Girlfriends, Markets & Curves

Back in the groove at Table Tennis

Aunty Dympna's first circuit at Curves

Jen & Leonie on new Laptops

Trish, Ret & Jen setting up the Marquee

Our stall all ready to go...

Ret's Fairy Angel Dolls

Jen's Christmas Cards

Leonie's Pastels

Caren's Fascinators and Wedding Horseshoes

Yippee - a sale at last

Now I am getting scared. I thought I only did up the blog last week, but when I checked tonight, it is almost 2 weeks since my last entry. I can officially validate the saying that 'time flies when you are having fun'. Everyday seems to be full of pleasant activities: laughing at an email my brother wrote from a houseboat as he was cruising down the Murray River here in Australia, speaking to my sons, sisters & brothers on the phone, skyping with my daughter in Copenhagen, attending Mass, knitting for my nephew's expected baby, reading about the visitations of Our Lady at Medjugorje, learning new computer techniques and doing craft things with my sister and girlfriends (that I have had since I was 17 years old), having friends come to stay, watering the garden and checking out the growth of all the plants, having morning tea (or lunch or dinner) with my aunt, editing my brother's novel, holding a market stall or attending a gym. Phew. And they are just the things I can actually remember. I have also had 2 new people who are interested in motorhoming around USA contact me - We have already given some tips to 4 other couples, so it will be a pleasant task to help another two out. We enjoy sharing what we have learnt about RVing around America, and trust it makes the adventure appealing to others.

After several days of heavy rain, we were worried that the day my sister & girlfriends had planned to hold a craft market stall would be washed out. But no, the day dawned bright and sunny, and we had our marquee set up in no time (thanks Col & Ally). The four of us excitedly displayed our wares, and sat back waiting for the hordes to snap up our bargains...we waited, and we waited and we waited. Come on folks, we had beautiful homemade Christmas Cards all done up in cellophane wrapping - only $2.50 each. We had impressive hand-drawn pastel drawings, unique fairy angels, beaded bracelets and earrings going for a song, and absolutely stunning hand-made fascinators (all ready for our Melbourne Cup racing season) waiting to adorn some fetching outfit. If it wasn't for a box of used novels that we were selling for 50 cents each, I doubt if anyone would have stopped at our stall at all. Well, we sold 2 cards, a few jewellery items and about 20 books - and that was that. Although our sales figures were disappointing, we all thoroughly enjoyed our day chatting & laughing in the spring sunshine together.

For those of you who know me well, you would know that I am not particularly partial to exercise. I enjoy doing a brisk walk with a sister or a friend, as it is a good time for a chat, but even that simple activity has been absent off my calendar for more than 5 months. My aunt gave up golf some years ago, and has had to give up yoga due to an unknitted broken bone in her upper arm, and although she stills plays croquet, she wanted to add a bit more aerobic exercise and weight-bearing exercises to her life. So, after much research and deliberation, we decided that we would both join a Curves gym for women. My Ballina sister is out of town at the moment, but we are hoping she will join us on her return. So far my aunt & I have attended 2 sessions, and we are very pleased with our decision. We have agreed we will plan to do 3 sessions a week. Our weekly table tennis game fits in just before one of our Curves session, so we flit from one activity to the next. Ah, the life of a retiree....That reminds me, I still have to go and register for my volunteer work...have to have a balance there somewhere.

Another busy but fun-filled week coming up next week. But more on that in the next instalment....

Back In Ballina

Trish & Benn in LAX
The new Veggie Garden

Family times - brother-in-law, nephew & wife, aunt & sister join us.

Gemma, Bill, Carolyn & Matthew at Shelly Beach Cafe

It is hard to believe it was two weeks Thursday since we arrived back home in Australia. Our last few hours in the USA were made more memorable by being joined by my eldest son Benn at Los Angeles airport. He was one of the pilots of a Qantas flight heading to New Zealand, and attended the same briefing as the pilots for our Qantas flight to Brisbane. He obviously got them to take good care of us, as two of the crew came to say hello during the flight, which was nice. No, we didn’t get upgraded to first class. I must talk to him about that…obviously an oversight!! Ha ha.

