Summary of our travels to present

Allan retired and Jeanne quit work on May 30, 2008. Daryl and Nancy came by to see us off on May 31. We pulled out of Birmingham South Campground where we had lived since Aug. 2007 with our first stop being Memphis, Tn. What a feeling of freedom. Jeanne was busy reading up on the Tom Tom (GPS) which she found to be user friendly and extremely helpful. (Thanks to Dr. Moore, Dr. Blackburn and staff). We camped at the Agri-Center in Germantown, Tn. We were able to visit with some of Jeanne's relatives, Ruth, Darrell, Amy and Lynn. It had been so many years since she had seen them. We attended Bellevue Baptist Church. We spoke with Pastor Steve Gaines following the service and he prayed for us and Kingwood. He was familiar with our pastor, Ron Cox.Allan noticed brake fluid leaking after going to buy some groceries. It turned out to be a break in the line and required towing to be fixed. After the brake line was fixed we left Tuesday afternoon for Sikeston, Mo.

We spent the next three nights with Jim and Carleen Burden. They were nice enough to let us park our truck and trailer in their driveway and sleep and eat at their house. They took us out to the famous Lambert's Restaurant "Home of the Throwed Rolls". We visited a friend of Jeanne's aunt, Virginia Bush in Charleston, Mo. We also got to visit Virginia Bailey in Sikeston who is a member of Kingwood Church back in Alabama.

On June 5 we drove to Van Buren, Mo and spent two nights at Big Springs RV Park. We were on the Current River with a nice view. We visited Big Springs, Alley Springs and Blue Springs. They were very picturesque. Each one produced millions of gallons of water a day. Blue Springs was actually blue. We did not have time to take our Sea Eagle inflatable kayak down the river as we were already behind schedule.

We left for Branson, Mo. on June 7. Our campground was America's Best Campground where we joined our group for the RV Dreams Rally. We attended Tri-Lakes Church AG nearby which we really enjoyed worshiping there. This rally offered great food, entertainment, informative workshops and lots of time for socializing. This is the best rally we have attended.
One of the features of the rally was voluntary open house of RV's which we participated. We made many friends among whom was Joe and Carolyn Segler from Alabaster, Al. They were wanting to start this lifestyle soon.

We left on Sunday, June 15 traveling through Colony, Ks and spent the night at Lyndon, Ks. because they had a storm shelter at the campground. The weather was very stormy but we stayed safe. The following day we traveled to Smith Center, Ks. home of Peterson Excel Factory. We were able to park outside and spend each night in our fifth wheel except for one night we stayed in a bed and breakfast. We had such a delightful time. We met Frank and Nancy who were from Tx. They were there for the week, too, so we spent quite a bit of time getting to know each other. We took a tour of the factory and walked the streets of the town. Petersons provide their customers with two large lounges with TVs, coffee, showers, washer and dryer. Everyone was very nice and helpful.

We left on Saturday, June 21 and traveled to Valentine, Ne. staying a Wacky West RV Park. We visited Smith Falls State Park on the Niobrara National Scenic River. We hiked up to the falls to take pictures and watched some girls running under the falls. We did not join them as it was apparent that is was very cold.

The next day we drove to Hermosa, South Dakota where we stayed just outside Custer State Park at Heartland RV Park. A trailer tire blew out on our way to Rapid City. No problem Good Sams came to the rescue. We picked up Yancy at the airport that night. While staying there 6 days, we saw the Badlands, Custer State Park, Needles Highway, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and. Iron Mountain Road. Some of the roads were switchback and even pigtails but what beautiful sights. We past through 3 tunnels on each road, one framing Mount Rushmore in the distance. Another day we drove to Stergis, Lead, Deadwood, and driving through beautiful Spearfish Canyon. Probably the best part of this area was Custer State Park with all the wildlife. We saw many pronghorn (antelope), buffalo, prairie dog communities, bighorn sheep, and mule deer. We also visited Wall Drug Store in Wall, SD. near the Badlands. We had a great time and a wonderful and exciting adventure with Yancy.

Leaving South Dakota on June 28 we traveled toward Gillette, Wy. The sky was very hazy actually throughout our whole stay in Gillette. Later we learned of a fire in Saskatchewan Canada that was causing all the haze. Our purpose for this trip was to attend the (Escapee's) RV rally. We took some RV related classes, genealogy, and line dancing to name a few. We met some RV dreams members (Jan and GC, Bob and Mollie, and Froggi Donna). We attended church at the rally with the Christian Fellowship. Allan walked in the parade. On the 4th, Gillette and their citizens provided us with a 360 degree spectacular fireworks show. On at least three occasions Jeanne got her horse fix. There were different horse activities going on during our stay there. We got to watch some goat roping by young kids. What a show! We stayed an extra day to visit Devil's Tower. We saw several people climbing it. It was a beautiful, clear day and we loved the scenery.

Sunday, July 6 we left Gillette headed for Lusk, our first volunteer job. Unfortunately, we had our second blowout on the trailer on Hwy 59, busy two lane road. One of the Escapees Christian Fellowship members, Lamon Wood, stopped to help direct traffic and loaned us his jack while Allan changed the tire. We would have called Good Sams but we were in a hurry to get to the church for the Sunday night service. We have never seen so many trains full of coal. Gillette is the coal capital of the United States. Virgil and the Pastor Dale directed us into the RV site and we rushed into church.

As our travels took us further west the landscape was mostly long rolling hills where you could see for miles. Kansas had fields of grain where Nebraska, South Dakota and eastern Wyoming had fields of grass and alfalfa growing. This year these areas had more rain and snow so it was probably greener than usual. Each area was different but each had their own beauty. The pronghorn (antelope) are very plentiful everywhere. We are very blessed that God has protected us on our travels and allowed us to experience the beauty of his creation.