We traveled to Billings, Montana for one reason only; to attend our oldest granddaugther's high school graduation. After leaving Denver and driving north, Billings was strategically ideal for us to fly out of. We made plans to take this RVing hiatus and fly on Alaska Airlines to Portland, Oregon. Denver's airport is a nightmare to fly in and out, so we looked at Billings as the next best option and we weren't unhappy with the decision. The Billings airport only has ten gates but is serviced by Delta, United/Continental and Alaska/Horizon. Parking was nearby and $9 a day, long-term. TSA had no waiting. Unfortunately, our flight was delayed because of a aircraft issue from it's departure location, but we eventually arrived in Portland and our daugther Elisa picked us up at the airport. The airline provided $48 in meal vouchers for the inconvenience and also complimentary drinks while enroute. We had booked an AirBnB for two nights around the corner from Aaron and Elisa's home. We had a great family re-union with our kids, grandkids and other proud grandparents on Sunday evening, our arrival day, June 2nd at the Edgingtons. Elisa ordered pizza so the meal planning was easy. Tim and Diana Edgington, Aaron parents, and his cousin Seth, all from Missouri were staying at their home so it was a cozy first night get-together. We enjoyed ourselves catching up on life with the extended family. Graduation was Monday, June 3rd at 4:30 PM and the biggest concern was the weather. It rained most of Sunday night and early Monday morning, but we were prepared for the worst. Fortunately, the weather window cooperated and the graduates didn't need to worry about wearing clear plastic parkas over their graduation gowns. In addition to us and all the family members staying with Elisa and Aaron, Denise and Tom Hatch, Elisa's mom and step-dad were in attendance The graduation venue was Providence Park stadium, the home of the Portland Timbers, an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. Diana was very cool and composed as she walked up to receive her diploma, but we all went a little crazy cheering her on like any proud family would do in the same situation. The graduation was about an hour and a half long. Apparently there was another graduation for another high school scheduled for 7 PM, so we were ushered out of the facilities fairly quickly. Of course, we stuck around for some family photography outside and then headed out for dinner at Reverend's Barbeque restaurant to celebrate. From the restaurant it was back to Aaron and Elisa's for some games. We returned to our AirBnB and prepared for an early morning flight back to Billings on Tuesday, June 4th. A quick trip to honor the graduate was well worth the time and expense. Congratulations to our first grandchild on this significant milestone in her life. We hope and pray for continued blessings and great accomplishments in the future.

Boondocking refers to camping outside of campgrounds without any hookups, while dry camping simply refers to camping with no hookups. In other words, all boondocking is dry camping, but not all dry camping is boondocking. When you stay at a campground with no hook-ups you are not boondocking. So, when we were staying at Standley Lake Regional Park or Devil's Tower National Park, that was dry camping. Rather than relying on hookups, boondocking uses the RV's onboard fresh water (and holding tanks), electricity, and propane, meaning you have a finite amount of water and propane and must generate (or store) your own electricity. You and your rig are self-sufficient. Camping in undeveloped, primitive campsites basically means you pick where you camp. Imagine overlooking a valley where camping is allowed. You head into the valley and pick your spot. It's not marked, labeled, or reserved, and you didn't directly pay for it—though you might have paid to get "into" the valley. You picked it because it's level, close to the river, and sheltered by a large rock, and it has enough room to navigate your rig. Maybe there are signs of a rock ring from a previous camper or the last time you camped here. There are no services: no camp host, no quiet hours, no dump station, no hookups, no level pad to park on, no gazebos, and no restrooms From Devil's Tower, Wyoming we departed on Friday morning, May 31, to drive north across the state border into Montana. Stopping for lunch at the Red Shale dispersed camping area in the Custer National Forest we discussed whether to drive on to Billings, Montana or stay the night there and boondock. It was a beautiful location and the smell of the Ponderosa Pines was a huge selling point for staying, but we opted to have a relaxing lunch break and continue on our journey. Our route took us by the Little Big Horn Battle Monument in Hardin, Montana on the way to Billings. This is where General George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Calvary met their end during that famous, historic event. I decided to pass on stoppping while pulling the fifth-wheel. We arrived in Billings and thought about spending the night at the Cracker-Barrel restaurant like we did in 2022. We choose to run some errands like grocery shopping at Walmart and stopped for dinner out at the Pizza Ranch. We ultimately decided to stay in the parking lot at the Cabela's Sporting Goods store. Both business allow RV's to overnight and we thought the Cabela's would be better. It was the better choice in the end as we were with four other RV's parked in a very large, designated RV parking area next to the back of the warehouse. It was quiet and felt safe. Saturday, June 1 was our check-in day for the Hipcamp venue we booked just outside of town. Before scheduling our arrival, we stopped by Pierce RV in west Billings and dumped our gray and black water tanks, filled up our fresh water and made a Costco run for more Keurig coffee pods. We got to the Hipcamp venue around 11:30 AM where Alex, the son of the owner, met us at the ranch gate to let us in and guide us to our site. As we drove the dirt road, we spotted a female Pronghorn in the field where we were headed. Suddenly we observed two pronghorn fawns race out ahead of the truck Alex was driving in front of us. They ran parallel to the dirt road and eventually turned to the left as we followed the road in the same direction. Mama started running to meet up with the two fawns who eventually figured out we had no nefarious intentions towards the wildlife. What an awesome introduction to the property! This Hipcamp is located 4 miles north of Billings, MT with multiple sites in trees, overlooking the lake, in the rocks, or above buttes. For security purposes they meet you at the gate and take you to your campsite upon arrival. After that you can come and go at your pleasure. There is a common area with a BBQ, fire pit, and picnic tables. This not an RV park, but an undeveloped, remote, down a single lane dirt road to a grove of trees. This is a legitmate .boondocking experience. It is as natural as possible. They warn you that you are camping with cows, coyotes, eagles, owls, deer, and antelope. The large tree area where we are located is about 3 acres and can accommodate 7 campers at one time. There only appears to be one other small, A frame trailer on the site with us. It is serenely quiet with the occasional sound of birdsongs and their chirping. Tonight, if the sky is clear, I'm hoping to get a real star studded show in the heavens There is even a chance to see the Aurora Borealis this evening.

