From South Dakota to Arizona

America the beautiful! I decided to take a picture of the camper in each of the campsites we had on our trip to Arizona this year, showing the diversity of our country’s western landscapes. Traveling from Hermosa, SD, to our first stop, the Alcova Dam south of Casper, Wyoming, was uneventful, except for fighting the wind between Lusk and Casper (a normal occurrence in Wyoming, we’ve discovered!) Skies were cluttered with thick clouds and the sun peeked in and out. The geology of the area at Alcova Dam is spectacular, with big red and white sandstone mountains thrust up sideways and many beautiful rounded pebbles washed smooth by ancient waters.

This is where we discovered the trailer brakes weren’t working, as we negotiated the hills into the reservoir! So we headed back the 30 miles to Casper and parked at Stalkup’s RV. You can see we were nestled in with all the other overflow campers, many of whom were also waiting for Monday morning and the service department. Despite the heavy winds and rain showers we managed to find the quilt shop and the kiddie playground for Ron to metal detect.

Tuesday we were on our way to Idaho to visit John and Elizabeth. They live about 100 miles from the Grand Tetons and the country is irrigated farmland between mountain ranges covered with aspen and pines.

More on our visit with them later.

Our next stop was just north of where I-70 joins I-15 in Utah at Yuba Lake State Recreational area. People pull their campers right up to the shores of the reservoir. Signs direct you to the sandy north beach or the rocky west beach. Ron and I decided for the sand, unfortunately, thinking it would be a great place for him to detect. However, the sign didn’t tell you if you have a 34’ fifth wheel you may bog down in the foot deep sand! After putting it in 4 wheel drive and revving it up, we blew through all that sand to the firmer ground, and stayed there! The sun was bright and hot and the temps only got hotter from there!

The next night was south of St. George, Utah, in the Virgin River Canyon area in Arizona. Here we felt 100 degrees for the first time this year and it was a shock to our systems, as we experienced frost at John’s house only 2 days before! The Virgin River has carved an amazing canyon through these mountains in many shades of reds, yellows, whites and browns and again the mountains are lifted up sideways to the world and formed into amazing shapes.

Our last stop for a while is here at the gold camp north of Lake Havasu City. Even though every day it’s been hot (into the 100’s) we are getting into the pattern of getting up before daybreak, going prospecting until 10 or 11 and then resting in the afternoon until around 6, when it cools off enough to turn off the generator and air conditioner. The desert is so quiet! The only sounds we can hear are the occasional quail, a jackrabbit thumping through and a housefly or two. Ron ran over a small rattlesnake yesterday with his quad and it got so mad it bit at my tire as I flew by – I am grateful he didn’t go for my leg! We are loving this easy life and looking forward to the cooler temperatures on their way.

A Black Hills Summer

Ron and I have been in the Black Hills since the latter part of June. Ron had cataract surgeries, which were both a success and he's seeing well (thank you God!) Riding my bicycles and working at the campground in Hermosa has kept me busy, along with all my sewing and knitting projects! Storms have been very prevalent this summer and I love seeing the hills so lush and green. I snapped a picture of a thunderhead moving towards Pine Ridge one evening. The flowers are late summer bloomers, and are as follows: fleabane, mullein, goldenrod, gayfeather, leadplant, rose hips, blanketflower, some kind of peavine flower, and bergamot. The spider was as big as my thumb and very busy rolling up his dinner, some little unfortunate bug. On one of my bike rides I thought I could bicycle 15 miles and breakfast at Spokane Creek Resort, but the bison herds quashed those plans! People in their cars kept stopping to tell me that I couldn't go through the herds, that the bulls were very aggressive in rut and they were all over the road. Of course I had to check it out for myself but I stayed at a respectful distance and just listened to the ruckus as they bellowed and mud-wallowed. Amazing! Ron has been metal detecting for treasures at parks and fairgrounds. He decided to check the site of a coin hunt we had a year or so ago and found this treasure - a 1 oz silver round featuring Mt. Rushmore and Deadwood Dick! It was buried there for the coin hunt but no one had found it at that time. My friends Karen and Bobbie have been bicycling the Mickelson Trail with me, a 111 mile rail to trail that goes from Edgemont to Deadwood. We took 4 trips and finished up last weekend, and had a wonderful time together looking at flowers and eating wild raspberries! Ron sagged us and made our trip possible - thanks, Ron!

