20-24 August Homebound While Hurricane Henri Hits Westerly

 Stressful times as we head home with the Delta COVID variant raging across America also affecting children this time,  very poorly executed U.S. troop pull out of Afghanistan strands 10’s of thousands of Americans and Afghan allies as the Taliban takes over the country killing and destroying on its way.  Drought and wildfires in the West, brother Steven scheduled for heart valve replacement upon our return all as Hurricane Henri barrels up the Atlantic coast and heads for New England.  

8/20  On our  way out of Minnesota we drop down and visit Steve Sorman in lovely Red Wing.   He loaded us up with veggies from his garden after coffee and delicious home made scones.   

Henri Waves In Westerly

8/21  Henri made landfall in Westerly but thankfully, only as a Tropical Storm.  Power went out for 24 hours due to wind and some downed trees and roads that typically flood along the shore flooded but not real bad.   Henri’s rain made its way to Pennsylvania just as we arrived at Bald Eagle State Park 20 miles West of Williamsport.  We have only seen rain twice since we left Westerly on July 6,  once on way out in Iowa and Saturday in Indiana.  While they had record rains this summer in the East, it is bone dry in the West with massive lakes drying up and wild fires while the east has been more rainy than usual.  I’m afraid the next civil war is going to be about water in the west. 

8/23 So disappointed as we had hoped to attend Little League World Series games this morning but only family is allowed due to COVID and it was rained out anyway. Leaving in the afternoon to avoid the rains up ahead, we drive 2 hours closer to home to leave a shorter drive on our final day and to avoid more flooding rains as Henri comes back around and blasts New England.  We arrive at Four Seasons Campground, Scotrum PA on a hillside in the Poconos as the owners are regrading the roads washed out in last nights rains so we can get to our site.  Evidence that the woods and creeks became rivers is everywhere.  The babbling brook (name of road at bottom of campground hill) looks like a raging stream with evidence of rocks, trees, debris on it’s banks.  

8/24 Ugly traffic on I-95 in Connecticut made for a much longer trip home but we made it!  Great to go away, great to come home.  

Deb Enjoying Home Sweet Home

We had NO TIRE ISSUES this trip.  Is that a first?  We drove 7,800 miles this trip.  I wonder how many times we have driven back and forth across this country.  We are trying to stop at different places along the way to break up the trip and spread the drive out.  We notice we don’t have the driving stamina like we used to and it’s a lot more fun to explore.  

8/19/21 Minnesota Visit With John’s Aunt, Sister and Cousin

 

Megan, John, Barbara

Joanne and Lucy

It has been fun tracking Megan and John as they RV from Salem, OR to join us in Minnesota.  Aunt Joanne and Barbara meet up with us at Baker Regional Park Campground where we have great time catching up and talking about old times. 

We trolley’d the kayak and paddle board to the lake where John and I had a great time kayaking and swimming.  I found a shark tooth fossil in the water along the shore!!   My research on it indicates it is from the Cretaceous period when dinosaurs  were still around and the Minnesota area was a large inland sea.  

To the dump, to the dump, to the dump dump dump......John and Megan

Jack, Michelle and Cian

 Jack, Michelle and Cian have been enjoying their summer at the beach and pool at our place and during a wonderful visit with Michelle's parents and brother at a lovely beach house on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire.   

We missed Cian turning 9 and 10 months old and even though we asked him to stop growing while we were gone, he didn't listen.  He is crawling all over and pulling himself around furniture standing up.   Cian, you should be smiling, you are sitting on rocks, your Nana's favorite things!  And three teeth came in while we were away.  

Jack has completed his first year of his Masters Degree at Tufts but doesn't have the summer off completely.  He has been invited to join the Aspen Strategy Group, Rising Leaders Program.  He will be able to use some of the research papers toward his Tufts degree.  

"The Aspen Strategy Group’s Rising Leaders Program brings together young professionals between the ages of 25-35 to discuss national security policy solutions for many of the world’s most complex problems.  Rising Leaders exchange ideas with: world leaders; senior government officials; members of Congress; journalists; prominent thinkers and practitioners in academia, policy, and business; and Aspen Strategy Group members."

