Sun. May 31st.

We have a nice group of campers here this weekend, however not nearly as many as last weekend Memorial Day. We have had four beautiful warm and calm days and this morning it looks like we are started on the fifth one as the temp was already 65 degree's at 6:30 this morning.
The small tree and grass sticking out of the water in the picture to the left was an island about 2 or 3 feet out of the water when we got here 2 weeks ago and there was a goose nesting on it. It has been covered by the rising water in the bay in the last couple of days. Yesterday morning I looked and thought that the goslings had not hatched in time but this morning I saw a couple pairs of geese floating around in the bay and each pair had three goslings with them. I feel certain that one of them is the pair that had the nest on the Island. Also this morning I saw a beaver swimming (picture at top left) across the bay toward another Island that also has a couple of goose nests on it. I watched for quit a while after he reached the island but the geese didn't seem to be disturbed so I guess he wasn't after them.

Finally Warm Weather

Finally yesterday we were able to shed the sweatshirts or jackets. It warmed up to where a tee shirt was adequate and shorts would have felt good if I hadn't been using the string trimmer.
The trees have budded out and lost the winter look that they had a week ago when we arrived. The hilly pastures that surround us are a deep lush green and the June berries in the coulees are white with blossoms. In the mornings we listen to the nesting geese honk as they fly back and forth over head and the crow of the rooster pheasants calling to their harems. One just couldn't ask for a prettier or more serene setting to spend the summer in.
Sun. night we had over two inches of rain so things were rather muddy around here on Memorial Day. A lot of the campers went home early Mon. morning. It looks like we will keep a pretty full campground this summer. All of the campgrounds, motels and rental housing in the area are full due to the huge influx of workers for all of the work that is being done at the power plants etc. Our camp ground being on Corp. of Engineers property has to go by their rules. That means that in a 60 day period you can only camp here a total of 30 days. We had a guy from Arkansas stop Tues evening looking for truck driving jobs, he made one call Wed morning and could have had a job but chose to go onto Minot and look there. I guess he wasn't to desperate or maybe you can be choosy in this job climate.

Sun. May 24th.

We are on our 6th. day here at Hazen Bay. We have the camp ground about 2/3 full and so far have had very good weather for the holiday weekend. Nancy has had the normal transitional issues with the booking that seem to occur with the transfer of the booking from city hall to us. I say normal but at the time they seem pretty major, they seem to get straightened out and the next day everyone seems to be able to laugh about them. Fri. afternoon after a site mixup one of our seasonal campers was going to go back to Bismarck and never return and Nancy was cleaning out her desk and going back to Florida, however both are still here and laughing about it last evening when we saw them. We have had a couple of mornings with frost on the car tops and one thinks about how warm it would be further south, however after seeing the beautiful sunset over the lake that evening one soon forgets the morning temps and the low 60's temps of the day. Fri. afternoon and evening checking people in was just like old home week as everyone that we knew from the past had hugs and warm welcome back greetings. Last eve we drove the golf cart through the park and visited with people and as always had to sample fresh cooked fish or what ever people were cooking. We had a couple from Wisconsin check in Wed. evening for one night on their way to Teddy Roosevelt National Park. After seeing how beautiful, peaceful and quiet was here they looked us up see if any sites were available for the weekend. They are still with us and making day trips to the national park and the other things they want to see.

Hazen Bay, ND

This morning we departed Murdo, SD traveling north on US 83 leaving the rolling grass lands behind and entering the flatter rolling fertile farm lands of South Dakota and North Dakota. Going north from Bismarck we began to notice that many of the trees still had that barren winter look due to not having leafed out yet. After fueling the motor home and filling the propane in Hazen we drove on out to Hazen Bay arriving about 4:30. We even saw some snow on the south side of a wind break that had not melted as of yet. After eating supper we took a drive around the camp grounds and the boat docks looking at the many changes that have been completed or are in progress. A few minutes ago we witnessed our first beautiful sunset of the many that we will enjoy this summer.

