Montana

We spent the month of Aug. traveling & camping with friends Steve & Terri.  Russ spent the first week at Hungry Horse Reservoir helping Steve install an inverter system in their RV while Terri & I picked huckleberries. It was also big, black, annoying fly season - meals were inside the screen room. Heavy snowfalls last winter made for beautiful waterfalls on the "Going to the Sun Road" in Glacier Nat'l. Park.  We explored some ghost mining towns and marveled at the hardiness of the miners and their families. Touring, a little hiking, a lot of campfires (toasted marshmellows taste great on a brownie!), a funny play at the community theatre in Philipsburg, and some beautiful Nat'l. Forest campgrounds.



Hungry Horse Reservoir





Whistling Pig

 





Not a bad view, huh?



Yes, we were really this close. No telephoto lens necessary.

 


Avalanch Lake - 5 mile hike (round trip)

 



Going to the Sun Road - Glacier Nat'l Park



  

October in Arizona

We're in Cottonwood, AZ - just a hop, skip and a jump from Sedona.

Russ was glad to get here so he could visit the friendly local dentist who sent him to the friendly local endodontist for a root canal.  Later in the month he gets to finish up with the friendly local dentist and then maybe he won't have a tooth ache any more.

That's probably the hard part of full-timing - little medical/dental things that pop up.  Oh, well.

We're getting in a lot of Pickleball - a few people here we played with in Florida and some we've just met.

Brief summary of how we got here.

Closed on the house - February 14th - & became full time RV'ers.
Happy Valentine's Day indeed.

Left Florida for May 15th high school graduation for Nick & Travis.

 

Nick - Karina - Travis - Savannah - Scott




  



On to Des Moines - played indoor Pickleball for the first time - a welcoming group so had a great time. Toured a couple of the Bridges of Madison County - much better than the movie -





Met up with friends Lee & Jeanne at Buck Lake in Minnesota.  Mutual friends Ken & Pattie let us park our RV's for 8 days on their lake front property - complete with electrical plug-ins.  What a view. The loons were in resident and posed for pics.

We toured around the Ely MN area.  Took in the Wolf Sanctuary, accompanied the mail boat on its rounds of Vermillion Lake, rented a canoe for the day on Fall Lake. Took a drive over to Grand Marais on Lake Superior.  A highlight was our visit to the Vince Shute Wildlife Center - premier bear viewing spot where they are not fenced in but free to come & go as they please. A tour boat ride on the Rainy River at Voyageurs Natl. Park rounded out our MN experience.