We left Denver expecting an uneventful afternoon of travel. After all, the truck was repaired and running great; the electrical system on the RV was fixed and the solar panels were charging our batteries. Well, life on the road is never completely uneventful. About an hour and a half into our journey north on Interstate 25 as we were approahing the last exit for Cheyenne, Wyoming, our trailer's TPMS alerted. A TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) is an optional feature you can put on your tires to alert you of low tire pressure and excessive tire heat. The alert we were getting indicated that the driver's side front tire on the RV was losing air quickly. We went from 85 PSI down to 35 PSI by the time we took that last exit. We bought our trailer tires at America Tires, also known around the country as Discount Tires so we google searched for a dealership in Cheyenne. Fortunately there was one only three miles away and we headed for their location. We got there just in time, our tire was down to 29 PSI of pressure! We have made it a practice of purchasing the tire warranty, given we are on the road constantly ,and once again it proved to be a prudent decision. So we headed into the tire store with the expectation they would take care of the problem. Ramon was our service adviser and he looked up our account. He told us they would take care of the problem, so we left the RV and walked to an early lunch. Two hours later we were back on the road with three new tires. Three tires? Well, the service manager looked at the side wall bulges I mentioned observing earlier in our trip and he authorized replacing all three of the questionable tires at no charge. Yay, amazing customer service, product quality control and integrity. Thank you Lord once again! We got to Riverside City Park in Douglas, Wyoming along the North Platte River. Meticulously groomed, wide easy pull thru sites, a dump station & potable water along with a restroom/shower building (we didn't use so no comments). Thank you City of Douglas for a lovely one night stay at no charge. Wednesday, May 29 afternoon we reached Devil's Tower, Wyoming after a short break in our journey for fuel for the truck and the driver. We stopped at the Coffee Cup Sinclair truck stop in Moorcroft, Wyoming for a Pastrami sandwich at Heidi's Brookyn Deli. The staff was very nice and they served a delicious Pastrami sandwich on Marbled Rye. The first come, first served campground (no reservations) called Belle Fourche River Campground is a 2-loop, 46-site campground (43 pull-through sites with room for RVs up to 35'), 4 ADA sites and 3 tent-only group sites. Drinking water is available at water spigots and in the restrooms. No hookups are available and there's a 14-day limit on occupancy. Large cottonwood trees provide shade. A picnic shelter and tables are available north of the campground. We picked out a pull-through campsite at the very end of the A loop with a spectacular view of the "Tower" from our big windows. Devils Tower rises 1,267 feet (386 m) above the Belle Fourche River and features the world's largest example of columnar jointing. A sacred place to over 20 Native American tribes, the Tower is also known as Bear Lodge. Devils Tower was designated as America's first national monument in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt. Our first night in camp we had to watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind...so we rented it on Amazon Prime. Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 American science fiction drama film written and directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon and Teri Garr. The Tower features heavily in Steven Spielberg’s 1977 Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The film tells the story of several individuals’ experiences with extra-terrestrial phenomenon. Focusing on the experiences of Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss), the story follows him from his initial encounter with a UFO to his growing obsession with visions of a mountain and desire to go there. After Neary’s actions grew more intense, his family leaves him. He decides to travel to Devils Tower with fellow UFO witness Jillian Guiler (Melinda Dillon), whose son had been taken by the alien visitors. The Tower had been selected as the contact point, and the area was evacuated by the military under the guise of a chemical leak. Made on a production budget of US$19.4 million, Close Encounters was released in a limited number of cities on November 16 and 23, 1977, and expanded into wide release the following month. It was a critical and financial success, eventually grossing over $300 million worldwide. On Thursday, May 30 we drove to the visitor's center at the base of Devil's Tower and walked the mile Tower Trail. This paved trail starts across the upper parking area from the visitor center; an accessible concrete path leads past the pavilion and up to the intersection of the loop. The Tower Trail is a 1.8 mile loop around the base of this magnificent rock tower. The Tower is also a popular place for rock climbers; we saw 3 people climbing as we walked the trail. As we walked the Tower Trail, we noticed cloths or small bundles attached to the trees. These are Native American prayer cloths and represent the spiritual connection many tribes have with the Tower. The park service asks you to not touch, disturb or remove these prayer cloths. It is even considered culturally insensitive to photograph these prayer cloths, so I respected their wishes. The tower is impressive from a distance but even more awe inspiring up close and personal. The shear scale of the column doesn't hit you until you're standing next to one in the boulder field below. Despite its long exposure to the elements, the hexagonal column shape is still visible. Where does the name come from? Richard Dodge in 1875, commanded the military escort for a scientific expedition into the Black Hills. Keeping a journal during this expedition, Dodge wrote that "the Indians call this place 'bad god's tower,' a name adopted with proper modification..." And so the label "Devil's Tower" was created. According to the park service, as darkness falls on Devils Tower, a different kind of light illuminates the sky on a clear night. That light comes from objects in deep space, and transforms the night from a place of darkness into a place of wonder. Unfortunately, the weather hasn't cooperated for any night sky viewing. I'd like to come back on a moonless night with clear skies to see the view from this vantage point. This is a spectacular place to hang out for more than two days. Maybe we'll return next summer with one or more of the grandkids.

