Today was almost a five hour drive, but since the goal was just to pull into my driveway with the trailer, I had no pressure. I thought perhaps hooking up would be an issue since I was on a slight incline, but it was not. I do think putting blocks under the stabilizer feet helps to keep the trailer from settling and thus getting into a position where I can not adjust the tongue to the right height to get on the ball or off its block. The first stretch of my ride on US 52 fr

Houston (house-ton), MN is home to the international owl center and festival, which I had the opportunity to attend a few years ago. They rehabilitate injured and orphaned owls and they have several teaching owls who can’t be released back to the wild, including a great horned, a snowy and a barred owl. Unfortunately, the center was not open either day I was there. However, I was also attracted to this area for biking a rail to trail and kayaking the Root River. I set out to

Today was a just under four hour drive day, so I was not totally destination driven. The plan was to take US 61 to US 52 with a short jog on US20. This is the heartland of the Midwest where those giant tractors I saw at the John Deere Pavillion show what they are made of on massive farms. The wind was again ever present. I pulled over for a rest, gas, and coffee after less than two hours. My daughter Amy had called me from France for help navigating her summer job plans whe

Truth be told there are five cities, but they go by the quad. Davenport and Bettendorf, IA, Rock Island, Moline and East Moline, IL. All built on the Mississippi River, it’s a hub for river barges and railroads. I started the day with a visit to the welcome center in Davenport. I got some brochures and then headed out on my bike. I saw migrating pelicans, and the Rock Island Arsenal from a distance and rode over the I74 bridge. But the most interesting part of the ride was ge

I got another early start and thank goodness for that. I still had part of Indiana to conquer and it was going to be windy again. While skirting Indianapolis, I remembered a work project I had here with Ascension Health. It was the first engagement I had where my counterpart at the customer kept throwing me under the bus because she didn’t want to do her job. And I remembered this funky little jog you have to take to move between i65 and I74 on a six lane stop and go road tho

I got my early morning start. The cats are getting more predictable as to where I can find them. They are really adjusting pretty well considering this can’t be their favorite way to live. I knew I was going to be on Rt 50 a lot of the day. I have driven this way before when taking or bringing Diana to college in Philippi freshman year. It’s dual but it a freeway so you get stop lights every once in awhile, which isn’t great for gas mileage with a trailer. But I had filled

Today was a scheduled rest day, but I don’t know how to rest when I’m in a new place. I pulled one of my travel adventures cards which were a gift from the ServiceNow MVPS when I retired. It said find something off the beaten path. After I had breakfast and language study, I asked the woman at the camp store finding a hidden gem., something off the beaten path. Well, you found us!” she said. Then she told me about the quilt tour and gave me a brochure. A fabric quilt hanging

The RV life is not for those who give up easily or who struggle with self confidence because just when you think you have the hang of it, a new challenge arises. I thought we my biggest challenges for today would be catching the cats because there are a lot of great niches for hiding. However, today it was trying to get the trailer jack foot off the stabilizer before hitching up. I’ve had this issue before because I was cranking the jack the wrong way. Today however, if I w

I realized I didn’t explain the trip in my first post. It shows how frazzled I was last night. I am enroute to Minnesota from Delaware and taking 11 days and the southerly route. For those of you who have followed other trips you may have noticed I didn’t mention Buddha. She crossed the rainbow bridge in late January, and the cats are with me because I’ll be in Minnesota for a few months. The cats are adjusting and the trailer with screened windows open all night is like 24/7

Today was grueling. There is no other word. I got a late start because I wanted to have a visit with a friend this morning before I set out. Then I had to finish packing and cleaning and by that time, the cats had decided to make themselves scare. I found Ethel quickly, but Lucy was in none of her usual hiding places. Luckily, I was able to narrow down the remaining hiding places and found her. They were not pleased about being in their kennels. By the time, o got to the camp

