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I knew we were very close to the Mexico border here, but I didn't know there was anything for us to do there until I got an email from one of our newsletter subscribers, Diane. She wrote that they had stayed at Pio Pico in the past and enjoyed visiting the border town of Tecate and touring the brewery. I looked on Google Earth and found that Tecate is only 18 miles away, and the brewery is just on the Mexico side. We had no seminars scheduled today, so, Mexico here we come! Thanx for the tip Diane. It was a pretty drive to get there too. Very mountainous.  We saw some cars being searched at the border crossing. We pulled into the designated parking spot and the officer asked us what our plans were. Jim said we were going to the 'cervezeria' (beer garden) and he just waved us right through - looking very thirsty and envious! It was an especially hot day today.  The cervezeria was easy to find with these street signs ... check out the first row, second sign from the left ...  Unfortunately, they were closed for tours today, but the free, cold beer tasted good in the 'Jardin Cerveza'.  Then, we walked around a few blocks to find a place for lunch. We were surprised to find that we were about the only tourists. The last time we visited a Mexico border town (Algodones) there were crowds of tourists. In Tecate, we actually had to remember a little spanish. They still accepted american dollars though! The exchange rate was 10 pesos to 1 dollar. We had an excellent lunch, and even had live entertainment! He might look like he's singing Cielito Lindo, or some other traditional mexican song, but - no - he sang 'Imagine' by John Lennon and 'Stairway to Heaven' by Led Zeppelin!  Then we walked around the town square. I really like how town squares are really used in Mexico.  We saw at least 3 Internet cafes.  That was it, then we went home. Here's the fence on the border here.  Crossing the border back into the US was just as easy as getting in. They took a look at our Florida license plate, the kayaks on the roof and our US passports and waved us through. One of these days we'd like to take the motorhome into Mexico and do some exploring. We have the book on RVing in Mexico by Mike and Terri Church with all sorts of information about where to go and what services to expect. Check out their website with logs of their most recent Mexico travels. Buenos Noches!  My very first RV trip was in 1962 when my parents packed up their truck camper and left our Anchorage, Alaska home to travel to Guatemala. I took plenty of spanish classes in high school but I think any words I still know are from that 4 month trip when I was 10. Here's a few photos that have survived and been scanned. The first one is on the Alaska highway in January. The next is driving in Mexico - I believe around Queretero. The third is a campground in Mexico city and the last is on the shores of Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. 
Something came across our inboxes the other day about how most people are so concerned with making a living, that they don't do a very good job at making a life. That's not us! I marvel every day about what a wonderful life we've made. Like now ...
It's nice here. The weather has been just perfect. Hot and sunny during the day. We need the air conditioning, but it's not an oppressive heat. Then it cools off at sundown and we open up for the night. We've been going for a nice walk in the morning. UP a hill! Here's a view of the campground from our walk.
We're getting some much needed exercise! Oh ... wait ... gotta ... rest!
 We've also taken advantage of the spa in the cool evenings with the full moon coming up over the mountain. aaaaahhhhh Then, there's our computer seminars. Small groups in our cozy classroom means we get to know each other! We really do have fun.  I spent some time today learning how Google Maps interfaces with Picasa Web Albums and Google Earth. Wow! If you look at our Picasa Web album for this month, you can click on "View Map" over on the left, and you will see thumbnails of the photos attached to the places in the map where they were taken. You can bet that this will be the topic of an upcoming Geeks on Tour Newsletter!
Then I spent some time today paying bills and doing miscellaneous bookkeeping. ooooh, bummer. Our expenses for August were $4,600 and our income was $2,200. This month's expenses were unusually high due to traveling across the country, but the numbers are obviously still too far apart. I will always be more interested in 'Making a Life', but there does come a time (as savings dwindle) that 'Making a Living' needs to kick in so we can keep living this wonderful life! We actually do have all the pieces in place. I have every expectation that we will be able to making a living doing what we love - working with Internet connections on the road, and teaching people how to use computers - all while living on the road. I know some people will be surprised by my sharing such specific numbers. I think it is the RVers' way! I've read several other RV blogs that share their exact budgets. I've appreciated their openness, and want to continue the trend.