Once again we had a great visit with the entire Colorado Teague clan over the Memorial weekend. Erik and Tori have a spare bedroom downstairs that we stayed in so we could park the fifth wheel on the street in front of their home. Saturday is a work night for Erik; when he gets home from work around 7am, he sleeps until about 2 PM. We try to keep the noise level down with the kids. It is also his last night of work before his scheduled two days off on Sunday and Monday. Late Saturday morning after breakfast, checking out of Lake Standley and before going back to their home with the kids from our camping expedition, we stopped to get an RV propane bottle filled. When we got to the house, Erik and Tori were out on a bike ride enjoying their last hours of childless time and responsiblity. They had a great time together on Friday night going out to dinner on a date while the kids were with us.. I started working on the RV electrical problem. I discovered that the 50A marine fuse from the solar controller to the battery bank had failed. This prevented the solar panel array from charging the batteries on Saturday morning. I replaced the electrical fuse with a marine grade 30A re-set breaker and "Voila", the problem was solved! Sunday, May 26th Erik, Mattis and I drove into Denver for an afternoon Colorado's Rockies baseball game. This was my 14th MLB ballpark on my quest to visit all 30 major league stadiums. Karen, Tori, Emery and Arley went to the see the movie "IF". Karen and Emery also went on a bike ride on one of the many bike trails in their neighborhood. After we got back from the game we all had Salmon for dinner then Erik and I started working on the backyard fence that blew down. Monday was Memorial Day and we finished fixing the backyard fence with the help of one of Erik's fellow workers and son. The four of us replaced three 4x4 posts that had rotted out and re-attached the fence sections to the new posts. We finished in about three hours then cleaned up for a 3PM barbeque across the street at the neighbors. We met Todd and Lisa, their wonderful neighbors and had an enjoyable Memorial Day with family and some new friends. Tuesday morning after breakfast we hooked the truck up to the RV and got back on the road. The time of our visit was short and flew by, but it was great to spend time with our family. We left some of our restricted gear from the trailer with them before our scheduled entrance into Canada on the way to Alaska. We will return in November, hopefully for Thanksgiving, to spend some more time with them and pick those items up. From Colorado we head north to Douglas, Wyoming for one night then on to Devil's Tower in the northeast corner of Wyoming.

