September 5th - The Journey Begins

On the road again

Goin' places that I've never been

Seein' things that I may never see again

And I can't wait to get on the road again

On the road again

Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway

We're the best of friends

Insisting that the world keep turning our way

And our way, is on the road again

It's a new season of travel and a new season of surprises good and bad.  Laurie's next assignment was to be a few weeks in Eureka, California, so our trip out was a reverse of how we had come home in the spring.  I-94/90 west, down from Spokane, Wa to I-84 in Oregon and west along the Columbia River to Portland.  Then south down Hwy 101 to Eureka, Ca.

We got the camper all loaded up and attached.  When we parked it last spring, the ground was a bit muddy.  We had an issue getting the camper high enough to get the truck under it, but not too big a problem.  

We started on the road.  We found out at the last minute that needed some paperwork and intended on going through Devils Lake to get that on the way.  We found out on the way that the agency we had to go to wasn't open in Devils Lake on that day, so we had to turn around and go to Grand Forks.  The paperwork was collected and after finding out there was an issue with the charging connection on the camper, we finally got on the road west.  

The rest of North Dakota was uneventful though it takes a long time to get all the way across the state.  We stopped for the night in Dickinson.  I didn't want to traverse the mountains of Montana at night this time.

Guest driver

Welcome back!!

Moorhead, MN - December 22, 2017.

After spending the last three months in a sort of limbo, I have finally gotten the motivation to find the few pics I have to post about and start blogging again.  During our last bit of time in San Diego, we really didn't do very much, so there wasn't much to talk about. Since traveling back out to El Centro, a bit has changed, and we're starting to do a few more things.

On top of it all, we have new computers which make it all so much easier.

Today, I'm just posting a few pics from various Craft Brew places we've been to.  But the posts should start flowing again.

Brick and Barley, downtown Grand Forks, ND This is an historic building that was damaged in the '97 flood but rebuilt.

BNS - Santee, CA

BNS

Council Brewing - San Diego

Chula Vista Brewery - Chula Vista, CA

May 24th - Wednesday - TAPS 2017

Once again, we attended the TAPS National Seminar.  This was a great year for us!  We had some very needed and rewarding sessions, we received mentor training, and attended many events that were very enjoyable.  Top that off with Chef Robert Irvine and an evening with SSgt. Tim Chambers, his bride of a year, and his mom. It has to have been one of my better years of attendance. 

May 24th - We fly to Arlington, VA
Usually, we fly out on Thursday, because the opening of TAPS is on Friday.  This year, we went in a day early because Mentor training was on Thursday.  We felt we had spent enough time on this journey and had worked through enough things with the program that we were at a point to give back.

There was the issue of our little kitty and what she was going to do with us gone for a week.  There were a couple of people who would have taken her in for that time, but all fell through.  Laurie found a kennel which took cats and though the accommodations for a cat weren't optimum, it had to suffice.

We had an early flight and the kennel didn't open as early as we would have liked, but we dropped off our sad little baby and made it to Grand Forks Terminal in plenty of time.  It helped a lot that we are talking about a small town like Grand Forks, ND.  The timing would not have worked in San Diego.

All connections went good. We had enough of a layover in Minneapolis that we didn't have to run through the airport as normally happens.  Minneapolis airport is a horrid place. lol.

We had a smooth flight to Reagan National, got our luggage and made our people connections to ride to the hotel.  The Marriott Crystal Gateway is a very nice hotel and hosts the seminar every year.  The guest rooms are located in two adjacent towers.  We have always been in the same tower.  This year we were in the other one.  There isn't much difference, except most of the meeting rooms as well as where our meals are served are closer to the tower we stayed in this time.  It was nice. 

The North Dakota TAPS program is unique in that it is sponsored by the North Dakota National Guard.  Volunteers fund-raise, mentor, and arraign for everything we do.  Especially our good friend LT. Col. Devina French.  She is the driving force behind everything.  Thanks, Frenchy.
Every year, NDNG provides support staff including mentors, chaplains, and a public relations person.  This year, we had a new PR guy.  Jeremiah spent a few years in the USAF before resigning with the NDNG.  He was green, but we broke him in quickly. 

