2010 travel summary

I have written 50 posts since I started this blog in February. I'd say I met my goal of attempting to document our travels. Although, I'm sure you all have read each and every post, this is a summary of our last five months.......without any pictures.


When we left Meridian in April, we headed out to PIR for our first NASCAR race of 2010. (You'll note a NASCAR theme.) Jim stopped off for a few days at the Freightliner place to get some warranty work done and an oil change. We are ready to hit the road!


April 15- left Phoenix

April 19- Met up with Stan and Barb Peterson from Hutchinson, MN (1600 miles to get here.)

April 21- Talladega Blvd (infield) for several days of NASCAR racing and renewing friendships.
Brent, Jos and Greg flew in for the festivities. There were 88 lead changes and Harvick won by .011 of a second. It was a great race to watch and remember (right guys?)

April 28- Met up with Bob and Muriel Parker at their home in Dublin, GA (friends from Phoenix and had not seen them for several years.)

April 29- Savannah and Tybee Island,GA. Got to see Paula Deen's store and eat in her restaurant.

May 3- Myrtle Beach, SC. Had oceanfront property here and loved the area. Will go back some day.

May 6-Florence, SC so we could attend the Darlington NASCAR race. Great race but not as good as Talladega.

May 10-Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. Looks like driving in northeast Iowa. Stopped to peek at the Martinsville NASCAR race track. A pretty small one.

May 12- Mt Airy, NC, home of Andy Griffith. Stayed at the Mayberry RV Park, which was one of our favorite parks.

May 15-Charlotte, NC. Went to several NASCAR garages, the newly opened NASCAR Hall of fame and camped in the infield of the NASCAR All-Star race . Had a perfect location.

May 23-Bristol, TN, home of the Bristol NASCAR race track (of which is the location for this weekend's race) Very small half mile track. We just visited but would be great to see a race in this stadium-like setting some day.

May 24- Pigeon Forge, TN and the Great Smokey Mountains.

May 26- Kentucky Bourbon Trail, Jim Beam factory (need I say more) and Abe Lincoln's points of interest.

May 28-Petersburg, MI for the holiday weekend.

June 1- Met up with Mike and Mary Jo Carpenter at their home in Holt, MI (near Lansing). Also saw Bill and Jeanette Erickson. Spent 9 days with Carpenters, mostly at their property in the northern part of the state. Met many of their friends, sampled many of the areas finest wines and did alot of sightseeing. They were great hosts. Stopped to check out the Michigan International Speedway.

June 10- Mackinac or Mackinaw City, MI

June 11- Fayette State Park in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Very historic settlement.

June 13- Pardeeville, WI, near the Wisconsin Dells. Boy, has that place changed.

June 15- Met up with Barry and Wendy (JB's sister) Shea in their hometown of Guttenburg, IA, which happens to be on the Mississippi River.

June 18- Landed at Jim and Marilyn (EB's sister) in rural Waukon, IA for a month. They were very gracious landlords. You'll have to read the separate posts to hear about the months worth of activities. Lots of news but I quilted my first project so that was a big deal.

July 19- Newton, IA, home of the Iowa Motor Speedway. Didn't really get to see it, as this is where I had to make a u-turn and head back to Waukon. Thanks to Brother-in-law Jim for meeting us half way.

July 20-Mom's emergency triple by-pass surgery and dad's 82nd birthday.

Rest of the gang continued on to points west, which included Oak Grove, MO to meet up with relatives and then onto Colorado to meet on July 25th with Carol, Greg and Danica Smith for a week in the Rockies.

August 3- JB got home.

August 11- EB got home. Mom's recovery went very well, as she as able to go back to work on August 9th(20 days post op). Way to go, mom. No sense of sitting around and thinking about the word "retirement".


Almost 4 months on the road is the longest we have been out in one trip. It was also the most miles we ever traveled- 6,862 miles. The cheapest fuel was $2.72 in Oak Grove, MO and the most costly was at a Chevron station in Globe, AZ at $3.26 a gallon, which left us averaging $2.95 a gallon. This was similar pricing when we went to Daytona in early 2008. I can't give you a real average m.p.g. statistic, as I suspect there is one or two missing fuel stops in my log. Even with my incomplete data, the lowest we got was 5.6 m.p.g. with generator use and the highest was 9.8 m.p.g. so the average is somewhere in between. How's that for preciseness?


You probably all heard that it rained everywhere we went. It got to be a big joke but it was real sickening to be in all those mud puddles.


AND I'm sure you've heard about our calamities but they all could have been much worse:

- a cracked Buzz windshield

- a slide out lock that malfunctioned

- a trailer running into the pick up



We only had to fire Ms. Garmin once or twice and always ended up hiring her back. She certainly does occasionally lose her sense of direction. We had a great time. Thanks for all of the hospitality. It's great to be home. What I missed the most...my recliner!

