That's All Folks!

Well, we've come to the end of the trail. I must say this was one whale of trip, a truly excellent adventure. Oh, the memories of those crystal blue lakes in northern Minnesotta, the deep green forests, and the lush grass that I so loved to roll in. I'll dream of those endless fields of corn, and the rolling hills of Wisconsin and Tennessee. I'll keep hearing the blast of the train whistles each night as we tried to get some sleep. And I'll fondly remember meeting all the wonderful members of Mom's family-Connie, Kate, Sarah, Martin, Mary, Dave and Pam.

Dad had some final thoughts:

Perhaps the highlights of our trip were the speedboat ride on Clitherall Lake, the trek and then the view from Inspiration Peak, the Battlefield at Perryville, and of course, the Lady of Fatima statue, not to mention the Catholic Shine to the Mexican Saint in Lacrosse and the sand scupture contest along the Mississippi River in Lacrosse. Pat and I have traveled the world, including our great adventure to Nova Scotia last summer. But after two weeks traveling through the great American midwest, I can truly say that we live in a spectacularly beautiful and verdent country.Hopefully we can work to preserve this great land of ours.

Just a few final facts about the adventure:

- We traveled over 3400 miles in 17 days.
_ We passed through 7 states, and crossed over countless major rivers including the Ohio and Mississippi.
- Most of the RV parks were quite nice, except for maybe two or three like Berea, or the dump outside of Louisville.

But all in all it was a blast."

Jasmine here; I just want to thank Mom and Dad for another great and excellent adventure. But I'm glad to be back with all my Oak Island buddies. I can't wait

to tell them all about it when we next meet.

Last Night -Allatoona Landing

We pulled up stakes early this AM at Cave City and headed south through Tennessee into Georgia. We're about 30 miles north of Atlanta at Lake Allatoona. Ah, I just love to romp in the lakes and this one fills the bill. I had to chase some ducks to get to the ball but no big deal. The RV park is nice but right next to a railroad track. The trains come about every 30 minutes and the trainman insists on blasting his horn. Now I want to share an insight about the location of RV parks. This is literally the fifth RV park situated next to an active train track. Why? you ask. Because residential development wouldn't work so well with trains roaring by all day and night. Another location feature is interstate highways with lots of trucks roaring by all night. I guess this is why these parks charge only $30-$35 a night.

Mom and Dad are chowing down on steak tonight so I may get a bone, but not holding my breath.

This has been a great trip. We really enjoyed meeting all the Arnesons, and I particularly enjoyed the cousins' dogs. Can't wait to see Rex again; I think he had a crush on me!

We're heading back to Dataw tomorrow. I'll have a few final thoughts tomorrow night.

Later!

Spelunking in Mammoth Cave, KY

Well, here we are in Cave City just outside Mammoth Cave National Park. It's Saturday and Mom and Dad catched a ride with an RV Park staffer over to the park. I hung out in the RV with the AC on. Outside temp is around 88 degrees so I needed the AC. We stayed Thursday in a park outside Louisville, and then drove down early yesterday morning to Bowling Green to get some things fixed on the camper at Camping World, an RV dealer and servicer.Then we drove back up to Cave City about 53 miles Northeast of Bowling Green.

Here's Dad's description of the Mammoth Cave experience:

"We signed up for the "New Entrance" tour. This trip includes a dramatic series of domes and pits, typical large trunk passageways and includes the dramatic frozen Niagra Tour and a portion of the Grand Avenue tour. Now the descent is a bit strenuous going down 280 steps in very narrow passages. Once we reached the bottom we wound our way through large galleries, and tunnels, including amazing limestone stalagtites and stalagmites.

With more than 390 miles of cave passgageways, Mammoth Cave ranks as the longest known cave in the world. Mammoth Cave was established in 1941. In 1981, the park was designated a World Heritage Site, and became the core area of an International Biosphere Reserve in 1990. Here are photos of our experience. The most interesting part of the tour was toward the end, where we saw dazzling lime stone formations. We also saw some bats and cave insects. The hike down was scary since we were going straight down and looking down through the grated steps in what was basically 200 foot pit, gave us the willies. Pat complained that her legs were totally sore, so recovery tonight will be required so pass the scotch!"

Tomorrow we head back east and stay outside of Atlanta, then home on Monday!

More Action at Lake Clitherall

We had a nice afternoon yesterday (Monday)in and around Lake Clitherall. Mom and Dad joined the Arnesons on an excursion to see Inspiration Peak, the Lady of Fatima Memorial and then a refreshing dip in the lake. I loved that as you can see from the pics below.

Dad tells about the adventure:

"Inspiration Peak is the third highest peak in Minnesota. A short but steep hike gets you to a breathtaking view of the surrounding lakes and hills in the distance. These were all formed by glaciers some years (like 10,000) ago. We then checked out the Lady of Fatima memorial. This bit of folk art was constructed by a local farmer in honor of his surviving cancer. He attributes his recovery to the patron saint of medical care-Lady Fatima. You can see below that it's not a Micheangelo but quaint."