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We are happily parked at Pio Pico. And, we are open for business!  We're giving our seminars here for two weeks. We held our first one on Saturday. Quite a difference from the FMCA - a 3-person audience instead of 500! But, it's nice to be able to handle individual questions. We actually spend more time with the small audience. And, we've had several inquiries already about Internet satellite dishes, and an order for a website! It's fun here too. On Saturday night, we took advantage of the Thousand Trails entertainment. A group called Wild Rose Road Show. Check out their website - complete with video samples of their shows. It was two couples about our age who have just gone fulltiming and are working on the road with their musical act. Great singing, audience participation, and a RV Travel perspective! We hope to run into them again! On Sunday, we took a trip to the coast to visit a friend of Jim's. He and Ron went to high school together in Manahawkin, NJ. The only time they've seen each other since is at the 10 year reunion - 26 years ago! The last time we were in San Diego, Jim tried to look him up, but Ron was commanding a navy ship in the South Pacific somewhere. We were happy to find him, and his wife Ruth both home this time. We had a great dinner - THANX Ron and Ruth!   They live just a couple miles in from the Pacific Ocean at Carlsbad, CA. We took a short detour just to see the ocean on this gorgeous day.   Today, we're going to the store. It is such a treat to learn that a brand new Trader Joe's just opened only 12 miles away. Oh Boy. We love Trader Joe's. They don't exist in Florida. And, we hope to take a little detour into Mexico while we're here. It's only about 10 miles away. Right in the brochure for the park there are ads for dentists and other services in Mexico!
Little did I know that today's drive would have me looking longingly at yesterday! At least yesterday we were making progress. This may look like uninhabited country, but those 8 lanes of highway aren't for nothin!  Apparently, it hasn't rained around here in a very long time. The smog needs a washing desparately.  Jim drove thru all this traffic, thinking that might help keep me a little less grumpy. How'd that work out Jim? There was no accident, no construction. This is apparently normal mid-afternoon traffic on I-5 in LA. We averaged 34 mph for over 6 hours!  Then, as if we crossed some invisible barrier, shazaam! We were in unhabited countryside again. Just a few more miles to TT Pio Pico.  We will find a different route when we head back north in 2 weeks.
Geeez - and I thought Florida was a long state! We've been traveling south in California for 4 days and we still have one day of driving to go! Gas prices have not been as bad as we expected, we paid 2.67 yesterday, but it's still close to $500 for the California portion. I was fine till yesterday. Jim says it's because I drove for a couple hours - I'm only the relief driver - Jim normally drives. I don't think my driving was the problem - it was highway 5 - lots of *nothing* and several stretches of old, broken, pavement. In places it was enough to separate the meat from the bones. Several items that are securely attached to walls just vibrated right off yesterday. The scenery may as well have been a repeating scroll on a movie set!  Till we got to the 'grapevine' that goes up to 4,000 feet in the mountains just north of LA. Just look at that smog!  We do like the Thousand Trails parks though.  Somehow, we've been looking for a grocery store and not finding one for several days. We just keep digging deeper in the pantry to find something to eat. We were down to hot dogs and beans last night, but we had a nice bottle of Cabernet from the winery yesterday!  I'm sure glad we have a dog to take us for a walk. If not for Odie, I'd probably just sit in front of the computer all the time. I would have missed this nice hawk - Red-Shouldered Hawk, I think.  Ok, back on the road. Only 200 miles to go, then we'll stay at TT Pio Pico for 2 weeks giving our seminars.
