...to Portland, Oregon

[Please note that I've posted additional pictures on the previous "... To Miles City" blog]


And now . . .



Started the long ride home to Oregon.... Now that we've hit the fun spots we wanted to see, it's just sort of a long ride through some pretty awesome scenery. Taking a deep breath we journeyed onward. Saw a lot of those little signs of Lewis & Clark, pointing the way.

First, let us digress a bit. Didn't really touch on some things I wanted to: Leaving Forada and before we hit our campground for the night, we stopped for lunch in Valley City, ND, where my dad, Bob Benzinger, grew up. We went to Chautauqua Park that was on the banks of a river and there was this huge train trestle spanning it and while we were there this big long train came by. Noisy, big, awesome!

The place we stayed that night was this little town called Dawson and I was afraid for a while that we had landed right smack dab in the middle of the "Twilight Zone". We drove into town, pop. 75. Not a creature was stirring. No dogs, no cats, no birds, no people! Parked and got out of the car by the "Information Center". Went in. No one there, just printed material about the area. Went to City Hall, locked door. Still no one in sight. Went to the town museum, doors opened, we went in, looked around, but still, not a soul. Walked across the street where there was a gas station, grocery, and cafe - went into the grocery and finally, there was a clerk on duty. Did I mention she reminded me of Kathy Bates in Misery? . . . . Just kidding! She told us where the campground was and after we set up we walked back to town and found more people in the local bar where we sat, drank a couple of beers and played Jeopardy.

After a good night's sleep at Dawson, North Dakota we went on through to Butte, Montana and then through a little town called Anaconda, where they once mined a lot of copper. There is this cool smoke stack still standing - http://www.anacondamt.org/photos.htm - and where we found a really good restaurant the last time we went through. This time we didn't stop to eat but drove another route through Shalkaho Pass, which was a little risky for us in the travel trailer as we didn't know what to expect with 20 miles of gravel road promised on the map. But, what the hey, we'd taken the Casita up to the Arctic Circle, remember? Couldn't be worse than that! Just before we hit the gravel road we drove by a place called Gem Mountain, where you can mine sapphires. Of course, we didn't make up our mind that we HAD to stop until we'd gone a half mile down the road. Les good naturedly turned around - no easy feat with the trailer, don't ya know. So we went back to Gem Mountain - http://www.gemmtn.com/ - and bought two buckets of dirt - it took me around three hours to get around 65 sapphires, with some help from Les, of course. There were six of the quality and size that you could send away to facet and give a heat treatment to bring out their color and for a mere $150.00 they'd be glad to send it away to have it done. Didn't do it - but it was sure fun to go through those buckets of dirt and find them! That night we camped at a primitive campsite just outside Hamilton, MT. Beautiful, but liberally sprinkled with mosquitoes.

We then went on to visit with Ken and Patti. These are people who we met up in last year in Denali National Park in Alaska. Camped with them there and then when we got to the Arctic Circle, lo and behold there they were! In parting we exchanged addresses and phone numbers and invitations to visit each other if we got a chance.... well, guess this teaches them a lesson as I called them a couple of weeks ago and asked if they were going to be home about the time we'd be passing pretty close to where they live in Montana. They said come on down! (or over as case may be). We stayed overnight at their home in the mountains of Montana where they have the sweetest set up! An awesome view of the mountain and valley, a lovely home they built there, two RV hook ups for friends that "just happen to be passing through" (even a couple of dump stations which are very important), and peace and quiet! They showed us a good time and we, somewhat reluctantly, left the next morning. After all, Oregon was calling to me.

We drove down Lolo pass, which is one of the prettiest stretches of roads between Wichita and Portland. Lewis and Clark couldn't have picked a more picturesque route if they'd tried. We stayed overnight in Kamiah, ID, we've stayed here before and were once again very happy with the accommodations.

