Good Morning Road Warriors! We are “on the road again”! Although we are in Seward, NE and have been here for 2 days. We are staying at the Fairgrounds and it was only $15 a night. We are side by side without many people around. A number of bikers and tent campers are here. Someone took our space so we set up out in the field. I’ve never parked on grass before. This is a new experience. Many new experiences on this trip. I should back up. I left off on Monday, May 24th – the first day of my odyssey. So looking back at my last post on Monday, May 24th, I let you know I was in Las Cruces at the KOA I always stay at and then on to Rancheros de Santa Fe. I would go back there for a couple of days. It was so cool. I’ve decided when I go to Denver to visit with Susan, that will be my route. Las Cruces for one night and Rancheros de Santa Fe (or the KOA right down the road) for 2 nights and then on to Denver. On this trip, I was on the road for 5 days without a rest day so when we got to Seward, we are staying 3 nights – Friday, Saturday & Sunday. We’re leaving for Cedar Rapids, IA on Memorial Day. Might be slow with traffic! But we’ll see. Susan has taken me “out of my comfort zone”. The first night (Thursday night) we were going to stay at a Pilot Truck Stop. We got there and parked by a cattle truck and then we were side by side with some other huge truck. Luckily, Susan said, Why don’t we try the Walmart? What a GENIUS! So we went to Walmart in North Platt, NE. Here is a picture of us (I hope I can get pictures to work on my “HOTSPOT”).
At this point, my refrigerator wasn’t working so I went into Walmart, spent $100 on a super, duper, ice chest – it works amazingly and I reconfigured Papa Bear to fit it right at the tailgate – easy access. Luckily I got the refrigerator to work by pushing the “gas” button and now it’s working like a champ. I’m keeping my propane on while traveling so the fridge remains on while traveling. I’ve seen arguments both ways – on or off – I’m opting for ON.
Here is another picture of us at Walmart:
We’ll be doing that on Monday and Tuesday night on our way to Michigan. On Wednesday, June 2, 2021 we’ll be at the campground in Michigan at Newberry Campground for 5 nights because Susan’s son, Tom and his friend Lonnie are joining us at that campground and then we will all go down to Door County, WI to see the light houses over the next weekend.
To back up a little, I stayed up the road on a cul-de-sac near Susan. It worked out great! Here I am hanging out for FREE:
There was a pasture right next to me with horses:
On our way to Seward, we stopped at 3 tourist spots. The first one was Buffalo Bill’s Resting Ranch. Here is a picture there.
This plaque tells the story of the place. The barn was amazing:
I was Annie Oakley!
Then we went to 2 other places on our way here. Susan’s parents lived in Nebraska and she cared for them in their last years by living in Seward, NE near them. She knows the area really well and so our trip here was so she could visit all of the graves of her relatives that are buried here in Seward and Lincoln, NE. Every Memorial Day, her family has put flowers on the graves of her relatives for the last hundred years or so (exaggeration) and she and her cousin have split the duty for many years. This year was her turn. It gave me a complete picture of Memorial Day! We went to 6 cemeteries to honor her family. Very emotional for her and I felt honored to be with her for this time. Here is one picture of a cemetery:
Here is the picture of the church:
You can see Papa Bear under the tree. Out here, cemeteries are on property by churches. It’s very cool! All of the cemeteries had American Flags flying for Memorial Day and there were many people out honoring their family members. It was really great. Gave me such an appreciation for Memorial Day!
Another place we stopped was in Kearney, NE where they built a museum over the highway. In all the years that Susan had commuted from Denver to Nebraska, she always wanted to stop, but never did. So we stopped at it. What a super place. Here I am helping the pioneer woman push her covered wagon out of the mud:
The place was really cool. They gave you audio wands to listen to the history. You can see one of the stops on her back. You pointed the clicker to the number and then the story would be told. It was incredibly well done. There were 53 stops talking about the history of the area. Here is a picture of the place over the highway:
The final tourist spot we saw was the last Pony Express way station. Susan had always wanted to stop there too and never took the time. So this trip has been good for her too. It’s great to share the experiences. Here we are at the Pony Express Station in Gothenburg, NE.
So we’ve been having a blast! She is really great to travel with. She tempers my silly ideas and logically explains why they are bad ideas – like taking off the facia to try to find my water leak. If I did that, what would I do to fix it? I have no idea how to fix it. I’m going to bring her over to watch to see if it leaks as I take my shower. So happy I took a shower and washed my hair! I’m a new woman! Feels great! I’m warming up Mama with this:
It is incredibly quiet – NO SOUND – and it really does a good job. It will be interesting to see how long the little bottles of propane last. I guess I’ll find out. They are $8 at Walmart. So I took my shower and boy do I feel better. My hair is clean (there may be some soap in it – I need to get better at these showers) and so is my body. She didn’t come over because it was raining (as it is now – it’s so nice) and there was no leak. So who knows what that was all about. I’ll just have to keep checking it.
I can’t get a picture to load – one of the collection of Harleys here for a little rally from Des Moines. They left yesterday before it started to rain.
So this happened in Naples:
So Bill finally retired from Naples Area Intergroup! So proud of him. I hope he finds happiness and fulfillment in his second retirement. He’s in his early 80’s now and really it’s time! I know his wife Sheila is not well – diagnosed with dementia – which will be hard to watch for him. They’ve been married for over 60 years. Life should be good for him and I pray that he stays happy, joyous and FREE!
I guess that is about all for now. I may add to this, I may not, but thanks for visiting!
