the shop

This involved digging a hole 18” in diameter by 24” deep. The first 8” or so were not hard, a shovel worked OK. And then much harder dirt mixed with rocks, big rocks. The next foot and a half was done with a post-hole digger. Each jab with the 30 lb post-hole digger yielded 2 or 3 cups of dirt. I pried out some good-sized rocks and fished them out by hand. This was exhausting and hard work.

This digging came after going to pick up 6-60 lb bags of concrete mix. I lifted them off the pile and onto a cart and then lifted them again into the back of the pickup. I lifted them again from the pickup and stacked them on the deck of the shop. This move really strained my hips and butt. I had to lift the bag and then step up onto the shop deck.

Once the hole was ready I put in a 16” concrete form tube and centered the sleeve that the flag pole sits in. Then moved (again) the bags of concrete to where we were mixing the concrete, lifting them one more time and dumping them into the mixing bucket (a 5-gallon plastic pail) and mixing with my 1/2 drill with a mixing attachment. Susan says it is like a giant immersion blender. So much easier said than done. And then picked up the bucket with 60 lbs of concrete mix and water to dump into the form.

I finally figured out that the water goes into the bucket first, then 1/3 of the mix, blend, more mix, more blending, and finally the rest of the mix and blend more adding water as needed for a pourable consistency. And then move the bucket and dump it in.

After some back-breaking digging, moving bags of concrete mix, and equally difficult mixing the form was full, the pole was set in the sleeve and braced to be as vertical as we could make it. We left it cure for a couple of days.

Looks pretty good. We even have a newly redesigned Minnesota State Flag. I added lights that come on at dusk and off at dawn to light up the flags. The pole is tall enough that the flag is just visible from the street. As Fall approached it was even more visible.

Driveway

We have had a gravel driveway since we built the house in 2000. We always figured someday we would pave the driveway with asphalt. It would be cleaner and easier to shovel in the winter. This year was going to be the year.

In the RV park in Alabama where we stay for the winter the asphalt roads are bordered by flat concrete curbs. This protects the edges of the asphalt from heavy RV tires and separates the driveway from the grass. And it looks nice.

I checked with the asphalt folks and they gave me a price that was more than the asphalt paving was going to be. I checked with the concrete guy in Hastings who has done most of our concrete work before and his price price was less than 1/4 that of the asphalt folks. We decided to go for it.

After some digging and scraping the forms for the curbs were placed. The height from side to side was set to allow for good drainage. The width between the curbs was at least the width of the paving machine. The rebar was placed and concrete was poured.

A week and a half later the asphalt crew showed up.

They did the final grading, added some fill where needed, dug some out where it was not, and rolled it all out.

The asphalt laying machine puts down just the right amount and does the first of the compaction. They used highway-grade asphalt and a thicker layer than is normally used for driveways. They started with the area in front of the shop.

And then moved to the end of the existing driveway.

Past the shop.

All the way to the street.

The rollers were at the ready.

It was hot stuff! It is about 300 degrees as it is laid down, after rolling it was still hot enough to boil water.

They were all done in just half a day. 87 tons of asphalt, nearly 800 ft of curb.

We stayed off the driveway for a week with the cars and a month with the coach. It takes some time for it to cool and set.

There is more to do. Much more. I have been adding fill along the outside edges of the curbs and once that is done and it is compacted then we will add topsoil from the curbs blending it back into the existing lawn. Starter fertilizer and grass seed, before we leave in November, will have us seeing new grass in April.

It took most of the summer to fill in along the curbs with a compactable gravel mix, 5 cubic yards of it, and then 10 cubic yards of sifted topsoil to smooth out the transition from the curbs to the existing yard. Our garden cart holds about 1/4 of a yard of dirt or less at a time, at least that is as much as I could put in it and still move it. So three or four carts filled with dirt in each morning session and after many days the dirt pile slowly disappeared.

Maggie was out there with me most of the time off-leash. She got very good at staying nearby. When I couldn’t see her I would call and she would come running.

The dirt was raked smooth, fertilizer spread and raked in, 25 lbs of grass seed spread and raked in, and a thin layer of straw was applied to help hold it in place. The next day it rained, perfect. Three days later we left for the winter.

Tree Removal

When we bought this property and built our house we thought great, we have less lawn here than we did in St Paul, and it will be easy to take care of. Well, the lawn is but there are two acres of woods to take care of as well. And it is continuous work. You have to keep up with it. And it is trees.

We had many ash trees die over the last year. The Emerald Ash Borers finally got to our area and every ash tree is now dead. The bugs kill one tree and move on to the next. On our property, there are at least 60 dead ash trees, more likely closer to 80. My neighbor counted almost 100 on his property. It sounds like a lot and it is, but our 2.5 acres are mostly woods. Removing all of these trees will just open up the woods a bit.

And there is a very large, very old Oak tree next to the deck on the back side of the house. It has some disease. We cut down one major part of it last summer and had the tree treated hoping to save it. It didn’t work. So that tree needed to come down as well.

We hired a tree removal company to cut down about 22 Ash trees that were near the house, one Elm, and the dead Oak. I will tackle the remaining Ash trees next summer.

The three-person crew showed up first thing one morning and had at it. The trees came down, the branches were cut off, and the trunks were cut into manageable sizes. They had a tractor-like machine with pinchers on the front that moved all of the branches into piles and the logs onto a trailer. The logs went up the street to a neighbor who cuts them into firewood to heat his house. They made quick progress.

The Oak tree was challenging, much of it was close to the deck and house.

