the first seven states revisited...

Don't worry. 

I won't do a post about each of the twenty-one states we visited on our road trip.

This is the 'Reader's Digest' condensed version!

In fact...

today I'll take you all the way from the west coast...

through to Illinois.

We just whizzed through Washington, Idaho and Montana.

The beautiful landscape got captured periodically through the dirty windows of the RV...

there was no time to stop.

We had driven this route several times before...
up to Billings, Montana.
From there we headed north on highway 94...
previously uncharted territory for us.

The Badlands of North Dakota...

quite an amazing area.

We stopped...

and actually spent some time at Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Roosevelt hunted here in 1883...

got his bison and fell in love with the area.

He bought property in North Dakota...

owned and operated two ranches...

and wrote three books about his life at this time.

After his death...

this property was set aside in his memory...

developed over the years...

and in 1947 it officially became Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

It encompasses more than 70,000 acres...

and is North Dakota's number one tourist destination.

Some call it 'The Land God Forgot'...

others find it the most eerily beautiful place they have laid eyes on.

I'm thinking it resembles a lunar landscape.

We carried on east through North Dakota...

...through farmlands and prairie landscapes.

Two days after leaving home...

we arrived in Fergus Falls, Minnesota.

We put down stakes at the community campground...

and stayed for a few days.

How fun to meet up with family from Manitoba and Iowa...

and have a mini-reunion in Minnesota.

There were sixteen of us in all...

roasting wieners and playing cards on the shores of Pebble Lake.

It was all good...

except the mosquitoes!

Oh...and I met up with two more gals here that I had never met before.

Morgan and Brooklyn...

my two grand-nieces from Manitoba are first cousins.

It was a fun time.

After parting ways...

we carried on through Minneapolis...

...and crossed the Mississippi River into Wisconsin.

Soon we were rolling through farmland...

...and breathing in air that smelled like home.

Just saying!

Our campground in DeForest was right next to Ehlenbach's Cheese Chalet.

We paid a visit...

stocked up on cheese...

and enjoyed Wisconsin cheese for the rest of our journey.

We also spent some time in Madison...

the state capital.

It's a lovely city...

with a farmer's market in the downtown core when we were there.

It is also a university town...

and students were just arriving to start their year of classes.

We joined them to eat our lunch along the shore of Lake Mendota.

And then we carried on down the road...

to Illinois.

Next stop...

Chicago!

tales from the trail...

While I'm in the process of editing and organizing road-trip photos...

I'll leave with you a bit of this and that.

Things we encountered along the way.

Things that made us smile.

Mostly!

Like this checklist...

at a KOA campground along the way.

We took note of things that are different than back home.

Like toll bridges and toll highways in every direction.

In British Columbia we have two toll bridges...

and no toll highways.

So how were we to know that one could not pull off the toll highway to get gas at a service plaza...

 and then carry on without paying the toll again?

Apparently, we should have asked for a receipt at the toll booth.

So we paid the $7 again three miles down the road.

We know now!

In our province we wear helmets...

on bikes and on motorbikes.

 Not so much in the states...it seems. 

I mentioned that we drove through 21 states on our road trip.

What I never said was that we never spent much time in some of them.

Though I am sure Michigan has a lot to offer...

...our total time there was less than an hour.

We crossed over the border...

and had a coffee at McDonald's in New Buffalo.

And that was the extent of our visit to Michigan.

I like the idea of drive-through banking way out in the country!

That is another thing we would not see in my part of the world.

I'm thinking his wife bought him a personalized license plate for his birthday!

We rode a ferry from New York state to Vermont...

a beautiful ride.

Hubby was quite relieved that he still qualified for a life preserver...

though he wondered what would become of all the seniors should the boat go down.

Let me share a little story from our time in New Hampshire.

It was the only rainy day of our whole trip.

We did a little exploring...

and crossed over an old covered bridge in Jackson.

No sooner were we over the bridge than flashing lights appeared behind us.

We had no idea what our offence might have been.

The officer came to the door...

and informed us that no trucks were allowed on the bridge...

and that our RV exceeded the weight limit.

So he took our paperwork and went to his vehicle to write up our infraction.

When he returned...

Elmer asked him what exactly the weight limit was.

We were able to show him that our RV was actually less than the specified limit...

according to the registration papers.

He was amazed!

He said his SUV weighed almost that much.

 

Then he wished us well...

with a smile.

(And let me take his photo.)

Whew.

We really never set out to cause trouble in New Hampshire!

On the last few days of our road trip...

we shared the road with horses and buggies.

