Hard at Work

We are so very happy for the new job that our daughter-in-law, L, has. It meant that she had to be gone all of last week for training. But she was at work here this week. As you can see, she is a hard worker. This is her new office.







I think the hat makes it legit. She had been to a meeting, so she did get dressed. This is only temporary and she will soon have a REAL office.

Along Came Fall

Has anyone been wondering what we have been doing with our time? Just in case there is one of you out there who has, here goes.

One of the things that we had never done, while at the West Point area, was to go see Fort Putnam. It was built during the Revolutionary War to help guard the Hudson river and keep the British from going up the river. It was one of a number of forts. The grounds around it are now covered with trees, but I'm sure it was totally cleared at that time. I would not have wanted that job. We had a great guide who took us and told us about it. He was even very patient while we read everything.

It overlooks what is now call the plain. There was also a fort located on it. That is part of the Cadet's buildings in the background.

As you can see, the fort is not very large. It sits on a hill overlooking the bend in the river where, during the war, a chain was put across to stop the British ships. We are standing on the barracks.During our time at WP we made a trip up to Vanderbilt's Hyde Park mansion to listen to R play. It was a beautiful evening, not to hot, good music, and a nice sunset.
The time came for us to move on as By & L were looking forward to hanging out in the camper with us in the great out doors. So on we went. We picked them up and went out to the Bull Run area for Labor Day weekend. On Monday we pulled out and went to the Shenandoah River valley. It is a beautiful area with some hiking trails. It seems that I never had my camera with me, so I have no pictures, other than this, to show off the area.
This is a new camping area. It just opened in July. So there weren't the trees in the camping area that had been at Bull Run. Fortunately, the weather cooled and the humidity really dropped. It started feeling like fall. We even saw a few leaf colors.

One of the things that we did was to go to Luray Cavern. It is privately owned, not very large, and well known for it's pipe organ. The pipes are different formations. It doesn't sound too bad. It has lots of formations with many colors, some very white. We hadn't seen that before in the caverns we have gone to.

The next one is actually a pool of water reflecting the formations on the ceiling.
One of the trails goes along the river. The first day that we got there, I went hiking down stream. It reminded me of the creek that I would walk along as a kid on a hot summer afternoon; cooler with lots of trees, the sun coming through in places, dried leaves crunching under foot, and the smell of vegetation dried from the summer heat. The trees that I walked through as a child were quaking asp while these were hard woods. I learned the type of some of the trees as some had labels. There were also lots of pawpaw trees along the river, but alas, no fruit.

Another trail goes up into the trees, gaining altitude very quickly. By decided that he and L could use that loop as part of her running training. The first time they did it too quickly and about killed themselves. It didn't help that it was in the high eighties at the time.

The Shenandoah river is also a good river for canoeing. There are lots of rental places. On Thursday By, L and I rented one and did a seven mile stretch of the river. Again, no pictures as we didn't want to get cameras wet. We should have brought them. B decided to take a long hike.

The water was low so there were numerous times that we scrapped the bottom going over the many rock ridges crossing the river bottom. We almost had to step out of the canoe a couple of times to free it. The water was crystal clear so we could see the bottom along with everything in the water. We saw several small fish, one around nine to ten inches long, a red turtle about a foot across, old tires, cans, etc. In the air we saw two bald eagles circling above us. As most of the float is in forested areas. It would be a great place to see fall colors. We had fun trying to float up on cranes.

The next morning, B and I went hiking up river. Within a couple of miles we came to the canoe rental place from the day before. Had we known that, we would have walked there and back instead of making the about six mile trip by truck out, around and back in to the river.

It was a great time. Even Hinckley enjoyed it. He really got into the trail exploring. Since we got back, he has been moping around.

Remember all those times I started to carve a stick while we were in the outdoors? Well, I finally finished something.

More Summer Fun

It has been almost a month since I last wrote so I thought maybe I should update and at least let some of you know where we are and what we have been doing. I got a call from a son at almost midnight. His excuse for calling so late was that he didn't know where we were.

We spend a couple days at Nauvoo, toured some of the buildings, went to the temple, and saw the pageant. I love that no matter where you are in the old town area you can see the temple.

Prior to our first visiting here, I didn't know what a bustle oven was. This picture shows it well. These were built this way so that there is also an oven in them.