The lead cutter harnessed up and scampered up the tree like a monkey. He was probably 50, maybe more. Up he went. He hooked up lines to secure himself and his tool and to tie off chunks of the tree that he was cutting off to control where they fell. The two fellows on the ground helped with the ropes and used the tractor machine to anchor the ropes to the parts being cut off.

Yikes! The whole tree came down in pieces like this.

They were there for two days and cut all of the trees down, moved all of the logs, removed the brush and branches, and cleaned up. I would have been doing well to cut down a couple of Ash trees from the ground and clean up at the same time.

Coach Projects

I took the coach over to the fellow who does service for me. He changed the oil and oil filter and lubricated the chassis. Lots of crawling around underneath. He also checked all of the connections between moving parts of the suspension. The coach is 24 years old. He said they were all good, that in trucks these parts last hundreds of thousands of miles. We are at about 120,000 miles.

We managed to lose 9 more shiny plastic lug nut covers and the plastic cap that goes over the rear axle hub somewhere this summer. I have replaced at least a dozen or more of these lug nut covers over the years, they just come off and are lost. They are about $7 each so after 9 more were gone and a hub cover went away I decided to get stainless steel covers that will not come off.

The new covers cover both the hub and the lug nuts. Pretty nice looking I think.

When we are parked for a while and the steering wheel is tilted up it seems like a good place to put things. I have seen that other folks make some sort of a tray that sits up there. So I made one for us.

I made the front end squared off and a bit longer. Cherry wood to match the coach. It fits well and stores easily when we travel. And perfect for our small Christmas tree in December.

I also serviced the generator – changed the oil, and replaced the oil filter, two fuel filters and the air filter.

I replaced the coach air filter, added two new water filters for the coach water, cleaned the basement, and sorted all of the basement storage tubs.

Pretty much normal maintenance stuff. I do as much of it as I can myself.

Pickup Truck Repairs

After the tow bar broke the front of the pickup needed to be repaired. It took a month to finally get all of the insurance stuff straightened out, they had a hard time visualizing how the truck ran into the back of the coach with no one driving it. Finally, the repair shop and a local adjuster got it worked out and the truck went into the shop for repairs. It took a month to complete While it was in the shop I had an odd Nissan rental SUV.

The vast majority of the work was replacing plastic parts on the front end. You can’t really repair them. And for some reason, they are slow in coming.

But when it was all done the truck looked like new. A very nice job by Kiss’s Auto Body in Newport, MN.

So all of this consumed most of our summer at home. We did manage to spend 2 months on the road. That is the next story.

More Later, Much Love

Maggie, Susan, and Roger

May 26, 2024

Our good friends Amanda and Douglas asked if they could come and visit us in Hastings and help them install a new residential refrigerator in their Foretravel. Of course, we said. We did the residential refrigerator in our coach in 2014 so we knew (we thought we knew) what we were signing up for.

A Camp Hastings Work Camp

They arrived in the afternoon on Monday, May 6th. They parked, plugged in and we went to the American Legion in Hastings for burgers.

The Legion has a nice patio overlooking the Mississippi River and the Hastings Bridge.

It was a rainy day when their refrigerator arrived a few days earlier.

My first thought was that it was upside down, but that box was not theirs. Lots of nice cardboard, a big plastic bag, and there it was. I plugged it in to make sure it worked and let it run until the day before we moved it into the coach.

Remove and Replace

The contents, doors, and all of the interior parts were removed from the old refrigerator. It was detached from the cabinet and slid out onto a roller platform with some riser blocks to match the bottom of the shelf where the refrigerator was installed. We took the riser blocks out to lower it down, removed the kitchen table and the cabinet in front of the living room window, and rolled it up next to a window in the side of the coach.

The old refrigerator sat on a shelf that was removed. Douglas spent a few hours rearranging cables and pipes at the back of the cabinet. I made and installed a new side vent cover and a platform for the new refrigerator to sit on. We added a hole in the floor for the existing solar panel wiring to go into the basement.

The new base has recesses where the refrigerator feet go as well as holes to replace the feet with a bolted, leveling option which was used in the final installation.

We rented a material lift, sort of a manual-powered fork lift to help remove the old refrigerator and get the new refrigerator into the coach. I also needed it to hoist a new AC to the roof of my coach.

The AC went up in its box. Susan did a good job of cranking. The old and new ACs were swapped and the box was lowered.

Amanda and Douglas’s coach window was removed, the lift was raised to the appropriate height, and the old refrigerator tipped into the window opening, lifted, and moved out onto the lift. Out it went, lowered down, off the lift, and dollied out of the way leaving plenty of room for the new refrigerator. I hauled the old refrigerator to the recycler’s place. $15 fee. Not bad.

Quite a bit of time went into removing the shelves, drawers, and doors of the new refrigerator and a couple of rolls of blue tape were applied just in case. We moved it into place, onto the lift, and up it went, and right into the coach.

It was a close fit but just big enough. It landed on the rolling platform, we rolled it over to the opening, and “Bob’s your Uncle” it was in place.

Douglas was intently looking for something and Maggie was happy to see me sit down for a minute. She likes to lick my nose.

The window was replaced using a foam gasket, a bit harder to compress than the original caulking tape.

At the end of the third day, the refrigerator was in place, the doors could have gone back on so that the trim could get made but they weren’t. The refrigerator was in and out of the hole many times while details were tweaked. Eventually, Douglas hooked up the water supply and did the front anchor bolts. After another 10 days, it was finally in place with the doors on and the trim was finalized. We used the front panels from the old refrigerator to make the trim.

