Headin' South for the Winter!

   We have been finishing up on some campgrounds we had scheduled late, that needed to be done before we headed south for the winter into New Mexico, Texas and Arizona. When we left Wyoming, we were to do a couple parks in Nebraska, then back to South Dakota for a new KOA Campground that had not had Guest Guides before because they had only been opened one previous season and other reps. had not been able to work them into their schedule, so we decided to run 150 miles north of Grand Island, Ne., and get their maps coming to them for the next season. Boy, are we glad we did!

   Yankton, S.D., is a beautiful little town of 14,000 pop., nestled on the Missouri River. It is an encampment site of the Lewis & Clark Expedition on their travels through the Missouri Valley, and the town is very proud of the fact and have many monuments and points of interest in the area to show where the expedition went through.
   A hydroelectric dam, Gavins Point, backs up the river there and makes The Lewis & Clark Lake, a very nice recreation area for travelers from all over! Boating, fishing, sailing and swimming are popular activities with a large state park and marina and many beautiful homes nestled on the surrounding hillsides overlooking the lake. This is truly a destination area with many activities for travelers with children or just to relax by yourselves and enjoy the serenity it offers!                                                                          
The State of South Dakota Fish & Game oversees an annual harvest in October, of a very unique fish from the area. The Paddlefish, a large long snouted oar, paddle like extrusion somewhat similar to what is known as a Gar in Ohio, only much larger, from the river downstream of the lake to anyone willing to pay for a tag and endure the battle of what it takes to land one of these enormous fish. The fisherman line up on the bank and in boats near the spillway of the dam, with long catfish like poles 7-8 feet and 60-80 pound test line trying to snag a monster fish, limits are set at 36 inch - 55 inch anything under 36 or over 55 from the eye to the fork in the tail,was legal, taking only one per tag per year. This lucky Lady landed one as we were watching the battles one morning! A 56" Paddlefish, just over the limit, which she said would be in the 55 lb. range, she joked that she had been here everyday since season started trying to land one and the only day she drove her car instead of her pickup truck is day she needed a truck to haul the monster home!

    We truly enjoyed our two weeks in the spotless KOA Campground, managed by Don and Nancy Starzl, wonderful folks who will make your stay an enjoyable experience, guaranteed! The campground itself is owned by the NFAA, National Federation of Archery Association, of which Yankton is the world headquarters, hosting many national and world competitions and events yearly, along with the museum and educational training for youngsters!

                        And, of course, Emmy Lou sees all this water and swimming comes to mind!


We left South Dakota and went back into Nebraska to the small midwestern town of Gothenburg. The KOA there had experienced some of the flooding that Colorado had as the North Platt River flows easterly from Colorado and the campground was inundated with the remnants of the disaster that had devastated the folks out west and we were not able to get into the park a month ago on our way from Cheyenne, so we went on to Grand Island and then back up to South Dakota, returning to Gothenburg on our way south. Nebraska is a wonderful state in it's own right as this is considered the breadbasket of our nation! Cornfields, hay and bean fields as far as the eye can see and this time of year some of the largest combines made are harvesting miles of acres of grain to supply the world with food, truly an amazing site and feat, if you stop and admire the American Farmer!
        We left Nebraska on Thursday and drove about 150 miles south on SR83 in to Kansas and stopped at a small campground, High Plains Campground, at the intersection of I-70 for the night. Nice folks,  clean campground that has recently built a Pub out of an older building on the grounds, that serves cold beer and really good ribs on Thursday nite! We had read the forecast from the weather service of rain beginning after midnight and possibly turning to snow! ugh, well here is what we woke to Friday morning!! You get to be my age and have wheels under your butt, guess what we're going to do?  
                                                               Headin' South!!!