Murdo, SD

Tonight we are at the American RV Park in Murdo, SD home of the Pioneer Auto Museum. This morning we went to church in Grant, NE with two of my sisters and their husbands. We then went back to sister Gloria's house for omelets in a bag before departing. I went to start the motor home and the batteries were dead. We pulled the battery tray out in preparation to charge the coach batteries and brother in law Al said whats this, I looked and thought it was a plastic liner on the battery tray. Upon further examination we found that the rear battery had exploded sometime in the past, I don't know just when but it wasn't recently as the battery was dry and the battery tray was also dry. Luckily Gloria and Ron had a battery just like we needed in the shop that they had taken off an irrigation well so we finally got on the road about 1:30. We traveled north on US 61 to Ogalalla, NE where we turned east on I-80 to North Platte, NE. From North Platte is was north on US 83 through the beautiful sand hills of NE. The hills were so were so green and dotted with the small sand hills lakes, the peacefully grazing cattle and the occasional ranch head quarters nestled in a deep green sub irrigated valleys made for a very relaxing afternoon of driving. Entering South Dakota the pastures became less rolling and more populated but still just as green but with out the lakes but still filled with cattle. Spring is such a beautiful time in this area. Latter in the summer it will turn brown and have a lesser beauty to it. Today was finally a day one could wear shorts again as the wind wasn't blowing and it was above 80 degree's.

Grant, NE

Sat. morning after having spent 2 days in the imperial area visiting son Dan and friends in the area we moved 30 miles north to Grant, NE where we are set up in my sister Gloria's farm yard. My sister Ilene came from Denver and sister Kathy came up from Lamar. Along with our spouses we spent Sat. visiting and planning for the Wheeler family reunion in July that our family is responsible for this year. Last evening we all enjoyed bowling on the wii. Nancy & I had never seen a wii before but found it really a lot of fun.

The Reveling of Aunt Bessie

For those of you that have wondered about Aunt Bessie whom we had mentioned in a couple of posts since leaving Florida has been riding with us. We stopped at my cousin Rod & Joy Wheeler's in Wauneta, NE Thur. afternoon on our way to Imperial. We removed Aunt Bessie from under the bed, she had survived the trip without incident. She will reside with them until they get together with their daughter Anita from Atlanta, GA this summer. The picture of Aunt Bessie is one that my mother had and we had taken to Florida after she died. She was a sister of my Grandmother Wheeler that had died as a young child, she lived from 1886 until 1889. I learned yesterday that she had a twin sister named Dessie that died at about 18 or 19 years of age.

Imperial, NE

Yesterday we were at the tire shop by 7:30AM got the two new tires installed and were on the road about 9:30. We traveled west on I-80 to Lexington, NE where we turned south on US 283 to Arapahoe where we then went west on US 6. In our travels this year I am amazed by the lack of spring planting and what has been planted is just out of the ground. The country side is extremely green however. The drive through the hills and canyons on 283 was especialy pretty. We are now setup in son Dan's yard which is the home place that my Great Grandpa Wallin homesteaded.

, NE

We are still in the Omaha area. We have seen all that we had planned to see and had planned to be in Western NE this afternoon, but evidently Sunday when I backed into this spot I ran a tent stake into the side of the left rear outside tire. We had to order a tire because it was size not normally stocked. It is supposed to be here in the morning so hopefully tomorrow evening (Thur.) we will be out west. We awoke to thunder storms this morning received about an inch of rain but the sun is shinning this afternoon.

Omaha, NE

Yesterday morning (Sat.) we left the Americas Best Campground in Branson traveling north on US-65 to Springfield, MO Where we went northwest on MO-13 & MO-71 to Kansas City. In and around Springfield we saw a lot of trees down and a few buildings that had been destroyed in the turbulent thunder storms that had gone through the area Fri. morning. After crossing the Missouri river at Kansas city you leave the Ozarks and travel through the rich rolling farm land and the flat Missouri river bottoms along I-29. Along the route we began to see corn that was out of the ground in fact some fields it was big enough that there was a green cast to the field. This is so different from most years when you would normally see corn up to 12 inches high. After entering Iowa we turned west on US-2 through Nebraska City and on west toward Lincoln were we turned north on US-50 traveling through the rich rolling farmlands of south eastern NE. We arrived at the West Omaha KOA in Gretna, NE where are parked for a few days to visit relatives in the Omaha area.

