Flamingo on a Stick

Janie wanted me write about our wedding since our anniversary is tomorrow.  John & Janie night before the wedding, notice the beard. Twenty seven years ago on this date I was staying with my Dad and a couple of my brothers in a hotel in Cedar Rapids. I was getting married the next day in a local park so I was trimming my beard. The beard wasn’t going so well. I was thinking it would be easier if I just shaved it off. Janie had never seen me without my beard, having just met me six months ago, but I was pretty sure she wasn’t marrying me for my beard. So off it came. I was going to be clean shaven for the big day. John and brother, Walt, having fun before the ceremony. It turned out to be a hot day for September, so it was probably a good thing the beard was gone. The first person I saw as I arrived at the park was Janie’s best friend Trudy. She thought I was one of my brothers, but Janie caught on right away. She was surprised, but the wedding was still on. It was ...

Bear Head Lake near Ely, Minnesota We wanted a stop between International Falls and Two Harbors so in checking things out we found this park deep in the North Woods near Ely MN. It is a beautiful park, pretty secluded and heavily wooded. I would not call it big rig friendly, the campground roads are narrow and the sites though big enough for our 30 ft 5th wheel, it would be hard to find a site for a rig much bigger. There are some bigger sites in the loop that doesn’t have any electric, awesome tent sites. Our site was a challenge to get into but it is very private and we really like it. In the other loop there is a great non reservable site (#66) that I think we would try to get next time.  Lots of docks to fish from The Lake is beautiful and large. We hope to get the kayak out tomorrow and do some paddling. Yesterday we walked, worked out and then just vegetated. It was great! Today we are headed into Ely for groceries and dinner. Will check the web for a few things...

Best campsite ever! Perfect place for a campfire Last Thursday we arrived in International Falls at the very best campsite we have ever had. We squeezed in next to the cabin of our friends the Hjelles. Brady was one of our hockey sons and his family feels like family to us. His Grandpa Bud added a 30 amp service so that we could stay with them right at the cabin. The cabin is about 15 miles west of International Falls right next to the Big Fork River. It was a wonderful 4 days. Brenda (Brady’s mom) had meals planned for every day. Man, did we eat well. It was a real treat. The weather was just about perfect too. We had a couple very light showers at night a couple times but otherwise warm days and cool nights. Paul gets a nice size small mouth bass Brady and his big catch We rode our bikes a little on Friday. Saturday we did a 4 hour Kayak trip down the Big Fork while Brady and Paul took the fishing boat down. The Big Fork was a beautiful river for a float tr...

On the bike trail of the Grand Forks Greenway Tomorrow we leave East Grand Forks. This stop has been such a pleasant surprise, we know that we will return in the future. We put about 60 miles on the bikes, John went to a movie (I walk out, will talk about this later) we visited the hockey rink and had beer and appetizers at the Blue Moose most night here, and went to farmer’s market. The weather has been wonderful and we can’t think of a better way to spend a week.  Farmer's Market Our next stop is International Falls MN. One of our hockey sons (Brady) is from the Falls and we really have been wanting to spend some time there. We visited once before but it was too short to do all that the area has to offer. A bonus is that we are going to hook up at the cabin. Brady’s grandfather Bud added a hook up so we could stay right there for free. Free is always good in this lifestyle! Brady is off at school in Columbus OH, at the University of Ohio so we didn’t expect to get ...

The maker showing the river levels in previous floods including the 1997 record breaker Flood control is something John and I find interesting. We lived in a city, Cedar Rapids IA,  that was ravaged by flood in 2008.  In the 3 years since then we watched as the city  has tried to recover and make a plan for the future. I know that they had a group come here to Grand Forks to look at their flood control measures and why they didn’t learn more and take more of these plans back to CR, I really don’t know. As a tax payer in CR we were very frustrated when we saw the city rebuild its City Hall in the middle of the river, literally, on May’s Island. There was such an opportunity there to change the landscape in a way that may have prevented future flood damage but my opinion is they put their heads in the sand and are sure it will never happen again. Some of the flood wall along the bike trail Earthen levees line other portions of the trail Here in Grand Fo...

Pedestrian Bridge across the Red River in the Greater  Grand Forks Greenway This is a great spot. We are camped in the Red River Recreation Area on FHU for at least a week ( I think I will add a day) . This campground is part of the Greater Grand Forks Greenway that was developed along the Red River as a result of the devastating flood of 1997.  I am going to do a post about that and all the measures Grand Forks and East Grand Forks took after that flood. This is something of great interest to me after the flood of 2008 in Cedar Rapids (where we lived for 35 years). I think CR could have learned a lot from this area and my opinion is the missed a great opportunity. Ralph Engelstad Arena, where UND plays hockey The statue of Sitting Bull outside the arena Part of the Greenway is a system of bike trails. In two days we put on almost 35 miles on bike trails here.  Yesterday we did part of the Greenway and then took a trail that took us out to UND. We w...

