October 11th - For all of you wondering if we ever got home...we did!! And we still are, home, that is! Why so long to finish this chapter of our on-the-road adventures? Technology!!! Home we came to no internet. And it took nearly two weeks of effort on the part of yours truly to get it finally straightened around. Calls to our local provider, and to our DLink router people, and finally a techie was sent out, who took an hour of exploration to figure out it was an incoming cable problem.

Gail still has trouble connecting on her ipad, but I'm back in business. Aren't you glad? Anyway, to finish off the last chapter of this edition of LerGail Rambles, we decided to leave Holland, Michigan, without staying an extra day, and headed across the state and into Canada. It's funny, but when you get close to home, the urge to stop and explore fades away, and all you really want to do is get back to kith and kin. So we had an uneventful drive across the state, some roads okay and some not, and got to the border by mid-afternoon.

"What have we got left in the fridge, Gail?"
"Only a couple of apples. But what if they check our 'drinks' cupboard?"
"They never do, so don't worry." But we worry anyway.

Turned out there was no Duty Free we could spot at the Sarnia cross-over, so all we had were the considerable leftovers from our travels. There was a substantial mass of vehicles waiting to go through, and just as it was our turn, there was a staff change, which involved a lengthy conversation between the outgoing and the incoming officer. No doubt exchanging critical information about possible terrorist intrusion. More likely talking about where to go for a beer later.

Our guy asked if we had purchased anything in the States. "Only essentials," I replied, firm of voice and confident of manner. "Have a nice day," was the reply. Didn't even ask about booze. No fun at all!!

On we went to Strathroy, where we found a park that caters to trout fishermen. Quite a little enclave, with mostly permanents who looked at us like we were from Mars. The gal in charge is clearly in charge. Don't mess with her, we learned, as she assured us the camp is mostly very quiet. "Threw one guy out last night," she said, "but mostly it's quiet here." And it was. People can come to the camp to fish in their pond, which is stocked with trout, and if they catch one, they pay the proprietor 6 bucks, and she'll clean it for you. Take it home to the pan, just like that!

Next morning we went to town to have a Sunday breakfast, as it was our last day on the road. We walked up and down the main street, and found nothing open. Along came a young couple with two kids, out for a walk, so we asked them where we might find breakfast. The young guy answered with a distinct Australian accent that there was the old post office that had been converted into a restaurant, and it might be open. "What are you doing here in Strathroy, of all places?" I asked him. "I have no idea," was the reply. "I married a Canadian girl, and here I am." She only smiled, looking quite content to be home in Strathroy, Ontario, ultimate farm community with God knows what for a young man from Sydney to do. Hopefully it works out.

The converted post office was great, a really neat venue, well worth a visit, as it has a real upscale pub feel, if you're ever caught in Strathroy. After that, we made our way home through reasonably calm Toronto traffic, and were welcomed by the MacKays, who had us over for dinner. Great way to end this 6,200 km trip. Glad to be home, for sure! But soon itching to go again.

Thanks for listening. Stay tuned, as we will be on the road again before long.

Sept 23 - We've been out of touch for awhile, mainly because for the last three nights we've had no wi-fi. Gotta have it to do this little blog thing. But tonight we are in Holland, Michigan, in a nice spot, so have the necessary tools.

Catching up won't be too tough, as a lot of the time for the last few days has involved driving across a lot of country that doesn't really have many highlights. At Sioux Falls, we went to the central Falls Park, and had a very nice walk-around. They have done a great job highlighting the history of the area, and displaying from many angles a very nice waterfall series. Best of all, it was a very pleasant day.

But that contrasts with two nights in a row when we received prodigious rainfall. The first was also accompanied by major lightning, creating a sky that didn't dim for minutes at a time. Chain and heat, on and on. And poured! The second night, however, was even heavier, when we were in Wisconsin, the rains resulting in school closures in 10 counties because of flooding. We went for breakfast that morning as a reward for surviving, and our server showed us a picture her daughter had taken north of Dodgeville, where we were, showing a car sitting nose down in a sinkhole. Fortunately, none of that where we were, so we were able to proceed without incident.

Along the way, we stopped to view the Jolly Green Giant, a 60 foot statue placed in the town of Blue Earth, Minnesota, to 'honor' the relationship of the area with the company. As I say, highlights aren't easily found across southern Minnesota and Wisconsin. We did enjoy SE Minnesota, as it's a lovely area of great farms, neat and tidy and well developed, with a large Amish community at the core. Even saw a couple of buggies driving down the shoulder of the highway, transporting couples to town. Farms are so neat and tidy, they reminded us of Germany, where every square inch is so well tended.

