MI.4

October 4, 2010, after the last blog, kinda like backwards entries but then us elders can be thata way, Hay! Hay! Hay!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 Soooooooooooo! Michigan, finally. There is a magic about the area around Grand Traverse that seems to pick up my spirits. We had such a grand time and meeting our Friends was a great feeling of peace and welcome. We stayed very busy and the few days spent there, Little Pony gathered up over 600 miles galloping from our roosting spot to the Resort and Kewadin and Mile 3 center and sight seeing. Janice got to check into the Resort on Thursday evening and she enjoyed that as time spent in the Little Tee-Pee was not the same as being home but she met many folks from all around the Nation. We even met some relatives that we had never met before. Small world!! The Friday evening performance went great and our niece, LaVonne from Cottage Grove, had made Brother Lou and I matching ribbon shirts. Bro Lou was surprised and happy and we wore them for the performance. Two tribal members from Grand Traverse joined us on stage and really helped out with the program. Ruby John on the fiddle and George Troudou on the keyboards. We were able to get in a solid three hours of singing and playing and had folks hot-footing on the dance floor. A great, solid evening. More honors were heaped on me as new friend Jack Swanson, Veterans Leader, got me into the grand entry and Veterans Honor Meal and closing ceremonies. A first for me in these events and a great honor. Thanks Jack and wife Dawn. Brother Tom and his wife Phyllis were ever present and gave great support. Our prayers for Del and Sharon as she just had her last chemo treatment and was limited on travel time but was around at every possible time that she could muster up the strength. Bless both of You. The efforts of Pat Putney and Anna Harwood were beyond words. They were ever-present and busy each moment of the gathering. The presentations were great and the Sat. evening fashion show was sooooo! Cooooool!!! I was asked to play my flute for the show and I did!!!!!! Wow!!! Never knew I had sooooo muuuuuch wind. About two and a half hours of tooting!!! Hoooo! Hooooo! Great times. After closing ceremonies on Tuesday we were again beating the path on south to Bro Lou’s brother-in-law. We spent the nite and on wed. Gail was down for the count. Something grabbed her and she spent the day in bed along with the uks that go with this kind of affliction. We started playing music around 2 pm and took a short break for dinner and it was after 11 pm that I finally found the buffalo hide. The next day, Sis, caught whatever Gail had but was able to travel as we hoofed on down the trail heading west. We screamed thru Ind., Ill., Iowa,wa,wa, wa, Minnesota, South Dakota and found the trail to our present location and here sit all broken hearted but it is time for me to clip on back to Sheridan and hopefully get Little Pony healed up again and git to gitten on down the dusty trail so fellow Hostiles and Gentiles, till then, Giddy Up and GOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!1

MI.3

Today is October 4, 2010 and once again my Little Blue Iron Pony had to take a rest. We have been in the wilderness city of Ranchester, Wyo. At the Lazy R Campground since Sat. nite. The Pony ran out of electrical power Sat. afternoon as we were zipping along between Sturgis, Wyo. And The Devil’s Tower. We had time to gaze at the awesome Tower and spend some time there but had to beat feet on to Gillette, Wyo. Where we found a chevy dealer but of course on a sat. nite in cowboy country there are no services available so they sent us on to an auto store. The young cowgirl working there did the check on the Pony and suggested a bad battery. I believe she would be better at guessing the illness of a real four-legged than what she suggested for our Pony!!!!! Anyhoooooo, we beat feet on to Sheridan, Wyo. And we were limping along on about one leg when the Pony burped and let me know that the end of the trail was coming up fast so we dove off the interstate 90 into Ranchester and found this campsite and here we parked the metal tee-pee. The folks running the camp are our age and are very nice. I have to add that at one point along the trail from Gillette to Sheridan the battery ran out of juice and we had to park along the interstate and I dug out the generator and had to charge it up so that we could get on down the road. On Sunday in Sheridan there were only two auto stores open and of course neither had what was needed to get Little Pony up and running on His own. It was concluded that the Pony had a bad electrical generating plant and had to be ordered in from Billings, Mt. Two-three day wait unless of course I paid the extra wampum and it would be in Mon. afternoon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Yea, Sure, We’lllllll, Seeee!!!
Backing up some, after leaving Dubois, Wyo. We plugged along across Wyo. And set up camp in Custer, S.D. On Fri. Sept. 17. Sat. we tripped around Crazy Horse Monument. A truly awesome site and an inspiring place. We walked around the Mt. Rushmore site and were amazed again at the rock sculptures. The day was rain and fog and so the site at Crazy Horse was limited and we could not see the site but as we were leaving on Sun. morning it was a beautiful and clear day, stopped again at Crazy Horse and took the ride to the bottom of the site. After seeing the sites, little Pony trotted along to get us on toward our destination. We ran at breakneck speed across S. D., then Minn. And Wisconsin. The Upper Mich. dumped gallons and gallons of H2O on us and the wind pushed against Little Pony but after three days we checked in at Freda Chippewa’s place in Peshawbestown, Mich. our final destination for this adventure. A little over 8,000 mi since we left Lakeport, Ca. July 27th. For more adventure update, check out the next blog. UUUUUgggggmmmmmsssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111

