Grand Teton & Yellowstone National Parks

16 July
We had a real struggle publishing the blog last night. Blogspot seemed to have changed their website but eventually we succeeded. There was also a good electrical storm with lots of lightning.

We headed to Wal-Mart for a big shop and then to the State Liquor outlet for some wine. You really get the feeling that drinking is a bit sinful in Utah as they make it so hard to stock up. Eventually we were back on the I15 heading north to a State Park on the shores of the Great Salt Lake. We had heard that this lake is more salty than the sea and we had a swim to find out. It did not seem to be very salty or buoyant. Like all the lakes so far it was very low however. Around dinner time it started to rain. All these state parks have power so the aircon is on a fair bit.

17 July
We headed back south on the I-15 for 10 miles to check out an Air force Museum at Hill.

What a place! There were over 75 war planes, fighters, cargo, and bombers. Some were inside and the bigger ones outside. The B29 which dropped the nuclear bomb, the Stealth Bomber, the B24 (flying fortress) and the B52 (Vietnam) were the most impressive but the sheer size of some of the fighters was also surprising. (F111, F16
and many more).

Back on the I-15 heading north again. The visit was well worth the 20 extra miles we drove back. We left the I15 and drove up a small pass and into a valley where we are camped at yet another State Park at Lake Hyrum. This is a small family camp overlooking the lake. The swimming was great with warm water. The camp is full with young families having their summer break. Most seem only to stay less than a week however.


18 July
We drove thru Logan and turned up a good road leading into the mountains.

Unfortunately they were resealing most of it so we had about 30 miles of road works including a couple of stops. We drove over the top and down towards the large Bear Lake. At the lake shore we turned south to a State Park at Rendezvous Beach. The camp was fairly full but the ranger managed to find us a site for two nights. We are camped right on the shore. In the afternoon we headed down for a swim. The lake is really low and we had to walk thru shallow water to get a swim. The camp is large and the feel of the place is like Wanaka without the spectacular mountains. There are quite a few boats and many family groups with sunshades and gazebos near the water.

19 July
We are not going anywhere today so we had a lazy morning pottering around “Ernie”. In the afternoon we headed back to the beach and found some nice shade under the willow trees. The lake is 20 miles long by 12 miles wide and the border between Utah and Idaho runs right thru the middle.

20 July
Today we drove thru 3 States. We started in Utah and followed the shore of Bear Lake passed some typical holiday baches, resorts and camping grounds. Half way up the lake we crossed into Idaho for a short piece before entering Wyoming and followed the Snake River down the Star Valley.

This was a green fertile area with many well kept small holdings and several prosperous towns. Our next camp was at a Forest Park up the Snake Canyon. This area is popular for white river rafting. The camp was near the river and we spent some time watching commercial and private rafts negotiating the rapids.

21 July
Out of the Snake Canyon to a tourist town called Jackson (do not think it is the town made famous by the song) and a short drive into the Grand Teton National Park. The Grand Teton Mountain (13700ft) and the mountains around it are spectacular. A bit like the Remarkables with several lakes setting the mountains off.

The first camp we tried was full so we had to drive another 10 miles to a huge camp where we were given a site. The camp, at Colter Bay is so big that they have areas for full hook-up, pets, and even a non generator area. We are in the latter. We walked to the shore of Jackson Lake with great views of the mountains. We have booked for 2 nights but will spend another here relaxing. After lunch we walked back to the visitor’s centre and a 2 mile walk along the lake shore.

22 July
We drove back to Jenny Lake (about 20 miles) and caught a ferry across the lake for a hike up Cascade Canyon. The first ½ mile was up hill to a waterfall and a view of the lake. We then headed into the Canyon and were surprised when a Grizzly Bear cub crossed the track in front of us. When you see a cub your first thought is “where is the mother”. We waited for a while and then walked on talking loudly and shouting. (the advised procedure for scaring bears.)

Further up the track we came across a female moose and her calf feeding in the river. Around the corner was the bull moose with huge antlers. What a sight! Not many Americans have seen bear or moose. We stopped for lunch at a small lake with great views of Grand Teton and the other mountains. Back across the lake to “Ernie” where we took the bikes off and rode a great cycleway with more views of the mountains. We have decided to stay another day so biked back to the gate to pay for an extra night.

