Thursday, August 21, 2025 Mitchell, SD to Bar Nunn (Casper KOA), Wyoming

Deb here for a change. We slept great at the Lake Mitchell campground. We packed up early and were on the road by 7 a.m. since we knew we wanted to put on a lot of miles today.

First stop was the Corn Palace. We’d arrived in Mitchell during Corn Palace Days, so the street was blocked off in front of the palace and there were all kinds of amusement rides and booths set up, waiting for action later in the day. It was a perfect time to walk around, with nobody else up and about yet.

Our next stop was the Dignity statue outside of Chamberlain, about an hour away. What a beautiful and impressive stainless steel sculpture of a Native American woman, set on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River. From there we hopped back on I-90 for a few miles before exiting at Chamberlain. We found a great diner right on Main Street (Main Street Cafe and Market) and had a hearty breakfast.

Back on the highway and I found that there was the “world’s largest” prairie dog statue right on our way. I have quite a soft spot for prairie dogs, so of course we had to stop! Not only was there a statue, but a prairie dog colony. And to make things even better, I could buy a bag of peanuts for $1 to feed the prairie dogs. By this time the temperature had reached 100 degrees but I couldn’t resist feeding them. Really a fun stop.

We got back on the highway once again to keep pushing west. On the edge of Rapid City we stopped at a huge WalMart to resupply and then kept on driving. Along the way we crossed into Mountain Standard Time, so we picked up an extra hour.

By 6:30 pm we reached our goal, a KOA a few miles outside of Casper. Laundry was first priority, then showers, and finally dinner in the van and route planning for tomorrow. All good!

Wednesday Aug 20, 2025 Milton WI to Mitchell SD

Today was a “work day”, getting some miles in. We emptied everything and filled everything at the KOA dump station and then muffins at Mickey D’s. It’s I-90 all day today. The landscape is still green with some rock formations here and there. At Wisconcin Dells we took the 2 laner through town since it has been flaunting itself as the water park capital of the world and we didn’t count or measure anything, but it certainly probably is. Amazing number of water slides and pools and hotels and casinos. Every kid’s dream.

After the Dells, which seem to be sandstone carved by water, the rock outcroppings disappear and it is rolling trees and fields filled with corn. The towns get further in between and smaller and the amenities get more sparse. 

We saw an old billboard advertising a SPAM museum in Austin, MN so naturally we had to go find it, thinking “free”, so probably in some guy’s basement. Turns out Austin is the home of Hormel and it is a nice town with a well groomed downtown and a very nice and free SPAM museum. The young lady there said Hormel is still in town and treats the town very generously. She gets paid to work there but in exchange for volunteer work she does she gets free tuition at the local community college. Wow, home town pround!

Back on the highway and Deb now discovers that up ahead in Blue Earth is a 55 foot tall Jolly Green Giant. Who would drive by that?!?!

Sure enough a very tidy, and big, Jolly Green Giant was a mile off the highway. Green Giant is the company that grows and distributes corn and peas and who knows what else. I watched their ads on TV when I was a kid. We ran into a young couple in their camper van who were going from California to Vermont. Nice kids.

Deb found a campsite run by the city of Mitchell so we set our sights on there. The temperature was in the 90’s by the time we arrived at a Subway for dinner and we played with the idea of a nice cool motel room but Deb said the prices were astronomical. Turns out the town is flooded with people this week with Dakotafest, first week of school and Corn Palace days, whatever that is. So off to the campground where Tom met us in his golf cart and took us to a nice campsite overlooking Lake Mitchell. Deb took a walk down to the lake (no swimming) and then back to the camper.

It’s been a long day so right to bed with the fans running. 

Tuesday Aug 19, 2025 Cleveland OH to Milton WI - KOA Campground

We woke up in Greg and Molly’s driveway about 6:30 and Greg was already up and had coffee made. Grace had to go to band early so we moved the van onto the street and chatted a bit and said our goodbyes. They are a wonderful family with two kids home one more year before college so it will be an exciting, emotional year. And we will surely be stopping again.