M.2

Lo!!!! The Old Chief and his tribe are on the move and let me tell you, we have really moved, well, sorta. Today is the 7th. Day since we left the metro of Monse and tonight we are at the KOA in Dubois, Wyo. We filled our old bods with some great stuff at the Cowboy Café and now are playing catch up with showers, laundry and re-hydration stuff. MMMMMMMMMmmmmm!!!!! From Newport/Old Town WA. Idahoooo,,, we zipped on over to East Glacier, Montana and layed over for two nights and one day. The sights at Glacier National Park and the great Hyway to The Sun are beyond words in my vocabulary so I’ll have to let you use your own sense of beauty, amazement, wonder, enjoyment or whatever your mind can conjure up. The day was perfect. Weather was warm and clear and I was amazed at the number of visitors at this time of year. We drove over the top from the west side and went as far as St Mary’s on the East side. At the visitor center we saw the most wonderful presentations of the area and a very well presented piece about the local tribes, aka ‘The Hostiles.’ A black bear and some mt. goats added lg. chunks of whipped cream to the day. Iron Pony careened on down the hard covered trail and as we got into the town of Seely, Mt. Gail begged to stop and visit a very good friend of hers that she had not seen for about 20 yrs. Jean Russell and Bob. The have 8 kids and 28 grandkids. We visited for only a few minutes and beat feet on to Livingston, Mt. Where we camped for the night. The trip into Yellowstone Park thru the North Gate brought back many great and wonderful memories. I had first passed thru a part of Yellowstone Park in September of 1966. Sandra was not quite one year old and Judy was internally supporting Marilyn. We were on our way to Wa. for the apple season after finishing packing them green, scruffy pears in Lake County. We still enjoy them old super 8 movies from days gone by. Ha! Ha! Last year my bike ride once again put me in touch with this great place and we were able to conjure up some coooool mems. We spent two days touring around the park. The north half first and then the south half. Such sights. My Sis is still in amazement and of course Gail and I just keep having wow day after wow day. We stayed two nights at the Mammoth Hot Springs Campground at the north entrance. We got glimpses of buffaloooooooo, Two wolfs feeding on a not so lucky carcass, bears black and grrrrrizzzzzly, coyotes, elk, deer, great white mt. goats, big black bugs, moths, ants, flys, flys, flys and many, many two-legged critters. A lot of them were in the streams fly fishing but I never did see one fish on????? The most monumental moment of the visit took place at the Fishing Bridge on the Yellowstone River at the junction of the East Entrance. We had stopped to see some fish as this is the place that the Golden Trout spawn. It is where the Yellowstone River exits the Yellowstone Lake. We had to park a short distance from the bridge and I walked on over the bridge to gander down into the stream. A herd of buffaloooooos decided to cross the bridge and my dilemma was, do I run for the end of the bridge and hope that they don’t catch up and run me over,[I’m older now and can’t run as fast] do I jump over the railing and try to survive the icy waters of the glacial lake, should I become a pillar and hope they don’t discover my disquise??????? As I was facing these choices and trying to make a snap decision, the first three giants were only a few feet away from me and so my choices had been made for me, I hugged the post and I may even have left a nail mark or two. I could have reached out and touched coup on these critters but I maintained and kept the camara recording this great moment. The vehicles were coming from both sides of the bridge but the herd had the right-o-way. The extreme test was when the grand-daddy of the herd kept bellowing out orders to them and they came running out of the brush and easing on over the bridge. He would turn and bellow and the group would really hustle up and as he got next to me, I could feel his breath as he rolled his big, round, black eye at me and took a sniff. I mentally said about 100 hail marys and left the rest to fate but grand-daddy just snorted and let me off the hook. Wheeeew!!!! Over all there were about 70 head in the herd and as they all passed on by I thanked the Creator for the most awesome moment. What can I say????????? The Grand Tetons were again, breath-taking and after a wild jaunt into Jackson Hole, we eased on over to Dubois. Several miles of rough road over Togwatee Pass brought back the bike trip as this is the highest point of the trip at 9658 above sea level. Weeeelllll, fellow Hostiles and the rest of you, seeeeee yaaaaa, down the road.

