Homeward bound II

We had a beautiful drive through New Mexico and spent the night in Holbrook, AZ. We left Holbrook and drove to Williams - we love that little town so stopped for a repair on the motorhome and then walked around the town - they are ready for Christmas. Every evening they have a train ride "Polar Express". If we were staying overnight I would have taken a ride.
We then headed down Historic Route 66 to Kingman, Arizona and then connected with US 40 and spent the night in Needles. The weather was beautiful - if only we would have had the boat.
We are now home and cleaning up the motorhome so it is ready for our next adventure.

We had a great time on our adventure and really don't know which part was our favorite. Every stop had something special. The scrapbook is almost done (just a few more last minute pictures to add). It was great being able to see so many sights and not be rushed. It was also great being with the Riedman/Nichols cousins. But it was good to get home and see our family.

Well update this one more time when Dick gets back from Montana - hopefully this time he will at least see an Elk.

homeward bound

We left North Dakota on Thursday and stopped in O'Neill, Nebraska the first night. We then travelled on 281 to Wichita, KS to visit with Dick's Uncle Roy and cousin Dee Dee and family. We had a nice visit and then on Saturday headed out for New Mexico. Tonight we are stayin ing Tucumcari, NM - we had a beautiful sunset and we are now relaxing with a gin and tonic - and a homemade Tamale dinner. Yeah Mexican food at last. Do you know how hard it is to go without mexican food?????
We hope to make it through New Mexico tomorrow and maybe into Arizona but it all depends on what we see along the way.

Dick will be leaving on Thanksgiving Day to return to Montana to see if he can get that Elk. His guide was kind of enough to invite him back for another try.

North Dakota Update

It has been a while since we posted any information on our trip.

We have been enjoying our stay in North Dakota - seeing relatives and just driving around the country roads.

Yesterday we took a drive with Dick's cousins Harlon and Sharon and went to a couple more of the townships where Dick's mother grew up. It was a great day and we had beautiful weather.

I have been taking alot of pictures of sunsets, barns, old farm houses, animals and scenery.

Dick went to Montana on his elk hunt but there were no elk to be seen. He did see beautiful scenery and his guide is sending us pictures that they took - I will download when they arrive.
After he got back to ND it was deer season and he shot his deer yesterday. He has had success hunting pheasants with his cousins out west. So all in all the hunting part of our trip has been successful.

My photo album is almost done and we will continue to add pictures of our trip home.

We will be stopping in Kansas to visit Dick's uncle and my aunt. Then we head on home via the Panhandle (a corner of Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico) through New Mexico and Arizona.

Litchville, ND

We have been doing some sightseeing in areas that we have not had to explore before when we have been in ND. Dick's mother grew up in this area too but usually when we come to ND it is for hunting and it is usually snowing so I can't get around by myself. I have traveled some of the roads and continue taking my old barn and school house pictures. We thought we might hae found an old house that Dick's grandparents lived in - but we are not sure - it just seemed familiar to Dick but it has been over 50 years. It is amazing what a person remembers from their childhood. The sun is out today and hopefully will remain out. It has been raining all week so they can't get back in the fields until they have a few days with wind and sunshine.

I have been working on my scrapbooking but taking my time and trying to choose the right pictures. I remembered Syliva G saying that you must write your story in your penmanship so I am doing that too.

Minnesota cont'd

There were too many beautiful pictures so here we go -

Minnesota

This weekend we drove to Minnesota to see Dick's cousin Tom and his wife LeAnne - they live on a lake in Minnesota. We also got together for dinner at Lakeside Inn (which is owned by

Tom & LeAnnes' daughter Chris and her husband Chet) with Dick's cousin Greg, wife Sindy and boys McKade and Kailor. We had a great time and ended up playing a numbers game and we had a hunting challenge on a video game. I did good at the numbers game but sucked at hunting.

Saturday morning we got up and the weather was a little iffy so we took a ride to see some of the fall colors and the surrounding houses on the lakes. There are some very elegant homes.

The colors were gorgeous and we stopped and did a little shopping at a very cute little store.

When we got back to their home the weather changed and it was sunny and very warm so off we went in the boat to view the lake. You will see the beautiful colors in the attached pictures. We some an awesome eagles nest and the cutest little loon.

Sunday we got up and went to breakfast and then for a hike in their woods and then a drive to Chris and Chet's house and then to her Uncle who makes the birdhouses. What a treat that was.

We had a great weekend! Thanks

On the way home (back to the farm) we stopped in Fargo for a short visit with Auntie Maxine.

She was getting ready to play bingo so we didn't want to keep her from all that fun - we'll drive in again for a longer visit.

A day at the Farm

Yesterday I went out to the fields where they were harvesting the soybeans. I rode in the combined and learned a little about the machine and soybeans. Dick drives the tractor that pulls that dump trailer - after it is full he takes it to a bigger truck dumps the soybeans and returns tothe field to unload another combine. Once the big truck is full they take it to a storage bin and dump. These guys work long days - some nights they don't get back until 9- 9:30 pm.

I took them their lunch dinner (at lunch time) - on my way back I took some pictures.

The Farm

Medora, ND

Red Lodge - MT

Little Big Horn Battleground

The Farm - Valley City-Litchville

We arrived at the farm and have a great spot for our motorhome - Dick's cousin gave us full hook-ups including wi-fi (no more trying to find a library or other means of internet service).
Dick is working with his cousins bringing in the corn and soybeans. He works from 8:00 am to 9:30 pm at night (not bad for someone who is retired). He is in seventh heaven being at the farm and working with his cousins.

