the final say

First I need to explain who GHOST is. It is short for ghostwriter and some of my friends liked it so it stuck.......We are home after 8684 miles of traveling together. We never had a cross word or an arguement. We did not always agree but we were compatible. Picking up my younger brother and sister was a real good time. They are 11 and 15 years younger than I and we learned a lot about one another. ....Yes., I think that we would ask them again as we all got along. Then arriving in Utah at the other brothers was FUN. We talked..saw a lot of sights..had great meals and played the card game of PIT. That is something we have been doing for at least40 years. It can get loud and boistrous. Seeing vast areas of our country makes one realize that all interstates are not crowded. Towns are small and roads lead somewhere...although we may never know where. We wondered what people did to make a living and why they lived in some places. We knew why some folks lived in the beautiful parts that we saw. We mostly traveled the scenic routes on the maps.....they are designated by the dotted line. Poor Iowa only has about a 100 mile stretch of dotted lines on my map. We had a few days in between reunions and we spent 2 days in Springfield, Illinois. We toured the capitols (old and new) and saw a lot of Lincoln stuff such as his home, tomb, office and museums. Our class reunion was lots of fun. Saw a lot of OLD Folks. On the whole I knew most of them. Some looked the same as long ago and others had changed. We even had a hunk there. We did a lot of remembering and it was funny but we did not all remember the same way.........Well they we headed back west. The greatest day for me was when we traveled through small towns in Wisconsin on the 4th of July. All the towns had flags waving and parades and we traveled through the dairy and farm land....the bread basket of America. I got to drive and believe we were in a parade or it had just finished......We found that there were a lot of tourists in popular places. It was quiet on the back roads. We were lucky to walk into the National Park Office and ask if they had a room and the reply was YES. The size of the room varied as long as the price. But one needs bad along with the good so we appreciate all. I talked to folks all along the way. And in the parks..the folks wear nametags with where they are from. A lady from Illinois told us she was from a small town we had probably not heard of.She was a nurse at a hospital where Glen's sister works. She was working as a hostess in the Tetons for the summer. A lady said her son was from a small town in Tennessee....He was from Loudon. We saw a lot of TN cars and did not always see the people....but it was fun. Meeting the Webers in Iowa was the end of our trip. We relaxed. The 5 siblings talked about old times and there were a few small children to play in the pool. We had a great meal in Amish land and it was served family style. A stop to see Glen's mom and tell her all we knew in 30 minutes or less. And on the road to home.......................I was always looking for a photo op. I got a few of them in and there were a lot that you never saw....................I got post cards every where. I have a whole book full of them that tells the story of the trip. ( collect them) Post cards are inexpensive and take up little space. I looked for the penny crusher machines everywhere. It cost 51 cents and you get a picture stamped on the penny. They are small and do not take up much space...It was great to get home to soft toilet paper. And my last question is WHERE CAN WE GO NEXT??????????? Hope you enjoyed the trip.................GHOST

Reunion Tour - 23 - Wrapup

Drove from Ames Iowa to Coralville Iowa in the rain. Hadn't seen much of it on either trip. Had some extra time in Coralville so we got some photos printed. Also walked around a large mall there and had lunch beside an ice skating rink that is inside the mall. Pretty cool. Webers started drifting in for the family reunion, with all five siblings and four of five spouses making it. Also had several livewire small kids to entertain us. Ate at the restaurant Friday night then ventured out to the Amana Colonies for some high quality shopping on Saturday. The afternoon was spent with the old folks visiting and the kids playing in the indoor pool. After six hours in the pool they hadn't slowed down a bit. The motel served its continental breakfast around the pool and that was pretty nice. We left Coralville about 10:00 and headed for Illinois for a brief visit with my Mother, then on to Pontiac to have lunch with Barb and John (who accompanied us on the Utah trip). Then heading back towards Tennessee, making it as far as Columbus Indiana that night. Back to home sweet home by 12:30. I'm ready for some home cooked meals, after over five weeks on the road. Also would be nice for the landscape to stabilize for a while. The Reunion Tour was a great trip, with beautiful scenery, great fellowship with family and friends, and covering more than 8,600 miles. We were almost home when Dorothy asked her usual question: "Where are we going next?" More from Ghost later. She always has to have the last word.