23 July

A relaxing morning with a bike ride to the phone box to book a couple of nights at a camp in Yellowstone N.P. This achieved, we went for a walk passed some beautiful ponds with reflections of the Great Teton mountains. After lunch we took our chairs down to the shore of Jackson Lake and spent a great 3 hours swimming

and sunbathing. The locals think the water is cold but we thought it was a great temperature. (around 21C) Families are waterskiing and generally enjoying the lake with the mountains in the background.

24 July
We were off to an early start today as we do not have a camp site for tonight. We entered Yellowstone National Park and found a site at Lewis Lake not far into the park. After setting up on our site we drove further into the N.P. to Grant Village visitor’s centre and watched a film on how the park had survived some major forest fires. We had to fuel up “Ernie” at over $4US/gallon! We continued on to the first of the thermal areas beside Yellowstone Lake. Yellowstone N.P. is a series of thermal areas on a plateau with several lakes

and river. The whole park is huge and we will visit most of it this trip but we will be back in a couple of years to see the northern areas. The first thermal area reminded us of Rotorua with geysers on the shore and some in the lake. We did a short hike to a view point over the lake. Back to our camp to find that someone had pinched both our levelling ramps. Very frustrating as everyone leaves their stuff at their sites unsecured. The camp host was very apologetic. After dinner we walked down to Lewis Lake for a spectular sunset.

25 July
We have the next 2 nights booked at a camping ground at Bridge Bay on the shore of Yellowstone Lake. There is a loop road which takes in most of the thermal areas so we drove to the famous “Old Faithful” area. Old Faithful is a geyser which is well named as it erupts every 90 minutes. As we were between eruptions we took the time to walk around the other thermal features in this area. We were lucky to see an eruption of Lion Geyser. (named after it’s roar) We

returned to Old Faithful in time for the eruption. A great site lasting about 5 minutes. As this is the famous geyser there is a hotel right in front of it. There are also hundreds of seats which were packed. Lots of tourists only get to see this one eruption as they do not have the time or the will to walk around the other geysers.

We went for longer walk along the miles of board walks to end up at Morning Glory Pool. On the way back we were lucky to see a huge eruption of the Grand Geyser.

Before we left this area Old Faithful erupted again. We drove on to 2 other thermal areas with beautiful coloured boiling pools and bubbling mud. In one area we were treated to another spectular eruption which lasted for some time. On the way back to our camp we off loaded the bikes and enjoyed a great 10 mile ride to Lone Star Geyser. It is well named as it is all by itself. Unfortunately we missed it’s eruption by a short time. Can’t win them all! We had done pretty well for seeing eruptions. We checked into our camp at Bridge Bay. The camp is huge with 450 odd sites all full.

26 July
We decide to have a lazy day and explore this area where there is no thermal activity. After lunch we rode to Natural Bridge, an arch which we were able to climb up into. We rode along the Yellowstone Lake shore and ended up at the harbour and marina near the camp.

27 July
We drove the rest of the “loop” road with our first stop at the Yellowstone River Canyon.

Before we arrived there we were stopped by several Bison (Buffalo) crossing the road. They are huge and seem very primeval. At the canyon there are 2 massive waterfalls and we climbed down a series of 380 stairs for a great view of the Lower Falls which are 308ft high.

There are view points along both rims of the canyon and paths that lead down to the tops of the waterfalls. Quite a sight. The day was cloudy and cool so the photos are not as good as we would have hoped. Our next stop was at another thermal area. We were lucky to find a park. We had no luck with eruptions in this area. Lots more beautiful clear and coloured boiling pools and more bubbling mud. Walking the board walks is frustrating as the average American walks at about half our pace! As it was cold we sat in “Ernie” for lunch (this is the first time we have been inside for lunch) before exiting the N.P. and driving to our camp at Henry’s Lake State Park. The Yellowstone National Park is in Wyoming, we drove thru 12 miles of Montana and we are back in Idaho where we will be for the next week. Henry’s Lake is a fishing lake where they catch Cut Throat Salmon.

28 July
We woke to find 15 boats fishing just out from our site. Nothing was caught while we sat and had breakfast. We continued south thru some low hills and eventually onto a plain planted in various crops. Idaho is renowned for it’s potatoes. We are now at Idaho Falls, a town of around 50,000 for shopping, laundry and the internet. We rode our bikes into the town along a green belt following the Snake River. The town is named after a series of low waterfalls.

