"Fishtown"

It's finally warming up here in Leelanau County and the rain, for the time being has ceased.
Today I took Pearle Schlueter, my 89-year-old mother-in-law into Leland for a hair appointment to "have her hair done". I've never understood why women have to have their "hair done". Just another one of the things that men find to be a mystery in women. To me they look just the same afterward as before and believe me her hair is definitely not the first thing that I notice in a woman.



Anyway, while she and Teddy were at the hairdressers I took the opportunity to drive down to "Fishtown" in Leland
and procure half a dozen smoked chubs for my lunch; I've eaten two and still have four left for tomorrow. Life is good!

Cold & Wet spring

Unlike last May when we were here, it has been cold and rainy ever since we arrived over a week ago.Temps have been in the 40s every morning when we get up. Brrrrr!
And because of that, the Morel mushrooms have been scarce.However, Teddy was able to find enough right here on the farm, for a wonderful steak and Morel dinner last Wednesday. Once again confirming that although there are many different varietys of 'shrooms, Morels in our opinion are just about the best.

Summer Digs

After our trailer repairs were completed we traveled from Appleton to our summer digs here in Leelanau County, Michigan (near Traverse City)We are parked behind Deb & Fred's cottage; if you look closely you can see part of our trailer peeking around the porch.
Here's a view from the other side.


On the way here we stopped overnight in Escanaba, Michigan and visited Dan & Pat Martenson whom we had met in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. They showed us a grand time including a tour of Escanaba and a great dinner. In the evening we played a card game called 9-hole golf, which I lost miserably.
We will return to Appleton for a week at Calumet County Park over the 4th of July and then travel to Xenia, Ohio for the annual Whispering Pines summer reunion.

Appleton

We arrived in Appleton Wednesday evening. We had been having a problem with our furnace not lighting while on DC and also had another problem with the living room slide binding, so had previously made an appointment with Appleton Camping for Thursday morning. So, Thursday at 8AM we dropped the trailer at Appleton Camping and then took the truck in to the local GMC dealer for an oil change. While there we received a call from Jason at Appleton Camping informing us that we had a broken leaf spring on the left side of the trailer.
OH NO!
Here's an example of a leaf spring (not ours)
In thinking back we remember that the trailer begab to pull hard just east of Austin, Minnesota and we had attributed it to the wind. We hurried back to Appleton Camping, got the trailer and took it to the "Accurate Alignment Truck Center" for repair. They finished repairs by Friday evening including realignment and wheel bearing packing and we then took it back to Appleton Camping so that they could continue with their service on Monday morning. They graciously let us park in back of their service garage over the weekend and even furnished us an electeric hook-up. It is now Tuesday afternoon and they are supposed to be finished by closing today. They had to order some parts for the slide which we will have installed when we come back in July. I guess that in every life some rain must fall.
Meanwhile we have been having a grand time visiting Mike & Toni as well as our friends and Christine Street neighbors. We were also able to join the "Monday Night Martini Club" last evening at Greg & Sue's house. Present in addition to Greg & Sue were Dick & Jenn, Tom & Carol and Tony. We had a great time!
Cheers,
Larry & Teddy

One Year of Fulltiming

We arrived in our "old" home town of Appleton, Wisconsin Wednesday night, May 3, 2006 and thus completed our first year of fulltiming in an RV.
Here is a map of our first year travels.Although we miss our many friends and family here in Appleton we do not regret our decision to sell our house and go fulltime in an RV. We have been able to keep in close contact by phone, e-mail and occasional visits.
We have seen and done things that we never imagined...and I have sat on more different toilet seats in the past year than in my entire previous life.

Headin' East

...and after spending Tuesday night at another Flying J in Soux Falls, we headed east on I-90 for the appx. 400 mile run to Appleton, WI.East on I-90 in Western Minnesota.

However we couldn't pass Auston, Minnesota without stopping at the SPAM Museum.
We had missed stopping at the SPAM Museum two years ago when we attended a SCAMP Camp in Clear Lake, Iowa and I wasn't going to lose the opportunity again. We are glad that we stopped, it is a lot larger than we expected and wished that we could have spent more time there but we had a service appointment for the trailer in Appleton the next morning so had to get there for the night.

Sioux Falls

After spending the night at Chadrin, Nebraska we went north to I-90 at Rapid City, SD and then headed east toward Sioux Falls, SD (our "home town") and picked-up our mail at Alternative Resources there.

Carhenge

On the way from Cheyanne to our next stop at Chadrin, Nebraska we just had to stop and see
"Carhenge" at Alliance Nebraska.
Carhenge was erected in the middle of a dusty field by six local families during a reunion in 1987 and was erected to replicate Englands Stonehenge. Teddy at Carhenge.

The cars have since been painted a uniform grey to make the monument even more striking.
There was a time when the residents of Alliance, wanted to tear down Carhenge and the Nebraska Department of Highways wanted to label it a "junkyard" and build a big fence around it. Not any more! Now signs on the outskirts of town proudly identify Alliance as the "Home of Carhenge" as does the sign in front of the local Best Western. A gift shop down the road proclaims, "We sell Carhenge souvenirs."
According to the Carhenge's self-appointed caretaker, only about 40% of the people who visit know about the original Stonehenge. "We get a lot of remarks like, 'What the hell is this?' in our comments box," he sighs. "But the people come from all over just the same."
In the wake of Carhenge, anything goes, as evidenced by the first refriegerator Stonehenge under construction in northwest Santa Fe, NM. About 200 refrigerators are arranged in a dusty field as Stonefridge. The explanatory sketch on the fence reads: "From the Stone Age to the Appliance Age." It appears to be partly completed; the array of refrigerators will be stacked and combined into full size monoliths, with cross pieces, and astronomically configured. The artist, Adam Jonas Horowitz, is creating a "monument to consumerism," though he's been at since at least 1996, stymied at points by need for city approval and structural safeguards.

Cheyenne, WY

We spent Sunday night 4/30 at the Flying-J truck stop in Cheyenne, WY. Flying-Js encourage RVers by having seperate RV fuel pumps, dump stations, and allow free overnight parking. We had previously called our friends Sara & Bill Wallen who live in Fort Collins, CO (abt 30 miles away) and told them when we would be there so they drove up and we had dinner togather and they then visited us in our trailer.