June 2013 Cinnamon Pass, Colorado

 Five days after our arrival in Durango, Co.  I came down with a awful summer cold!!!  Here I am in this beautiful place and I am so sick that I do not feel up to doing anything. 

Another couple of airline friends had also come to Durango, however they were only staying here for a week before heading West.  It was fun to see Gary and Cortney.  As per the custom, we had dinner waiting for them the day that they arrived.

It was the following day that I came down with mt cold, so at least we had one good dinner together.

One day, the three guys decided to take Chris's 4 wheel jeep to Cinnamon Pass.  This is one of Colorado's most scenic drives.  You can drive the loop in any SUV with good clearance, though you may find challenges in some spots.

The trail follows the Gunnison River for some amazing views.  Along the trail you climb switchbacks and steep sections to the top, sometimes the switchbacks are a bit rocky.  I understand that tire placement here is a must!
If you are careful you find yourself at Cinnamon Pass,

 between Cinnamon Mountain and Wood Mountain, a crest marked with a sign, at 12,640 feet.  From there the trail takes you down into the town of Silverton.

Along the way John found a "friend".No, he did not keep him for a pet!!!!

As I was not able to make the trip and the guys seemed to want a "boys" outing, I gave my camera to John, and I think he took some pretty good photos.

Stay tuned for later updates...

Candy and Johnny

June 7, 2013

 Friday morning and we decided not to stay in Albuquerque, NM, so we packed up and headed to Durango, Colorado.  Once again it was a beautiful day and a fairly easy drive.   We left Albuquerque at 10 am and headed North.  Along the way we crossed  the Continental Divide.  We were at 7380 feet.

I love it when you cross into Colorado from New Mexico as the terrain changes from red and brown to green and mountains.

We arrived in Durango at 2:30 pm and were met by our friends Chris and Jan who had arrived the day before, they had dinner ready for us.. Nice to have such nice friends!!! 

We will be here for a month to enjoy the weather and the beautiful scenery.

More later, until then, love to all,

Candy and Johnny

Summer 2013 RV Trip

 Memorial Day has once again come and the summer has begun!!  The Badger's are in our motor coach and on the road again.

We packed up on May 30 and left Palm Coast on May 31 for our summer adventure.  We did have a bit of a slow start as we had to make a stop at Camping World on our way out of town.  It seems that the door handle decided to lock up!!   Could not get into the coach, as the lock had frozen.  John had ordered a new part so we stopped to get it fixed.  It took us much longer than we had thought and after five hours we were told that it was now working, so out we went and.....the latch would not open!!!   Thank goodness that we had left a window
unlocked so that we could get in and open the door
from the inside.  Another two hours and we were

 on our way.  As we had gotten such a late start we only drove as far as Lake City, Florida and stopped at the Lake City Campground.

Saturday morning we were up early and off again.  We headed up to Valdosta, Georgia and headed West on US 84.  It was a nice road through the rolling countryside.  Saturday we made it to Andalusia, Alabama, staying at the Sweet Home Alabama Campground.  We had been watching the weather and did have some heavy rain just prior to arriving at the campground, however it stopped as we pulled into our camping spot.  (Not fun trying to set up in the rain)

Sunday morning, June 2, and we were on the road again.  Today we made it to Vidalia, Louisiana.  Right across the Mississippi River from Natchez, Mississippi.  We stayed overnight at the River view RV Park and watched the barges along the River.  The river was up somewhat, but not as high as in 2011 when the Campground had flooded and was closed.

Monday morning, June 3, and we were headed toward Texas.  Driving along the road we have seem lots of "road kill"  however, we have never seen Alligators killed along the road!!  Today we
saw two alligators along the roadside that had been hit by a vehicle.  These were not small gators!!  They were at least 5 to 6 feet in length.  I am just glad that we were not the one that ran over them... don't think that would have been a good thing!!!
We made our way north of Dallas and pulled into the Destiny Dallas RV Resort in Denton, Texas.  We decided to stay two nights and catch our breath.  We found a great Bar-B-Que joint near the campground and had some great ribs!!!

Wednesday, June 5, on to Lubbock, Texas.  We pulled into the Lubbock RV Park for the night.  Soon after we had set up camp, the weather took a turn for the worse and the notice went out that
 Thunderstorms were approaching the Lubbock area.  We pulled in all the slides on our rig and watched the news.  There were no tornadoes however there were heavy winds, gusting from 70 to 85 miles per hour.  Watching the news (thank goodness we did not lose power) there were power outages all over the city and some damage.  The wind had brought down some lights on a ball field at the local college and the roof was off several buildings, but we were okay!!!!!!
In the morning we received a message from our neighbor at home.... seems that one of the sprinkler heads had come off and there was water running down the yard.  Thank goodness for our neighbors John and Julie!!!!  They managed to take care of the problem....seems like nothing happtens when we are home, however the minute you leave.... something has to break!!!!!  All is well.  THANK YOU John and Julie.
When we went to leave the following morning the underside of the coach was loaded with tumbleweeds that been blown about.  Pulled them free and we were off again.