So then Mom, Pam, and Dave braved the frigid waters of Lake Clitherall for a dip. Dad wimped out, and stayed on the dock to take photos. The evening ended with a fabulous Walleye dinner and fresh corn.

Today we started our long trek back to South Carolina. Tonight we're near Lacrosse after driving 7 hours. Tomorrow we're heading to Bloomington, Il. We have a bit of worry about the hurricane but the experts think it will go north, probably North Carolina.

Later!

Great visit with Mary Aspnes and then another great 2 days with Pam and Dave Arneson

On Friday we drove up to Minneapolis to visit with Mary Aspnes, Pat's cousin. Mary is the daughter of Ted Arneson,one of the six Arneson brothers. Mary's brother is Dave Arneson who I'll tell you about in a minute. Mary has a house in one of the grandest neighborhoods in Minneapolis, only blocks from the famous Walker Center art museum. Mary's ex, Greg Aspnes, joined for a brief visit. Dad and Gregg are good friends and love to talk politics. After Gregg left, we settled down for cocktails and a spectacular dinner of grilled salmon and corn. Dad says that Minnesota has the best corn in the galaxy. So we turned in early, and left early on Sunday to visit Dave and Pam Arneson. Dave and Pam live in Montevideo, MN, about an hour west of Minneapolis. Two years ago they bought a beautiful cabin on Lake Clitherall, 3 hours northwest of Minneapolis. Lake Clitherall is a pristine wooded lake that is quite remote. Pam and Dave have several canoes, and a ski boat. Their cabin is quite comfortable and we all enjoyed the cool evenings for sleeping.

We also met Peter Arneson, Pam and Dave's son who now lives and works in Fargo, ND. Peter left Sunday evening since he had to get ready for a 200 mile relay race in Portland, OR. Peter advised that it's a team race, 6 guys and 6 girls, each takes turns running 10 mile legs over a 24 hour period. Yikes!

I had one of the greatest days in my short canine life. I had total freedom to dive into the lake and retrieve tennis balls. I must have swam for several hours and then romped around the huge front yard. I was in heaven!

Last night Pam served an amazing soup and fresh corn. Dad said the corn was about as good as it gets. Today more romping in the lake, while Mom and Dad joined Pam and Dave in a canoe trip around the coastal marshes. We're still planning the rest of the day, so I'll have another report about Lake Cletherall tomoorw when we start back to Dataw.

Here are shots from Mary's and then Pam and Dave's lakeside retreat.

Later!

Days 6 and 7

Well we've had quite an adventure since leaving Barrington, Il. Mom rustled us up early last Thursday since the trip to Lacrosse, Wisc, would be our longest trek, over 400 miles. The drive through Wisconsin was really pretty, lots of corn fields and lakes. We arrived in Lacrosse about 4:00 PM on Thursday afternoon. We stayed with Connie Arneson who is Pat's aunt. Connie was married to Marc Arneson, one of several brothers of Pat's Dad. Marc passed away several years ago, and Connie now lives in a beautiful house they built about ten years ago near downtown Lacrosse. Friday morning, Pat's cousin Katie Arneson drove us out to their incredible log cabin house across the river in Minnesota. I had a terrific romp with Kate's 5 dogs, spanning several goldens, and other breeds. We had a blast romping in the huge meadow in front of Kate's house. That afternoon, Connie, Mom and Dad visited a Catholic shrine on top of a hill dedicated to a famous Spanish saint. Connie led Mom and Dad up this beautiful trail to the church at the top of the hill. Connie then led Mom and Dad to the sand sculpture contest in the main riverside park in Lacrosse. (see pics) They also visited a flower garder that represents several foreign countries which have built out a garden in honor of their homeland. Friday evening, Connie cooked up a traditional Wisconsin dinner of Bratwursts and Sourkraut.
I, of course, settled for the ever popular Eukaneba.

This morning we drove out to Sarah Peltier's place which is the family farm some 30 miles south east of Lacrosse. Connie and Marc Arneson purchased the farm some 10 years ago and built this wonderful sylvan retreat complete with several barns, a modern vacation house and "spring house," sort of a wonderful gazebo like structure next to the main house. The spring house was built on the original foundation of the structure used by the original tobacco farm to store milk. Sarah cooked up a wonderful breakfast and then we toured the corn fields where I and "Rex," Sarah's rambuncious male dog romped through the corn fields and wild watercress groves. Rex and I really mixed it up, while Sarah's other little dog, "Chance," tried to keep up. I loved diving into the water hole by the spring house and then rolling around in the deep grass. Sarah said that her husband Larry Peltier was digging a new spring pond but would need the services of a backhoe to finish the job.

We departed the farm about 10:00 AM this morning and rolled into Mary Aspnes' place In Minneapolis about 3:30 PM this afternoon. Mary is Pat's cousin, a daughter to one of the Arneson brothers. (Pat's Dad was one of the brothers)

Well, we plan to drive up to Clitherall Lake tomorrow to visit with Pam and Dave Arnerson. (Dave is another of Pat's cousins) The lake is about 3 hours from Minneapolis. This will be the furthest leg of our trek north. We then turn south on Tuesday to head back to Dataw.

