Day 6 and 1020 miles in

bison in camp!!

nothing like a reunion on the tower

for the second time in 2 years we went big time and stayed in the Malta city park

We woke up at our high school friend Larry's home in Havre MT.  Drove a short way yesterday after getting up early in Malta.  Had a lazy day full of talk, food and clothes washing.  We are 145 miles from our entry into Canada which will happen tomorrow.  It will then be about 2000 miles to Alaska.

Day 4

pick and eat at Dave's

second trip here and we still love it-bison, wild horses and ........

camp site on night 3

brother Dave as we left Jamestown

We arrived in Theodore Roosevelt np about 6 yesterday and grabbed one of the last camp sites. Will be in MT in about 15 miles. Will stay in Malta MT tonight. Last year we stayed in the city park there for a donation of $3!  We told the ranger here that we maybe could not afford the increase in the park here as it went up to $5!  He then told us where a state forest was and camping there is free!
  We thought about seeing the burning cold mines but ran out of time. I think my Dad showed us at least a 100 pictures of them.
It's after 8 and will start the generator to charge things, yep for sure this is camping!!!!
My FP is ready so it will be a walk around the park as I sip my AM java.

Morning of day 3

Our first stop, our 66th Mn state park in the last 2 years

Second stop, park #67

We thought about trading for this!!!!!!!!!

#68 and counting

#69, we now have only 3 parks left and this was our first day destination

I am guessing Ma and Pa out on their evening fishing trip--hope they don't have any ocean plans!!

You bet Ole just caught a BIG one--fire up the pan

A huge part of camping is what one sees, God is always the ultimate painter

The morning of day 2, if you look closely my FP is on the table!

As we drove to Fargo the lakes were glass and this boat was painting the picture of the day

We are in Jamestown ND with brother Dave and Marlys.  We had an interesting day 2.  We arrived in Fargo in time to get Terry's glasses adjusted at Lencrafters (looked them up with our car GPS-we love our GPS), then stopped at Costco and arrived at Grandma Saunders about 11:00.  Grandma is 93+ and doing quit well thank you!!  After having lunch with her we hit the road, I94 west, and by Valley City this car honked and passed us, Dale and Deb Binde, Deb was Gail's sister were on their way to Williston ND so they pulled over and we visited for some time.  As we talked Gail's brother Mark called so the only Saunders family member not in our day was her brother Allen.
We arrived at Dave's about 3:00.  We talked, we are raspberries, we picked raspberries and sat down to a steak dinner.  After dinner Dave said he made a power point program of the steps in making a classical guitar.  Dave is an amazing woodworker.  He made a guitar back in the sixties and it is beautiful.  A few years ago he made one for his daughter and now is in the process of making #3.  We watched this great power point presentation of each step in making it. (he is not finished with it yet) In the last picture he wanted to show his label on the inside which tells who made it. and there on his huge TV screen was a picture of the label which said "made by Dave V. Lee for Carmen J. Lee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I was stunned and still am this morning.  Now I have always wanted to learn to play the guitar so this winter it has to be guitar, tennis, writing and then I am not sure!  I don't think Dave could count the hours put into it but I would say they number for sure well into the 3 digits.  He made all or most of the devices for making, bending etc.  UNBELIEVABLE.

the beginning of my guitar a year ago--the form on the bottom was made by Dave

the guitar he made 40+ years ago

a closer look at Dave's work

After lunch we will hit I94 again and camp in Theodore Roosevelt NP tonight. From there we will get to MT and then to Havre on Saturday night.  As I often say, this retirement is terrible as there is never a day off and it is very difficult to keep track of what day it is.  As I write I am enjoying my third cup of Marlys' Keurig "dark magic" coffee.  It actually could rival my FP.  
I am thinking that there will be many days when we do not have internet so I am taking advantage of the days we do.
Maybe, just maybe another cup of DARK MAGIC

Try again

We arrived at Maplewood state park after visiting 3 others. We have a site near Green lake with a great view. Went on the 1.2 mile nature trail about an hour before sunset with NO bug spray---not one of our best decisions I the last few days
As I sit here this morning all I can hear or see are birds--no sights or sounds of  the people, nice for sure
Will get some pictures tomorrow as we will have the computer up I think. Ism on my phone and have never used it for the blog in the past. Wait, the FP is ready and I need something to warm my hands in this 49 degree weather.   As I looked at the temp this morning a tiny voice said----wait for Alaska!!!

Day two

it is almost here

We leave tomorrow.  It appears as if we are ready and I am not sure that is a good or bad sign.  We made a decision Saturday that was a super decision.  We had thought about using much of Sunday to take in three more state parks but in the end decided it best to stay home and prepare for the trip.  That was huge!!!  We pretty much have spent the last several days preparing for the trip.  I say that and then there is Terry.  She is a gem in doing things the right way---That is not MY strong point!  She has cleaned, ordered, scrubbed, put away and many other things so that when we leave tomorrow the house will be in perhaps the best order it has been in for a long long long time.  NOW that is not to say that things are done, as unfortunately "not finished" seems to be my middle name even tho my birth papers say my  middle name is James.  Anyway as I have focused in only on the trip Terry has focused in on that PLUS leaving the house with some kind of order.  That is great.  We even have birthday presents and Christmas presents wrapped and waiting on top of the fireplace for family to pick up when they are here this summer.  MUCH better than mailing them!!  All of which Terry has done.
The car and camper are pretty much packed and ready.  Tomorrow we need to put things into the camper cooler, put the phones and computer in the car, check the check lists, made an extra FP pot and then head north-northwest.  We plan to stay in a MN state park tomorrow night, have lunch with Grandma S Wednesday and stay with brother Dave and Marlys that night.  From there it will be MT and then into Canada by next Monday. Our plan puts us into Alaska by the end of the month.  Lets hope that we have the things we need.
Can't even end with a FP note as it is after 9:00 PM and FP is not popular at that hour.

The count down starts!

waiting to get on the ferry, the picture tells all about our camping trip!!

our 40th national park

a half mile rainy walk in the park

how is that for a super duper smore??

What should I say about our 5 day camping trip?  Four nights in the camper, 4 nights of pouring rain!  A broken bike that needs to go to the repair shop, a car that wouldn't start, more rain and more rain and more rain BUT we did see spectacular fireworks over Lake Superior from our living room camper bed!!  Our Tiny Camper kept us dry and warm BUT it was interesting!
We now have 6 days to regroup, pack, purchase a few things and then hit the road for 9-10 weeks.  I think we need to rethink our packing skills and camping skills as the last few days they seemed to have gone south on a trip north.  More order, more order and more order. 
I also have work to do on our wood projects that are intended for grandchildren Christmas presents.  I think I will take one last sip of FP and head out to the wood shop.