Jack Hanley, Naval Officer, U.S. Navy

Jack Hanley is a U.S. Navy Fleet Scholar and Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy candidate at The Fletcher School, Tufts University.  His studies center on international security and global maritime affairs with a regional focus on the Asia Pacific. Prior to attending The Fletcher School, Jack served as Navigator of the USS CHUNG-HOON (DDG 93) homeported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  During his tour, the ship completed multiple deployments to the Western Pacific and Middle East, steaming more than 86,000 nautical miles while building capacity and interoperability with allies and partners to enhance regional security.  Jack planned and supervised more than 20 transits through strategic chokepoints and contested waters in the South China Sea, Strait of Malacca, Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and Strait of Hormuz.Before receiving his commission, Jack worked as a public relations executive in practice areas including advanced technology, renewable energy, and sustainability.

Loves The Beach

Lake Winnipesaukee

8/15/21 Theodor Roosevelt National Park, Medura South Dakota

 

7/14 Here we are again at Theodor Roosevelt National Park which is one of our favorite National parks.  Never tire of the views and especially the close up buffalo encounters.  Unlike our last visit in August 2015 when we practically had the place to ourselves, the small town of Medora was packed to the gills.  We assume it was from the rodeo in town but also probably from the massive surge in RV sales and pent up vacation demand from COVID.   

Medora

Love being back to Red Trail RV Park.   We toured Painted Canyon area where John took a hike into the canyon when it was 99 degrees!  

At 6 a.m. the next morning while it was cool and very few people in the park, we drove through to catch the wildlife.  The prairie dogs, bunnies, turkeys, wild horses were out as were 5 herds of buffalo. Like last time, they were all over the roads and the bulls grunted their disapproval as we slowly drove by.  Some nut was riding a bike through them but we noticed he seemed to wait to go through with a car and not by himself.  There are about 600 bison in the park and that is about the max the park can sustain.

Petrified Forest 

Then we took a ride on a 7 mile gravel road to hike out to the Petrified Forest.  60 million years ago these massive sequoia or cypress trees grew in a tropical shallow swamp like today’s Florida Everglades. Volcanic eruptions and flood buried the trees and the minerals inside the tree turned them to stone.   Some the trees were 8 feet in diameter. Feels so good to get into nature and not just see it from the car.  

Just outside the park entrance is the remnants of a slaughter house from the very early days when the French Marquee De Mores and Teddy Roosevelt first came to the area and started cattle ranching around 1883.  It operated successfully until it was destroyed by fire in 1907. 

De Mores Packing House Remains

 

12-14 August 2021 Washington and Idaho

Alberton, Montana “Parking Area”

 Aug 12  The smoke moved in the morning we left Washington and was really really thick after leaving  the Blue Anchor RV Park in Osborn, Idaho.  Many fires are burning all around western Canada and northwest US.  Much earlier than usual according to Zoe.  It was September last year when their house got smoked in for weeks.  You can taste the smoke and it gives you a headache and makes it hard to breath after a while. 

Smokey Idaho

Aug 13 By the time we got to Alberton, MT along Clark Fork there was very little smoke when we stopped at a “parking area” to change drivers.  The river was beautiful and there were lots of curious animal tracks. The fellow cleaning up the area said he lived at the  rest stop we passed  some miles back for 15 years until it closed recently.  I assume the driftwood shelter by the river was his. 

Driftwood shelter

Some Americana along I-90 and I-94 Idaho and Montana..........

Our Lady of the Rockies (90 feet high)

1-12 August 2021 More Fun At Zoe’s

Making Pickles From Her Garden

Zoe was away doing fieldwork in Northeast Oregon for a few nights, camping with a wolf biologist.  They met with a range-rider whose job it is to drive an ATV around and scare away wolves from the livestock.  She checked out how things were going and offered him some more non-lethal techniques.  In return, he left a thermos of hot coffee between their tents at 4 a.m. while making his rounds.   Finally getting into the field after being shut down by COVID for so long was a great feeling she said.  Unfortunately, Defenders has already cancelled some of her future events due to the Delta variant.  