Projects Are Keeping Me Really Busy!

This post is dedicated to the projects I have been working on lately. After our trip to Hawaii, a friend gave me a pattern for flip flop hot pads, so I made 3 and gave them to Elizabeth as a souvenir, to remind her of the wonderful time we had there. I'm not really sure they look like flip flops but they made awesome hot pads!

When I was in Sioux Falls early this summer I bought some fancy multicolored yarn and after many, many false starts I finally knitted this hat for the new grandbaby coming in October. I thought it turned out pretty cute! At least his head will be warm for the first month until he grows out of it!

My quilting friends got together and gave me supplies to make the grandbaby a receiving blanket - one gave me flannel, another yarn and a special sewing machine needle that makes huge holes. I sewed the holes into the flannel and crocheted the edging into the holes. It whipped up quickly and I'll have to try that again! A fun project.

Myra, my 6 year old granddaughter, wanted a scarf to keep her warm during the cold South Dakota winter. Her mom received some homely gray yarn when she turned 40 so I tried to mix that up with thick pink yarn and it made a very thick, warm scarf. So now I'm hoping I can figure out how to make a hat and mittens to match. I'm stuck and hoping for inspiration!

My niece had a baby in June, so I quickly made up a baby quilt using a preprinted panel (to quilters, that's cheating, I should have appliqued all those cupcakes on there along with the little pieces of fruit!) But I am proud of the free motion quilting I did and I thought it turned out cute!

These last two pictures are projects I am working on right now - one is baby William's quilt (the grandbaby due in October) and the other is his next hat, a little bigger so he can wear it longer.

"Jaunt with Jim" - Bike Ride through Southern Minnesota

Even though I had a picture a day from the bike ride, I want to add more pictures to the group, since the Blackberry doesn’t take very good pictures, I have found out! We arrived at Chatfield, Minnesota, the day before the ride began. A spectacular sunset was not our “sailor’s delight” as the next few days were filled with many showers and rainstorms. Dusty and Karen helped me a lot on this trip as I had never done a ride like this before. Southeastern Minnesota is beautiful with rolling hills, state forests and many rivers; we followed the bike trail along the Root River for a while then worked our way over to the mighty Mississippi, then circled back to Chatfield. We were in Amish country, and one of the tours available was to the Amish farms in the area where we could have viewed quilts, furniture, and many other beautiful items. Another tour was to one of the top 10 caves in the United States, all by Harmony, MN. You can see the limestone along the trail and many sinkholes were in the area. I love the picture of Dusty and Karen riding “into the light”, as you can see how green and wet everything was. After a rainy ride to LaCrescent, we set up camp at the high school then took a boat ride up the Mississippi on a replica steamship. The rest day included drying out a bit, doing laundry and touring LaCrosse, Wisconsin. The next morning began with a pretty steep hill and Karen, Dusty and I gathered for a picture at the rest stop at the top, overlooking the beautiful Mississippi below. Winona featured a lovely lake and great overnight at the college. The next day we worked our way up another big hill and then hit strong headwinds before we settled into Rushford, Minnesota at the high school. The last day we followed the trail to Lanesboro, then took on a steep hill, then a wonderful tailwind blew us back to Chatfield where Ron picked me up for the ride back to Sioux Falls. I felt very honored to have been a part of the ride, and even though it was rainy and difficult for me, I’m so glad I had the opportunity to do this. Thanks again, Dusty and Karen, for all you did for me!