Wandering Wahls

A couple of weeks ago after visiting my cousin, the other Tom Wahl, in Fargo, ND, we went to the western side of ND to visit Teddy Roosevelt National Park. We had a lot of highlights including a 2-hour trail ride on horseback. My horse was a bit uncooperative. I kept yelling “whoa” and pulling back on the reins, and just he wouldn’t stop (can’t they put brakes on these things?). The handler said to pull up the reins really hard. When I did and the horse raised his head, the handler yelled, “don’t pull up on the reins” – great help he was.

We saw wild horses and a few prairie dog towns (housing starts haven’t slowed for these little guys). The best though was our experience with the bison. It was mating season, so the bulls were “rutting” (a deep, loud grunting noise, almost like tigers) and declaring their domination over other bulls. To me it reminded me of a couple of schoolyard kids saying “oh yeah” – “yeah” – “oh yeah” – “yeah” back and forth. There was a lot of rutting but not much action.

The bison did however control the roads. We sat in the middle of a few herds as they moseyed back and forth across the road and around our car. These animals are imposing – they weigh up to 2,000 lbs, can run up to 30 mph, and can turn on a dime. It would have been better to be ignorant while driving through these big fellas.

One night we put up our tent so the boys and I could sleep outside. At about 4 am, I thought I heard odd noises. I listened closer and sure enough, the noises were the grunting and rustling of the bulls – and they were getting closer. I decided it was better to be surrounded by bison while in the RV rather than the tent. I gathered the kids, told them what was happening and that we should head to the RV before the bison got too close. Both boys were up quickly and Sam instinctively grabbed his toy revolutionary rifle as he prepared to make a run for the RV. It was quite a site to see him looking at us, his hands gripped tightly around the rifle. I don’t know if he meant to protect us or was worried about the bison running over his rifle and breaking it.

We got in the RV and couldn’t sleep, so we sat around listening, watching, and waiting. Sure enough, the bison came strolling through our campsite in an hour – grazing and grunting. One bison seemed to look at our tent as if it was a snack. It was fantastic to see, but I was happy to be watching from the RV.

Eeeeeee!

Gas, lunch AND gambling!

I’m sitting in an RV park just over the Idaho border in Snowville, Utah. It is the only RV park we’ve found that also has a free golf range for the RVers. The range is a beautifully manicured area with views of outlying hills – pretty nice.

Anyway, one of the aspects of the US that continually strikes me are the signs. They are everywhere. My kids get the biggest laugh out of the “No Diving” signs we see at hot tubs or 1-foot deep kiddie pools. Coming from Europe where personal responsibility is still considered the norm, these signs are pretty funny. The other signs the kids like are the restaurants. The best yet was the Chinese restaurant advertising “Chinese Cuisine, donuts and hamburgers” – probably all in one meal as well.

Idaho has had the most interesting signs. We’ve seen “Caution Game Crossing.” We narrowly avoided a Monopoly but ran over a rare Trivial Pursuit. They also have the “Watch Out for Rock” signs that imply that there is only a singular dangerous rock ahead.

The signs here that have me thinking the most though are the prolific number of billboards warning about Meth use. Should I see these as a sign that maybe this area isn’t the place to settle? I hope not because we really liked McCall, Idaho.

One last note, if any of you are on Facebook, look us up using “Family Wahl”, and send us a friend request. We have more good photos!

A couple of random thoughts from the road (I know there is an analogy to road-kill there somewhere):
 
I have decided to enter the American social website networking cultural phenom and started to twitter. No, I’m not flustered because my wife bought an attractive new outfit. I logged on to Twitter to twit short thoughts (which is appropriate to my usual thinking). I say “twit” although those in the know use “tweets.” I dislike that term though and prefer to think I am writing a “twit” because the phrase “I twit, therefore I am” seems so appropriate. Come follow me at:  twitter.com/wahlsrvamerica along with our other website: web.me.com/wahlsacrossamerica/.
 
On a more informative and substantive note, we just left Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Parks.  These are two premier parks with outstanding wildlife and scenery. Europe may have the Louvre, but we have the Tetons (named by a Frenchman ironically). I would love to find a job in Montana in order to have close access to these two parks.
 
Along these lines, I wanted to mention that PBS and Ken Burns are having a new series titled “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” It is about a family on the road exploring the US and using the National Parks as a large part of their kids’ road-school curriculum: actually not, Ken never got a hold of us for the show. The show is about our nation’s truly unique attraction and asset – the National Park system and I strongly recommend watching it, as well as getting out to visit our wonderful National Parks on a holiday. The series starts 9/27.

I was hoping to write about a humorous incident, like my burning my forearm on a campground fire ring, or scarring my back by standing up into the corner of our RV’s slideout, but those are painful memories.

Instead, we were in NW Wisconsin on Lake Superior (where one asks for “pop” instead of “soda”) and visited the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. There were 12 apostles as I recall from teaching CCD. However, there are 22 Apostle Islands. Go figure! And the islands were named by a Jesuit priest. So much for my Jesuit education.

