Visit with Second Cousins

Had a great visit with my second cousins Betty and John and their families. They both have farms near Camrose AL. Betty and her husband Al are raising sheep and some of the most adorable children you’ll ever see. He has his diesel repair business right there on the farm so he doesn't waste any time commuting. Betty is absolutely amazing with her love and care of children (she also makes the most delicious bread). We took lots of family photos that I’ll share when I get home, but I’ll continue here with adult/baby pictures. They had lots of sheep.

And how about this one of man and son. Too cute. Joey had been holding a lamb and when he got tired Daddy was carrying it back to the pen.

Oh yeah, Tuesday night (6/17) we brought them a pretty wild storm too. We’re thinking about hiring out as rainmakers lol.

John and Dorothy have a farm about 3 km from Betty and Al. They live in a home built in 1913 I think. I love all the old design and architecture. Their barn used to house barn dances and the piano would be put up in the hay loft.

They farm pigs, chickens, all organic, and they have a huge turkey named “Easter”. They said Easter weighed about 50 pounds!



They had a few black faced lambs too.

Isn't their farm just the greatest play yard?

Dorothy & John have created a lot of interesting garden spots around the property that I just fell in love with. I felt like we were on the same adventure as the story book “The City Mouse visits the Country Mouse” lol I’m sure that’s not the title, but it was something like that. We again felt so welcomed and like we’ve known each other for a long time. We’re both very glad that we made the time to visit our Canadian family.

Canada here we come

Monday June 16th We got up early Sunday morning and drove from Minot ND to Turtleford Saskatchewan making it in 12 hours!! That was 552 miles! Because we were driving west we entered another time zone and were now 2 hours different from Michigan. We only made 3 stops. The first was customs with no problems at all whew, the second stop was for fuel and then refuel ourselves with a sandwich. The rest pulloff had a LOT of what I think are prairie dogs. They are bigger than a chipmunk, but smaller than a groundhog. They were fun to watch as they ran in and out of their holes and started wrestling with each other as puppies or kittens do.

With the time change and all we got to my cousin Joan and her husband Ralph’s house in time for supper. We stayed up til the wee hours of the morning (our time) visiting with her family, there was her son Steven and his wife Paula and their two sons, Mark and Konrad. Evelyn, Joan’s daughter was also there. I have only met Joan and Ralph once and have never met their kids. It’s really funny how families have the same sense of humor and just click together as if we’ve always known each other.
Steven took us on a tour of the farm in the truck. On their 1000+ acres they raise beef cattle and have some Clydesdale horses. I don’t know how we didn’t get lost – there were no road signs lol. I love the pictures of the mama’s and babies.


Monday morning we were treated to a lesson on tractor tire repair. Those tire are huge and of course it had to be an inside tire. MM got a shot of the supervisory staff.

Once the tire is off and Fred repaired the inner tube he found the culprit in the tire.

Putting the outside tire back on was no easy task.

Removing the last of the blocks and jacks after a job well supervised.

We spent much of the day with Paula and Steven. In the evening we went to Evelyn’s home and met her husband Glenn and son Jeff (earlier in the day we met their daughter Cary). Glenn raises registered Angus bulls.
I felt I had a special bond with Evelyn in a lot of ways. I found we had a mutual interest in gardening and even had many of the same plants around our yards.
All three couples were very gracious and welcoming. Canada is such a beautiful country. There are so many wide open spaces and the sky is mammouth. The vistas that my family enjoy daily are breathtaking.
We had another late night and wanted to get an early start for Betty and Al’s place in Alberta.

Getting Through ND

Sat June 14th Lots of what they call "cone zones"

Approaching Bismarck ND

While I was doing the post at the Washburn Rest Area MM was outside taking pictures. It was a Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center. There were several buffalo siloettes,

and the sculptures of Lewis, Clark & Sakakawea.

