It seems appropriate in this election year to talk about some of the historical sites of our presidents. There are too many for an in-depth conversation so let’s discuss the ones I’ve visited. These vignettes tell bits and pieces. Be sure to conduct further reading through books or the Internet to get the rest of […]
Celebrating a Centennial
Happy 100th Birthday to the National Park Service! Congress authorized Montana’s Yellowstone National Park in 1872 under President Ulysses S. Grant. With various administration changes over the years, the Organic Act of 1916 created the National Park Service under President Woodrow Wilson to manage all national parks. In addition to the 59 National Parks, there […]
Full Tilt Into a Third Life
My first “Silver, Single, and Solo” column appeared in RV Life on January 1, 1991, twenty-five years ago next month. Four years after my husband’s death at age 47, I sold ye olde Michigan homestead and started my “second” life. Saying goodbye to two grown daughters in September 1986, I hit the road, female, not […]
Fair Assessments
Thinking about Michigan’s Berrien County Youth Fair brings back good memories of when my kids were exhibiting vegetables they grew and animals they raised. We packed our 20-foot Class C motorhome with everything we needed and spent the day from early morning until after the evening’s Main Event, and then returned each day for more […]
Lure of the Dungeness Spit
The Olympic Peninsula in Washington provides endless sights and opportunities. Among them are the Dungeness Recreation Area, Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, and the Dungeness Spit (and lighthouse). To reach them, from slightly west of Sequim on U. S. Highway 101, turn north on Kitchen-Dick Road and continue until you must turn right again. Almost immediately, […]
On the Road with No Reservations
Upon asking what their summer RVing plans were, friends replied, “Our schedule is written in Jell-O.” I have to say that my future (in so far as I have any control) with this move from Arizona to Washington is written in Jell-O, as well. I’ll see where it leads! My friends were shocked at my […]
Keeping a Road Journal
Aspiring writers ask, “How do you come up with stuff to write about?” Just open your eyes. While that is a simplistic answer, fodder for writing is everywhere. It is my privilege to write both a monthly column and an online weekly blog for RV Life, and I often dig into my detailed travel logs, […]
Is Life on the Road so Simple?
It was a simple life… At least in my memory it was. In looking back on twenty years as a single, solo full-time RVer, it certainly seems like there was a minimum of problems, but then again, my memory isn’t too swift these days. Having just gone through all the hullabaloo of selling the house, […]
Bad Luck on Good Friday
Continuing with the story I began last month on Anchorage and the surrounding area, guess who was the first European to eye the inlet and claim the land for England in 1778? We RVers may think we get around, but if it was surrounded by water, Captain James Cook was there first. While the Alaska […]
Biggest City in Seward’s Icebox
It will soon be 150 years since we bought “Seward’s Icebox,” as Americans called Alaska in 1867, paying Russia a whopping two cents an acre for this astonishing land of 100,000 glaciers and over 40 mountain ranges. Declared our 49th State in 1959, Alaska is not only our largest state but also our northernmost, westernmost, […]
The Not So Civil Civil War
The Civil War began April 12, 1861.The surrender of Robert E. Lee to Ulysses S. Grant took place 150 years ago at Appomattox Court House in Virginia on April 9, 1865, but without Facebook, texting, tweeting, email, and smartphones for fast announcements, deadly battles raged on until mid May. It remains the deadliest war in […]