Still in Salt Lake and still having fun!

Foreground is the Mormon Tabernacle, the temple is behind the trees!

We are still in Salt Lake and are enjoying the great weather and the sights and sounds of Salt Lake City.  We are getting many answers to our family history questions and are happy to report that the Cannode family tree is verified back to 1696 in Hesse, Germany and the Lawrence family tree dates back to the 11th century to Sir Robert Lawrence of Ashton Hall England.  We have also managed to watch the Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearse, visit Temple Square and work on our motor home.

Yes, not all things are perfect in our world (it just seems that way; who wants to hear a grown man cry).  We arrived in Salt Lake City with our generator not working 100%.  If we disconnected the fuel line from the motor home's gas tank it worked great but that is not how it is designed.  It seems when we had the fuel pump fixed in Arizona they pinched the gas line resulting in no fuel to the generator.  Minor problem but $250 later it is fixed.  Also our CB did not work and we like to talk to our travel companions as we navigate down the road.  George worked for two days and finally gave up and bought a new antenna and coaxial cables to fix the problems.  He mounted the CB antenna on the back of the motor home which meant he had to string the cable 36 feet under the chassis to the cab and connect it to the CB.  George also managed to wash and wax the motor home and the car -- both needed the elbow grease!  But the good news is that the weather is great (a little rain during the night but beautiful all day), the mountains are green, the people are very friendly.

Tomorrow we will get up early and if "Arthur" does not show up on Pat's hands we will finally get our golf rounds in before breakfast.  She has been struggling with the arthritis in her hands but a fellow RVer told us about a cream that helps relieve the pain -- it seems to work a little so we are hopefully to get a round in tomorrow.

Plans for the future!  We are leaving Salt Lake City on Friday morning and driving to Flaming Gorge on the Wyoming and Colorado boarder.  From Flaming Gorge we will take the back way into Denver thru the mountains via Steamboat Springs and Winter Park!  By the way, our Colorado mountains still have a lot of snow so maybe we will catch a few pictures to post on our next blog entry.  We will be back in Colorado on Sunday, July17th and will stay until the end of the month (doctor's appointments).  The plans for August is to drive down to Mesa Verde to see the cliff dwellings, maybe a side trip over to the Grand Canyon (we are not sure if we will have time) and drive up to Blue Mesa to see our friends, Doug and April for a few days before heading back for the all important Pet Scan and a few more doctor's appointments at the end of August.  After that it all depends on the outcome of the Pet Scan (we think everything should be fine).  If all goes according to plan we will head east at a leisurely pace and end up in Indiana and Ohio in mid September for a visit with friends and family!  That is the plan but as we all know plans are just that plans and subject to change (being flexible is our strong suit).

As a side note, we have recently been reading two of our friend's travel blogs and they are amazing.  Tom and Maryann are traveling across Canada on her retirement trip and they are having the adventures of a life time.  They left Arizona on June 6 and will not return to Tucson until sometime in October.   Sue and George Summerfield are on their 42 foot trawler, "Next Adventure" and seem to love the idea of finding out what adventures awaits them just around the bend.  Good for both of these wonderful couples.  We can't wait for their next blog entries. 

As always we will wrap this entry up with a plea for all of you to get out and enjoy this wonderful country.  Adventures await all of us so take the plunge, if only for a day! 

We are in Salt Lake City!

Where should we begin, we were headed to Yellowstone NP and was within 18 miles, when our traveling partners called us just outside of Cody, Wy and said that they would be stopping at the hospital before going to the campground just outside of Yellowstone.  Long story short, the next morning we were headed, not to Yellowstone but back to Denver to see a cardiologist for Donna.  We were worried but it turned out OK and the cardiologist hinted that the doctors in Cody kinda of overreacted to Donna's pain and symptoms (which is better than under reacting).  But we did see some beautiful scenery on the way back to Denver. 

A canyon we drove through in Wyoming on the way back to Denver

Another bend in the road -  A beautiful backyard scene for our memories

Since we were a little early for George's chemo we got to watch the grand boys for a few days and could not have been happier.  They are growing like weeds and every day is a new adventure for us.  Most of you grand parents and great grand parents already know how much pleasure we get watching these guys just being themselves.  You parents are probably working too hard to really appreciate the changes your sons and daughters go through everyday. 

