We last saw our happy RVers in Milton, West Virginia. That was in Travel Tales 2021: Part 2.
Well, they’re still in Milton! This is where we base-camped to visit the Capitol in Charleston, West Virginia. West Virginia is home to many great things, and one of them is their beautiful Capitol. I think it’s the prettiest one we’ve seen.
Here are just a few pics. The rest of them can be seen at my Our United States link.
We visited the West Virginia State Museum, too, and I got a few pics.
The following day, 8/21, we headed northwest to Buckeye Lake, Ohio. We stayed there for 4 nights. One of our first stops was to Columbus, to visit the capitol. I’m putting just a few of our Capitol pix here. The rest are on my Our United States link.
We had a great time at the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus. They had a Chihuly exhibit going on and lots of pretty flowers!
On 8/24, we drove a bit north of Buckeye Lake and visited Newark’s The Works Museum. We loved the old-timey stuff and reading the history of the town.
We were in Buckeye Lake for 4 nights. On the 25th, we drove over to Richmond, Indiana, just for the night. We got there in time to drive around the (quite depressed) town and visited an RV dealer — Tom Raper’s old place, which is now Camping World. Sigh. What a let-down that was. Tom Raper’s was a nice place with hotdogs and popcorn and nice people. CW is just CW. Yawn.
On 8/26, we made it to Mooresville, where we were happy to park at Annette & Steve’s. Eleven nights there, and I can hardly remember anything we did. I do know that we were busy all the time and we had plenty of fun.
One night, we went to the Eagles with Annette and Lisa and played bingo. And I won! And Annette and I did mini puzzles one evening.
Oh, and Annette and Steve sold their house and bought another one!
On 9/3, Annette and I drove to Bloomington on a quick errand to get Jodie groomed. We visited Tammy, the groomer who took care of Alex, Nickey, and Penny back in the 80’s and 90’s. How fun it was to see her again! And Jodie loved her groom.
We overnighted in Carlock, Illinois, before driving to the Hoot Owl campground in Dubuque, IA.
While we were in Dubuque, we took Michele on a river/dinner cruise aboard the American Lady.
Close to the Hoot Owl Campground is a beautiful walking trail. We did our walks there all 5 mornings we were in Dubuque.
All of the times we had been to Dubuque, we’d never visited the Farm Toy Museum! It was cool!
The Dubuque Arboretum is beautiful. And it’s free!
And then we were on the road again, getting as far as Webster City, Iowa.
We met with granddaughter Katherine and took her out to dinner in Ames. What a nice time we had visiting with her and seeing her apartment!
On 9/15, we drove on to N. Sioux City, SD. We were there 4 nights, spending a bit of time in Sioux City, IA, too. That was where Jack got his flu shot. We also did some prowling around in Menards, looking for stuff to improve Jodie’s confinement space.
And we enjoyed the Art Museum in Sioux City. I regret not getting more photos, but we both really enjoyed the art!
Here’s Jodie’s new enclosure. Jack engineered it so that the bathroom door is still completely usable, whether or not the enclosure is in use. (He painted it once we got back home.)
Our next stop for 9/19 – 9/22 was Mitchell, South Dakota. We really enjoyed some chill time there. Of course everyone’s been to the Corn Palace, but, if you haven’t been there this year, you haven’t been there! The corn/grain murals are changed every year!
While we were there, we did some walking around the town and had a picnic with Jodie at Mitchell Lake.
Near Chamberlain, SD, right off the highway, is a beautiful rest area featuring a huge and lovely sculpture. Read the specifications on my center image.
We arrived in Wall, SD on 9/22. This was our basecamp for the next 3 days as we explored Wall and the Badlands.
Jodie loved fetching her duck at the dog park at Sleepy Hollow RV park.
Deadwood, SD was our next stop. We stayed there 3 nights at the KOA, and it was splendid. While we were there, we drove off in the car and explored Lead and Spearfish Canyon.
The Deadwood KOA had a beautiful hiking trail which we all enjoyed!
We loved the Black Hills Mining Museum in Lead. (Pronounced LEED, btw)
Spearfish Canyon
Mt Moriah Cemetery overlooks Deadwood. It’s where Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok were buried. There are also many, many children buried there. Diphtheria was the cause of so many children’s deaths.
Lusk, Wyoming was just an overnight, but we could have spent more time there. There is a stagecoach museum there that looks interesting.
On the 30th, we arrived in Cheyenne, Wyoming. While we were there, we visited the Capitol again. The first time we had been there, several years ago, the inside was closed for renovations.
We took a nice walk in Lions Park. Then, later that day, we did a redo of the Cheyenne capitol. We had been there in 2014, but it was under renovation, so we couldn’t get in. I am posting a few capitol pics here. The rest will be in Our United States.
October 1 was a big day! After our walk in the park and our tour of the renovated Cheyenne capitol, I got my flu shot!
On 10/2, we drove down to Colorado Springs where we stayed 5 nights. We love the Garden of the Gods RV Park. This was our 3rd stay there! Here are some shots from our stay there.
There was a festival going on there, featuring mining equipment, kids games, and very scarce food. We did go, and took a few pics.
This kind of sign always concerns me. LOL
One day we went into Old Colorado City where we enjoyed snooping around in the quaint little shops. Another day we went to Garden of the Gods for our walk with Jodie. Did I mention that it is walking distance from our camp there? I took only one pic there, but Jack got a few more.
Cheyenne Mountain Park Zoo is beautiful and fun! We had a great day there. I’m kinda famous for taking lousy pictures of animals, but trust me when I say that they were actually not blurry animals.
While we were in Colorado Springs, we were trying to get reservations for Albuquerque… or somewhere in NM, but they were not to be had. Balloon Festival had all of the camps booked solid, so we were out of luck.
We decided to change our route yet again, and head down to Amarillo, TX. Along the way, we stayed a night at Raton, NM. It was a fine stop.
In Amarillo, we stayed 3 nights. On Saturday the 9th, we went to Cadillac Ranch. It’s a bit like Carhenge, but with more spray paint and brighter colors.
While we were there, Jack struck up a conversation with a leader of a troop of boy scouts. They had just come from a campout at Palo Duro Canyon. We hadn’t even heard of the Palo Duro Canyon! The following day, we had a visit there with a picnic and a hike with Jodie!
Finally the coast was clear, and we headed into New Mexico. We stayed just 2 nights, but it was fun. We were at the Trailer Village — a nice park! On 10/11, we went to Bottomless Lakes State Park. They have a nice campground, too.
On 10/13, we drove over to Alamagordo to the White Sands KOA. While we were there, we drove up to Cloudcroft and hiked to the Mexican Canyon Trestle. Then we had a picnic with Jodie!
An overnight in Lordsburg (Yes, we got pecan rolls!) and we arrived in Tucson on 10/16. Home on 10/18.
