August 2nd through August 5th. - Elkhart Indiana

Elkhart was on Bill's bucket list because Elkhart is the home of the RV Hall of Fame and Museum. The drive from Madison to Elkhart was the most stressful of our entire trip. It turns out that Interstate 80 that begins in Wisconsin and goes the entire way through Indiana is a toll road. We thought, no big deal. Couple of bucks or so. Wrong! We ended up spending over $50 that day in tolls. Every 12 to 17 miles we had to pull over and pay cash for another toll. It really sucked and the roads were even bad and under construction. I guess that they have to do all of the improvements in the summer before the snow comes. What a rip-off! Okay, that rant is over know. We stayed at a nice RV park in Elkhart. The next day we went on a factory tour of the Jayco factory. (our fifth wheel is a Jayco) The tour was quite informative and all of the workers who did the construction of the fifth wheel are Amish and it was quite interesting to see how they drove their buggies or bikes to work everyday.

On August 4th we toured the RV Hall of Fame and Museum. The Hall of Fame was not much but the museum was awesome. They have the original RV (trailer) a 1913 Earl Trailer and a model T Ford. They have over 50 older RVs dating from 1913 to 1985. My favorite was the 1915 Model T truck with "telescoping" camper. It was built in California and is the first RV with "slideouts". It was a great tour and I can check that off of my bucket list.

On to Ohio and the Pro Football Hall of fame and the final round of the Bridgestone Invitational! 

August 1st. We left Minnesota and we headed for Elkhart Indiana. It was a two-day drive and so we stayed at a KOA in Madison Wisconsin for the night before we drove to Elkhart. This is when I realized that Jeannie either has friends or relatives every where we go. In Madison, we went out with her nephew Michel and his fiancee Kate. We all walked down from their condo to the University of Wisconsin's student union where we had beer and snacks on a huge patio overlooking the lake. Took us back to our college days. Here is a picture of Kate and Michael for those of you who don't know them.

Time to do some catch-up on our blog.
We have come to the realization that Internet is a very serious issue as we look to improve our infrastructure throughout our country. I will be meeting with President Trump in the near future to help him understand that better Internet connections for campers throughout the US should be at the top of the list as he and congress consider the infrastructure issues across our land. Okay, done with my Internet rant for today.....

Let's see, when we last left you we were in the Grindstone Lake area of Minnesota. Had a great visit with Deb and Mike at their lake cabin on Grindstone Lake. Each year the lake freezes over and new rocks are pushed up toward their beach. Thus, the name Grindstone Lake. We took a day excursion up to Lake Superior and city of Duluth. We got to tour the Split Rock Lighthouse and visited the Canal Park area. We got to sit on a roof-top bar and watch the tanker ships come through after the bridge was raised, stopping traffic for a considerable amount of time.

We also took a tour of a preserve that is adjacent to Mike and Deb's cabin that is used for outdoor education for both school groups and adults.

Okay, we have Internet tonight so we are going to blog as much as we can tonight to catch up!

Back to Detroit Lakes. After our time with Jim, Mary and the rest of the family I got to do some golfing for two days in a row. We played a nice little executive course in Detroit Lakes.

The next day we went out on a pontoon boat and "anchored" near a sand bar. Lots of fun and good times with most of Jeannie's family.  More to come.

We are now in Elkhart Indiana and this is the first time we have had Internet since we left Detroit Lakes Minnesota.

While still in Detroit Lakes we went To Jeannie's younger brother Jim's home on Otter Tail Lake. We had a nice time visiting with Jim and his wife Mary and Jeannie's sisters Joyce and Joanie. Also her nieces Jackie and Janelle. There was much reminiscing by looking at old photos on John's iPad. We also had another nice boat ride and a dinner.

We are now a the RV Museum in Elkhart Indiana and we thought that using their wifi would speed up our blogging process. Not true. Their wifi is as bad as the campground!!! We will post more blogs when we can find better Internet connections.

We are now in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota where Jeannie was raised. We actually have an Internet connection at the RV Park so it is time to "catch up"

We stayed with Walt and Barb for several days and we had a great time hanging out with them. We managed to take a nice boat trip around the southern part of Flathead Lake and Walt and I got in nine holes at the local course. The highlight was an all-day trip to Glacier National Park. It is a beautiful (and a little scary) drive and the scenery is really amazing.

We left Barb and Walt's house on July 18th and spent the next three nights "on the road" staying in Chinook, Montana, Williston, North Dakota and Grand Forks North Dakota. I must share a photo of our "RV Park" in Chinook. What a joke. It was just a vacant lot with dirt and weeds. We put our money in an envelope and shoved it under the door. Never saw a soul.

We had a nice time in Williston North Dakota. Lot's of farms and oil rigs wherever you looked. Jeannie's niece Ashley and soon to be husband, Caleb live in Williston and they invited us to their house. They fed us dinner (meat on a stick is always a winner) and we visited several hours. I was amazed because every driveway on their street had at least one pick-up truck. Caleb and his brother had two a piece. I finally felt at home in my truck! LOL

We got Detroit lakes on Friday and that night was Jeannie's 45th high school reunion. We had a great time and i met many new people some who we are seeing again in the week that we are camped here.

We spent the weekend hanging out with Jeannie's brother John and his wife Karen. We had a great time with them and look forward to seeing them more when we go on our cruise to the Mediterranean in September. Of course we had to go see the world's largest Loon.

That is all for now. We will post again later this week before we leave Detroit Lakes (Friday). Tonight is a ride on a houseboat out on the lake.

A Special Day in History

Today is the 64th annual Over the Line World Championship in San Diego. This is the first time in 40 years that I have not been part of my team playing on Fiesta Island. So, here is to my OTL buddies Ken Horner, Bill Susdorf, Jeff Stone and Chuck Rathbone and our team, Just Here for the Beer!