While she was gone we went to Portland and had lunch with a Dartmouth classmate, Dave and Kay, at their lovely home.  They told us about all the gang/protestor activity, some of which recently occurred close to their house where a couple hundred people took over a major intersection, blocking traffic for hours while they drove their cars around in circles until some of their tires worn off.  Police just looked on as there were too many of them and not enough police since over 15% of the force quit or retired in the last year due to all the violence and protests against police brutality.  25% of Oregonians now support abolishing the force in lieu of creating alternative teams of social workers, drug counselors, and mental health experts.  A trend being considered by other states since many people feel Police behavior is way out of hand.  

John, Aunt Shirley, Meghan

Then we went to Salem, Oregon to visit John’s cousin Meghan, her Mom and husband John.  Always fun to spend time with them.  Aunt Shirley is doing pretty well at age 92 as she gave us tour of all the wonderful memorabilia in her assisted living apartment.  She and John had a good time sharing genealogy stories.   We will meet up with Meghan and John again in a couple of weeks as we both RV to Minnesota to see their Aunt Joanne and sister Barbara.

The weather has been all over the map out here.  40’s some nights to 103 degrees during the day.  With no AC on the downstairs of the house stays a nice 73!  Gets a little hazy now from the hundreds of thousands of acres of wildfires burning in the Northwest but not immediately around them but can’t smell the smoke.  That is due to change right when we leave.  

It occurred to us that we have been with Zoe for several major events.  We were touring with her in the Oregon coast red woods when she found out she was selected for the Washington State University PhD program. We modified our trip and drove out to Pullman, WA so she could meet her advisor and check out the town.  I remember feeling OMG as we drove for hours through nothing to get there! We were visiting her in Walla Walla when she got the call from Defenders saying she got the job.  On another trip we were kayaking with her and Gabe in White Salmon when she got the call that they could move into the house they bought. Now that I think of it, we were all with Jack vacationing in Florida when he was notified that he got into the Navy.  Hummm, synchronicity.....

Almost Daily Deer Grazing In Yard 

Pearl and Lulu

Had a another great visit with the girls at the beach with Zoe’s neighbors (Liz, Jay and boys Jack and Abe).  This picture was in their house of Pearl and Lulu among the red woods.  

Time to head East after a most wonderful visit!  If Delta variant doesn’t shut everything down again (like it already is), we hope to see them when they come East for Christmas.  LOVE LOVE

 

Pearl, Lulu and the Cats

Pearl and Dad, Gabe

We are so honored to be part of 13 year old Pearl’s “Coming of Age” ceremony.  Gabe spent many hours putting together academic, physical and emotional challenges for her (one of which I don’t think I could have done).  She passed all of them and now warrants the responsibilities of social media access, future dating, drivers license, etc.  Missing in the photo are Pearl’s mom’s parents and Zoe’s neighbor, Liz who is taking the picture.  We really had a grand party afterwards.

Their one-year old cats are so snuggley and want to be outside all the time.  Here Orion is falling out of the hammock as Zoe picks up Kira to join them.     

  

One early morning I was looking out the RV window next to our bed and saw a large cat walking by.  My first thought was bobcat even though I knew it was too big.  My brain went “tilt” as it registered the large tan cat with a tail as long as the body walking down their driveway about 15 yards from my window!!  In their jobs traveling the wilderness, Gabe and Zoe are told of all kinds of sighting of wolves, cougars and bears which often turn out to be dogs, sheep, deer, etc.  So Gabe, being a scientist, gave me a “show me the money” look.    He went out (and almost ‘master tracker’ that he is), saw the prints!!!!  This is not an actual picture of the cougar (aka mountain lion) I saw because it was only in my view a few seconds and I was so shocked I didn’t think to get my camera.  Interesting, but no big deal to those living up here in the wilderness.  I stayed in and no walks to the river or bike rides for me for a while.  Bears also spotted in area now and then so Zoe always wears bear spray around her waist when she runs or hikes by herself just in case.....

Lulu and I spend time together playing games, tromping through the forest, and cooking. I took Pearl and Lulu and their friends to the Columbia River one day where we paddled, swam and had lunch on the pier.  WHAT A BLAST!

Lulu on Pistol’s Back

17 - 31 July 2021 Cook, Washington with Zoe and Family

Home with Lulu, Zoe, Gabe, Pearl

We never get tired of the ride along the Columbia River on Oregon I-84 when you come around a corner and see snow topped Mt. Hood looming in front of you. And then there's the view of Mt. Hood heading up the mountain a few miles from Zoe's, rising above the Columbia River (see below). Way more spectaclar in person!

