In Greeley, Colorado we heard of a Farmers' Market again. We got excited as we approached because we could see pickup trucks. We don't know if the sellers were actually farmers but they were selling fresh foods at cheap prices and we bought sacks full. The next day we left Colorado and drove back roads to McCook, Nebraska where we boondocked in a Wal-Mart parking lot. The temperature reached 100 degrees during our drive and our generator came in handy to keep the roof air conditioners blowing cold air after we stopped. For our evening meal we cooked Granny Smith apples, summer squash, fresh green beans, sliced tomatoes and Walla Walla Sweets. Walla Walla Sweets are the best onions we have ever tasted. They are so sweet they can be eaten like apples. We bought them at a roadside stand in Walla Walla, Washington. Later near Yutan, Nebraska we found a roadside stand by a farm house on a gravel road. Tables were full of fresh vegetables and a can set on a table but no one was in sight. Take what vegetables you want and drop some money in the can.

Heading across western Nebraska we crossed from the Mountain Time Zone to the Central Time Zone so we set our clocks back one hour. At McCook we noticed it got dark at 7:30 p.m. which seemed unusual for the middle of summer. Early the next morning the Wal-Mart was bustling with traffic as we left heading to North Platte. We fueled up the Dutch Star at a Flying-J and went inside to eat their breakfast buffet. Our server informed us the breakfast buffet was closed as it was nearly noon. At that point we realized we should have set our clocks "ahead" one hour so we were two hours behind. Oh well, we don't care what time it is anyway. We ordered breakfast from the menu.

Buffalo Bill Cody built a ranch at North Platte in 1886 to use it as a resting place between his "Wild West" shows. He named the ranch Scout's Rest Ranch because he was an army scout and the ranch was a place of rest. The ranch was his home for twenty-five years. We toured the house, barn and outbuildings that are now a museum operated by the State of Nebraska. The original ranch contained 3,000 acres and now Nebraska owns 249 of those acres. A campground is east of the house and we stayed three nights. It was interesting to park the Dutch Star where Buffalo Bill rode his horse checking his cattle and horses. Our first night in the campground we were joined by two other rigs and a tenter. The second night we were the only one in the campground and the third night Jim and Patty Hammond parked beside us and one other rig entered the campground.

Buffalo Bill Cody had an interesting life. He was born in 1846 in Iowa and left home at age eleven to work as an ox-team driver for 50 cents a day. Two years later he was "messenger boy" with a westbound bull train to Fort Laramie where he joined a party of trappers. In 1859 he joined the gold rush to Pikes Peak, Colorado and the next year he became a pony express rider, one of the youngest at age fourteen. In 1864 he enlisted in the Kansas Volunteer Infantry and served until the end of the Civil War. In 1866 he ran the Golden Rule House Hotel in Kansas and later that year he became a government scout at Fort Elsworth and Fort Hays in Kansas. In 1867-68 he was employed by the Goddard brothers to provide buffalo meat for railroad workers and he was paid $500 a month. In eight months he killed 4,280 buffalo and became known as Buffalo Bill. From 1868 to 1872 he served with the 5th Cavalry in various expeditions against the Indians. In 1872 Buffalo Bill went east and was a stage play actor portraying the frontier. He returned to the west in 1876 as a military guide to Wyoming Indian territory. Later that year he returned to the stage portraying scenes from the Sioux War. In 1887 he established a cattle ranch near North Platte, Nebraska and in 1882 he organized the "blowout," the nation's first rodeo. From 1883-86, Buffalo Bill toured the U.S. with his Wild West Show, taking the wild and wooly frontier to the doorsteps of Eastern people. In 1887 he took the show on a tour of England, in 1889 he toured Europe with his show and he played next to the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. In 1898 he founded the town of Cody, Wyoming. In 1900, he went into partnership with James A. Bailey (Barnum and Bailey) and he took an enlarged show to Europe in 1902. During the decade 1900-1910, Buffalo Bill poured money into various projects from irrigation systems to mines and financed friends and relatives. Many of his ventures failed and left him near bankruptcy. He joined Pawnee Bill in a large touring show, but it failed. Col. William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody died in 1917 in Denver, Colorado at the home of his sister and he was buried on Lookout Mountain near Denver. Last year we visited Cody, Wyoming and toured the fantastic Buffalo Bill History Center. If you visit either North Platte, NE or Cody, WY, we suggest you take a day to visit the museums and learn more about this interesting man.