We decided, after following along the Mississippi for an hour or so, to avoid Chicago, so we went south, then east, and ended up last night in a remote camp far from the madding crowd. Took us forever to find it, but talk about peaceful. No one around, a nice little lake in front, total quiet. Today we went across the busy strip of Indiana east of Chicago, and decided to come up to Holland, a lovely city of 30,000 originally settled by... guess who? The buildings in the core of town are definitely of Dutch style, and we visited the Windmill Island Gardens, where they have the only functioning original Dutch windmill in the U.S., imported from Holland and restructured for the community. We toured the windmill, and learned a lot about the mill and how it processes the grinding of grain. Well done, very interesting. They even have the only Dutch-certified Mill operator in the U.S., a female, again a first. Bought some Dutch cookies and flour which was ground in this very mill. Life doesn't get any more exciting than this, folks.

I have to mention the highways. At times they are just fine, smooth and enjoyable. But too often they are made of concrete, or less often, are paved. But our poor r.v. has been jostled, battered, pounded, by potholes and ridges beyond imagination. We have our famous County Road 49, voted worst road in Ontario, proudly taking truck traffic from our local cement plant and port away to places unknown. But 49 is nothing compared to what we've experienced all the way across from South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. Obama...please cut your defense budget by 10 percent and redo your countries infrastructure. It's in bad shape. I forgot! No worry. The Donald will make America great again.

So we're now within striking distance of home. Straight across to the east, and we'll cross at Sarnia. May stop off at Stratford for a look around before putting our nose to the wheel and beating it for home. Should be back by Sunday or Monday, unless we stay here another day. May do, as it's near Lake Michigan, and we badly need a hike.

Miss all of you. More later. Stay tuned.

Further to our plan to see Buddy Guy on stage, we saw him from afar, from the balcony of the Holiday Inn across the street from the venue. Worked out fine, as his show was only an hour, and we had no interest in spending the whole day on the site. He was okay, but not dazzling. He worked the crowd pretty well, so everyone seemed to enjoy the show.

Anyway, we can cross Buddy off our bucket list. Always wanted to see him in person.

Next day we headed back up to route 90, and made our way to Wall, where the famous Drug Store of the same name can be found. We even found the drug store component of the sprawling complex, so it's still performing that service. There were loads of people there, out in the middle of the big SD spaces, 'cause everyone wants to see all of the stuff on offer. I was last there 33 years ago, and if memory serves, the town has expanded considerably. Seems to me it was the only store on that street, but now there are several others across the way. You can buy almost any souvenir ever invented, plus western clothes, cowboy boots, and all manner of other things. There is also a big cafeteria, very busy, so we had lunch with the hungry hordes.

On to the Badlands. There's a route that leaves the 90 at Wall and goes south through the National Park. Many viewpoints, lots of information, and splendid sights to be seen. This is a most unusual terrain, carved by Mother N for the last 50 or 100 million years. Interestingly, there are various layers of different hue,  deposits of various time periods, all in consistent horizontal display. No tilting, all consistently horizontal. Usually with layers like these there's some indication of tilting or upheaval. Not so here.

Lots of pictures! A most enjoyable area to visit. But our (my) decision to head east on a secondary route was a big mistake. Turns out this area of ND doesn't get much attention. Not surprising, as there are so few people out here, given the huge ranches that have taken over smaller spreads. Anyway, route 44 is to be avoided unless you're driving a Sherman Tank. Horizontal slashes, probably caused by frost upheavals, abound across the highway, were constant, and shook the poor old r.v. to death. Even where there had been an attempt to patch the crevices, the failure was evident, as our teeth rattled in our heads, the contents of the fridge were jostled hither and thither within, and various items were tossed to the floor. We reached Indian River, and decided to head back to the 90, thinking we'd get some relief. But the road north was just as bad. Jarred and jostled we were when we finally reached Murdo and found a quiet rv park.

So we stickin' to the 90 for the time being, and followed it faithfully today. Across the Mighty Missouri we went, where there's a great viewpoint, and a brand new very attractive huge statue of a Native Woman, all metal and at night flashing lights, which has been called 'Dignity'. It was just unveiled two days ago, and will be a long-time feature at this site, adding to the fine display about the Lewis and Clark Expedition that is housed in the nearby information center.