Kasey has an oven but he is a boy so out went all the oven stuff and he made himself a cave!

Karsten is crawling and really likes the slide!

Kasey has his "man cave"

 

The boys seem to like to play the piano - wonder if Mom really appreciates how good they are on her piano!!!

One of grandpa's favorite things to do with the boys is to pull them in their "train" .  Kasey says, "Toot Toot!  and Karsten just yells to grandpa.

George had his chemo (all went well) and we all decided to drive over to Salt Lake City to do some family history and sightseeing.  We were really surprised how beautiful the Salt Lake City area is since when we travel through Utah it has been in the south - translate that to desert and canyons!  We arrived at Hill AFB and used that as our base while we explored the Great Salt Lake, Salt Lake City and the surrounding mountains.  Our first day, we traveled to Antelope Island, the largest of 8 islands in the Great Salt Lake.  Donna and Pat wanted to wade out in the Lake until they discovered the entire shoreline is covered with brine shrimp somethings (very very small creatures that turn the sand black) they are food for the brine shrimp but there are billions of them and you have to walk over them to get into the lake --- needless to say, no one went into the salty water.  The next day we went to Salt Lake City to do the family history.  We really found a lot of good information.  Note to travelers: in Salt Lake City---two hour parking means two hour parking and it will costs you $15 dollars if you are even 15 minutes past the two hour time frame. (The voice of experience!)

This is the view from our motor home at Hill AFB just north of Salt Lake City

We found this old time travel trailer on Antelope Island.  It is probably a rancher's field home but we called it an early RV!

Pat and George with a background of the six-spired granite Salt Lake Temple

Same picture but with the temple and one of its fountains in the foreground.  Temple Square in Salt Lake City is one of the most beautiful city squares in the world.

We hope this catches you up on our travels. We are still in Salt Lake City area and "hope" to give you another update from here before we leave.   We know that we have been a little remiss with the blog but living and traveling in this beautiful country with it's many backyards makes it hard to sit down and write about all the wonderful people we have met and the beautiful sights we have enjoyed.  We really are lucky to be able to take our time and enjoy this wonderful land.  We hope that soon we will be traveling a little further away from our beloved Colorado.  If all goes according to schedule with George's last two day treatment in July and his post treatment checkup/ PET scan in late August.  We pray that he is in remission, we will be happy campers and our travel plans will be expanded.  Until we get that news we will take our short trips and see the backyards of the west. 

To all of our friends and family, get out and enjoy life!  Summer 2011 is here, it won't last, and it won't come back!  Take extra good care of yourselves - know that we send our love your way.  Don't be surprised to see our old motor home coming to your town - we plan on traveling to all corners of this great land!!!! 

Chief Crazy Horse

Chief Crazy Horse Upclose and Personal

We got the experience of a life time when we signed up for a volksmarch to the top of the mountain craving of Chief Crazy Horse.  This maybe the last time that people will be able to hike up to the monument and actually walk out on the arm.  Apparently, this annual volksmarch has been going on for 26 years and now that the mountain carvers will be working on the Chief's hand and fingers no one will be allowed to walk on the arm.  We really enjoyed the 10 K walk but as we started out the trail went down and we knew that we had to go up in elevation at least 500 feet.  The trail weaved through the surrounding forest and came out on the construction road just below the monument.  Than it was about a mile and half to the top --- at about a 9% grade!  You definitely want to be in shape to do this walk.  I have add some pictures of the walk and the monument for your review and enjoyment.

It is a long way up to the top -- hope we make it!!!!

Pat on the Trail - she is not exhausted yet!

We started out at the back of the pack but soon was up close to the front of the pack but..... we found out that the most challenging part of the 10K walk was at the end!  The last mile and half was oh my God exhausting.

OK you reached the road and made it half way up the road (only about a mile left to the monument)- how do you feel?  Short answer -- Do I get to rest or should I just lay down and die?

It is wonderful feeling once you reach the top and you look out onto the world.  The top of Chief Crazy Horse gives you unsurpassed views of the Black Hills.

The Black Hills of South Dakota from on top of Chief Crazy Horse's monument. 

By the way, that little built up area in the photo is where we started our volksmarch and meandered toward the right through the trees and came back around to left out of the picture.