Fred the Freakin' Freeloading Snake  Well, we haven't seen Fred for a couple days which makes us wonder if he finally took off. Either that or he is so traumatized from the travel that he's in seclusion in his little hiding place. We arrived in East Grand Forks MN yesterday and will be here a week so we will still keep an eye out for him. A friend of mine has another friend (is that confusing) who knows a little about snakes so she sent him the photo of Fred so we could figure out what kind of snake he is and here is his answer. "After a google search, I am sticking to my original opinion. A Racer, and many of the Google pics look enhanced to me, they are not THAT blue, and are often gray like the one in the vehicle. I generally like snakes but I would not want to find a Blue Racer in my car, they are freakishly fast and will bite, harmless but scary. Even the way the snake holds it's body says "racer' to me. They live in open grasslands and ...

Downtown Madison South Dakota New Plates for the truck! We are in South Dakota and today did all our paperwork, licenses, registrations, mail forwarding etc. We are how officially domiciled in South Dakota, our home town is Madison. Madison is a very nice little town, but I doubt we will be here very often. We actually tried to get a site at Lake Herman State Park very near Madison but they only had one site in the lower campground. We checked it and it would be a bear to get into so we have decided to head north. We will be staying at the Red River Recreation Area in East Grand Forks MN, across the river from Grand Forks, ND. They had a lot of flooding earlier this year but there were no cautions on the park and they took my reservation so we will get to see how they are doing. This park was actually created out of a residential area that was devastated in 1997 in a flood. Coming from a city (Cedar Rapids) that experienced a devastating flood, I am impressed that they ch...

John, named our hitchhiking passenger. I had to clean it up a little but that's only because he was really angry at the snake when he came up with the name. Yesterday we tried to wash him out of his hiding place with the hose and guess what, that didn't work either. I even had the camera ready to get a photo of him scampering off.  So I guess he is going with us to South Dakota tomorrow.  It has been a busy last couple of days, we have been getting together with a few close friends before we leave and a little time with family too. I'm anxious to get on the road, I wonder if Fred feels that way too.  Happy Trails..............

What should we name this guy? Yesterday I got a couple photos of our "pet" snake. He likes to peak out and check out the world from the safety of his home in the pump housing of our extended fuel tank. We still have not figured out how to get him out of there. It is really a confined space. So until we figure something out or he finally gets hungry and leaves, he will be going along for the ride. We decided he's been around long enough, he deserves a name. So what do you think we should name him?? I still want him out. I'm ok looking at him from a distance but you won't catch me climbing into the bed of the truck, I'll leave that duty to John. John claims he isn't afraid of the snake (that's my studley guy!) but still has yet to come up with a plan to get him to leave. If we don't figure it out soon the snake will find himself in South Dakota. Maybe he just wants to see the world too?! Happy trails.......................

How do you like that for a title. Did it a make you wonder if they were doing a sequel to “Snakes on a Plane”? Well unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, I am not a movie producer. If I was I am not sure that is a movie I would make. So instead I’ll just talk about each separately. Baby first! Kelvin Richard Janie & Kelvin My nephew Jordan and wife Rachel gave birth to a beautiful baby boy last Sunday. His name is Kelvin Richard (after Lord Kelvin who developed the Kelvin temperature scale). Jordan is a biochemist so it is a fitting name. Kelvin arrived 5 weeks early but weighed in at 6 lbs 4oz. I think Rachel is glad she didn’t go full term as that would have been a big baby. Jordan weighed 10lbs 9oz  (I think, I’m close any way) when he was born and I think Kelvin was on track to being similar in size. Kelvin is doing great, but he’s still considered a preemie. They are watching him closely and he has had to spend a little time in a Bill...

Prairie Flowers Thanks to everyone who commented on yesterday's blog. I thought I would clarify a bit. We met some very nice people and I would never want to slight them in any way. It isn't even so much what they thought about us but about discovering where we fit in. RVing is still relatively new to us. We went right from tent camping to full time RVing in a fifth wheel which is quite a jump. That means we never did any group campouts before and don't have those long time friends with whom we share camping memories. For us it is all about the discovery and meeting people along the way. I think we were a little more comfortable in the Escapee's rally last year because we met others who were in our same situation. New to RVing and many who were new to full timing. It is always easier when there are others going through the same kinds of things you are.  We did learn a lot from the other Excel owners. Learned things to watch for, how to remedy certain issues. We ...