My younger sister was at the airport to meet us for the 4th year in a row. We had a pleasant hour’s drive down to the Gold Coast catching up on the family news and then we enjoyed a cup of tea with our 93 year old mum before walking across the road to my brother’s house to pick up our own car. Yes folks, time to get back into the swing of driving on the left hand side of the road, and walking up the left side of escalators. Not to mention looking to the right as you cross the street, not the left as we do in America.

We couldn’t wait to walk in the front door of our own home – it is the first time we have been able to do that following our RV trips as we have stayed at a B&B for the past 2 years. My eldest sister and her husband had our house all cleaned and aired. A vase of beautiful, bright, spring flowers was on the table and a casserole dinner and a fresh loaf of bread were in the kitchen ready for our consumption. Talk about spoilt. No sooner had we dumped our suitcases in the bedroom than we walked outside to check out the back garden. All the plants looked healthy, and we even have 21 tiny lemons on our tree hoping to grow into adults! We were keen to unpack our suitcases and stow them away for another 6 months. By 8.30pm my sister, husband and aunt had finished up at their church meeting and arrived to share a chilled bottle of white wine to toast our safe return. By the time they left and we went to bed, it had been 48 hours since we left our hotel in Kansas City, got to LAX and closed our eyes here at our final destination. Apart from me getting about 3 hours sleep on the plane, we hadn’t slept in all that time. For the first few days we found we woke around 5am but were too excited to stay in bed, so by 3pm I was flagging, and by 8pm I was ready for bed. Good old jet lag had really kicked in this time.

On the day we arrived home we called into the nearest Apple store, and I purchased a new Mac book Pro. I had never had a Mac in my life, although I enjoyed the attributes of the iPhone, another Apple product. After our guests left and before we went to bed around midnight on the first night, I finally got to take the new laptop out of the box and plug it in. The next day I was too busy unpacking to have any time to check it out, but it was sitting there tugging me with invisible vibes, and I finally got to sit down with it again later in the day. However, it seemed that every application I opened caused the machine to shut down. I finally gave in and rang Apple who conceded I had got a dud, but assured me they would give me a brand new machine. True to their word they set me up with this new machine, and it works very well. Now I just have to familiarise myself with the different operating system and how to navigate around the various applications etc. Fun.

The new laptop and the transferring of our documents & photos from the old to the new laptop has kept me occupied while Murray has busied himself preparing and planting our first vegetable garden in this new house. He only had the seedlings in a day or so and lovely spring rain began to fall, and fall, and fall. After 4 days of intermittent rain we were back to full sunny days and our plants are looking very healthy. His other big job has been to collate all the data for our taxes. As we sold our house in this tax year, amongst other data, he has to unearth the documentation from the purchase (10 years ago) so our capital gains can be determined. Luckily he maintains a pretty tight ship as far as records go.

Our RV travels seem so long ago already, but it is too soon to forget that in the four months from 23 May – 23 September we travelled 7,500 miles, ventured into 17 US states, and had a fantastic time. When I get a minute I will read back through the blog to re-live our adventures.

Final Trail - Independence, Missouri

Take the left fork Murray...
Bret Michaels on Tour

Indian Burial Grounds on banks of Sioux River
See the Mounds?
All leaving Independence...including us.
Can you see the ruts left by the wagon wheels?
Trails in the sky above, and in the ground at our feet

Our summer days in North Dakota have come to an end. We said our goodbyes and made our way south to Kansas City. On the way we called in to get fuel, and I saw this trailer parked in front of us. Obviously Bret Michaels (American lead singer of the group Poison) was touring the country. Nice rig!

