Friday, October 31, 2008

Oct 29


After the Naval base we went to West Point. This was America’s one and only Army College. It also just so happened to be where my Dad went to college to join the Army. So we met some of his friends, then went to bed. The next day we met more of his Ol’ college buddies. Then we went to an Army football game. We won, the opposing team, Louisiana Tech lost 14 to 7. The Army Mules rule! Then we went to a tailgating party with another Ol’ college buddy. They had lots of food and served it on a limousine’s tailgate. That’s right, a limousine, and 36 feet of pure luxury! I got to go inside. It was awesome! Leather everywhere and LED lights that change color as you drive. Very relaxing. Then we went and met Colonel Johnson, his two kids, Bradley and Noel, and his wife, Mrs. Johnson. Very nice people. They had an X-box 360 and let us play it while Dad and Mom “caught up on old times.” We had a Nerf-gun war with 50 thousand bullets and 5 different guns. If you are going to have a Nerf gun war and you get to pick your gun, I recommend the N-strike long shot. Very powerful, good accuracy and desirable range. Very effective. Then we went to Colonel Haskin’s house and met him and his wife, watched Lord of the Rings, and ate dinner. They were very good people, and made very great food! We went to bed and the next day was similar. More friends, a tour of West Point Recreational facilities, which was mainly off-limits except to residents (teachers and students). Although this day was different from all the other travel days since Alaska. I suffered a major medical condition. It was just wrestling, but Will used a one-leg take down and I went down alright, hard. I hit the ground and twisted my foot while doing so in a drastic attempt to stop my fall but it was too late. I wound up in the Emergency room with a swollen ankle the size of a basketball. Ok, Ok, baseball. Then we went to the X-ray room. Much pain, and agony but I managed. I was tough and the doctors twisted my foot and asked “Now does this hurt?” Finally, after much ice and wrapping and unwrapping and wrapping again of gauze we returned home within 2 hours of my being there. Then off to bed. The next three days were nothing but school and I really don’t want to re-live that amount of school, and pain, and sitting in one spot for 6 hours at a time with a foot as frozen solid as an ice cube. No-sir-E! And now I am currently leaving West Point in a gauze bandage and more work to attend to. Wow, college hurts, and there’s a lot of work and I’m not even part of their curriculum yet!

10/24/08
We came to an Air Force Base near the City of Boston. There was a nice campground there that was run by MWR. We made camp and went to a restaurant with my Dad’s cousin Sally and her friend Jeffery Bump. We had a fabulous Boston Clam Chowder in Boston, and it was creamy and delicious. Then we went back to the campground and went to bed. The next day we took the “T” into Boston because it was too crowded to drive and it was fun. We saw Fenway Park, took a trolley (my very first) saw Paul Revere’s House and lots of other cool monuments. When we were done in Boston we got back on the T and went home. Then we went out to dinner at Mr. and Mrs. Orlov’s House. I liked the cornbread. Then we went back home and to bed. The next day was driving and school. We were at a Naval Base this time and the campground was cute. 5 slots! That’s the smallest I’ve ever seen! At dusk we went to a public Halloween party… it was NOT scary! Then we went home. The next day we packed up and left heading for CT. Bye!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

10/20/08


And Hello again! I am on the Road again,*Robby sings “on the Road Again”* *everyone Applauds* Thank you, Thank you. After we left My Uncle Clipper’s we got on the Highway and drove until we got to My Cousin Georgia’s town. We got there and Georgia’s Dad, Cousin Steve, showed us his Artist’s Studio. By now you can tell what he is, a painter. He does these awesome drawings with water flowing, and lighting, and words that flow with landscape. Then we went to Georgia’s friends’ house, the Finnegans, who could make these awesome hamburgers. Then we showed them the R.V. and went to bed. The next morning Cousin Steve dropped by for coffee and to chat with my mom and dad. I put away everybody’s bedding and got ready for school. We did school, and left for my mom’s Uncle Don’s house. They had these amazing flowers and I got to take some Monkshood with me, also known as Wolf bane. Then Ben jumped into a lake that had ice in it. And then we said goodbye and left. And now we’re on the road again. *Robby sings on the road again* *Appalling roars from the Audience* Thank you, Thank you. That is all. Goodbye.

