Blogging on the Road.

Well, you can't actually do it very easily. Writing the blog takes time away from living the experience. And finding WiFi while barreling across the prairies of Montana and South Dakota is tough. So, here's our blog of RVing to Iowa, all posted on the same day in early July, a week after the trip is over.

If you're new to blogs, the best way to read the blog from start to finish is to click on the entries listed to the right on your screen, starting at the bottom. And, to see the photos in a larger size, just click on the photos. Comments are encouraged! Enjoy the ride. --Tom

BLOGGING WOES

The trouble with blogging, of course, is that when you are blogging, you are not living your life. And when you are living your life, you are not blogging. So, while we were on the trip, it was impossible for me to add entries to the blog. I could sort of take notes during the day but internet access at a typical KOA is not easy to come by. And in Yosemite, I mean Yellowstone, not only was there no internet, there was no cell phone service either! Very strange feeling these days to be three days without my blackberry. And it has taken me this week to get all the notes and thoughts organized. So even tho I'm posting them all today, if you start from the bottom and read up, you will get a sense of the trip. Happy reading! Terry

APPLE HILL FARM

June 25-27
And so we finish our road trip at Apple Hill Farm. Tom’s entire family lives there on 80 acres of bucolic wonder. His parents, Maury and Evedna, have commandeered the high ground, overlooking the rolling hills and a fishing pond full of snapping turtles and assorted fish. His sister Vincy and her husband, Bill are just off the highway which makes it handy for fish & game officers who bring Vincy orphaned deer, raccoons and assorted injured creatures to nurse back to health.

In addition to the wildlife, they also raise cows, sheep, goats, a miniature bull, horses, a mule, chickens, ducks and some pet skunks. Maybe some others but that’s a pretty good list. Oh man. Up the hill from Vincy and Bill’s and on the left, Vincy’s daughter Shelly and her husband Paul live with their two daughters and son. Further on, on the right, live Vincy’s other daughter Pepper, her husband Tim, daughter and son.

And on every square inch of the 80 acres there are either crops or animals. Did I mention the cats? Many cats? Everyone has a kitchen garden and there is corn, hay and I don’t know what else growing everywhere. Trucks, tractors, hay bailers, other mysterious contraptions are everywhere. And everyone works hard. I don’t know if it was the original intent but at this point the family grows or raises almost everything they need. It’s a beautiful place populated by hard-working people who treasure their family ties and live in support of each other.
William (Pepper and Tim's son) steals the show.

ALBERT LEA, MN and IOWA THOUGHTS

June 25
We stayed overnight at a KOA in Albert Lea, Minnesota, my birthplace. My parents drove up and gave us a tour of the town, pointing out all the houses I lived in until we moved to Southern California when I was 5. We stopped at the lot where once stood the one-room house where my Mom grew up with her two sisters and their mom, during the depression. The house was really a shack, with no running water, no electricity and no heat except the coal burning stove. The lot is next to the railroad tracks, so the girls would pick up coal that fell off the trains. Hobos routinely knocked on the door asking for food, which my grandmother would provide. --Tom

So Iowa, as we have all heard, has corn. Lots of corn. Also soybeans. Also cows. All of this is on lots of farms, very tidy, with red barns, kitchen gardens, silos, white fences. Wide open spaces punctuated by low rolling hills. Green everywhere this time of year and much activity with hay mowing, moving cows around and other farm stuff I have no comprehension of.

TOM THREINEN SQUARED

June 23
Before driving to Duluth to see some Threinens, we visited with some other Threinens: uncle Jim, aunt Betty and cousin Kurt at their summer condo in Minneapolis.
We got a tour of the place, checked some web sites on Kurt's computer, looked at some of Betty's wonderful watercolor paintings, and told stories. And they finally got to meet Terry, after years of near misses in Phoenix, Laughlin, Las Vegas, and San Diego. They served us a healthful lunch to send us on our way. --Tom

June 23-24
You would think that if your name was Thomas William Michael Threinen, it would be next to impossible to find someone with your same name. But on Tuesday evening, we pulled into the long driveway of Thomas (no William) Michael Threinen and his wife Carol in Duluth, MN.

These Toms are some kind of cousins in an impossible-to-describe way but from the first time the four of us met each other in San Diego a few months ago, we have all felt closely related.
Two Toms in Ocean Beach, San Diego.


Duluth is, of course, famous for its unending winter and extremely cold, stormy, windy and generally inclement and terrible weather. But for the two days we were there looking around, it was come-on-down weather. Low 80’s, just a little muggier than a typical San Diego July day, and perfectly clear skies.

We saw rivers, hiked to waterfalls, lunched lake-side and then toured the Duluth Harbor.
Tom Threinen taking a photo of the other Tom Threinen taking a photo of Tom Threinen.


After waiting for and watching an enormous freighter travel under the lift-bridge and into the harbor from Lake Superior, it was time for a beer.

So we found a harbor view place and watched a sailboat race get underway. Then more touring, including great views of the vast amount of commerce that happens in this harbor. Duluth Harbor is the sorting out location and gateway for all the coal, gypsum, grains and some other things that I have forgotten that go to the Midwest.

Then back to the Threinen’s gorgeous home to learn a card game that I’m sure they were making up as we went along. A marvelous time was had by all and we made many plans to get together again. How about in a place with great weather. Such as San Diego!
* * *

As a Waterman, I know about waves and surfing spots all over the world. Duluth has great surf sometimes, usually in the winter, as this photo I found on the internet proves. But THIS Waterman is going to pass on surfing Lake Superior--too much snow on the beach! --Tom

SHARKS IN MINNESOTA

June 22
There is a world-famous aquarium in the middle of the world-infamous Mall of America south of Minneapolis. Ken Gardner has a for-fun job there so he gave us the behind-the-scenes tour. Huge sharks, sea turtles, rays, puffer fish and other sea creatures live next-tank from the fresh water creatures including several extremely ugly sturgeon. There is even a whole room of sea horse tanks. It’s an impressive operation with all the fishes’ food prepared in stainless steel kitchens and dispensed with hospital precision.
After the tour, Ken’s beautiful and brilliant wife Diane joined us for Italian food.

ROADTRIP LESSON

June 21
The plan after leaving Badlands, and you know we had a plan, was to drive a long day to Sioux Falls, South Dakota and stay in a Flying J truck stop there. We had been seeing them along the highways, and thought it would be interesting to park with all the 18-wheelers, possibly fun. But, as we got within three hours to Sioux Falls, a huge “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act” project had been undertaken, reducing a four-lane highway to two narrow lanes with no shoulder for 50 miles.

(It was Sunday, so there were no workers working on this "stimulus project". But there was little evidence of construction equipment, so I wondered how many guys were put to work fixing this 50-mile stretch of highway. --Tom)

We were both wide awake for this one, it was pretty tense! I looked over at Tom and his lips were white, not to mention his knuckles. So I googled a KOA in Mitchell, South Dakota and we got off the highway right after the construction. We had planned to eat dinner in the truck stop so we had sardines, crackers, walnuts and raisins and a salad of olives and canned tomatoes. Plenty of ice, vodka and a Scrabble game so we made it through the night.