!st Day I'm Back

Lo, the Old Chief is on the move once more. This time I am traveling via the big Iron Horse and a meatl encased teepee. Hee, Hee. If you wonder why it took so long for me to get back up to speed on this laptop I just have to blame it on old age. Ho. Today is Sepember 10th. And we left the metro of Monse, Wa. at 09:30 this very a.m. and it isn now 1930 hrs. and we set up our first camp out in Old Town, Idaho. Ho, ho, ho, at the albani Campgrounds. Of course, being we are all of the Elder Age, we got the great discounts and we are stlyin. Yea? We had a horrific time after we left the junction at Tonasket and Hwy. 20. My half+old, Iron Horse came up with a lame rt. ft. wheel bearing and we were dang lucky to make it to, of all places Colville, Wa. We limped in though and after contacting the Chevy dealer in town, they sent us on to the Toyota Dealer where Erin got my pony checked out and after a couple of hrs and several chunks of wampum later, we headed east, north, south and finally clocked a couple hundred miles for the day. Dave Andrew is the camp host and a mighty friendly guy and got us spotted for the night. My companion Gail, has everything under control and my Sis Janice is enjoying the start of this great journey. Til I get rested up again, Seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Welcome Home Party!!!!!!

This is Sandra, Marilyn and Amber --

We have reserved time at The Boat House in Nice for Sunday afternoon, July 26th, 3:00 - 7:00. It is a NO-HOST party. Come by and congratulate Arnold on his amazing achievement!

We will provide some appetizers, but if you are hungrier than that, The Boat House has a full menu of food and bibes :-)

We know it's short notice, but Arnold is really making tracks on home!! He should be here late tonight or sometime tomorrow. We'll crack the whip over Arnold to get his pictures ready to share. I'm sure they'll be fantastic and really add to his stories.

We are really looking forward to seeing everyone!

xoxo,
Sandra, Mare and Amber


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7-18 Where Am I Now????

Please, Please forgive me (sounds like a song to me) we had so much fun in Saco,Ma. And Old Orchard and I did absolutely nothing. I called my kids and that was about it and I never called the folks I should have but the mystery of the trip still hangs about me and I could not face up to the fact that I did it. We did meet some really great folks there and I will tell more about each of them at another time. We did manage to eat several lbs. of Lobster and did a number on some excellent bibes. Gail made a very cool chef’s cap for Allan, the super chef at the breakfast bar at the KOA where we stayed. He and his wife, Jan, are super folks and I do believe that we have made more life long friends. Jan is into weaving and she let me ‘try’ to so some spinning on the wheel but I’ll tell you now before you start to laugh, I made a terrific mess of things and she did let me keep a bundle of my masterpiece just so I could show the world that them rug makers know something I don’t know, Ha! Ha!. Soooo Muuuch fun we have! But like good wine, things came to an end on Thursday morning and after hugs and tears etc. we got underway at 1100 hrs. After so much rest I was feeling gooooood so I put in 13 hrs of road time and we beat feet to somewhere in Illinois and pulled into a truck stop a zzzddd out. We picked our way across Maine, N.H., Vermont, N.Y., Penn. And almost to Cleveland before my eyeballs cried out, I give!!! 600+mi. At some town in N.Y. we experienced something I had not been in before. It poured down and hail stones the size of golf balls and horrific wind, wind that went east to west. We were on intstate 90 and it was the 5 o’clock hr and the traffic was citified. The storm was so bad that as many cars that could fit under the overpasses just pulled over and parked along the road. We got on thru though after creeping along as fast as some of them ants I saw along the road during the trip and the rest of the day was in cloudy and rainy weather. We beat feet to westeren Iowa,wa,wa and last nite we finally stopped at a rest stop. 800+ miles for day 2 and my butt is feeling it. Bed felt sooo gooood though. Picked up some time too as we started crossing the date lines. Yahoooo! Let her go!!!!!!!!!!!! Skywalker, Skywalker good buddy, sure miss you and love you, should be home in a few days. Over and out.

Can' believe it

Well I was going to sign off for the night but just had to let everyone know that last night it rained on us after we went to bed. Guess what we are having dinner and here it comes again. It think the rainmaker just wants us to remember her. Old Chief over and out.