10/19/08
We stopped at our Uncle Clipper’s house and spent 2 weeks feeding chickens, and going to the New York Capital that is supposedly haunted by a dead fruit salesman. We also did 6 lessons of school which is a lot; we played with our cousins Tucker and Avery. Our Uncle Clipper and Aunt Wendy, and Nana and Papa (My dad’s parents). We had fun sleeping under the stars without a tent. We went to a local Boy Scout meeting, in which, I got my Board of Review for Star scout. I am officially a Star Scout! *everybody Applauds* Thank you, Thank you. That is all for today’s Blog session. Bye!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

10/6/08

10/6/08
We stopped in New Hampshire and took the 30-mile long Kancamagus Highway seeing the beautiful fall colors and the fresh air was breathtaking. My mom loved it especially. Then we did more school, watched a movie on the Computer called Vin Diesel, and got to our friend Bryce’s house. Let me tell you about Bryce. He’s a cool guy that has a PS2 and a million games that he let us play. I liked Sly3 a lot. Then we went to bed. We then woke up and climbed a mountain called Bromley. On that same mountain is a ski resort, but right now it is summer so they convert it to an amusement park. Bryce’s Dad, Mr. Rich, is president of Bromley Mountain and we got to play there with Bryce, pretty much all day. They had a bungee jumping trampoline, a giant swing that propels you 45 ½ ft high, and the famous Alpine slide. Let me tell you about the Alpine slide. It is a 4000 ft downhill half-open tunnel that you can go 20 miles an hour on before you’re in danger of getting shot off on the turns. There are 3 tracks and lots of people. You take a chair lift to the top. Then you get a “car,” a small rectangle with wheels and a brake on the side. Then you slide all the way to the bottom, get on the chairlift and do it again. They also had a climbing wall and four different difficulties. Very few Adults get to the top and ring the buzzer on level four (the highest level) and I impressed all the staff working there. It was very challenging but I managed. Then we went home and ate Mrs. Victoria’s, Bryce’s Mom, blueberry waffles…. they were delicious! Then the next day was school and games. But finally we had to leave. I was sad to go but now we’re on the road and going to our Nana’s and Papa’s Farm in Albany, New York. Bye!

9/29/08
I have not seen rain like what I just saw yesterday in a long time! We didn’t get hit directly by the hurricane but we did get poured on! Usually we would have just driven somewhere it wasn’t raining, but in this case we were meeting a friend so we didn’t. The first day was making camp, eating dinner and watching Independence Day where a whole load of aliens come to kill everybody on earth and eat all the natural resources like locusts. The whole movie is about how to kill, stop, slow down, and whatever else they can think of to buy more time. I recommend it. Will Smith is the main actor. You can tell I don’t get much T.V. can’t you? Anyway, I like my new lifestyle and I’m almost about to take my first Calvert Tests. It may not sound like much to you but it marks that I am a full 1/8 of the school year completed. Fun Fun Fun! So the next day we went to L.L.Bean which is like the Flagship of sporting goods stores and they even had a free indoor archery range. It was fun. Then we bought a whole bunch of cool stuff. A friend of my Uncle Clipper works at L.L.Bean and got the whole thing at an employee’s discount price for us. Thank You Mr. Doug! I’ve done more school and swam at the coolest lake. It was cold but they had a paddle boat and a blow-up canoe. I loved it and Will loved it even more. They had 8 inch frogs just swimming around. Also there were giant gold fish the size of 2 of my fists! Amazing. Well, we packed up and left and are heading for Vermont. Bye!
9/27/08
We left Saint Andrews and went through customs so we are now in the USA again whoooooohoooooo! We came to Bar Harbor, Maine where we settled down in a Wal-Mart parking lot and stayed the night. The next day we unhitched the SUV and went to Cadillac Mountain. We put on our backpacks or in Will’s and my case, 20 pound light rucksacks. Then we hiked our 11 mile hike in grueling rain and poor visibility. Some parts were so steep that they had ladder rungs for you to put your hands and feet. When we were done I had a badly banged knee that hurt to walk on until the next morning. And I still carried my rucksack most of the afterward. Anyway we went back to the parking lot and slept like rocks, if rocks can sleep. The next day I did a whole day of school and we set off for a small town called Freeport. We’re going to take refuge from the expected hurricane that is said to hit most of the east coast. I’ll keep in touch.
-Robby
P.S.: For a more boring and less Exaggerated Version of my true 11 mile hike, visit any of my brothers pages.
9/25/08
So when we left Halifax we did more school until we came to a place called Monkton where we stopped and had Ben’s Birthday party and watched a tidal bore. The cake was double chocolate and silky and smooth enough to make your mouth water looking at just the chocolate chips on top. Can you tell I’ve been working on creative writing? So we watched this “Tidal bore” that was about 6” high and continuous all the way up the river which was flowing downstream! Just this wave was slowly making its way up the river! Afterwards we left for Saint Andrews and found a nice campground outside of town and right next to the water. We had dinner and a fire and watched Canadian shows for a couple of hours and I played port Royale 2. Finally we went to bed. The next day was school and a bike ride around town, played at the playground, some boat watching, and even some Makeshift Firing ranges that I used off the R.V. Park so I wasn’t breaking any rules. Then we had dinner, did more school, and went to bed. Today we packed up did school and left for where ever we’re going next. C U L8er.

