Sept. 17, 18 & 19 On the Road Again!!

Every two months or so since we began The Great Loop, Wally and I have taken a road trip. This month we drove from Grafton, MO where the Illinois River meets the Upper Mississippi River to Sioux Falls, SD. Slightly down river in St. Louis, the Missouri River joins the fray. Had we crossed the State of Missouri from St. Louis to Kansas City (instead of Hannibal to St. Joseph)and then completed the trip (as we did) following the Iowa-Nebraska border up to South Dakota, we would have been within a few miles of the Missouri River for the entire 500 mile ten-hour trip. Who knew!  Why make a trip to Sioux Falls, SD? Well, we have been South Dakota residents for the past ten years. Our nomadic RV lifestyle offered us the privilege of choosing the state we would claim as our “Domicile”. Our cruising lifestyle continues to offer us the same choice. Every five years we have to return to Sioux Falls, show proof that we have stayed one night and that we have an address for receiving mail, pass the eye test for our driver’s license and get a fresh photo taken for the picture ID.  Our mail-forwarding service changed owners and addresses, so we paid an early morning visit to Dakota Post and picked up the mail that was waiting for us. We also got the scoop on when to expect the arrival of our absentee ballots for voting in the upcoming Presidential Election. Our SD vehicles’ registrations both come due in February, so we’re all set there. Our health insurance... chosen from those companies that South Dakota offers... seems to be serving us well. Oh Joy for The Life of the Open Road (or Open Waterway, as it has come to be these past three years). One observation we can make after criss/crossing the Great Plains... the corn farmers of America are harvesting a bumper crop this year!!!

Had to have new haircut for Driver License pictures!

Our home in South Dakota

Created by Darcy Campbell

Aug. 26-27, 2016 Muskegon, MI Reunions with good friends, long-time and quite new

When we were making our way along the Erie Canal, we chanced to meet the folks on a boat with a gaelic name...Feath. Pronounced (fee-a), it means Tranquil. Lenny and Nancy had just bought a Jefferson 37 Motor Yacht on the East Coast and with friends on board they were making their way back to the Muskegon, Michigan area. They fit in with all of the Loopers just fine and we enjoyed visiting along the lock walls at the day’s end. As we approached their homeport here on the Michigan shore, we emailed them to see if we could re-connect. They invited us to their home in Grand Haven for a delicious cook-out and chat time on the night we arrived. We got a much-needed “fur-fix” with their dog Charlie, also known as Chuck. What a sweet couple!

Meanwhile, another couple we came to know about 10 years ago at the Saguaro Co-op RV Park in Benson, Arizona, live about one hour away from Muskhegon in the summer. Bob and Cheri had been following our progress through Facebook and agreed to drive over for a lunchtime visit on our second day. They got to see “Summertime” up close and personal and then we opted for a neighborhood pub meal. We had a lot of catching up to do since we haven’t seen each other in four years. These kind of reunions make this life of ours even more special.

Created by Darcy O Campbell