End of Summer

September 22, first day of autumn, an appropriate time to wrap up the summer vacation log. By the time we reached Jasper/Lake Louise/Banff, unfortunately, we were “wow”ed out. Although the scenery at these Canadian national parks is spectacular, we had seen so much in Alaska and the Yukon. Further, we ran into culture shock – there were so many people in these parks that we escaped by hiring a fishing guide and took a float trip down the Bow River, where we saw maybe 3 people in 7 hours!

We re-entered the US in North Dakota and headed for Minnesota for a 2-day stop to see Les’s sister Judy and her husband, Terry, and family. After all these years we finally got to meet their daughter, Yvonne. What a nice visit.

We then moved on to Forest City, Iowa, to the Winnebago factory where we had our “slide out” fixed to operate correctly, at last, after 2 years. We are now scheduled to have the carpet replaced in North Carolina due to the damage from the slide. As we experienced on our last visit to Forest City, we met fellow RVers who we hope to keep in touch with in the future.

On to Indiana. In a small town west of Indianapolis we visited friends who, again, we have not seen in some 20 years. We moved to Nevada, June and Rodger moved to Indiana. Have 20 years passed? Seems hardly true. Our visit was wonderful.

Then on east. We parked the RV in a field in eastern Pennsylvania owned and offered by some RV folks we found through an RV organization called Escapees. We drove the jeep to New York to stay with Michelle, Carlo, Judy and Marco for the Labor Day weekend. So much energy in 18-month and 3-year old children! Michelle’s “babies” are adorable and we are looking forward to Christmas at their house.

Next stop: Hershey, Pennsylvania: THE chocolate factory tour, a run into with a couple we met the last week of May in Canada!

We are now in Virginia, on the Chesapeake Bay, about an hour east of Richmond, eating lots of crab cakes. We have had a chance to review some American history – the Civil War took place in much of the territory we have driven from Pennsylvania to here. I must have been sleeping during American History in high school – what interesting yet sad chapter of our nation’s story. We will spend some five weeks here in Virginia, exploring, relearning, enjoying the turn of the seasons.

Les has been fishing – A LOT. Hopefully, his interest in photo insertion (as in the web site) will be rekindled and we can share a few of our pictures. Could be your Christmas present!