Branson, MO

This morning we had high wind and rain but fortunately the Branson area did not suffer any damaged. About noon we went to the College of the Ozarks spending most of our time there in the Ralph Foster Museum. The picture to the left shows Nancy and I by the original Beverly Hill Billies truck. This evening we went to the Sight and Sound Theater for the the two and 1/2 hour production of Noah the Musical. This depicted the biblical time from when Noah received the word from God to build the ark until some one hundred plus years later when they departed the Ark after the flood. They use a lot of live animals and after the intermission you feel like you are actually in the Ark. Two years ago we saw In The Beginning at the Sight and Sound Theater in Lancaster County PA. If any of you ever have the chance to see a production in either of these theaters you should not pass it up.

Branson, MO

This morning we left Calico Rock traveling north on winding AR 9. At Mountain Home we turned west on US 62 To Harrison and then north on US 65 to Branson. We were going to make an over night stay sometime before we reached Omaha so decided Branson was it. As a result we had only 125 miles to drive today. We decided since we were here we will stay two nights. This evening we attended the Baldknockers comedy and music show. This show is the oldest show in Branson with this being their 50 th. year celebration. Wow that is longer than Nancy & I have been married. This was a great show with lots of good clean comedy and some great country western music

Calico Rock, AR

Tues. night it was more rain but Wed. afternoon it turned sunny and warm. In the evening we drove 25 miles south to the town of Mountain View. There we enjoyed the picking and singing of the musicians on Aunt Millies Picken Porch and another group across the street by the ice cream store. There were not as many groups as there have been at other times but the ones there were very good. These are people that just show up and form a group for the evening, they may move from group to group during the evening.

Calico Rock, AR

Yesterday as we left Camelot RV Park traveling south on US67 the route turned from rolling wooded hills to the flat fertile farm lands of north east Arkansas. We saw a lot of flooded fields from the last week of rains. Turning west on US62 it was more of the flat farmland, we did see a few fields of rice and a few fields of corn that were up but for the most part it had not been planted yet or had just been planted before the rains started. The route turned back to hilly woods as we entered the Ozarks. Then we turned southwest on AR 56 traveling deeper into the Ozark mountains finally arriving in Calico Rock around 1 PM. after visiting a couple of Nancy's aunts we drove south on AR 9 to Jo-Jo's one of our favorite places to eat catfish. J0-J0's is located on the banks of the White River. They have some great hush puppies and serve pinto beans and sweet pickled green tomatoes with each catfish order. The two of us ate for less than $20 and had all we could eat. It has not rained for two days but sounds as if it will start again tonight.

Poplar Bluff, MO

This morning we left Campbellsville, KY in light rain. We traveled NW on Rte 210 To Elizibethtown we then headed west on the West Kentucky Turnpike. Heading west we continued to drive in light rain along the rolling countryside dotted with small farms. The pastures were so green from all of the rain but saw very little farm work that had been done. We did see a few fields that had been planted no till. The trees along the roadway had massive damage from the the ice storm this winter. They are working at cleaning it up but it looks like it will be fall before it is done. They have to completely remove most of the pine trees in spots where the tops and sides are completely broken out or they are toppled. Many of the leaf type trees have similar damage but are more salvageable. At Paduca, KY we turned onto US 60 and continued west into MO driving in heavier rain. The terrain gets very flat around Sikeston, MO and many of the fields had a lot of water in them. This is rice country but I don't believe anything has been planted in them yet. We did see on field that had corn about 5 in. high that must have been planted earlier. There seemed to be a lot of low land flooding on both sides of the Ohio and Mississippi river where we crossed them entering MO. From Sikeston, MO to Polar Bluff the terrain turned hilly and wooded as we are now in the edge of the Ozarks.

Derby Day 2009

Today Mary hosted her annual Derby Day Party. At around 3 PM 16 family members along with Nancy & I gathered at Paul & Mary's for the annual Kentucky Derby Party. We drew horses from the hat and put in a dollar each. I had the favorite and Nancy had a 50-1 long shot. Well I felt pretty smug and confident and Nancy took a lot of teasing about having a horse that was going to need a headlight to finish the race. Well after feeling so smug my horse finished next to last and Nancy's horse won by 10 lengths. We all ate to many snacks and to much derby pie and ice cream cake.
We are so fortunate to have met Paul and Mary 5 years ago. They and their family have made us feel like we have been a part of their family forever.
Today was the 5th. day of rain. I wish Southern Florida could receive some of it.