The Geese Are Heading South and So Are We

October 24, 2023 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

Off to warmer weather

My knee is healed. I am walking decently with little discomfort, and we are biting at the bullet to head south.

The days are cooling off and the nights are too chilly here in Ohio. When the outside air begins to cool our bones on the inside and the inside heat begins to dry our skin on the outside, it is time to move to warmer temperatures.

Rich works a lot harder than I do preparing to move.

I basically take care of closing up the inside and he takes care of closing up the outside.

Closing up the inside consists of picking everything up and putting it away so it doesn’t fall over, break, or rattle while we drive down the road.

And making sure the television is strapped, drawers are locked, counters are cleaned off, and nothing is going to go flying around if we hit a bump.

Together we dismantle the outside displays such as lights around the awning, picnic table, bug spray, lawn flags, and chairs. But Rich puts it all away in the outside compartments.

He takes out the leveling blocks, dumps the tanks, puts away the cords and hoses, brings in the jacks, hooks up the tow dolly, gets the car loaded up, checks all the lights and turn signals, and locks all the cabinets.

Yes, I help when I can.

Last, but not least, is cleaning the windshield and side windows so we can see good.

I don’t have great balance. I fall easily and break bones, so he doesn’t let me on a ladder much.

We are both excited to be back on the road and in our happy place. I can’t wait to see new places, take lots of pictures, and write all about it.

And of course, take you along for the journey. Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading.

The Paul Laurence Dunbar House Historic Site

October 17, 2023 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

Dayton, Ohio

We drove to Dayton, Ohio today to visit the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park so I could get the stamp and sticker in my National Park book.

I didn’t know that Paul Laurence Dunbar’s house was available for touring as part of this National Park. We arrived too late to actually see the inside of the house or the grounds. It closed at 4:00 pm.

Who is Paul Laurence Dunbar you ask?

He was an American poet, lyricist, essayist, and novelist of the late 19th century who was born in Dayton, Ohio.

He was born on June 27, 1872, to parents who were slaves in Kentucky before the American Civil War.

He was one of the first African-American writers to establish an international reputation.

One of the poems I especially like of his is called “Dreams.”

What dreams we have and how they fly

Like rosy clouds across the sky;

Of wealth, of fame, of sure success,

Of love that comes to cheer and bless;

And how they wither, how they fade,

The waning wealth, the jilting jade —

The fame that for a moment gleams,

Then flies forever, — dreams, ah — dreams!

Suffering from tuberculosis, which then had no cure, Dunbar died in Dayton, Ohio, at the age of 33. It’s a shame that he died so young.

Thanks for reading and joining me for another history lesson.

Fort Greene Ville Historical Landmark

October 14, 2023 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

Greenville, Ohio

We drove south to Greenville, Ohio today and I wanted to see the fort.

The photo above is a replica of The Fort at Greene Ville that was built by General Anthony Wayne in 1793 during the American Indian Wars.

According to military history, Fort Greene Ville was the largest pioneer fort in Ohio. It was used to house about 2,000 American soldiers dedicated to neutralizing the Native American threat and casting American dominance and law over the region. The construction of the Fort was finished by the fall of 1793.

The Treaty of Greene Ville was signed on August 3, 1795, by both the Delaware and Wyandot tribes and the United States at this Fort, after General Anthony Wayne’s victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in northern Ohio.

The treaty marked the end of the Northwest Indian Wars and negotiated the land boundary between the settlers and natives.

The gate was locked the day we were there so we couldn’t go inside.

The fort was abandoned one year after the treaty was signed and settlers in the area descended on it stripping it of construction materials and finally burning it down to scavenge the metal.

I love driving around to find hidden gems like this in the towns we visit and then learning some history about them.

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed your history lesson for today.

America the Beautiful National Park Pass

September 17, 2023 – Traveling With Rich & Julie

America is beautiful!

Rich and I have always loved traveling and seeing the country. We love the outdoors and nature. We crave the simple peacefulness of nature and have spent our lives together taking every chance we can to travel and see the beauty around us.

We spent many years hiking and taking day trips to nearby parks and places. We spent some time tent camping at State Parks. As of April 2022, we sold our sticks and bricks home, sold nearly everything we own, and bought an RV. We have both officially retired from our day jobs and are full-time travelers now in our RV.

In preparing to spend the rest of our lives exploring as much as we can of this beautiful country, we found out that it would greatly benefit us to purchase an America the Beautiful Pass. Discovering that most national sites and parks charge a hefty entrance fee, it was financially smart to purchase this pass for $80 for one year.

Each pass admits the pass owner and all people in the vehicle to all national sites and federal recreation lands.

Rich turned 62 in December of 2022, so we purchased a lifetime pass for him. With this, we get to visit any national park or monument without paying any entrance fee for the rest of his life.

