Whelan's Wheels (go round and round, round and round): a gaggle of ???

Saturday, July 24, 2010

a gaggle of ???

Okay for those in the know ~ is it a gaggle of turkeys or a gaggle of pheasants? I took this shot while we were in Oacoma along the Missouri River. There was a beautiful bike/walking path and guess what ~

I braved it (prompted by King's sarcasm about carting the bike around and Sioux Falls being the perfect place to ride it and I never did, yada yada yada forgetting that no one ~he or I ~ would ride a bicycle in 95 degree heat) not only once but twice, one mile each way along the river ... I was working that bike so hard I broke a peddle off!

So I had to walk it back to the coach, 1/2 mile! I finally got some exercise! So I rode 3 1/2 miles and walked 1/2 .... does that constitute exercise??? Oh I'm suppose to do that every day?

While we were there we found a great park ~ Roam Free Park in Chamberlain. What gorgeous views of the river.

And a good place for Sir to do a bit of free running and playing, although there were signs warning of rattle snakes, so I wouldn't let him go off the paths ~ hmmmm I guess he wasn't really "roaming free" was he!

Down the road from the campground (accross from Al's Oasis, sort of "South of the Border" kind of place) were these new friends for Arlo to kabitz with. Look at the way he is eyeing the big one, not too sure about this guy!

The next day we headed out for a ride, to see what's around and to find a swimming place for Sir. We found this great area about 30 miles north in Fort Thompson (a tiny town that I believe was on the Crow Creek Indian Reservation). We came across this terrific area for Sir ~ the Big Bend Dam. Turns out it is a Corps of Engineers property with an outstanding camping area. Many open sittes that would have accomodated us. Who knew? I've been unable to find a good, easy to use source of information on COE parks (the website I found was very challenging to say the least).

Right now we are off to beautiful Spearfish Canyon. Stay tuned.We left that area last Wednesday and came to Sturgis. Looks like we'll be leaving Sturgis tomorrow headed somewhere in Wyoming. I thought Sheridan, but it looks like it may be Buffalo for a couple nights then on to Montana and hopefully Yellowstone, which is creating a problem because we haven't made reservations there and may not be able to find a place with anything available. I need to take a couple hours and sit my butt down and do some research and emailing ~ that however will call for planning and commitments, something we don't do well these days!

Right now we are off to beautiful Spearfish Canyon. Stay tuned.

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This is our story ~ and we're sticking to it.

Our attempt at a blog - quite scary isn't it?

We left MA in early October, 2007 after I (Tracey) retired September 5 as an executive assistant for a software developer and Rick retired from his job on October 1. We passed papers on our house September 28th and off we went. We traveled down the east coast to the Florida Keys ~ where we planned to spend three nights but 17 nights later had to leave our site because someone had reserved it a year prior! We then stayed in northern FL for another month and headed off to meet our Marine returning to the San Diego area after his second tour "over there". We spent several wonderful weeks realizing why grandparents get tired easily! After the San Diego area we headed to the "low desert" (certainly a new phrase for us) of CA and into western AZ .. and decided it was finally time to start the blog we'd talked about since August or so!!

So many wonderful things we saw along the way. And the people, oh the people. I have said so many times to Rick the best part of this journey has been the people. So, so many people with so many interesting stories. Think about it - think about the stories YOU have and multiply that by the many many people we must have met along the way ~ particularly a social person like Rick .. we met a rattlesnake milker in Sweetwater, TX, we met the camp hosts in the Keys who summer back in NH ~ talk about the best of both worlds! We met the female police Sgt. at the Sweetwater Elks whose son was also in Iraq at the same base as my son. We met people in Slidell, LA who survived Katrina and had a great attitude and a smile on their faces and were proud to share their local cuisine with us. We saw the Blue Angels, purely by chance, in El Centro, CA. Or the "campground" where within an hour of arriving our house had been hit three times by golf balls! Or the Elks lodge in Indio ~ the sweetest, bike riding, bartender ~ I just wanted to pack her up and bring her along on our adventure. Not to mention the aerial tram while we were there, the warplane museum for Rick who does NOT do aerial trams! The Salton Sea ~ WOW just WOW. We stayed in the lovely little town of Wilcox, AZ - there was just something about that town. How about Pensacola, FL where the Elks Lodge on the beach is now built high, very high, off the ground! Or what about Huntington Beach State Park in Murrels Inlet, SC - talk about beautiful. What a great place that was to spend our first Thanksgiving on the road with good friends - that was something to be thankful for, for sure. Our first Christmas and New Years in the Keys!! WOW. The love and support of a dear friend in FL while Rick had to fly back to Boston and we dealt with all that entailed with unexpected follow ups back in FL .. how fortunate were we through all of that. Not to mention having the new trailer outfitted in Myrtle Beach and staying at what a week or two a year is the Broken Spoke? Or the kind and soft spoken LA Police Detective who is on the gang unit? So many people, so many stories. And there is so much ahead. The people .. did I mention how wonderful the people have been - all different walks of life .. so many personalities, so many stories! I have said many times ~ I need to pinch myself every morning to be certain it REALLY is happening to US! We are so grateful.

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