We decided to stay on Rt 2 and Rt 6 this morning since it’s a slow two lane road that goes near Lake Erie. It started to rain cats and dogs so we did not see much lake. When we got to Toledo we got on Rt 80/90 (they are the same here) and started jockeying with the big boys, aka, trucks. 

We found Jordan’s Country Diner near Cedar Point and had breakfast mid morning, then off to cross the rest of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. What a miserable time we had on the interstate. First, these three states charge a toll every so many miles and for seemingly no reason. We just kept handing our credit card out the window when there was an attendant, and we had to stop, jump out of the van and put our card in the toll machine (because the van window is too high to reach the damn thing), then jump back in the van and drive off before the gate closed. Toll after toll all the way until we got to the Wisconsin border where Illinois got the last toll of the day. And the road is pretty rough, and we spent an hour or more in Chicago traffic crawling along between zero and 5 mph. Yuck!

The good news is that Deb reserved our very first KOA campground ($56) and it is great. We parked, made dinner, went for a swim, spent some time in the hot tub and then nice hot showers. Great end to a miserable driving day. We drove 475 miles today. Tomorrow, westward!

Sunday, August 17, 2025 Oswego, NY to Pultneyville, NY

Deb again. Yet more reunioning today! We took our time in the morning, since we didn’t need to be in Fair Haven for the campus school gathering at Sheila’s camp until 11. We made a trip to WalMart to get a few supplies, then stopped at Ontario Orchards to pick up 2 pies, arriving in Fair Haven at about 11:15. We had a fun time (once again) with dear campus school friends and spouses and enjoyed lunch, conversations and even boat rides in Fair Haven Bay.

By 2:30 we said our goodbyes, made a brief stop at nearby Colloca Vineyards, and then drove the 45 minutes to Ginny’s home in Pultneyville.

We hadn’t seen Ginny for almost 2 years, so lots of catching up to do. Not long after we arrived Tom, Kim and Victoria showed up as well. Ginny had fixed a great salad and corn on the cob dinner, which we all enjoyed, and then Tom, Kim and Victoria headed back to Oswego by 7 p.m. The three of us watched a couple of Ginny’s favorite British TV show, Would I Lie to You?, and then off to bed by 8:30. So much socializing and we were totally beat!

Monday Aug 18, 2025 Pultnetville NY to Cleavland OH

Ginny had coffee ready this morning. We slept in the house which she has made very cozy with all her home improvements. The latest was a new bathroom. We had some muffins and fruit salad and said our goodbyes. We followed Ginny to the sweet corn stand where she bought a dozen ears for us to deliver to Molly and Greg’s later today in Cleveland.

We got on the NY thruway, RT 90, which is a toll road where they use cameras to pick up your licence plate and bill you by mail. Then Rt 90 past Buffalo and down the remainder of the NY and PA Lake Erie shore. We got off at one point and found a nice lakeside park and had lunch of fruit salad and macaroni salad we got from Ginny.

Then Google took us thru Cleveland rush hour traffic along the lakeshore and right into Molly and Greg’s street. Easy peasy.

Molly was back from her job at the children's toy store (what a great job!) and Greg soon came home followed by Henry, their son. We had a nice chat and then went off to the restaurant (Market in Rocky River) for dinner.

We have not caught up with these guys for years, the casualty of living is distant places and being so busy.

Their daughter Grace came in after we were back  from her job at 808 Shaved Ice. Both kids will be seniors this year in high school, so many discussions about college and future plans.

You can’t park on the street at night here so we got their cars into the driveway/garage and then pulled the camper into the driveway for a good night’s sleep.

Saturday, August 16, 2025 Oswego, NY

Deb here once again. Big day planned today! We ate breakfast in the van, then drove into town and parked. I’d made a plan to meet with Mary Maxon Grainger for coffee/tea at 10, so we had a nice catch-up at Riverfront Coffee while John worked on his AI stuff at Riverfront Bagels right nearby. 

We drove back to the RV Park a bit before noon, just in time to meet at Rudy’s for another lunch. We had a bigger group this time around, with Ro, Jacque, Carol, Carol, Sheila and Maris along with a few of our spouses. Once again, so great to catch up! We gave them all a tour of our van, and after lunch Ro and I went in for a dip in the lake.