Thursday, June 6, and we were off to Albuquerque, New Mexico.  We pulled into the American RV Park.  What a nice park! It was hot in Albuquerque, but it did cool off very nice at nights for sleeping.  Up in the morning and over to the office building where they had breakfast!!!!!  Not bad.

We have been on the road now for a week, learning once again to live so close together!!!!!  From here we are planning on heading to Durango, Colorado, stopping there for about a month.  It will be nice to get someplace and stay for awhile and get our bearings.

More from along the road later.  Happy trails to all...

Love,   Candy and Johnny

2012 Christmas

Christmas at the Badger's.  I got a new camera and was seeing what the camera would do.. It has a 20 power zoom that I like very much for when we are out in the National Parks.

2012 August Minnesota State Fair

We left Sioux Falls, south Dakota on Sunday, August 26 and headed to Minnesota.  It was a very foggy morning however, about 20 miles in to Minnesota the fog lifted and the sun began to shine.  As we drove through the countryside, it was again sad to see so many of the crops dried up in the fields as they had been in South Dakota.  We we drove through St. Peter, Minnesota and along the Minnesota River, we noticed how very low the water level was in the river.  This summer is so much different from last summer as the water levels in the Rivers, Lakes and Reservoirs are all so low.

Our first night in Minnesota and we stayed south of the Twin Cities at Lebanon Hills State Park.  As we pulled into our spot for the night, parked across from
us were our friends, Gary and Cortney!!!  They had not come out west this summer and had stayed in Ohio, Wisconsin and Minnesota so it was fun to see them!!!!

Monday morning and we left Lebanon Hills and headed north to the KOA in Maple Grove.  The Maple Grove park is not the best, however it is close to Angela, Jeff and the kids as well as Keeth and Kristy. 

Tuesday morning, August 28 and John and I headed to the Minnesota State Fair.  The slogan for the fair is
"The Great Minnesota Get-Together".  It is the largest state fair in the United States in terms of average daily attendance.  It is also the 2nd largest state fair in the United States in terms of total attendance, trailing only the State Fair of Texas, which generally runs for twice as many days as the Minnesota State Fair.  The fair is held at the state fair grounds, adjoining the Saint Paul campus of the University of Minnesota.  The site is in Falcon Heights, MN., midway between the state's capital city of St. Paul and the largest city, Minneapolis, and midway between the North Pole and the Equator.

The first Minnesota State Fair was held in 1859, the year after statehood.   Since then, the fair has run annually except for five different years.  In 1861 and 1862, the fair was not held because of the Civil War and the Dakota War of 1862.  Scheduling issues between the fair and the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago,Illinois caused the 1893 show to be canceled.  The fair again closed because of was in 1945, as fuel was in short supply.  It was again closed in 1946 because of an outbreak of polio.

Machinery Hill is a large area of the fairground, and we were there!!!  For several decades, it held the largest annual display of farm equipment in the world.  However, modern displays generally focus on cars, trucks, lawn mowers, and recreational machines and motorbikes.

Food is one of the primary attractions at the State Fair, and a wide variety of foods are to be had.  Classic fair foods such as cotton candy and hot dogs are readily available.  Many foods reflect Minnesota's agriculture; cheese curds, mild shakes, and corn dogs are popular favorites.  Many foods at the fair are deep fried or come on a stick; from the classic corn dog to alligator-on-a-stick, deep fried candy bar on a stick and even "beer-on-a-stick". ( Have to admit that I did not see that one!!)  However they did have fried dill pickles and that line was always long.

The mascot for the fair is an anthropomorphized gopher, named Fairchild.  He was named by Gladys Anderson Brown for Henry S. Fairchild who advocated using the former Ramsey County Poor Farm as the permanent site for the fair.  Dressed like an early barker on the midway with a straw hat and stripped jacket.  Fairchild has represented the fair for decades.

We had a great time people watching and sampling some of the "fair food".

We will be in Minnesota until the end of September.  More on our visit later, until then,

Love to all,    Candy and Johnny

2012 August Rapid City

 We went into Rapid City one day to do some shopping.  Looking for a shop we were directed down this alley.... I call it Graffiti Alley!!!  I think if you stood still, you too would be painted!!  Have to say it was in interesting place.


We left Custer, South Dakota and headed east to Sioux Falls with an overnight stay along the Missouri River.   We stayed in Sioux Falls for two nights with our friends, Mary and Fred.  What a great time!!!  We thank them so much for their hospitality!!!!  It is always such fun to laugh and tell stories about the good old days of flying.  Both Fred and Mary flew for Northwest Airlines in the Glory Days!!  We had a
great time then and a great time with them for the weekend!!!

On to Minnesota to be with family and friends.

More from Minnesota later,

Candy and Johnny

2012 August Photos of the Badlands