The day before we took an 1880 train from the town of Keystone (at the base of Mt. Rushmore) to Hill City and back.  It was a fun and relaxing way to spend our anniversary.

The 1880 train from Keystone to Hill City

We didn't know that the train was going to breakdown on the last hill into Hill City but as the conductor said, "Folks we won't charge you extra for stopping along the way".  Every day is an adventure and our backyard experiences just keep on adding special memories to our lives.

Please take care of yourselves and stay tuned for our next blog from Yellowstone NP,  no matter what the weather (we are expecting rain and cool temps) we know we will enjoy our next backyard adventure and hope you do also!

Mt Rushmore and More

George in front of Wild Bill Hickok and Calmity Jane's graves in Moriah Cemetary in Deadwood

We went sightseeing today and ended up in Deadwood.    It is the end of May and notice George is still wearing a vest over a sweatshirt.  What is that all about?  Do you know the story about how these two  ended up buried next to each other.  Wild Bill was assasinated by Jack McCall in 1876 and when Calmity Jane died in 1903 she said bury me beside Wild Bill.  As far as anyone knows they did not have any realtionship except that Calmity Jane knew him and always wanted to be near him.  Strange but true! 

This is Salon No. 10 were Wild Bill Hickok was shot in the back holding the famous "deadman's hand" (Aces and Eights with the 9 of diamonds) in Deadwood, SD

Mount Rushmore

Visting Mount Rushmore is an awesome experience.  But if you get a chance go there late in the afternoon.  Stay for the night show -  it will send shivers up your back.  The National Park Service put on a wonderful show every night during the summer starting at 9:00 with the lighting of the Presidents at 9:30.  I think along with the Tomb of the Unknown ceremony and seeing the Missouri at Pearl Harbor this has to be one of America's must see events for all Americans. 

Pat with the Black Hills in the background

We are half way through our backyard adventure in the Black Hills and we are so glad to report the temperatures are in the 80's and he sky is a very beautiful blue.  It was so nice today that we brought out the golf clubs and decided to play 18.  We got in 8 holes and could not take it anymore since it was 21/2 hours on the course and not a hint of letting us play through - the club pro said that he was sorry but some of the players think that they paid for their round and should be able to take all the time they wanted to play their round, regardless of how slow.  We won't be back to that course anytime soon!  Leaving early allowed us to fire up the grill and put some chicken on for supper...see everything turns out good if you just have a positive attitude!

Tomorrow we will be doing a little maintenence with the motorhome so not much sightseeing but Saturday we will be taking in Elsworth AFB's open house. We will have some pictures to let you all see our Air Force and some of the activities of the day. 

Don't know if we mentioned it in our last blog but we will be two of a very select few who will walk on the arm of the monument of Chief Crazy Horse.  The monument is a work in progress and probably will not be done in our life time but we will be part of it's history.  We are going on a volksmarch Sunday that will end up on the Chief Crazy Horse's monument.  It only happens once a year and only a few people participate in this 10K walk.  We are excited and are anticipating walking on this monument in the making.  For sure pictures will follow!

That is about it for this update, we hope you are living life to the fullest and not waiting to live your dreams.  This great land has so much to offer and see and everywhere you turn there is a special adventure for you to enjoy!  Take extra good care of yourself and if you are traveling this summer be safe (there are some crazy drivers out there).  Next post will be Monday or Tuesday so stay tuned!

  

Change of Plans

You know we have had terrible weather throughout the US and our backyard weather has not been "normal" either but at least we can change our plans when we do not like the weather.  Most of you know that we had planned to go to Yellowstone NP on May 28th and across to Mt Rushmore around June 7th.  We looked at the weather situation in Yellowstone and said, "opps, do not want to go there".  Yellowstone NP has 2 1/2 feet of snow on the ground and it was projected to continue to snow over Memorial Day.  Ok, changed our reservations and decided to go to Mt. Rushmore first and Yellowstone around June 7th.  It made perfect sense to us, after all Colorado was going to be in the 80s-90s during this period and it is only 400 miles north to Mt. Rushmore.

We are in the Mt. Rushmore area now and it has been raining since we arrived and the  temps are in the 40s-50s.  Not exactly what we expected but still better than Yellowstone NP.  Hopefully summer will arrive soon and we can really enjoy all the backyard sights in this area and when we arrive in Yellowstone the snow will have melted enough to drive on the roads that are closed for now.

