One is Silver and the Other's Gold

Remember that line from Girl Scouts? Part of the song about friendship...

Make new friends
But keep the old
One is Silver
and the Other's Gold

That song is frequently in my head as we travel around in our RV.  Through the internet and social media sites, we've been able to stay in almost immediate contact with our former neighbors, schoolmates, coworkers and other folks we've met along our journey.

Then when we arrive at a campground, the opportunity to make new friends / acquaintances is opened up again.  Some of the places we visit, because we're only there for a night do not afford the same opportunity to meet other RVers as easily as a multi-night stop does.

Earlier this month we met a couple in a Cabela store parking lot.  From small talk with them we discovered we stay at the same campground in Florida and were just a handful of sites from each other back in March - we were in "Little C" and they were in "Big C", one row and 5 sites apart. Although we were both at the FL campground at the same time, we didn't meet there.  It took us until South Dakota to meet.  We both plan to return to that park this winter and will look each other up when they arrive (we get in first for several months, they arrive for our final month).

At our next campground, the couple in the site next to ours were putting up their "states visited map" on their unit. Once again small talk ensued about places we each had been and this or that.  Found out that this couple were heading to the same campground as us to enjoy the Custer State Park area.  Although we didn't get abutting sites at the next park, we were able to spend time getting to know each other and I believe a good friendship has developed and can see us visiting with these folks from time to time along the road.

In our latest campground we've become acquaintances with two couples, both of whom use South Dakota for their residency.  One couple is like us, fulltimers using the state for it's friendly fulltime RVer lifestyle.  Come to find out they use to live outside of Worcester in the same area my grandmother was raised as a child (we haven't discovered any mutual acquaintances, yet).

The other couple are not fulltimers but are actual residents of SD and we've shared suggestions of places to see and go (they want to see the Northeast and Canada and gave some of the maps and brochures we acquired to help them plan next year's vacations).  Chuck came back from walking Rugby and said he and the man had spoken about getting together for a cookout and that their people and our people were to get together to plan it, which we girls did.  It was a really nice time.

An odd experience happened though while we ladies were working out details of the meal and sharing stories of family, another woman, who had just pulled in to the campground for the night, came walking right up in to our campsite and showed us the T-shirt she had just bought that morning.  She then turned around and left, leaving us a bit confused about what was going on.  Awhile later she reappeared, tried to make a few moments of small talk and once again left.  As I said earlier in this post, it is much easier to make acquaintances when you're parked for several days and see each other come and go than it is on a one night stay.

This morning, both South Dakota couples pulled out, but we've got email and other contact information to stay in touch while we travel about.

Dubois WY overlook

The other evening, one of the couples at the campground we're at asked if we had driven up to the overlook in town.  They described some fantastic views from a butte right in the town that made all the buildings down below look like matchbox sized objects. We hadn't gone, so needless to say we went the next day. 

The butte's elevation was only 7527' per a US Geologic Bench Mark, but that was 500' above town so it gave a great view to the Painted Hills and Absaroka Mountains. While the temperature was in the high 80's, it felt much cooler as a Chinook Wind was blowing across the top - we had to use both straps on our hats to keep them from blowing off.

My new hero

I am so impressed with the intuition and commitment to preserving the beauty of our country through the National Parks.  And to learn that several of the parks I really enjoy (Acadia, Grand Teton, etc) are because of the generosity of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. impresses me even more.

While working as a tour guide in Acadia National Park, I was first introduced to both the National Park system and Mr. Rockefeller's involvement in acquiring and then donating the land to the U.S. Government.  His commitment to designing the Carriage Roads, allowing non-motorized transit throughout Mount Desert Island was a major undertaking in my mind.  This year we're visiting Grand Teton and parts of Yellowstone which are also preserved for all as National Parks because of the philanthropy of Mr. Rockefeller.

Knowing how easy it is for us to get around nowadays and to think of the journey people took back in the 1920's to see some of these sites, and then for people such as Mr. Rockefeller to grasp the preservation concept even in that day and time, makes him a hero in my mind.