Wednesday, May 22 was a short travel day from Colorado Springs to Standley Lake Regional Park in Westminster, Colorado, north of Denver and not far from where our son Erik's family lives in Thornton, Colorado. The drive only took about an hour and a half and the traffic through Denver was manageable for the noon hour. The only issue that had our concern was the amber check engine light on the instrument panel. Yes, it is back. We've been seeing it intermittently for a couple of weeks since our stay in Nebraska, but now it was on constantly. DANGER, DANGER, WILL ROBINSON! Once we got ourselves to Standley Lake we set up the trailer for three days of dry camping. This particular regional park doesn't have any electrical, water or sewer connections at the designated camping sites, so you need to bring what you're going to need. We left Colorado Springs with 2/3 of a tank of fresh water and empty gray and black water tanks for our three day stay. Because we arrived early, I had an opportunity to run over to O'Reilly Auto Parts to have the problem analyzed. They provide that diagnostic service at no charge to anyone. Their diagnostic report indicated the truck had a bad engine turbo actuator that we needed to address. The turbo actuator performs a simple but important role – it provides a pressure relief valve that controls the boost output of the turbo, redirecting excess exhaust gases away from the turbine wheel. This controls the speed of the turbine, preventing it from over-speeding and regulating the speed of the compressor. I know, I know...more than you needed to know. Fortunately, I was able to get hold of a local Dodge/RAM dealership and scheduled a service appointment for the next day, Thursday, May 23 at 10:30 AM. That was miracle number one and with the dealership only 7 1/2 miles away from the campground, my plan was to drive the truck to the dealership that morning and bring my e-bike along so I could ride it back to the trailer. Karen decided to stay behind and do some work on the computer and make some phone calls while I dealt with the truck issue. Our two biggest repair concerns related to the amount of time the dealer might need the truck and the ultimate repair cost. Our diesel repair coordinator, named Selvin, told me they would need the truck for at least one day. So I got on the e-bike and took myself out to breakfast at IHOP before riding back to the RV. The ride was awesome! The Denver suburbs are covered with miles of biking/walking trails that follow many of the streams and creeks that flow from the mountains. So I totally enjoyed my trip back to camp. Selvin called around 2 PM and confirmed that the turbo actuator needed to be replaced. The bad news was that the turbo actuator would cost $1400 plus labor. Miracle number two was they had the needed part in stock. I mentioned our extended warranty to Selvin so he agreed to submit the charges to Allstate and see what they would cover. The plan for our evening was to not worry about the truck repair and go spend the evening with our son Erik's family. He picked us up at the campground around 4:00 PM after getting our grandchildren from school and daycare. This was the last day of school for the kids and Tori, our daughter-in-law, so we celebrated by going out to Chinese food, courtesy of Grandpa and Mimi. After getting back to their house we hung out for a few hours before hitching a ride back to the campground with Erik on his way to work that night. Friday morning, May 24th we slept in until 8:30 AM before we both mounted our E-bikes for the ride from Standley Lake to pick up the repaired truck. When we arrived, Selvin informed us the repair came $2430, but we only had to pay the warranty deductible of $50. This was miracle number three! Karen and I were again blown away by God's provision for us. We mounted our E-bikes on the rack attached to the back of the truck and drove over to Erik's to pick up all 3 grandkids. We made plans for them to spend the day and night with us. After we loaded up the brood we headed up to Johnstown about an hour away to go to lunch (Chick-fil-A) and Scheels Sporting Goods store. Why, you may ask? Well, their stores include attractions such as aquariums, arcade games, and their famous Ferris wheel. We all had a blast hanging out there. Before driving back to the campground for dinner, a movie and a sleep over we stopped at Buc-ee's for some fudge and beaver nuggets. Dinner was hot dogs, tater tots, cucumbers/tomatoes with vinegar and green beans. After dinner we walked to the lake so Arley could get muddy and then it was back to the RV for a movie: Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. This was a real different adventure for Grandpa and Mimi; exhausting, but we loved every minute...almost. We had a bit of a surprise during the evening and didn't get to finish the movie because we used up all our stored battery power for the 110v appliances. So we called it a night and all went to bed. The next morning, another surprise...no power to run even the 12v appliances. Our batteries had discharged to 10.8v, so we went out for breakfast. When we got back from breakfast Karen and the kids packed up the inside of the rig while I pulled out our Honda generator and charged up the batteries so we could have power to bring in the slides. Everything worked out fine and we pulled out of the campground at 11 AM on Saturday, one hour before check out time. We headed to Thornton to moochdock at Erik and Tori's for the next three days and return our grandchildren to their rested and refreshed parents.