Not long after everyone left Rudy’s my brother Pete showed up and we crossed the street to go back over to a Rudy’s pavilion with him. We hadn’t seen each other for almost 2 years, so really good to have a bit of time together. And then to top it all off, my brother Tom, his wife Kim and granddaughter Victoria all showed up to join us a bit later. We hung out near the beach until a bit after 4.

Once they left it was time for showers and getting ready for the big event, the 50th class reunion dinner. What a fun night! About 160 people and those of us who were Campus School graduates all had a couple of tables together. Lots of pictures, conversations and laughter. The dinner and party broke up about 9 and we headed back to our campsite. A wonderful day!

Friday, August 15, 2025. Oswego, NY

Deb here again. It was so lovely to wake up and see Lake Ontario across the road! We took our time at the campsite and then drove into town to visit Fort Ontario. It had been years since I’d been there and John didn’t think he’d ever visited, so it was time to go. The Fort has done a nice job with some newer exhibits and we enjoyed trying to follow the rich and complicated history of it all.

We then went downtown and parked near Riverfront Coffee, a newish coffee shop. Oswego keeps cleaning itself up and the downtown area, especially by the river, just keeps improving. 

By this time it was time to head back to the RV Park so I could meet friends at Rudy’s for a 12:30 lunch. Jacque, Sheila, Maggie and Laurie were all there and it was great to catch up at a picnic table outside and some good Rudy’s food (fish sandwich, the best). John hung out with us for a bit and then took off to visit the Maritime Museum in town. Since he’d taken the van I’d packed a “bliss bag” (his words, not mine) and left it on one of our camp chairs at the site. I changed into my bathing suit and headed down the beach for a swim. Heavenly. Clear water and sunny skies. I sat on the beach for quite awhile with my Kindle and thought again how lucky I was to grow up right on this beautiful lake. 

Once John returned we walked over to Bev’s for ice cream and ordered Mexican sundaes in my mom’s honor, those were her favorite. 

There was an informal reunion gathering at GS Steamers in town, so we went there at 6:30. Lots of people there and good to catch up with old friends and meet some new faces. By 8:30 the two of us were all talked out. We’d made the mistake of not eating dinner beforehand, so we walked to the Press Box across the street and managed to sneak in an order before their kitchen closed at 9. Clam chowder, tuna sandwiches and back in the van to crash for the evening.

Thursday, August 14, 2025 Robert Treman State Park to Sunset RV Park, Oswego, NY

Deb here. The weather cooled off enough last night that we had a pleasantly cool night to sleep. We had coffee/tea and packed up, heading to The Milkstand in Ithaca for breakfast at 8:30. Larri and Larry had tipped us off the night before that The Milkstand is the Ithaca go-to place for a good breakfast and they were right. Tasty and quality breakfast food.

From there it was on up the west side of Cayuga Lake, with a stop at Taughannock Falls State Park. We walked the 1.5 miles out and back to see the gorgeous 215 feet waterfall. Then on up the west side of the lake to Seneca Falls, where we stopped at McDonald’s for their WiFi to upload the blog. 

By early afternoon we arrived in Oswego. Let the walk down memory lane begin! Several months ago I’d booked us 3 nights at Sunset RV Park, which is right across the road from Lake Ontario and two of my favorite food establishments, Rudy’s and Bev’s. The park owner had us scheduled for one of the tent sites with no shade, but instead he found us a nice shady spot. Perfect. I can see both Bev’s (ice cream stand) and the lake from our site. The park is really clean and there’s even a pool, which I tried out in the afternoon.

Later in the afternoon we drove into Oswego to check out the farmer’s market and music. Lots of people in town on this sunny evening. Good music, lots of vendors and we met up with my grade school/high school friend Laurie Pfund Byron at Old City Hall Tavern. A bit later another friend, Carol Lloyd Brady and her husband Dennis stopped in, and then we all walked down to the riverfront to listen to another band. Another classmate, Mike Adams, showed up and we had a great conversation. By the time we broke up it was almost 8 and we hadn’t eaten anything for dinner, so on Carol and Dennis’s recommendation we walked to Southern Fare for $2 pork tacos and $5 margaritas. A great first night back in my hometown! 