9/22/08
We came to a Wal-Mart and called it home for the night. Then we made spaghetti and ate it. Then we went to bed. The next day we went into Halifax in our SUV, and we looked around the city and saw graffiti and lots of tourist money traps like tours that went on land and in the water. Plus there were lots of big antique ships that would take people
out on the water for super high prices. We even saw an ice cream shop so popular you had to wait 20 minutes just to get an ice cream cone! We got to go to subway it was so good! I recommend the meatball marinara sub; they keep it hot just for you! Better then quizznos by a mile! Then we explored some more and got a real taste of the waterfront. There was a slide and pirate ship that was really fun and we had a little picnic. We also went to a place called Discovery Center but it was too high priced. We went to Pier 21 too. It was all about the Immigrants coming to Canada and we saw how they came over in a movie. We did a scavenger hunt and I got to get stamped “Landed Immigrant”! We saw some ships and saw the Queen Elizabeth 2, a cruise ship, leave port. We even got to go to the citadel which was used by the British as a vantage point so that they could take over Louisburg which was occupied by the French at the time. Then we left Halifax went home to Wal-Mart where I cooked Macaroni and Cheese. Then we went to bed.
9/20/08
Hello again! We got to go to this Giant ferry that goes from Nova Scotia to PEI and back. So we are at Nova Scotia now. It was cool and we got to see the bridge of the ferry, and everything was automatic but it had manual settings too. We came to a small town that my parents wanted to go to called Baddack to see a government town nearby called Louisburg. The point of it was to give people a chance to get a glimpse of the lives of the people there in the French fort in 1744. You can’t get them to talk about anything that’s not in 1744. They don’t talk about politics or anything in the present including cars, or the horseless carriages in the parking lot. We got to see some muskets; cannons shot twice, some real sheep, 4 horned rams and a soldier’s bar. The only thing different was that it didn’t smell like rum like the first one did. The next day we saw the Cabot Trail, an 8 hour drive that was filled with scenes of water, blue sky, and lots of small shops.
The next day we left for Halifax and on the way we stopped at Alexander Bell’s museum where a party was going on for Canada’s holiday fall harvest festival. I didn’t really pay attention to the name just the ventriloquists, clowns, exhibits, food, and games. Now I’m back on the road! Whooooo Hooooooo, oh yea, that means more school. Darn!
9/17/08
Bonjour Blawg readers! We are still on PEI because we like it so much but we are departing today. So on the 15th of September we took all of our bikes and miraculously enough we fit them all on the SUV’s Bike rack. Then we drove 30 minutes to Georgetown, also on PEI. Then we took off the bikes and went on a very nice enjoyable 15 mile bike ride. Almost a day’s work when I went on that 5-day 300+ mile bike ride on the Denali Highway in Alaska. Any way when we finished we all got Ice cream, more sugar! Then we went on a walk, packed up our bikes and came back to the R.V. and went to bed. The next day we did school and I finished my book called Anne of Green Gables which oddly enough was staged on PEI by an author from 100 years ago who lived on PEI. So we went to see the mock up of Anne’s Home which was based on the author’s experiences and her grandfather’s cousins’ home which she loved so much. Everywhere you looked you saw a poster, sign, picture, doll, or person who looked like Anne from the story. Very interesting and in the story she had three paths through very lovely woods, Lovers lane, Birch path, and Violets Field. Same thing, the people who ran the place cleared some paths in the woods just for the purpose. It was nice. We came home and did more school!!!!! YEAAAAAAA!!!!!! Not. Then the next day my dad went Kite boarding! He did great and had fun getting dragged by that kite in the Atlantic Ocean, although he was cold afterwards. Then Sam, Dad, and I went to an oyster farm on raspberry point and dad showed me for the first time in my life how to eat an oyster. Yuck! I never knew! Next thing I know he’s trying to shove one down my throat. But I won until that night when he cooked it and then I ate it. It was too chewy so I didn’t like it and he didn’t try to make me eat another one. Now we’re leaving and I can’t wait to continue our trip. In my opinion we’ve been here too long! That’s all for now!
9/14/08
Hello people! I am in PEI or Prince Edward Island in Canada. We liked it so much we’ve stayed a week. When we got here to the campground in a small city called summer side we set up camp, the slides all that stuff. Then we ate dinner local lobster and watched kite boarders and my dad is in town getting lessons as I speak. We have seen the PEI wind farm that is much bigger than the one in Cap-Chat and a wool mill where my Nana sent her sheep wool. We saw the cloth that they made and how they felted it. It smelled like sheep even though there weren’t any there. Then we went to the light house and saw the museum there. We went to the beach and I made sand tub when the tide came in. It was so much fun. Then we came home and had scallops. The next two days were school, jumping on the campground trampoline, and playing on the computer the pirate game that I got at Wal-Mart. It’s called Port Royale 2. You’re a trader in the New World of North America and you can be English, Dutch, Spanish, or French. I’m French. I’ve overthrown 3 English Convoys. A town and a Pirate Den. That’s all for now Bye!
9/9/08
While traveling we came to a small pleasant place that made soap out of goat milk. We watched a movie about it fed the milked goats and got some free samples. Then we continued driving till we got to Ms. Grace’s house who is the mom of my Dad’s friend LTC Kerrigan and had a lovely home cooked meal with Dessert. Next camped out at her cottage down the road put out the slides and all that and went to bed. The next day we got a tour of the whole Island of Miscue and the light house and the lobster pots not crab. We then dropped Ms. Grace at her sister’s house and went to the harbor to watch them depart. The next morning I woke up early with dad and went to the harbor to watch them come in filled to the brim with fish. We watched them fill up the tubs from the holds and then watched them fill up with gas. Finally we left and went home where we did more school and me and Dad went to Mr. Guy’s house who would make a great Alaskan. He’s got all the toys, Guns, quads, he’s got mosquito eaters, now all he needs is a snowmobile and he’ll fit right in. Anyway we got to go for a little ride on his quad along the beach, something that I haven’t done since Alaska. It was very fun. You don’t really notice that you have it until you lose it right? Oh well, I fired the bb gun a couple of times at 25 feet away with sights that haven’t been re-adjusted since the stone age, but my aim hasn’t decreased a bit the only way it could get up to the way it was again is if it had the same conditions as the delta rifle club did. The guns make a big difference don’t they, Huge in fact! You can’t just pick up a gun and start shooting bull’s eyes can ya? Anyway I miss you all and can’t wait to see what’s around the bend in the road. Bye.