Reunion Tour - 22

Spent the night in Mitchell SD, home of the world famous Corn Palace. The original Corn Palace was built over 100 years ago and it's called that because corn is used as a theme throughout, including being incorporated into the large displays. In the third picture, Dorothy keeps finding these strange men to associate with. By the way, she's gone hatless the last two days due to progress in hair growth. We didn't spend much time at the Corn Palace but instead headed out on the interstate eastward. Passed through a corner of Minnesota, then south through northwestern Iowa. We took US and state highways on purpose and saw lots of rural, pastoral scenes. Most of the towns were quite small and we actually had a hard time finding a restaurant for lunch. Finally settled for a Blimpie's inside a drug store. Ventured on to Ames Iowa for the night. Hoping to do some antiquing tomorrow morning then on to the Weber reunion in Coralville in the afternoon.

Reunion Tour - 21

Departed Rapid City after three days to head eastward. Took a scenic road to The Badlands National Park, which is all in S Dakota. The Badlands in N Dakota are called Theodore Roosevelt National Park and they each have their own beauty. We drove a portion of the loop road through the park and took the photos shown. Dorothy liked the one showing grassland on top of the Badlands. Then headed east on the interstate and just had to stop at Wall Drug in Wall SD. It's about one block square and has all kinds of tourist stuff in it, but it was interesting. Then more interstate travel for a couple of hundred miles to spend the night in Mitchell SD, home of the Corn Palace. More on that tomorrow. Driving through S Dakota we saw the end of the wheat harvesting process, fields of sunflowers, many herds of cattle, and miles and miles of flat land. One thing we noticed in Rapid City is that casinos don't seem to be limited to Indian reservations. They were scattered all over town in buildings the size of convenience stores and they didn't seem to have a lot of activity. They didn't get any action out of us.

Reunion Tour - 20

Decided to take a casual day in Rapid City SD. You may have heard that Rapid City set a record temperature for July 18 - 106 degrees. Obviously you can't do anything outside when it's like that so we improvised. Went downtown early to see their statues on the streets. Knoxville had bears and now has dogs - Rapid City has Presidents. They're really neat life-size bronze statues of 22 of the Presidents of the US. Dorothy chose to pose by John Quincy Adams (in case you didn't know, he is one of the shortest Presidents - he's standing on a platform to tower over Dorothy by an inch or two). I chose to model with Thomas Jefferson. The other picture is JFK with John John. By the time we finished looking at them, it was time to get inside. We then drove to the National Woodcarving Museum near Custer. After that we drove back over the wildlife trail that we did yesterday, because we enjoyed it so much. We didn't see as many buffaloes but we saw more of everything else. One picture shows two (you can't see the other one) fawns catching lunch in the meadow. The other shows a pronghorn buck relaxing in the shade. Then back to Rapid City to find a motel. Heading eastward tomorrow.

Reunion Tour - 19

After a motel breakfast, we left early to try to beat the crowds and the heat to Mt Rushmore. We watched the movie on how it was made and still can't quite conceive of how anyone could even envision it, let alone construct it. It was finished in 1941, a few months after the founder died and just as World War II started and dried up all funding. So it wasn't entirely finished. The mountain goats shown are part of a family that hung around all during the construction of the statues. Mt Rushmore must have inspired someone because about 20 miles away the Crazy Horse statue is being finished, and Crazy Horse's head is about as big as the four Presidents on Rushmore put together. Then drove on a few more miles to Custer State Park, which is about 71,000 acres of the Black Hills region. Drove by some "needle" rocks and a couple of tunnels that weren't much bigger than the car. Also saw a variety of wildlife that included bighorn sheep, burros, deer and a couple of buffalo herds numbering probably 500. One group seemed to like the campground. Decided to come back to Rapids City to develop plans for the last few days of the trip.

