The Big 60

Rose starts off the birthday celebrations

Murray & Rose

Farewell coffee with Tom & Betty - check out their view!

Murray & Larry (No Diane - not Larry Murray)

Opening cards & gifts at Audrey & Grants

Birthday Cake alight

Murray with Jeremy & Step at Main Beach

Bill's Birthday Cake and Gem's patty cakes

Gem Bill Aunty Dympna Murray & Trish

A special & memorable birthday gift from Marie & Eric

That's right folks, hard to believe I know, but Murray turned 60 within a few weeks of us returning home to Australia. His celebrations kicked off with a festive lunch near Brisbane with my sister Rose - Murray couldn't believe the trouble she went to with decorations, restaurant booking, cards and gift. A very pleasant couple of hours. From there we attended a wedding on Bribie Island at an Abbey chapel that houses some of the oldest stained glass window works in the world (courtesy of relics from overseas) and stayed overnight with friends Tom & Betty in their beautiful waterfront home on the North Coast. Wonderful hospitality and their home theatre set up made us envious. We then headed home via Caloundra and called in on Larry & Carmel - their waterfront unit has a stunning view too. They nourished us with Carmels's treats and we made it to our next destination which was lunch with my brother just south of Brisbane. Then it was back home for me to put in place the finishing touches for the next celebration.

What Murray didn't know was that I had arranged a surprise birthday party for him on the Gold Coast for the weekend before his birthday. Friends Grant & Audrey have a lovely property with a spectacular view to the mountains (Joe Bill that was where we called in to admire the view on our way to Tamborine Mtn) and their home with its big verandah is ideal for entertaining. They generously agreed for me to host the party there. To put Murray off the scent, I arranged another party at our place for the weekend after his birthday, and he knew about that one.

Anyway, to cut a long story very short, Murray thought we were going to Grant & Audrey's for a dinner for just the 4 of us. When we come home from our 6 months USA travelling, it is great to go there and see the renovations they have completed in our absence (always amazed at what they accomplish each year) and we share our stories. So this year was no different - we drove up to the house, walked in the door greeted by their two corgis, Bella & Billy, and to his utter amazement, Murray was surprised by about 20 friends. After he had greeted each one of them, he turned around and an old mate from his early Air Force days, John Wockner was there - Murray was so happy to see him. Then the Piece de Resistance - two of his kids, eldest son Jeremy, and only daughter Stephanie walked out of the pantry to give him the ultimate surprise. I have never seen him as gobsmacked as he was at that moment. He stood there for what seemed liked several minutes before he could comprehend what was going on. It was worth all the subterfuge! His middle son Adrian also wanted to be there, but his wife Danielle was about to present them with our second grandchild - in fact Heath Dylan arrived safely on the 19th - just over a week after Murray's birthday. What an exciting time. The day after the party we drove Jeremy & Steph down to Ballina as they hadn't seen our new home - we called into Byron Bay so they could say they had been there. It was a glorious day so the beach parking was hectic, but we jagged a park and had a walk around. After a late lunch in Ballina and a scenic drive to check out our beaches, they returned to the Gold Coast to fly back to Melbourne.

The party celebrations at our place went off well the next weekend, and the neighbours didn't even complain when we had a few singalongs with songs from yesteryear. Mind you, half of the neighbours were with us, and in fact Denise helped me out with keeping the food coming. As usual, I over catered, but that's life. My brother in law Bill had made Murray's birthday cake, a large fruit cake. He iced it and decorated it as well. Thanks Bill! His wife, my sister Gemma made delightfully decorated patty cakes and bought them in on a lovely display stand. The guests were very impressed, as was the birthday boy. We have seen or heard from several of the guests from both parties and they have all commented on what a great night they had. So that is good to hear. Just when we thought all the excitement was over, Murray received a package in the mail. Marie & Eric from Sacramento are the couple who had travelled within Alaska for 2 months with us on our last RV trip - they had sent him a carved wooden bowl. The 4 of us had visited a wood carving business in Fairbanks, and watched as they used laser to burn images into wooden articles. In fact, I guess we even saw them burning the one Murray got, but were told it was for a friend of theirs back home. Marie had done a wood turning course during our trip so we had a good understanding of the laborious process it takes to make a single bowl and the laser imprinting was interesting to watch. The gift will always be very special and bring back wonderful memories of our time in Alaska together.