We originally planned to stay at a campground on the edge of Minnesota & South Dakota on the first night, but fate had other plans for us. Road work caused a detour that would have taken us 40 miles out of our way. We decided to keep going and ended up at a nice campground in Sioux Falls. Not far away were some Indian Burial grounds, and as we drove out the next morning, we called in to check them out. I have included the information sign to save me repeating it here for you. You can't travel in this country for six months each year and not get caught up in the rich history.

The weather channel had mentioned some thunderstorms moving into Kansas City the next day, and not wanting to be caught in any storm, we decided to just keep driving and not spend another night en route. Whilst it would be a longer day than us retirees normally choose to do, it was worth it in the end. We were all settled into our final campground by 6pm, 2 days ahead of schedule. Sure enough, the next day was quite wet and we were glad we were high and dry.

This area of Independence (within Kansas City metropolitan area ) is rich in history. It was the place where President Harry S Truman grew up, and where he returned to live after his two terms as President. One hundred years earlier than Truman's presidency, back in the 1840's and 1850's, this city was a point of departure for wagon trails to Santa Fe, Oregon and California. It now serves as the start and end point for the Warwarek US RV trails. Ha. Yesterday we walked over to re-visit the grounds where we bought my aunt & sister in May this year. I still can't believe being able to see the grooves that remain in the grass, long after the wagon wheels left their ruts. While loosing myself in the 'aura' of life for those early settlers, I looked up at the sky and saw a jet crossing the sky. It was leaving a long, white trail. Air transport was not even dreamed of back when the wagons were rattling along the trails, but it is one that we will be traveling on within days. We will leave our RV ground trails for one in the air instead - first to Los Angeles, and then downunder to Brisbane, Australia.

United Tribes Indian Powwow

American Indian Tribes Parade
And Again...

Pretty Indian Maid

Avalyn & Murray enjoy the spectacle

I found an Indian Brave

Here we have one each - both from a South Dakota tribe

Avalyn asking this brave where he is from

Indian in Cowboy Hat

Lining up for the Bison Feast - it was 6 times that long

Bison Feast

If you look in a dictionary, the definition of 'powwow' refers to an old American Indian word meaning discussion or conference. In America, there are numerous Indian Tribes, and they meet to discuss common issues, have dancing, drum playing and flute competitions, and generally socialise and celebrate their culture. One of the largest Powwows in America is held in North Dakota each year - attracting Indians from each of the 50 US states and from Canadian Provinces too. All the tribes are represented including Sioux (predominant in this area), Mandan, Latoka, Apache, Hidatsa & Chippewa amongst many others.

This year we got to attend our first powwow, along with 1500 American Indian dancers. Avalyn came along with us and we witnessed the colourful and musical displays - the tattoes of drum beats were hauntingly eerie. Like other social gatherings, it is a chance for vendors to display their wares - tents were selling a variety of American Indian crafts, raw materials for their vibrant outfits such as beads, feathers, furs etc, and the usual Tshirts, caps and sundry items. The food stalls were typical of US fairgrounds with one huge exception - here they offer a free bison feed. At 4pm they start serving a free meal to anyone who lines up. The line snaked for several yards by the time we got there, but it moved very quickly. You are first handed a firm cardboard tray like a TV dinner tray and a packet with knife, fork, spoon, serviette, pepper & salt. The first stop is the bison meat counter where you are handed a huge slice of steaming bison rump. Next stop is mashed potatoes, followed closely by brown gravy. Then a hot corn on the cob is placed on your tray and finally a bread roll. On the drinks counter, glasses of pink lemonade are waiting, as are packets of butter for the corn/bread roll. You then find a seat at a picnic table and enjoy the feast. We were very impressed with the whole set up. The food was tender, tasty and hot. They serve thousands of people so effortlessly.