We had a *full* day yesterday. First, driving from Stockton to Morgan Hill. California is known for it's beautiful golden rolling hills in the summertime (they're green in winter/rainy season), but these look downright brown and dangerously dry.  The Thousand Trails campground in Morgan Hill is very close to several wineries so we unhooked as soon as we got parked and headed out. Here's our site:  And,here's the first winery, Clos LaChance.   Now you're talkin!  Can you tell we're having fun?  It's just so pretty here. They hold lots of weddings on this property. You can see why. It was sunny and hot today, probably in the 90s, but it gets down in the 60's and high 50s at night. Just what the grapes like!   Our reason for coming to this area was to meet my old friend Arynne after work. She lives in Santa Cruz, over the hill down by the ocean. So, after crossing the country, we finally saw the Pacific!  It is just so wonderful to be able to visit old friends. One of the best parts of traveling. Here's the entrance to her place.  I think this is just the best kind of living situation for a single person. She lives in the cottage (aka grandmother suite, or mother-in-law suite) in the backyard of her good friends in the 'big house'. Here's Arynne with Maggie:  Then we had a great dinner at the Crow's Nest right on the beach. We watched the sailboat races as they finished and came into the harbor.  Great to see you Arynne! Till next time then. Today is a long drive (300 miles) to the Los Angeles area. We'll be staying at another Thousand Trails park called Soledad Canyon. Then tomorrow we're on to TT Pio Pico just east of San Diego where we'll be giving our seminars for a couple weeks. See our main website at http://www.geeksontour.comfor the exact schedule.
Ahhhh - all cleaned up.  It's the little things that really count. Like the mini-blinds. They are impossible to clean. I've tried blowing the dust off, using a feather duster, wrapping a cloth around each of my fingers and painstakingly swiping each section of the blinds. Nothing really works. Then Frankie told me, 'you take them out of the motorhome, then you can use a hose and wash 'em' I think that's the best RVing tip I've ever gotten! I just love clean mini-blinds! Thanx Frankie!  We vacuumed and cleaned the car inside and out. When I got in it to drive, I thought I had mistakenly gotten in someone else's car. I even washed the dog! We're ready to get back on the road! We traveled on I-5 down California's great central valley. Here's a view of Sacramento in the distance.  We stopped just south of Stockton at a Thousand Trails park called Turtle Beach. It's a small park - only 30 sites. Actually they call it a 'fish camp'. Our site was fine, and the view from the banks of the river at sunset was quite pretty.  Today we're going to visit my old friend Arynne in Santa Cruz. We'll be staying at a Thousand Trails park about an hour away in Morgan Hill. Arynne lives in a new place since we visited her last and we want to see! She lives in the guest house - her good friends, Maggie and Jess live in the main house which they built. Remarkably, their house was in a newspaper article just last week.
We left Crater Lake on a cold (42 degrees) and rainy morning yesterday. But, isn't this a great way to see the lush spruce and hemlock forests around here?!   Here's the Rogue river, we're still in Oregon, coming up to I-5.  Soon after crossing into California, Mt. Shasta appears. Wow! We're not in Florida anymore!   Now we're in Red Bluff, California at the Red Bluff RV Park. We'd heard a lot about this park from Lynne and John. The people who own the park are the ones whose house Lynne and John just built. They said it would be a good place to wash the rig and clean up. So, we're spending an extra night here so we can do just that. After 4100 miles - we sure need it! 
After the FMCA convention, we went back to the Thousand Trails park in Bend - Sunriver. Since we had stayed there before the rally, it already felt like 'home', but this time it was even more so. We walked into the cafe and were greeted by name by several of the other guests! They had taken some of our seminars at the rally and we had lots to chat about. Here we are with our new friends:  This is a heavily forested park, and we weren't sure we could get lucky twice and find another satellite-friendly site. But we did!  We acted like we were 'on vacation' this time. Played a little pickleball, and spent some time soaking in the hot tub. What a beautiful place! Back on the road the next day - only a couple hours to Crater Lake.  This is one of those sights that is a 'must-see-before-you-die'! Doncha think? It really does take your breath away.     More pictures are on our web album. You have to scroll way down since this album is for the month of August. Our satellite's luck with the trees finally ran out in this campground. But, we figured it was time to have one night without Internet anyway! 