Went to Wall drugs and the Badlands today.  Left in rain and drove out of it before we got to Wall drugs (40 miles).  If you haven't heard of Wall drugs, you have probably lived under a rock for the last decade, it is in the little town of Wall, SD and is a street full of every kind of shop you can image and history is written on its walls including the pictorial early history of the Lakota indians and military of this area.  It is worth a side trip if you are on I-90 near Rapid City, SD.  We spent a couple hours in Wall Drugs before heading to the Badlands NP.  It is a very interesting geological area and has a beautify all of its own (btw - it is not as bad as its title).   Her is a few pics of our adventures in the Badlands.

Big Horn Sheep in the Badlands - it really does not look too bad from this pic!

This is the Badlands!  Yes it is barren but it has a kind of rugged beauty.

Smile for the photographer!  It is not raining now!

You see we do not need perfect weather to enjoy our travels but it would be nice to have a little summer to get into shorts instead of sweatshirts and coats.  Here is hoping you are enjoying your backyards and that the weather is starting to cooperate with you.  We will keep you posted on our travels over the next couple of weeks before we head back to Colorado for another round of chemo treatments.  As you can see, we are still out there enjoying ourselves and we are starting our 3rd year of full time traveling around this wonderful land and do not plan to stop anytime soon.

To all of our friends and family -- Life is short, get out and enjoy yourself !  Take along a friend so you will have stories to swap when you get together the next time around!!!

In every life a little rain must fall!!!!!

We are staying in Colorado until the end of this month and like much of the United States we are getting buckets of rain, at least for the last three days.  We do not have the flooding like the Mississippi, Indiana, and Ohio but it does make like a little miserable especially with the cold weather (highs in the mid 50's).  But it does give us time to write this blog, crochet a baby blanket and of course shopping. 

Check out the awning -  it is full of water!

It is a little wet here!!

Before the rain but still a little chilly, we had our friends from Florida and New Mexico stop by and spend a few days with Bob and Donna and us.  Doug and April Allmond stopped by on their way to Blue Mesa from Florida to camp host once again in Curacanti National Recreation Area.  A couple of years ago we met Doug and April when we camp hosted at Blue Mesa.  Doug was responsible for the term "our backyard", when we hiked through the many beautiful areas around the southern part of Colorado, Doug would say, "Look at all of this, it is America's backyard and it is free!  He is also responsible for the picture you see when you log on to this blog! Doug and April are treasured friends.   Mike and Rita Kavanaugh drove up from Albuquerque for a long weekend with us.  We always stop by to see them whenever we are in Albuquerque, they always go out of their way to make us feel like family.  The eight of us had a wonderful time together!  It really doesn't matter where we are in this great land, it is always best when we are spending time with good friends!!!!

From left to right:  April, Pat Donna, Rita, Mike, Bob, George, Doug getting ready to enjoy a breakfast at one of our favorite spots near Colorado Springs,

George took this picture at one of our favorite spots in the Springs - Garden of the Gods!

Everyone turn their back on George - he is getting ready to take a picture!  OK I know that I take too much time trying to get a good picture.  That is April in the foreground, Pat to the left, with Rita rushing to get out of the picture behind Doug and Mike trying to stay warm!

Before our guest arrived, we did some work for Bob and Donna's daughter, Maria.  She asked us last year if we could help them build a deck on the back of their house in the Black Forest area near Colorado Springs.  We did find out that we are getting older and are slower to recover but we helped them get it about 90 % complete before we gave out and the weather stopped us!  All that is left is to finish the railings and cover the stairs and stair landing.  Maria was happy with our work and we are happy to be done!

We torn off the old small deck to get ready for the new, larger, and improved deck.  George with his sawsall is putting the finishing touches of taking off the old deck.

Pat, Donna and Bob working under the joists installing hurricane straps (really needed with the wind they get out here).  We are half way done about this time!

Time for a rest for Pat with Mylee (David and Nikki's little puppy) and Bob!

We are staying at the Jefferson county fairgrounds for about 11 days until George's chemo treatments and Donna's medical appointments are finished for the month.  Our next journey will be to Yellowstone and the Tetons but we think maybe we are going up there a little premature.  Snow is still falling in the Yellowstone National Park, we hope that we will not need snowshoes when we get there.   It will be an adventure and even in the winter Yellowstone is beautiful so we are looking forward to our next backyard adventure.