      Our next adventure is the one I've waited for twenty years! Taking my Bride to the southwestern region of this beautiful country we call home! New Mexico will be our first stop, as we have a park to do in Clayton, N.M., this northeast region of the state boasts the best preserved volcano in the world, according to the owner, Carol of the Clayton, N.M. KOA! Among all the fields and flatlands we saw on our way down SR83 and SR56 from North Platt, Ne., is this mountain sticking up out of the Seneca Valley. You can see this volcano for miles and she tells us this isn't the largest one, it's on out of town to the west ! We can't wait to see this one, hopefully it won't get as excited as we do and start puffing up at us, or old Bigfoot will be heading out in a hurry!    HAHA!

All this talking puts Emmy Lou to sleep. Any chance I can get my part of the recliner back, Old Girl?

Well, that's about it for this time, we got word last week our great friends from Ohio, John & Jane Dawson are leaving in a week or so in their new motorhome, to do some snow birding of their own and will be passing thru New Mexico to visit their daughter and family in Las Vegas! We can't wait to see them when we meet up!

See You Soon!

Russ & Debbie & Emmy

It's Been a Great Summer!!

   Summer is over for 2013 and with that, we have left Wyoming! It's been a great summer for us here in the wild west! We have thoroughly enjoyed traveling in this beautiful land, full of varied landscapes and wonderful folks! We hope to return again next year to explore the mountains and meet new friends.
 

 During our summer schedule, working for Southeast Publications, in  Wyoming, we took some off the beaten path drives on the weekends and found great shots like this one just outside of Douglas, Wy.

We also stopped at the rest area and exit to Curt Gowdy State Park, west of Cheyenne on the way to Laramie, Wy., to find this is the highest point on Hwy. 80 at over 10,000 ft.. It is also a nice tribute to President Lincoln!                                                                                                                                Curt Gowdy (famous sports caster) State Park is a beautifully rugged recreation  and campground area known nationally for some of the best mountain bike trails anywhere, which also contains resavoirs that feed Cheyenne, the capital of Wyoming's water supply. Emmy wasn't real happy when we read her the sign that said no swimming and no pets allowed in the water!

 We were fortunate to have a private guided tour of the new, over $1 mil., Visitors Center not open to the public yet, by Bill Conner (pictured), Superintendent of CGSP, who was instrumental in designing the very environmentally friendly, beautiful building! Using solar power for lighting and well operation for water supply and filtration, heating and all the massive timbers used in construction were harvested from the CGSP. This is a very impressive Center that folks traveling nearby should not miss! Funding for construction was made possible, in part, by sizable donations from Bass Pro Shops we were told, as Curt Gowdy was instrumental in the beginning stages of the sports company.
Bill is very proud of the facility, understandably so, and is anxious for it's scheduled October 2013 Grand Opening! There are over 120 sites, some with electric and water and can accommodate large rigs, with wonderful views of the resavoirs and rolling hillsides.

In other parts of this great country!

We got some cool pics of the kids!!

Before leaving Wyoming, we had a couple days before we had to be in Nebraska for our next jobs and thought we would go down into Colorado to the Rocky Mtn. Nat'l Park as we had never been there before and thought that would be neat to see. Well, we found out there had been another park in Cheyenne that had not been finished and Southeast Pub. wanted to know if we could finish the job while we were there and we said sure! It happened to be F.E. Warren Air Force Base Fam Camp! We had never done a Military Base before and we were kind of excited to try it! Soon after we got cleared  in, ID checks and pics for temporary passes, it began to rain and rain it did! Somewhere near 9-10" when all was said and done! Of course, you've all heard about the disaster that followed about 75 miles south in the Denver area with all the terrible flooding that took lives and left thousands homeless and many roads and bridges destroyed that could take years to rebuild back to original! Our thoughts and prayers go out to you all impacted by the devastation! The Rocky Mtn. Nat'l Park I spoke of earlier is right in that area west of Denver and that is where ole' Bigfoot would have had us if we hadn't have taken that extra job, number four for us, in Cheyenne! The good Lord, and Martha & Marge (mothers) were watching out for us that day!