As I suspected, after sleeping for three hours, I started waking up every hour. The alarm was set for 4:45, but when I looked at the time, and it was 4:40–just get up Britta. I was showered and dressed and ready to go by 5:15, but I waited until 5:20 to go down stairs. I asked reception where to get the shuttle, and it was parked in the circle out front. I went out to stand in the fresh air until the driver came, knowing I would be cooped up for many hours to come. I think I

Amy and I had most of the day today. She has no school on Wednesdays and I didn’t need to leave for Lyon until 3-3:30. I thought we had a plan to get breakfast and then checkout. Amy thought the opposite. Instead of being a smart person and leaving the car in the free garage, I got the car out so we could load our bags and then we had to find another place to park. We ended up back at Adelaide for breakfast. Their omelettes and ginger shots are sooo good. I tried a beet latt

As mentioned previously, today I was planning to hike part of the Chemin de Stevenson trail. This came about when the writer Robert Louis Stevenson was staying in France for his health. He met an America woman, Fanny Van de Grift, who was estranged from her husband in the US. they became lovers, but then she returned to the US leaving him heart broken. Some stories suggest she told him to take a hike, and that is what he did. The entire walk is 120 miles through the mountain

An historic nor’easter was running up the east coast burying it in feet of snow. Delta offered me the option to rebook on a later flight for free. A chance to stay longer? Yes, I’ll take that over getting stranded somewhere potentially. Flights were already full for Wednesday, so that moved me to Thursday. The Hotel Regina was able to accommodate us even though they were fully booked Tuesday night. So I did not hurry out of bed, but Amy did have to get to class. After I got

Another ancient city that the Romans dominated for some time, Orange only became officially part of France in 1717! The name does not come from the fruit but rather from an evolution from a pre-Celtic name to the Latin Aurasio which is thought to be how it morphed to Orange. Aurasio was the name of the restaurant where we had dinner the night before, so history lives on. The main sites here are the Roman theater and a mini Arc de Triumph. Since it was Sunday all sites were c

I woke up hungry after my measly dinner and fortunately, Amy did too having recovered from the mussels episode. Our host Emmanuel, told us we could leave whenever we want because he did not have anyone coming in behind us. So, Amy did some research and found a place called Coffee Yox Yukon—not a name you would expect in a city that dates back to forever. The food was Americanized French; we both had egg burgers. I changed it up this morning and had a cortado instead of my us

Of course today dawned somewhat warmer and sunnier than yesterday when we were horseback riding!!! We were quite loathe to leave Brigitte’s. I kept th fire going on all night and smoke has a sweet smell. Brigitte gave me directions for a walk. When I turned left on the dyke, it said “intersite,” which I knew mean no access but she told me to go that way!! I decided if I was challenged inwould just say no français! I didnot see the black bulls, but I picked up some birds on

La Camargue is known for its wild horses, salt flats, and historic cities of Aigues-Mortes and Saintes Maries de le mer. Our AirBNb was smack dab in the middle of the Camargue, but as I mentioned last time, not near any kind of civilization—except horseback riding outfits. The day dawned partly cloud and slightly windy, but Brigitte assured. me it was not going to rain. We just had to go and few kilometers down the road to the stable. We had a brief stop for the shepherd to

Reluctantly, we packed our bags to leave Menerbes. This beautiful, quiet, tranquil place is so restful. But alas, we are off to Aix en Provence to see the market and try to find the house where I lived with a family for three weeks in 1993. We weren’t sure if Francois and Maria would have breakfast today because we were leaving or if it would be 9 am again because that is what we requested yesterday. So we had our bags by the gate unsure of whether to leave or go on the ope

I’ve been trying very hard to not have a lot of goals for every day, but if you know me, I have a hard time with that. However, the only thing I wanted to do today was to see the ochre cliffs near Roussillon. But the day started a bit off kilter. I got out of bed thinking I’d rekindle the fire and do yoga, take a walk and drop a blog before breakfast. Amy asked me what time It was and it was then I realized it was 8:50 and we were scheduled for breakfast with Maria and Franco