Arches & Canyonlands NPs / Salt Lake City

5 July There were a few fireworks last night. We went to a little café in the camp for breakfast (pancakes and bacon) before heading up into the Colorado National Monument. This involved a steep climb up to the rim of several canyons overlooking the Grand Junction Valley. We followed a 23 mile scenic drive with a few walks out to view points. The stone columns (monuments) were very impressive. On the way back to our RV Park we stopped to pick a few supplies including a 12v fan. The temperatures at night are getting hotter! Another cooling time at the pool.

6 July

We headed west along the I 70 out of Colorado and into Utah again.

We turned off the interstate and drove down to Moab. We are quite close to the area we were in 3 weeks ago but needed to see the Arches National Park and the Canyonlands National Park. We drove thru Moab (a tourist town) and out to the Sand Flats Recreational Area. We are back in the desert. This area is famous for the Slickrock Mountain Bike Trails. It is dominated by huge rocks a bit like mini

versions of Ayers Rock jutting out of the desert. The mountain biking was a bit extreme for us so we settled for a climb up the nearest rocks and watched a great sunset.

7 July
Up early to head to Arches N.P. only to be told that the camping ground (18 miles into the park) was full. We headed in anyway as we could park and spend the day doing some walks. On arriving at the camp the ranger luckily found us a cancellation. Great! We had breakfast and headed off for a longish hike. The N.P. is well named as the whole area is red sandstone in which wind and water have created

a series of columns and natural arches. Our hike was an 8 mile loop passing many of the arches including the longest in the world, Landscape Arch and Navajo, Double O, Private, Pine Tree, and Tunnel Arches. They were all different and very spectacular. Most of them you could get right under. It was very hot (around 38C) and much of the hike was in soft sand, so we were pretty tired when we returned to “Ernie” and his great awning shade. The ranger came around in the evening and offered us another cancelled site for tomorrow. The National Park booking system is hopeless!!
8 July
After marking our new site we set off in “Ernie” for the trail heads for another 2 hikes.

The first was the to “famous” Delicate Arch. It was only a 2 mile hike and the Arch is not seen until the last minute as you round a bend. What a sight!! How it does not fall down is a mystery. Back to “Ernie” and another drive to the trail

head for the Windows Arches and Double Arch. Still more amazing formations. We stopped at a view point for lunch on our way back to the camp. I cut Val’s hair after we returned and cooled off. The fan helped us get to sleep as it was a warm night.

9 July

We left Arches National Park and decided to “shout” ourselves a night in Moab at an RV Park ($44US). This is our dearest accommodation yet but it could be the norm later. It is good to run the aircon when we are on power. There is a nice pool here which we enjoyed for a couple of hours. At around 7:00pm when it cooled slightly, we hopped on the bikes and rode the 3 miles back into Moab mostly along a cycleway. We wandered the tourist shops and came to several lively bars. We had a beaut BLT and a burger washed down with a pitcher of Coors beer before riding back to “Ernie” in the fading light. A party near us was in full swing but we were surprised when, at the end of the night, the ladies sang a stirring rendition of “America the Beautiful” bringing a great round of applause. It is hard for us to appreciate the extreme patriotism of these people.

10 July

We left Moab and drove to the Canyonlands National Park.

The camping ground is very small and we were surprised to easily find a site. We drove to a couple of trail heads for a look at this quite different series of canyons. The first overlook and trail was at White Rim. Instead of looking down into a single canyon this area has 2 canyons The first canyon drops 2000ft to a white rimmed plateau (looked a bit like icing sugar) and then into a deeper second canyon

with the Colorado River below. Unfortunately the forest fires have produced a haze making photos not as good. The second trail, 12 miles drive away, was to an area where a meteorite had created a huge crater with greenish material at the bottom. We drove back to our camp for a cool off in the shade. In the evening we walked to a close view point with spectacular views of the Green River at the bottom of the canyon.