Headed on out to Pendleton, OR, then decided to cut on over to Walla Walla, WA, instead. I realized we'd be going right by The Whitman Mission - which you history buffs know to be where the Whitman Massacre took place. We decided to stop there for lunch and I walked the grounds. During my early years of avid reading I'd read a lot about the fur trappers, the Oregon Trail and the early settlers of the Pacific Northwest, of which Narcissa and Marcus Whitman was a significant part of. The tracks you see in this picture is actually part of the Oregon Trail, even after all this time the ruts warn into the land were so deep they can still be seen today. The hill behind me is a place where Narcissa would climb to watch for her husband to return from his journeys.

While I had thought we would stop in Pendleton or Boardman for an overnight stay, Les decided to go ahead and run on into Portland. So we arrived in Portland on July 28th. We are glad to be able to stay put for a while.

So far we've had a nice visit with the family. Ava's growing like a weed, but very shy. Skyler is continually busy, Lynda & Justin are doing a great job with them and have opened up their carport with it's RV space for us. Granddaughters Casey and Carey were staying with Lynda when we arrived, so we had the bonus of seeing them for a few days. We've seen my sister, Sheila, her husband, Glen, their daughter, Andrea - Les helped with the building of their fence. Went to see my sister, Ronda, but didn't get to see her, but did spend some time with her husband, Del, and their youngest daughter, Amber. Also missed getting to see my dad when we went to Colton. I took a quick trip in to see my friends at work, at Kaiser Permanente, spent and evening and then a whole day with Vala, took my son, Patrick's girls, Casey and Carey over to him and are planning our camping trip with them - Patrick, his fiancee, Traci, and her son, Tyler, and of course, Patrick's daughters, Cory, Casey, and Carey - Patrick's son, Coty, will be on another camping trip so won't be there with us. Yesterday my oldest granddaughter, Hope, and her boyfriend, Maxx, arrived for a visit with her Oregon relatives.... How's that for timing? Haven't called a lot of people I need to, to make arrangements for visits, but we have to firm up some other plans before I make those calls. Yes, we are a bit busy while here in Portland.

I can see where there still needs to be a couple of more pictures posted so guess I'll be adding more pictures later! I've waited too long in posting this blog as it is! :-)

There will probably be something of a break in the blogs now for awhile. We should be in Portland until after my son's wedding on September 14th.

Take care all!

Joy
& Les

(Les' Readers Digest Version)

-Drove across North Dakota. West ND is a bit like western Kansas.
-Flat, hot, and dry.
-Drove across Montana. Dern, Montana is a wide state.
-Visited with Ken and Patti, in Stevenville Montana. We'd meet them in Alaska last year. They have 10 acres in the Mountains. With the nicest, private, RV set up I've seen. Room for Two friends or relatives with Elect, Water, and sewer.
-Good people and a good time.
-Drove across Oregon to Portland. Bought an annual fishing license for Oregon. $83.
-Fish stories are expensive, lies are cheap.
-Did I mention, we drove, and Drove, and DROVE.
-It's a long way from Lake Huron to Portland.

les,

...to Miles City, Montana

How time flies! . . . July is almost over already!

It's fun to be back in the states, but we can't forget the beauty of our Manitoulin Island Adventure or the friends we left there. One of my favorite pictures of our visit is this picture of one of our last nights there....

Got back into the United States on July 10th (after seeing a small black bear gnawing on a tree along side of the freeway on the way to the border). So nice to pay for gas by the gallon instead of the liter. We paid as much as $1.41 per liter. We were happy to pay the $4.23 per gallon in Michigan and was even more pleased to get to Minnesota and pay $3.97. Enough about gas...

On this trip we saw three of the Great Lakes, Michigan, Huron, and Superior. They are all beautiful. While skirting the shoreline of Lake Superior we went to "The Shipwreck Museum" at Whitefish Point, Michigan. Learned about five or six of the biggest shipwrecks in Lake Superior including "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". It was very interesting. We also toured the lighthouse and learned about old rescue techniques - thank goodness the techniques have improved.

We were informed that there were like over a hundred waterfalls in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan - Oops! I mean, these waterfalls are in the Yooper, I found the falls to be wonderful and stopped to see four or five. Les finally put his foot down after we saw three in one day.

