TravelingMorgansBlog Working our way around the contiguous 48 states in our RV.

We have spent the past winter getting medical issues addressed and spending time with our family, including the birth of only grandchild born in January.

We are Thankful for our Friends and Family and the Lifestyle we have been living.

This is our truck and trailer on our site in Indianapolis, where we will spend Thanksgiving with Family for the first time in many years.

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Larry of The Traveling Morgans http://travelingmorgans.com Phyllis, Larry, with dogs Roscoe, Harpo

We are finally taking some time to touch base with everyone some time after our fall travels came to an end.

We began traveling right after Labor Day and headed for Elkart IN and on to Michigan.

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore near Traverse City was a treat.

Good Morning America was rated this as the the most beautiful place in America.

Having grown up near what is now the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, I tend to think Indiana has the better.

I would not put either in the 10 most beautiful places we have seen in America, but both are worth prolonged visits.

Historically, the Straits of Mackinac were a highlight. Fort Michlimacinac was the headquarters of the fur trade of the British Empire. The fort was moved to Mackinac Island during the American Revolution. Why? The only logical reason was the success of George Rogers Clark in capturing Vincennes with fewer men than the British had in the fort.

Mackinac Island is not something we desired to see, as it centers on Tourists. Some people will like visiting an island that does not allow motor vehicles but uses horse drawn carriages, and has so many fudge shops that the few  year round residents refer to summer visitors as “fudgies”. We were interested in the straits themselves and the history of the area. We also went to see where Lake Superior is drained by the St. Mary river. This is one of the most heavily traveled shipping lanes in the world.

The most beautiful place we saw on the trip was Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and you need to see it by boat.

We have a 2012 page with some of these great pictures at http://travelingmorgans.com/TM-Year/2012.shtml but the rest will have to wait for the planned MICHIGAN section.

One other place we visited was the Mississippi Pallisades of Illinois. An amazing place to understand travel on the Mississippi river. Some pictures are posted on the 2012 page mentioned above . The rest must wait for a planned Illinois section.

At present, we are working heavily on upgrading the Texas section.

These pages are done now, finished since our last letter:

Texas Overview               http://travelingmorgans.com/TX/

Recommendatiions           http://travelingmorgans.com/TX/TX-recommended.shtml

Hill Country Overview        http://travelingmorgans.com/TX/TX3HC-A-HillCountry.shtml

Fredericksburg                 http://travelingmorgans.com/TX/TX3HC-B-Fredericksburg.shtml

Comercial Caves               http://travelingmorgans.com/TX/TX3HC-C-CommercialCaves.shtml

Hill Country State Parks     http://travelingmorgans.com/TX/TX3HC-D-StateParks.shtml

Rivers and Reservoirs        http://travelingmorgans.com/TX/TX3HC-E-RiversReservoirs.shtml

San Antonio area Missions http://travelingmorgans.com/TX/TX4ST-B-SanAntonio.shtml

There is also an update to the Amazon Nutrition Supplements section

http://travelingmorgans.com/a/supplements.shtml

For the first time in the nine years we have been on the road, we will be spending Thanksgiving and Christmas in COLD WEATHER in Indianapolis with our children. Why? Our first grand child is due in January.

Phyllis is still recovering from back damage from falls.

She is working on getting a good diagnosis so a recovery plan can be made.

We would like to know what YOUR plans are for the coming holidays and any travel plans you may have for 2013.

We would like to meet with more of our friends next year, but we cannot meet with you unless we know your plans.

Please stay in touch.

Drove through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan today and we were treated to an absolutely beautiful display of Fall Colors.  No pictures yet, but some may  be posted in a few days. Just a wonderful day for Phyllis and I to travel together.

Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by its surface area, and third largest by volume of water, with

more water than the other 4 great lakes combined, with enough water to cover the whole 48 contiguos states 5 feet deep in

fresh water.  Neither Texas nor Alaska has anything to compare.

One of its marvels is the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. To truly appreciate this marvel, you must go by boat. It is

easy to see how this area was named for the stains caused by various minerals in the water. There are also some unique

geographic formations. We have Chapel Rock, Lovers Leap, Grand Portal and Miners Castle, along with a sample of Pictured

Rocks and 60 foot high Spray Falls.

We will be heading south through Wisconsin (perhaps stopping at the Door Peninsula) into Illinois (perhaps including the

Mississippi Palisades) in the next few days.

Michigan has an unusual designation. There is more shoreline on navigable water than any of the other contiguous states. With three great lakes bordering the state, how could it not be otherwise. The coastline of Michigan is fresh water, but there is more coastline on navigable water (3,288 miles) than Texas (367 miles) or California (840 miles) or even Florida (1,197 miles ).