For Murray & I it was an amazing experience to be among vast numbers of the Indians in their traditional dress and see them proudly displaying their heritage. One chap I saw was dressed in his Indian gear but wearing a cowboy hat. I only got a photo of him retreating, but I thought that was a good blend of both cultures. Some of the headdresses and other accoutrements were very impressive. It seemed so natural by the end of the day to see them mingling in the crowds - mind you, the Indians outnumbered the rest of us. I took a few videos, but didn't realise until I got home and looked at them, that because I took them from under cover and out into the sunlight, they came out too light. I should have gone out into the light and the camera would have balanced the light/shade better. Live & learn. So I will include a video to give you an idea, but my apologies for the poor quality. What a great opportunity - we had a most memorable day! Thanks Avalyn!

North Dakota Canning

Removing core & skin from tomatoes
Ready to quarter for canning

All done - Murray is writing the date on them

An earlier blog covered my lesson in traditional German Kuchen cooking, courtesy of my friend Frieda here in North Dakota. Well this week I got to experience another local tradition, that of canning your summer fruit & vegetables. Although they call it canning, they actually use glass jars. Avalyn patiently taught me each step and we ended up canning 28 pint jars of tomatoes. A few days earlier she had bought a box of tomatoes direct from the farmer – they were firm & red – just perfect for canning. She had put all her glass jars through the dishwasher and they had been drying for a few days, and were ready to be filled. To each jar I added ½ teaspoon of canning salt. Then she put a large saucepan on the stove, and as soon as the water came to the boil, we added enough tomatoes to cover the bottom of the pot. After about 3 – 4 mins, the skins start to split, and using a colander spoon, we removed them from the boiling water and placed them in a sink of cool water. Immediately the tomato skins peel off.

With the aid of a little sharp knife, we cored them, removed all skin. They were then ready to be quartered and put into the waiting jars. Once all the jars were full, a rubber rimmed tin lid (the rubber softened first in warm water) was placed on each jar, then a metal ring was placed over each lid & screwed on the jar. Each jar was then placed in a pressure cooker – usually 8 jars at a time. A few pints of cold water were put into the bottom of the pressure cooker, it was turned on & allowed to reach 5lb pressure for 10 minutes, then turned off until cool. This process was repeated until all jars were ‘cooked’. Once out of the cooker, the lids were checked again to make sure they were tightly screwed as some come loose in the process, then they are left to be cooled & dated. Now Avalyn has 28 jars of tomatoes to use for casseroles, pesto, salsa, soup and any recipe that calls for a can of chopped tomatoes. Three out of our 4 groups of friends in this area do canning and commonly include green beans, corn, peas, carrots, peaches, apples, pears, cherries, cucumbers (pickles) as well as the tomatoes.

A Visit to the Taxidermy

Murray holding styrofoam mannequin
Mounted Deer & Antelope

Nice Fish Catch

Pheasants

Snowy Owl (Female)

This is our 4th visit to North Dakota, and each time we catch up with friends Avalyn & Wes. We have spent 2 of the last 3 weeks mainly with them. Wes has been involved with the art of taxidermy since he was about 16 years old – and although he ran a dairy for many years, for the past 20 years he only has his taxidermy business. I know I posted photos from his taxidermy shop on the blog a few years back, but last night I took some more photos. It is amazing to see deer, antelope, owls, fish, coyotes, pheasants and numerous other animals that either he or Avalyn have hunted, and are now preserved on his walls. Thousands of other mounts adorn the walls of homes and businesses of his customers around the country.

Murray spent a few hours watching Wes prepare a fish for mounting. I preferred to just ask a few questions about the process with a big animal like a deer. I won’t go into the details here in case some of you are a bit squeamish, but it was very interesting for me to learn something new. The top photo shows a deer manniquin, which is what the original skin from the animal is draped over. Wes is becoming more selective now, and he doesn’t take orders to mount elk or bear any more, preferring to stick to the smaller mounts such as deer, antelope, fish & pheasants. One of the photos I will include is of a Snowy Owl – you can’t shoot or keep them anymore as they are protected, but this one was mounted back in the 60’s. Apparently the owls usually live in Alaska, and feed on small rodents, but sometimes they come further south in winter when Alaska rodents are snowed in…they are hard to see against the background of snow in North Dakota winters, but this one being female was unlucky. The males are pure white and very hard to spot.