It seems like the trim would be easy but the cabinet opening was wider at the top than at the bottom and neither side was parallel to the refrigerator. I did my best to make it fit and look right. The top panel has vent slots. The trim edges matched the kitchen drawers. Finally, the important stuff went into the refrigerator freezer section, DQ treats.

A Side Trip

While we were working on all of this, a good friend of Amanda and Douglas passed away in Michigan. They rented a car and took a three-day trip to attend his services.

Project Creep

Every project starts with a goal. Almost always something new comes up and gets added into the mix. In this case, the idea of connecting the two existing solar panels on the D&As coach morphed into removing the existing panels, buying 4 new higher-wattage panels, putting them on their coach, connecting all the wiring, running it down through the roof behind the new refrigerator and hooking all of those up. 1680 watts in 4 new JA Solar 420-watt panels that Amanda found less than 20 miles away for $150 each. We scheduled those to be picked up when they got back. Douglas ordered more solar cables and another solar charge controller, fuse block, and disconnect switch.

While they were gone I removed the two 300-watt panels that were on their roof and with Susan’s help lowered them to the ground. I washed them and tested them and they were good as new.

I got our coach out of the barn, finished the AC install, and put a soft-start module in each one. These reduce the power required to start the AC compressor and make it possible to run both ACs on a 30 amp connection.

Susan helped me hoist the panels up onto the roof of our coach. I carefully marked the locations of the mounting brackets, sanded each spot down to the gel coat layer, cleaned the area well, and wiped the area and the mounting brackets with a 3M prep and adhesion promoter. Then I applied a 3M VHB tape to the target area on the roof where the mounting brackets would sit. The hard part is getting the plastic tape off the back side of the VHB tape. Once that was done I positioned the panels over the targets and lowered the panel mounting brackets down onto the VHB tape. I pressed the brackets down onto the VHB tape. And then caulked around each bracket. That is all you have to do.

VHB tape is a very high-strength double-sided tape. The brackets are 12” long and 1.5” wide. With that much VHB tape in each corner, it would take more than 5,000 lbs to pull the panel from the roof. The roof itself or the panel will fail before the tape lets loose.

I ran the panel cables down behind my refrigerator to a new solar charger and then to the batteries. We now have 1800 watts of solar on the roof of our coach.

Before A&D returned I got started on the wood trim for their refrigerator. Some final trimming would be needed for a perfect fit in an imperfect world.

Solar Panels

Once Amanda and Douglas returned we went to pick up the solar panels. They were loaded into my pickup truck, pallet and all.

We got back to Camp Hastings, unloaded the panels, and while Douglas finished removing the last of the remaining roof-top items, Amanda and I installed the panel brackets to each panel.

The panels went up one at a time and were positioned about where they would end up.

Target areas were marked, sanded, cleaned, and prepped. VHB tape was applied and the red backing was removed. Each panel was set onto the VHB tape, pressed down, and caulked. The panels were arranged to provide good access to the roof-top equipment.

The panels were secure. The cables were carefully strung so they would be secure and as hidden as possible. They run under a new cover plate that replaced the old refrigerator roof-top vent, down behind the refrigerator, and through a hole in the floor to the basement bay just below.

Not All Work and No Play

One evening we had lasagna and freshly baked buttermilk biscuits.

Amanda and Douglas have heard us talk about a local breakfast place near here, the North Pole Restaurant. We like the blueberry pancakes. We order one pancake or the smaller senior version

Our cautions went unheeded, we recommended a single pancake. They ordered two, the waitress also asked if they were sure, they were. Douglas ordered blueberry cakes, Amanda, had chocolate chip cakes. And they both had eggs and sausage too.

I ordered one blueberry pancake, and Susan ordered the smaller senior blueberry version with a single egg, and one piece of sausage.

Of course, they were surprised at the dinner plate-sized pancakes but were up for the challenge. They finally gave up and brought home a second breakfast’s worth of pancake remains.

Douglas started in the middle and ate towards the edges as we suggested to get most of the berries. Amanda plowed through the huge quantity of chocolate chips from the bottom up. Both did an admirable job.

It should be noted here that a single giant blueberry pancake, two eggs, and two pieces of sausage or bacon is just $10.99. Adding a second blueberry pancake is only $2.00 more. The senior version with egg and sausage or bacon is just $7.85. My kind of place.

And while Amanda and Douglas were in Michigan I stopped at Costco for a few of our normal things and a couple of fresh hot $4.99 rotisserie chickens. We saved one for their return dinner.

Reheated and delicious.

We went to the Dairy Queen twice for treats and the local Bierstube for dinner.

It’s a German restaurant with great Reuben sandwiches.

And we managed to get in a Quiddler game.

Maggie wants to play too, or maybe just wanted a treat.

We gave her a new stuffed toy to keep her busy.

These stuffed, soft toys have a very short life expectancy. We always wish them well.

The stuffing was flying. The squeaker and most of the white fuzzy stuff was out in under 15 minutes.

Amanda got some Maggie love too.

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And then we were done, as far as we were going to get anyway. A couple of things did not get finished. I loaned Douglas some tools to help finish his solar panel connections. He has new Lithium batteries to hook up as well. He should get it done this summer.

Amanda and Douglas are special friends. We are always willing to lend a hand when we can. It was a treat for them to be here for almost two weeks and for us to help them with projects that make life in their coach better in the way they use it.

We met them in Nacogdoches, TX one winter more than 10 years ago over cookies and milk. We see them whenever we can, a couple of times a year when we can. The next time should be this coming November.

