[whatsnewell]

Today, May 26th, is our final day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and, of course, Race Day. It has been a very interesting time here working this event. If you ever get a chance to visit this iconic raceway do it! Especially the Hall of Fame museum, which is well worth the price of admission at $5.

We are very excited to be back on the road in about 10 days....I will be here until at least June 6th while Elaine flies to Oregon for an annual women's retreat she attends....she'll be back June 4th, then it is off for South Dakota! Can't believe it's just a few more weeks until the rally. Can't believe summer is just around the corner.

[whatsnewell]

We spent another 11 days at IMS, but left yesterday, Thursday, headed toward Sioux Falls, SD. Tonight we are overnighting at a Walmart in Janesville, WI. We visited college friends in Hammond, IN yesterday afternoon/evening, and then headed northward again to our current position. We are planning to spend a few days in the LaCrosse, WI area riding some Rails to Trails bike paths in the area. Wisconsin has some of the most extensive Rails to Trails bike paths in the U.S.

Enjoying very nice weather here, but it looks like rain Sunday in La Crosse.

[roadappels]

Clarke, look for the world's largest six-pack in LaCrosse. Good beer, food, and great people...and the city jail serves a great breakfast!

B

[whatsnewell]

Clarke, look for the world's largest six-pack in LaCrosse. Good beer, food, great people...and the city jail serves a great breakfast!

B

Thank you for the tip.....we have often found on our journey that good beer, good food, and great people seem to be found in the same places.

By the way, I'm sure many of you know that I-90 in Illinois is one big toll road. Plus, currently, about 80+ miles of it are under construction with a construction zone speed limit of 45 mph the ENTIRE way, including 2 narrow lanes, and lots of "K" rails.....glad we are past that nightmare!

[folivier]

Should have given you a discount for having to drive through that!

[whatsnewell]

We are currently in West Salem, WI (between Sparta and La Crosse) until Thursday when we head into Minnesota for a few days. We'll arrive in Sioux Falls to meet Todd and Dawn Flickema, spend a few days, then westward to Spearfish! We will cross the Mississippi river again for the first time since last September. It is going to be a magical summer! Did some biking on the La Crosse River Trail (Rails to Trails) yesterday.

[whatsnewell]

Since my last post we departed Wisconsin, and sped through Minnesota over three days, staying for two days in Welcome, MN, then on to Sioux Falls, SD where we spent 5 days at the Sioux Falls Fairgrounds visiting with Todd and Dawn Flickema, as well as working on Todd's 1984 Newell....Tom and Darlene joined us a few days later, then Tom and I gang tackled a few remaining issues on Todd's coach before heading up to Spearfish, SD for the Newell Gurus Mini Rally. We spent 8 days at Elkhorn Ridge RV Resort and Cabins.....what a great place, and what a great rally! Thank you to all who attended the rally! Many new friends were made, as well as existing friendships renewed.

After 8 days Forest and Cindy, Tom and Darlene, and Elaine and I formed a caravan and spent 5 days traveling to Cochrane, AB, Canada. We saw some great scenery, and tried hard to stay just ahead of the really bad heat that was chasing us into Canada. Our travels up to the border and into Canada were totally uneventful, but full of fun....we have been having potluck dinners every night.

Here in Cochrane we met Jim and Gail Ellis who own a 1987 Newell, and live here at Bow Rivers Edge RV Park where we are staying for a week. In just a few minutes we will head over to Jim and Gail's "home" for a fire and some pie......life is good! Leaving here Wednesday to drive up to Banff, Lake Louise, Columbia Icefields and Jasper.

[lbrachfe]

Clarke,
In Banff is the Bell helicopter ski center (May be under another name now as we were there last in 07) with a good restaurant and RV park. Simple but adequate. Glad to hear the trip has only been fun with no repairs needed. Looking forward to our next get together.

[whatsnewell]

Well, we entered Alberta, Canada on July 2nd, and just emerged from cell phone blackout today, July 23rd. We spent a month with Tom and Darlene (meeting them in Sioux Falls, SD prior to Spearfish) and a month with Forest and Cindy (Spearfish on). We had a lot of potluck dinners, and saw some amazing scenery in Jasper, Columbia Icefields, Lake Louise, and Banff. As Forest says...."after a while you just run out of adjectives, and just say "OOOOOH!" "WOW!"......that about covers it. As you know from Tom's posts he had to replace his refer while we were in Madden.....we drove into Calgary one day and helped Tom spend his money, then helped him install the new Kitchenaide, which Darlene likes a lot. We had planned to be in Madden 1, or 2 days, but spent the week. The day we were leaving Madden Tom noticed a puddle of coolant under his radiator when he was hooking up the Honda.....of course you know that story too. Tom left our caravan that day, and we continued north to the Columbia Icefieldsd with Forest and Cindy, and what a great drive it was.....even the 10% grade up to the Icefields. We took the Icefields tour the same day we arrived, and then drove up to Jasper the next day. It rained several times while we camped in the Icefields parking lot....the views from the lot are worth the $15.70/ day you pay to stay there. After two days we headed south to Lake Louise and did more "oooohing and awwwwing"........it rained as we left the Icefields, and was wet all the way to Lake Louise, so our coaches got all dirty again, of course. Each day you are in a Canadian National Park you pay a fee of just under $20.....plus whatever you pay to camp. We paid for two days initially when we entered Banff Nat'l park, and had to pay for one more day when we got to Lake Louise....in addition to the $45 for an electric only site (30 amp). We drove up to Lake Louise, and then Lake Morraine......it was cold and windy.....we began to wonder where summer has gone.....not that we don't like the cold weather!

From Lake Louise we drove 266 miles to Cardston, AB where we had hoped Tom and Darlene would catch up with us, but they decided to stay a few days longer in Lethbridge with their in-laws. They came over to Cardston one day to exchange a few items we each had of each others......Forest had 2 of Tom's impact drills, Darlene had a coat of mine, and Tom had a hard drive of Forest's. We said our good byes, and look forward to meeting up with Tom and Darlene again....they are like part of our family now.

Today the Olivier's and Hockwald's drove 16 miles to the U.S. border on PH-2, which turns to U.S. 89 in the USA.....we both had to pull into a parking area for a few minutes.....the agent said they wanted to see inside my trailer, and Forest made the mistake of saying they "were with us".....I opened up the trailer, but as it turned out Agent Ware just came over and talked to us about our adventures in Canada.....he is newly arrived from Houston, TX.....quite a change, eh?

In Babb, MT we parted way with the Olivier's.....it was a little bitter sweet, but we know we will cross paths again.....we stopped at St. Mary Lake and got permission to park overnight in the Visitor Center parking lot, then unloaded the 'Bird and drove 40+ miles to Lake McDonald with numerous stops along the way to do more "ooooohing and awwwwing" and take pictures. We have strong 3G and 5 bars of cellular so life is good......we are connected to the world again!

[whatsnewell]

Since St. Mary we have moved south to Browning for a couple of days, then west to East Glacier, MT where we have been for almost a week now. We are still only 30+ miles from the Canadian border, and really loving the area, and the weather. We've done a lot of hiking in Glacier National Park. Tomorrow we are off again west and a little north to Whitefish and Kalispell, MT. Elaine's iPhone crapped out, so we need to visit the Verizon store in Kalispell, and get the phone fixed, or replaced.

Looks like we'll be in Montana until at least the 21st before heading into Washington State for a month, or so.

Life is good!