All in all it has been a busy homecoming and I for one am looking forward to chilling out a bit now all the parties are done & dusted. However, my sister and Aunt have each bought a new Apple product, so we are having regular Mac lessons as we learn more about our laptops, iPads and Iphone 4S. Technology is fun, but boy, there always seem to be updates to take care off and data to migrate and new operating systems or applications to learn how to drive. Fun, fun, fun.

Home Downunder

Qantas Pre-Flight Champagne

Sunrise in Australia

Reunited with sister & aunt

Brisbane Airport with sister

Murray doing the champagne honours

Family at Dinner

Family at breakfast

Sunset Champagne

We couldn't have asked for a smoother trip home. From the time we left our hotel in Kansas City until we landed in Brisbane airport, we sailed effortlessly through check-ins, airport security etc, and had great seats at every turn. No delays, great weather. We sure were blessed. We knew we were close to home when we boarded our Qantas jumbo in LAX and the cabin guy said 'G'day mate, welcome aboard'. Thirteen hours later my sister met us at Brisbane airport and drove us about an hour's drive to my brother's home on the Gold Coast where we had coffee with him & his wife. They then gave us the keys to their car and we drove the 1.5 hrs to Ballina. It was a glorious day, and we stopped halfway to have a bite to eat at Brunswick Heads. A skinny flat white coffee has never tasted so good after a 6 month absence!

In no time at all we were pulling into our driveway, and gratefully noticed that our neighbour must have mowed the lawn just the day before. The garden showed the neglect of our six months disappearing act, but a few hours of weeding and trimming will have it looking wonderful. Considering we just walked away and left it without wanting anyone to need to come and water it etc, all the plants got enough water from natural rain falls. It is the perfect garden to have for people who go on extended travels like we do.

Last night a few of the family dropped in for a champagne before we walked up to a nearby Chinese Restaurant for dinner - as well as Murray & I, there were two of my sisters & one of my brothers' and their spouses, and my aunt. We had a most enjoyable evening with lots of laughter. This morning we all met again for breakfast, this time at a cafe right on the river. We enjoyed some other activities together during the day, then met again to enjoy a champagne while watching the sun set on a simply beautiful evening. Life is good. Life is family. It's great to be home.

Omaha, Nebraska 2011

Tranquil Campground

Great Rest Areas on I-80

Canola field

Dining out with Wal & Desleigh - check out the margaritas

Texas Roadhouse staff doing a line dance for our entertainment

Parked in friends' driveway in Omaha

After a wonderful few days in a shady spot in Altoona, Iowa, we made our way further west on the I-80, destination Omaha. This highway goes all the way from San Francisco on the West coast to New York on the East coast through Salt Lake City, Chicago & Cleveland. On the section we drove through Iowa, it had regular rest stops about every 30 miles, offering picnic sites, machines with sodas and snack foods, coffee, rest rooms, & free wifi. Great for the truckers, RVers and other travellers. We were amazed at just how much corn there will be ready for harvesting in a few weeks. The roads will be dotted with farm machinery as the harvesters move from one farm to the next. We also saw lots of soy bean fields and canola.

We reached our friends' Wal & Desleigh's driveway in Papillion, Omaha, who kindly offered us their driveway to park for the night. After sharing stories over chilled beers, we headed to a nearby Texas Roadhouse restaurant for dinner. You know the saying 'everything is bigger in Texas', well, the margaritas sure lived up to that saying. Not only were they big, but they were good! It reminded me of a margarita that Marie & I had in Klondike Kate's in Dawson City, Yukon - only it wasn't so good! After being entertained by the staff doing a line dance, we headed back home for a nice merlot and more chatting until midnight when we called it a day. Desleigh had to get to the gym and Wal had to go to work the next morning.

Bright and early (well at 8am) we waved farewell and drove out. After replacing the airconditioner in our RV, we will make tracks for Kansas City where once again, we will store the RV and fly out to LA then home. Always a sad, but an exciting time for us, as we know we will be back again in 6 months.