In several areas I saw these large hybiscus plants. The blossoms are 8 to 10 inches across and in several colors. The plants are around 4 feet tall. They were beautiful.
Then we headed east to NY to spend some time with B and R and family. We went into the city and took in the aquarium.

The kids thought that this was a good place to stand.



Almost next door to the aquarium is Coney Island. So we walked the board walk and ate an official Coney Dog at the official place. Now we can say we have been there, done that.

Back on post we got to watch the new cadets come in from their all night march at the end of their basic training. They were a tired looking bunch.

R was playing snare drum as the band lead them back onto post.

A week later we watched the review where they were accepted into the corp. The New Cadets marched in and lined up facing the corp. Towards the end of the review, they march towards the corp, joining it's ranks and become official cadets.

The kids wanted to spend a night in the camper. So we all cooked dinner over the camp fire. First we had to get smoked. Can you believe that someone in this group actually misses the smell?

Then the tongue has to be held just right, as B demonstrated, and you get the perfect dog.
The kids have now gone back to school but we will not accept that summer is drawing to a close. Hopefully, there is more summer stuff for all of you too.

Who Is Helping Whom

Some of you already know some of the information that I am going to place here. If you do, please bare with me.

While traveling into Iowa on a hot July day, well into the 90's and with high humidity, we had a blow out on the trailer.

We were on a two lane highway. Now that may sound bad, but there was a policeman right behind us, so he deflected traffic to the other lane.

What goes around, comes around.

So a few days later, we had the chance to help a women and three kids who had a break down on the freeway. We were actually coming back from checking on another woman who we had checked with on our way back to the trailer after church. B was concerned that her help was coming as it was very hot out.

We have also had a few other experiences besides site seeing, blow outs and helping others.

We were camped across the Missouri River at a state park at Council Bluffs. We saw on TV that a real storm was coming. The park ranger was going around warning everyone. We had gone out to see if we could see it coming and had just gotten back to the trailer when the wind hit; they for casted 60mph plus winds. Some limbs came out of the trees. There was almost continuous lightening and thunder. It lasted for about half an hour then there was this.

As you can see, first the sky was yellow following the storm and then red. It made for a pretty sunset.

We also saw some pretty clouds. These were at Indianola, Iowa.

Not being a native of the area, I didn't really know what these meant, but soon found out. This was the start of another experience. Not long after I took this picture, those few dark streaks that you can see, became a huge dark cloud. About five minutes later we heard some sirens. We asked another neighbor what they were. His reply was tornado sirens. B saw it first, came back and got me as I was watching the report on it. It was about a mile to the north west of us heading north. I saw the top of it as there were trees blocking the bottom. It then started raining like crazy and it broke up. We could see the clouds still swirling some. It did touch down and damaged six houses. Fortunately, no one was injured. As I was going to the trailer, another fellow who was outside putting in his awning got tingled in his arm from some lightening that I think came through the power line above him. I was in the open and didn't feel anything.

Here are a few things I have learned about these areas.
When it rains it dumps it down.
Lightening doesn't just come at the start of the rain, but continues throughout the whole storm, in almost continuous strikes and rumblings.
When they say, seek shelter, they mean it.

And how often does it rain here and how much at a time? Well last night we got rain again lasting in a down pour for over two hours, with the above mentioned lights and sounds. Some areas had over 5 inches and there was flooding. It looks as if we may not have rain tonight, but I'm not holding my breath, as another camper said he has been here a week and it has down poured every night. Did I mention there is lots of standing water around the park and many flooded rivers in the state?

On The Move Part 2

You may have noticed that, unlike the pioneers, we are going west to east. So I will proceed from where I left off.

Our next stop was at Sixth Crossing, named for the sixth of nine times that the wagon trains crossed the Sweetwater River. About twelve miles east of here, at Ice Slough, the Willie Handcart Company, encountered snow along with meeting messengers from Salt Lake City. The same day, October 19. they went on to Sixth Crossing. They were caught in a snow storm here. This is where the rescue wagons from Salt Lake met them on the evening of the 21st. We weren't able to walk out to the site as there were trekkers on the trail.

Part of the rescue wagons continued east to find the Martin Handcart Company, which was 50 miles further east. They found them and helped them get to "Martins Cove."