From Seven Falls we segue to Garden of the Gods the next day. Segue is a verb that means "to move without stopping from one topic, song, etc., to another." On Tuesday, May 21 we ventured south from Peregrine Pines FamCamp to go on a 90 minute tour of this very special park on SEGWAYS. For those who are unframiliar with what IS a Segway, it is a two-wheeled, self-balancing personal transporter device invented by Dean Kamen. It is a registered trademark of Segway Inc. It was brought to market in 2001 as the Segway HT, and then subsequently as the Segway PT. HT is an initialism for "human transporter" and PT for "personal transporter." Segways are available at the Garden of the Gods Visitors Center along with electric bikes to rent. We have never tried this mode of transportation before and were excited to try it out here at this location. Our tour began at 10 AM in the tunnel below the parking lot. Our guide and instructor named "Goose", spent about 15 minutes introducing the seven of us to our equipment for the rides including familiarizing us with getting on/off , the do's and don'ts of driving the contraption. After we all the signed the waviers, we cautiously took off on this new mode of transportation and began another new adventure. The Garden of the Gods is a 1,341.3 acre public city park located in Colorado Springs, Colorado and 862 acres of the park was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1971. The area now known as Garden of the Gods was first called Red Rock Corral by the Europeans. Then, in August 1859, two surveyors who helped to set up Colorado City explored the site. One of the surveyors, Melancthon S. Beach suggested it would be a "capital place for a beer garden". His companion, the young Rufus Cable, awestruck by the impressive rock formations, exclaimed, "Beer Garden! Why, it is a fit place for the Gods to assemble. We will call it the Garden of the Gods." Unobscured views and a mellow pace made our visit to this beautiful park memorable. Goose pointed out exotic plant life, local animal life, and of course, numerous spectacular geologic formations and the unique caricatures hidden within them. We made several short stops to admire the sights, while staying on the Segways for most of the tour. We viewed the wonders of the South and North Gateway Rocks, Kissing Camels, Three Graces, Sleeping Giant, Park Overlook, and Praying Hands. Following our Segway tour we headed for Manitou Springs and along the way stopped at the "Balanced Rock", a 35-foot, 1.4-million-pound red rock free to visit, photograph, and appreciate. Located near the southern entrance of the Garden of the Gods, Balanced Rock is an enormous, roadside sandstone boulder, which is frankly a natural piece of art. After the Balanced Rock we proceeded to Manitou Springs for lunch and a walk around this unique town. Long before European explorers discovered Pikes Peak, the American Indians had been stopping to drink the sacred bubbling mineral spring water of the area. The name Manitou comes from the Algonquian word meaning “great spirits.” After lunch we explored some of this historic downtown while looking for one of the eight naturally-effervescent cold-water mineral springs. Water flows 24 hours a day, seven days a week for all to enjoy. Karen found one of the spring features and sampled some of the water that has made the town famous. From Manitou Springs we stopped by Glen Eyrie, an English Tudor-style castle built in 1871 by General William Jackson Palmer, the founder of Colorado Springs. Founded in 1871, Glen Eyrie was the home of William Jackson Palmer. Palmer was a Brigadier General in the Union Army during the Civil War, president of The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, and founder of Colorado Springs. Palmer and his wife Mary “Queen” Mellen made Glen Eyrie their home. The castle is owned today by The Navigators, a worldwide Christian para-church organization based in the city. This completed our last full day of sightseeing in Colorado Springs before checking out on Wednesday. Next stop in our travels would take us north to Standley Lake Regional Park, a 3,000-acre park located in unincorporated Jefferson County and and about 15 miles from our son's home in Thornton, Colorado.

Located in a beautiful box canyon, the Broadmoor Seven Falls in Colorado Springs is a series of seven cascading waterfalls, with a total height of 180 feet. Often referred to as “The Grandest Mile of Scenery in Colorado”, Seven Falls in Colorado Springs is the only waterfall in Colorado to make National Geographic's list of international waterfalls. Visitors can view the scenic wonder of Seven Falls from either the top of the 224 step staircase or from the Eagle’s Nest viewing platform, which can be accessed via elevator. In the evenings, the falls are beautifully illuminated by colorful lighting. WHAT IS THE HISTORY BEHIND THE BROADMOOR SEVEN FALLS? The history of Seven Falls in Colorado dates back to 1872, when a man named Nathaniel Colby inhabited the 160 acres that included the present-day Seven Falls and South Cheyenne Canyon. He sold the land to the Colorado Springs Land Company for $1,000. In 1882 James Hull purchased the property for $1,300. Mr. Hull was an environmentalist who was disturbed to find the scenic splendor of the canyon being threatened by people chopping down the surrounding forest for its lumber. Hull was also a businessman and he understood the value of the property as a scenic destination and began to improve it by constructing a road through the canyon to the Seven Falls in Colorado Springs and building a stairway along the side of the Falls. He installed a toll gate at the foot of the canyon and proceeded to do business. Back then, a local entrepreneur paid Hull $500 for the privilege of taking passengers by carriages, burros and horses to the Falls for 25 cents each. Business flourished and Seven Falls in Colorado Springs became a prominent attraction. On Monday morning, May 20 we drove to the Norris Penrose Event Center, where a complimentary shuttle service transports guests to the Seven Falls park entrance. Parking and shuttle transportation are complimentary. The shuttle parking lot is located about 4 miles from the park entrance. The fee to visit Seven Falls was $17 per person for "seniors". After paying our entrance fee we hiked up the paved road along the river past the "Pillars of Hercules" up to the base of the falls. Stairs are available for the heartiest of visitors, but we used the elevator to save our legs for the remainer of the hike. We peeked into the restaurant and decided to save the money for a lunch in Colorado City. Karen's hip replacement handled the hike, no sweat! It is literally hard to believe that earlier in February she had the hip surgery in Jacksonville, Florida. In total we both hiked 3.11 miles during the visit to the falls and would recommend it to anyone who is visiting Colorado Springs, Colorado. Later that evening we had dinner with a friend from California who moved to the area a few years earlier. We've kept in contact with Kim Robinson and were excited to catch-up on her life in Colorado. We had a great visit and meal out at a local Mexican restaurant. We wished we could have met her fiance Dave but he had a previous commitment he couldn't break. They are getting married in September this year in Minnesota and she can hardly wait. Congratulations to Dave and Kim! We hope there's some RV camping in their future with us next year.

