Worthington, MN

We've been busy visiting with Jack's brother Melvin and his wife Betty here in soggy Worthington. On Friday we enjoyed visiting with their son, Scott, who's home from California for his parents 60th wedding anniversary celebration.

Scott and I cracked 9 DOZEN eggs on Saturday for an egg casserole to be served to 50 people on Sunday and then Scott was assigned other duties while his sister Barb Walter and I cut up fruit for a fresh fruit salad. Saturday evening we drove about 40 miles to Lake Shetek near Slayton where Betty and Melvin had chartered a boat for a 2-hour dinner cruise on the lake. It was great seeing all our nieces, nephews and cousins.

Today we attended church as a family (7 pews!) and then went back to their house for a fantastic brunch! The garage was turned into a party room with 6 large tables and another table in the house to seat the 50 guests. The weather cooperated and the sun was out and very light breeze, so the little ones could play outside, and the families could sit in the sun if they chose. By 4:30 everyone had departed, and I'm certain that Mel and Betty put their feet up and relaxed!

The weather's so nice here right now, and the forecast is for sun all week. We think we'll prolong our stay by a few days :-) Don't know where our next stop will be, but will keep our record going!

Mankato, Part 2

The Monday tour went off well. I had 15 women to escort, and they seemed to really enjoy the tour of Good Counsel. The day was super warm -- almost 90 degrees!

On Wednesday we celebrated our anniversary with another trip to Amboy to the Amboy Cottage Cafe and Lisa treated us to a warm carmel roll. My sister treated us to breakfast and we opened our anniversary cards that had been received. That afternoon we started packing the trailer for our trip to Worthington, MN. About 2:15 it started raining and the thunder was LOUD! It rained continuously from afternoon into this afternoon. Heard that Amboy got 12 inches of rain; many other towns had 4-10 inches of rain, and many roads were closed.

The Sojourner Community at Good Counsel treated us to a fantastic anniversary dinner Wednesday evening. We certainly have been made to feel at home at Good Counsel!

Now we're in Worthington, MN (90+ miles southwest of Mankato) to visit Jack's brother Melvin and his wife Betty. We're at Olson's campground and the wind is roaring at 15-18 miles per hour. Many of the campsites are under water, but our site is wet, but not flooded. Will post again in a few days.

Visiting the Rellies :-)

September 7 we arrived in Iroquois, SD and spent 5 days visiting our niece Barb and her hubby Rollie Walter. We also drove to Brookings and spent an afternoon with Jack's sister, Leila. The time went waaaay too quickly. On the 12th we drove 200 miles to Mankato, MN to spend 10 days with my sister, Sr. Dominic. This visit is going awfully fast as well! We've had marathon games of "golf" -- a card game, and Dom seems to have developed the ability to win nearly every game and has had numerous negative scores! On the other hand, I ended up with a 110 final score compared to her negative numbers! She even skunked me at cribbage!

We've been to the Amboy Cottage Cafe three times! The rolls are as wonderful as we remember! While in Amboy we caught up with our friend Art Schuch and had a wonderful morning catching up with him. We were blessed he joined us another morning for breakfast as well. Lisa (the owner) says that things are progressing well on saving the bridge she's been fighting for.

We've visited our first cousin, Joan Brown in Red Wing, MN on Friday, and went to Victoria, MN on Saturday to see sister-in-law, Marion, and our nieces and nephew. Had a great time visiting with them, and enjoyed seeing Corine and Steve's new Honda motorcycles. Their house is just a shell right now, as Eric and Dave are in the process of remodeling the first floor. Steve and Corine are living in the basement!

Today was the last day that Jake's Stadium Pizza is open in it's original location, so Jack and I got 4 pizzas and treated the nuns at Dom's. They'll be closed until after we're gone on Thursday.

Tomorrow I'm drafted to be a guide taking people through the various gift shops at Good Counsel, as Dom has a large tour coming in. My marching orders include: 15 min. in each location to see the Specialty shop, Ceramic Haven, the Gift shop, and the Woodcarving shop. Should be interesting!