Even on the 3d day of our seminars we had large crowds. This is just a third of the room for Jim's Google Earth seminar!  The room monitors told me they counted at least 400 people for the Picasa seminar.  Here's Wayne and Vivian. I wonder if they would have chosen those seats if they knew I always use a couple in the front row to demonstrate taking a picture and uploading to Picasa Web Albums?!  We took a couple hours off one afternoon to go see some of the motorhomes on display. I believe the price tag on this one was over 500,000. Sure is pretty.  Jim and I took turns monitoring the WiFi hotspot on the last day so we could each pick one activity we wanted to do at the rally. I went to 'Mac the Fireguy's' seminar on fire safety. This is something I've wanted to do for the last several rallies we've attended but never got around to it. I learned a lot. Now we have to buy the foam fire extinguishers. Check out his website and you can learn too. This is important stuff.
Diane and Andy spend a lot of time together on the road ... kinda like Jim and me. Sometimes our name is JimandChris. But, that just doesn't roll off the tongue quite like Diandy! Check out their website and blog at Diandy.com! Anyway, we tore ourselves away from the FMCA convention long enough to go visit them where they were staying nearby, and I'm so glad we did. Less than 20 miles from here is some spectacular scenery. The area is known as Crooked River Ranch. There is a river and an awesome canyon. Here's their site:  This is called 'High Desert'.  Andy and Jim   Diane had some computer questions.  Hey Diandy! Thanx for showing us something about the area besides the fairgrounds! We wanna travel more like you! Slow. Someday. :-) Life is Good!
We've been pretty busy here at the FMCA convention. First, we moved to a site closer to the action. Our 'porch' is much nicer now, on the grass!  Our first seminar was 'High Speed Internet on the Road' This is always our most popular seminar and this one was no different - standing room only! We just love it. Luckily my cold had cleared up to just an occasional cough - and Jim didn't ever come down with it. So, we had a GREAT time.   Then came my seminar, "Every RVer Needs a Blog".  Then, the next day, we had Jim's 'Safe Computing.'  Most of the rest of the time, we've been helping folks in the WiFi hotspot here. All sponsored by Beaudry. 
We moved over to the fairgrounds on Friday. The convention doesn't start till Monday, so we're pretty early. All was in order though, and the volunteers were all out to guide us to our spot.  Jim put out the awning and the screen wall that Lynne made us. Then he arranged our chairs and little table under it. Rather homey, don't you think? Our own little corner of this gravel lot!  See all that empty space behind us? It won't be for long.  Next day - I got up on the roof to take a couple photos of the sea of motorhomes. pretty view too, doncha think?  
We scheduled 2 nights - so one full day - at the Sunriver Thousand Trails park in Bend, Oregon. Nice place. And, by pure coincidence our favorite RVers were also in the area. Lynne and John came over to visit for the afternoon. Lynne and I went for a walk with the dogs. Many parks have an area where dogs can be off-leash, but they are usually small, fenced in areas. Here's Sunriver's off-leash area!   Which ones are the geeks?  Then come more visitors! Andy and Diane.  Life on the road is amazing. This is the third time we've met up with Diane and Andy on the road and none of them were planned. Once in Missoula, Montana. Once in Alburquerque, New Mexico. And now, Bend, Oregon. Obviously, by the time we were a few days away from Bend, we knew the chances were good that we'd be hooking up with them. But it was NOT something we'd planned ahead of time. It just happens. And, the fact that all 3 of us (well, 6 actually - or 8 including the dogs!) were in the same place for a day is such a treat. I just wish I had been feeling better. I'm afraid I wasn't very lively. And, when everybody left, I just went back to bed. Luckily, with wireless technology these days, I could still do my website work, even in bed. 