At Kearney we found Nebraska's newest museum which opened last year. The Great Platte River Road Archway Monument spans interstate highway I-80. The Platte River was the main trail taken by pioneers in wagons heading to new lives in the west and the Pony Express followed the river through central Nebraska. In the early 1900's the nation's first transcontinental highway, the Lincoln Highway, followed the same route as did the nation's first interstate highway, I-80. The museum depicts the history of the people who used the routes along the Platte River as well as the routes themselves. We were given headphones and as we moved from one exhibit to the next, we heard the history of that era. The exhibits and displays explain the Indians, wagon trains, buffalo, hunters, traveling by old automobiles and even the modern interstates. When traveling through central Nebraska a stop at the unique museum is a must.

Just down the road in the small community of Minden we found the "granddaddy of all museums" - Pioneer Village. Harold Warp, inventor of Flex-O-Glass, acquired old buildings, automobiles, farm machinery and more and opened his museum in 1953. The museum traces 160 years of progress of the American people. On site are 25 buildings, a snack bar, restaurant, motel, campground and an airport. We found 350 old automobiles including many rare ones. We saw the first Cadillac built in 1902 (designed by Henry Ford) setting beside Mr. Ford's improved 1903 Ford automobile. Henry Ford put a one cylinder engine in the Cadillac and a two cylinder in his Ford. On display was the world's oldest Buick (1905), a Sears' auto purchased through their catalog, one of the first Olds, first Corvettes and first Thunderbirds. The 1906 Sears auto cost $370, plus $25 for a top and fenders. It would take all day to just see and study the automobiles and an additional 50 trucks. Then there are 100 old tractors, antique farm machinery, a livery stable full of wagons and buggies, an old fire house, a land office, a general merchandise store with the shelves still stocked, the first church of Minden, a china house, an old one-room school house, a sod house, a train depot, a fort house, household furniture and appliances, an agricultural building with steam tractors and 500 farming implements, a blacksmith shop, Pony Express barn and station and a hobby house. We rode the oldest (1879) steam powered merry-go-round in the U.S. for 5 cents each. The main building contains over 10,000 items including lighting, guns, money, paintings, sculptures, the oldest internal combustion engine (1876 Otto) and the oldest jet airplane (1942-P59). We spent two full days touring Pioneer Museum and did not see it all. Admission is $7 per adult and that gets you a multi-day pass. It is the best museum we have ever visited and we highly recommend it.

We stopped in a park about twenty miles west of Omaha with the intension of visiting Omaha, but the weather was so hot we curtailed sightseeing. The temperature stayed in the 96 - 100 degree range for eleven days. Heading north through Iowa we encountered a strong headwind as a welcome cool front was coming through. Still keeping to the back roads to see the real America we found the town of LeMars with a sign proclaiming they were the "Ice Cream Capital of the World." Blue Bunny trucks were everywhere and in the middle of town we found the Blue Bunny Visitors Center. For those of you not familiar with ice cream, Blue Bunny is the top of the line. After touring the Blue Bunny museum and information center we ate some delicious Blue Bunny ice cream.

 Our next stop was Cutty's Okoboji Resort in Spirit Lake, Iowa where we had reservations. At least we thought we had reservations. We arrived to a full campground during their busy season and Linda realized she had made reservations at Cutty's Resort in "Des Moines, Iowa." No problem. The staff at Cutty's let us boondock in their overflow area the first night, then moved us to a full hookup site the next day. We were not aware the lakes area in northwest Iowa was such a popular place. It was jam packed with campers and boats. We spent much of our six days there relaxing, but we did tour the lakes and took a boat ride on West Lake Okoboji.

Next, we crossed into Minnesota and stopped in the town of New Ulm, a German community. (We did not need a campground so we spent the day and night in a Target parking lot.) In the last few years we had driven through New Ulm three times and we figured it was time to stop and visit the town. We only had one day, but by rushing we saw most of the places we wanted to see. The Brown County Museum is a beautiful building and the houses of the town are interesting. Cathedral of Holy Trinity is one of the most beautiful churches we have visited in our two years on the road. In a downtown park we found a Glockenspiel. It is one of the world's few free- standing carillon clock towers and stands 45 feet high. It contains 37 bells, the largest weighs 595 pounds and the total weight of all bells is 2 tons. The bells are computer controlled and can also be played from a keyboard inside the tower's base. The bells play three times a day and we listened to the 3:00 p.m. performance. It lasted 12 minutes. Saving the best for last, we headed to Schell's Brewery, the second oldest brewery in the United States. An interesting tour guide took us on an hour and a half tour of the brewery ending in the tasting room. He explained the different beers they produce and passed bottles around. We each had a small cup and filled our own cups a time or two from each bottle. After six samples he showed us where the large glasses were and then he opened the taps for each variety. Man, we have toured many breweries and wineries, but we have never been told "drink all you want." From now on every time we pass through New Ulm we'll stop at Schell's Brewery and take the tour.