The Straits of Mackinac were so important during the Revolutionary War, that the fort was moved from Michlimacinac at the present site of Mackinaw City on the tip of the Michigans’s lower peninsula to Mackinac Island as being safer from attack by colonials. This decision was apparently made after the fall of Fort Vincennes. It was not long after the fort was moved than it became property of the new American Republic by treaty. The highly profitable fur trade was centered on this “North Coast” of the United States for many more years. Today there is a bridge connection the Upper Peninsula with the rest of Michigan (http://travelingmorgans.com/MI/MI-Pix-Sml/MI-MC-StrMac-2012-P1000916-SML.JPG).
This bridge was opened in 1957. Before that the only ways to travel from the main part of Michigan to the Upper Peninsula was via ferry or traveling clear around Lake Michigan.

Considering the Traveling Morgans lived in Indiana for 30 years and Larry grew up near Lake Michigan, it is perhaps strange that this was our first trip to the junction of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. It has been a good trip.

Sleeping Bear Dunes
(http://travelingmorgans.com/MI/MI-Pix-Sml/MI-SBD-SB-PrPoint-2012-P1000752-SML.JPG) was voted by viewers of Good Morning America as the most beautiful place in America. It is beautiful, but we would rank it a bit lower. Larry’s old stomping grounds of the Indiana Dunes has more impressive dunes (and arguably more beautiful) as does Jockey Ridge in North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The “bear” is a wonder, and the islands and bays add a very scenic touch, but I am afraid most people who voted have never been toYellowstone Lake or Lake Tahoe or Bryce Canyon or any of many other beautiful places in the 48 contiguos states.

We took a short run to see Lake Superior where it empties into the St. Mary’s River (http://travelingmorgans.com/MI/MI-Pix-Sml/MI-UP-StMaRi-LaSup-2012-P1000826-SML.JPG), which in turn goes to Lake Huron, and watch ships on it that had come through the Soo (or Sault) locks. The St. Mary’s River may have more tonnage shipped than any other short section of river in the world.

We plan now to go to Munising on Lake Superior and see Picture Rocks National Lakeshore. From there we will complete our trip on the “North Coast” at the Door Peninsula of Wisconsin, and go on to the Mississippi Palisades, then Indianapolis.

This is our first trip in a long time that was not going from one job to another. Phyllis has not yet recovered from her falls, and work is out of the question right now. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Winter will mean staying in Indianapolis for the birth of our first grandchild. Our first winter in the north since we hit the road in 2004.

For both of you who are interested in travelingmorgans.com, the TEXAS section is being revised and now has 19 pages. The first 3 are finished:
http://travelingmorgans.com/TX/
http://travelingmorgans.com/TX/TX-recommended.shtml
http://travelingmorgans.com/TX/TX3HC-A-HillCountry.shtml

The fourth is nearing completion:
http://travelingmorgans.com/TX/TX3HC-B-Fredericksburg.shtml

The rest will follow soon. They are up, but listed as under construction, and some are quite rough.

FOOTNOTE: Alaska has 6,640 miles of coastline on navigable water if you count the Arctic Ocean as navigable.

We will be in Indianapolis visiting family until the end of August for anyone who would like to meet with us.

Metropolis IL has a Superman museum and a 15 foot tall bronze statue of the Man of Steel.

This has not been our best year to this point.
We have had to battle injuries and equipment problems.
Phyllis has had some falls and is still walking with a cane, but she is now well enough to travel.
Larry has has some injuries, but more has been battling head while getting our unit road worthy again.

We have upgraded furniture and accessories for the unit.
While having new tires installed, the unit was dropped and other problems with the unit have followed.
We had shackles for the springs break and needed welding. This was done the same day.
The bedroom slide would not go in the next morning.
Two days later we were back on the road.

Phyllis’ injuries led to us not being able to complete our planned summer job in the Hill Country of Texas.
It was two months later before Phyllis was well enough to travel.
The shackles broke in Louisiana at a filling stop along I-20. The high for the day was just under 100 and the humidity matched. It was a Sunday.
By the time the work was finished, conditions were miserable.

It was the end of July, we were ready to cross the Mississippi for the first since 2009.
The last time we crossed the Mississippi  on I-20 (2008) it was in flood stage.
Now the water appeared to be at a record low level.

The next morning in Vicksburg the slide failed to go in.
Help was secured in the late afternoon.  Repairs were finished the next day and we turned north.

A two day stop in Memphis allowed us to get food from Marlowes.
This fine restaurant will pick you up from Graceland Campground in a pink limousine or deliver great food to your door.
We were not in good shape, so we elected the latter.

From Memphis we advanced to Paducah KY and we will proceed to Indianapolis to visit our children for the first time since 2009.
We are considering a late-summer early fall trip around Lake Michigan — an area we have not explored.
Hiking will be out of the question for Phyllis, but there is still a lot to see from our truck.

We do not plan to continue the commercial workamping we have been doing, but will consider volunteer positions or working just for a site.

Progress on the web site has been slow. Larry has tried to pick up his game with HTML 5 understanding and a general strengthening.