9/7/08
We traveled till a small city tourist town and bought tickets for a guided tour for the next day we had hamburgers and went to bed. We woke up had alpha bits and went to “the rock” a big Island as big as Fort Greely! We got our back packs and follow the guide through the small narrow land bridge only above the surface of the water at low tide. It was cool and the guide helped us find a fossilized shell. We packed up and left across the smaller and smaller bridge. Then we all went to a local park and played for a whole 12 minutes. We went home to the campground in the SUV and packed up attached and left. We came to a nice little campground in Carleton where we set up camp while Ben and Sam played at the park that has two zip lines three tire swings and two castle-like structures that we played capture the flag later the next day. Then we had dinner watched a movie called Fat Albert and went to bed. The next day we did some school then we went on a family roller blade ride into town, we had lunch, then came back and played that capture the flag game. We had marinated chicken for dinner and marshmallows and chocolate and frozen yogurt for dessert. The next day we packed up and left. Bye!
9/4/08
We finally came to the campground we were looking for at a place called Cap-chat and settled down for the night and had a nice warm fire some fireworks and desert and that was that. The next morning we had some schooling to do and I did it quick we published the blog at the Internet Café and went to have dinner and go exploring. We found nothing really interesting but some docks and Will caught a jelly fish.
The next day we went to the wind farm. It had the largest vertical axis mill in the world! And about 20 other smaller ones. It was very interesting and I enjoyed it. We packed up later and left and that’s what I’m doing now.
9/2/08
Ok so we pulled up to our spot for the night and looked across the street and see a sideways submarine. I’m not joking! (See pictures) So it turned out that they were going to pull it out of the water and make it part of the museum which we went to but one of the supports broke while pulling it out and it fell over. Any way nobody got hurt and now their waiting for the highest tide of the season on September 18th. So then it will be rebalanced and try again with stronger supports!
Time to continue on. So we ate a scrumptious steak and went to bed. The next morning we did a hefty amount of school and went to the museum where we learned about the “Empress of Ireland” and learned about all the people who died in the collide with the Stromberg and finally the stories about how it happened. It was quite tragic and I felt sorry for the families of those people. Then we looked at the Artifacts that were salvaged from the ship and I was very fascinated. Finally we left and got in the R.V. and Drove and that’s where I am now typing away.
9/1/08
Alright we went northeast and entered a little town called Clayton, New York. We met a nice lady named Mrs. Linda Thomson. She was very hospitable she and I got along very well and we had much of the same taste. She had lots of “Popular Science” and a nice kitty named “kitty kitty” Here kitty kitty! Any way my Mom and Dad talked with her a lot and we had fun then she told us about the Antique Boat museum. We camped out and went there the next day There were lots of cool things and even some Antique cruisers that you got to go into and a beautifully Restored house boat as big as the school gym No kidding. Then we left Clayton and went around town and got some ice cream.
We left Clayton and went to Canada, again. After customs we went to Mr. Matu’s house. We met his wife Mrs. Isabel. And their 4 kids Juliet, Christian, Max, and Beatrice. They lived in down town Montréal in a house over 200 years old. They had a pool, trampoline, chickens, garage, playground and a ton of toys for their kids who are all younger than 8. It was better than any campground yet. Thank you. We went to get a tour of Mr. Matu’s recycling plant. Mr. Matu is a very smart Chemical Engineer. They turned all sorts of recycled plastics and turned them into something that can be used again and then stamp it Polychem their logo. It was next gen stuff. Then we went home said our goodbye’s and went to Montréal where we saw the old Olympic Stadium and the bio dome Both of which were very Artistic and Abstract and full of roaming life including monkeys birds and literally refossalized prehistoric sea creatures. Way cool. Then we went to the Botanical gardens or “Jardins” for French and the insectariums though kind of creepy, cool. Finally we left and saw down town or “old” Montreal. It was ancient and we even saw some Catholic churches. Wow! We took a midnight hike. It was late but fun. The next morning we did school and then left for Québec city. It was nice and hot. We went on a ferry across the Saint Lawrence and left our car in a lot while we walked around the city. We watched lots of street performers and went to the plains of Abraham Martin, a revolutionary Farmer that was one of the first to be there. Finally we went for dinner at the wonderful subway and ate it at a concert then we went to a city funded mural image for a 400 year anniversary it was projected on a row of silos what a show! Flames and starry and next gen surround sound. It was amazing! I wish I had recorded it. Oh well, that’s all for now I miss you all Good night.
8/26/08
Hi guys! I’m catching up to you school wise. You should be on lesson 7 today and I’m on lesson 5. I bet I can beat ya to the end of the year after all I go at my own pace, which is quite quickly, and the other thing is you have 180 days of school and I only have 160. Any way I’ve been quite busy over the last few days and now do schooling much more.
Ok, now for the good stuff. We left Frost Point, our vacation home, and went to a place called Kingston, more like Kingstown; this place must be bigger than Anchorage and a little nicer. Then we went to an OLD place called Fort Henry and watched them shoot some Cannons with blanks and then some muskets and then we took a tour through the place’s dry ditch. Which is like a moat but no water. Then we saw the old soldiers’ quarters, and mess halls. Finally we saw the Garrison Cells and the Ammo Chamber. Then we left and got back on the road where we went and arrived at the Sand Banks Provincial Park. We set up camp and ate dinner. Then we went to bed. We woke up and ate breakfast went on a bike ride and I did more school. Then we packed up and went to the beach for a swim and to play. Finally we went back to Kingston the way I think we came and then we took a different route Northish. Any way that’s where I am now typing away. Bye!

