Sorry for not getting anything posted last night. Had really good intentions, but then found that my signal out at the State Park wasn't good enough to send anything out on. As it is, there is just enough signal for me to log on and check email and fb, but really can't do much more than that unless I want to wait a horrendously long time for everything to load. So I guess it means coming into town on a regular basis and doing all my posting from here.

   So to recap what happened yesterday; Was up early and on the road by 8:30, not a record for me, but pretty darn close. Six hours of pretty steady driving got me all the way up to Chadron State Park where I hoped to camp for a couple of weeks. The new bumper on the trailer seems to be working perfectly so far and the truck seemed to know the difference in how it was loaded on the hitch. A lot less weight directly over the hitch now so the whole rig sits much more level now. Hard to tell yet what effect, if any, it will have on my gas mileage, as there was a stiff, 20-30 mph wind blowing all day right out of the north. It was one of those days where you could almost see the gas needle move lower and lower as you stared at it. Just one of the expenses that goes along with this lifestyle I've chosen though, so sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and except what life gives you.

    Found the campground at the park nearly empty when I got here in the afternoon. Last year a forest fire had raged along the ridge top from the town of Crawford, 20+ miles to the west, all the way to the highway the campground is situated next to. I think many people probably think the whole thing burnt down, and much of the park did burn, but only a few areas of the campground were effected. Unfortunately a lot of that was in the area I like to camp in, so I asked if I could go drive around first before picking out a specific site. Turns out that I ended up in a wonderful site still full of lots of trees and bushes. Plus it is close enough that I can hook up my water hose to one of the water hydrants even. At most of the sites you have to fill your water tank with water first as there isn't a spigot at every site. So I'm set for the next two weeks now. The only bad news being that I'm leaving on July 4th, which may mean I'll have a hard time finding a camping spot over that weekend. Will try to make a reservation later on today at some campground down around Scott's Bluff Nebraska.

    Got the trailer all set up, the bed made.... ah-h-h fresh sheets, dishes done and the floor swept. Was sitting there thinking about taking a nap when my nephew, Brian, showed up. We ended up taking a drive up on top of the ridge to look for wildlife since it was already evening by that time. Saw plenty of deer and turkeys of course, but also spotted a couple different groups of elk out on the fields. A couple nice bucks and a couple smaller bull elk, all still in velvet and all a long way from being at full size yet. Still a couple more months for them to add some additional growth to their head gear.

   A very nice evening after getting back to the trailer. The temperature cooled off to the low 60's and the lightning bugs were over in the bushes doing their 'flashy' thing. Off to the west the clouds were building and you could see some lightning and hear the thunder. Thought it might rain later on during the night, but it never did. It was a great night to get some sleep.

    Just hanging out right now. My nephew is waiting for me to do some fishing with him, but I may be to slow for that today. He has a gig here in town tonight and I'll be going to see and listen to him play. He's in a pretty good band that plays pretty much everything from old and new rock to hard core country. It's kind of fun to watch all the skinny cowboys, with the way to big belt buckles, get out on the dance floor and tie one on. Not sure at times if what they are doing is really dancing or just a new way to hog tie a cow. Pretty entertaining in it's own right.

    A few pictures from a couple of weeks ago down below. Will continue to try and catch up on some of them as I find the time.


Sunset over Lake Huron near Oswego New York - June 20, 2013

While out for a walk one evening this is the view that popped up over the lake. Not sure if the stupendous colors are the result of smoke from a forest fire somewhere, or if it was just the right atmospheric conditions that evening. Anyway; couldn't pick just one favorite, so I loaded them all up for you to look at. Anyone have a favorite?