We breezed through Wisconsin. Beautiful scenery and then arrived in Minnesota. Stayed at Billisby Lake a few days, by Cannon Falls. While camping there we went into Northfield, MN - famed for the failed James/Younger bank robbery. It's very picturesque and we had a great time walking the streets of the old town and window shopping.


Then we drove over to Randolf, MN, where my nephew, Bob, and his lovely wife, Maria, live with their two lively little ones, Cole, 3, and Meaghan, 19 months. I have to say, they have an ideal set up for our camper. We parked in their circular driveway, blocking it off, of course, under shady trees overlooking their wooded property. Besides grilling awesome ribs for dinner the first night we were there, including us in on an extended "family" birthday party, dinner at a bar that served the best Walleye fish and chips I've eaten, a massive ice cream cone desert, a walk by historic houses of St. Paul - while eating said ice cream cones, Bob took Les on a most enjoyable fishing trip where he caught enough fish to make him happy, they somehow managed to arrange the lightening bugs to show up and glow in their yard like so many twinkle lights, all three nights we were there! Now that is going all out if you ask me.

Sadly we left Randolf, but we went on to Forada, MN, the small town that I spent 14 or so months when I was 8 and 9. This is where I went to the "one" room school house for my 3rd and 4th grades. I had no expectations as to what my visit there would be like as I had no idea what my old address had been. I have the memories of an 8/9 year old of the town and it's people and I thought I should be able to find where our house was. We drove into Forada (pop. 171) on Monday afternoon. I located the old schoolhouse, which had been brand new when I attended - Les delights in telling me how long ago it was - it's pretty run down and hearbreakingly derelict. There are two taverns and a Firehouse on main street, where there had been a tavern and a gas station/grocery store and a church. We stopped in at the "old" tavern and Les started up a conversation with the oldest looking guy in the room and shortly thereafter, a lady that was sitting at the bar, celebrating her birthday was on the phone to her good friend, my "old" best friend, Carolyn. Carolyn came right over and we visited for an hour or so, catching up on each other's lives, she updated me on our classmates - there were four of us in our grade, and the "do you remembers . . .". How much fun was that! As close to going home again as one can get. Sadly, the house that we lived in had been torn down, all of the old farm buildings are gone, a "new" house is where our driveway was and the barn has been replaced by a huge cornfield and there is a wooded area is along the main road. Sigh.

After spending the night in the new bar's grassy alleyway (not bad, a biker bar and a police station camping spot on this trip) we traveled out of Minnesota on to North Dakota where we stayed one night at a really, really small town, called Dawson, ND. I think their population was 42. Lots of pretty scenery all the way up until this afternoon when we hit some long flat places that faded into rolling hills with the wind picking up and messing up our good gas mileage.

Whoops, I'm back to gas. Time to sign off.

Take care all!

Joy

& Les

Les's Readers Digest Version:

-Left Canada and good friends.
-Drove to just south of Minneapolis/St Paul.
-Visited our Nephew Bob, wife Maria, live wire son Cole, and sweet daughter Megan.
-Bob and I went Fishing at Mille Lac lake, north of M/SP. One of the 3 biggest lakes in Minnesota.
-Bob got us a guide with a boat, I caught a 19 7/8” Small Mouth Bass (not 19 ¾” or 20” but 19 7/8” our guide, Jason, measured it)
Nephew Bob

-Les & guide
-Good people, good times, and good fishing in Minnesota.
-Now across Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana. On our way to Oregon.

. . . to Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada

Arrived in Canada through Sault Saint Marie, Michigan, USA/Sault Saint Marie, Ontario, Canada. Les didn’t mouth off to the border guards and we were granted entry. We stopped at a Welcome Center, picked up maps and headed out to Manitoulin Island – pretty countryside.

We crossed a swing bridge on to Manitoulin Island. This bridge is constructed so that it can swing around to allow boats to pass, so on the hour the bridge is closed to vehicular traffic while the boating traffic is allowed access. Cool.