A Weekend in Mt Horeb, Wisconsin

Parked in Scott's driveway - see shady setting at rear

Ross, Bev, Scott & Murray: TBones smokin' on the grill

All present & accounted for - Tina & Mike facing camera

Off to lunch - led by Tina

Not too hungry to take a photo before lunch at The Grumpy Troll

Scott shoots for the Kangaroo Pouch

Cheese & Beer tasting - thanks Bev & Ross

Iowa: corn field at the back and soya beans in front

Catching up with a cup of tea & iPhone word games

We had never heard of Mt Horeb, Wisconsin until our friend Scott bought a house in the main street there about a year ago. He had gone to school & uni nearby and this was like coming home for him. He was a US Army exchange officer who replaced another Army environmental health officer (Mike) back in my Canberra Air Force days. They each worked in Canberra for 3 years, their office only a few desks from mine. Also working with us in Canberra was Beverley, who was the Colonel in charge of all Australian Defence Force nurses at the time. Surprisingly, it didn't take too much planning for me to arrange for us all to meet at Scott's and check out his new abode. Military planning was familiar to us all! The fact that Murray & I drove over from North Dakota, Mike & Tina up from St Louis, and Bev & Ross up from Texas did not pose any problems. Well none that couldn't be rectified! Mike was obviously sooo excited about catching up with us all that he got the dates wrong and had booked their motel, and Tina had booked two days off work for the next weekend. As it turned out, as soon as he realised his error, he & Tina hit the road when she got off work on Friday, and although they missed the Friday evening get together, they made it for the 10am start on Saturday. Nothing like flexibility in planning & execution of the task!

Scott's two storey home had ample room in the driveway for our RV, and his backyard was the perfect venue to enjoy the stunning weather. Although he had come up with several options for what we could do during our group visit, we all chose to simply stay at his place and catch up on each others' news. Well, we didn't simply stay at his place: we ate, drank, chatted, and played a backyard game called Corn in the Hole. Aptly renamed by Tina to Kangaroo Pouch, as the Aussies outnumbered the Americans - well, 4-3 ain't bad!

We had only just got the RV parked in Scott's driveway and had the top off the first cold beer when Bev & Ross arrived. Scott was the perfect host and had several different beers chilling in the esky, and a selection of wines to choose from. Later he heated up the grill and cooked some massive Tbone steaks (which smoked up the BBQ) and accompanied them with baked potatoes and salad. Just what the doctor ordered. Murray & I didn't have far to roll to our RV to go to bed at the end of a delightful evening.

The next day was Saturday and we agreed to meet in Scott's back yard at 10am. Bev, Ross, Mike & Tina were staying at hotels up the road. Mike & Tina's arrival was heralded by our cheers. It was great to see them again. It was another beautiful day so we sat on the back patio and chatted over cups of coffee before deciding to simply walk 1/4 mile uptown to The Grumpy Troll for lunch. Then we wandered back to Scott's, but not before I did a detour into a Christmas Shop. No, I didn't buy anything - I already knew our suitcases would be bursting for the trip home.

We had to move the outdoor setting from the full sun on the patio to the shade under big trees out in the back yard. It was such a tranquil setting. Scott pulled out his backyard game and it kept the men occupied for quite awhile - meanwhile, us 3 gals slipped into the kitchen and whipped up a storm. Bev showed us her recipe of slitting a chicken breast, stuffing it with camembert cheese and prunes (marinated in tawny port), and then wrapping each one with prosciutto. She also rubbed a pork loin with mustard ready to put in the oven. While the meats were cooking we went back outside and took a turn at the game, with Bev scoring the most hole-in-one's, and Tina running a close second! That worked up an appetite and a thirst, so Bev & Ross bought out a selection of local Wisconsin cheeses that had been paired with specially selected & chilled local beers that they had picked up from a speciality market in the area. There were 5 of each and we had to taste each one and give a verdict. It was fun, although the majority said the last beer tasted like cough medicine. Hmmm. It was time to switch over to cab savs & merlots for the rest of the evening by then anyway!

Sunday morning we arranged to meet up at Scott's at 10am once again, but this time we planned to walk up to a cafe for our farewell brunch. The cafe was full when we entered, but while we sat sipping coffees at the counter, the staff deftly arranged 2 tables together and we each ordered a delicious breakfast. Before we knew it, we were back at Scott's hugging each other goodbye. What a lovely reunion.

Our route took us out of Wisconsin and very soon we were in Iowa - how did we know - because all you could see in every direction were corn fields, soya bean fields, and the occasional dairy. The countryside looked so rich and fertile. We pulled into an RV park, once again finding a lovely shady site - our airconditioner isn't booked in for replacement until 8 Sep, so we are managing to keep cool during the day - night times are nice & cool, so no problems there. Murray set our chairs up outside, and in no time I had made us a cup of tea, and while he watched the golf on TV, I caught up with the 'Words with Friends' game on my iPhone. We enjoyed every military posting we had, but retirement suits us just fine. I am sure Bev & Ross's blog will have some extra photos of the gathering in due course. Feel free to check it out. Just click on the 'blog' link in previous sentence.