I highly recommend considering this purchase if you expect to visit very many national park sites this year.

Thanks for coming along with us on all our traveling adventures.

The Jolly Green Giant Statue

August 22, 2023 – Traveling With Rich & Julie

Blue Earth, Minnesota

The Minnesota Valley Canning Company was an industrial vegetable cannery in Le Sueur, Minnesota that was founded in 1903. In 1928 they introduced the green giant mascot for their larger green vegetables.

We were in Minnesota earlier this summer driving down I-90 when the “Jolly Green Giant Sculpture” popped up on my Google Map in Blue Earth, Minnesota.

Well anyone who knows me, knows that I am going to make Rich turn off the Interstate and pull into something like this.

The Jolly Green Giant Statue Park gives plenty of room for a 38′ RV towing a car to pull in and park and turn around. It was a nice place to stop and take a short break.

According to an article posted at Roadside America, the statue stands 55.5 feet high. He was built in 1978 and officially bolted to his permanent base next to the county fairgrounds on July 6, 1979. He is made of fiberglass, wears a size 78 shoe, and weighs 8,000 pounds.

There is a museum on the grounds but it was not open at the time we were there.

If you ever find yourself traveling down I-90 in Minnesota, be sure to pull off and see the Jolly Green Giant Statue. It was fun to see.

Thanks for reading and coming along with us on our adventures.

The Enchanted Highway

Come along with me on a photo story of an enchanted place in North Dakota.

August 17, 2023 – Traveling With Rich & Julie

Did you know there is an enchanted highway in North Dakota full of some of the world’s largest scrap metal sculptures in the world? It starts at exit 72 on I-94 for Gladstone and continues for 32 miles south to the town of Regent. The road has no actual highway number. It is just called the Enchanted Highway. You can’t miss the exit off of I-94 because there is a huge scrap metal sculpture marking the way.

Geese in Flight

The first sculpture at the exit is titled “Geese in Flight.” This sculpture is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest scrap metal sculpture. It stands 110 feet tall and 154 feet wide. It was completed in 2001. Just look at how small Rich looks standing in front of it in the photo below. Can you even see him?

Each area has a nice parking area for vehicles to stop so you can get out and take photos. Some have picnic tables and a kiosk, but there are no restroom facilities or porta-potties available anywhere.

Deer Crossing

The second sculpture along the road is about twelve miles further down the highway and is titled “Deer Crossing.” You can’t miss it as it appears over the small hill. This sculpture includes a 75-foot tall leaping buck and a 50-foot tall doe standing on the ground. The sculptures were all the vision of local Regent artist Gary Greff to increase tourism traffic to the dying town of Regent. “Deer Crossing” was completed in 2002, one year after the “Geese in Flight.”

In addition to the famous sculptures, driving this road is a great way to see tons of sunflower fields. North Dakota is one of the largest producers of sunflowers and they are all blooming and reaching their peak in August.

Grasshoppers in the Field

The next sculpture along the road is titled “Grasshoppers in the Field,” which was completed in 1999.

This display includes one 60-foot-long huge grasshopper with smaller grasshoppers surrounding it. This display is located near the small town of Lefor about halfway between Gladstone and Regent. In Lefor you can see the remnants of the Lefor State Bank that was in use from 1913 to 1934.

Fisherman’s Dream

Continuing on down the Enchanted Highway you will see the “Fisherman’s Dream” sculpture next that was completed in 2006. The rest of the sculptures are each only about 4 or 5 miles apart from here to the town of Regent.

Closer to the town of Regent, this sculpture is magnificent to see in person. It is so much bigger than it looks in the photo above. The 70-foot tall trout is jumping out of the water and there are several other fish to see swimming around and jumping. I’d say the small fisherman in the tiny boat on top has his hands full.

Pheasants on the Prairie

The fifth sculpture in the series is the “Pheasants on the Prairie.” The male pheasant is 40 feet tall. He is best viewed from the side to get a true sense of his magnificent tail. The hen stands 35 feet tall and the family is complete with two chicks to the side. This sculpture was completed in 1996.

Theodore Roosevelt Rides Again

Just a few miles down the road is the sixth sculpture titled, “Theodore Roosevelt Rides Again.” This is a fun one for the kids because the stage coach is able to be entered and used as a photo opportunity.

Theodore Roosevelt himself rides a bucking horse and waves his arm.

This enchanted highway passes through some beautiful scenic countryside dotted with buttes like the Black Butte with an elevation of 3,112 feet according to the posted sign. A butte is simply a large mesa. There are several hiking trails to the top.

They say when viewed at sunset the butte appears to be completely black.

Tin Family

Reaching the seventh sculpture along the highway brings you to the first sculpture Greff completed. The World’s Largest Tin Family is just two miles away from the town of Regent.