Pictures in this post are mostly from Amanda, thanks! Between the two of us, there are more than 300 photos and videos.

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What’s up next for us? A summer trip to the Oregon Coast with a stop in Glacier National Park. We will spend a couple of weeks on the coast with our friends Richard and Betty from San Diego and my sister and her husband. And then a late season two-week visit to Grand Teton National Park. This is one of our favorite places to visit. It will be a new experience with Maggie.

More Later, Much Love,

Roger and Susan and Maggie

Maggie Knows Something Is Up

Maggie is pretty tuned into the normal things of every day life and seems to quickly notice when something changes. Our last few days have been a slow-motion packing up and getting ready to go dance. It is easier for us to do it that way. The steps get prioritized by what’s on the critical path to depart. So for example, tire pressures got checked on the coach and pickup several days before we were going to leave. Better to have time to do something than to find out on the morning we are leaving that we have a low tire.

Maggie knows all of this is not part of the everyday routine. She followed me around to every tire on the coach to see what I was doing.

And we think she is eating differently. Her morning breakfast is getting ignored. By dinner time she eats right away. It might be that we have been going out shopping or for coffee or lunch almost every morning, more often than usual. So we think she might just get fed once a day on the way home.

She is more snuggly than normal. We are not complaining.

If Flowers Aren’t Enough

The local newspaper this week summarized the “entertainment” venues in the region within 75 minutes, a short drive in Texas.

125 wineries, 45 breweries, 21 distilleries, and 7 multi-beverage stops

Just 10 years ago there were maybe 10 smaller wineries, only a few breweries, a couple of distilleries, and a multi-beverage stop was a convenience store at the gas station.

These are big businesses, lots of outside investment, a big influence on land and home prices, a big demand for workers, and a big affordable housing crunch. Short-term rentals (AirBnB sorts-of-things) have increased rapidly as have local controls, licensing, and taxes. Fredericksburg and the local area are much more than the small town that it was when we first came. Good or not, things change. But we like it and if all the tourists in town count, so do they.

Our RV park in the middle of town has changed owners three times since we have been coming here, and prices have gone up (they have everywhere to be fair). But it is still a comfortable RV Park, right in the middle of what we want to do.

Last Suppers

Many of our friends in Fredericksburg belong to the “Lunch-a-Lots” crew. They go out to lunch often. We go too.

We went to Woerner’s with Molly and Maureen and Mike and Jackie.

And we took Peggy to Mamacita’s, a nice Mexican place the next day. She likes the food there and they have tamales every day. I like those and they are not commonly on the menus of many Mexican restaurants. Mike and Jackie joined us at the last minute. It wasn’t busy so we had a nice unhurried time to chat.

It is a good way to say goodbye and spend some last time together. We always expect we will see everyone again but you never know.

In a recent article about Tom Sellick, I was reminded of a line from his 1990 western “Quigley Down Under” character who said, “Don’t know where I’m goin’, but there’s no use bein’ late.”

None of us really know where we are going, we can try to keep a hand on the rudder for the journey but the currents take us mostly where they want. There is life to be lived, get busy.

The Brown

Moving North is a time trip, each day moves us backward in the spring season. The landscape gets Browner each day. This year was not much different.

Our first night was in Thackerville, OK. We stayed in an old dreary Mom and Pop RV Park. It was 1/2 the price of the fancy WindStar Casino RV Park but fine for overnight.

And then came the black clouds, lightning, and thunder from every direction. We rolled up and latched the awnings, pulled in the slide, and battened down the hatches. It rained for a while, everything seemed to be some distance away, so we went to bed.

At 11 PM the phones started squawking tornado warnings in the area. A closer read said it was about 10 miles north. The warning expired at 11:45.

We sort of went to sleep again, we had the better part of 8 hrs to drive the next day. At about 2 AM the lightning and thunder were right on top of us, flash – boom. One after another. The thunder sounded almost continuous and the rain was very heavy. All of that was over by about 5 AM. We got some sleep and got up later than we were planning.

We had some breakfast and headed north about 1/4 mile on I35 and traffic came to a dead stop. It took more than 2 hours to go the next 6 miles. They were clearing debris from the interstate.

We were grateful that the tornados missed us. News reports said there were more than a dozen of them in Oklahoma that night. We are sorry for the loss these people and this small town have suffered.

Not much further north and the gray clouds turned to mostly blue skies, at least for us. We still had 8 hrs to go.

By staying on the toll way instead of the freeway we saved an hour and arrived at Lake Melvern Corp of Engineers (COE) Park SW of Kansas City at about 5:30 PM.

We slept well, very quiet here. This is a park we have stayed at before and will again when we come this way again. We should stay for several days, it is that nice. Fishing for seniors is free and the fellow I talked to in the morning already had 4 nice crappies in his creel.

It was surprisingly green in this area, much greener than last year.

We set out in the morning for Saylorville COE Park, just north of Des Moines.

The trees are leafing out, many still in the bud stage. Further along it seems than last year.

Driving towards the Minnesota border with Iowa, the trees were less leafed out, the fields definitely brown but many had been tilled and planted. Sooner than last year.

Towbar

We had a mishap just as we were getting to Minnesota. Our towbar connecting the coach to the F150 suddenly broke. The safety cables did their job keeping the pickup from careening across the highway. The brakes on the pickup did an amazing job of slowing the coach down. We were able to pull off the interstate at an exit and come to a stop.

With no rigid attachment, the pickup bumped into the right rear corner of the coach as we came to a stop.

And some scrapes and dents to the pickup.