Farewell North Dakota

Rainbow - our RV is in the background

Early evening campfire with friends

The corn is much taller than Murray

Murray, Avalyn & Wes at Garrison Dam

Checking out the wildlife refuge

Tiny hummingbird egg is bottom right

At Frieda & Lenny's in Garrison

Broken copper tubing in aircon system

Friction caused hole in water pipe

See the hole? This part cost $6, the job cost $400!

Aussie rancher Amanda (married to an American)

Feet up, Map in place, Garmin on the job - Fargo here we come

Lunching with Betty at Chipotle Mexican Grill

When we drive out of North Dakota we know our time in the USA is drawing to a close for another year. We only had 2 weeks in ND this year compared to our usual 4 weeks, but our Alaska trip was so fabulous that we extended it a tad, and we also have a reunion with 3 other couples in Wisconsin that we are excited to fit into our schedule (more on that in the next blog!), hence the shorter stay.

Summer finally arrived while we were at Audubon Lake - how appropriate. However, after a few 'Goldilocks' days in a row, and without any shade, our RV was starting to heat up inside with the constant sunshine & heat, so we figured we would get to use our airconditioner instead of our heater, for the first time all trip. To our dismay, no cold air was coming through. Murray got on the roof, took the cover off the roof airconditioner system, and discovered the copper hose that delivers the coolant to the system had snapped right through. Those rough Alaskan roads took their toll! The earliest we can get the parts in and book it in for repair is the 8th Sep. We will be in Omaha then, so we have gone ahead and arranged the booking there. Our other Alaska rough road result was a tiny hole in a water hose causing a leak. The location of the hose near some metal caused friction over time and it was gradually wearing away the hard polyplastic (??) hose. Alaska's rough roads just bought on the subsequent hole a bit quicker. Since then we have made sure that our campsite bookings get us a shady spot. When I ring up and ask, if they don't have shade, we don't book in. Too easy. So far we have found 3 campgrounds in a row with very tranquil, shady sites.

Getting back to Audubon, it was great catching up with our friends there including Avalyn & Wes, Kathy & Milt and Frieda & Lenny. We shared several meals together either in each others RV's or downtown. One night we were sitting having a delicious rib feast in Wes & Avalyn's camper and looked out the window to a beautiful rainbow over the camper next door, and back to our RV beyond. Next day we had a pleasant day trip to check out the flood gates in the Missouri River - a few weeks ago they had all 26 gates open - I think the day we were there, only 5 were open. Usually there is only one! On the way home we stopped off at a cornfield to confirm it was indeed higher than 6'2'- the corn stalks were definitely taller than Murray. We also visited the Audubon Wildlife Refuge - they had a display of eggs from all different American birds - the one I loved was the tiniest one - from a hummingbird. The largest one was from a Whooping Crane. If anyone wants to see the whole egg display, just let me know. I have only shown half of it.

After we left Audubon we had a few days in Bismarck (capital of North Dakota) itself - and had the chance to catch up with friends Irene and Amanda (from the ranch). We love calling out to the ranch and spending time with the family (they have 4 delightful daughters - the youngest Macey started school this year), but just couldn't fit it in this year. The day we caught up with Amanda, her husband Clint and all 4 girls had driven to Nashville to deliver a horse to Tania Tucker's (country singer) sister. At least we got a chance to say hi to Clint - he rang while we were having lunch with Amanda.

On a fine, sunny day we headed East from Bismarck to Fargo, admiring the healthy corn & wheat fields en route. We looked at our itinerary and arranged to meet our friend Betty from our Canberra days - she lives near Minneapolis/St Paul in Minnesota. Murray used to sing in the church choir with Betty - she is an American who was married to an aussie. They used to do what we do, spend 6 months in Australia and 6 months in USA. When he died 4 years ago, she moved back home to America full time, but flies to Australia each year to keep in touch with family & friends. So we met and had lunch at a Chipotle Mexican Grill. They can't see too many aussies there, because the server asked me where my accent was from, and as soon as I said Australia, she told the cashier to give us a 'comp' - ie a complimentary meal, including our drinks! How nice was that! In return I always carry a gold kangaroo pin with a stud back, to put on caps or collars, and I gave it to her as a momento. She was thrilled, but not as thrilled as we were with her attitude & generosity.