The Martin Handcart Company ran into trouble at the last crossing of the North Platte on October 19. It was then that the big snow storm hit. They continued on and it was on the 28th that the first horseback riders found them. It wasn't until the 30th that they met the relief wagons and were helped to Independence rock. (Picture further below.) They reached the stockade at Devils rock on November 2 and then went to the cove two days later. The blizzard kept them there for three days.

Martin's Cove was our next stop. (On the way to here we also say what they called split rock.)

There are several buildings at the area of Martins Cove, along with with a "stockade." It was too small for all to obtain shelter, so that is why they went to the cove.

This is the path up to the cove, about 2.5 miles from the fort. They cove is located below the trees just to the right of B's head. This gets fairly steep at the last. Because of the hill to the west it gave them some protection from the wind. This is looking north.
I forgot to take a picture of the actual cove. Along with protection from the wind, there was also wood readily available for fires.

This is looking west as we went around the hill that broke the wind, on our way out.


This is a picture of Devils Gate, located about half a mile from the 'stockade.' The wagon trains had to detour around this as it is narrow with only the river going through.
We walked over to it. Here is what it looked like closer up.

The Sweetwater River flows gently through here. You can see where the ridge ends and the trails are located going around the hill. The Devils gate is just before the end, in the darker area.
There are lots of groups at these sites doing reenactments. This is one of the groups crossing the river.
It was hot out, so even though some were yelling when they went in, it probably felt pretty good.

Next was Independence rock, so named by fur trappers who reached here on July 4. Many inscriptions are on the rock.

Our next stop was Fort Laramie. The fort had been sold, buildings left to rot and fall down, but is now being restored. There never was a wall around this fort.

One of the barracks.
Some of the buildings and homes.Part of the parade ground in the above picture.

Our next stop was to get a picture of Chimney Rock, even though it was a ways off. We pulled over and found a marker there. It wasn't about Chimney Rock. I took a picture of it because we have friends with the name of this organization and I know that they have ancestors who were pioneers.We did get closer to Chimney rock and I took this one. It sits alone by itself.
As one goes along there are a few other formations like this one. (You can see another in the background.) Having traveled today across the flat, no landscapes Nebraska, I can understand why the pioneers were excited to see these and know that they were making progress. We also saw two formations close together that are called the Court House and Jail. One is rounded slopping up to a point and the other is cube shaped.

That ends our sites in Wyoming. So on to Nebraska.

On The Move

We spent some time in Montana seeing relatives and celebrating the fourth. Then we took off to take in some of the Wyoming Wild West.

While in Montana, we took a side trip out to Pompey's Pillar as we had never been there.

We arrived in Cody. In my opinion the name "Buffalo Bill Cody" is over used. The lake, where we stayed the first night is named that, the Museum (okay, I can see that), and about every other thing also uses the name.

We splurged and took the trolley to learn about some of the historical buildings in the area. Everyone told us to plan on two days at the museum and it took that. Fortunately, your pass is good for two days. Some of the things that I did see there were the pictures of Randals and a few of their items along with his silver saddle. I also saw this in the front lobby, just after coming into the building. You might remember this, Edith, as we always wanted to play on one like it at Randal's but Mom wouldn't let us.
In case you don't know, check out the next picture.
We also saw some, not so authentic, western action. This occurred at the Irma Hotel built by, your know who, and named for his youngest daughter.


The Dance


The bad guys.



Shoot out results.

We went south through the Wind River Canyon. It is a really pretty canyon. My picture doesn't do it justice.

We parked our trailer at Lander, then went looking for South Pass. On our way we came across this, not far out of town.

We ended up at a ghost town named South Pass City, an old gold mining area. There are a few living here and there is restoration work being done. However, best of all, at this location we found someone who knew the way to the pass.

After traveling down a dirt/gravel road we found a marker. We could also see the remains of trails. Looking west one could see the gentle pass between hills to the south and north.

There was a dirt road going west from here so we took it. We found this marker inscribed with Mormon, California, Oregon, and Pony Express Trail engraved on it's sides. We saw more of these markers as we traveled east.

We could see the trails as we went further west. Bob is also walking on one.


Finally we came to a large fenced in area. This was the top of the pass, just a gentle knoll. These were located there.

The first Mormons were in 1847, Brahman Young and those with him. So this was interesting.


This is looking east from the top of the pass and

this is looking west.
That is about enough for this one, so I will wait to fill you in on what we did next in another addition.