Got in to Sunriver Thousand Trails early afternoon yesterday. It was in the 90s. Hot and dusty. Lots of shade in this forested park tho. Very nice. And, our satellite dish was able to find a hole thru the trees at the first site we tried!  We woke up to 44 degrees this morning! And I have a cold - feel lousy - bummer. I'll probably go back to bed after finishing this post. Crossing southern Idaho took forever and all looked the same. Except for glimpses of the Snake river now and then.   The views of trains were kinda remarkable.  Then came eastern Oregon. Can you tell the difference?  I started coming down with this cold yesterday, so I didn't help Jim with driving at all. In fact I stayed in bed most of the time he was driving. Pretty cool to be able to do that. I did get up in time to see the 3 Sisters coming in to view.  We are in Oregon now!  Lynne and John got into Bend yesterday too. We visited with them at their friend's house long enough for pizza and beer - then I needed to take my nyquil and go to bed! We will also visit for a while today - then they'll probably be on their way. We are both 'bi-coastal' (Lynne's term) RVers, we are just crossing paths as we switch coasts! They are on their way back to Florida.
Motosat is the company that makes the Datastorm 2-way, automatic, Internet Satellite dish. We got ours installed on our motorhome's roof in late 2003. I can't imagine RVing without it. Jim got certified to install them 2005. We've had the privilege of meeting the top brass from Motosat several times because they always attend the Datastorm Users rallies. We attended the first rally in Florida in 2003, 2 rallies in Texas and we will be at the one coming up in October in Tucson. And, I do mean 'privilege'! I've never known company executives who are so accessible and who share so much information about the company, the products, and themselves. As you can imagine, with anything so high tech, there are bound to be problems. You may expect, when a group of product owners get to spend a few hours in a room with the company executives, it may turn into a bitch session. On the contrary, the rally meetings with these folks look more like love-fests. People love their Datastorms. We certainly discuss the problems, but, more often than not the problem issues are raised by these executives, Royal, Jim and Ed. They understand that addressing problems is the way to keep customers happy, not pretending they don't exist. If you've been reading this blog, you know that Jim's last installation of a Datastorm did not go so smooth. Instead of the one-day that we normally plan, this one took nearly a week, because we had to wait for replacement parts not once, but twice! Since our travel route was taking us so close to Salt Lake City, we decided to return the parts in person. We had been wanting to see their new facility, and we thought we might get lucky and be able to talk to someone, in person, about what happened. We were concerned (just a little) that they weren't paying enough attention to detail. We would like some assurances that they were aware of the issue so it wouldn't happen again. This is a busy company, and the folks we wanted to see often are traveling. We hadn't told anyone we were coming, but here we were, and we lucked out.  Within minutes of introducing ourselves at the front desk, the VP of Sales and Marketing, Royal Lamb, was there to shake our hands and invite us into his office.  And, when Jim mentioned his problems and the returned equipment, Royal immediately exclaimed, "Oh, so YOU'RE the one who helped us discover that new 'tilt sensor' error! THANK YOU so much!" Apparently, our experience alerted them to a problem that they were then able to fix before a lot more people had to experience it. Hah! Glad to be of help :-) That's how it is in high-tech. That doesn't explain the lack of modem in the original shipment, but he knew all about that also and was 'on it.' Our fears of them not paying attention were certainly put to rest. Then, he took us on a tour. First the offices. It's always nice to put faces to the voices we hear on the phone.  Then, into the plant. These women are soldering circuit boards. They have a machine to do a lot of this, but some still need to be done manually. This brought back memories of a job I had in my college days soldering circuit boards. Jim thinks it's sexy that I know how to do that!  And, here's the finished result.  These big dishes were just motoring up and down, up and down. Some kind of testing.  This dish was taken outside for testing because it needs to lock on to a satellite.  As they've grown, Motosat has learned that the best way to control quality and keep expenses reasonable is to do everything themselves, including machining all the parts and molding all the plastic covers. Things that I wouldn't even think about. Like, to make a metal plate like this:  You need a lot of power to bend it into shape. Here's the just the jaws to do the job:  Thanx for the tour Royal! And, we look forward to seeing you at the Redmond FMCA convention (Motosat will have a booth there) and at the Datastorm Users rally in Tucson. Keep up the good work!
After leaving George, we headed south to Utah. If you've ever been to Utah, this photo should prove we're here:  And, here is Bridger Pass.  We are really in the mountains here - 7,000 feet at times. But, what goes up, must come down! Down, down. Into Salt Lake City.  In the 'general store' for the campground we stayed at, I almost bought a souvenir because I thought the saying was so cute: "Eat, Drink and be Merry, for tomorrow
you may be in Utah!"