It was a great rest area as you can see. After leaving there we drove a little farther to Minot ND and filled up again to get us up to Saskatchewan. Just as we were leaving the filling station the weather monitor and radio both announced at the same time there was a severe storm coming to this area. From the looks of it we were headed straight into it. I asked MM if he had checked the storage bays lately. He looked at me quizzically and I just said “I’m sure Duffy has to be in one of them. We have never had this kind of weather on a trip.” Her trips always include tornados and hail.
Just as they were talking about 70 mph winds and hail the size of quarters we saw a sign for a campground. I took this as a sign and said pull over lol. We were barely in the site for 5 minutes before the winds picked up and a horrific storm went through. We wanted to be in Canada by morning, but 70 mph winds is a bit much even for us. We plan on getting an early start (yeah, I’ve said that before) and seeing if we can’t make up some ground. I keep saying we’re not in any hurry, but I want to get to Alaska!

LOTS TO CELEBRATE

Thurs 6-12-08
Lots to Celebrate
We have lots to celebrate today. Today is our 37th anniversary. Happy Anniversary to us! Today is our son in laws birthday. Happy Birthday Andy! And we survived last nights weather and got out of the flooded campground. Yes, lots to celebrate.
Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day (after the rains stopped). We did what we do – visit and relax and generally have fun. As we were walking to dinner we were commenting on how beautiful the day had turned out. We had a great dinner (the caterers were excellent) and then were entertained by the Rivoli Revue again. They do a great job. After dinner there was a request to help tear down the tables and chairs. MM helped the men and I stood around and visited with the women. As we were finishing up a State Trooper came in to say that they were going to all the local campgrounds to warn everyone of the possibilities of severe weather. There were tornado sitings west of us (we learned that it hit a boy scout camp and there were lives lost) and they told us to watch the weather and head for shelter if necessary (5 minutes away by car). That put a quick damper on things. Actually, several coaches that were going north or east left earlier in the day because they heard of road closings and they wanted to get out while they could. As we walked back to the coach we said how it was hard to believe that bad weather was that close when it was such a beautiful evening. It was still about 72, there was a slight breeze and there were a plethora of stars in the sky. The perfect evening. When we got back to the coach we put a few things away and pulled in the slides, then took a walk around the campground. Several people were out talking about their plans. When we watched the local news they weren’t really talking about a storm, just about the severe flooding everywhere.
We (maybe more me) decided to get a bag packed with important stuff in case we had to make a fast getaway. Then it was off to bed to try to get some sleep. I knew there wasn’t any sleep coming my way anytime soon, I’m much too much a worrier. I must have dozed off around 1:30 a.m. The rains woke me up at 3:30. Nothing bad, but my mind was prepared for the worst. Long story short, it pretty much rained from then on. Fortunately, the winds weren’t nearly as bad as they had been. We did our morning rituals as usual and watched as the coaches started pulling out. About 8 a.m. central time we decided it wasn’t going to get any better and we’d better get going. MM had to walk in ankle deep water to unhook the coach. We were able to pull to a little higher ground to hook up the tow. Most of the internal roads of the park were flooded.

When we got to the end of our road at the edge of the park we noticed some cows that were up to their bellies in water. My guess is that park will be totally underwater by the end of the day. When we got to the exit area there was a small lake that had developed and we were wondering if we should try to traverse it. After sitting there for a few seconds a truck pulled up to us and the driver said to follow him. He took us over to another internal road that lead to higher ground. There he unlocked a gate for us to get out onto a main road which was not flooded.
Once we were on the main roads there was only one spot on Hwy 151 that was being compromised. There were DOT trucks on both sides so we could only go through one car at a time.

After that it was pretty smooth sailing (make that driving). Approaching Des Moines there was a lot of flooding right up to I-80. We passed a little league ball field that was totally under water. The water was half way up the building that houses the concessions and rest rooms. I guess anywhere there is a river nearby there is flooding. Our roads should all be good from here on, but we left a lot of sadness behind us.
We travelled from 8:30 to 4:30 today and covered about 300 miles (that doesn’t mean we were going 40 something mph – we made a few stops). We landed in Stone State Park near Sioux City Iowa. Pretty little park with about 20 campsites. We were the only ones there for awhile, but then a biker came in. He’s peddling from DC to Oregon following the Lewis & Clark Trail and then back to DC. He just finished changing his second flat tire for the day. Bet he’s tired because I know we are lol.
Another bicycler came in shortly thereafter so we invited both of them to dinner.