11 July
After a short walk to Mesa Arch we left the National Park and drove 70 miles (mostly on the interstate) north/west to Green River. It was a boring drive across some very dusty desert. We are in a State Park on the banks of the river with a golf course around us. Quite a surprise! We walked a few holes of the 9 hole course. It was in great condition with water in play on several holes. A strong wind chased us inside where we enjoyed the cool of the aircon, dinner and a movie.
12 July
Back on the interstate but a much nicer drive than yesterday thru some red rock formations. We were within 20 miles of Goblin Valley State Park which we visited over 3 weeks ago. We have travelled in a huge circle thru Utah and Colorado. There are 5 great National Parks in Utah (Zion, Bryce, Capital Reef, Arches and Canyonlands). Most travellers do them one after the other. We have had the luxury of visiting the first three and then having a 3 week break in the Colorado Rockies before the last two. We are on our way north to Salt Lake City with 2 planned stops. The State Park we had decided would be the first stop was closed as there is a triathlon there this weekend. We had to continue north up into the Wasatch Mountains where we have found another State Park at Scofield Lake. There are families camped here plus some baches which remind us of Lake Clearwater. The day has been much cooler with a few spots of rain.
13 July

We followed a great sweeping highway down a canyon and eventually joined the I15. It was then only a short drive to the Lake Utah State Park. There was a marina, two boat harbours

and several boat ramps. As it was Saturday there were many people sailing, boating, jet skiing and swimming. The water looked a bit dirty and not very inviting. We rode our bikes around both harbours. Around dinner time a strong wind off the lake drove us inside.
14 July
Back on the I15 for the 45mile drive into Salt Lake City. The population is only 185,000 but at times the freeway was 12 lanes wide. There is also a brand new light rail

system. Huge infrastructure for the population. Our camp is close to the centre of the city, reflected in the price ($47US). There is a free shuttle from the camp into Temple Square. This is the headquarters of the Mormon Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints abbreviated to LDS) The shuttle is sponsored by the church. We walked thru the 35 acres of beautiful gardens with the temple, tabernacle, and various museums and visitor centres. There are volunteers from the church everywhere welcoming you and answering questions. We had a quick look around but will return tomorrow for a more in depth look. Back at the camp we enjoyed the crowded pool as it is hot.



15 July

 The free shuttle took us back into the Temple Square. We started by going into the Family History building. We were met at the door and directed to one of the 3 floors of computers.(100s of them!) The floors are for the Americas, Europe and Asia, and Britain, Aussie and NZ. A lady welcomed us and helped us do a search for my great grandfather who came out from Scotland. We learned quite a lot and will research it more when we get home. Our next stop was the Tabernacle. This is an impressive auditorium with fantastic acoustics. The Mormon Choir sings here. We listened to a ½ hr organ recital. The organ is huge and has over 11,000 pipes. We were allowed access to most of the buildings except the Temple. This was built shortly after the arrival of the Mormons.

It is based on 6 towers and is all made of granite. There is a model of the Temple including the interior, in one of the visitor’s centres. Unlike a conventional church the interior of the Temple is divided up into a series of smaller areas. All very weird. We left Temple Square and crossed the road into down town Salt Lake City. There is a new large pedestrian mall area with restaurants, shops and seating. We had a nice lunch before heading back to Temple Square and the Convention Centre. We were met at the door and escorted into the main auditorium. It seats 21,000!!! It is the largest in the USA. Next we were shown various religious paintings, some biblical and some relating to the Mormon stuff. Our escort gave us a brief rundown of the principles of the church. It was not a hard sell and was interesting if not a bit weird and that’s being kind!

Many of the volunteers had been to NZ as missionaries. The LDS office building is 26 stories high and we enjoyed views all around city including the State Capital Building (a mini White House), the Lake, and the Wasatch Mountains. The 2002 Winter Olympics were held here. All in all it was a fascinating day but they did not get any converts from us. Back to camp for a couple of swims.

News Flash

Have just discovered that if you double click on a photo in our blog, it produces a slide show of all the photos enlarged.  You may have already known this, but thought it was worth passing on.

Rocky Mountain High - Colorado

23 June


An early start as we wanted to get to the camp at Mesa Verde National Park before it filled up.

We did not need have worry as the camp was huge with only a few sites occupied. The camp was, however expensive and quite run down. $28US for a dry camp site. After checking in we bought tickets for two tours tomorrow. In the afternoon we climbed up to a view point giving us views of the 4 corners area, the Mesa (plateau) and the San Juan Mountains. We also spent some time planning the next few weeks of our trip.