16 miles north of the Columbia Gorge, their home is nestled high in the forest between three volcanos; Mt. Saint Helens, Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood.  the entire gorge area is trees on top of lava flows.   For the past few years, much more worrisome at present is fire.  At the moment most of the fires are north and east of them and we have no smoke.  That can change at any moment and we have fire evacuation plans.  They are near the end of any paved road except the one to their house from the Gorge.  The post office doesn’t deliver past the little dirt road they live on. There are only three houses on the main road past theirs before it turns to dirt and their mailboxes are next to Zoe’s.  

We traveled west on one of them on our way to Goose Lake with Zoe and there is no way we can get the RV through.  They say the other road north of them is worse.  So we will have to leave the RV if the southern route is blocked.  Goose Lake was beautiful but it took an hour to go the 23 miles as about 15 miles of them were dusty, washboard, dirt roads!   

Lava Flow Behind Zoe at Goose Lake

Cooling Down A Hot Day

Gabe spends much of the warmer months on these awful  roads throughout Washington trapping wolves, attaching radio frequency collars and doing a medical checkup including taking blood and DNA sample from their ears.  Zoe also travels in the outback for her work working with livestock producers encouraging non-lethal methods of wolf control and with native tribes providing bear awareness training.  Defenders of Wildlife recently published a “Bear Awareness” booklet that she produced.    

Our Hawaii friends, Dean and Jaynine spend 4 months a year RVing in the Northwest and we have been able to meet up with them a couple of times which is crazy cool.  They came out to Zoe’s one day and we had a grand time catching up, telling stories, hiking around the property and swimming in the river.  Can’t believe its been 20 years since we moved from Hawaii.  

  

Having a Blast with Dean and Jaynine

Mt. Hood above Columbia River 

Just love it, Zoe is still a rebel fighting for what she believes.  From the time in high school when she argued with her teacher and classmates that snakes have the right to survive to a recent conference where she was invited speak about Defender's wolf projects.  Her presentation was well received.  After watching a film about the host groups conservation efforts, Zoe stood up during the Q&A and said to the effect, "really, you think dissing fellow wildlife conservation groups efforts and infighting is going help the conservation cause?" Some argued back, some agreed.  At future meetings with people she sometimes get "oh yay,  your the one who stood up at the ......  conference......."

7/14 -15 Headwaters Of The Missouri State Park, Three Forks MT

We dry camped in the 20 spot campground in this park which is about 1.5 miles long at the confluence of the Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin Rivers which all merge to form the headwaters of the 2300 mile Missouri River. Lewis and Clark explored and named these rivers in 1805. To explore like Lewis and Clark with the goal of paddling and swimming in all 4 rivers, we put the kyack in by the road on the upper left corner of this photo. We floated for 2 lovely hours beginning in the Madison River. As we came to the Jefferson we paddled up it a litle ways and got out to swim and explore. Saw tracks along river bank for deer, moose, a possible bear, gulls and I found a large piece of an antique green blown glass lamp shade. We could hear the Gallatin River coming into the Madison well before we could

Approaching the Gallatin and Missouri Rivers

see it which was unnerving as we were determined to paddle it and swim. Coming around the bend it hit us broadside and we had to paddle like hell to maneuver up river. Once we made it to the bank, we walked upriver a bit and floated down one at a time so the other could grab on if we tried to shoot past and end up in the Missouri River for a 2 1/2 month float to the Gulf of Mexico. Adventure is worth it when only a little damage to the body or boat results! The Missouri begins where the Gallitan comes in so we got our 4th river paddle and swim as we disenbarked. Amazing to think L&C paddled and/or walked their boats against these currents for hundreds of miles! Sacajawea was captured here as a child and eventually returned as a member of the L&C Corps of Discovery. Another member of this expedition, John Colter, later made several trips to this area in search of furs and is where he began his famous run from the Blackfeet Indians. (Google it, an incredible story of survival). Pioneers slowly settled the surrounding area and transformed it into profitable grazing and farming land.

