In the beautiful Black Hills - Custer, South Dakota

Enjoyed a short drive to Custer, staying in a quiet pine-tree filled campground called Big Pines Campground  and enjoying cooler temperatures and zero humidity! Had a fire tonight for the first time this trip and a wonderful salmon pesto dinner from the BBQ. Plus no rain, yet.

Day 2 in the Badlands, South Dakota

Windy, rainy evening last night left us with big puddles today and made some trails impassable but otherwise it was a nice day and we are enjoying this unique geological terrain and vast spaces! Even managed to get in a bit of history at the Minutemen Information Center! We go to Custer City, South Dakota for 5 nights tomorrow!
P.S. Enjoyed a good fireworks display right from the trailer as a rodeo in nearby little town of of Interior (population 72)provided this free entertainment!

Yes indeed folks - our 2019 trip is finally started.  One thing Kim didn't mention is that she drove a lot of the way across the country.  I had a little trouble the last night in western NY.  I think I had a slight case of hypothermia.  The temperature dropped a lot during the night and by the time I woke up I was shivering and couldn't stop.  It took three days to fully recover.  Kim had never driven the truck with the minilite hooked up so it was training time.  We were planning on getting her some wheel time anyway so we just went for it.  She drove I 90 through Cleveland!!  She's ready for ElPaso next.

4th of July in Badlands National Park

We left Western NY early on the 1st of July and drove all day for 3 days thru Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota - we camped at some lovely places and enjoyed the vast countryside and towns as we drove along. I never knew there was a Spam Museum in Minnesota! I really want to stop there next time I am on Interstate 90 and john wished he could have stopped at the John Deere museum and factory!

We are now in South Dakota, and spending 3 nights in the Badlands National Park, actually 2 miles just outside the south entrance to the park. It rained all night and the wind was gusting but today the clouds parted and we have some blue skies. We enjoyed the visitors center, a great challenging hike, an Indian Taco with Buffalo meat, a swim at the campground but MOST of all this beautiful area.

Hopefully you will get a better sense from the pictures!

2019 Adventure has begun......On the road again!

Friends and Family,

 May 10th - We boarded up our Matlacha, Florida house for the summer and headed North! We plan to return sometime in October.

A quick summary since then: We visited dear old friends in Greenville, SC and then headed to Durham, NC. We stayed in our neice and nephews home in Raleigh,  parked the trailer in their driveway and explored this new area. Margie joined us for four fast days and we all looked at homes and found one she liked!  The house will be 20 minutes from Margie’s new job in the Duke University Hospital in Durham which she is slated to start mid September. It’s been quite a year for her and it’s not over yet, but we couldn’t be prouder of all her accomplishments. We found we loved the Raleigh/Durham area a lot more than we had expected.

Next we spend a week at Lake Gaston, to avoid Memorial Day holiday traffic and read a lot of good books on our tablets in our air-conditioned trailer. We enjoyed exploring the Lake side community.

Next we spent 2 nights in the Pohick Bay Northern Virginia Regional Park campground which was wonderfully wooded and convenient. We put the trailer in storage in Lorton, close to Fort Belvoir while we are now staying with George and Melissa for 10 days. Margie is spending the last few months in VA while she finishes up her preceptorship at Mt. Vernon Inova Hospital in the TBI unit living in Montclair, close by. We love these special times when we can all be together!
More to come as we head up to NY to visit johns family and then head out west in 1 month on 1 July.

While in Durham NC we attended a Durham Bulls baseball game.  It's a really nice stadium and we had a great time.  If you're in the area I highly recommended it.

The stadium is next to the American Tobacco District

 The area was the factory of the American Tobacco Company and now is mostly offices with some restaurants and other attractions.  I really enjoy these repurposed industrial areas.