2 retirement projects complete

One long-awaited project got completed yesterday.

The wood railing on the upper deck was in dire need of being replaced so this was the week JB planned to accomplish the task.

Looks good, huh? Now it matches the main deck plus it's alot safer. JB, you can scratch this one off of your retirement to-do list!

While he was painting and sawing away, I was cleaning my closet (s). Time to get rid of the work clothes, although I thought I had made a pretty big dent in this job last summer.

The pics are a little dark but there's lots of hanging clothes and 2 garbage bags of other "not going to wear anymore" items. I hope the church thrift shop appreciates how well maintained and ready to wear all of these clothes are. I can take this one off of MY to-do list so I don't have to hear anymore that "I have too many clothes!" The tax write-off will thank me.

Misc stuff from August

Well, I've been HOME for one week....and it's nice to be home. This post is more misc pics.

This drawing is mom's heart repair. You can see the four blockages, with the red vessels being the actual bypasses of the blockages. Pretty neat that they provide the patient with this picture. The nurses on 6th floor were looking everywhere for this drawing. They didn't think to ask me!

Corn shucking day. Somewhere between 25 and 30 dozen.
Not all of the helpers were present to participate in this almost annual Iowa event. Dad and my brother, Glen, here.

Glen and Longhaul!

Sister, Peg, cutting away.

The boys started school on August 9th.

I left Iowa on Tuesday, August 10th, via hitchhiking to Cedar Rapids with Glen's friend, Sherry. Flew Allegiant Air for the first time. I was not the recipient of one of those $39 one way fares. Had no troubles. Got to the Mesa Gateway airport, which is only a few minutes from Beth and Greg's house,only to find out the baggage claim was in a temporary tent outside...in the lovely 110 degree weather. So much for landing ahead of schedule, as I had to wait for 30 minutes to get my luggage.

Stayed overnight, as I had some appts on Wednesday. The boys can always think of entertainment. Here they rigged up a train with all of these vehicles in order to give the cat a leisurely ride in the grocery cart.

An addition to our fleet of motorized vehicles. JB's quad he managed to purchase when he was camping in Colorado. It's 10 years old but in very good shape. "It's just what he wanted". Picked it up Sunday in Globe/Miami from Woody, a brother of our Colorado friend.



This is the new quilt that you might have previously read about. New bed skirt and curtains to match. Getting rid of the 13 year old blue stuff. I'd say it's about time.

Bought new mattresses for the bunk beds yesterday. This is the first time there has been "real" mattresses on the bed. Found three slightly used "fancy pants" stuffed down the side of the bed. I wonder whose they were....and also found several articles of little boys clothing. Missing any socks???


I love this picture that was taken after school was out in the spring at their favorite park.

I also love this picture of the great gopher hunt at Greg's parents farm in MN. They look so proud, don't they?

This is it for now. Next up will be JB's construction project.

Random Iowa Snapshots

This post is full of miscellaneous pics around Waukon and surround area. Enjoy! Don't laugh too much!



Would you believe this is the Police Station?







My brother, Paul, and his wife, Karen's, 25th anniversary get together. With them is their son, Tanner and daughter, Karli. She is bending down because her head would have been cut off. She is 5'10" and will be a junior.




Some girls ready to go tubing!

Haven't researched this but this hair art...all made from hair. This wreath and the next were on display at the Waukon Historical Museaum.

Uncle Jimmy giving the 3 boys a little ride behind the John Deere.

Dev in mom and dad's backyard.

Dad resting for a moment.

Mom and dad and the three angels.

Air filter for Buzz. Looked all over creation for this sucker. Ordered at Freightliner in La Crosse, WI and JB didn't even ask how much it cost when he ordered it. Whew! Only $135. Relatively cheap!!

An Iowa rust-bucket!

NICE old fashioned water tower.

It just happened to be Fair time.

Tank by the Vet's Club.

This is the ONLY stop light in Allamakee County. It is a very weird intersection, of which you cannot get the real feel looking from this view.

Not sure what this signifies but it is at the intersection you just viewed.

A welcome at Harpers Ferry, IA. on the Mississippi River.

Another site in Harpers. Don't know what Storla means.

BIL Jim and great nephew Reid giving JB a much needed ride.

This dent happened when JB backed into Peterson's Allis Chambers in their shed last summer. It is now repaired.

This is the dent that happened in Wisconsin when a guy backed his trailer into the pick-up. This is now fixed. Helped the economy in Iowa. Notice the theme..both dents were caused by men!

A cowboy and his bull.

An Armed Forces tribute.

Tomato hornworms that sister, Jane, corraled for the boys. They went for a ride west. They made it to Kansas.

They were pretty ugly.

Note the painting on the top two pots. Some of my handi-work from the mid- 80's.

Well, that's it for the random pics. Hope you enjoyed them.