Wednesday August 13, 2025 Robert Treman State Park

Today is supposed to be a bit cooler than yesterday so we got up early and drove to the parking lot near the swimming hole which is also where you start hiking. We walked up the gorge trail and visited the old mill building where they used to grind wheat into flour back in the mid 1800’s. The gorge trail is about 2 miles up and the rim trail is about 2 miles back to the parking lot with lots of vertical climbing on the gorge trail and a little less so on the rim trail. It rained off and on so by the time we got back to the van we were thoroughly disgusting. On with the bathing suits, we walked to the swimming hole which was at 72 degrees, nice and cool. Since we had sweaty hiking stuff and wet swimming stuff we found a nice laundromat in Ithaca with the Lincoln Street Diner next door so we got some lunch while our laundry tumbled next door.

We stopped at Ithaca Falls up the street then back to the campground to take showers. On the way to the campground Deb talked me into stopping at Purity Ice Cream, a place she used to go to when in college. After showers it was off to Larri (Deb’s stepsister) and Larry’s home for dinner and a lovely night of catching up with all the Richmond clan.

Back to the campground and right to bed. We were exhausted…

Tuesday, August 12, 2025 Watkins Glen State Park to Robert Treman State Park, Ithaca, NY

Deb here. We had a lazy morning hanging around the campground since we didn’t have far to go today. We finally left around 10 am and stopped at the dump station on the way out of the park.

The drive to Ithaca was only about 45 miinutes long, but so green and pretty. I wanted to go back on the Cornell campus, so first stop was Collegetown Bagels, right off campus, for bagels and coffee/iced chai. I remembered going there (although I learned their former location was across the street) in college, and we learned that the business was started in 1976. Wow, those rosemary salt bagels toasted with cream cheese were really tasty.

From the bagel shop we walked onto the Cornell campus, and while much has changed, much has also stayed the way I remembered, at least from the outside. The day was another scorcher, with 90+ degrees, sunshine and lots of humidity, so after a bit of walking we were ready to call it quits.

Yesterday we’d decided that if today turned out to be as oppressively hot as yesterday (which it did) we’d consider a movie, so that’s where we went. The Naked Gun was playing at the local theater, and while the movie was really silly the air conditioned theater was wonderful. A good respite from this heat.

Once out of the theater at 4 we drove to Treman State Park, our destination for the night. I’d swam at Treman before and knew about the awesome swimming area, so that’s where we went first. The water temp was only 70 degrees and wow, was it ever delightful. The natural swimming area at the base of the falls is really gorgeous, and great to see so many people enjoying the water.

After swimming we checked into our campsite and decided to try getting dinner nearby in an air conditioned restaurant. Unfortunately, no air conditioning at the restaurant, so we returned to our campsite and had sandwiches, salad and apple for dinner. Hoping it cools off again for a good sleep tonight… this heat really wears a body down!

Monday August 11, 2025 Skaneateles to Watkins Glen

Nice to stay in a luxury hotel, nicer to be married for 40 years. Somehow we like this being on the road life and think less about getting back home. We are thinking that it makes more sense to drive all the way to California after Deb’s reunion instead of straight home to Bisbee. Got to see those grandkids as they are growing like weeds these first months.

It is going to be hot today and tomorrow and the combo of heat and humidity is a little tough.

We walked downtown and sat in front of the bakery and watched the people and traffic go by. The hotel had coffee and croissants so we did not need anything to eat, unfortunate since the bakery goods looked pretty inviting. We gathered our stuff and loaded the van and headed west to Geneva. Then down the west side of Seneca Lake which ends in Watkins Glen. We found our campground and campsite which is next to the gorge at Watkins Glen. Lots of empty sites but it is huge campground with 200+ campsites. And there are showers and flush toilets for $25 per night.