Our final major treat of the day, besides the colorful sunflower, corn and soy crops we whizzed past, was the Corn Palace in Mitchell. It's the last of it's kind, has lasted for decades, and is quite a marvel. Every year the exterior is redone with tens of thousands of ears of corn in several natural shades, which are split in half and nailed into position, depicting a different theme each year. Costs more than a hundred thousand to redo. This years' theme is Rock and Roll, so there are figures on the exterior depicting Willy, Elvis and others. You really have to see it to believe it. And inside, a terrific auditorium, where they've been hosting shows performed by famous people for years. There's also a great basketball court contained therein as well, so local teams have a great court for their games.

Too much!! So on we went, and now we're here in Sioux Falls. More later! Stay tuned.

Sept. 17 - Yesterday went as planned, mostly. Except for a problem in the parking lot of Mount Rushmore. Spaces were squeezed to the max, so we in the smaller r.v.'s weren't given much room, side to side. We were crammed in between two others, in other words. In extracting my rig from my space after our visit, I managed to clip the bottom of my neighbour's awning mount, pulling away a screw from the frame of his camper. Also left a wee gouge in the rear of my baby. The van, not Gail.

Not a good thing. And my fault entirely. Gail was giving me directions, capably as always, and I seemed to decide not to follow, so cut the back-up a little too sharply. You may recall that when we have made mistakes in the past, we say we're 80 percent stupid. This time I get 100 percent. The other party was nowhere in sight, so I left a note on his window, and will likely hear from him with some unpleasant news in future. Guess for all of the miles we do in this sizable unit, the occasional thing like this is going to happen. Doesn't feel good when it does, however.

Aside from that, we had a very good visit at the Crazy Horse Monument, which is quite something. It will truly dwarf the guys at Mount Rushmore. Seems the Americans love carving up mountains to create monuments to their great ones. Makes for interesting tourist attractions, and certainly feeds the fire of nationalism, particularly Rushmore. It's good that the native Americans are doing their part to emphasize their importance as part of the American culture. It's not just the huge carving of Crazy Horse, which has been going on for decades and will continue for many more. It's the display of Native culture on the site that has a more lasting impression. They've done a great job of displaying their history, arts, music, and daily life. Well worth the time to visit if  you're in the neighbourhood. Don't drive on by. We almost did, and were very glad we didn't.

Rushmore? Again, a marvel of engineering and artistic accomplishment. Quite astounding what well-placed dynamite can do, along with an array of mining equipment manned by experienced miners. The center is very attractive, the ice cream is good, following Thomas Jefferson's formula, and the figures on the mountain are quite something. The parking lot? That's another story.

On we soldiered to Deadwood, trying not to be too upset by my mistake. We found a nice camp within walking distance of town, so did just that after a bite of supper. It's a town of history, and has turned to gambling as a way to pay the bills. Every hotel and restaurant along the old Main street has slots by the score, the larger ones also hosting blackjack and poker tables. Didn't see any of my favorite, roulette. Good thing after my earlier bad luck. There's a big music event happening this week-end, so the whole town, small as it is, reverberates with the massive volume of guitars, lead and bass (pronounced 'base'). (Speaking of 'lead', there's a town only 3 miles from here called Lead. We thought it was likely pronounced 'led', as this is mining country. Turns out it's pronounced 'leed', for reasons we're not sure of. Sort of like the capital of the state, Pierre, which is pronounced 'Peer'.

Anyway, we enjoyed wandering about, had a beer in a great old bar called Wild Bill's Bar, in which there were lots of images of the famous man. Later, we caught the shuttle bus, which for a buck apiece, delivered us back to the r.v. park. Talk about good service.

Only a little more. Today we walked our bleeping bleeps off. Into town, up the gulch slope to the cemetery to see the gravesites of Wild Bill and Calamity Jane, back down to wander the town, and then off on a walk of another two or more hours on the Mickelson Trail (no Kathy, not named after Phil, but rather a former Governor who promoted this wonderful Rails to Trails track). Five and a half hours on our feet. But we needed it, as we've been doing the road tourist thing for a couple of weeks, and hadn't done any hiking. Feels good to be physically zonked.

This music event going on in town features, if you can believe it, Buddy Guy, tonight. Tickets for the day are $45. So we may take the trolley into town, and go to the big Holiday Inn across from the venue, where they have a heated outside bar, and listen from there. Could have quite a few drinks for the 90 bucks saved. All this supposes we have the energy for such a venture.

That's it. More later. Stay tuned.