 After we were finished with Warren AFB, we headed east to Sidney, Ne., to Cabelas National Headquarters where they have a small, but very nice and clean campground for a few days of R & R. There is a Cabelas retail store there and their large distribution center. It is a good stop on I-80 with easy access on & off the highway. I didn't take any pics of the store because you all have seen about a hunert Cabelas, but Deb thought the entrance way deserved a couple shots as we walked over to a real nice steakhouse, can't remember the name, but very good even if a little pricey.
 
We left there on Sunday to Grand Island, Ne., to do a KOA campground. Grand Island is a city of about 45K people and is a nice clean mid-western town with alot of industry and very low unemployment rate (3.6%)! One of the factories peaked my interest and we decided to tour it on one of our overworked (haha) days of marketing the area. Hornady Ammunition Plant is the place we decided to see and we were glad we did! We don't usually tour factories as we travel, but we've been thinking it might be something we have been missing and I'm glad we didn't miss this one!

As we entered the facility, we were surprised to see in the entrance way, several dozen, maybe a hundred of full body and head mounts of every breed of animal you could imagine! Now I'm sure all the anti-gunners out here will be taken back by all of this, and that is their prerogative, I suppose, but this is the private collection of Joyce Hornady, founder of Hornady Ammunition, and it is his right to display his property as he sees fit! Anyway, now that I'm down off my soapbox, the folks there are very customer oriented and adhere  to very strict guidelines for precision and accuracy, with continuos testing during production in the 250 yard underground soundproof tunnel ensures ten shots in the same hole of the target as has always been Mr. Hornady's promise to his customers and still is today! We were again afforded a private tour of the manufacturing facility after a brief introduction of the company's history, but no photos were allowed inside. Deb and I thoroughly enjoyed the 45 minute tour and purchased a couple of souvenirs, I bought a really nice leather sling for my rifles and came out of the production area about 100 lbs. heavier than I went in, but they will never miss a few 9MM rounds and that will be yours and my little secret, OK ;) 

We are leaving Grand Island on Sunday Sept. 29, but even though the weather is starting to change, we are actually heading north, instead of south, 150 miles to just across the South Dakota boarder to Yankton, SD for a new KOA campground on the Missouri River. Hopefully we will dig the fishing poles out and try to catch our dinner some evening like Lewis and Clark did when they traveled through that part of the country years ago!

Sorry so long winded on this one, but wanted to get ya'll caught up!

SEE YOU SOON!!

Russ & Deb & EMMY!

A New Baby!! And another new adventure!

Hello everyone and welcome!

   

   We have a new baby! No no not Debbie & I, Clint & Jolene Davis, our son and his wife, has a new baby girl, Karley Ann, on August 7, 2013! Woo Hoo !! All is well with mom and child, Dad had to recover also, as he said Jolene kept punching him through the delivery process! I told him he could put up with that compared to what she was going through! Check out the big sisters, Kyley and Kelsey!

                               Deb and I are so happy for them to have such a beautiful family! 

                                  

   As for us, we are having the time of our lives! I keep asking Deb, what town are we in this week, as we are running through the jobs like wildfire! We have done three jobs this month so far, and should finish two more by Labor Day weekend. We have been in Sheridan, Wyoming, Buffalo, Wy., Casper, Wy. and are now in Douglas, Wy. this weekend at the Wyoming State Fair Park and Glendo State Park for two very nice guest guide renewals. 

   These towns in Wyoming are full of the nicest folks you would ever want to meet! Everyone is friendly and helpful to us getting to know the streets and people we need to talk to. The owners of the campgrounds we have been working with have been wonderful, also, even going so far as putting us in their Elite Site for a weekend before we left the Buffalo KOA, so we could enjoy the private hot tub! Emmy even got to relax on her own lounge chair! We have been asked by all the owners to please come back next year. AND WE WILL!!

                                        Buffalo, Wy. KOA, Owners, Shawn and Mickie Welsh                                                                                       

We pulled in Friday night to the Wyoming State Fair Park just as the fair had finished up last week and all the fair attractions were gone, except, after arriving we found out they were having a                     Senior National Rodeo event! 