GHOST HERE

I seldom get a chance to write as Glen send his message and then checks e-mail and then plays a game or too and by then the Ghost is asleep. The trip across the northern part of the country was interesting. We saw driveways that went off into the horizion and wondered what the people did for a living that lived out there. Parts of that area are so lonely looking. The folks in northern Dakota and Montana were so friendly. The National Parks were GREAT. We had been there before but it was neat again. We were lucky to walk in on the day there and get a room. I think the dorm room one was the most unusual. The room walls were really thin. Never had a problem with the bathroom. The food has been okay. Of course...we are eating too much. We are not eating granola bars once a day as we did before...Sometimes we have 2 meals out. I miss fruit. Fresh fruit is in season now and I really miss that. I think Glen misses home cooked meals. I will not get him away from home for awhile after we get there. The scenery is GREAT. If we get tired while the other one is driving....well it is hard to nap as the scenery changes as we go. I got to drive between Billings and Yellowstone Park. We went in the Northeast entrance and the road there is pretty curvy. Glen arrived with white knuckles. Then I drove from The Eastern entrance to Cody. They are doing road construction on the mountain road. Lots of gravel and hills and curves.....Glen arrived white knuckled. We watched smoke from fires as we drove. Decided to go to Devil's Tower another way and it was good because the road was closed. It is DRY and HOT here. We are learning a lot of new things about history. All along the road from Yellowstone there were signs on the road that told the age of the rocks at that place. They are pretty OLD. We are learning that we are now traveling in tourist season as the prices on lodging are pretty high in someplaces. The Tantanka place that Kevin Costner built was nice. They have bronze sculptures of buffalo. The neatest part was that standing there you believed that you were on the plains as one could not see any development. One could hear traffic. The Indian there said I should write it in the guest book as he reads all comments. The good news is that we have soft toilet paper tonight. The other GOOD thing is that we are still speaking to one another. But I will say it was nice to have a king size bed last night. I know that Glen will proof this but .......he needs a laugh now and then. He wonders if anyone is reading this. I think he wants a comment now and then. But I say..folks are tired of us being gone and they have forgotten who we are. GHOST

Reunion Tour - 19

Left Spearfish SD and took a scenic trip through Spearfish Canyon. Had a couple of short hikes to Spearfish Falls and Roughlock Falls - as shown in photos. Then on to President's Park, which exhibits statues of all 43 Presidents. There was a brief summary of each President's term, including highs and lows. It was really interesting. I got Dorothy to pose alongside you-know-who. Then on to Deadwood for lunch at a casino. We came out ahead because we ate a nice lunch, used the rest rooms and got a free cup of coffee and didn't even use the slots. For our last activity of the day we went to Tatanka, which tells the story of the American Bison. Tatanka is a project of Kevin Costner's and he commissioned all the bison statues they have on site. Then on to Rapid City to find a motel early. There weren't any Corvettes but there were plenty of tourists - this is prime tourist season and the motel rates reflect it. South Dakota is experiencing record high temperatures - Rapid City had 106 degrees yesterday.

Reunion Tour - 18

Left Cody WY and drove through the Bighorn Mountains in the heat - was 103 degrees as we drove into South Dakota. Watched smoke from wildfires for many miles, not knowing that they were in the area we were heading for. We didn't know if we could get to Devil's Tower because of the fires but with one diversion we made it, after seeing firefighters along the road. Devil's Tower (you saw it in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind) was awesome but it was too hot for us to walk the trail around it. We arrived there at the same time as a tour bus that we had been following most of the morning. It was out of Chicago and it was carrying a group from Poland. They were making a quick tour of all the highlights of the Great American West, with many miles and not a lot of time. From there we drove into Spearfish SD to spend the night. We had great difficulty because of a Corvette convention in town used up most of the motel space.

Reunion Tour - 17

Spent the entire day in Cody Wyoming, which you may have guessed was named for William F. (Buffalo Bill) Cody. We first went to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, which is actually a complex of five museums: the Buffalo Bill Museum, the Whitney Gallery of Western Art, the Plains Indians Museum, the Cody Firearms Museum and the Draper Museum of Natural History. It also has a nice garden area with sculptures and flowers. The Buffalo Bill Museum had many personal items from Buffalo Bill, who certainly had a colorful life. The Whitney Art Gallery had very good exhibitions of Charles Russell paintings and Frederic Remington sculptures. But I enjoyed the Plains Indians Museum most of all, probably because it built on the things we learned last year on the Lewis & Clark trip. We spent about five hours at the complex and enjoyed it very much. Had some R&R time this afternoon after which we went to a re-enactment of a good old western shootout on Main Street. Lots of noise but nobody died. Picked up some photos we had printed out then on to an excellent barbeque restaurant that we discovered last night. It's called Bubba's Barbeque.