Hunting is a big business here in North Dakota and many other American states. It is a culture started when parents (usually fathers) take their children out hunting from an early age, and then as the child grows up, he/she perpetuates the culture. Hunting stores are very popular – they are to most men what a Christmas Tree shop is to me!

Sitting Bull, Sioux Indian Leader

Sitting Bull Monument
Prairie Knights Indian Casino

Murray, Trish & Wes outside casino

It was a windy day last week, so the men decided it was not a good day to take the boat out fishing. Instead, they treated us to a day out. Yes, that’s right, we left our campground in North Dakota, drove 11 miles and crossed the border into South Dakota and continued 40 miles to the city of Mobridge. Aptly named for the number of bridges that converge on the city. It is heavily populated with descendents of Sioux Indians and most of the townsfolk we saw were in fact of American Indian descent. Our first point of call was lunch at a restaurant overlooking the river, and from there we checked out a few shops in the main street. Then we headed out of town and up on a ridge where the gravesite and monument for Sitting Bull (Lakota Sioux Indian leader famous for defeating Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn) was located, with a prime view over the surrounding prairie. From our vantage point up high we were able to look down and see some deer feeding on the grasses below us.

As if that visit to Indian territory wasn’t enough, the four of us decided to take a pontoon across to the Prairie Knights Casino on an Indian Reservation. The pontoon runs every 2 hrs during the summer months, taking people from the campgrounds across the river to the casino. In winter the water freezes and becomes solid enough (20 - 25" thick) for people to drive their cars over – which is commonplace here. A chap sitting behind us in the pontoon has a ranch 1 hour north, and regularly takes his wife to dinner and the shows at this casino – summer or winter. In summer he takes the pontoon trip, and in winter he drives his pick-up across. He was telling us he made the trip over the ice one February, and although he had got over all right earlier in the day, by nighttime, the thaw had begun. As he drove across in the dark, the weight of the truck pushed the ice down and released some melted water from below. He said it was only an inch of water floating on top of the ice, but the sensation of hitting even that small amount of water was like driving into a river. He made it safely across, but he said he wouldn’t drive over that late in the season again!

When we got off the pontoon after a pleasant 10 minute ride, we were met by a shuttle bus at the other end. From there it was a 3 mile drive on a gravel road before we hit the sealed road, then had another 1 mile on that. As we got out of the shuttle we were each handed a coupon book. One coupon gave us $2 off our buffet meal (normal price $14.95), another coupon was redeemed at the office where we were given $5 cash (not in chips, but a $5 note), and the other useful coupon for us was a 20% discount off any item in the gift shop.

We had a meal in the buffet – as well as all the usual buffet fare of roasts, ribs, salad, soups, chicken and shrimp, the casino is famous for their crab legs. As usual, it is all you can eat, and we saw a few people who looked as though they feasted there just a bit too often. I can understand why though – it is such good value. After that we wandered through the gift shop – yes, I cashed in my discount coupon which meant I made a purchase – just a small one though – a beautiful red cardinal screen magnet – it is a 2-piece magnet – you place a piece either side of your screen door. It even works on some thin glass doors too. Can't wait to get home and try it on our patio door.

Murray & I did plan to put our $5 though the slot machines, but it was noisy & smoky inside where they were, so instead of spending it, we went outside and waited for our shuttle/pontoon to take us back to the campground.