At least they have a sense of humor about their dry ways! Actually, we discovered they have some very good local micro-breweries. And, talk about a sense of humor!  Polygamy Porter, "Why have just one!" Also written on the bottle is: "Take some home to the wives." We put Salt Lake City on our itinerary in order to visit the Motosat headquarters and manufacturing plant. More about that in my next post. Then we headed north into Idaho. Awesome, sweeping vistas of agricultural valleys and BIG mountain ranges on either side:   You'll find more photos on our web album. And, here's our campground for the night.   Unfortunately, we misjudged the position of this tree and our satellite was unable to get online. There were plenty of other clear sites we could have moved to, but since there was free Wi-fi we decided to stay put. I am so disappointed in my Toshiba's WiFi! I'm using Jim's computer to make this post. His works just great. Mine will connect, but it keeps dropping. If I only had my computer, I would swear that this WiFi hotspot was flaky. But, since Jim is connected and browsing just fine, that can't be the case. We put a USB adapter on mine (just like we teach, and wrote in our last newsletter) and it was great for a while, but the driver was not specifically for Vista and so I developed some other problems. Yes, Geeks have computer problems too! In fact, we probably have more because we are always pushing the envelope. I don't see how anyone can manage with only one computer, or only one way to connect to the Internet! We took this particular route in order to meet up with Bob and Polly. We met at a Flying J and had dinner. Way cool! These are people we met in Peace River Florida, and here we are having dinner in Idaho! They're staying at a lot they own at Star Valley Ranch in Thayne, Wyoming. They play lots of golf there. They also have a couple of additional lots they will be selling. If you're interested, I could put you in touch. But, don't expect good, free WiFi there! They are very glad they bought a Datastorm Internet Satellite dish from us back in Peace River!
It's good to have friends in high places! In this case, a 'high' place means lots of readers. As I mentioned in my last post, our path crossed the path of Tioga and George yesterday, and he mentioned us in his blog. Our blog normally gets 1-200 visits a day, yesterday after the mention in " The Adventures of Tioga and George", Google Analytics reported 878 visits! For all you new readers, make sure to take the Video Tour of the Blog OK? The link is at top of right sidebar. There's a lot more here than just this page. I haven't always believed that more readers is a good thing. Actually, it makes me a little nervous. I've always kept a personal journal, and even tho this journal is now public, I try to maintain a personal style. The more people who read it, the harder it is for me to stay 'personal.' But, I'm really excited about the 52 people who subscribed to our newsletter yesterday. The newsletter is the vehicle we have chosen to promote our income-producing activities. And, it's making income that will allow us to keep this wonderful lifestyle on the road. It's a verified opt-in newsletter. That means I can't just send it to you because I know your email address. You have to request it *and* confirm your subscription thru a follow-up email. You can learn more about the newsletter here - and subscribe, of course! THANK YOU GEORGE for telling your readers about us. We met up with George in Fort Bridger, Wyoming. George had found a quiet street and just pulled up to the curb and parked. We spotted Ms. Tioga easily when we pulled into town and just parked behind. She is sure looking spiffy with her new fiberglass and paint job don't ya think?  See more pictures on our web album. We first met up with George and Tioga at Devil's Tower in July, 2004. And, then again in Redmond, OR in August of 2004. So, it's been 3 years since we've seen him, but we didn't have to spend any time 'catching up' - that's what blogs are for! What we mostly talked about is what a thrill we still get just by looking around and realizing that we're at home wherever we are. Our RV lifestyle just gives us chills. Think about it! Here we are in Fort Bridger, Wyoming. A place we've never been. We pull onto a quiet street and park. Voila! We're neighbors. George comes over to our place for lunch.  Then we all go over and visit George's home. We have a short video of touring thru Ms. Tioga. Go take a look!   After a few hours of wonderful conversation, we get back on the road. We will stay in an RV park and plug into electricity. George will move a few blocks to a more deserted parking spot and 'boondock'. That means living off the grid. He doesn't have to plug in because he has 6 solar panels on his roof that keep a bank of batteries charged up. We want to get solar and have the capability to boondock, but we do enjoy the comforts that 'plugging in' gives us. Like running the air conditioner all the time. That probably is due to our spending a lot of time in South Florida! We also envy that George has spent so much time in Mexico - we hope to meet up with him south of the border sometime!
