Sunday & Monday, June 15 & 16

Billings, Montana & Home

Sunday morning we got up early and I took Carol up to the convention center. I spent the rest of my morning reading the paper and going for a long walk with Mitzee. After I picked up Carol around noon we went to Ryan and Tricia's house. We spent the afternoon there and enjoyed a barbecue, playing with Drew and Carol inspected our tree planting project. Tonight will be the last night in the 5th wheel until our next trip. Monday morning we packed up, emptied all the tanks, hooked up and headed for Kalispell. Made one last stop at McDonalds for breakfast. Where would we be if we had no McDonalds, Subway and Cracker Barrel? Our favorite stops stops while traveling and not necessarily because of the fine cuisine but for the convenience.
We were really surprised with all the snow we saw driving west on I90 heading home. Stopped in Butte for Diesel ($4.47 a gal.) and started our final leg home. We made it home around 6:00 PM, it's nice to be home but we could have stayed out longer. We already miss all of our new friends and look forward to our next trip especially next years national rally trip.

Mr. Andrew McGuire (Drew)

Drew and grandpa on the couch. Notice the stubbly on my chin.

Drew beating on dad

I90 between Billings and Laurel. Cenex refinery and Beartooth mountains in the background
Beartooth mountain range....WOW! look at all that snow

I90 coming down the west side of Bozeman pass

I90 Homestake pass just east of Butte
Heading north towards Kalispell on 93
Mission Mountains along highway 93 south of Kalispell and Flathead lake
Flathead Lake
Standing on our deck once we got home, Ashley creek down below, Kalispell over the ridge, Swan mountain range in the background and the peaks of Glacier park through the valley.

Front of the house, the Creek is in the driveway all cleaned up, waxed and I'll put her away in the storage garage in a day or two.

Can't wait until our next trip.

Friday & Saturday, June 14 & 15

Billings, Montana


Friday Carol spent most of the day and evening at the convention. I spent my time with Ryan and Tricia, tree shopping. After finding our trees, Quaking Aspens and a Chinesse Elm, Ryan and I began digging holes. The ground is very rocky with hard clay so we dug out larger holes and filled with garden soil when placing the trees. Around 6 PM we had the trees planted, staked and soaked with water. Time for a beer. I made it back to the KOA about 8:30 PM. Carol called for her chauffeur to come and pick her up around 9:30 so downtown I went to pick her up at the convention.
Saturday I dropped Carol off at the convention around 7:00 AM. Ryan, Tricia and Drew came down to the RV park picked me up and we went to the Strawberry festival. Basically a large farmers/flea market with a Strawberry theme. We walked a around for a couple of hours. Drew really enjoyed the live music, every time we stopped to listen to one of the live groups entertaining, Drew would start rocking back and forth to the beat of the music. It was pretty cute. Only purchase was a new hat for Drew, which he actually seemed to enjoy wearing. We left the festival downtown and went for lunch at "Hot Wings". Spent most of the rest of the day at Ryan & Tricia's house watching Tiger at the U.S.Open trying to pick up a few pointers for my golf game........yea right! Picked Carol up around 10:00 PM she was exhausted. She had planned on going right to bed but when we got to the trailer and turned on the TV the Grand Ole Opry was on GAC and it happened to be one we were at so we watched and saw us several times in the audience. Bill and I had on Jim Beam straw hats so you could pick us out quickly in the crowd, plus we had great seats only 8 rows back from the center of the stage. We enjoyed watching the Opry, brought back fond memories.

One of the trees we planted
Drew checking out the vacuum
Bad hair day after a nap
Drew walking behind his little push cart
Drew watching Sammi in the back yard

Wednesday & Thursday, June 12 & 13

Buffalo, Wyo. & Billings, Mt.