Bismarck, ND

The picture of us on the bench was taken in Medora (see last Medora post for all the details) on our way back up the hill from visiting the Chateau's stable and caretaker's cottage. Besides the steep climb, we were also facing a 40 mph "breeze". We had an uneventful trip from Medora to Bismarck, and had no problem finding the KOA campground. Our address?? 39 Lilac Lane. If you know me well, you know I LOVE lilacs. There were large bushes between the sites, giving everyone a bit of privacy.

Sunday we went to breakfast at the first Cracker Barrel we've seen since Missoula, MT! We discovered after breakfast that ND still has blue laws (no sales on Sunday a.m.). Soooo, no boxes of crackers for Jack until Sunday afternoon. We could eat in the restaurant and get fuel, but no other sales are allowed. We went from there to Fort Abraham Lincoln where we had a tour of the reconstructed George Custer home and a portion of the barracks of his 7th Cavalry. On the foot lockers of those who were with him at Little Big Horn, their names, dates, and information about their careers was posted on each locker. Very interesting. From there we went farther into the park and stopped at the Museum and the On-A-Slant Mandan village. Five of the lodges have been rebuilt, but at the height of their population, there would have been lodges for 8 miles on both sides of the Missouri river. A Sioux was the interpreter at the site, and it was interesting hearing about their customs and symbols. Also went to the top of the hill and saw 3 reconstructed block houses. We got back to camp about 4:30. A long day.

Today we woke up to the sound of rain on our roof. It's rained ALL DAY!!! Mary Buchholz (a school friend) came over about 12:00 and treated us to a Chinese dinner and then in the afternoon we drove over to Mandan to see her son Joe Brincks, who was two the last time we saw him. He's 36 now, and the postmaster in a small town about 20 miles from Mandan. On the way back to the trailer, we also drove past the University of Mary, which is run by the Benedictine nuns and priests, and drove past some of Bismarck's McMansions. Tomorrow we will arrive in Iroquois, SD and spend several days with our niece and her husband.

Medora, Part 2

Wednesday we drove over to Dickinson, ND to get groceries and diesel and decided to stop at the dinosaur and mineral museum. The museum was awesome, and I personally enjoyed the mineral exhibit more than the dinosaurs. In the same complex there was also a county museum and a pioneer equipment museum. After the county museum we walked over and were entertained by an elderly couple as Jack and the husband walked among the old farm equipment, and his wife and I discussed canning pickles and beets and sauerkraut. We did get groceries and diesel, and on the way out of town, a Dairy Queen :-)

Thursday we drove back to the Chateau to see the stables and the caretaker's cottage. Both in very poor shape, and to get to them we had to walk down a steep road -- walking back up was a CHORE! Of course we were also battling a 40 mph "breeze". Thankfully they had thought to put a bench halfway up. We made good use of it. We also checked out the gift shops and got a bargain on a sweatshirt (for me) and a free T-shirt for Jack. We also toured the local museum, and at the last minute decided to visit the Harold Schafer Heritage Center. What a neat surprise! Harold Schafer was a Bismarck native who started the Gold Seal Company which sold Glass Wax, Snowy Bleach and MR. BUBBLE bubble bath. In 1965 he discovered Medora and he is responsible for the Medora Musical and for updating the stores in Medora and made it the number 1 tourist attraction in North Dakota. Medora has a volunteer program which gives volunteers a very nice place to stay and meals both free. Volunteers come from all over the US, and can stay from a season to a week or two. They staff the various gift shops and eating establishments in Medora.

Today (Friday) was our last day here, and since the weather was beautiful and NO WIND, we drove through the TR National Park one more time. Saw 2 bucks butting heads, several wild horses, some buffalo, and the always charming prairie dogs! Then we drove up to the Painted Canyon visitor's center where we took more pictures. Since it was almost noon, we drove 24 miles west to Beach, ND, and toured their Golden Valley County Historical Museum. By the time we got back to camp, the weekend influx of trailers had begun. As we walked through the campground after supper, we noted that there were only FOUR campsites that were open. By the time we came back from our walk, the campground was full.

Tomorrow we get into Central time in Bismarck, ND. We'll be staying at the KOA.