Our next stop was in Sartell, Minnesota, just north of St. Cloud, to visit Norm's oldest son's family, Troy, Sandy, Luke (age 4) and Logan (age 2). We had not seen them in eight months and the boys sure had grown. We parked our "truck-house" (that is what Luke calls our motorhome) on the street in front of their house and spent three days there. We did not do much except enjoy our visit and play with the boys. From there we drove to Ashland, Wisconsin and stayed in their beautiful city park campground just feet from Lake Superior. One day we toured the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center which gives the history of the area. In the old days there was hunting and trapping, copper and iron mining, fishing industries on the lake, and logging old forest with gigantic trees. Today there is no trapping as there are not many wild animals left, the copper mines are closed as are most of the iron mines, the lake's fish population is small as the lake was over-fished and man's pollution killed most of the rest and all the old forest were cut many years ago. At picturesque Bayfield we took a ferry 2.6 miles to Madeline Island and walked around town, then rode the ferry back. Madeline Island is the largest of the twenty-two Apostle Islands just off the coast in Lake Superior. The island has a summer population of 2,500, but only 180 brave souls spend the winter there.

Heading on across the Great Lakes Region we stopped in Iron Mountain, Michigan and took a tour of Iron Mountain Iron Mine. (The mine is actually in Vulcan, Michigan.) Rich iron ore was discovered there in the 1800's and by the turn of the century it was the major iron producer of the world. Our narrated tour began with viewing and watching 1800s' mining equipment in operation. Then we boarded a train that took us a quarter mile into a mountain and four hundred feet underground. We walked through mine shafts (wearing hard hats and raincoats) to view mining operations from decades ago. After the mine tour we stopped at Dobber's Pasties and ate beef and vegetable pasties. Pronounced "pass-tee", they are something like a pot-pie. Miners took them to work for a hearty meal.

At St. Ignace, Michigan, the third oldest city in the United States, we crossed the Mackinac Bridge to Mackinaw City. The bridge was opened in 1957 and is five miles long. It connects the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with the lower part and is the dividing line between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. It is a toll bridge ($3 for our Dutch and Honda), has narrow lanes and a speed limit of 20 mph for large vehicles. We settled in Mackinaw Mill Creek Camping campground which is located on the shore of Lake Huron. The first two days we were there it rained so we curtailed our sightseeing. Mackinaw City has enough shopping and dining establishments to keep one busy for days. The lighthouse is being restored so we could not take a tour, but we did walk the shoreline and watch vehicles inch over the bridge. From the city we took a ferry boat ($15.50 each) to Mackinac Island. The island is unusual in that no cars or trucks are allowed. Transportation is provided by horse and wagon, bicycles and shoe leather. The 1,800 acre island has houses, subdivisions, businesses and many permanent inhabitants, but no cars. The island boasts of selling 10,000 pounds of fudge daily and we bought three types. We took a narrated carriage tour and then walked much of the island. The Grand Hotel has been the location of two movies, but they charge $10 a person just to walk on the grounds so we skipped it. When we learned they have an excellent lunch buffet for $45 a person, we suddenly lost our appetite. Next time we visit Mackinac Island we will take our bikes and ride around the 8.5 mile perimeter road. Our time in the area was too short as we did not visit Fort Mackinac, Colonial Michilimackinac, Mill Creek, Ft. Ignace and several other places. One of these days we will go back and see the rest.


Next month we will go to the Spartan plant in Charlotte, Michigan for the two year service on our Dutch Star and then to the Newmar plant in Nappanee, Indiana to have some warranty items repaired. After a few days with Norm's sister Gloria Martin and her husband Don, we will settle in the Louisville, Kentucky area for a month of doctor and dentist appointments and family visits.