May 26th 2017
We have been parked in Eric's yard for a week and a half now. We have been having a great time and watched Breanna get her diploma last weekend. She also had surgery this week on her knee d/t an injury she received playing tennis this spring. We were able to spend an evening in Billings with Braden when we traveled thru. We spent that night at the local Walmart on Kings av.. We were not the only ones to take up their free camping offer. There were more campers there than there were at the campground in Medora! The truck did just fine pulling thru the Livingston/Bozeman area but as I expected  Tom bought a new truck at the Denny Menholt ford dealership in Butte. Now we are the proud owners of a 2015 Ford 350. Nice enough salesman (Austin) but the crew that detailed the truck for the sale did a crap job. We should now never have to worry about any pulling/weight issues ever again. Grandson Dalton made it to state championships for shot put this weekend so we went to Butte to watch him, unfortunately he told us the wrong school that it was being held at so we were late getting to the meet and missed him throwing. He took 13th in the state. Pretty good for a sophomore. Grandson Wade has been keeping us entertained with his funny stories/wit and is just overall a great kid to be around. Heather and I have been doing a bit of bike riding and walking. It is so beautiful around here. I can see why they love it here. We will be heading to the Deadwood SD area on Monday for a few days, then back to Chippewa.

Tom and I with the grandkids

beautiful scenery on heather and I's 17 mile bike ride

My beautiful granddaughter Breanna

Braden and I

Dalton

Yep, there was snow between Livingston and Bozeman. IN MAY!!

May 15th 2017

Well, we are on the road again. We left Chippewa on Saturday, headed for Boulder MT. for granddaughter Breanna's high school graduation. Wow, where did those 18 years go. She beautiful young woman both inside and out. I am one very lucky grandma. We are pulling the 5th wheel and so far so good. I am a little concerned about the mountains from Billings to Boulder. Tom really wants to get a larger truck. We stayed the 1st night in Barnesville Mn. Stayed at the city campground Wagner Campground. Self registration and pick an open spot. Beautiful location. Grass sites that are LARGE. $22 a night. We drove thru ND on sunday and found a open campground (Red Trail Campground, smaller campground but in need of some general clean up and grounds keeping) in Medora ND with full hookups for $25 a night. We were going to stay in the Theodore Roosevelt NP for $7, but no hookups at all and generators are not allowed from 8pm to 8am. What the heck! How am I to survive without coffee a lot earlier than that? We are spending 2 nights here. We took in the TRNP today and saw a bunch of wildlife and had the park almost to ourselves. bonus! The scenery was beyond beautiful! So glad we took in another NP. Tomorrow, we plan on stopping in Billings and get together with grandson Braden who lives there while he is going to college. Then next day we will be at Erics for a week or so.

 Panoramic view from the top of Ridgeline nature trail.

my favorite! wild horses

BIG buffalo!

2nd highest point in TRNP Buck Hill 2860 ft.!

Bluffs everywhere

Yes, he walk if he wants too!

more scenery

more buffalo

view from Red Trail campground

view from our camper

April 30th 2017
we are now at Pine Harbor Campground in Chippewa Falls Wi. We are going to be here off and on (mostly on) until Oct 15th. Reasonable seasonal rates at $1200 plus electric for the entire season. It seems like it like it will be a quiet campground. We are in site #19 with the possibility of moving to a site that has more sun in a week or so. We met the neighbors George and Sandy, Brian and Tammy and Randy and Donna last evening and enjoyed wine and their campfire. Sure hope the weather warms up soon as it has been cold, dreary and rainy all month.

April 28th
we are back in the Chippewa Falls area. we have been camped in my mom's driveway for the last 2 1/2 weeks. we helped clean out her home/garage and had a couple of garage sales to get rid of some of her stuff. this weekend we will be able to move to our summer home at Pine Harbor Campground until oct 15th. very reasonable rates. $1200. for the season plus electric. It is a small campground with about 20 seasonal campgrounds. the rest are day/weekly campers. I think that when oct 15 arrives we will probably head south again and not wait till the holidays are over. we still have to clean out our storage unit and get rid of that monthly bill. hopefully the weather will clear up. it has been a cold/blah/rainy month of april. Sister in laws Karen, Deb, brother Joel and I went kayaking one sunny day tho and it was great not having to watch for gators.

March 30th 2017 Long time since last post. We unexpectedly had to go back to Wi. on march 19th. Toms lovely mom passed away on her 90th birthday. Very sad but she lived a long and relatively healthy life. now we are back to the cold dreary Wisconsin march spring. we need to now clean out her condo and disperse of her belongings. that is the really sad part. she collected all her stuff over her lifetime and loved it all and now no one wants most of it and almost everything is going to Good Will. It took us 29 hours to drive home as quickly as we could. we did get a accurate idea of the cost of driving back and forth $400 one way. We did have good weather driving back tho, so thankful for that. spring weather in the middle of the country can get dicey. Since being back in wi. we stayed for a few days in Hazels driveway in the camper. all of our boys came home for the funeral and brad brought grandson brett. it was so good to see him. now we are at the cabin in trego. no campgrounds around here open until mid to late april at the earliest. Prior to us leaving on the 19th we had a great time with our wi. friends Rob and Karri LaBarre who came down to visit for a week. Karri and I took second place in the Corn Hole tournament at Belle Parc and then we spent a day kayaking on the Weeki Wachee river. Had a great time seeing the manatees and a beautiful river sights. We made so many good friends at Belle Parc and it was so hard to say goodbye so quickly. most of the campground came up to offer their condolences and to help get us on our way as soon as possible. Such a great group of people!

march 11th 2017
 Yet an other great week. Excellent weather and fun times with new friends.  Took Laurie Tamas out kayaking for her first time on thurs. We saw no gators  and she took to kayaking like a fish to water. Nice afternoon relaxing on the Withlacoochee River. Friday night we went with Beth and Todd Ehlenfeldt to Sleepy Hollow and enjoyed the river view while having wings and beer. A neighbor here had a fire when their refrigerator exploded wed. night. Luckily, Ron and Julie got out ok but I am sure the camper will be considered totaled. Very scary how fast it went. Thankfully, someone who was at the pool late saw the flames shooting out the side of the trailer and woke them up. The construction within the campground continues to improve weekly and the good news is that those of us who have been here this year won't have a price increase next year. Yea!! This morning we had a breakfast brunch with many from the campground. Great food! Tom and neighbor Fred Maxwell went fishing in their kayaks and tom caught a 7#1oz large mouth bass, 27 inches long. .We had a fish fry and it was delicious! Cant believe they were able to land the fish in the kaya! It put up a good fight.

March 3rd 20127
 Yet another busy week here in Brooksville. The weather has been really nice. One warm sunny day after another. Dang! Ed/Pat and Ross Lenard who are staying in Gulf Shores came for a visit. Spent the first evening they got here grilling out and sitting outside until 10pm when quiet time starts. Yesterday, we drove to Tarpon Springs and took in a cruise on the Dolphin Cruise Line out into the gulf, did some shell and sponge picking on a private island and then saw dolphins playing in the water. Very cool! Tarpon Springs is quite the tourist town on Ancolte River. Next time we go we will have to spend more time poking around the shops. I did buy a natural sponge to use for washing dishes. Supposedly, it will not harbor bacteria. Yea! We then went to River Ratz in Nobleton for supper and had a great meal there. The manager found out it was our first time eating there and brought us a complimentary appetizer basket. Very nice of them. It has been quite breezy all week so we have not done any biking or kayaking this week.