8/24/08
Hi everybody! How’s school! One: send us an e-mail about it and 2: I’m a little behind myself I’m so busy! I’ve been taking boats out of the water and clearing trees and doing all sorts of other chores that I’m getting paid to do. Any way before I got in this busy mood I got up on 2 skis then dropped one so I was slalom skiing. It was fun. But now the fun is over and we have to work. We’re almost ready to leave Frost point, Canada. I’m kind of sad and miss everybody back at Fort Greely, Alaska. There are a lot of mosquitoes here and I found an allergy develop. Oh well, all the better to hurry up out of here. I’ll talk again when I am back on the road again. Bye.
8/12/08
Hello everybody, I’m still in Frost Point, Canada having a wonderful time at our family reunion. We’re doing a lot of water skiing behind our boat, the Master craft; I ski on two skis’, Will on 1 or on the wake board, and Ben and Sam on a smaller version of ski’s than me. I cross the wake a lot and do a lot of one hander tricks. I haven’t done any Salome skiing but am trying.
Oh yea, I forgot to tell you who’s also here with us we got my dad’s older brother Uncle Clipper, his wife Aunt Wendy, her son Tucker, and his sister Avery. Then there’s my dad’s younger brother, Uncle Eric, his wife, Aunt Terry, her oldest daughter, Erin, her sister, Logan, her sister, Lauren, and her brother, Duncan. All of my cousins are younger than me! Oh, plus we get tons of visitors off and on every week like the Stolpman’s who visited earlier this week, and my dad’s other brother, Uncle Fred, who came earlier this month with his girlfriend Emily, OOOOOOOOOhhhhhh. Hehe.
We also have a beach here at Frost Point; it’s a wide open spot where there is a lot of imported sand and usually a couple of sand castles made by me and my cousins. I mean my cousins and I. (lol) We usually make a lot of play towns and dig for clay, Will being head of the mining company. Then I usually head the power plant and Ben’s mayor, and when we get tired of it we flood it, and start over.
Also we have two cottages here. The Big cottage and the Little cottage, we also have the Bungalow for visitors. Then we have the wood shed the pump house and the boathouse that isn’t actually a house to anyone except the boats. Then we have 3 motor boats. The Master craft, the Frowildo, a grand old boat kept in great condition that is the only one like it on the lake, and a small fishing boat. Then we have a rowboat, a skiff, a long surfboard, and a kayak.
We also have a water trampoline, a floating dock tied down to the bottom of the lake by an anchor and two docks fastened to the land by wood. We’re all great swimmers and do lots of swimming every day. That’s all for now. Bye!