Unfortunate, stuff happens. We disconnected the pickup and Susan drove it home following along behind me. We stopped once to double-check, and all seemed OK. Susan got some gas and away we went.

All is repairable, just more things on our summer to-do list.

We got home in the mid-afternoon.

Home Feels Good

We started up the house, the heat was turned up, the water pump turned on, and the water heater on. All three of us are wandering around in a much bigger space.

The moving from the coach to the house happens over several days. The medical appointments start in just a day or two, the list of summer projects is long and will keep us busy. Yes, home feels good.

We leave in just three months for the Oregon coast and the Tetons for August and September. And then in November, off again for the winter.

More Later, Much Love,

Maggie, Susan, and Roger

Wildflowers

Springtime in the Hill Country is famous for its great weather and wildflowers. This year was a bumper crop for the wildflowers with a dry and cooler early season which made the wildflower’s competition do poorly and then timely rain and warm sun got the season off to an early start.

Here are some pictures of some of the flowers I found on the internet which are in approximate order of their bloom sequence. It is only a small sample of the wildflowers found in the Hill Country.

And there are several white flower varieties sprinkled through the bloom as well. The wildflower season is late March into May, April mostly. I think I got this pretty close to right. Some Texas folk might think otherwise but it is close enough to appreciate. Come and see them for yourself and enjoy the Hill Country Spring.

Chicken Fried Steak

As long as we have been coming to Texas, the topic of Chicken Fried Steak (CFS) keeps coming up. Mostly about eating it. For some of our friends down here this is a staple food, it is what they eat when they go out. It is the measure of a restaurant – how good is the Chicken Fried Steak?

Now I think it is probably pretty subjective, sort of like where is the best Bar B Que. It depends. The best places have what you like. And since we have never had CFS, what do we know?

And just what is it? I was imagining it like a rib eye steak dipped in whatever they coat extra crispy KFC chicken with and chucked into a deep fryer. Maybe in some places, it is. You can get CFS at the local DQ. This is not quite fine dining, most likely something that comes out of the freezer and cooks in a deep fryer for 6 minutes.

Well, my local knowledgeable friends say it is a tenderized beef cutlet, dipped in all manner of coatings equal to the number of grandmothers wherever these are served, and maybe twice dipped or three times (ask grandma) and fried in a cast iron skillet. In lard for those who remember back far enough or something healthier more recently.

And served covered in a white gravy so that all that is apparent is a bit of the fried-up crusty edge sticking out here and there.

The meat, the varieties of spiced-up breaded coatings, the method of frying, the oil or lard used, and of course the gravy make up the almost limitless varieties of the best CFS ever.

So we gathered the CFS experts along with the never-had-CFS victims (Susan and me) and went to the Backwoods BBQ for Thursday night only Chicken Fried Steak. The owner cooks these up one at a time to order and brings them to the table herself. The mystery meat (not identified) was coated lightly much as we might do walleye at home, and fried one at a time in cast iron skillets for the appropriate time.

Our CFS was plated (a Food Network term for putting it on a plate) with white peppery gravy, scalloped potatoes, and green beans. And of course, just in case there weren’t enough carbs, two slabs of grilled Texas Toast. As white as it was, if it had been meatballs it could have been a gourmet Swedish supper.

Fork and knife in hand I eagerly sliced off a chunk. This is when I discovered it wasn’t “steak” at all like I imagined it might be but a tenderized (by some unknown means) slab of beef about 5”x8”, maybe a half-inch thick. And then another chunk, one after another.

And it was the best Chicken Fried Steak (and the only one) I had ever had. The thick white gravy was well peppered, the coating, lightly spiced, flaked off when the CFS was sliced, and all combined with the tender meat was quite tasty.

So our CFS experience was pretty good. We may order it again someday depending on what else is on the menu. This is definitely not something we saw on Alabama menus or at home.

Planning The Way Home

Every trip to elsewhere finally turns towards our Minnesota home. Susan says she will miss the warmer weather, green trees, and the feel of spring. Me too, but neither of us (and Maggie) will miss the bloom of stickers and burrs that she attracts on every walk. It must be that they are in season too. They seem to be much more abundant in just the last couple of weeks compared to early March when we arrived. Maggie is getting much more tolerant of us picking them out of her hair.

Maggie looks for the bullfrogs along the pond’s edge but when they jump into the pond she always seems startled. They are very hard to see until they move.

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This year we are aiming at getting home by May 1 at the latest. There are always choices for which way to go. This year will be pretty direct.

Someone in a car might do the return trip in just a couple of long days. We will do it in four days averaging about 325 miles per day. Most of the way home is on the interstate. Our second day will be a bit longer making the third and fourth days shorter.

After an overnight in Thackerville, OK, we are staying at Melvern Lake Army Corps of Engineers (COE) in Kansas and Saylorville Lake COE near Des Moines. These are nice parks, 50 amp hookups, and water. We have stayed at both of them. Corp parks are a preferred stop for us. And with our Senior Interagency Lifetime Pass (the Official Geezer Pass) they are only $12 – 14 per day.

On the last day, we will stop in Albert Lea, MN for a full tank of diesel fuel. We will get home, head for the barn, and plug the coach into power. Then we will go into the house, turn up the heat, turn on the water heater, turn on the water, and check everything out. Then back to the coach for our last night of this trip, a light supper, and early to bed. In the morning the water will be hot, the house will have warmed up to a comfortable temperature, and life will seem very busy.

Moving from one home to the other can wait until the next day. And we will spread it out over a couple of days.