The dad stands 45 feet tall while the mom is 44 feet tall. The young boy stands a mere 23 feet tall. Greff began this sculpture in 1989 and completed it in 1990.

Reaching the town of Regent you will first see the Enchanted Highway Gift Shop with a sculpture of whirlygigs beside it.

Enchanted Castle, Knight, and Dragon

And clear down at the end of the road is an enchanted castle complete with a knight fighting off a huge dragon with his sword. Greff turned the abandoned school into a fancy hotel and restaurant where weary travelers could eat and possibly stay in town for a night or two.

The restaurant was not open when we arrived early in the day so instead we grabbed a sandwich across the street from the gift shop.

I hear the artist is working on some more sculptures, one of them being spider webs and spiders. It will be interesting to see what they are.

I highly recommend driving this road from beginning to end if you are ever in the area. It is places and scenic drives like this that make traveling across America fun. I will always stop and see anything that holds the title of “World’s Largest.”

I hope you enjoyed this drive down the Enchanted Highway in North Dakota. Thanks for reading.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park Day 2

North Unit

August 10, 2023

An unusual fact about “Theodore Roosevelt National Park” is that the South Unit is in Mountain Time Zone, and when we traveled to the North Unit we noticed that we entered Central Time Zone and lost an hour. We visited this part of the park on Thursday, August 10.

It was sprinkling and cloudy as we traveled north from the campgrounds but the countryside is beautiful and breathtaking whether it is cloudy and raining or not.

The North Unit Entrance and Visitor Center is located on Highway 85. The small visitor center doesn’t contain much but you can get your National Park book stamped here and purchase stickers or small souvenirs. They also show the same 17-minute video that we already watched at the south unit.

The rugged solitude of this wilderness is not to be missed or underestimated. This section is much less visited than the south unit, probably because it is more than 50 miles north of the interstate. But don’t let that fool you into thinking it isn’t worth the trip. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

The scenic drive here is 14 miles long one way to the end at the Oxbow Overlook and then you have to turn around and come back the same way. The first half of the drive stays low in the badlands and the first sight to stop and see is the Cannonball Concretions.

These large round rocks littering the ground and protruding from the side of the cliff are mysterious and bizarre. It seems they simply formed this way from the sediment, and erosion is slowly exposing them within the walls of the mountains. Eventually, they fall out and land on the ground.

The rain and clouds cleared away and a blue sky appeared. I just love the look of the photos when the sky is this blue.

As we continued down the path, we did see one buffalo lying by the side of the road and one deer up on a hill. We were told that the deer in the park were mule deer. I can never tell the difference from a distance.

The middle area of the park is filled with grasslands and prairie. It’s almost like leaving one world behind and entering another totally different landscape. Sometimes the change is as quickly as you can drive around the bend in the road.

Here we saw some more prairie dogs, which some countries, I think, call ground squirrels, and even caught a glimpse of a few wild turkeys in the distance.

We were told to keep our eyes out for bighorn sheep on the steep cliff ledges, but it just wasn’t our day to see any, even though they say driving is the best way to view wildlife.

Most of the road through the park is paved, with a few small exceptions where it must have been washed out and temporarily fixed.

The Little Missouri River winds through the countryside and there is a short 0.7-mile easy nature trail that explores the river valley, or you can hike the longer 1.4-mile moderately difficult long loop trail.

Other trails include the 4.2-mile Caprock Coulee Trail loop which contains some of the most scenic views in the park. The River Bend Overlook has a wheelchair-accessible viewing deck or an overlook shelter down a short trail. And at the Oxbow Overlook, there is a 2-mile round trip trail up to Sperati Point by way of the Achenbach Trail. You can also take a short stroll up a sidewalk to the rim of the badlands.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park North Unit is remote and rugged. The landscape is beautiful and I want to see as much of this country as I can while I can.

Thanks for coming along with us on our travels and journeys. I appreciate the time you spend reading my articles and stories.

Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site

August 7, 2023 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

We woke up from sleeping overnight in the Walmart parking lot and traveled about 155 miles to the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site in Stanton, ND, knocking another place off the list in my National Parks Book.

This site was established in 1974, to preserve the historic and archeological remnants of the Northern Plains Indians called the Hidatsas, of North Dakota. This area was a major trading area for these peoples. There are three distinct villages known to have inhabited the area. They are the Big Hidatsa Village, the Lower Hidatsa Village, and the Awatixa Village.

Just behind the visitor center is a replica of one of the large earthmound dwellings. It was much larger than I expected it would be. It smelled as soon as you entered and pulled back the heavy buffalo hide hung across the opening. I’m not sure what the smell was…dirt or hot air. It would take some getting used to.

