OUR JOURNEYS
Our completed trips to visit some great places and find some inspiring narratives
September 16th to
October 18th, 2024
Our longest trip started out with a two day adventure to pickup Jaybird in Minnesota. We had no problem pulling it out of storage and setting up camp, but the refrigerator refused to run. Searches through the paper manual and online did not yield a solution, so I texted the service manager, Randal Murray, at our dealer. Even being in the evening, he responded with suggestions, questions, thoughts, links to info, and ultimately the solution along with insight that would be useful at the end of this trip. We headed back up to North Dakota and enjoyed three days in the Bismarck area including time spent at Fort Mandan, the first winter home of Lewis & Clark. Onward to Montana where the campground at Fort Smith was great, but its location was too remote for our needs. So we changed to a campground in Billings and found lots to see and write about, but no narratives. Up to Missoula where we visited with a former student of Kathryn’s who lead us to a narrative about an apple orchard. On the way, we stopped to interview a couple for another narrative about fire towers. After quite a climb up in to the mountains, it was on to Spokane, WA for an oil change for Goose that also found we had a radiator leak. We monitored that until we got to our next campground near Bellingham, WA where we found a great service department at Rairdon Dodge who fixed our issue, provided a car for us to use, and were most helpful in getting our service contract to cover most of the costs. While in that area, we got to the Pacific, found an artist from Glover, Vermont to interview and learned about kite flying and a park designed for just that.
The only rainy - cloudy day we had was the day we had hoped to take photos of Mt. Rainier, the Space Needle and Mt. St. Helens, but our trip south into Oregon was still interesting. This time, the state campground was a bit bare on amenities so we moved down the road to Cascade Locks and spent three days viewing dams, the Columbia River, Mt. Hood and the Pacific Crest Trail. A one night stop in Boise, Idaho before we climbed back over the Continental Divide and a stop in Dubois, WY to visit Yellowstone. That national park is so big that unless you are camping at one of their campgrounds, it is a long drive to visit. But well worth it. Unfortunately there was a wildfire between our campground and the park making the air quality at camp unsatisfactory. So a quick change of plans to visit Devil’s Tower in the northeast of the state and an extra day in Rapid City to spend visiting Custer State Park and our friend Mike. As it turned out, Goose needed a new headlight, so part of our time there was getting that done ourselves with a borrowed tool from Mike.
The rest of the trip was one night campgrounds in Nebraska (very nice) and Indiana (very interesting) along with an overnight with my Scouting friend Bob in Lenexa, Kansas. Bob took us on a great tour of Kansas City and shared much of his knowledge of the area’s history with us. We winterized Jaybird in Shepherdsville, KY so we could leave her there (and dealt with the frig again) and headed home, making it back in two days. Trip #8 was 8956 miles visiting 20 states. Quite an adventure.
August 2nd to 31st, 2024
Trip #6 started with a visit to an interesting narrative in East Haddam, Connecticut before a stops in PA and WV (camping near Summit Bechtel) to bring us to Kentucky for a stop at Mammoth Caves. We had to switch campgrounds there as the one we reserved did not measure up, but the area was wonderful and we got a great narrative in Horse Cave, KY. We tried a new park in Ohio that had every feature you could want (and the cost to match) and then on to a meeting in Indianapolis and two nights in a swanky hotel. We returned to Michigan City Campground on our way to spend the night along Lake Huron in Michigan. Then two repeat campgrounds, one to visit Duwayne and Matt Reek at Nature RV Resort in Wisconsin and then a stop in International Falls, MN, where we missed seeing our friend, Joe & Rose Diaz. We then headed further west with two stops in North Dakota at two great state parks before a visit with our friend in Rapid City, SD for the internment for our recently departed friend, Barbara. We used the time there to visit Custer State Park, Mount Rushmore and the Badlands National Park. We started our return to the east by traveling along the bottom of South Dakota to see Dignity of Earth & Sky, Kathryn’s favorite stop beforea visit to friends in Minnesota. We left the Jaybird there and heading home (in time for the Northfield Labor Day Parade), swinging into southern Ohio to visit with our son Jacob’s girlfriend Hannah’s parents and Lehman’s, the interesting hardware store in Kidron. We collected six narratives, visited three more National Parks, three great state parks, made a connection to another narrative and added three states from the listing. And outside of Hawaii, we completed the License Plate Game on the way westward and almost repeated that feat on the way back east.