We are staying dry, and hope that all of you are managing to survive the terrible weather that has stuck thoughout the US  this spring.  We also pray for those in harms way, both here in the US and those who are serving our country overseas! 

Congratulation to Maryann Graue on her retirement from government service on June 3rd!!!!  Maryann was a nurse in the Air Force, serving in Viet Nam, before she has served the Air Force as a civilian nurse for several bases including:  FE Warren AFB, Wyoming and Davis Monthan AFB, Arizona.  Along the way she also raised two wonderful young ladies, kept Tom, her hsuband, in line and grounded and became one of our closest friends.   You are one of a kind (we mean that in the most postive of ways) and wish you all the best on your retirement trip through western United States and across Canada!

We just found out another friend is also retiring.  We would also like to wish Joyce Price all the best in her retirement.  We hope you and Frank enjoy your retirement -- it is really not a bad life!!  Take care of yourselves, we hope to see you the next time we are in the midwest! 

To all of our friends and family, regardless of the weather, we hope you are enjoying life!  Until the next time we sit down and jot down a few lines for this blog, we hope life is good for you!  If you get a chance remember our military members serving this country in the four corners of this world and say a prayer for those in harms way!  Remember, if not for them and those who served before them,  the freedoms we enjoy today would not be possible!!!

Visiting Friends and Family

I have neglected to journal our visits and provide pics of our trip through the southwest and Albuquerque and Tucson.  Our hosts in Albuquerque were Mike and Rita Kavanaugh (only Mike the first time through) and Tom and Maryann Graue.  Although we have posted some of our pictures from our Tucson visit where we spent a couple weeks we have neglected are Albuquerque time and Easter.  Here are some pics of our visits with some very good friends and great hosts!

We were treated to a play at by Tom and Maryann's grand daughters, Molly and Sam!  They were simply great

Kelly, Carrie and their PA friend (sorry I forgot her name)

At our stop in Wilcox for RV repairs we discovered that Rex Allen (1950's TV cowboy fame) was born here and they are proud!

Pat, Donna and their puppy, Reilly

Mike and Rita

George and Mike working after Easter dinner, Oh what was Bob doing?

Rita, Mike, Donna, Bob and Pat with Reilly at Mike and

Rita's on Easter

After we returned to Colorado for George's third treatment sessions we also had to do some yard sale stuff to downside some of our stuff.  David and Nikki also decided to do a yard sale the same day so we shared and divided items to ensure both yard sales would be successful.  While Nikki did most of the work for their yard sale, we helped out with Kris and Amy's yard sale.

Pat has her hands full - of course she loves it!

What a good looking guy!

Karsten in his Johnny jump up!  Kris of course is relaxing!!!

Kasey checking out one of the garage sale items - he was such a big help and charmed all the shoppers into buying more!

We are still at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs with Bob and Donna.  We all will help their daughter and her family build a deck onto the back of their house this coming week. 

That should be a lot of fun!  We are sure pics will follow!  After the deck building party, we will host our good friends from West Virginia/Florida - Doug and April Allmond at the Air Force Academy.  If you remember the beginning of this blog last year, it was Doug who took the picture at the top of the blog and also came up with the expression "our backyard" when referring to travelling the USA.  They will stop on their way to camp hosting at Gunnison, CO.  Yes, that is where we met them two years ago.  They are going back to enjoy another summer in God's backyard!  After Doug and April depart, we will drive up to the Denver area where we will go to our monthly doctor's appointments and of course the fourth chemo sessions.  June's plans are not solid but we will keep you posted as we continue our travels through the backyards of America. 

As we travel and visit friends and family we are continuously struck by how everyone we visit go out of their way to treat us like royalty!  We pinch ourselves to ensure we are not dreaming and that we can live this dream!   We used to say "watch out when you see a motor home coming down your street, it might be us".  Now we are changing that to say "we hope we visit your backyard and renew our friendships".  Without friends and family (who are also our friends but somehow were lucky enough to actually be related) it would not be possible to have so much fun traveling the backyards of this great country.  Thank you all!!!!

Get out and enjoy life - you only get one chance and tomorrow is not guaranteed!