So we are about half way to our destination, maybe 2/3 of the way, we stop at the Welcome Center in Gore Bay, trying to find out where the dump stations are, not having a lot of luck, but not for the want of trying. Anyway, we tootle on down the road and as sometimes happens we have started a parade, so Les slows down and hugs the side of the road and slowed to allow the traffic to go on by. Well, the pickup directly behind us does not pass, but the trailer rig behind him did. After another mile or two, the pickup finally pass us, then slows down, motioning us over. It’s our friends, Beatrice and Joe and their little dog, Tanner! How cool is that? What is the likelihood of meeting up with them on our way to the campsite when they didn’t know what day we were arriving and they were out for a supply trip? They led us to the campsite.

The area is beautiful! We are camped at the Manitoulin Lighthouse Campground on the west side of the island – amazingly, right by the lighthouse. Joe and Beatrice, who have camped here every summer for the past 15 years are worried about the weather being right for us – and I’m chuckling, trying to remember the last time I camped out at the Oregon beach without being rained out!

A couple of days into our visit, Joe and Beatrice’s eldest, their daughter, Hazel, came for a short holiday. She will come out to visit them not only on Manitoulin Island, but has been down to Magnolia Beach as well. We pulled out the “Mexican Trains” domino game and taught them how to play. Of course, Hazel ended up beating us to a pulp! The audacity of the young!

So far Les has caught two fish – one lake trout and the other a salmon. I went out on the boat once… why did I think I could do that? I’m either going to have to fish the shore line or let Les catch my fish for me…. Boats and I just don’t get along!

July 8th – one more day to go here on Manitoulin Island. We have had such a wonderful time. Les has done more fishing in the last two weeks than he can believe. He caught this awesome fish that is now in my freezer… The rest of the fish that “we’ve” caught have been BBQed and eaten. Nummmm (“We’ve” meaning Joe and Les and Beatrice).

I have taken some of the most wonderful flower pictures. The wild flowers here are to die for. I’ve also taken pictures of rocks and trees.

Come on! You know how I like nature. I am NOT cracking up because I’m on some desolate island in a 17 ft trailer with my Les! We have walked the shoreline many times, visited the lighthouse, played countless games of “Mexican Trains” and “Sugar” and drank a few margaritas with our friends. Had a mini “Harry Potter” marathon with Beatrice’s granddaughters, Mary and Sarah. I even got an opportunity to watch the extended version of “Lord of the Rings” – am I in hog heaven, or what?

Tomorrow, we head back to the States. Back to phone coverage and Internet and on to Minnesota where my sister, Melody’s, son, Bobby, I mean, Bob and his lovely wife, Maria, have opened up their driveway to the weary travelers…. And Aunty Joy can hardly wait to get her hands on Cole and Meaghan!

I will be sad to leave the island…. But you know, there’s another trip awaiting us (t)here, next year. That’ll have to do for now…

Take care, All!

Joy

& Les --

Les’s Readers Digest Version
Camped by the Lighthouse on the west end of Manitoulin Island, in Lake Huron.
Met up with Joe and Beatrice
Went fishing, Caught fish, Ate fish. Retirement is good.
Caught several Lake Trout and several Salmon. See picture of the biggest.
End note. I think there are many very special people in the world, and I think God created Joe and Beatrice for the many to look up to.

. . . up to Canada

Continuing our journey we drove into Indiana and camped at a lovely wooded campground just outside of Louisville, Kentucky. We kicked back and took a day off, unhooked, and drove on into Louisville - I had to take Les to the Louisville Slugger Museum/Factory as he is such a baseball fan. I’d been there before had gone through the museum but didn’t go into the factory. It was very interesting and would have been more so had it not been for the fact that all of the workers were on break. They came back just as we were about to complete the tour.

The next day we arrived at my sister and brother in law, Gayla and Tim’s house, in Brownstown. The hours these guys work and the time spent on the road as he works in Louisville, KY and Gayla in Indianapolis, IN! Brownstown lies in between these two big cities. I happily volunteered to take over the dinner duties and cooked up a batch of fried chicken the first night and made some of my (in)famous Spaghetti Sauce the second night - mostly for Tim, who remembered it from our days in southern California, when he almost lived with us. We had a very nice visit, Les played on the riding lawnmower, we went out to a Karaoke Bar, and the day we left we had time to drive to a neighboring city and sample their hand packed ice cream.