Our stay at the Wahlmeier Farms Vineyard in Kansas on Friday night, May 17th, completed the 45th state since beginning our travel adventures back in May 2022. Karen and I find it hard to believe we've been on the road for a little over two years! We are still totally enjoying the "nomad lifestyle" glamping along the way as we explore our beautiful nation and it's wonderful people. With our goal of visiting all 50 states, only five states remain to visit with our rig called Trinity: North Dakota, Utah, Nevada, Alaska and Hawaii. And we all know that we won't make Hawaii in the RV. While we were visiting the Wahlmeier Farm Vineyard we tasted a flight of five different local wines and enjoyed some local cheese and crackers. The owner, Cary was our host and poured us some of the establishment's dry and sweet wines. We wrapped up our tasting with a purchase of two bottles of their wine and some Blueberry jam. The experience and the evening was complete with a glorious Kansas sunset as seen from the property. After a quiet night on a Kansas farm, we departed at 10 AM Saturday morning to drive to our next Harvest Host overnight stay at the Prairie Ridge Buffalo Ranch in Limon, Colorado. As we traveled this morning I thought the conditions were ideal for Karen to take the wheel and get used to driving the truck and RV together. After some gentle coaxing she agreed to give it a go.. This would be big! It's the first time for Karen to drive the truck/trailer combo ever! She was apprehensive but ultimately did a great job driving the rural back roads and county highways of Kansas. Traffic was relatively light but she still had to deal with cars passing us on a two lane road. We stopped for lunch and we traded the driving duties before we got on Interstate 70. It wasn't long before "we weren't in Kansas anymore, Toto". Prairie Ridge Buffalo Ranch was started by Ray and Debbie Thieman in 1999 as a small hobby ranch. The ranch grew and developed into a sustainable buffalo ranch with nearly 800 buffalo of various ages. Since then they have involved their daughter and son-in-law as well as all 12 of their grandchildren to achieve their goal of having a truly multi-generation ranching operation. They have developed an outstanding breeding program that provides for a consistently improving herd through selection and purchase of superior bulls. When we arrived at our overnight destination, Ray, our host was at a local baseball game, but he told us during our check-in call to make ourselves at home. There we met another Harvest Host guest couple who arrived about thirty minutes prior to us. James and Kathleen Horniman are from Bend, Oregon and we hung out together during the late afternoon before dinner. As Karen was preparing some pasta for our evening meal, Ray stopped by to get aquainted and ask if we would like to come to their store during the evening or the next morning. We opted for 9 AM the next morning before our planned departure. We purchased some incredible looking bison meat, including two of the following; New York steaks, a Canadian steak cut called "Bavette", Top Sirloin steaks and a Chuck Roast. We had a great visit with James and Kathleen while we enjoyed the Prairie Ridge Buffalo Ranch. A definite do-over in my book and a great place to bring family for a future tour and cook out. Our drive to Colorado Springs took less than two hours and we arrived at the FamCamp at the Air Force Academy right around 12:30 PM. Got checked-in and assigned a beautiful spot in a drive-through site surrounded by Ponderosa Pines. After disconnecting the truck from the rig we set-up for our three day stay. Dinner that night was New York Bison steaks on the gas grill, with roasted potatoes and grilled zucchini. Located just north of Colorado Springs, at the base of the Front Range, the United States Air Force Academy campus sits on 18,500 acres of breathtaking mountain panoramas. The youngest of five military service academies, it boasts stunning mid-century modern architecture, state-of-the-art Division I athletic facilities, and unparalleled academic research centers. Here 4,000 exceptional young men and women from across the United States become future leaders in service to our nation. The cadets are particularly fond of their Academy ‘altimeter check’: “Sir/ma'am, my altitude is 7,250’ above sea level, far, far above that of West Point or Annapolis.” In fact, their terrain can go as high as 9,000 feet in elevation at the Farish Recreation Area. Basic cadets spend several weeks acclimating to this altitude during the first part of Basic Cadet Training. This was our first time in Colorado Springs, Colorado and we are looking forward to seeing many of the regional sights at the foot of Pike's Peak.

Week three wraps up our Timberlake Ranch Camp project commitment. We worked on painting one of the lake front cabins then moved to one of the staff homes to prepare it for occupancy next week. The men installed LED ceiling lights in the basement living area, attached a stair rail and carpeted one of the bedrooms. The women painted exterior doors on 3 cabins and another 3 exterior doors on the Front Street building. We had a great team; we so enjoyed working together as well as having fun during our down-time. We marvel at how quickly our hearts are knit together with each RVICS team! In anticipation of our departure from Nebraska, I scheduled an appointment at the Grand Island Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM dealership to have the truck's oil and filter changed. While there, they rotated the tires and checked an engine trouble light we were getting on the dash. During the service, they also did an overall examination of the brakes and found that we still have about 50% of our brake pads. I'm thinking about getting the brqkes and tires replaced before we travel to Alaska. The jury is still out on that one. Wednesday morning started with a little excitment. Christina, our newest RVICS team member injured her right hand and needed some first aid. I got to use my medical kit from the truck to bandage her up. Steve and Karen drove her to the local ER. She had a 4 cm gash on the heel of her hand that required 9 stitches to close up. Fortunately she is feeling much better and is on the mend. That evening we were treated to a "thank you" dinner put on by the camp staff at one of their homes off campus in Central City. We gathered at 5:30 PM with the other volunteer team from SOWERS and enjoyed a Mexican themed buffet. We sat around with the staff and shared stories about everything from our spiritual journeys to life as an RV nomad. With Thursday afternoon free, Karen and I started prepping for our departure on Friday morning. We drove into Central City to top-off the diesel fuel and get more DEF, picked up more cash from the ATM and stopped for the last time at the local Dairy Queen, of course. We got back to camp and prepared dinner; barbecued Tri-Tip steaks with a baked potato and broccoli. With the weather in the high 70's, we finally had a nice evening to eat outside. We are hoping to get back on the road by 10AM so we can arrive early in the afternoon at our next Harvest Host destination. Wahlmeier Farms Vineyard is a family-owned vineyard and winery that opened in November 2020. They feature a Western-style barn that contains their processing and tasting room, located off the beaten path with a 3.5-acre vineyard. They make and sell several styles of wines, as well as jams and jellies. The farm is located in Jennings, Kansas about 207 miles from Timberlake Ranch Camp. With a stop to eat lunch, we will need about four to five hours for traveling time. Our goal is to arrive before 3 PM, if posible. Jennings is a small town with a population of 78 (2022) and was laid out in 1888. It was named for Warren Jennings, a landowner and was located on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad lines. Jennings was a popular area for Czech immigrants to settle and start their farms. We'll post again once we reach our Sunday destination at FamCamp located at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado next week.

