Monday, September 12, 2024 I awoke this morning to squawking sea gulls and cool air flowing through the open windows. I enjoyed my first shower and shave after two days and then headed downstairs for coffee and a Euro-style breakfast in the hotel restaurant. The conferene began at 9:00 am […]
Sunday, August 11, 2024 My travel adventure began yesterday afternoon. NCSU colleague, Jeff, drove from his mountain home and arrived at our house just as the U.S. men’s basketball team won an Olympic gold medal by beating the strong French team. Shortly afterwards, around 6 pm, Jane drove us to
Saturday, August 10, 2024 This evening, I (John) will embark on a trip to visit several European countries: Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland. Destination Countries During the first week of this trip, I will join colleagues from N.C. State University and attend the 16th International Christmas Tree Research and
Tuesday, 18, 2024 Well, our grand 57-day-long RVing adventure has come to its end. On this amazing excursion, we were able to rectify our travel deficiency of never having visited the Grand Canyon, one of our country’s most iconic natural treasures. Indeed, we cherished our visit there, spending four days
Sunday, June 16, 2024 The final familiar leg of the trip home went smoothly. We stopped twice, for fuel first, and later to eat a quick lunch at a rest area. At the beginning of the trip, Zorro was alert watching the cars and scenery zip past, but eventually he
Saturday, June 15, 2024 This morning, after departing the campground, we fueled-up in Corbin, TN. Because of closures on I-75 S, we were routed onto US-25 E. This alternative was shorter in distance but due to lower speed limits and traveling through many small towns with traffic lights, it took
Friday, June 14, 2024 A heavy rainstorm woke us up last night but the skies had cleared off by morning. After breaking camp, we drove separately back to Nashville. Jane drove her car to Subway to buy some sandwiches for lunch while I attempted to fill up the diesel tank.
Thursday, June 13, 2024 Today we continued our homebound journey by driving from Knoxville (IL) to Nashville (IN). Our I-74 journey took us through Peoria, Bloomington and Champaign in Illinois. The heavy traffic and winds during much of the drive was tiring. As we were approaching Indianapolis, our GPS showed
Wednesday, June 13, 2024 We were awakened around 4 am this morning by the hotel alarm system blaring from a speaker about five feet from our bed. Jane instantly responded, but I was just starting to sit up in bed when the alarm stopped. We looked out the door and
Tuesday, June 11, 2024 The temperature was in the mid 40s with rain as we departed the North Shore this morning on our way back to Forest City, Iowa, to pick up our motorhome. In north Duluth, we jumped on I-35 S that took us all the way into Iowa.
Monday, June 10, 2024 After a hotel breakfast, we drove to the Split Rock Lighthouse. During the drive, which involved going through a couple of tunnels, we listened to Gordon Lightfoot sing “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” to put us into a Lake Superior shipwreck mood. We arrived a
Sunday, June 9, 2024 Well, today we departed the “Icebox of the Nation”, International Falls, and began our southern journey back home. We’ve become accustomed to the cool weather and long days and will miss them. Our route will involve, first, staying in Two Harbors just north of Duluth on
Saturday, June 8, 2024 This morning, after a carby self-serve breakfast at the hotel, we set off to explore. The trucks-towing-boats had largely cleared out of the hotel parking lot by the time we departed. As we passed through International Falls, we stopped at Smokey Bear Park. In addition to
Friday, June 7, 2024 This morning we departed Itasca Lake State Park and drove north on US-17 towards International Falls, the “Icebox of the Nation.” After about 45 minutes of driving, we arrived in Bemidji, the first city along the Mississipi River after it leaves its headwaters. We patronized the
Thursday, June 6, 2024 We devoted today to exploring Lake Itasca State Park. (Thanks for the suggestion, Jeff.) Because the lodge restaurant wasn’t open for breakfast (and the room coffee was inadequate in quantity and quality), we started the day by driving about 30 miles to Park Rapids. There, we