7/21/08
We arrived late at night at our cottages (you know the ones that I’ve gone to just about every summer since I was a baby (I was glad to be back)) and carried some stuff in then went to bed for the first time since we started this trip in a place not in our R.V.! The next day all of the Besches minus my dad (who was doing other chores) and Joslins, Chris, and Simon (who were renting our other cottage next door went up to the R.V. and transferred all of the important stuff down here then parked it down the road. It was a long and boring process but when it was done we took a long swim in the nice warm lake on that hot sunny day. It was nice. Then we did other chores helping our parents with dinner and such then had dinner and went to bed. The following days were the same, do chores until lunch, take a swim, do more chores, and then go to bed. (Plus on the 20th Ms. Joslin’s house was finished so they moved out and left). Today I woke up, ate breakfast, and did more chores. Now I’m blogging. That’s it. Bye.

7/17/08
We stopped late at night in a decent campground in a place called Soo Saint Marie in Michigan right on the border of Canada and the US. It was on the border of where Lakes Michigan, Superior, and Huron meet. But the levels of water on both sides of the rapids were different so how did they engineer a way for boats to go up and down a series of waterfalls and rapids? The Freighter locks! Huge Enormous locks that displace tons of water so that in a way the cargo ships and Tankers could get through using a series of valves and two gates. When going up the gates close with the boat in the middle and they open the valves to the gates on the higher level of water so that the water may come in and raise the boat to the top. With the bottom gate closed the top gate opens and the freighter goes out (going down vice-versa). We also went up history tower which is 210 feet high you could see all the way across to the Canadian border! It was awesome! Then we packed up and crossed the bridge to Ontario, Canada. After going through customs and getting our passports stamped we came to a nice campground and settled down then we went to bed. Today we watched a movie and are currently heading to frost point, Canada where we will have our family reunion and continue our trip. Bye.