Betty gave us a parting gift - she had baked ginger snaps for us the day before, and even bought a new plastic box for us to keep and store them in. Thanks for your thoughtfulness Betty! We had one each after dinner last night, and again with our kuchen for morning tea today. Although we had a slice of Frieda's famous kuchen while at her house last week, Avalyn bought us a whole kuchen to take on our trip. While we were at the lake Kathy & Milt had to keep going home (not far away) to pick their vegetables, and they kept providing us with zucchini, cucumber and home-made pickles, beetroot and a zucchini jelly. Nothing better than fresh produce straight from the garden. What special friends we have! See you next year North Dakota!

Audubon Lake, North Dakota

Sunrise at Audubon

Sunset at Audubon - Murray & Wes

Malt Shop where us girls had lunch today

Back to square one. Audubon Lake is the favourite campground we discovered on our first RV trip in 2007, and we have returned every year since. It is very basic, just having an electric hookup, but the view and 'aura' make up for having to fill up with water and do a dump every 7 days. See short video below.

The men are not out fishing as I am sure they would prefer to be, but have gone back to the big smoke to do some yard work at Wes's property. He had a nasty fall off his 4 wheeler 2 months ago, and is still recovering, so Murray is giving him a hand with some jobs around the yard. While the cat's away....I was sitting here, sipping on a coffee, and one of my girlfriends rang. Three of us decided to take a spin into town to check out a gift store then have lunch at a local milk bar - like an original Malt Shop from Happy Day's era. This being 'country', there was even an old gent there wearing his suspenders (see last photo). When Kathy rang - her camper is across from ours...I commented on what a glorious day it was, and she said she had heard on the radio that today is known as a 'Goldilocks' day - not too hot, not too cold, but just right. I thought that was worth a blog mention and it describes this day perfectly.

Murray got up early to take a sunrise photo the other day, and I got a nice sunset one as well. We have finally caught up with delightful weather and are loving it.

Floods in North Dakota

Note the brown water stain on the bottom third of the sign

Click on this photo to see where I have marked red arrows of flood level

Businesses empty...

Emergency workers still cleaning up...

Piles of rubble...

Houses gutted....

More debris...

Shocking scenes

Even the trees are water marked

Our North Dakotan friends had mentioned the floods and land falls that had occurred in recent months in this area, but when Murray and I accidentally found ourselves driving through an affected area, we couldn't believe the level of devastation that we saw. We had seen a billboard advertising an RV park to the west of Minot, and as it was late afternoon, we thought we would pull in for the night. As we pulled into the gates of the campground, we didn't get very far before we saw mud and signs of high water level on campsites. We actually reversed out to save getting bogged, and followed the directions on the GPS to get us back to the highway.

Each street we went to turn down (as directed by the GPS) brought us to a 'road closed' sign, so we had to keep going. After this happened several times we started seeing piles of debris on the roadside. We then realised that the homes all seemed to be gutted and the debris was the insulation and internal walls pulled out, leaving the inside of each home just an empty shell. All the home contents had long been removed by the owners/tenants since the floods of June 23rd, and now the huge task of clearing rotting interiors had begun. We could see the water level on the houses above the window level. Even the trees were stained by the flood waters, which makes us wonder how long the water stayed at the high level. The damage to the area was so extensive, yet we have heard from locals that compensation will only top around $3000 per household. A cash- strapped country. Similar to what happened in Brisbane I guess, in that most homeowners either didn't have or couldn't insure for river flooding or water inundation from overflowing dams.

It turns out the area we found ourselves in was Oak Park. It was just one township around the city of Minot that was affected. The only way out was to turn around and go back out the way we had come in - all the other roads were damaged and remain blocked off - almost 7 weeks after the flood. It made us realise how traumatic it would be if the same thing happened to us, and our thoughts went out to those affected. We have heard that the community spirit is strong and many fund raisers are being held to support the displaced people.

When we realised we would need to keep moving to our usual campground about 40 minutes south - and where we would stay put for 2 weeks - we called in to pick up some groceries. We were stunned to see people camping in the parking lot - they had no-where else to go as local campgrounds are either washed out or full. KMart & Walmart are apparently allowing the flood victims to park their campervans there for free. Of course they have no power or water connections, so life can't be easy for them.