It's been almost 5 years since I last posted to this blog.  We are taking another trip across country this time in a camper and meeting up with brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, and cousins at a resort near Mt. Rushmore.  Family will be coming from 10 different states.

Hi again....sorry I haven't been keeping up with the blog.  The last week I've been without internet service or without the laptop.   But it has been a busy week.  We got back in Michigan late Monday the 18th.  My oldest brother, Jr was in Michigan with his wife and grandchildren so we spent most of Tuesday with them.  His grandchildren have spent there entire lives living  in various countries so it was a first time meeting for most of them.   I left Tuesday evening to meet my son in D.C. on Wednesday.  We spent three busy days there.  We saw a lot but not nearly everything we wanted to.  It was simply too hot to do much.  We visited some of the Museums, Chinatown, Arlington Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial.  And spent many hours on the metro to get back and forth....lol.
I arrived back home about 5 in the evening Sunday....just in time to attend the twins birthday party.   My brother and his family had also come to North Carolina so I got to spend some more time with them.  After spending most of the day Monday with them, I went back to the apartment and realized that I was exhausted and felt like crap.  Headache, sore throat, and generally miserable.   After sleeping all night and day I started feeling a little better.
So,  it's been 33 days.  I've been in 20 different states....some twice, and seen many wonderful things.  I don't know how I can thank my brother enough for being the chauffeur.  I would never have been able to make that trip without him.
Hope you all have enjoyed the pictures and the blog.

For some reason a few pictures didn't load.  I'll try again

We anticipated that today would be a day of just driving because there didn't seem to be much to see in Nebraska and Iowa.  But we were surprised to come across a big arch going across the highway.   Turned out to be a museum focusing on the settlers as they traveled west.   Followed their journeys with stories, videos, and artifacts.  Then it progress with the history of travel starting with covered wagons to stagecoach and trains and finishing up with cars til about the mid 60's.   Very educational and entertaining.  All centered on the Lincoln Highway which goes from NYC to San Francisco.   At the same exit was the Nebraska Fireman's Museum.  This was quite interesting as well.   All in all it was a relaxing drive.  Should be back to Michigan tomorrow night or Tuesday morning and then I need to meet my son in DC Wednesday afternoon.

We left the hotel this morning with the intention of going to Medicine Bow National Forest.   We even picked out a few more places that might be interesting along the way.  A ghost town, a dinosaur graveyard, a town called McFadden.  The most interesting thing was that everything was closed down.  The markers were there, but nothing or noone else.  I guess that's what you call ghost towns...lol.  We did find one small general store where we stopped to see what was there.  Picked up something to drink and noticed a sign on the door that read "electric power to the towns of Medicine Bow, Mcfadden and Rock River will be shut off on July 21st."   Then even the road to the National Forest was closed due to a bridge being out.  I guess I-80 destroyed this part of Wyoming.   We did get back on I-80 in time to see a big statue of Abraham Lincoln.   The road we had been on was known as the Lincoln Highway and goes from Time Square to the Golden Gate Bridge.  And we learned some history so the day wasn't a total loss.