If you walk the trails to the village sites, you will see large circle indentations in the ground where the mound dwellings were. Established earthlodge settlements along the Knife River date to circa-1525 CE. They thrived until 1837, when smallpox greatly reduced the population of Indians living here.

The Awatixa Village was the village where Sakakawea (also known as Sakagawea) lived. This is where Lewis & Clark first met her. The Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail is also here and you can drive the trail and follow the signs.

We left here and headed to our home for the next week near the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Thanks for joining us on this traveling journey.

The World’s Largest Buffalo

August 6, 2023 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

Sunday, August 6, we left the Pipestone Family Campground and drove Hwy 29 from South Dakota up to Fargo, North Dakota where we got on I-94. Heading west on I-94 we stopped at Jamestown, ND to see the World’s Largest Buffalo and the Frontier Village and Buffalo Museum.

The parking lot at the museum was large enough to get the motorhome in and turn around. If the parking lot had been completely full of other vehicles though, there might not have been room.

The sculptor’s name is Elmer Paul Petersen. The bull was erected in 1959. His name is Dakota Thunder. He weighs 60 tons, is 46 feet long, 14 feet wide, and 26 feet high. That is a lot bigger than our motorhome.

There is a gift shop inside the National Buffalo Museum. We walked around a little bit, but I have hurt my right knee and just can’t walk much right now. It was too far of a walk for me from the parking lot to the Frontier Town and to the large buffalo, so I settled for pictures from afar.

After a short visit here, we drove over to the Walmart parking lot in the Buffalo Mall and spent the night. We always call ahead and ask the Walmart’s if they allow overnight parking. This one does. See you tomorrow.

Pipestone National Monument

August 4th and 5th, 2023 – Traveling with Rich & Julie

Friday, August 4th, we left the Don McLean American Pie Parking Lot in Clear Lake, Iowa and drove 208 miles to the Pipestone Family Campgrounds, which is right across the street from the Pipestone National Monument entrance.

In 1937, the US government declared this property a National Monument in order to protect the right of any American Indian to quarry the pipestone. American Indians continue to quarry the stone today. This national monument also protects over 300 native plant species – including 70 grasses – of the tallgrass prairies.

I am on a quest to visit as many National Parks and Monuments as I can. There are hundreds of National Monuments in addition to the 63 main National Parks.

The Pipestone Family Campground is a nice facility with clean restrooms, laundry, and a swimming pool. The workers were polite and helpful, and our site was wonderful. Sadly, we showed up on a stormy, rainy weekend and spent a lot of time inside playing cards and listening to the weather station. At one point we were under a Severe Thunderstorm Warning and Tornado Watch.

On Saturday, we drove around to see some things in the rain. We went to the Visitor Center for my stamp and sticker and saw some of the Native Americans carving the pipestone.

Right behind the Visitor Center is the start of the Circle Trail that takes you back to Winnewissa Falls, but I was not able to walk this trail. I have hurt my right knee and was barely able to make it to the Visitor Center. Here you can see an example of the Quarry Floor. This red pipestone is what the Indians use to carve animal sculptures and pipes.

On the way to the Visitor Center there are some large boulders to your left. We stopped by on our way out. The Three Maidens are three large granite boulders that used to be one large boulder. There are smaller fragments here as well. Legend says that the boulders were deposited here by the glaciers. These are sacred to the local people.

On the opposite corner from the entrance to the National Monument is a full-size replica of Fort Pipestone. Fort Pipestone is an 1860’s palisade fort with a cedar log cabin gift shop and museum. Visiting the fort and gift shop was free.

We drove on into the town of Pipestone, Minnesota and found another fun gift shop with a huge peacepipe sculpture and horse outside.

In town there is a historic concrete water tower located in a welcome rest area setting with picnic tables, restrooms, and even a free RV dump station. This unique concrete water tower stands 132 feet high, holds 500,000 gallons of water, was built in 1920 and began serving the community of Pipestone in 1921. It served the community until 1973 when it was retired. It was restored, repainted, and fixed in 1990 and became a historical landmark.

No trip to Pipestone, Minnesota would be complete without seeing the gorgeous courthouse grounds and Civil War Memorial. The courthouse is made of the red pipestone quartz and has been kept as near as possible to its original condition.

The Civil War Memorial Soldier Statue is inscribed on all four sides with the names of more than 200 veterans of the Civil War and Spanish-American War, and joining the statue on the courthouse lawn is a WWII RA M4 Sherman Tank.

And last but not least, we drove the King of Trails Scenic Byway, which is Highway 75, from Pipestone north to Lake Benton. This scenic byway goes on for over 400 miles. It is miles of beautiful prairie lands untouched by man.

Thanks for joining me on this travel journey. I hope you enjoy seeing all the places we are visiting. Leave me a comment to let me know you were here.