Maggie is ready to head home too. Her best buddy, Scooter, has been waiting for her.

Scooter’s Mom, Luann, mentioned “Maggie” to Scooter and he ran to his favorite chair to see if she was coming.

We showed this picture to Maggie and said “Scooter” and she started barking.

We will get up to Scooter’s in just a day or two as soon as we get home.

In the meantime, we have a lunch scheduled with friends, some packing up to do, some last-minute shopping, and will try to get in a couple of good nights’ sleep. That never seems hard to do.

More Later, Much Love,

Roger, Susan, and Maggie.

Eclipse

Maybe you heard about the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. It is hard to imagine anyone missed it. The totality of the eclipse went right over Fredericksburg. And we were there.

Fredericksburg started planning for the massive influx of people coming to see the “Big Blink” almost two years ago. There were planning committees to organize, public services to rally, special rules to make for short-term rentals, and lots of suggestions to landowners on how to protect their property against unwanted hoards. Fences, No Trespassing signage, and more. Texas is a very strong property rights state.

This seems extreme but it was not uncommon.

We made our reservations at the Fredericksburg RV Park two years ago.

Ten days or more before the day of the eclipse the local weather prognosticators from Austin started in with dire warnings for significant cloud cover. Each day closer their bets were hedged with more certainty on one hand and more wishful thinking on the other. The day before the eclipse the sky was stunningly blue, temperatures comfortable, and a light breeze blew from a westerly direction. Hope springs eternal.

The day of the eclipse dawned with high thin clouds, maybe, just maybe, we would see it. The RV park was packed with people from almost every state on either side of the path of totality, most paying twice the daily rate with a four-night minimum. They were from Alaska to California, and Nova Scotia to Florida. Many from Colorado, Utah, Oregon, and Louisiana

There were tripods, cameras, and telescopes in many sites, many with more than one. And some really big ones.

These guys seemed pretty serious the day before getting everything aligned just so.

We got out the lawn chairs and our 3 for $1 eclipse glasses from 2017 and sat with Peggy from across the lane.

We were joined by Gail, a lady from New Mexico staying in the spot next to Peggy. Maggie was more interested in each and every blade of grass or whatever was growing next to Peggie’s RV. And especially the rabbit living under Peggy’s RV. She chased it out a couple of times and tried crawling in after it. Both survived the encounter.

The eclipse started right on time. There are no countdown delays or built-in holds for celestial events. And somehow those science guys have it down to the second.

The pictures from my iPhone with the lens covered with the solar glasses didn’t really show the moon crossing the sun from right to left but the moon did what it was supposed to do. Clouds moved by, opening up to see it quite well and hiding it too, just as often.

It was daytime.

And then nighttime. The nighttime solar lights came on. Maggie behaved. Nothing odd from the birds.

The entire event was pretty fun to see again. 2017 in the Tetons seemed much more dramatic. Not much hoopla here. Some cheering. I think it was a group of several RVs from Louisiana.

The local newspaper reported later in the week that the expected crowd numbers were much overinflated. Plenty of folks did come, RV parks, hotels, and short-term rentals were full. There were no significant issues, life moved on. They compared the crowds and economic impact to any summer weekend when a festival (wine or music) event was happening. Oktober Fest has a bigger local impact.

There were theories that the potential for clouds, always a significant possibility here, made people change their plans. We had friends coming to FBG from Minnesota for the eclipse event. They were going to be here for a week or so. After two years of planning and getting halfway here, they went to Indianapolis instead because of cloud concerns. We hope they got to see what they wanted to see. We never heard.

And we got down to see our friends Keith and Jo who were in an RV park in Kerrville for the eclipse along with several other Foretravel folk.

Keith recently retired, but Jo has not yet. They are eagerly anticipating more RV time.

Shore Lunch

Susan and I brought a couple of Haralson Apple pies (frozen and uncooked) from home as well as wild line caught flash frozen walleye (Minnesota’s State Fish) to have a shore lunch with friends here in Fredericksburg. We thought we would do it here but it worked out better for Mike and Jackie to host lunch at their nearby home. He has a good gas grill, I have a cast iron griddle. Everything that we needed to cook the fish. We cooked the pie in the morning and then we all met over there.

I managed to not get Mike in these pictures. Another great time with friends.

Dog Wash

There is a dog wash station in town which is part of the nearby car wash. $10. 10 minutes. It is like the you-do-it car wash. Soap, rinse, conditioner, rinse, blow dry. It worked pretty well. The first time we washed Maggie we used their shampoo and conditioner. The next time we used our own. It smells better to us. No idea what Maggie thinks. She does not like the blow-dry part, it is the noise, I think.

She gets mostly dried off and then some finishing up at home. A nice walk in the sun works well.

National Museum of the Pacific War

Chester Nimitz was born and raised in Fredericksburg and was a Fleet Admiral in the US Navy during World War II and was the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet commanding all air, land, and sea forces. The National Museum of the Pacific War is located in Fredericksburg, TX.

https://www.pacificwarmuseum.org

While we were in Fredericksburg there was a re-enactment of a battle where a Medal of Honor was awarded for heroism. I went to see one honoring Sgt Darrell Cole.

https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/darrell-s-cole

It was a cold day, not even 40 degrees, but the amphitheater was full. I am sure on Iwo Jima it was much warmer.

There were many veterans in the audience who stood and were recognized for their service. Most of us have no idea of the noise and ferocity of the fighting in war. We give thanks and gratitude for all they gave and for all we have.

Interesting RVs

One day this pulled in. It is a camper from Germany built on a MAN 4×4 military truck. Giant wheels and a very high cab.