One of the advantages of periodically doing an RVICS assignment is the fellowship with like-minded Christian brothers and sisters. Traveling full time is great but we both miss our church family and the friends we've had for so many years living in Sonoma County. As we take a three week travel break, these projects provide us with routine and a community we need to nurture our spirit. Our weather has improved and the local Nebraska sky is filled with puffy cumulus clouds floating over the wetlands of the Platte River to the north of Timberlake Ranch Camp. Besides working four days a week on camp projects, we hang out together each morning for 8 AM devotions, prayer and singing. Tuesday nights we have a social get-together and usually play a card game like Pyramid or 4 up-4 down. Wednesday night we do a bible study with someone from the camp staff. When Friday rolls around we try and do a field trip in the area, go to a movie or play mini-golf. Going to lunch or dinner with the team is common and an obligatory trip to any local Dairy Queen is an RVICS tradition! This second week on project saw the men installing a much needed garage door opener on the maintenance shop's 10 foot door, finishing the gazebo benches, demolition of an old camp utility structure and repairing the waterfront floating dock. The ladies did some more painting in one of the staff houses and continued getting the craft room and camp store ready for the first week of campers that will arrive in two weeks. It might appear that we are too busy while working an RVICS project, but we do get our share of down time. The activity during the week provides plenty of exercise and we are both feeling the sore muscles at the end of each work day. An added benefit, however to all the physical work, we sleep well through most of the night. Friday, May 10 Karen and I drove into the city of Grand Island, Nebraska so she could do some lap swimming at the local YMCA. I drove over to Anderson Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM dealership to schedule an oil change for the truck on Monday, May 13. I was hoping to get a haircut but couldn't find a barber shop open that took walk-ins. After I picked up Karen we went to lunch, then to Walmart for some groceries then back to camp to play a new game called Mölkky. Mölkky (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈmølkːy]), is a Finnish throwing game invented by Lahden Paikka company in 1996. It is reminiscent of kyykkä, a centuries-old throwing game with Karelian roots. The Karelian people's presence can be dated back to the 7th millennium BC–6th millennium BC. The region itself is rich with fish, lakes, and minerals, and because of that throughout history its political boundaries have changed. Today it is divided between the Republic of Finland and the Russian Republic. The game is played with a set consisting of a throwing pin, and 12 shorter wooden pins (also called "skittles") numbered from 1 to 12. The pins are initially placed in a tight group in an upright position 3–4 meters away from the throwing line, with the pins organized as follows: 1st row, 1/2; 2nd row, 3/10/4; 3rd row, 5/11/12/6; 4th row, 7/9/8. The players take turns to toss the throwing pin to try and knock over the numbered pins. Knocking over one pin scores the number of points marked on the pin. Knocking 2 or more pins scores the number of pins knocked over (e.g., knocking over 3 pins scores 3 points). A pin does not count if it is leaning on the throwing pin or one of the numbered pins (it must be parallel to the ground to count). If you miss all the pins on your throw it counts as a strike. Three strikes and you lose all your accumulated points and go back to zero but keep playing. First player that gets exactly 50 points wins. Great fun and no...I didn't win.