We drove down the hill and found the parking next to the south end of the gorge. We hiked from the south to the north entrance to the park down in the bottom of the gorge. Big bonus was it was nice and cool down there so the perfect place to be on a hot day. As the pictures show, it is beautiful with a nice clear sunny sky today and sun streaming down through the green leaves and lighting up the waterfalls in the gorge.

We came up the north end and then turned around and did the same hike backwards to stay out of the heat above. 

We came out of the gorge and Deb promised me a nice cold beer which we found at a bar called Roosterfish. Slow day in the bar so we had a nice chat with the young guy behind the bar. Then we walked down to the docks on the lake and had dinner at Lucky Hare. Then walked back through town where Deb found new flip flops (her old ones disappeared) and back to the campsite and immediately to the showers to knock all the sweat off.

Cranked the fans in the van and waited for the temperature in the van to get down below 80 and then bed.

Sunday August 10, 2025 Vestal to Skaneateles

 

Deb here. Woke up to a sunny day. We hung out on the back deck with Patrick and Tom, munching Wegman’s baked goods and bacon (thanks, Patrick). After pictures and goodbyes we headed out.

First stop was a McDonald’s, where we spent a long time updating the blog with pictures since we finally had some strong WiFi. We then set our sights toward Skaneateles, where I’d booked a room at the Sherwood Inn to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. 

Another gorgeous Finger Lakes drive with lots of back roads, sunshine, water and greenery. We arrived in Skaneateles a bit before noon, and the first stop was Doug’s Fish Fry for a delicious seafood lunch. We then walked to The Sherwood Inn to see about parking and check-in but our room wasn’t quite ready. The Sherwood is right across the street from the public swimming area, so we walked back to the van and I changed into my bathing suit for a swim. What a great public swimming spot… lovely water temp and large enough to swim out to a floating dock and hang out. John enjoyed sitting in the shade and reading his book.

We checked in at 3, then spent some time walking around town. We stopped for an anniversary celebratory drink at Bluewater Grill, and then enjoyed a tasty dinner at the inn (salmon for John and pot roast for me, all good). After dinner we found a great park bench by the water and enjoyed people watching. All in all a perfect day and a great way to celebrate another year together.

Saturday August 9, 2025 Eighth Lake State Park Campground to Vestal NY

 

The campground had dried out since the thunderstorm yesterday before we arrived. Lots of empty sites and lots of sites being restored. This campground is ok but it needs the potholes repaired and the sites re-graded so they don’t collect water. We saw a few tents sitting in the middle of a puddle.

We did the dump station thing and cleaned out any remaining recycling and trash. We still have half a tank of water so good to go.

Today we drive to Endicott NY where we will stay in the driveway of Deb’s hiking buddies, Patrick (Goat) and Tom (Tommy Hawk) Kelley.

 We stopped at a SeaSons Diner on Rt 28 for a late breakfast. Lots of traffic in both directions since it is peak vacation season.

We next stopped at the Endicott Visitor Center which has a museum of sorts dealing with the town history. IBM and Endicott-Johnson shoe factories built this town. IBM in those early years made business machines like time clocks and typewriters. Tomas Watson was the figurehead of IBM and took them through the early growth years, although he never lived here. Sounds like he was more a finance guy who acquired companies and created what was to become IBM.

Endicott-Johnson made shoes and had huge facilities from tannery to actual shoe manufacture. E-J seemed to be the company who really cared about their workers and created a real company town. All that drifted away in the 80’s and 90’s as globalization began and now neither company has any presence in town.

We landed at Tom & Patrick's for afternoon drinks and snacks and then off to Beer Tree Brew Company for dinner and a hot air balloon ride. Beer Tree is a big place and it was hopping. We met Patrick’s new friend Christi and after dinner we headed down to the field to help setup (Deb and I watched them set up) the hot air balloon. Justin is the owner and has been ballooning since he got his first ride at the age of 13. Justin’s brother and three other friends formed the ground crew which has to chase us and then pull us down when we land, more important than we realized. Patrick, Tom and Christ also helped on the ground so I think they have done this before. The magic is Justin’s experience in “feeling” the terrain and wind shifts. There is no obvious way to steer the balloon and there are a limited number of spots to set down. We were in the air for about 45 minutes. You need a clear field with road access so the chase vehicles can get to us in time for us to drop. We went back to Beer Tree and had the traditional champagne toast after a successful flight. Thanks to Justin and crew!!