The first guy, Ludlow, is 62 and kind of bicycling across country. He stays in motels a lot, this is only his second time in a tent. He’s making a lot of side trips on trains or renting a car. The younger guy, Jeremy, is 29 and traveling from Jacksonville FL heading to Montana. He would like to work in Montana on a ranch for a year then take another look at his options.
After dinner we went for a walk then came back and headed to town for ice cream. Came across a pretty overlook. You could see for miles.

Friday 6/13/08 Happy Birthday Harmony! We had a good travelling day today, about 350 miles. Left Stone State Park in Sioux City IA around 10 a.m. central and just drove. It was a very windy day which made it kind of tiring for MM. The slide awing on the front was unrolling a little due to the west winds. We noticed a few convoys of National Guard heading south carrying boats, probably heading for where we came from. Going through SD there are miles of prairie with lots of cattle ranches. The wind blowing across the prairie grasses was beautiful. I took one picture of a ranch, but there were several that were just as picturesque.

There was one construction zone (they call them cone zones) that was 12 miles long with 2 way traffic. The big trucks going the opposite direction along with the cross winds were nearly blowing us off the road. I was watching the steering wheel. When a truck past us (going in the opposite direction) the cross bar was straight across. As soon as the truck was by it was back to 8 and 2 (if you know what I mean). Like MM likes to say it’s like flying a kite with a steering wheel.
We tried to stop at a motel/campground in Fargo ND (it had wifi), but it ended up being a gravel pit with campers on top of each other, just totally unappealing. We decided to just keep looking and just down I94 at Tower City there was a similar camp outside a motel only this one had grass and was farther off the highway. We ended up stopping at this one.
Once set up I quickly fixed dinner and then we went for a walk around the city park that was close by. When we got back there was a couple our age setting up a tent. We talked with them briefly. They left Saskatoon this morning and are headed for IL and MI looking at boats. After talking with them we noticed a few of the locals sitting at a picnic table and joined them. It was actually the motel owners and two guys (James and Ronnie) who are in town working on a pipeline that is coming from Canada and going to Oklahoma and splitting off from there. We tried to help them solve all of the world problems, but it started sprinkling which was our cue to head back and do dishes.
Saturday 6/14/08
We are currently sitting in a rest area in Washburn ND. Stopped for lunch and noticed (with the cool sentry from Scooter and Co) that they had wifi. We're hoping to make the Canadian border sometime late today or tomorrow. We'll try to keep you all posted. Til then.

Final Day of Amana Rally

Been real busy while here at the rally. Did a little more shopping in the area, which is always fun. I always enjoy the crafts that are offered. On Monday they had a class on iron on appliques or bead embellishments to shirts. I like that so much that I did two.


Tuesday I made a beautiful bracelet. This is very eyestraining, but worth it.

And this morning I made a card using the Iris Folding technique.

Maintenance Man has been busy going to seminars. This mornings was on Coach Modifications. All coach owners that had done aftermarket stuff sent the ideas in and they presented them in a slide presentation. MM showed his window treatment modification - he took the regular blinds that came with it and reversed them to make "down up" shades. I wanted to go to this seminar, but was busy making cards lol.

Tuesday was a beautiful day, weather wise. It was nice not to have to dodge the rain and hang on to something so you wouldn't blow away. After the evening entertainment we came back to camp and had a campfire. About 5 other couples joined us and we had a great time til midnight when it started sprinkling lol.

This morning we woke up and noticed that there were a lot of cars parked on the street (by the Old Creamery Theatre) and wondered if they were using it as a shelter. Come to find out, the Whirlpool plants' parking lot is flooded and the employees are parking up and down this street and being bussed into work. As the day progresses here there are a few coaches leaving because highway 151 will be closing soon and folks wanted to be able to get out. The Coralville Park that we stayed at last week now has floodwaters going over the spillway. The Iowa City outside mall that we visited is flooded too. It's starting to rain again now so there looks to be no relief in sight.