Sep 15 - We have now moved out of Wyoming, leaving behind broad expanses of range land, oil patches and coal fields. On the way through, we saw great long trains of empty coal cars, heading west to fill up at a large coal mining area which we drove by, a surface mine with a visible seam that was being attacked with rigor by heavy equipment. Sad to see such massive use being made of this polluting fuel. But when you see the level of the industry, you realize that many jobs and much money is involved in this industry. No doubt there is a large lobby to keep it going.

Anyway, so be it. We passed over the border into South Dakota, and were in the Black Hills. Soon we were at the entrance of the Jewel Cave National Monument. We hadn't done a cave for some time, so decided to give it a go, and were glad we did. This cave is the third most extensive in North America, and despite 30 or 40 years of exploration and mapping, mainly by amateurs, it is still largely unmapped. We did an hour and a half tour, reaching a depth of some 350 feet below the entrance, passing through chambers large and small, narrow channels, all on safe walkways and miriad stairways. We had a good young guide, so learned a lot, and once Gail got over her nervousness, we enjoyed it. Splunkers paradise.

Shortly after leaving we ran into a group of about 20 big horns, so watched them for awhile, especially enjoying their climb up a rock face. Then to Custer, where  we found a nice r.v. park. It's in town, so we strolled along the main street, taking in the fascinating mix of motels and restaurants. This is clearly naught but a tourist town. Had a beer in a neat place called Bitter Esters Brew House, and wandered back. Tough life, you must agree! More later, as we go on to Crazy Horse's monumental mountain carving, and Mount Rushmore, with a goal of camping in Deadwood tomorrow night. Hope we don't get into a gun fight. More later. Stay tuned.

Just a short note tonight, as it's time to start thinking about nothing. Thinking does occupy one's time on these trips, as you have to do a fair bit of planning. For example, tomorrow we will head on to South Dakota, and soon will be in the Black Hills, where we'll find Crazy Horse's enormous statue, and of course, Mount Rushmore. From there, it'll be over to Rapid City, and that'll be enough for one day. But it takes some planning, some map study, some reading of CAA books, and so on. Not complaining, 'cause it's part of the fun. But now it's time to think about nothing. Except...

Today, we stopped by the nearby Thermopolis State Park wherein lies the largest hot springs complex in the whole wide world. We did a walk around, and it truly is quite a sight. We were so impressed, we decided to take advantage, so had a lovely soak in 104F waters. Cleansed and relaxed. May have even helped my cold, although as Joy Vance says, it takes 7 days or a week to get over most colds.

From that pleasant experience, we headed east, into the wild and wonderful Big Horn Mountain range. It has many fine views, and consists of various rock/mineral formations that date from 300 million years ago to 2 billion years ago. Oddly enough, the oldest formation was at the top of the pass. How do we know this? Because the State of Wyoming has signs along the way that tell you the age of the formations you're driving by, by gosh.

And what a climb. Seemed we'd never get to the top. Met some folks from Holland at one of our viewpoint stops, who were doing a three week trip from New York City to Las Vegas. Havin' a good time. We finally hit the peak of the pass at 9,666 feet. And then we had to get down, with warnings about runaway truck catchments, the need to gear down, the need to mind the sharp upcoming curves. But the old van managed. And then, once on the relative flat land, we had an hour across the open barren spaces with major winds blowing at us.

But here we are, safely tucked away in Gillette, Wyoming. That's all for now. Stay tuned. And don't be shy. Drop a not of reply if you've the time. Love to hear from you.

As you may have guessed, my praise of William E. Cody resulted from our return to the Buffalo Bill Museum, a most wonderful facility, with first class displays, interactive materials, videos, the whole nine yards, in 5 distinct areas. When you buy a pass, it's for two days, so we were pleased to go back to see the Buffalo Bill display, and the Native American area.

Another couple of points. The town of Cody is named after said gentleman, because he was instrumental in the development of the area. He was a Congressional Medal of Honour recipient, yet when he was in dire straits in his old age, his application for a 10 dollar a month pension was turned down by the government because he was no longer a member of the military. Fame doesn't always bring just rewards.

We got saturated on info, halfway through the Native American display, so hit the road towards Thermopolis. Here they claim to have the largest hot springs area in the world, and have been making it available to the public free of charge in the State Park for decades. Butch Cassidy and his Hole in the Wall gang, Robert Redford, Marlon Brando, and of course, Buffalo Bill, are just some of the celebs who've enjoyed the facility.

As it happens, we found the Fountain of Youth R.V. park, which has it's own hot pools. Three of them are on the property, one mild, one medium and one severe. We enjoyed the first two, and hope it had a positive impact on colds and other ailments. We may stay another day, although it's showery. So more later. Stay tuned.