Now that was a first for us!

We also visited Hershey, Pennsylvania and did the 'chocolate world' tour.

Wow.  We had no idea what a big attraction that was!

What a surprise to see a big Brookside chocolate display there.

Brookside chocolates are a Canadian favorite...

made in the Fraser Valley not far from where we live.

It seems Hershey has bought out Brookside.

They know a good thing when they see it.

We left our motorhome in storage in a farming community near Lancaster.

That is such a beautiful area!

We'll be back in a few months to carry on with our travels.

We spent a long day flying home on Saturday.

Three different flights...

four airports...

and Canadian customs to deal with.

All went well until we arrived back in Canada to discover we only had one suitcase...

not two.

The next day we learned that it had gone to Dallas, Texas.

I wondered how our Hershey's chocolate would survive a few days in heat.

The suitcase arrived at 'my front porch' this afternoon.

The Hershey's treats are now 'seconds'!

But that's OK.

We are just glad to have the suitcase back...

along with all the clothes,

electronics and gifts.

 

And those are just a few of the tales from the road.

There will be more...coming soon!

face to face with friends...

We are home...after three weeks on the road. How fun to arrive home just in time for a picnic at Anneliese's cabin on the lake......and visit face to face with a great group of friends! 

We had such a good time catching up. Oh...it's not like we never talk. It's just that most of our visits happen in our 'google group' chat room. And we hadn't met face-to-face in several months. It's the best way to meet!  (The guys were there too...just not climbing trees yesterday! But if you would like a proper account of our evening together, check it out here.)

Now let me tell you about two other face-to-face meetings that took place 'along the trail'...meeting up with two different blogging friends in two separate states.  

Come with me to Maine...where we met my long-time friend, Vee.  We connected many years ago...when we both started blogging about the same time. Her blog A Haven For Vee is a popular one...where she freely shares her life with all who come by to visit. 

 
We followed the winding road to the designated meeting place...a country cafe that serves up hearty breakfasts. Would the Vee in flesh-and-blood be the Vee I had come to know from blogdom?   At the appointed time...Vee and John pulled into the parking lot. Right from the start...it was as though we were old friends. There were many things to discuss...from politics to the economy to the grands and double yolked eggs. Vee invited us to her haven after breakfast...thinking we would enjoy some coffee cake together (fresh out of the oven and featuring local blueberries). But after downing all those double-yolkers...we had no room for cake. Instead...John took Elmer on a tour of the shop he had built and I asked Vee if I could snoop...inside her haven. It's funny...reconciling all the images I have seen over the years with the reality of what I was seeing. It all made sense now! And yes...it is a cozy, warm and welcoming place!  And her back yard?  It is rather like a park!

  We took a 'parting shot' there....a memento of our face-to-face meeting on August 14, 2013.
   

 
And when it was time to go...Vee insisted they would lead us through the backroads...a short cut that our GPS Jane would never know about. And so...we had a pilot car through an interesting area...where tourists rarely go. And when they had us at the entrance to the highway...they raced on ahead and parked on the overpass and waved. And that was our introduction to Maine...a very warm and friendly one. 

Oh...and I must mention the goodies that Vee sent along with us. For our snacking pleasure...the blueberry coffee cake that we had turned down at her place....was our treat for the next three days. And I have a bag of goodies that I will un-pack properly one of these days to remind me of our face-to-face meeting. In it is my favorite beverage, some treats for the road, something for the grands, and an apron made by Vee. Thank-you, Vee and John...for being such gracious hosts and such friendly ambassadors for Maine. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in your state...our time in Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park...and the friends that made our visit special.


We carried on with our travels down the east coast, and by the time we arrived in Pennsylvania we had an invitation waiting for us in our 'in-box'. Would we like to come for dinner that very evening? We would...and we did! The invitation came from Judy who blogs at 'Just a Little Something For You'...and has been my blogging friend almost from the start. Judy's blog is where to go if you need a reason to smile...a word of encouragement...a place that emphasizes those things that matter most in life. What a delightful evening we had!

We ate on Judy's back porch (the one I know well from her blog)...enjoyed a fabulous dinner...and talked about our families, cars from by-gone days, and our faith. The hours flew by...and before we knew it...the candles had burned to the bottom of their wicks...and the porch was dark.

It was time to go...and so much remained unsaid. I'm hoping we meet again...and can carry on where we left off. Judy sent along a pan of homemade blueberry baked oatmeal...which we enjoyed for breakfast the rest of the week. So good!

I'm so thankful for all those friends with whom I can visit 'virtually' on a regular basis. But how much more special to visit face-to-face.