Then back to Patrick’s and our van in the nice flat driveway.

Friday, August 8, 2025 Golden Beach Campground to Eighth Lake State Park Campground, Inlet, NY

Deb here. We had a good thunder and ligntning storm last night, complete with some heavy rain. No rain this morning, but the air was still smoky due to the Canadian wildfires.

By 8:30 a.m we were packed up and headed to Schoolhouse Grounds Coffee Shop in Blue Mountain Lake for bagels and coffee/tea. The main objective at the coffee shop was to access WiFi and upload the last 5 days of blog entries. John was able to upload the blog posts, but the WiFi was too weak to also upload pictures. 

By 10 a.m. we were back at the Adirondack Experience to see what we didn’t see yesterday. We toured the exhibit about logging history, which was great, then headed down the .75 mile Minnow Pond trail to take a boat out on the water. John had the chance to row an Adirondack skiff while I sat in the “passenger princess” seat. Very fun to be out on the beautiful pond for a bit.

Back to the van by 12:30 and we decided to drive into Inlet and Old Forge, aka down memory lane. We rented a cabin on Limekiln Lake (right near Inlet) from family friends when Jake and Hannah were toddlers, but it had been a lot of years since we returned. Inlet was bustling, with lots of people about and new businesses, so not much that looked familiar.

We continued on to Old Forge and it was even more packed with tourists than Inlet. 30+ years ago we took the kids to The Enchanted Forest in Old Forge, which was a lot of storybook scenes involving fiberglass (such as Cinderella’s pumpkin coach). Somewhere down the line The Enchanted Forest took a back burner to the new and exciting Water Safari, and that was hopping today. Water Safari is in big letters with Enchanted Forest beneath it. Lots of kids and families.

As we drove through Old Forge we spotted a carousel pony outside of the candy shop that we remembered putting the kids on, complete with the sign that reads “pony rides for our little friends one at a time”. Still working, and still 25 cents a ride. I went inside and talked with the shop owner, who verified that it was the same pony we remembered and had been around for 30+ years. She thanked me for the memories and I thanked her for keeping the tradition alive.

Ice cream (soft serve twist) then back to Eighth Lake State Park Campground, our home for the night. It rained on the drive and the campground was soaked with lots of puddles. Shower for John, swimming for me, and scrambled eggs, toast and veggies for dinner. 

Thursday August 7, 2025 Adirondack Museum, Hedges, Raquet Lake boat tour

Busy day today! Slept great, again. The temperature was pleasant with no heat required last night. We made coffee / tea and got breakfast at Chef Darrell’s Diner up in Blue Mountain Lake. 

Next stop was “The Hedges” which is a resort that Deb’s friend Mary and her husband Brad have been going to for a long time. Very sweet place, kind of like a compound that you rent a cabin at and then can use all the facilities in the compound. Beautiful old historic buildings and lots of families.

Then on to the “Adirondack Experience, The Museum on Blue Mountain Lake”. We have both been here before but it’s been a few decades. It is now

a huge museum which we will need to take two days to explore. Beautiful wooden boats, renovated historic camps, a display about Theodore Roosevel’s race to Washington from Mt Marcy when President McKinley was shot, lots of native American history and crafts, and more and more. We did not have time to see everything but the ticket is good for two days so we will come back tomorrow and finish the rest.

We had to hustle to make it to the Raquette Lake boat tour in the afternoon. It was a 90 minute trip around the lake with a narrator talking about each of the big camps and their history and back stories. Wonderful.

Then back to the campground to swim and enjoy some beach time. The water was warm and the air was still smoggy from the Canadian fires. You can’t smell the smoke but you sure can see it. Hazy since we have been here.

Dinner of tacos, some reading and then bed.