24 June

This is the day we will explore the cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloan People. We drove down the scenic drive (20 miles) along the mesa to Cliff Palace. We had booked a 10:30am tour of this site. The ranger escorted us down the trail into the cliff dwellings. The tour was 1 hour long and the ranger gave a very interesting description of the life of the inhabitants. The native Indians lived here around 550AD and farmed (corn, squash, and beans) on the mesa. At some stage around 1200AD they moved from their homes on the mesa and started building in the caves in the cliffs below the mesa. Obviously the living conditions

were better here. The buildings were very sophisticated with water and many rooms much like apartment buildings with each extended family living in several rooms. The dwellings are built from local stone and the craftsmanship is fantastic considering they had no metal tools. Each family also has a Kiva. This is a spiritual area but was also used as a living room in the winter. The Kiva is a circular room below ground level with access from the chimney hole at the top. A fire provided warmth and a sophisticated ventilation system provided air. Around 1350 the climate changed and they abandoned these cliff dwellings and were forced to move on. Here endth the history lesson! We then were booked for a second tour of the Balcony House. This took us up a ladder into a cliff dwelling that we could explore in more depth through the various rooms. The rangers are very good at their description of the life of these Natives. The last cliff

dwelling we visited was Spruce Tree House which was a self guided tour but included a restored Kiva which you could climb down into. We drove back to our camp for the night. The sky was overcast for the first time.





25 June

We have decided to extend our trip thru this part of Colorado. We headed north up a fantastic mountain road following the Dolores River toward Lizard Head Pass. We are now in the foothills of the Rockie Mountains. We stopped at the very picturesque town of Rico

before finding our camp in the San Juan Forest. We are in a Fir tree forest with views up and down the valley. The mountains ahead have patches of snow on them. The camp is 9400ft so although the sun is hot the air temperature is cool. We have been on a two laned road for months. We try, wherever possible, to use the scenic byway routes indicated in our map book. Most of the roads have a smooth surface with nice sweeping curves and relatively gentle inclines with up to a 65mph speed limit. It all makes for very pleasant driving. “Ernie” is a real gentleman cruising these roads with no fuss.

26 June

Over the summit of Lizard Head Pass at 10222ft, our new altitude record, passed some ski resorts and down into the Ridgway State Park. The park is expensive ($33US) but we had full hook-up. (power, black and grey drainage and water) After lunch we decided to ride the “Enchanted Mesa” trail along the edge of the lake formed by a dam above the camp. The brochure said this was the best bike trail in the area. The first mile was uphill with many steps. Hard going. (pushing) The rest of the trail was OK but we did not get as far as we thought we would go. We ended up at the next camp and after talking to the

rangers in the visitors centre decided to ride back via the road. Much easier! In the evening we walked around some small fishing lakes below the dam where some people were catching!

27 June

A short drive to the city of Montrose where, for the first time, we had trouble getting propane. Eventually, after 5 different places, we filled the propane tank and headed up a steep road into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. We easily found a nice camp site at the south rim. We walked a spectacular trail along the rim to the visitors centre to suss the N.P. The young ranger we spoke to had studied geology at Otago Uni! This is another canyon which we look into from the rim but unlike the Grand Canyon the rocks here are schist and very hard. This makes the canyon very narrow with cliffs dropping 2700ft to the Gunnison River.

The canyon is called “black” because the sun does not get to the bottom. After lunch we relaxed and read in the shade of our camp site and watched the wildlife, deer, birds and chipmunks. At sunset we rode to back to the visitors centre, booked a boat ride for 29 June, and walked a nice 2 mile trail down below the rim.

28 June

We had decided to bike the 7 miles of the rim road. We set off at 9:30am and enjoyed the easy ride long the rim stopping many times to walk out to various lookouts. At one view point a ranger had a spotting scope set up to view some Peregrine chicks on the cliffs opposite. The ride back to “Ernie” was hard work as we are at 8500ft and most of it was uphill.

We had not taken our lunch (a bit of a mistake) and did not get back until 3:00pm. There was supposed to be a ranger programme at 9:00pm with some big telescopes for star gazing but the skies clouded over and lightning was in the area so it was cancelled.