What a HOOT!                                                                                                        

These professional cowboys are anywhere in age from 40 years young to 68 years plus! They compete on a full circuit just like their younger counterparts do and they are remarkable men and women! From our seats in the grandstands, dressed in traditional cowboy/cowgirl attire, you had no way of telling their ages as they competed like they were 20 year olds! All the traditional events were included, like, calf roping, barrel racing and of course Bull riding! The only difference in that event, so the comedic announcer said, was they received a senior discount in the timing at 7 seconds instead of the 8 second count the younger generation is timed. One thing for sure, the Bulls were not any smaller or less mean, as no one completed the ride and some were very slow to get up as their bodies have surely absorbed the punishment for decades, but they keep getting back on!

All in all, it was a great rodeo to watch, the Casper Mountain Range with blue skies as a backdrop and a beautiful venue here at the fairgrounds. Sorry we forgot our iPhones or we would have pics!

 

                             Here are some pics of our weekend day trips we took while in Wyoming. 

                                                          The Big Horn Mountains

                                                          Emmy even got in a swim

 

                                                Zoom in! That is a Moose and her Calf!!

                                     As Yakov Smirnov, the comedian says, "What a Country"! 

                                    

                                                       Hope you enjoyed the Pics!

                                                          Check us out again! 

                                                   As we are truly livin' the Dream!

                                              

                                                             See You Soon!

                                                              Russ & Deb

Medora Musical!

   We got finished up early in booming Bismarck, ND and had heard about a Country Musical Theater in Medora, ND called The Medora Musical, so we decided to stop there on our way to Sheridan, Wyoming. Medora is about 2hrs. west of Bismarck on I-94, so it was an easy afternoon drive.
   Medora is an old stagecoach town rich in history of the early settlers. Teddy Roosevelt owned a couple ranches near there after the town was settled and a national park in his namesake is nearby. President Roosevelt is highly regarded as one of the greatest Presidents to save our natural landscapes for future generations to enjoy by creating several National Parks in America.
   An added attraction to the musical is the Pitchfork Steak Fondue that sits next to the theater stage area. Now please bear with me for a minute as I describe what you may, or may not, believe! The Pitchfork Steak Fondue is just what it says it is, these North Dakota cowboys know how to cook their steaks! Using real hay pitchforks, they skewer several very large steaks on each pitchfork while heating the large pots of cooking oil in an outdoor setting looking out over the canyon below with some of the most breathtaking scenery in the Badlands!

                                           Overlook to the Badlands beside the seating area

                                                            "Where's the Beef?"

                                                       Large Pots full of cooking oil

Thought I was pulling your leg, didn't you?!

This is quite possibly the most original style of cookout we have ever experienced anywhere and the steaks are seared in the hot oil, making them as tasty and juicy as you would want! Of course, there is also a full buffet of baked potato, baked beans, cole slaw and roles to finish the meal out. They have all this ready by 5:30pm and then you can walk over to the amphitheater to your reserved seats for the 7:30pm show. The whole package is priced comparatively to most other dinner theaters we have been to before.

   The Medora Musical brings talented young actors and actresses from around the country for the seven show per week theater. When I say young, these kids work very hard to bring you a very entertaining show filled with fast action song and dance skits set around each song they perform with comedy acts mixed in the one hour forty-five minute show! Deb and I really enjoyed every minute!

                                        All these guys and girls were really great performers

                                                      "Queen of the West - Elaine"

                                                          " On the Pontoon!"

                           Chet was a big boy who really acted like he enjoyed performing

   The stage buildings are set on rails so the backdrops can be changed for different acts, but the landscape in the far background is very real and provides a beautiful outdoor setting for the stage.
   When traveling through North Dakota, it is well worth it to allow the time to see this dinner/theater set in the western Badlands area. There is a nice campground near the theater and Tuesday night is senior discount night for 55 and over. Medora.com will get you any additional info needed.
   We are in Sheridan, Wyoming for a couple weeks and then on down route 25 to Buffalo then Casper. We are really enjoying this lifestyle and all it takes us to see this beautiful country, America!

   See You Soon!
   Russ And Debbie