Aiken Hotel, Old Town 1869

Trappers came shortely after L&C , and miners for the gold and silver discovered, then settlers/farmers began Gallatin City which was one of the earliers settlements in Montana. In In 1880, hoping the railroad was going through this area, entrepeneurs Asher Paul and brother-in-law Michael Hanley purchased 160-acres from Mr. Shedd and changed the name to “Bridgeville” because of couple dozen bridges Shedd built across the rivers, now the present-day “Old Town”. Unfortunately the Northern Pacific Railroad tracks were installed a mile south of Bridgeville. Paul and Hanley dabbled in mining with "The Silver Mine". Paul and Hanley sold their lands in Bridgeville in 1882 to a group of Englishmen, John Charter and Co., who settled the area and platted town, officially calling it Three Forks. Other reports say that Paul and Hanley platted the town and called it Three Forks. The cool little Three Forks Heritage Museum has some information about this Michael Hanley who we need to research to see if he is a relative. These Hanley's were from Limerick, Ireland. Many Hanley's were buried here in the 1800's. A short walk from the campground are remains of "Old Town" including the Aiken Hotel. Walking through the tall grass kicked up hundreds of grasshoppers with every step. This beautiful sunset from the campground doesn't show the hint and smell of smoke from all the wildfires burning north and west of here. The weather this summer has tempereature and rain records all over the world. In this area it is DRY DRY DRY although the temperature while were here was comfortable.

Smokey Campsite Sunset

7/11/21 Black Hills, South Dakota

 

Crazy Horse Monument

7/11 Every Time we come here to visit Joan and Craig we say we’re going to stay for a week but it never gets into the schedule. This is one of the most beautiful places in the world (I know, we say that a lot throughout our travels across this beautiful country) with so much to see and do that we have decided the next family reunion should be here. 

This time we stayed at Sheridan lake State Park and it is magnificent. As far as the eye can see, the Black Hills are covered with pine/fir trees which look black when approaching them from miles away.  Truly amazing is the beautiful grass covering the forest floor.  We didn't fill our empty water tank at the last stop figuring we were going to fill it at this campground. They said they had potable water but they didn't say the spigot could not attach a hose! Good thing there’s a lake to bath in. The park is quiet with lots of room between sites as you can see in photo with John doing his morning stretch routine we call "Nelsen's" after our Hawaii friend Dean Nelsen who put the basic routine together. Joan and Craig came out to visit us at the campground and we had great time learning about plans for their new house with a 360 degree view from the hilltop behind their current home.

 View from RV

Looks like Joan’s Subaru Towing the RV

Crazy horse memorial is a fabulous place to visit. The size of this project is incredible. The monument is being carved out of Thunderhead Mountain (in background of picture above) about 10 miles from Joan and Craig's house. Crazy Horse (1840ish - 1877) was a great warrior who led the Lakota against Custer in the 1887 battle known as Custers Last Stand. Lakaota Chief, Henry Standing Bear (1874-19....), a cousin of Crazy Horse (1840-1877), commissioned the poor, self taught, Polish-American sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski saying "My fellow chiefs would like the white man to know that the red man has great hero’s also." Standing Bear gave the Forest Service his personally owned 900 acres of land in exchange for the rights to erect this memorial "to honor the principles and values for which Native Americans stood and to honor all the indigenous people of North America. Crazy Horse is riding his steed out of the granite of the sacred Black Hills with his left hand gesturing forward in response to the derisive question asked by a Cavalry man, “Where are your lands now?” Crazy Horse replied, “My lands are where my dead lie buried.”" Korczak's final dimensions were planned to be 641 feet long and 563 feet high. The arm of Crazy Horse will be 263 feet (80 m) long and the head 87 feet high; by comparison, the heads of the four U.S. Presidents at Mount Rushmore are each only 60 feet high. Started in the late 1940's, it could take a hundred years to finish due to issues with funds, access to qulified stone masons, weather and millions of tons of more rock to remove. Built entirely from private funds so that no government agency can have any say/control of the project, Korczak's family are still running the operation which is now developed into a heritage center and a university where Native Americans can go for free to learn about their culture.  Photo below is of Korczak and Chief Standing Bear. 

Crazy Horse Final Product