On June 13th, we rolled out of Brownstown and headed for Chicago, which caused me some anxiety. However were we going to find my sister and brother in law, Nikki and Fernando’s house in that humongous city? Well, I asked directions. Okay, Les and I asked directions from Gayla and she gave us some good ones. We stopped one night in Renesslaer, IN, and made a leisurely Saturday morning drive into Chicago. We ended up camping (by special permission) in the lot of the local Chicago Police Station, for two nights. Now how safe could we be?

Nikki’s birthday was the day we arrived, June 14th. We partied hardy, celebrating with her, the family and their friends. Great food and the “frozen” tequila shots went down easily. (Came up not quite so easily the next a.m.) We had an absolutely delightful time with them and their adorable daughters, Maria, Elena, and Lauren. The girls were so sweet and tried so hard to win the $5 that Uncle Les promised them if they could touch their elbow to their ear.

Rather reluctantly we left Chicago and started up through Michigan. Now, Michigan, that’s another story. Pretty country – and the State Park System makes sure you pay for it. Guess we got used to the reasonably priced Indiana State Parks.

We drove along the shoreline of Lake Michigan, but was way up the shoreline before we got a good look at the great lake. Stayed the night at the Leelanau State Park just outside of Northport, MI. There was even a lighthouse in the park. Sunset was wonderful. Mosquitoes were not.

We spent the weekend in Mackinaw City, Michigan, just a couple of miles short of the Mackinac (still pronounced Mackinaw) Bridge that spans the Upper and Lower Peninsula’s of Michigan State. We decided to kick back at this nice little RV Park we found. Parked between two big shade trees and had electricity and everything! We made our way into the Mackinaw City and walked the streets, ate ice cream, and found a little Irish Pub. Our thanks to the family and friends who said they’d be right over to drive us to the Casita, when we called them and told them we needed a ride home. Well, it used to work in Portland!

After a slow start on Monday, we drove the 50 plus miles into Sault Ste. Marie, pronounced Sue Saint Marie, just on the US/Canadian border. We stocked up on supplies and spent the night in a Walmart Parking lot. I think there is an unwritten law somewhere that says to be a proper RV-er you have to spend a certain amount of nights at Walmart. :-)

After this posting we will head up over the border. Hopefully we will have access to the computer so we can keep you updated, but just in case, don’t be worried if you don’t hear from us for the next couple of weeks.

Take care all!

Joy

and Les . . .

Les' Readers Digest Version:

-Visited Joys Sister, Gayla and Husband Tim in Brownstown Ind. (and daughter Erin, she is a sweetheart)
-Got to mow their acreage with his 25hp zero turn mower. Outside of trying to push the fertilizer spreader thru the end of the garage before I even got started, it was fun.
-Beat feet to Chicago for Joys sister Nikki’s Birthday bash. Visited with husband Fernando, and girls. Something I will never forget was we stayed two nites in the camper, in a north Chicago Police station parking lot. It was a couple blocks from their house.
-I got calls for Fathers day. AND a hand crafted card from Nikki and Fernando’s girls. It reads “Dear Uncul Less, Happy Fathers day you rock and role. I love you a lot. You are crazy. And that’s what I like about you.” “Love Elena & Maria”
-There you have it folks, I’ve been diagnosed, print the legend.- We are in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. Now.

On the road AGAIN

We left Wichita on Thursday, June 5th.

Amazing the things you put off until the last minute. But we managed to get everything together - after the list of things Les had to do to get the Casita and the Jeep ready and the "refresh" of the Casita of a new window, linens, drapes, etc. (Yes, I finally finished the drapes) we are looking pretty good!