There was a motorcycle rack that went up and down on the back end, not many windows, and few of the creature comforts we are used to. We have seen these before in Utah. Off-road capable but that comes with a top speed of 50 or maybe 55 MPH. This was a German couple traveling in North America. They had not been to Minnesota yet.

Birthdays

At the end of March and the beginning of April, our friend Mike and I celebrate birthdays. We have both had some health challenges in the past couple of years so we are especially grateful to be celebrating another birthday with each other.

We went to the Camp Verde General Store for lunch and the fellowship of good friends.

That is plenty for now and the month is only half over.

More Later, Much Love

Susan, Maggie, and Roger

We made it to Fredericksburg in the Texas Hill Country after our stops in Nacogdoches and Houston.

Keith Risch diagnosed our dash AC problem in minutes and fixed it in less than a day. It was a frozen clutch on the AC compressor. And it was very little more to get a new compressor and clutch than just the clutch so we did that. And he discovered that the electric fan for the evaporator radiator wasn’t working either so that got replaced. When he was all done we had 59° air blowing out of the dash vents.

And we had a nice visit and dinner with Rudy and Carolyn in the SE Houston area. Then lunch with Scott and Carol and Bill and Joyce way up on the north side. It was good to see all of them.

Then we drove across the southern part of Houston on I10. No issues. In places, it is 5 or 6 lanes wide each way but we just get in the second or third lane from the right and stay there and get through it. We have done it several times, more often than not on a Sunday. And usually with no big slowdowns for accidents, one time for maintenance.

We drove to Columbus TX on I10, stopped to fill up with fuel, and drove toward Austin. This leads us past Bastrop where the TV show “Iron Resurrection” is made. We like the transformations they do on cars and the personalities of the program. We always say we should stop but don’t. But it is fun to know they are on our way.

It is like stopping in Laurel, MS, where “Home Town” is produced. We like this home renovation show more than most. Maybe next winter on our way to Orange Beach we will stop.

The traffic across the South part of Austin is slow, with lots of stop signs and never-ending road construction. We made it through without going on the toll section like we did last year.

Fredericksburg is much like it has been many times in the past for us. Spring-like. Warm sunny days, cool nights, occasional overnight rains, sometimes a bit of thunder and lightning, even the chance of a bit of hail.

Many of our regular friends here are no longer in the park. Mike and Jackie bought a house and sold their coach. Norm moved to another park near Kerrville but still comes to Fredericksburg for lunch once a week and does his grocery shopping at the Fredericksburg HEB store.

Peggy is still here just across the road from us.

She recently turned 90 and is witty and as sharp as a tack. We go out to lunch once a week or so, we have coffee in the morning a couple of times a week, and we give her a hand with her laundry basked on laundry day.

The coffee regulars, Bob, Maureen, and Molly.

The drier-than-normal early spring kept the wild flower competition suppressed and the more than usual rain brought the wildflowers out earlier than usual.

They are abundant everywhere, especially on the Willow City Loop drive.

We saw just one of the pair of ostriches along the way.

And many examples of why it is called the Hill country. It is quite majestic.

We head to the dog park at Lady Bird Johnson City Park about three times a week so Maggie can get some running in. She chases a knotted rope throw toy, she is insistent that I throw it.

She stands at the ready or runs out a ways and turns and waits.

And brings it back, usually, dropping it in front of me, sits down and waits for a treat.

Sometimes she runs out ahead while I throw it and she doesn’t see where it goes. She looks at us and we point and she goes where we point and she finds it.

This is mostly new for her and she does pretty well, not perfect but we are surprised how well she is doing.

When she is starting to get tired she takes the throwing toy and heads for the nearest shade. She wants to keep playing but it is her way of letting us know it is time for a break.

Her best buddy, Scooter, has been down in Florida for the last three months. Scooter’s Mom, Luann, sent this picture.

Scooter is three months older than Maggie and about the same size. And just like Maggie his favorite spot for a nap is curled up under a piece of furniture. In the coach it is my chair. At home, the dining room chair. We though this was pretty funny. Maggie remembers Scooter. We get quite a reaction when we say his name. They will be reunited in a month or less.

March came to an end in Fredericksburg. We have been here often so no new major adventures. We are visiting with friends, go out to lunch a couple of days a week, lots of walks with Maggie and a bike ride or two. We do Wordle every day, read, follow the news because it is hard to avoid. We are not on a vacation, this is just where we are for a while.

The trees were starting to leaf out when we got here and most are full now. The pecan trees are always the last and even they have the start of their leaves.

Springtime in the Hill Country has always been pleasant with abundant wild flowers, greening trees, warmer days, and still cool nights.

It is starting to warm up some at home but Brown is the dominant color for another six weeks.

More Later, Much Love,

Maggie, Susan, and Roger

Beach Time

Orange Beach and its neighbor to the West, Gulf Shores, take pride in their clean white sand beaches. They are miles long, wide, and unfortunately not dog friendly. We can take Maggie to the walkways along the beach for walks but not out on the beach itself. She is probably OK with that, almost everyone who walks by stops to give her a pet.

The beach stretches to the West and just as far to the East. Gulf Shores and Orange Beach are doing a beach restoration project this winter. There are barges off-shore maybe 1/4 to 1/2 mile that suck up sand from the shallow bottom and pump water and sand through large (maybe 2 ft in diameter) flexible hoses back up on the beach. The sand piles up and the water runs back into the Gulf. Bulldozers push the reclaimed sand around ready for the summer hoards of people. Winter here is the off-season. We can only imagine how busy it must be here in the summer.