29 June

Off to a very early start as we have a boat trip booked on the Morrow Point Reservoir at 10:00am. We walked down to the river/reservoir and then followed the old railway track to the starting point of this trip. It is at the other end of the Gunnison Canyon. The Gunnison River is a tributary of the Colorado

River and has been dammed at various points to ensure enough water flowing down the Colorado River in dry seasons. The boat trip is run by the National Parks Service and was a 40 seat slow boat with a great ranger explaining the natural features and the old railway system now drowned by the damming of the river. The cliffs were shear out of the reservoir on either side. Very enjoyable and well worth the $16US. Back to “Ernie” and along the shore of another reservoir to our camp at Elk Creek with great views. This area is now a bit like Lake Dunstan with families set up for the holidays mostly boating. Unfortunately a strong wind got up but there are some nice beaches and few people swimming. We may stay here tomorrow if the weather improves. At 9:00pm we went to a ranger presentation on astronomy including a look thru their telescope at Saturn.

30 June

A lovely morning but we had a committee meeting (not hard to get a quorum) and decided to drive on. We have discovered that many people extend the 4 July holiday for the weekend so we need to plan for this. We thought it would be good to be in a town for 4 July and have booked 2 nights in a camp at Grand Junction. We returned down the road along the shore of the reservoir and then on to another beautiful road up along the north rim of the Gunnison Canyon. At one stage we stopped at a view point. The ranger that had presented the astronomy programme last night was there with her telescope looking at the sun.

We could easily see sunspots and solar storms. We continued north away from Gunnison Canyon and are now camped at a state park at Crawford Lake. This is another local holiday spot with a few boats and water skiing etc. We walked to the lake shore and enjoyed a couple of swims before thunder and a few spots of rain drove us back to “Ernie”. Everything has cleared and it is now a beautiful evening.

1 July

We drove through some nice rural towns before turning up the valley of the Gunnison River. We passed 3 huge coal mines before climbing again into the Rockies. We had decided to stay in a forest on the Crystal River at Avalanche Creek. After turning off the main highway we had a very rough narrow 2 mile gravel road. Not the best choice but a nice quite cool camp at the end.



2 July

We have decided to go to Aspen today as it is only 35 miles off our intended route. As we were driving the rough road we met 3 vehicles going the other way which involved a bit of backing etc. Near the end of the road I decided we either had a flat rear inner tyre or a stone between the rear duals. It turned out to be a huge rock jammed between the duals. I climbed under but could not budge it. It was about 5” by 3” . Two ladies who had been walking their dogs suggested that we could cross the main road and go to their house where there would be more tools to do the job. We thumped our way to the houses and attacked the rock with a hammer, tyre lever and crowbar with no success. A large plumber joined the fun and insisted on having a try. He managed to loosen it a bit. I made the comment that letting a tyre down would help but was reluctant as we had no method of re-inflating it. No problem came the reply I have a compressor. That made all the difference - the rock came out and we were on the road again. Thanks to Marcia, Cheryl, Shannon & Nellie the plumber! We took the turn towards Aspen and immediately we were on a busy 4 lane road.

We drove thru Aspen to a forest camp 5 miles away. We rode back to Aspen along a great cycleway passed posh homes and a golf course. Aspen was great. It is a bit like Queenstown with the beautiful people strolling the shops and bars. The ski runs and lifts come right into the town. The centre is a pedestrian area with many trees and a stream. We sat in the shade and enjoyed an expensive but delicious ice-cream. After a short sharp shower of rain we rode back to “Ernie”. A funny old day really!

3 July

Tomorrow is Independence Day so we have gone to a RV Park in Grand Junction. This involved a quick 130 mile trip down the I 70. The altitude is now 4500ft and it is much hotter. Today is our half trip (3 months gone) and Val is doing a huge wash of towels bedding etc. This RV Park has a nice pool which we used to cool off. At 6:00pm when it cooled down a little we walked across the road to a restaurant/bar and enjoyed a beer with the locals.

4 July

This is American Independence Day and a public holiday. The Grand Junction Parade is at 10:00am. (before it gets hot) We drove 8 miles into town and easily found a park for “Ernie” The Parade was on Main St in the centre of town. We sat on a wall with a growing crowd, a bit like a Santa Parade feel. Eventually the three flag bearers marched down the street with everyone standing and removing their hats. There were a few floats but it mostly consisted of community groups, youth groups and a few political parties (Republicans, Democrats, Gun Lobby, and the Daughters of America. The biggest cheers were for the Vets from WW11 onwards. They were in beautiful Corvettes. All very patriotic. It was an enjoyable insight into American society.

We wandered thru the centre of town before returning to our camp for lunch. The afternoon was spent cleaning and fixing a couple of things and an extended swim at the pool.