7/15/08
After the Henry Ford museum we pulled into the R.V. Park back in Michigan and we set up camp took a dip in Lake Michigan and went to bed. The next morning we woke up and went down to the beach and went body surfing in Lake Michigan. It had giant waves and we had a great time using our bodies as surfboards. Then we set off the last of our fireworks and watched a movie and went to bed. The next day we went on a walk to cousin john’s house and got to see Cousin Steve who is our second cousin and Cousin Georgia his daughter (8). We got to go to a party that was thrown by Dr. and Mrs. Watkins. Thank you we had a great time and they had a rowboat that I got a kick out of that, and my brothers jumped in the lake and me and Alex had fun grilling for 20 people all cousins. So we pulled into a place called Betise river campground and the next day we watched a pro kite surfer do his stuff, jumps and flips and wipeouts, it was cool I met his son, Luke, and we had fun just flying a kite and chasing it’s shadow across the sand and what not. So that was about it and we should soon be crossing a ginormous bridge and then into Ontario sooner or later. That’s about it see ya later.
7/11/08
3 Days ago we left Cousin Johns house and drove till we got to the campground in Petersburg Michigan. And let me tell you that it was the best campground that we have stayed in so far. It is the KOA west flats campground; it had this giant water slide that was 30 seconds long and fast! Then it had a fishing lake and a swimming lake with no trash or green muck in the water. It was nice cool water and felt great I bought some cheap fireworks with my allowance money and then we packed up and left. We did another day of driving till we reached my previous aupair, Bea, who watched over me when I was a little kid. Now she’s grown up and married to a very nice man named Raul. They have a swimming pool in their house and even though it’s small we went swimming. I shot off some of my fireworks and then we went to bed. The next day we went to the zoo and saw all sorts of animals but my favorite was the primates & aquatics section where I got to see some awesome looking fish, sharks, and monkeys with Bea and her boys. It was real fun and afterwards we got to go inside a bio-dome and looked at botany from all over the world. Then we left the zoo and Bea in Cleveland, Ohio and went to a state park in Fort Clinton, Ohio where we camped close to a beach on Lake Erie that wasn’t cold and could wade for a quarter mile without it coming up farther than your waist. Then we got up today and drove till we got to the Henry Ford outside park which he collected examples of inventions and famous parts of American history before he died and encouraged children to come because he knew that the children of today are the official adult stage that make things really happen tomorrow like Wilbur and Oliver Wright and the airplane and how it’s influenced the world so much now and how they started all of it. Greenfield Park (that’s what it was called) had two signs Identically put all over the park one said “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration” the other said “Thomas Edison had a goal, it was to make a major invention every 6 months and a minor invention every 10 days.” It had a ton of mock ups like slave houses and a train roundhouse that actually was used modernly. But my favorite was the glass blowing place where they made amazing glass shapes and made everything fit together it was fabulous and then we went to the Model-T assembly line that used to pop out a car every 24 seconds. It was cool and the people were friendly enough then we ran out of time and left at closing time after molding some pennies for our penny passport. That’s pretty much it tune in next time to see what happens next on our Besch adventure.
7/8/08
Ok, so 4 days ago there were so many fireworks when we got there we decided to save ours for the next night where we used all of our sparklers and all of our California mini fountains. Then the next day we used all of our pop-its and no-light-needed kids fireworks like booby-traps. It was Awesome! So the same day we went to these giant sand dunes and I mean giant some were as big as the school! It was very windy but it was really fun! So when we came back to their cottage we went swimming in Lake Michigan. It had huge waves that crashed on the beach and sent seagulls flying. We tried building a wave resistant sand castle using a boogie board but Posiden won. Then we waded out in the super cold water to the sandbar and saw who could stay out there the longest, I lost. But Will couldn’t feel his toes when he was done. It was great and sunny. Well I hear we’re going to the bowling alley later. Bye

7/4/08
Yoohoo! It’s the 4th of July! I’ve already seen so many fireworks yesterday but when we get to our destination in an hour and set up we are going to set off ours and it’s going to be great! We have so many and of all varieties. We even got mortars! I’m so excited! So we pulled out yesterday from a great campground called stony creek it’s the most spacious by far and you can find it in Osseo, Wisconsin. They’ve got a skateboard park, water land, volleyball court, basketball court, golf course, and a playground. Awesome! Last night we stayed at the Kalbus country harbor campground located on Lake Winnebago. Anyway I’ll tell you about the fireworks later, Bye!