We left Mitchell around 7:00 AM. Fuel economy will drop today, heading into a terrible head wind. We stop (of course) at Wall Drug, what a marketing story. Cross into Wyoming we stop at a rest area at Sundance. In casual conversation with another visitor at the rest area I discover he used to work for my dad. He even told me where a couple of my dad's old trucks were at. It's a small world. We made it to Buffalo then went to Carol mother's home for a nice dinner and visit. After breakfast we headed for Billings. I fueled up in Sheridan, seems like Sheridan always has lower fuel prices. Good thing I fueled up in Sheridan, it almost took a tank of diesel to get to Billings, a little over a 100 miles. I can't remember when I've seen such wind. I almost pulled over several times but I slowly kept rolling. I saw 2 fifth wheels with their rubber cover blown away from their roofs. Both were Sundance models. Saw another fifth wheel (Carriage) lose their awning. I pulled over in Hardin and checked everything out, looked good. The wind has been soooo bad the past 2 days my overall mileage for our entire trip has dropped from right at 12 mpg to 10.4. A 6000 mile trip, 2 days in dropped that much. This wind sucks!
We made it to Billings. Carol will be attending her PEO convention and I'll be attending tree planting supervising with Ryan & Tricia and grandpa functions with Drew. Sounds more fun than the convention.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY! to all you dad's out there. Take some time to remember your father on
Sunday.

The World Famous "Corn Palace" in Mitchell, SD
Inside the "Corn Palace" notice the murals, all of them are made with different colors of corn. What a way to spend your free time.
Beautiful South Dakota. Very green this year.
No explanation needed.
Deer across the creek at our campground at the Buffalo KOA.

Monday, Tuesday, June 10 & 11

Saint Joesph, Mo & Mitchell, SD

Early Monday morning we're all hooked up and we leave our home for the past 2 weeks. What a great time we've shared in Nashville. Nothing could have made it better except maybe being a little cooler and less humid, but that was even tolerable. We turn and head nothwest on I24 has we see Nashville again this morning. Traffic is heavy with Monday morning commuters and people heading home after the CMA Music Fest.
Today is a long day as we enter St. Louis on I64 then connect to I70, then a few miles west of St. Louis we head north on a 4 lane US61 then west on US 36 to Saint Joesph, Mo..This route we've by passed Kansas City and was probably quicker. We stayed at an acceptable Good Sam park in Saint Joesph.
We left Saint Joesph early heading north on I29. We had tornado warnings in the area and witnessed much of the devastating flooding. We hear it has snowed in Montana, I consider turning around and heading back to Tennessee or Kentucky. Even with the humidity I feel I could live there.
We make it to Mitchell, South Dakota and decide to stay here overnight. Carol has never seen the "Corn Palace" and it's still early so after we set up we go and visit the "Corn Palace".

Coming into to St. Louis

The arch and the Mississippi river

The flooding in northern Missouri and Iowa

Notice the funnel cloud in the distance, lower right hand corner. This was the weather we experienced in Missouri and Iowa. This flooded area is just off the highway, we saw a few highways that were closed.

Sunday, June 8

Nashville, Tn.

CHECK OUT NEW PICS ON PREVIOUS POSTS!

Well we finally got to a campground where wifi works well and I can upload pics and more, Billings, Mt. First let me tell you about our last day in Nashville.

Bill and Metha left early this morning, after our good byes Carol and I left the park for our last day in Nashville. First stop the Fan Fair at the Exhibition hall, Carol had her picture taken with Minnie Pearl (the new one) and Tim McGraw (well sort of). After picking up a few things we went to the Opry Gospel show at the Ryman. It was wonderful, hosted by Brenda Lee. We saw and heard Ricky Skaggs, Linda Davis, Aaron Tippin, Margo Smith, Billy Dean and Casey Rivers sang "How Great Thou Art"(sounded just like Elvis) with The Nashville Edition, Elvis's original back up singers. They were all in their 70's but still sounded wonderful. The "White's", a gospel, bluegrass group that was very special, especially when Ricky Skaggs joined them for a couple songs. They had a tribute to the Louvin Brothers with a special presentation to Charlie Louvin.
I left the Ryman with many emotions with a promise to return.

After the show at the Ryman we walked down Broadway and visited several of the "Honky Tonks" listening and enjoying the amazing quality of country music flowing from the halls. We crossed the pedestrian bridge heading to LP field and had second thoughts about attending the evening concert after hearing Dwight Yoakum rehearsing, he sounded great. Anyway we stayed with our plan to skip Sunday's night concert at LP field and get a good night sleep. I knew we had over 600 miles in front of us on Monday and we both could use a good nights sleep.

Carol with the new "Minnie Pearl"

Carol with some good looking guy. Must take after his dad.