We stayed parked yesterday, but it was still a busy day. We were staying in a park where Jim had done some Wi-Fi work a couple years ago. So, he spent some time looking things over and tweaking a couple things. We also had to go get a new tire to replace one of ours that Jim discovered had a cut in it and had gone flat. I'm sure glad Jim notices these things! The flat tire was a rear inside dually, so it wasn't really obvious. What he noticed is that the outside wheel looked slightly flat (because it was doing all the work!), so he checked that one as well as the inside one. We don't mess around with tires - he called Good Sam to come out and put on the spare, then we went right downtown to a Firestone shop and bought a new one.  I used the rest of the day to work on our website and our newsletter. If you don't subscribe (you really should you know :-) You can find the newsletter on our archive page. I also posted 2 new video tutorials: How to turn off/on your Internal Wi-Fi and another on how to use Onecare Live to scan your computer for all sorts of problems. You can find them both on the 'More...' Tutorial Videos page on our website. Then we hit the road and continued heading west. We're really getting there now. Can't ya just hear 'O Give me Land, lots of land, under starry skies above. Don't fence me in'?? I sure can. Just look at these wide open spaces.    We stopped for the night in Rawlins, Wyoming. We put ourselves on the datastorm map and looked to see if anyone else we know is nearby. Well, I'll Be! It's Ms. Tioga and George! If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that George was our inspiration for blogging oh so long ago. We've met up with him a couple times in our journey, but it's been a couple years. We're going to have a party tomorrow at Fort Bridger - Odie's Roadies and the Vagabond Supreme Team!
Known for cornfields and also known for being part of Tornado alley. We hit a bit of weather on our first day of driving - check out the video to see some dramatic skies!  We were so happy to get to visit Prairie Oasis once again. I did a website for them after our first stay in 2004 and so we've kept in touch. David, the owner, makes his own wine. That's always a treat we look forward to when we visit. And, I just love hearing about all the good feedback he gets on his website! It was actually cool enough (below 70!) to open the windows overnight - another treat.  Since we were last there, they built a storm shelter. I've never seen a tornado, and I hope to keep it that way, but it gave me a comfort feeling to know that shelter was right there. When we got back on Highway 80, we had an easy day planned - about 180 miles. So, when we saw the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument, we decided to stop this time. We're so glad we did! It's really quite a remarkable exhibit, with life-size models that make you feel you were there.  See more photos on the Picasa Web Album.
We will always stop at a Presidential Library when one is nearby. The Truman Library is in Independence, Missouri - right in our path! This is the 7th library we've visited in our RV travels. I've marked each blog post with the label "Presidential Libraries" - you can click on that label in the right sidebar and view all of those posts.  Which one is Harry and which one is Jim?  Every Presidential Library needs an oval office.  I so love learning about history! Truman was president at some really horrible times in our country's history. Dropping the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The start of the Cold War and McCarthyism. Then there was good stuff like the Marshall Plan. I especially enjoyed reading about the Berlin Airlift where the Russians had blockaded the city and demanded that the US not cross the blockade even for humanitarian supplies. Given 2 unacceptable options- back down, or risk WW3 - the Truman administration came up with option 3, fly in supplies!  Truman was also President when I was born - 1952. The library had an entire room devoted to Life magazine covers from 1952! Sorry for the blur, but I couldn't use flash. This cover is of the new President, Eisenhower, who had just been elected.  I think I could spend several days in any of these libraries, but we only spent a few hours. Then got back on the road.  Towards the end of the day we crossed into Nebraska by taking a bridge over the Missouri river. That same hour, we heard of a bridge over the Mississippi that had collapsed in Minneapolis - oh my god.
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