California pages were completed some months ago
OVERVIEW http://travelingmorgans.com/CA/
RECOMMENDATIONS http://travelingmorgans.com/CA/CA-Recommended.shtml
YOSEMITE http://travelingmorgans.com/CA/Yosemite-NP-Intro.shtml
SEQUOIA http://travelingmorgans.com/CA/Sequoia-KC-NP-Intro.shtml

It was now time to begin to upgrade our TEXAS pages to a better standard.
So far, we have one  pages moved to and one to production and one to UNDERCONSTRUCTION
RECOMMENDED (in production) http://travelingmorgans.com/TX/TX-recommended.shtml
OVERVIEW (under construction) http://travelingmorgans.com/TX/index.shtml

HILL COUNTRY (coming soon) http://travelingmorgans.com/TX/TX3HC-A-HillCountry.shtml

The HILL COUNTRY and COASTAL BEND are expanding to multiple pages. One page cannot do these areas justice.
More on these areas in another letter.

We continue to expand our AMAZON affiliation. This is simple, if you go to our web site and purchase the AMAZON products we recommend, we get a commission.
If you use ANY of our AMAZON portals, we get a commission. We had some problems earlier with orders placed and delivered, but us getting no commission.
All portals are now working properly. Thanks to all who reported their purchase so we could track down issues. It really helped.

One dear friend said it was hard to remember to go to http://travelingmorgans.com/ and select AMAZON when she had an order to place, so she was putting a POST IT note at the side of her monitor.

Let us know if you have particular AMAZON products you would like us to place on our AMAZON pages.
This can make it easier for you to order and also share products you have found reliable with others who might appreciate a recommendation.

Let us know also about things in your life. What is going on? Where will you be traveling? Can we get together? If you EMAIL us, we will answer and continue the exchange.
We now have SKYPE connections for video calls when the WiFi  has enough band width. If we cannot meet in person, and you want to do more than exchange emails, maybe we can arrange a SKYPE video call.

HAPPY TRAILS
until we meet again.

—

Larry of The Traveling Morgans
http://travelingmorgans.com
Phyllis, Larry, with dogs Roscoe, Harpo

We are still working at Jellystone Hill Country campground. I am sure it is the last job we will take that involves nothing but cleaning.
We do not plan on traveling until this fall.

We have been doing a lot of work to get our truck and trailer to the point we want them for future travels.
Our 1999 truck now has has a 2012 paint job and a heavy duty transmission cooler with a fan.
Our trailer has new brakes and an electric awning.
We have added a solar powered fan to keep air flowing over the refrigerator coils.

We have also been working through health issues. Nothing major, but it has slowed us down.

We have spent a little time exploring the Texas Hill Country, and those experiences and pictures will be on the web site in time.
The wildflowers in the Hill Country were wonderful this spring, and we got to travel the Willow City Loop, famous for the wildflowers.
We also spent a little time in the Fredericksburg TX area and Pedernales Falls State Park.

The TravelingMorgans.Com web site has several new sections and updates.

Pages Added:
Nebraska Overview   http://tavelingmorgans.com/NE/ includes information on the Oregon Trail Landmarks in Nebraska.
Nebraska Recommendations are at http://tavelingmorgans.com/NE/NE-recommended.shtml.
Our 2011 travels pages has finally been finished at  http://tavelingmorgans.com/TM-Year/2011.shtml

Updated pages and additions:
Some of the South Dakota pages have been updated, including:
Badlands National Park     http://tavelingmorgans.com/SD/BadlandsNP.shtml
Iron Mountain Road       http://tavelingmorgans.com/SD/IronMtnRd.shtml
California Main Pages              http://tavelingmorgans.com/CA/
Our main page                        http://travelingmorgans.com

An  Amazon Affiliate Menu has been added to make it easy for our family and friends to use TravelingMorgans.Com to place Amazon orders and to make it easier to get to our recommendations.

We are hoping income from Amazon orders — and page sponsorship on our web site — will make it possible for us to travel more and work less.
We know it is hard to remember to go to http://travelingmorgans.com when placing an Amazon order.
Even those who really like the idea of helping us at no cost to themselves mention how hard it is to remember.
In the last three months there has not been much ordering through our web site.
What can we do to make this easier? The Amazon Associates menu is one thing we have done.
What else can we do that will be of service to you?

We do plan to expand our Amazon Product recommendations, and with that actually add more value for those placing orders through http://TravelingMorgans.Com
The Amazon Associates menu tab will take you to the recommendation categories quickly.

We are considering adding recommendations from YOU. Would you like to see this? Is it a good idea or a bad one?
If you think it is a good idea, let us know of items you would like to see recommended. Write up what you would like to say.
I will set the recommendations on a test page and send the link to you to review.

Please let us know how things are going in YOUR world.
Where are you going to be this summer and fall?
What are you doing?
Is it possible for us to get together this fall?

We really want to stay in touch.