Dakota and I stay busy - we go for two walks a day among the corn and open fields. When it is not threatening rain the sky is beautiful. We have had a couple beautiful sunsets.

Yesterday I ventured to drive the country roads to visit Dick's cousin who is the Postmaster at the Litchville Post Office and then I went to town to buy groceries and since you can't buy your liquor at the market and I went to the liquor store for wine and gin. It is very relaxing amtosphere.

Today I am taking lunch out to the guys in the field. They have a hot lunch at noon and then eat again whenever they make it back in the evening.

Bismarck, ND

We headed for Bismarck,ND to visit our cousin Bill and his wife Doreen and son Mathew. They just built a beautiful home on hill overlooking the river - with the fall colors lining the river it was an awesome view. The sunset was incredible. We had a wonderful dinner and visit with them.

On Saturday we went to the most amazing pumpkin patch - I have never seen so many pumpkins. I now have my fall decorations - my pumpkin has a little green running through it.

We had thought about revisiting some of the Lewis & Clark adventures in Mandan but Dick was anxious to continue our journey to the Farm.

Medora, ND

We left Billings and headed east -stopped to see where Clark had craved his initials in a rock along with indian markings. They are trying to perserve the area but so many others have craved names in the rock too. Guess tagging goes back along ways. We stopped in Miles City to see the historic ranching town and then onto Glendive - we were getting very close to the North Dakota border so we continued on. Dick wanted to spend some time in the badlands showing me where they hunt. I don't know how they find the same place twice - it all looks alike to me.
We had a dinner at Buffalo Gap - the best ribeye steak I have ever had - and a beautiful sunset.
The people were the friendliest we have had along the way. We spent the night in Medora and the next morning we played golf at Bully Pulpit -(everything in Medora has some reference to Theodore Roosevelt). I thought how hard can a golf course be in the middle of the Badlands - well I found out that I am good at taking pictures of the beautiful golf course - but by the time we finished I was exhausted - and they say that wasn't even the tough 9. The fall colors were gorgeous against the badlands and the green grass.

Billings, MT

After we left Deer Lodge we traveled to Billings, MT. We were going to stop along the way but the rainy weather was not inviting so we drove to Billings where the weather was in the high 60's and clear. We did stop at Three Forks (sorry I refered to it as Three Rivers earlier) it is part of the Lewis and Clark Trail where three rivers come together at the Missouri Headwaters.
We stayed a very diversed campground - there were four different kinds of campsites -
tent - rv space with electric and water - rv space with full hook-ups, wooden swing and fire pit, and an rv space with full hook-ups, cement and grass area for entertaining, wooden swing and flower bed - That was a first for us - we had a great spot with a view of the Yellowstone River.
We have been very lucky everywhere we have stayed we have been next to a river. Too bad the rivers are too low to do any fishing and float trips.

We drove to Little Bighorn Battleground - you can walk on the trials, drive and walk so you get the whole picture of how the battle was fought. Can't believe that Custer would try to take on thousands of indians with only 250 soliders. The Fall colors added to the demension of the battlegrounds.

We drove to Pomprey Point where Clark wrote his name on a rock that the indians had put drawings on - they are doing there best to perserve this but it is sad that others felt the need to write their name - some even over the indian drawings.

We drove to Red Lodge which was about an hour away - a whole different terrian on this drive. The town has some unique buildings and alot of shopping.

Dick spent a few minutes taking pictures of a big 4 x 4 buck and his family. Just standing in a field by the freeway.

We continue to see herds of antelope, beautiful birds, and deer very close to the road.

Montana has been a beautiful state full of history and wildlife.

We are now on our way to North Dakota -

Deer Lodge, Mt

We have been in Deer Lodge for two days due to poor weather conditions. It has been rainy and windy since we got here. It didn't keep us from sightseeing- they have the first territorial prison here that was used up until 1970's. It is an interesting place to visit but it makes you wonder why anyone would committ crime and have to go there. They were one of the first prisons to use the prisoners to do structural work on additions to the prison. It is located on main street and looks like a fort - a well-guarded fort. They also had a very extensive display of carriages, old model cars along with pictures of Yellowstone and how they opened the park up to the first automobiles to tour - they even showed how the tourist camped. In another room they had all the 50's-70's cars restored.

Today we went to see a historical ranch and that proved to be very interesting - the state has perserved it after the grandson donated it them. His Grandfather had the ranch which he bought from the original owner it was then sold off and the Grandson purchased it to keep it the family. The ranger who gave the tour of the house and blacksmith shop actually worked with the grandson and had been in the house when the family owned it. They have the actual bunkhouse, chuckwagon, barns, carriage barn,with actual carriages and wagons, equipment that was used in the 1800's to ranch and a very interesting hay stacker - that we had seen along the road to Bannack Ghost Town - they have a small model so you can see how it works. This is still an active ranch but instead of 30,000 acres and is now only 1,600 acres with a few herd of cattle and some horses.

The state parks department in Montana is unbelieveable in preserving history. They have very friendly and knowledge park personnel.

Since it was raining we have no pictures of Deer Lodge and no golf - bummer. Tomorrow we will move onto Butte and Bozeman - hoping to have good weather so we can stop at three rivers.

Big Hole Battleground

wildlife and fall colors

stanley, ID - Salmon River, Sawtooth mountains

Snake River & Shoshone Falls - Twin Falls, ID