What a trip!

Day 4 and 5 Long Trek up to Chicago

We had a nice day in a beautiful RV park near Frankfurt, Kentucky. Mom cooked up a fabulous steak dinner with all the fixins. We had a bit of trouble connecting to the cable service, but the camp guy figured we needed a digital to analog converter since the cable service was entirely in digital. So we could watch the end of the PGA contest which was pretty incredible. Rookie who never played in a major before wins it on the third play-off hole. Dad said that the age of the rookies is now upon us.

Monday we rose early to begin the long 400 mile trek to Barrington Hills, northwest of Chicago. Our friend, Robin Fentress lives in this fabulous development called Wynstone. Now you can see by the pictures that the homes in here are over the top McMansions. I'd guess that the average home was about 10,000 sq ft, and probably penciled in at about $2-5 M. Robin's house is very lovely and we enjoy the beautiful back yard. I went crazy with the 3 deer that ambled by the back deck. One of Mom's old girl scout troop members, Marcia Schwartz (Robin was their scout master) came over to cook up a super Lasagna repast.

Today (Tuesday), the highlight of the day was a romp in this huge dog park (56 acres)I met up with some beagles, whose Mom reminded Dad of Mama Cass of the Mamas and Papas. Jenny Craig where are you? So tonight Mom, Dad, and Robin are off to the Bistro for some French cuisine. I'll stay behind with my Ecanuba and the visiting deer.

We hope to do another dog park tomorrow, and then Thursday we're off to Lacrosse, Wisc.

Day 3 Perryville Battlefield and thewn on to Frankfurt, KY

We checked out of the Berea camp this AM and then had a huge breakfast in Danville, KY. Then we visited the Perryville Battle field. Here's Dad's brief overview of the battle: "In the summer of 1862, Confederate General Braxton Bragg's army invaded Kentucky for supplies, recruits, and to pull Union troops away from East Tennessee. After maneuvering around Kentucky for more than a month, Union troops pushed the Confederates from Bardstown to Perryville. After a sharp skirmish on the night of October 7, the Confederates planned an attack. They had no idea that their 16,000 soldiers faced more than 58,000 Union troops. On these ridges, 20,000 Northern soldiers were deployed. These men would bear the brunt of the Southern attack. At 2:00 PM on October 8, Bragg's Confederates swarmed toward the Union lines. For more than five hours these troops clashed in what became the largest battle to occur on Kentucky soil. Both flanks of the Union army were bent back, but timely Union reinforcements prevented a decisive Confederate victory. When the smoke cleared, more than 7,500 men on both sides were killed and wounded."

The Battlefield today is a beautiful rolling landscape of meadows and small hills. Reminded us of Gettysburg but lacking the regimental monuments that distinguish that battlefield.

We moved on to Franfurt and checked into the Elkhorn Campground...very nice with all the amenities. We had to borrow a converter since the cable service was totally digital, but Dad caught the last few hours of the PGA golf tournament. Dad says that Tiger Woods is history given his 10 over par performance. So we're settling in for a nice steak dinner tonight and then off to Robin Fentress's place outside of Chicago tomorrow. Robin is a dear friend and we look forward to a three day visit at her beautiful home in Wynstone, in the Northwest suburbs.

I'll tune on Tuesday since we arriving late on Monday.

Day 2- Hangin out in Berea, Kentucky "

Well I have to use Mom's IPad since Dad can't get on line. We're staying outside of Berea (rimes with Maria) in this crummy little RV park called "Oh Kentucky Camp Ground" We did some site seeing in the arts and crafts shops near Berea College. Nothing special. So we traveled about 300 miles today, thru a lot of rain and now it's really hot. No pictures today, but hopefully tomorrow when Dad gets back on line. We're touring the famous Perryville battlefield tomorrow so much to report.

Day #1 in the North Carolina Mountains

I knew something was up this morning when Mom and Dad started packing the old RV. I've become a veteran of this sort of travel; having logged about 5000 miles to Nova Scotia last summer and then a trek down to Key West, Florida for Christmas. It's a little boring staring up at Mom and Dad for four hours but I really have a blast once we get to the camp ground. Tonight we're staying in a KOA park east of Ashville. Really pretty setting with lots of mountains in the distance. Mom says we're near a lake so I'm hoping for a quick dip before dinner, which for me is the good ol Eukanuba. Mom and Dad are doing some fried chicken (already cooked) so no culinary extravaganza tonight.

I figured we traveled about 300 miles today; left about 8:30 AM from Dataw, arrived here at about 3:00M.

Here's Dad with some local history:

We're a few miles from Hendersonville, and arguably the most infamous person from Hendersonville is William Dathan Holbert, a.k.a. "Wild Bill Cortez", a serial killer who murdered several persons in Bocas del Toro, Panama between 2007 and 2010. Holbert reportedly would befriend land owners and then murder them so he could take over and use or sell their property. Several bodies were found in a makeshift graveyard near a hotel run by Holbert. The story has been widely reported in U.S. and foreign news outlets.

So we'll check in tomorrow night.