Driving I-135 N we had the wind at our back. Then we "turned left" at Salina, going west on I-70 and the storm that hat been threatening all morning started blowing. Clouds had been gorgeous all the way, but now they took on a different feel. This stretch of I-70 has always been beautiful with it's rolling hills, stone post fences, and old windmills, but with the building of the wind farms there is new majesty to it. Those windmills are huge! On the way back from Oregon last year we kept passing the trucks that were carrying these blades... did I say they were huge? Just after admiring the wind farms, the storm hit. The rain came down harder and faster than anything I'd ever seen. It was like someone had turned a hose on the windshield. Les had to pull over - as did most of the other drivers, but believe it or not there were one or two truckers that actually passed us!

We got to Russell, visited with Les' Dad that afternoon and again the next morning. Then headed on to Topeka. Another day of beautiful sights. We got to Adam's & Fawn's in time to have a great visit with them and their two sons. Fawn had been busy scrap-booking and we got to see them... she did such a wonderful job. Those boys are so cute and it looked like they had a very good time in Hawaii. Adam grilled some pork chops for dinner - didn't know they turned out so well on the grill!

The third night we stayed in Finger's Lake State Park, just outside of Columbia, MO. and yesterday we drove through St. Louis, where I didn't get to take a picture of the Arch because my batteries were down in my camera and the new ones were in the Casita. Darn! Another Photo Op missed because of dead batteries! Finally got through St. Louis into Illinois and drove through to Mt Vernon where we stayed last night. Settled down, turned on the air conditioner until it cooled off outside and then walked down to Sonic for Ice Cream. MMMMMM - life is great!


Les' Readers Digest Version:

Left Wichita June 5. Heading to lake Huron for some FISHING.
Visited 93 Year Old Dad in Russell Kansas.
Stopped in Topeka Kansas and visited Nephew and Family, Adam, Fawn, RJ, Alias. I really enjoy visiting with them.
Had "check engine" light come on, east of Kansas City. Stopped in Auto Zone, had them read the code. Bought two transmission speed sensors ($70). Put them in, in Columbia Missouri campground. No check engine light.
Drove by the St. Louis Arch yesterday.
Spent last night in Mt Vernon Illinois.

Oldest Moser Child Graduates from College

It is Friday May 16 at The Wichita State University, Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and REBECCA ELLEN MOSER, gets a Degree.

It is a LAS degree in Literature. We are so proud of this single mother with 3 girls of her own.

My question is.... Joys YOUNGEST child, Vala, got her College degree a couple years ago, And my OLDEST just gets her degree. Does that make me about 20 years younger than Joy????? It doesn't feel that way. Congradulations Becca, Daddy Loves You.

Joy's Readers Digest Version:

Went to Becca's graduation.

Was long, but Becca got her degree.

Go Becca! Go Becca! Go Becca!

Congrat's (The wicked stepmom loves ya too!)

Weekend at Kingman Lake

Les and I and Jake and Jessica went camping at Kingman Lake, about 45 miles west of Wichita, this weekend. Les and Jake did some work on the Taj (pop up tent trailer) so they couldn't wait to see how it turned out, and face it, they wanted to do some fishing. So out to Kingman Lake we went.

Friday afternoon was beautiful - by the evening it was just gorgeous. Les caught a catfish. We had a nice campfire and the stars came out! Wonderful. Got a little chilly over night.

Saturday morning we saw a mother goose, goslings, and the daddy too. Jake caught a really nice crappie. While the others took a nap in the afternoon, I spotted a little turtle, not much bigger than an old time silver dollar. He was so cute, and feisty! I kept him long enough to take pictures, then I let him go. Of course, both my son, Patrick, and my grandson, Skyler, asked why I didn't bring him home to them. Wouldn't have he had a wonderful time getting all the way to Oregon, via Ontario, Canada. Jake and Jessica drove back to Wichita for his softball game - double header, they won both games. Wind starting kicking up and went on High Wind Alert throughout the evening.

Sunday was beautiful, got calls from kids wishing me a Happy Mother's Day - wind started winding down, and we came home. Home, Sweet, Home.

'til next time....

Joy
& Les

Les' Readers Digest Version;
Weekend of May 9, 10, 11 - went to Kingman Co. Fishing Lake with Jake and Jessica.
Fishing wasn't too good. Had a good time getting out.