Back to fun stuff, the entertainment following dinner on Monday was The Rivoli Review with Ron & Kay Rivoli. They are the couple that we saw in Berrin Springs at the GLASS Rally. Interestingly, they have several different formats so the show never gets stale. They will be the entertainment tonight too. Last night was a young gal named Sarah Getto. She's a 24 year old gal who is self taught. She started playing piano at the age of 3 and the violin at about 5. She just finished college with honors and now has a degree to teach music. Why I give all of the detail is because she was born blind and had to undergo several surgeries to correct a cleft pa let. She was amazing. She did a lot of Anne Murray and she did a great Rheba McIntire. She will soon be going on tour to the military bases where young soldiers have lost their eyesight to show them that all things are possible. Just an amazing young woman.

Anyway, it's raining again here lol. We're going to head out tomorrow at a leisurely pace and travel to a higher, dryer place. The flooding in the area is record breaking. There are a lot of mandatory evacuations and the gas and electricity is being shut off to certain areas. It will be awhile before normalcy returns to this area.

Daily Happenings

On Sunday we drove around more of the Amanas(the Amanas include:Amana, East Amana, West Amana, South Amana, High Amana & Middle Amana) and checked out more of the flooding. Went to a quaint quilt shop and bought some quilting stencils and fabric (don't know if I needed that).

The Iowa County Courthouse caught my eye with it's unique architecture.

It has interesting spire like details on the corners.

Found Lily Lake that should have lilies floating on the water, but the water is too high. All the lilies are drowning.


The original design of the houses in the Amanas were very similar to each other and they had lattice/trellis kind of boards on the outside. MM thought is might have been to help keep the homes cooler in the summer with a layer of vegetation on the outside.

The weather out here has been bad - as you've probably noted on the national news. This is the first day that there is not a weather warning running along the bottom of a tv screen. Last night just as we were leaving for the welcoming party there was a severe storm coming through. It was to hit our area the same time as the party started. All the gatherings here take place in a big old pole barn, not a storm shelter. The rains came down sideways and the winds were billowing the awnings (actually no one had their awnings out, but most of the slide outs have an awning over them). The lightening and thunder were all there too. The power went out just as we got up to the food table lol. They came back on pretty quick and things just kept rolling along as if nothing was happening outside. With everyone talking and all you hardly noticed what was going on outside. That is until we looked outside. Most of the campsites were lakefront by this time, but the rain had stopped. Once back at camp we just kept watching the sky

The storms were all around us after that, but not here.

This morning (Monday) we had the tv alarm on to wake us up and it was the morning news. It almost reminded me of Michigan after a blizzard. The ticker on the bottom of the screen was showing cancellations, county road closings, water boil notices, red cross shelter locations and sand bag locations for volunteers. Lots of clean up after the big storm. No rain is in the forecast for today or tomorrow so maybe it will dry up a little. I was surprised to see how much had dried up just overnight.

Lots to do today, just wanted to let you all know we survived last night lol.

SUPRAZ SUPRAZ SUPRAZ

Scooter & Co called the end of last week and said they had a surprise for us. We gave them our current address and they said to keep an eye out. We got the call this morning and what a great supraz!! Al said it was something we could really use and having been with us at the first rally he knew what he was talking about.

It's a WiFi Sentry and can locate wifi hotsots anywhere, anytime with the push of a button. Thanks Scooter & Co. you were so right that will definitely come in handy. It even shows where the signal is strongest here in the coach.

Have lots more to tell and show, but right now it's time to go get breakfast while they are still serving.

Pre Rally

6/7/08 Saturday – Walked around Amana today and went into a lot of shops. Saw a lot of friends that we haven’t seen since last fall at the Urbanna VA Rally.
It was very windy all day and a few coaches got stuck while trying to get parked. There were lots of people with the proper equipment to solve any problems that arose. The flooding threats continue and don’t look like they are going away.
Tonight they had a pre rally pot luck to get things started. As usual there was way too much food and it was all delicious. I took a Chocolate Éclair Dessert that was simple to make and was gone before I got to the dessert table. Guess it was good. I was amazed at how many people we have met that, like us, continue to come to the Monaco America Rallies. Guess we’re all having a good time. It really is a nice bunch of people.