AlMart08Travel

Venture In

2008-09-27T14:59:00.000-07:00

We arrived at Venture In around noon today.
In the last posting, we forgot to tell you about Don's carvings. Obviously Don is an artist. He carves dead trees so they look like totem poles. We helped Eleanor celebrate her 85th birthday.
Included here is a pic of their cottage.
Then we headed out of town.

We took sort of a southwesterly heading and then off toward Iowa. We didn't slow down until we reached greeley, CO. There we visited Donna at Jody and Pat's place. Parked the rig in the street.
On the weekend we drove to Estes Park at the entrance to Rocky Mtn National Park. J & P had an older model class C parked there for the weekend which we all used. This was a big weekend because its elk mating season, so its exciting. Great trumpeting. Of course we had camp fires.
At Albuquerque, our home park, we decided to relax
a bit. Just by accident we met a young artist, Tim, withwhom we had a very good time. You'll have to
get the story verbally, because it will take too long.
Stopped at Show Low -- our last stop before AJ. Venture In is a very nice park. Don't know how long we'll stay.

Heading Back to AZ the Long Way

2008-09-11T15:04:00.000-07:00

We returned from our cruise on Aug. 8, and the trip to S Carolina to see Bill & Karen didn't
happen since Karen developed vertigo and just wasn't up to having more trouble-makers
around. So loading Big Blue took our attention.

On Aug 28 we headed north and stopped to see Vera and Ron at Houghton Lake. Vera's brother
Willie provided a great parking spot for us. Martha can be seen with Willie displaying his soy
bean license plates. This guy is a REAL car nut -- great guy and lots of fun.

Then we stopped at Indian Lake at Manistique to see Sandy and Marilyn and get back to
playing Joker. We had great corn on the cob.

We even stopped at Escanaba to see Aunt Blanche who is 94. We should look that good
when we reach 94.

Our next stop was to see Rainy and Bob at Pembine, WI. Al hadn't seen her for about 68 years.
She lived in the upstairs where Al lived.

Peshtigo, WI was the next stop to see Ken and Sal. We even visited the old farmstead where
Al's dad was raised. Ken did all the driving.

This week we've spent visiting Ed and Eleanor and Al and Jeri at Kangaroo Lake on Door County.
Tomorow we plan to head west or north or something. Lotsa games of Joker -- lots.
We've got a great parking spot here as well.

We've had a great time visiting all of the above. Thanks a lot folks.

It just so happens that today is the 7th anniversary of the 9-11 disaster. We sure are fortunate
that we have a president that understood the enormity of the threat and the guts to do something about it.

After AK

2008-08-10T21:17:00.000-07:00

On the left is our route. On the right is 9/14ths of our
bunch on the top dining deck.
This is the last part of our
50th anniversary celebration, and it has been
a ball.

On the left is Taku Glacier,
which is still growing, as seen
from an Otter float plane.

On the right is a black bear
up in an evergreen tree.
That seems odd, doesn't it?
Ten folks standing around
probably influenced that.

Something really cool is that Al's laptop was getting unmanageable, so it has been reformatted
and as a result it has a fresh operating system and 2/3rds of the hard drive is now free.
He also has far fewer icons on his desktop, which will please a lot of club members.

We came very close to not taking this trip. As we neared Chicago their airport was closed, so we
detoured to Milwaukee. No gate was available, so we parked on the tarmac and refueled.
We requested a bus to take us to Chicago, but couldn't make that work. Fortunately, we had
a 3-hr layover. Then OHaire re-opened, and we made it to Chicago in time to catch our flight.
If we had missed the flight, there was no foreseable way to to catch the trip.
That was exciting!!

Sick

2008-07-30T20:18:00.000-07:00

July has been uneventful with the exception that Al was sick. Good thing that we didn't have much
planned. Al developed Shingles sometime around the wedding. SHINGLES IS A VIRUS AND IS NO FUN.
The symtoms were sharp pain in the left ear when swollowing and development of zits on the left side of the body --- zits which were easily broken. Standard treatment is Acyclovir for a week.
When he ran out of that stuff, some zits were found on the right side of the body (which doesn't happen very often). It took another week of medicine to finally get well.

Tomorrow is finalpacking day, because Friday morning we fly to Anchorage, AK for the start
of our cruise on the inside passage from Seward to Vancouver --- 14 of us, for the last part of
our 50th aniversary celebration.

We received word that Dean at Medicine Hat is doing really well --- see you in AZ, Dean.

THE WEDDING

2008-07-10T12:30:00.000-07:00

The last publish was about a month ago.
This interval has been ALL ABOUT granddaughter Melissa. And that's the way it should be.

Our dear friend Carol worked her fingers to the bone getting the Power Point picture show
done, and it was spectacular.

As you can see, Melissa photoed very well with her daddy and her

hubby. The weather was lousy for most of the month, but it was spectacular for the right two
days.
We worked in visiting and touring with our Super Sun visitors, Ken and Sal, Ray and Marquita,
and Jerry and Paula. Above Ken and Sal are standing next to a great painting at Henry Ford Museum.

We sure do wonder from time to time how Dean and Edna are doing on convalescing at Medicine Hat.

Any of you are invited to comment at the end of each publish.
We also wonder how Jill and Larry are doing at Cedar Rapids.

Plymouth and Surrounding Areas

2008-06-10T06:20:00.000-07:00

At the left is the catamaran at St Ignace that
the site wouldn't let me show you in the last post.
It appears that the site is back in good order, so we can do a new post.

