Black Hills

It has been a busy few weeks. We finally put the rain and humid weather behind us after leaving Wisconsin and we actually are seeing a lot of sun. So now we start our touring of the northwest U.S. We arrived at Dickenson, North Dakota to check out the Theodore Roosevelt National Park where we saw prairie dogs, wild horses and bison. Wes topped in Medora for lunch and there was Stan and Karen Lubeck (San Juan Trial neighbors) sitting in the same restaurant. We enjoyed lunch together catching up since we left Casa Grande. What a treat.

Now onto the Black Hills.....We started our venture in Spearfish, South Dakota. We found a great RV park in the City of Spearfish Park so we did some relaxing there watching the deer in the Spearfish Creek which was out our back window. We spent a day viewing the beautiful scenery of Spearfish Canyon viewing the Black Hills and waterfalls. Another day we drove to Wyoming to see Devil's Tower. We even took the walking tour around that large rock. Boy do we need the exercise after eating all that Wisconsin food.

We moved onto Hill City, South Dakota to see the attractions around this great country. We went to the Mount Rushmore National Park (breath taking), Crazy Horse National Park (unbelievable), Custer National Park (lots of buffalo, mules and deer), The Presidential Wax Museum (interesting) and took a train ride between Keystone and Hill City (history). The Black Hills are so beautiful winding through the roads connecting these sites. We went through one lane tunnels and saw a lot of wildlife. I feel so fortunate to be able to do these things. Life is so good to us.

Now we are off to see Yellowstone and and Grand Titons. We plan on spending a few days seeing that part of the country. I hope you are all doing well. Don't forget to send me a note. I miss everyone.

Mom's

It has been a couple of weeks since I updated you on our travels. The reason there has been no update is that we have not moved in two weeks. We have been parked in the driveway of my Mom's in Edgar, Wisconsin. My Mom is 87 years old and still lives on her own. She is very healthy and is a real go getter but there are some things she is not able to do anymore. Jack and I painted her kitchen, caulked her tub and kitchen, washed windows and painted window frames, cleaned out the basement and other things that needed doing. Mom and I picked two crates of strawberries and spent a day cleaning them and making jam.

For the fun things we did was to go golfing and lunch with friends, Karen and Keith. We visited a friend of Mom's who she had not seen in 16 years. This was a big weekend for the Edgar Carnival that has been going on since I was a child. There was a big parade in this little town of 1500 people (When I lived here the population was 345). Mom had 17 people for blueberry pancakes and sausage (so good) Sunday morning and then we all went outside to watch the parade which goes right passed the house. We played Hand and Foot with Mom and Aunt Margret and I was always on the loosing end. Over the week I ran into some old high school friends and it was so nice catching up.

A sad note was attending a funeral of my ex-brother-in-law. He had been mugged about 1 month before and was hit on the back of his head. He was not able to recover from the incident. He was 67 years old and had lost his wife in January to MS. He took care of her for 35 years and now this happened. They had 3 children and 5 grandchildren. That was a sad day! He was such a good man.

We are heading to Sparta tomorrow for the 4th of July to spend time with my sister and her husband. We are taking Mom along for a short vacation. When Mom, my sister and I are together, we have so much fun so I am looking forward to the weekend. We are sooooo lucky to still have our Mother in our lives.

Once we leave Wisconsin, we are heading West!