Ricky Skaggs and the "Whites" at the Ryman

Aaron Tippin at the Ryman

Casey Rivers sang like Elvis with The Nashville Edition, Elvis's original chorus singers

Roni Stoneman, banjo picker from "Hee Haw". She could really pick that banjo.

Brenda Lee signing autographs

Saturday, June 7

Nashville, Tn.

I could get 2 photos to upload then that was it. Finally got some more photos uploaded. MORE PICTURES UPLOADED, ENJOY.

Today was another hot one. We went to the Cracker Barrel for breakfast then downtown later. Parked at LP field and took the shuttle bus over to the convention center. We walked around the exhibition hall for an hour the only major CM singer we saw was Taylor Swift. We left the hall walked down Broadway, people everywhere, but everyone is having fun even in the scorching heat. Vendors set up about 100 feet selling "ice cold water, $1.00".Got to make a buck when you can.

We had tickets for an Opry show at the Ryman at 3:00 PM. We went in early mainly to get out of the heat. What a show! Every Opry show we've seen has been just fantastic. After the 2 hour Opry show we had time to get something to drink and take a leisurely walk over to LP field for tonight's concert. They say this years CMA music fest(fan fair) has had the largest attendance ever, almost 200,000 fans. I know they can't all fit into LP field but the seating they have set up for concerts is packed tonight. As soon as the gates open Carol and Metha quickly find a table and Bill and I go buy dinner, we have our routine set. After dinner we find our seats and with plenty of water, lemonade we're ready for the show.

Tonight is the best show of the 3 we've seen(although last night Faith Hill and Carrie Underwood were fantastic): Jason Michael Carroll, Darryl Worley, Craig Morgan, Little Big Town, Rodney Atkins, Trace Adkins, Alan Jackson, Kenny Rogers. All very good, Morgan, Rodney Atkins & Trace Atkins had LP field hopping. Alan Jackson had the longest show(thank goodness) he was all we had hoped for and more. This wasn't our first time to see Alan Jackson and certainly won't be our last, each of his performances are memorable. We love traditional country music and that's Alan Jackson.

We made it home and to bed around 1:00 AM.

Tomorrow is our last day at CMA music fest. I think we'll take it easy and possibly skip the late concert at LP field and just hang out at the river concerts today.

Little Jimmie Dickens at the Ryman Opry show

A couple of country hicks getting ready to go to the Opry

Lady Antebellum at the Opry show at the Ryman
Jim Ed Brown at the Ryman Opry show

Emerson Drive at Ryman Opry show
How could you tell I'm from out of town?

Jets that flew over LP field each night before concerts began

Rodney Atkins, good show

Trace Adkins another great show

Alan Jackson was awesome!

Alan Jackson and band on stage

Alan Jackson made the CMA Music fest a hit.

Friday, June 6

Nashville, Tn.

We slept in this morning, if you call 7:00 AM sleeping in. 5 hours of sleep and we're off again. The 4 of us went to breakfast at the Cracker Barrel, came back to the RV's, took Mitzee for a walk and we left for LP field.
Parked in our designated parking area and we walked over the bridge into downtown, we looked in several honky tonks but passed by "Tootsies" because we new what would happen if we stopped there. Several blocks of Broadway are roped off during the Music Fest and vendors, manufacturers, etc. have booths set up. All sort of fun things for kids to do in the huge play zones they have set up. We visited many booths and headed for the concerts at the river. So much to do and see you can't possibly take it all in, especially in these weather conditions.
Around 6:00 PM we went back across the river to get settled in for another night of music. What a night! Jack Ingram, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Josh Turner, Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill and Keith Urban. Carrie sang all of her number hits and along with Faith Hill, Josh Turner and Keith Urban all were fantastic.
We made it to bed around 12:30 AM.
Tonight we see Alan Jackson and more.
Sorry no pictures, still won't upload any.

Concert stage on the river.

LP Field from the pedestrian bridge.

Concert on the river. Was very warm. You had to find a shaded area if you stayed here long.

Police on horseback on the pedestrian bridge.

Mirada Lambert at LP field concert

Carrie Underwood at LP field concert. She was great.

Faith Hill at LP field. She, Carrie and Josh Turner were the best performances at LP field tonight.