The men started working on Monday morning, April 29 repairing picnic tables and benches for Timberlake Ranch Camp. I started painting new replacement boards while Tom and Steve removed the weathered table boards and bench seats from their metal frames. By the end of the first day we had twelve picnic completed. The ladies spent Monday deep cleaning the gift shop/snack bar. They swept up hundreds of dead flies, cleaned out metal baskets to prepare for new inventory, wiped down walls and counter tops, vacuumed and mopped floors. Also in the kitchen, the refrigerators were emptied of old food and cleaned, dusty bowls & food containers were washed and dried. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the ladies painted the girls bathroom a light gray color. On Thursday, Karen and Jan we were back in the gift shop finishing the cleaning and starting to open and organize new merchandise in order to price and display for the summer camp season. Meanwhile Cat and Christina were working in the craft room painting project tables, cutting hundreds of small cardboard pieces for a craft project and winding up yarn into balls.. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were spent by the RVICS men working on an older gazebo near one of the many lakes around the camp. The gazebo is a hexagon structure with four original redwood benches that needed to be replaced. Our first assignment was to remove the four old benches without damaging them too much. We needed them for accurate measurements for the new benches we would construct. The benches had multiple complex angles that needed to be cut so we used both an electric table saw and electric compound miter. saw out by the job site. The first bench took most of Tuesday afternoon to figure out. Wednesday and Thursday we continued building the othe three benches making minor adjustment to compensate for the variables associated with the gazebo roof post spacing. By the end of the day Thursday we had all the benches completed. Friday, May 3 we all had the day off and traveled to Aurora, Nebraska to visit the Plainsman Museum. The museum had an extensive array of exhibits about the history of this county and the Great Plains of Nebraska. Exhibits included a furnished Sod House. Once westward bound pioneers reached their destination, they had to build homes. Those homes reflected the available natural resources of the land. In forested areas, log homes were popular. Some areas in rocky terrain used stones. Some in the Southwest, where clay was plentiful, used adobe. On the Great Plains, sod houses, called “soddies,” were the most common abodes. The humble dirt and grass homes were made with about the only natural resource available: sod. Pioneers used a special plow that could cut the dense virgin sod, then it was cut into bricks and stacked. All of it was very hard work. And a sod roof was the most challenging to build of all and could weigh more than three tons! The 6 acre campus of this museum included a football sized building filled with old farm equipment and classic cars. There was also a one room schoolhouse which was used from 1874-1954 and a lovely fully furnished Victorian-era house built by General Delevan Bates in the 1870s. It was a fascinating museum with many incredible displays. We finished off our field trip with a Mexican lunch at Pueblo Viejo.

We arrived in Marquette, Nebraska on a Roving Volunteers in Christ's Service (RVICS) project at Timberlake Ranch Camp after a brief one-night stop in Hamburg, Iowa on Wednesday, April 24. The drive north on US 29 from Kansas City, Missouri was only three hours but the truck traffic and navigation was challenging. Hamburg turned on to be a sleepy Iowa farming town with only one restaurant. We were using our Harvest Host membership to stay the night in the town ball park on the grassy parking lot and we were the only RV there. The weather on Thursday, April 25 was changing with forecasted rain turning to thunderstorms so we got on the road earlier than usual at 9:30 AM from Hamburg. We drove Highway 2 to the Nebraska border heading west towards Lincoln. From Lincoln we connected to Interstate 80 and continued on to Marquette. The weather was behind us as we moved west but the predictions for the weekend indicated we were in for some potential heavy thunderstorm activity and possible tornadoes. We all spent the weekend hunkered down and prayed the bad weather would miss our location, but to be safe, we had the NOAA weather alert radio ON keeping us up to date on the approaching and changing conditions. Both Friday, April 26 and Saturday, April 27 were pretty hairy with over 150+ tornado alerts and warnings in Oaklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraka and Iowa. Rain was heavy with occasional downpours of "pea sized" hail which made sleep during the night difficult. We received alerts on both our cell phones and the NOAA radio throughout the day. By Sunday it was all over and we all came though this extreme weather unscathed. The region experienced two fatalies, 50+ injuries with 153 tornado reports, 138 wind reports and 276 hail reports from the April 25 to April 28 storm outbreak sequence. No tornadoes were reported closer to us then some suburbs of Lincoln, Nebraska about an hour away to the east. We got many calls and texts from concerned family and friends; many thanks for your thoughts and prayers. The RVICS enitre team met up for the first time on Saturday afternoon; we are made up of three couples and a single this time around. On arrival at camp we met Steve and Jan Meyers at the entrance to the RV parking area. They will be our RVICS team leaders on this project through May 17. They're both retired school teachers and have a home in Iowa leading teams with RVICS part-time in their Nomad fifth wheel by Skyline. Couple number two, Tom Horsfall and Cat Tyson are working with us traveling in their Entegra Anthem motor coach. They are also "escapees" from California and. on their fourth RVICS project like us. Our single member is Christina Beck from Arizona traveling in her Jayflight by Jayco tow-behind trailer. She's new to RVICS and on her first project with her dog, Gidget. Timberlake Ranch Camp, founded in 1977, is a Christ-Centered camping facility in the midwest and for over four decades they have been providing family-friendly camp programming combined with excellent facilities designed to immerse guests in nature as they explore and grow in their faith. "By intentionally taking the time to step away from our busy schedules to invest in our relationship with God, connect with those around us, and create space for new experiences, God does incredible things. We have seen the power of camp firsthand through the years as thousands of young people have professed faith in Jesus or found fresh purpose by taking meaningful steps to deepen their faith". We are looking forward to a busy and fruitful week of work with the camp staff repairing and preparing the facility's different venues for their future campers.