At the moment we are visiting Art & Bev at Ridge Town in Ontario, and we're using their PC
so I don't have access to our photos. We'll try those when we get back to Plymouth.

Yesterday Art drove us around in his new Mercury Marquis. You sure don't get a ride like
that in those SUVs and CUVs that are so popular now. The car was built in Canada, but he had to go to
the US to buy it. We toured around the area to some other towns. It appears that every square inch is planted with something and it is very lush.

We stopped at Oil City, the site of the first oil well in North America and the jerk lines that
were used to pump the oil. Nice little museum.

We met daughter Susan, who is definitely a chip off the old block.
We have played a few games of Joker. So far, we are even up.

Bev has been feeding us very well.

The lower right pic shows the outdoor sidewalk restaurants in Plymouth.

Superior North Shore

2008-05-30T12:32:00.000-07:00

Pics the blog wouldn't take on the last posting.

These pics were taken at Medicine Hat ---
St. Pat's Roman church on the left, and stations of the cross carved in brick near the church by a local artist.

Tried to find a sight-seeing trip over Isle Royale while at Grand Portage and at Thunder Bay,
but no luck. The boat trip, usually available, was not yet running -- boat was in sick bay.
We were told that an airplane trip over that much water required 2 pilots and 2 engines, since
we would fly from a Canadian port and over US airspace. I guess we should have tried at
Grand Marais while in MN.
Stayed over nite at Rainbow Falls and saw them. We couldn't figure out if they were falls
or rapids. Stopped at Eagle Canyon east of Rainbow Falls. Pics show the longest suspension bridge
in Canada --- and we walked it.
At Wawa we met George and Arlene from BC. Had a nice visit.

We got back to MI at Soo, and we were really surprised at the lack of traffic --- particularly
that there were few RVs. The price of fuel is taking a toll. However, Memorial Day being a
week early could also be a factor, even tho the weather was nearly perfect. Campgrounds
were only about 1/3 full. NOW THAT'S UNHEARD OF.

We found and had dinner at Bentley's Restaurant at St. Ignace --- we've had better.
Took the catamaran (couldn't post the pic) on a quick trip to Mackinac Island.

Stopped at Alpena, MI to see Al's brother Roy and family. All are doing well.
We haven't seen Bill or Tom for ages. Sorry we missed Tanni. We parked right out front.

We are parked in Linda-and-Jim's driveway at Plymouth, and are nearly all moved in.

Across The Provinces

2008-05-19T20:11:00.000-07:00

Sorry we can't do pictures at this time.

We headed easterly on TransCanada 1 --- cold and drizzy a lot.
Had the intake preheater repaired at Medicine Hat, Alberta.
We found Dean and Edna at home --- a great new condo with a walk-out basement. We still think they will come to AZ next winter. The town is mult-level with great views everywhere --
and no slums. D and E drove us around town for an hour and a half, and took us to dinner.
That's pretty hard to beat. Thanks guys, it was a neat visit.
This town says that it is the sunniest place in Canada.

We've had a lot of wind in our travels and it has blown us all over the place.
At Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, we saw the underground tunnels inhabited by the Chinese
immigrants, and the living condidions, and we saw the hide-out tunnels that gangster Al Capone
used in the '20s and '30s. Temps are now up to 75F and no snow.
Getting on the internet with a cell phone connection has been a problem across Canada.
Then we headed back to the good ole USA to get some of that cheap fuel and get back on the 'net.
Roads in Canada and in the states have been mostly good. In places patches upon patches upon
patches gave us a bumpy ride.

Tonite we're parked at Ogstons near Saginaw, MN. A pretty place with lakes all around.
Lotsa Canadian Geese here, so there are poops everywhere. Hosed off the car and Big Blue.
' Til next time, here goes.

Winter

2008-05-09T11:06:00.000-07:00

We arrived at Bill and Jan's late aft. on Mon.
and parked Big Blue. Then we headed into
Calgary, 'cause Alice had dinner for us.
They have a very nice condo --- picture later.
After a couple of lousey days with temps in the
40s with rain and wind, we awoke to what is shown in the pic at the left. Mel and Donna left before noon because of that predicted bad weather. Looks like the predictors were right.

Last nite Alice and Jim held a Snowbird party
which was a blast.

Temp was 32F this AM, and by noon today most of the snow is gone.

On the way

2008-05-03T19:06:00.000-07:00

Got to Page AZ Wed. late afternoon after being buffetted by 50 mph winds that continued to blow thru the next day. Morning temp. was 25F. Used the electric heater and some furnace.
Thurs. morning found the rear leveler link broken, so we had a guy fix that. A late start.
Fri. in the wee hours Mart suddenly developed vertigo. So went to a clinic in Salina and got
some pills. Humana worked. A late start. Planned a late start on Sat. after bacon and eggs.
Nice new campground at Dillon. High temp. reached 70F. Mart was well enough to eat in the afternoon.
Washed all the windows.
Plan to meet Mel and Donna at Walmart in Great Falls tomorrow afternoon.

Finally Getting Started

2008-04-28T22:20:00.000-07:00

Al & Mart

This is Al & Mart's 50th anniversary year. It's late April. It's a rather late start, but here goes.

Below is our transportation...........................................................................

Temps have been reaching 90F or more each afternoon with wonderful
blue skies. Humidity was
2% yesterday.

We are almost packed.

More later.