February 24th to 27th 2024
A short trip to visit with Paula Clark at the Catawissa Bottling Company in Pennsylvania for a narrative about her multi-generational operation of that Moxie & Big Ben soda plant. Then on to the Hoch’s for a visit (we brought homemade dinner with us) and then on to Columbia, South Carolina where our camper, Jaybird, has been since November. We got to town early so had a chance to visit the Riverbanks Zoo and Park there. We picked up Jaybird early and headed back to the Hochs (dinner on them this time) and then home efficiently (but avoiding the big cities) to get Kathryn home in time to then drive to her mom’s for Quilt Club meeting.
November 8th to 17th 2023
Our last trip of 2023 was shorter than most and included family and friend, and a few great narratives. We headed back to Harrisburg, PA to pick up the Jaybird and then overnighted with our friends, the Hochs in Fallston, MD. From there back to North Carolina, but the middle this time so we can see our family and friends in that area. Heading further south to South Carolina to visit other family members and catching up after several years without personal contact. Leaving the Jaybird in Columbia, SC for six weeks, we headed home staying with the Hochs again
October 9th to 25th, 2023
We start moving south, but wanted to include the other three New England states. The campsite in Rhode Island did not live up to expectations (nor have enough room for Jaybird) so we moved on to Connecticut. The next day brought us to central Virginia where we visited two national parks, Wolf Trap and Shenadoah. Then off to Tennessee and the Great Smoky National Park, which included a side trip into North Carolina. Back northward to Steffen’s stomping grounds around the Boy Scout’s Summit Bechtel Reserve in Glen Jean, WV where he has spent parts of six summers (2016-2019, 2021, 2023). We got in a visit to both ends of the New River Gorge as well as a tour of the camp. On the way home, a drive through Pennsylvania had us stop at Newville to visit Kallan, Hannah, Shannon and Autumn Lehman (nieces & nephew) before leaving Jaybird in Harrisburg, stopping at Red Hills for a story on a Title IX consultant, and then a hotel in New Paltz, NY. Home early on the 25th after 17 days on the road.
September 5th to 21st, 2023
Our first trip to the West and out of New England brought us across the top of New York and into Ontario to stay in Sudbury We cut across the Upper Penisula of Michigan for a stop in Wisconsin before swinging around Lake Superior to Grand Portage. Our plan to visit Isle Royale fell through so we moved to central Minnesota for a different type of story. Then back to northern Minnesota where we will explore the area around Voyageurs National Park. Going completely through Wisconsin brought us to Indiana Dunes at the bottom of Lake Michigan, where nature thrives surrounded by growing metropolises. We had a great visit to the very long and picturesque Cuyahoga Valley that stretches south from Lake Erie, a good place to use our e-bikes before a one night in Appleton, NY so we could explore the Niagara Falls Area.
August 25th to 31st, 2023
Our first journey is complete, going from our home in Williston, VT through New Hampshire to the northern part of Maine near Patten. We spent two nights at the Matagamon Wilderness Campground enjoying the reunion at the Maine High Adventure Base, the then national base that Steffen ran in 1979. We had a great chat with Anne Chase and added her narrative to our project. A drive southeast brought us to Mt. Desert Island, home of Acadia National Park and the Hadley Point Campground, our home for the next four nights. We explored the park, touched the Atlantic, stood on top of Cadillac Mountain, and spent time with Ginny Holden, visitor center employee extraordinaire, and Joanna Fogg, oyster farmer. Their narratives brings us to four great stories and promises of more to come. Our trip home had us traverse the Kancamangus Highway in New Hampshire to take in the great sights there.
