The Long Road Home - Part I

We are on the road to Alabama. We plan family and friend stops in Peoria, Elizabethton, Dayton, Nashville, Birmingham and Anniston.

The first thing to be done is to cross the Rockies. We stopped our first day in Boise Idaho. We had a little work on the motor home there and Tom’s fantasy football draft was held while we were in Idaho.

We followed the route of the Oregon Trail for a little way on I84 and I15. At one of the rest areas you can see the trail ruts still.

The Oregon Trail in Idaho

Oregon Trail Ruts

We then drove two hard days, crossing Montana and North Dakota in two days. We did stop at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park near Medora North Dakota. It was a good stop in the Badlands in ND.

Scenic view in Teddy Roosevelt NP

TR's cabin on his ranch

TR's Bedroom

We then drove over to Duluth MN and spent a couple of days (well, one full day off the road.)

Duluth Skyline

Sally took the day and rode to Grand Portage National Monument. That's on the shore of Lake Superior way up by the Canadian border. It's where the fur traders brought their furs to the Northwest Company. The principals of the company met them and brought their pay and goods for them to trade with the Indians for furs. The portage is an 8 mile trail from Lake Superior to the river that the fur traders/trappers used to get into the wilderness.

Map of the Grand Portage

The monument has several reconstructed buildings; volunteers and staff re-enact

Preparing Wild Rice

The canoe repair shop

We moved in to Wisconsin stopping at the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior first. There is a National Park there and volunteers run lighthouses, serve as interpreters and other duties.

Apostle Island Visitor Center

A detour into Michigan

Next on to Horicon National Wildlife Refuge in the center of the state. We are in the process of deciding where we want to volunteer next year and these were on our list to check out.

Horicon Refuge HQ and Visitor Center

We headed to Peoria to see Sally’s sister. While there we there we went to a great farmers market, Tanners, and bought good food fresh from the garden. We have been lucky this year with produce. We played games and generally visited. It was a grand time.

It's apple season at Tanner's in Peoria

Sheep grazing outside the front door

Off to Kentucky, Radcliff to be pretty exact. It is a town outside of Ft. Knox. We visited Tom’s brother and his family. We had a great visit, except for the wind. Ike made his presence known by throwing his wind around. Trees were toppled and power was knocked out for many thousands of people. A limb fell just outside of the Hall household on Post. Another limb (tree size) split off after the “local” crew of people had cleared the road. It lodged on the roof of the house next door. Luckily the housing is stout and withstood the falling branch. Like we said before it was a great visit with extra excitement.

Ike's aftermath

While near Ft. Knox, we toured the Patton Museum. It has a lot of war memorabilia, most dealing with tanks and the development and usage through Desert Storm. There is a great exhibit on racial integration into the army. It is free to the public. Drop by a see it sometime.

Tom playing WWI

"Patton" with one of the WWI light tanks

You could really get locked in here

Only a few more stops before we reach our winter home. Thanks for reading our blog. We’ll be back soon.