Being an Indian Reservation it wasn’t surprising to see so many American Indians (Sioux are the local tribe) – they certainly made up the majority of the patrons at the casino. Although it is amazing how many people travel all the way from Bismarck (1 hr away) to spend a few hours here – the car park was full – and it is a huge car park. They also run a regular bus service to Bismarck, charging $10 each way. Casinos are only permitted on Indian Reservations here, so if you want to gamble, this is where you need to come. We have visited three casinos in North Dakota, but there are another three that we haven’t visited. As you travel around the USA, casinos are a popular place for RVers, as you can get cheap RV hook ups and good food at a reasonable price. Not to mention the entertainment for those that like the slot machines or nightly shows.

A Night on the Ranch- Read Entry Below First

A Black Angus Bull

The New Ranch - taken from the road as we drove out

After an enjoyable evening spent with our ranch friends, we thought a nice cup of Dilmah tea would be just the ticket before retiring for the night. For some reason the power from the barn to our RV wasn’t working, so we had to use the generator to boil the kettle. Within a few minutes of turning the generator on, we heard a distant bellowing. A bull was calling out to his cows – or so we thought. The bellowing sounded agitated, and seemed to be getting closer and louder. We wondered what was happening out there – it turned out the bull wasn’t ‘out there’ any longer, but beating an angry path right up to our RV. Accompanying the frightening, non-stop bellowing was the sound of determined, pounding hooves – Murray looked out the RV window and saw the bull flash past the rear of the RV. It circled past the RV steps (thankfully retracted in or I fear he would have stomped them off) and when he got to the front of the RV, he turned and head butted the RV which rocked the vehicle. It scared the living daylights out of me. By the time he butted the RV a second time, I was terrified. I couldn’t understand why the bull was behaving so wildly. I was about to ring Clint to let him know what was happening, but then we wondered if the noise of the generator had initiated the bull’s rampage. We turned the generator off, and almost instantly, the bellowing ceased. Within minutes, the bull appeared to storm off to a field at the rear of our RV. My heartbeat took ages to come back to normal, and I lay awake for ages thinking the bull may come back to see if the ‘intruder’ was still present.

I finally fell asleep about midnight, knowing that Murray’s alarm would be going off at 6am so he could help Clint load the cows. We were in a dead sleep when we heard the alarm – only it wasn’t Murray’s alarm, as it was only 4.30am – no, it was our weather monitor alert going off. Residents of counties in our area were being advised to seek shelter as a thunderstorm with damaging winds, lethal lightning and one inch hail was heading in our direction. The weather warnings give the names of counties in the path of the storm; we knew the name of the town we were in, but not the name of the county, nor the ones surrounding us. So here we were at some ridiculous hour in the morning, peering over a map. Yep, sure enough, our county was in the general area of the impending storm. Well, guess what? By that stage we didn’t care – we just wanted to sleep, so sleep we did. Luckily although we got lightning, rain and some hail, the worst of the storm passed us by. Thank you Lord!

A few hours later through the fog of sleep I heard a truck engine. Opening one eye to peer at the illuminated clock, I got a shock to see it was 7.10am! We had slept through Murray’s 6am alarm – or had he turned it off and gone back to sleep? I certainly didn't hear it, and he doesn’t remember if he turned it off. I woke him up and he threw on some jeans and a shirt, then slipped into his joggers. He opened the door and stepped straight off the steps into a calling card left from our bull visitor the night before. That’s right, a nice, fresh, soft green turd! Oh well, there were a lot more of them in the barn where he went to help Clint load the cows. Sadly, we were too late to say goodbye to Amanda & the girls - all I saw were the orange red tail lights of the yellow school bus as it disappeared out the gate. I waved anyway, but knew the girls wouldn't have been able to see me. Can you believe the country school bus drives right up to their front door!