It is a wealthy person, indeed, who calculates riches not in gold but in friends. 

Jim Stovall

been there...

As we passed from one state to the next...

I tried to capture the state road sign.  

Some are a little blurry...

a few are not exactly a billboard...

but all show that we were there.

Twenty-one states in three weeks.
Right now...

I'm not sure I could pass a test as to what I saw in each state!

Tomorrow we are flying home...

and the road trip will be continued at a later date.

We are leaving the RV in storage in Pennsylvania...

and once the fall cropping is done back home...

we plan to carry on where we left off.

More states.

More signs.

More adventures.

It's a fun way to see the U.S. of A.

a postcard from Lancaster, Pennsylvania ...

We have spent several weeks on the road...

logged over 8000 kilometers...

...and passed by many fellow travelers along the way.

At times we would stop and chat.

For the most part...

they are a friendly lot!

Earlier this week...

we had the chance to meet up with a good blogging friend of mine...

to meet her husband as well...

and be the recipient of their very warm hospitality.

What a treat along the trail!

I'll tell you all about it...

once I'm back at home.

Today we are off to see Philadelphia.

Before long this leg of our 'Road Trip USA' will be over.

\

walkway over the hudson...

 We saw New York.

 The state that is...not the city!

We crossed the Hudson River north of New York City on the 1.28 mile Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge by bike.

It was built in 1888 and was the longest bridge in the world at that time.

 It is now part of Walkway State Park... open to pedestrians and bicycles.

The new bridge sits a short distance away.

What a great idea... preserving the old bridge!

We plan to enjoy the sights of Pennsylvania for the next few days!

a postcard from Boston...

We saw Boston...

up close and personal last night!

For the most part...

we are avoiding the big cities with our RV.

But our trusty guide...

GPS Jane...

took us right through the center of Boston.

And in the middle of a tunnel she left us to our own devices!

We are happy to say we found our way out of the city.

Today we off to Newport, Rhode Island...

and a walk along the cliffs.

a postcard from maine...

We are seeing the sights...

meeting the people...

and making memories in Maine.

This was our view from the wharf in Bar Harbor...

where we had lobster for supper...

and watched the sunset.

I'll keep you guessing as to who I might have possibly met up with in Maine...

and tell you that story once I am home.

It's a good one!

Today we are visiting Freeport...

the L. L. Bean capital...

and then to the coast to see the lighthouses.

We only have internet service very occasionally...

so for the most part...

I am 'missing in action'.

Looking forward to catching up with you all once I am home.

Until next time...

celebrating his special day...

Our oldest son is having a birthday today...

and that is a good reason to celebrate.

 It's actually a special birthday...

a milestone for sure!

We are in far away Maine today...

and won't be there to sing 'happy birthday'...

or share the cake.

But we started the celebrations before we left home...

with a birthday dinner in a revolving restaurant...

high in the skies above the city of Vancouver.

 

 How is it possible that our firstborn is forty already...

when it seems just yesterday we were celebrating his first??

The years have gone by...

too quickly...

it seems!

The Lord bless you
    and keep you; 

 the Lord make his face shine on you
    and be gracious to you; 

 the Lord turn his face toward you
    and give you peace.

Numbers 6: 24-26

Happy 40th Birthday, Kris!

Love,

(and Dad, too)

a postcard from waterbury, vermont...

Where it all began for Ben and Jerry's back in 1978...

Waterbury, Vermont.

We toured the plant...

and had a 'wee snack' before we left.

Cherry Garcia...for him.  

Always.

Strawberry cheesecake for me.

We asked for 'small'.

When we saw them...

we knew there was no way we could finish them.

We did!

No need for dinner after that.

Today we are crossing through New Hampshire and on to Maine.

Until next time...

state to state to state...

Yesterday...we started off the day with breakfast in Ohio.

We had lunch in Pennsylvania...

and dinner in New York State.

In New York State...

we sailed right by the exits to Cuba...

and 'friendship'.

We had already spent some good time in 'friendship' while in Ohio.

We visited Keith and Lois...

our former pastor couple and friends..

from several decades ago.

We parked at their place for night...

and had breakfast together in the morning.

Friends are friends forever...

the welcome never ends!

From there we headed north...

and had a delightful time at the home of Amy...

who was the editor for both MGCC cookbooks.

We met her husband...

and her beautiful girls...

and enjoyed a wonderful dinner on their back porch.

How nice to have friends along the way!

Today we are following the trail to Vermont.

Until next time...

a postcard from chicago...