This park is beautiful. We had to take a boat to the islands, although in winter you can cross-country ski to them. The boat ride is well worth it though to see the wildlife (lots of birds) and plant life (I had my first look at a Pitcher Plant, a carnivorous plant that looks like a pitcher to lure insects), as well as ponder how the early settlers tried to settle these islands with the imposing Lake Superior surrounding them.

The only negative was that we wished we had kayaks or a canoe and could have boated ourselves to the islands to camp overnight.

Meat eating plants? Eek!

Sam ponders...

The military life has many benefits and one is the number of friends to be made. My wife’s career was not lacking in this – we made many great friends. Thus, as I’ve written before, one of the goals of the trip was to catch up with these friends.

Our pass through Canada and into the Midwest gave an extra benefit in this area – we met up with friends for the second time. First, we stopped in Rideau Ferry, Ontario to see Thom and Joan Besch again. We actually met them on the road as they were doing the same trip we are, except he’s a retired Army type.

They found their final home in upstate NY after a long search, but invited us to their family’s retreat in Ontario before they had to get their kids in school. The stay was great in so many ways. Their kids (along with a few family cousins) took our kids to swim in the river, jump off the boathouse into the river, sail, kayak, sleep in tents, and have water wars. It was great to watch. Check out all the photos!

Meanwhile Thom tried to teach me how to sail, and taught Mary Claire how to sail. You can judge the results of his efforts by my choice of words. I just have a problem relaying the sound of port or starboard into my head, having to translate it to left or right, then get my brain to tell my hand which way to steer the tiller (or whatever that thing is called). My results were not emblematic of the teaching though. I am the first to admit: great teacher, poor student.

After a few days there we tooled through Michigan (with a great overnight in the Lansing Wal-Mart parking lot – they offer free RV overnighting) and on to north of Chicago to meet up with Dan and Mary Dirnberger, who we saw last in San Antonio. It was great seeing them and their kids again. This time though, all ten of us did not end up sleeping in the RV (as we did at Padre Island National Seashore).

With these stops, we were invigorated and ready to roll west for more friends, National Parks, and to find a spot to settle (and to find a job for me – know of any?).

Water Wars!

The teacher becomes the student

"We don't need no stinkin' ponchos!"

Before I get into my post on our most recent adventure, I wanted to pass along a couple of interesting stories I heard.

First story:  In Acadia National Park, a ranger told us of a British family who told them they had stopped at one of the “Moose Xing” signs the park provides. His question to the ranger though was how long were they supposed to wait there for the moose.

Second story: I heard on the Dr. Dean Edell radio show of a study showing that people who RV full-time are less prone to Alzheimer’s. I was pleased to hear that until, twice in a week, I stopped the RV and noticed the gas pumps moving past the RV. I thought that was an odd occurrence until I realized I forgot to set the parking brake. I guess I would have skewed the RV and Alzheimer’s study.

Anyway, a quick note on where we’ve stopped: After a great stay in Ithaca, NY and touring the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (you birdwatchers will appreciate our stop there), we hit Niagara Falls, on the Canadian side. It was pretty harrowing navigating our 41-foot RV and towed vehicle through the town streets and across the border station (why are border guards always concerned about bringing chocolate into the country – firearms, knives, cigarettes, I can see; but what are we going to do with chocolate?).

We did the usual “Maid of the Mist” boat ride into the Falls. The ride is billed as a sightseeing tour, but it was more like a “lets soak the tourists in more ways than one” ticket. Once you get near the Falls, it is like a water ride at Disney World – everyone is being soaked and it is impossible to see anything because of the water rushing into your face.

As you can see from the picture, my family, in a never ending effort to be different, shunned the “Made in China” plastic wrap ponchos (my son’s tore as he put it on, but putting his head through the sleeve didn’t help).

Everyone agreed though it was a fun ride though, as they sloshed back to the RV.

As I drive, I think about a lot of things; everything from pondering the thought behind the title of this post to wondering if that local ice creamery up ahead is worth the stop (it was). As we were on the road from Ithaca, NY to Niagara Falls, I got to thinking of the people we’ve met on the trip who have added so much to our great adventure:

1. MOAA for letting us share our story with other military families (as well as for the great work they do on the Hill supporting the interests of active duty and retired military members).
2. The “Real RV’ers” who gave us tips on propane usage, efficient dumping, running the generator, general maintenance, etc. – and who hold back the chuckles as my RV rolls because I’ve forgotten to set the parking brake.
3. Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, NY and their staff for the great tour and furthering our interest in bird watching.
4. Steinbring RV in Garfield, MN for the great overnight stay and free RV wash (and also helping us negotiate the purchase of the RV last July even though we didn’t buy it from them).
5. All the friends and family who hosted us and our “WahlStar” in their driveways!
6. The Springs Resort in Pagosa Springs, CO, for a wonderful complimentary stay—it was a great little break from the RV for a couple of nights.
7. Other drivers who back up when they see us trying to make a left turn.

And, of course, to all who post comments to our blog- thank you! We all enjoy reading your notes.

That’s it for now, back to thinking about driving.