Even now. 2 days later, I still can’t believe the bull saga. When we told Clint about our bull encounter, he said it would have been his black angus bull that was the culprit, but he wasn’t aware of any previous incident like that. Amanda thought the bull may have been reacting to the change he sensed in his environment ie the noise of the generator. Another friend of ours who had a dairy for years (and owned bulls) thought the generator may have had a high pitch whine that can’t be heard by humans, but may be an irritant to a bull. Who knows? All we know is that we had one very angry bull try and take out his fury on our RV. Clint & Murray checked for dents or any signs of damage where the bull head butted the RV, but the RV was intact – fortunately, the bull had been de-horned. We’ll never forget our first visit to the new ranch!

A Visit to the Ranch

'M' Hanging off 'T' - our brand top left
BBQ under the Cottonwood Tree

Those of you who have been following my blog may recall that for the past 2 years we have called in on friends Amanda & Clint, and their 4 daughters, and parked our RV in the front yard of their ranch. Well this year they have moved to another ranch and we had arranged another visit. Amanda gave me the new address, and I entered it into our GPS, with the benefit of knowing we could just ring her if our GPS led us astray. All was going well, and we passed through the little town she mentioned that came just before our turn off. So far so good...She warned us there would be 8 miles of gravel road. Spot on. Everything going like clockwork. We turned onto the gravel road, and Murray slowed down to reduce the amount of dust and to save undue vibration of the RV. Before long we came to a fork in the road - the main gravel road continued around to the left, but the GPS was insisting we take the 'road' directly ahead. I figured this would be a good time to ring Amanda and confirm our route. No signal on our phone. As the street the GPS was taking us on was actually the street the ranch was on, I suggested we continue straight ahead. The road didn't look as though it was used very much, but then again, I considered that as most of these ranches were several hundred acres each, there wouldn't be too many people that actually use this road.

Like good Christian soldiers, on we marched - well, drove. As we approached a rise I hoped (& silently prayed) that the 'road' ahead would become more like a country road, and not like a single lane throughway. There were bales of hay neatly rolled in the field beside the road - and there was a fence on either side of the 'road' - only the distance between the two fences wasn't much wider than our RV. Hmmm. Where are we? As we topped the rise, we faced water to one side, and what looked like marsh on the other. The tracks on the 'road' were hardly discernable. Our vehicle weighs 8 tons - what if the ground is soft and we get bogged? We have no phone reception...Aha, there in the distance we spied a sizeable ranch on our left, and thankfully, I had one bar of service on my mobile phone. I thought, we're right now - houses, phone reception - too easy. I rang the ranch and told them that we were in their street, and our GPS said we were 4 miles away. Clint answered the phone and said they would keep a lookout for us. Little did he know we were coming in on a different route than what he was expecting. It turned out we were using what is called a 'section line' road over here. I guess it is an access road between ranches or farms. Certainly not meant for 32' RVs! If a rancher had been out inspecting his fields and looked over and seen us driving along like Miss Daisy, he would have had conniptions!

The road got rougher & rougher, and we were grateful that every inch was getting us nearer to our destination. Finally, we saw a pond with some cows around it, and a ranch house nearby. Then we saw a well used gravel road ahead. Darn. I think we were meant to be on that road all along. At that point, Clint rang to ask where we were. I described the view and he was amazed as we were only one ranch away from his property. He had been looking to the south where we should have been coming from, but not us - we had taken the short cut, through the North Dakota hay fields, and arrived from the north. We have never been so happy to see a familiar face - or should I say 6 familiar faces. Clint, Amanda, Taylor, Hayley, Emily & Macey were all there as our RV sailed into the ranch.

Clint showed us an area alongside a row of trees where we could park the RV for the night, and then it got down to serious socialising. Our first stop was to see the ranch house that Clint & Amanda are remodelling. Even before we entered the house, Clint asked us to come up with an idea for a family 'brand'. I thought he was designing a new brand for their new ranch (to brand their cattle), and that he was asking all their visitors to make suggestions. Between the dining room, lounge & kitchen they have erected a huge wooden log that they are 'branding' with their friends brands. When they figured they have them all there, they will varnish the log and preserve them forever. Well, obviously most of their friends own ranches so they already have a legitimate brand, but Murray & I don't have one. I had a look at the others on the pole, and usually the brands included an initial from the owner's name. So, I drew a few options for Murray to choose one, and he decided on what they call here, a 'M' hanging off a 'T'. The picture makes it all clear! Our 'brand' has been immortalised in North Dakotan history! After a tour of the renovations, it was time to get down to some serious socialising.