Good first day

Out our window looking east across Jefferson Davis Highway towards Reagan National, the Potomac, and Washington

Downtown Arlington, VA

May 6th - A night out

One of the nurses at Laurie's hospital was leaving, so the girls decided to have a night out.  As usual, on these kinds of nights, a couple of the "men" have to come and play DD. 

We met at Muddy Waters, a club attached to a hotel in downtown Grand Forks.  Food, drinks. and much silliness.

May 1st - Craft hunting

Besides attending our favorite places for craft in Grand Forks, we had to check out a new place in East Grand Forks, MN called Up North.  Nice place with a good selection.  We'll see how they do.  The craft scene in North Dakota a few years behind the rest of the country.  There's also a new place opening up in downtown Grand Forks .

Up North Brewing, East Grand Forks, MN

A local pub and restaurant in Grand Forks

August 2016 - More meaderings and wanderings

Things continued for us throughout August like June and July.  Lots of work and trying to clean, organized, and repair.  We did have a great day out at Eliza and Brett's for Jeremiah and Kalliope's birthdays.  Those pictures will be here next post.

It was International Geocaching day on August 20th.  We had to find a cache on that day to receive our virtual souvenier.  Since we were both home, that might involve a bunch of driving we didn't want to do.  We have found just about everything fairly close to us in our area.  On the map, I found the closest caches we hadn't found yet, were in the town of Whitman, ND.  Whitman is on highway 35 directly north of Michigan, ND.  That put is about 10 miles north west of us. There were two caches listed and we, after 10 years, had never been up that way.  Off we went.  The write up on the caches tells of how the cache owner had fond memories of growing up in the area and specific memories of the town itself.  We arrived at the very small town and quickly found the first cache.  The second was a few blocks away on the other side of the town.  Traveling over there, it seemed to us like nobody lived in the town.  It appeared deserted, save for a mobile home near the first cache and the town's Baptist church where the grounds looked well cared for.  We found the second cache and as we left, I looked up the town on the internet.  Apparently, the town has a population of 2.  Yes, just two people period.  The local church holds services every Sunday and is attended by people living in the area.  The town itself is listed among the North Dakota Ghost towns. What fun.

In order to pull our newest camper, we had to have a fifth-wheel hitch installed in the bed of our truck.  I drove the truck to EGF where they spent 3 hours or so installing the hitch.  While waiting, I took a walk around the area.  There is an area of grass where there are statues of deer being stalked by coyotes. 

Welcome to Whitman, population 2

Hitchcock would have loved this.

Old fire engine at the American Legion hall

Our Bighorn arrives home.

July and August - Life in North Dakota.

A relatively quiet life out here.  Lots of work shifts for both of us.  Seemed like we took advantage of every weekend we could to see the grandchildren.  We did make it to church in Devils Lake a few times.  There was a picnic after church one Sunday.  Brats and chicken.  Saw some great sunsets thanks to all the wet weather and vast skies. 

In our taste hobby of craft beers, we found a couple of places to go.  One is J.L. Beers, a brew and hamburger place. Every one of their stores would have a different selection of craft brew. We tried the Blue Moose over in East Grand Forks, MN. and we really liked Brick and Barley in Downtown Grand Forks.  Down in Fargo we frequented J.L. Beers as well as Vinyl Taco and The Wurst Beer Hall. 

After much shopping around, we finally traded in our 25' pull behind trailer for a 34' fifth wheel. Some great people at Leisureland RV in East Grand Forks, MN.

Of course we did some geocaching as well. In addition to some cute finds in Sertoma Park next to the hospital, Laurie and I both placed our first caches.  Mine is in Grand Forks and hers is at the entrance to our town of Petersburg.

Skies preceding an intense storm in East Grand Forks

Firey sunset

Foggy morning

Distant falling rain and a developing tornado warning.

Sertoma Park in Grand Forks during a little geocaching

Dragonfly

Our new fifth-wheel still on the lot

Typical harvest life on a busy Grand Forks street

surprisingly amazing sunset in Grand Forks.

July 22 - Water Park!!

We had the Jeremiah and Kalliope

 for a few hours in Grand Forks and took them to University Park near UND. There is an area with sprinklers and sprayers for the kids along with the usual park playground devices. We needed some things that day, so we took them with us to Walmart first.  We got them to the park and turned them loose.  They had fun for a while, then we changed them into dry clothes. After that we had a snack and then let them play on the swings and slides.  Good day with the kids.