Images are from Acadia National Park: Porcupine Islands as seen from atop Cadillac Mountain; sunrise over Frenchmen's Bay; Carriage Road; one of several carriage road bridges

Images from Grand Teton National Park: Grand Teton from Oxbow; Bison grazing near Grand Teton, Musk Thistle; information board comparing Glacier fields today and 40 years ago

The road less traveled

During the past month's travels our destinations have been locations off the beaten path; not located on the the major Interstates.  Those that have driven me places know that I am a horrendous passenger and hate, hate, hate being with a lot of other traffic on the roads, never mind not behind the wheel of the vehicle.  Chuck and I share driving on our travels, changing back and forth every 1.5 to 2 hr intervals.  Even then I get antsy being the passenger for more than 3 hrs a day and get very jumpy and fidgety.

Starting with our departure from Maine, via Route 9 into Canada, we've not had to use a major Interstate except for very short durations.  The roads are classified as truck routes, so we know we've got clearance for the RV with overpasses.

In New Brunswick, Canada, their Route 2 is mostly 4 lanes, but because it generally goes along outside cities, there are very few points of major congestion along the way.  The provinces of PEI and Quebec were generally two lane roads with clearly marked passing zones (including signage as to when the next passing zone would occur).

Our journey through the U.P. of Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa have been on secondary highways and I've been enjoying the trip so much more than I thought.  We passed by farms and through small towns but still had good roadways were we could be passed by those that wanted to get places faster than us.

With all our travels we use various mapping programs, including one of which gives us options on types of road or conditions (no tolls, no interstates, bridge heights, etc.  Although I haven't used the designation of "no interstates" I just may do that on future trips.  It's been lots of fun.  Here's our journey via Google Maps for the month of June.  Nearly 3,000 miles and no white knuckles.

Images from our day in Old Quebec

Favorite images / sunsets

During all these travels, I've enjoyed having the opportunity to take numerous photographs.  There are way too many to choose any one or two individual shots. And I know I have to limit my selection for "show and tell".  Here are some of my favorite sunsets (sorry, don't do sunrises as 4:00 am is way too early to be getting up in some of the areas we've visitied).    What's your favorite?

#1, #2, #3, #12 - Malpaque Bay, PEI

#4 - #7 - Pipestone, MN

#8 - #10 - West Yellowstone, WY

#11 - Island Park, ID

You meet all types ...

We're having a fun adventure with our Canadian travels at this time due to our location.  We've been in the Acadian Regions of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island (PEI) and have found it interesting to see how well our high school French is doing.  I dropped French as soon as I could in high school, but Chuck says he took it all 4 years.  Reading signs or brochures has been much easier than listening to people speak.  The fortunate part for us has been most of the folks we've met in these regions are bilingual and we've been able to have good conversations.

At a recent community campfire we really had an international gathering.  There were 5 couples represented, 2 from the U.S., 2 from Germany and one from Canada.  The 2 German couples had flown to NY and rented campers on Long Island NY and were traveling to Nova Scotia and PEI.  One of the men had a great command of English, the 2 ladies spoke a bit of English but mostly German and the other man spoke only German.  The other American couple were like us and spoke English and knew a few words but couldn't converse in German.  The Canadian couple were from the Province of Ontario and spoke English also.  Although there were language issues, we all spoke the communal language of camping and enjoyment.

There was another couple at the campground how had been invited to join at the fire, but they opted to not attend. We found out from the German folks that the other couple were also from Germany and that they were on a multi-year trip in their RV.  (Since we're full-time RVers now, Chuck and I did not think the comment too odd about how long the Germans were traveling, but to the other folks who were all part-time travelers, it was impressive.)

The unit the third German couple drove was impressive to us though.  They have a M A N.  It looked very recent and in good condition and we were amazed to learn that the rig is over 20 years old.  It does command quite a view both when you're parked next to it as well as seeing it driving down the road.

We were told that that couple is planning on driving towards Vancouver, BC, then head south through the US before going on into Mexico.