While Amanda had two huge, homegrown briskets roasting in the BBQ, we spread ourselves out in chairs underneath the largest Cottonwood tree I have ever seen. I can't wait to see it decked out in Christmas lights. We were joined by 3 other rancher couples and their children, and Murray & I spent several hours eating an array of food while listening to their ranching stories. They work hard these folks, but they play hard too, and seem to have a lot of fun. How they have the energy to come up with their practical jokes after the long, hard hours they work, beats me. It was school for the kids, and ranch work for the adults the next morning, so by 10pm we broke up the gathering and the visitors headed home. Murray & I said goodnight and agreed that we would say goodbye to Amanda and the girls before they left for work/school at 7-7.15am. At 6.30am Clint had to load 10 cows with their calves from a barn next to where we parked our RV onto a truck, so Murray agreed to give him a hand, and set his alarm for 6am. We thought our night was coming to an end…see the next installment!

Audubon Lake, North Dakota

Our site at Audubon Lake
Canada Geese glide tranquilly

Frieda teaching me the German Kuchen recipe

Fresh Peach & June Berry Kuchens baking

The proof of the pudding...

Frieda, Lenny, Wes, Avalyn, Murray & I at Riverdale

Many of you will be familiar with Audubon Lake, as it is our 4th visit here, and one of our most tranquil campgrounds. On our first trip we stumbled across this lake, met some lovely North Dakotans, and the rest is history. Like Mountain View, Arkansas, we visit this place each year to catch up with friends.

After our week down with Avalyn & Wes on the lake near South Dakota, we spent one night in the capital city, Bismarck, did our Wallydock and got our welding completed. I had morning tea with Irene and Avalyn joined us, then I walked across the road to the big mall where Murray & I met up with Amanda and her 4 delightful daughters for lunch. After that, we stocked up with groceries and gleefully headed up the road to what has been our favourite North Dakota lake campground. Audubon. We got there a little later than expected on Monday evening, so Murray was still cooking dinner when friends Frieda & Lenny arrived. They couldn't let our arrival go without a celebratory drink. Hear hear! We had a lovely time catching up on all the news - like us, they had also bought a new house recently and we shared 'new house' stories.

The next day, friends Kathy & Milt pulled their camper in next to ours and we exchanged our news. We heard about the lovely home they had bought in Florida, only about 45 mins south of NASA/Kennedy Space Center. It is sad that so many homes have been taken over by the banks due to the financial situation here, but on the other hand they provide a wonderful opportunity to those who can afford to buy them. Kathy & Milt have lived in a small community not far from Audubon all their life, apart from Milt's stint in the military. They have often escaped the harsh North Dakotan winters by flying to Florida for several months, but now they have bought a house there, and will spend 6 months each year in their Florida residence. Why deal with snow & ice when you can be walking along the beach instead.

Before we knew it, Saturday was here, and we were off to spend the afternoon with Frieda & Lenny and see their lovely, new home. Frieda and I baked her German heritage Kuchen dessert pies, as I wanted to take some to the ranch the next day. We ended up making 12 pies and 2 loaves of cinnamon bread. Obviously we had to test the kuchen, so as soon as the first one cooled, the four of us polished it off. Yum. The pies were still cooling when Avalyn & Wes arrived and the 6 of us went out to dinner at a steak house in another town, several miles away. It was a fitting farewell to our delightful time at Audubon, as the next day we would be heading to the ranch for a night. See you again in 12 months time Audubon...