And there are the ever-present tower cranes that mark the location of another high-rise beachfront condominium going up. The beachfront property is becoming somewhat limited as is Bayfront property so they are starting to build more condos, townhomes, vacation rentals, and more on the North side of the intercoastal waterway. And another bridge from the mainland to the island where Orange Beach is located.

This is a big-picture view of the Alabama Gulf Coast.

And Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.

And a Gulf State Park map. Our RV Park is adjacent to the park on the North Central side. The bike trail we access crosses the corner of the RV Park property.

Naval Air Museum

Susan and I, my cousin Sue and her husband, Lloyd, and my Habitat friend, John and his wife Cheryl went to the Naval Air Museum at the Pensacola Naval Air Station. We were going to go there the first time we were in Orange Beach five years ago but a shooting on the base caused the base to lock down and the Air Museum was closed.

It remained closed until last year when it was reopened to people with Military IDs and retired Military members. So we didn’t go last year either. This year it reopened to the public. So we went. Everyone had to have a valid US driver’s license or ID. We all had to show our IDs to get on the base. We got in, parked, and went into the free museum.

The museum is organized in chronological order starting back before World War I. The museum was much more about just airplanes, it included the support services that make an air service possible. Everything was restored to excellent condition including this Model T ambulance.

The Navy used a lot of different aircraft over time including this Curtiss JN “Jenny”. They were introduced in 1915 and over 6,800 were built. Top speed was just 80 mph. These were very popular after WWI as barnstorming planes. And put to good use by the early Air Mail services.

And a Sopwith Camel, a British single-seat biplane fighter introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was a difficult airplane to fly but to an experienced pilot, it provided unmatched maneuverability. A superlative fighter, the Camel was credited with shooting down 1,294 enemy aircraft, more than any other Allied fighter of the war, and was flown by Lieutenant Junior Grade David S. Ingalls, the Navy’s sole ace of World War I.

The airplane on display depicts one that operated from a makeshift wooden flight deck on board the battleship USS Texas (BB 35) in 1919 evaluating the operation of wheeled airplanes from ships.

The airplanes were not just on the floor but suspended in mid-air like this Beech D17 Staggerwing. The Navy renamed them as JB-1, GB-1, and GB-2. These were built just before WWI and were faster than almost any plane in the armed forces’ inventory before the war. They were used in many roles in the US, Britain, and the Pacific Theater.

The Staggerwings were first purchased by the Navy in 1937. Designated JB-1, it served as a staff transport for two years. In 1939, the Navy purchased ten Beech D-17s, designating them GB-1s. In all, 360 of the aircraft, 342 of them GB-2s powered by up-rated engines, were purchased by the Navy to use as executive transports and for transporting ferry pilots to factories around the country to deliver new aircraft to the fleet. Some were also given to Britain under Lend-Lease for use as liaison aircraft.

The Beech Staggerwing has always been one of my favorite airplanes. Of the more than 780 built, about 150 are still registered and about 50 actively flying.

When we go to the EAA Airventure show in Oshkosh, WI, there are always several there. Including a few of these G17S models whose parts were built before WWII and the final 20 Staggerwings were assembled right after the War.

These 5 passenger airplanes cruise at 250 mph. And they just look cool. I have a Byron Originals 1/5th scale model of the G17S kit in my radio control fleet. Maybe someday I will finish building it.

There was a spectacular Plymouth too.

We (at least me) will go back. There is way too much to see in detail in just a few hours. We were glad for the chance to finally see this important museum.

Dog Day Afternoon

Both Orange Beach and Gulf Shores have nice dog parks. There is one at Gulf State Park that has one side open to Shelby Lake for the dogs to swim. We didn’t get Maggie there to try her swimming prowess. Maybe next year.

We go to the dry dog parks and prefer the Orange Beach dog park. It is big, with lots of trees, and it is mostly sand which lets Maggie get in some digging time.

She is a very productive earth mover.

She will dig until she is exhausted, burying both her throw toy and herself as deep as time will allow.

She gets pretty dirty. This activity is often followed up with a bath.

Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras is a big deal down south. In the month before Fat Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday) there were more than a dozen parades in the communities around Mobile Bay. In Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, there are daytime parades, evening parades, and parades at the Wharf. Kid’s parades and pet parades allowed everyone to get in on the fun (and noise)

This was at the Wharf Entertainment District for an evening parade. Police Cars start the parade and part the crowd. Lots of floats with people riding and throwing beads and trinkets. Small and loud marching bands. And finally, a fire truck to mark the end.

This video clip shows a bit of the festivity. Lots of fun – a few more plastic beads to add to our collection and a couple of Moon Pies to remind us why we don’t eat them.

Our three months in Orange Beach is quickly coming to an end. My total bike miles has reached 652! The total number of shrimp consumed was surely in the hundreds. Grouper, redfish, clam chowder, every kind of cheesy grits, and a sample of gumbo at every stop helped fulfill our salt life needs. Yum!

We will go to Nacogdoches, TX for a day of service with Keith Risch – a Foretravel legend, a nice supper at Auntie Pasta’s, and then on to the Houston area to visit friends (mostly eat). and then on to Fredericksburg, TX for the spring wildflower season, to see good friends there, and to see the Solar Eclipse in early April.

We are grateful for the opportunity to travel as we do, together, to see friends we have made along the way, and to be where the weather has been nice. And for the folks at home that help make being elsewhere possible, Thanks!

More Later, Much Love,

Susan, Maggie, and Roger