7/2/08
2 days until my favorite holiday! I just love the 4th of July also known as Independence Day! My favorite part is the fireworks, all the colors, sounds, smells, and lights. It’s so great we bought a ton of fireworks and already tested the magic black mamba snakes they’re so cool! So we came to this place called Sandstrom auto mechanics and the staff is smart, cool, and fun to be around. Like this guy Chris showed me how to change the oil on a car and told actually good jokes while he did it. Then afterwards he went on break and on his breaks he drives the AWSOME Gas powered hand built Remote controlled Monster truck It hit 50 Mph all by itself not on scale. He said that the gas cost 42 bucks a gallon. But that it also lasts him all summer here in Minnesota. So I Just went swimming at the cannon falls lake and the water is unbelievably warm, we had a great time. Also last night we went to the demolition derby at the Fair where they raced really crappy cars into each other and there is actually a little bit of strategy involved. It was fun to watch there were a lot of fires but no one blew up. My favorite Heat was the pickup heat. And it was great, ten cars and no rules except win without killing the other persons. Hilarious! Then we did some rides I did the Gravatron and you could climb on the walls like a Spiderman. Then we went home, what a day!
6/30/08
Hi, we’re on the road again and I’m still excited! We’ve pulled into a little place in South Dakota called Scotland where we linked up with our friends the Delangs, at their summer home. The R.V. Park was right next to the community pool which had a water slide (pictures) and we all got sunburn the next day. We got a pack of those assorted fireworks and lit one of those magic snakes that when you light it grows and smokes. We got a kick out of that. Then we went to a baseball game and watched Jake win. We went for a bike ride and while we stopped for a brake a baby bird fell on the grass right next to where we stopped, out of a tree. Due to the winds above us, we later found out. We helped it into a bowl and placed it back up halfway to the nest which it fell. The next day the baby bird was gone and we think its mother found it and helped it back up to the nest. Anyway it was a good day. The next morning we went to a Dairy farm where I got to milk a cow and deny the chance to have a baby cow suck on my finger like it was an utter. The utters felt weird when you milk them. Then we took a whole litter of kittens up to the hay loft, they were very cute and soft my favorite was Sox. A cute little white and orange stripped cat that was very evasive and loved to cuddle up against your legs. We finally got to see how the cows get milked. And we even got to see the sheep. Then we helped heard the dairy cows into the pasture for Farmer Brian. It was very fun. But the farm requires a lot of matinence and hard work so appreciate milk. Then we said good bye to the Delangs and to Scotland and left. Bye.

6/28/08
Hello, we’re driving down Interstate 94 and love it! Will and Sam are listening to music and Ben is playing game boy. We are driving to a friend’s summer home that lives in Delta Junction; you may know him his name is Jake Delang. Yesterday we went to the Bismarck Capital R.V. mechanics store for maintenance on our hot water heater and left the R.V. there with our Dad while we took the SUV to the heritage center where we got a booklet with questions and answers only in the museum. Then we went to the outside exhibits, there was a boxcar with gifts from the French and a veterans memorial from World War 2. And I can now say that I have had a Bismarck in Bismarck it was delicious! That was all that we really did all day. 10-4 out.




6/26/08
Hello Again! We have entered the Jasper national park and so far have seen over ten stone sheep, a beaver hut, a couple of loons (Canada’s national bird), 4 deer, and a Giant Male Elk with velvet on its horns. Then we stopped at the Askabaskan Waterfalls which uses glacial water to carve away these huge gorges that act as tracks for the water that carves away more and more. It was a ginormous waterfall and I recommend anyone to take this longer, more beautiful drive that takes the prize sadly over Delta Junction, Alaska.
We entered Banff National park which touches Jasper and drove till I saw the coolest mountain of the day. It was a Series is squareish rocks naturally stacked on top of one another and a rough cone on top with a skirt of trees below the tree line and waterfall carved gorges through it and orange, purple, and red streaks running through it. It took the cake. We finally stopped at Lake Louise next to the Fairmount Hotel. It’s a Great lake with greenish teal tinted water that reflects the mountains of its undisplaced glassy surface. We took a walk through the hotel and found a shop inside with a crystal that costs $5995$. WOW! A small piece of Quartz that we could have found on Donnelly Dome costs 30 bucks. (Ridiculous). We spent the Night and I woke up at a different 5 star hotel. This one was called the Banff Springs hotel and looked like a castle from Harry Potter. But on the inside it was a modern style hotel with shops and restaurants and glass and steel and arches everywhere. It even had bowling. That’s all to report. Bye!
6/23/08
Hey everybody! Robby here, right now we are trying to start the engine in the R.V. to leave Liard hot springs. Oh, I didn’t mention that we were at the hot springs. Well we are. The hot springs are great right now; it was sprinkling rain on us as we were wadding up to our chests and was so hot you had to get out. If anyone is going by there soon I strongly recommend that you stop by. It is a wonderful spring with several pools and I strongly suggest that you go to Beta Pool. It is the deepest of the pools and the second warmest with natural bubbles and a muck that sticks to the pool’s opposite side from the stairs.
We just past the suspension bridge leading away from the Liard springs and continued our journey down the Alaska Highway when we saw a buffalo. Then 3, then 5, and that’s when we saw a bear. It was just a cub but could have easily killed an adult. We watched it walk around and this guy in the car next to us pulled out a camera the size of a high-powered telescope. It pooped and then walked back into the woods. That was the highlight of the day and we are now going to drive 4 hours to our next stop on this low quality road that twists and turns to who-knows–what-point. Here are some of the pictures of the springs: