And away we go...The Honeymoon in Pictures and Verse...

Finally.....the honeymoon report:
Sorry for the delay. We have been busy with this trip and the second southeastern trip to be reflected in the next journal report. So here we go....

Daisy's Road Machine dressed for the occasion

We departed Blacksburg, VA on  a Tuesday in the car above and arrived in Eureka, Springs on Wednesday with the expectation that the moving van would show up on Friday.  We were mistaken. They arrived Thursday early afternoon.  By evening we were unloaded with boxes everywhere and only a path to the bath, bed and frig.


One thing you need to know is that my house was full of furniture already. Even though I have never lived in the house full time, it was outfitted for rental use complete with linens and pictures on the walls.  Where to place Daisy's stuff? I had constructed a storage room and hauled furniture to needy organizations, but we both were still awed with the task ahead.  We have a beautiful location and the challenge is to turn this house into a loving home.

See the house on the right...and the one on the left....well ours is in the treed middle!

Yes there is a little white house in the forest.

Our first official function was to attend a marriage reception hosted by our dear friend Carol.  She had invited a number of people whom we both knew to welcome us back to Holiday Island as a married couple.

Carol provided a beautiful arrangement of flowers.

Our unity candle, guestbook, church bulletins

Bridal veil and tuxedo baseball caps

Carol hosted the welcoming reception.

 12 friends and neighbors shared their smiles and best wishes with us.

Daisy and I supplied copies of our wedding napkins and church bulletins. We also had a running slideshow of wedding pictures to add to the festive decor. It was a wonderful welcoming and Carol is a great friend to do this to honor our union.

But we still had a loaded house to return to. Our goals were to: place all furniture near where it might possibly be, get the kitchen operable, clear both baths for action, make the master bedroom suite inviting, and....

...get Daisy's car into the garage--we did.

The first state line to cross heading north

10 days later we decided it was time for fun.  We still had about 3 dozen boxes remaining in the main house not counting the pictures that still remained to be unwrapped.  So we gave it a short thought and took off in the truck camper to do the honeymoon thing!

We have friends playing at a resort in Idaho who invited us to come visit.  We locked the doors and departed in the truck camper.


Our first stop was near Springfield, MO at a Camping World to add 3 vent covers to improve the air flow within the truck camper (TC). This is Daisy's first trip in the TC. She had helped pick it out in February but had not set foot in it until she came to Arkansas after the wedding.



The installations and Daisy's first night both went well and we were off to Kansas, our first official stop.

Overland Park KS with Daisy's brother Don and family

 We decided to experience all kinds of  overnight opportunities on this maiden voyage of the TC. This list would include private, government, truck stops, boonies, lakes, and family/friend streets and driveways.  If we could get the truck there and it was safe to park, we would try it at least once.

Corps of Engineers lakeside in Junction City, KS

Remember we are completely self contained so we can be comfortable almost anywhere as long as we are nearly level. We stopped for a luncheon at Don and Maggie's in Kansas and spent a lovely night on the shores of a small lake.

Our immediate destination  was to meet more of Daisy's family and some college friends of mine in Colorado.

We decided to put in a long day and to cross the state line into Colorado before we stopped for the night. This would mean turning 350 miles or so.  That is a very long day of travel for me especially if fighting winds and rainy weather.  It wasn't raining this day and so all I had to contend with was the gusty winds.  Needless to say, we were glad to pull into a small town RV park in the boonies.

Shady Grove CG in Seibert, CO. The bathrooms were clean.

Storm a coming but pretty.

Our home set up to wait out storm

Beauty happens in the strangest of places.

Murphy's Law played out here. Our refrig decided it was tired and went to sleep. It would not cool on electric or on propane.  We called several service facilities in Denver and they said that they could squeeze us in....in 6 days.  Not likely!  I told our predicament to the campground manager and he contacted a dad and sons RV repair outfit in the next town 15 miles away.  It was after-work hours but dad said that he and the boys would stop by later.  They did and fixed it on the spot and we got on the road the next day with no delay and at a cost cheaper than that quoted by the big city service centers!

Daisy and I met up with her mom's first cousin Eva Nell in Denver.

We took an eastern bypass and off ramped at a Denny's for lunch with a cousin. I am glad we were not driving the big rig.  We had to park on a narrow street and would have been in a bind with the 38' fifth wheel in tow.

Wyoming  approaching!

I-25 buffalo marking entry in Wyoming near Cheyenne

Some campgounds were just full hookup gravel parking lots.

The campground signage got your attention at least.

In Wyoming we ran into trains.  Long ones, each with their own personality depending on where the cars came from.

Daisy discovered train art grafitti.

But it was the landscape that captured our attention

Wyoming Landscape 1

Wyoming landscape 2

A long lonely road from Wyoming to Utah

Its been several years since I had been in Utah.  Then I was a single guy, now I was returning with Daisy as my wife.  Approaching Utah, we used the same route that the mountain men traveled and later the early Mormon pioneers.

Interstate rest stop for the eyes too...

Are we there yet?  Utah country

In Ogden I had the pleasure of introducing Daisy to my longtime friends from my forest service days in the regional office. No matter how long we are separated, it seems as if it is always just yesterday.

Chris met us at Cracker Barrel for lunch in Ogden, Utah.

We went to Mark's dental office to interrupt his day.

We still had some miles and a state line to cross again so I promised our friends that the next time we are in Utah we will stay a few days to explore and have some fun with them.

Heading north on I-15 from Ogden to Idaho Falls

Resort is not on the river but advertisement works.

Back roads have little fanfare signs.

No gravel but lots of company here in Idaho

Daisy figured we crossed the divide more than 10 times on this journey.

 When we passed the MT state line I realized that I was tired and looking forward to not being on the road in the days to come.

Outside Missoula

Our home parked for the night near Missoula, MT

More trees, flowers, and larger spaces

We finally made it to our honeymoon resort just outside of Lake Coeur d'Alene. There we met Lee and Jay at their summer place.  Our goal for the next week was to practice the ''Art of Doing Nothing."  Well maybe we will start with taking naps and enjoying the sun by the pool.

Jay, Lee and company on the Lake

Eastern part of the lake

Campground country

After two days of just sleeping and lounging by the pool we decided to venture into the Spokane, WA area in search of the perfect bottle of wine and a sense of history.  We also explored the lakefront town of Coeur d'Alene and its background.

Made new friends with Dorothy and Geoff. Notice anything?

Reconstructed USFS fire lookout tower in museum

Dorothy's pic is in the pic here. She is also the curator of this Idaho Museum

Very similar to my first lookout office and home-12X12'.  Cozy

This is the location of what use to be my first fire lookout in 1967.

Downtown Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, with more new friends

We returned to it at the end of the day to thank our host and new friend Dorothy for her time.



While Daisy checked out the restrooms, I reviewed their bookstore and observed one book on the history of the US Forest Service.  I read about Lassie and television forest ranger Corey Stewart who sparked my interest in the profession. A few pages later in this history book I saw the following:

This was taken in 1979 when I was selected as the first Black District Ranger in the 100 yr. history of the USFS.

I kid you not! Its one thing to know you are aging but to be listed in a museum book is going a little too far.  I showed the page to Daisy and our new friend Dorothy, who said "Oh, look how handsome you were."  Life is just not fair!

Another day we were escorted by Lee and Jay to a couple of their favorite wineries.

View from Arbor Crest Winery onto the Spokane Valley

One consumed this wine by pouring it into chocolate cups.

Winery grounds...a lunch stop

We could play checkers...I kept looking for a Queen yelling "off with his head."

Lee checked out the fruit bounty.

But a week goes by fast and it was time for the journey home and other new adventures en-route. We both have an interest in western history and its peoples. And the scenery is awesome. I could hardly wait to see what was around the next bend.

Heading east out of  Missoula

Three Forks Montana campsite

Bikers with their tent trailers

TC dinner: a light wine, oriental salad and tuna melt

Our outgoing route to Idaho was the southern trail. Returning we would do the northern trail. I chose this so as to be able to visit two historical landmarks that I have missed in other treks across this area.

Three Forks..a Lewis and Clark stop for me

Little Bighorn National Monument

Custer's resting place with his troopers

Native American monument nearby

We stopped at both places in one day and traveled till dusk.  This led us to Miles City. The campground here had separate "cowboy/cowgirl" individual showers with private outside entrances. (kind of like porta-potties on steroids)

Big Sky campground near Miles City, MT

I had spent 5 years in North Dakota and asked Daisy if I could show it to her as well as introduce her to people in my life who lived there.  Without any hesitation she smiled and said, "let's go.",

The northern most point on our honeymoon before heading south

New Salem's Sue the dairy cow..a ND landmark

Yes this is North Dakota.

The beginning of the enchanted highway in ND

The Three Musketeers together again

What really makes this place special to me are the people I love and who love me. I wanted Daisy to meet them.

Bryce, Arlene, Daisy, and Shirley

A dinner of posole with a "skip and go naked" libation

a ND field full of sunflowers facing east

Cindy met Daisy and mefor lunch at Cracker Barrel in Bismarck.

I also took her to see the places that I workcamped and started storytelling.

This first place held my interest for 2 years.

My first Lewis and Clark gig in central ND.

Daisy likes big men of iron will.

Fort Mandan circa 1805

Officer country...Fort Mandan

Me as York?  A good likeness I think

Daisy likes big dogs....

One of my legacies erected in the park for others to see.

We took the back roads to the state park that I managed and was an interpreter.  I was here for 3 years.

We took the graveled way to the park.  The TC's first of more to come.

We were serching for bison but only found black-eyed-susans.

My seasonal work crew mates in the state park...Dakota and Lawrence.

We also dined at the Elks with my ex-wife Valorie and Jim.

We even overnighted in the parking lot of the Elks Lodge in Bismarck, ND.

We headed east out of Bismarck to Fargo and then south to SD. The winds were light, the road dry, so we put some miles on and decided to stay at an Indian casino.

South Dakota and almost home (maybe?)

Yes you can even camp at Native American casinos...and cheap too!

After leaving the casino Daisy figured that we could take one more day and visit her sister Mary Lee if we turned east just as we crossed the Iowa state line.  We did just that.

I look for bumps just as Daisy tries to capture these pictures of state signs....

But of course I had to stop and another Lewis and Clark historical site en-route.

I was offered a speaking opportunity here in Sioux City, Iowa.

Ever wonder just how long these windmill blades are...so did Daisy!

As the sun began to desend we decided to stay at a full-fledged commerical RV park for the evening.

Eastern sky near Des Moines, IA.

We even spent one night outside of Des Moines, IA at a KOA.

Our last stop before heading back to the Arkansas barn was in Kirksville, MO.  We used this opportunity to stay overnight in their driveway. Mary Lee is still mad at me.  She had made up the guest room bed.....

Rick, Mary Lee, Daisy and I were in search of whole, deep- fried catfish.  We found it!

Our last night in the TC on the honeymoon...Mary Lee and Rick's front yard.


In Summary,

We had a great trip - 4,596 miles, 12 states, 22 days and all of the nights in the truck camper. A honeymoon to remember!

We had a beary, beary good journey.