The saga of going West

Cathedral Spires, Custer State Park, South Dakota

This was not our normal pre-trip adventure. Who knew that preventative maintenance has the potential to make things worse!

     In April, we needed to do some work on the truck, and some brake work on the camper.  Unfortunately we had a hard time getting a consensus on what,  if anything was wrong with the truck. Mark thought it was the brakes,  but the mechanic that we asked to fix them said they were fine, and that it was the idler arm and Pitman arm that were in really bad shape. Mark went for other opinions and was told that they didn't need replaced by 3 other mechanics. We were so confused, and after much research,  Mark decided to wait and keep an eye on things. Then he went for a simple oil change, so why was there oil dripping when we got it home? Turns out it was just really messy mechanics. Then Mark decided to have the camper brakes replaced, they had enough miles on them and we didn't think that should be a big job. But after they were replaced Mark didn't think they were working as well as the old ones. He took the camper right back to the shop and they adjusted the brakes again and sent him home.  Luckily he is a really handy guy, studies up, and understands this type of thing.  Because it turns out that the brake kits were installed on the wrong sides. They are marked right and left for a reason!
     We were somehow ready to leave on time, and made it to our first night's stop with no problems! Unfortunately the next morning brought some concern when Mark noticed some wrinkles on our camper roof that hadn't been there when we left. While we were driving down the highway, I did a bit of research. So I scrunched down in my seat so I could see the camper roof in the side mirror, and the membrane covering the roof was inflating like a balloon in the wind. Not so good!

Notice where the tan line above the white line is raised,
the tan shouldn't be showing! (The rest is clouds,)

     We made it to our next night's stop in Illinois and started our research. Was it safe to continue our trip? Should we head back to Ohio? Again we got many conflicting ideas. None of the local rv shops could get us in before June. We found a shop in Rapid City, South Dakota (which was our next decent sized city stop) that said they could get us in when we got there. Mark did some reinforcement and we crossed our fingers,  and headed west.

Lattice and tie downs from home depot are pretty handy!

     We did did stop for a bit of hiking at Starved Rock State Park, in Ogelsby, Illinois. It reminded us a bit of Hocking Hills.  

      We headed to the Wisconsin Dells next.  We spent a day exploring. We hiked to a little beach on the Wisconsin River, so I could put my toes in the sand! Then we explored the kitchy town, and took a nice boat ride on the Wisconsin River. We even went past the little beach that we had visited earlier. The Cambrian sandstone is layered like pancakes and has beautiful gorges and formations. The Witches' Gulch area reminded us a bit of Antelope Canyon without the reds and oranges.

      

      Needing some refreshment, we enjoyed a flight of local beers at a fun, quirky brewery. We just kept giggling when we looked at each other! But everyone was wearing them, so we didn't feel out of place!
 

At Moosejaw Brewery with our moose antler hats

 

     We had a new experience! We got to "camp" a few nights in an RV repair shop's parking lot! The owner is great and even plugged our camper in to his electricity! Waiting on insurance, we ended up spending a week there. There was plenty to do, and the good news is that the camper was ready in time to get us headed for Glacier National Park to start work on schedule.  In the meantime we waited and explored. We spent some nights in the parking lot and others at hotels in different areas. Tried out 2 different local breweries and a winery, and ate some really good food! We saw Mt Rushmore, hiked at the Badlands and Custer State Park. We even stopped at Wall Drug, On our last night in the area, we checked out downtown Rapid City and saw some of the cool presidential statues that are around the city.

Mount Rushmore

The Badlands

Mark always wanted to ride a Jackalope at Wall Drug!

The pararie dogs were so cute!

Bison at Custer State Park

More Cathedral Spires at Custer State Park

      We were finally ready to leave Rapid City, after being there for a week.  But the forecast was calling for 9 to 16 inches of snow on the route that we had planned. Ugh, what next! Should we stay put, or try to find another route. We were able to find another route that avoided all the mountain passes. We drove through alot of rain, but fortunately no snow!

     I thought we had enough interesting glitches, but there were more still. We arrived in the town of East Glacier, and there was a railroad underpass indicating a clearance of 12'  8".  Mark had written down that the camper needed 12' 6" to be comfortable, plus a bit more for the new roof!!! We really didn't want to knock off our air conditioner and damage that new roof!! As we were waiting, a semi truck passed through without problems, so we tried it and safely made it through! (Phew!!)
     We had arrived at our destination, Glacier Park Lodge, all was good!  We drove over to the campground where we had been told to find a site that we liked and to let the manager know what we picked. We walked around, and most of the sites were quite small for our slightly larger fifth wheel! The camp host tried to help us, suggesting that she could move people that were already settled to get us a longer site. Knowing the our co-workers likely wouldn't appreciate having to move, we looked again at the only spot that was even an option for us. It had 3 tree stumps in our way. The biggest obstacle was a smaller stump, and we have a hatchet.  Mark went to work on it until it was gone and we could maneuver into the spot! 

     The good news is we are here and settled in for the summer in this gorgeous area, just outside of Glacier National Park. The people we have met are all so nice (since we didn't make them move their campers), and there's miles of trails, glacial lakes and snow covered mountains to explore!!
Let us know if you'll be in the area!!

Running Eagle Falls

The view from the back of the lodge where we work

 

A winter filled with music and friends old and new

We had a flock of sandhill cranes in the field by where we took our walks!

This little one was so curious!
He came right up to the side of my kayak!

So many manatees and fish at Blue Spring State Park

We saw these storks at the Homosassa Wildlife park

       We had another great winter in Florida. We were back at the same campground that we have loved,  but now that it is under new ownership, it seems like a different place. The facilities haven't changed, but the sense of community has all but disappeared. It is now just a comfortable, familiar place to park our camper. We didn't let this spoil our fun, we just ventured out to find activites and a job.

We enjoyed our new campsite, it even had a cement pad, and was next to the pool!


Music with friends old and new


Did you know that wild orange trees have thorns?
 They also like to grow way up high!


The oranges were sweet and bountiful this year!

Our friend April

       

      The first thing we found was a wonderful group of line dancers at a community center just 3 miles from the campground! Twice a week we went and learned new dances and shared some of our favorites!  We even had two friends from our line dancing group at TPR campground come join us for a few classes when they were available! The class filled the room with 25 to 35 people of all dancing abilities! Mark danced in the middle of the room and the front when he taught,  but I was a back row girl, and tried not to get into too much trouble!  We also found a partner dancing class where we worked on the Texas 2-step,  west coast swinging,  the triplestep and more. Lots of fun and two great groups of people!

         My next quest was to find a Tai Chi class, and then I added in Chi Gong. Both classes were taught at a city park in Inverness, by teachers who volunteered their time to share their unique talents and knowledge! I also enjoyed some great yoga classes at a local studio!
         We have a favorite casual restaurant in the Villages called Island Fin Poke. They make Hawaiian style poke bowls to order. I half jokingly told Mark that it might be fun to work there. He said that he had been thinking the same thing.  When we walked by there was a help wanted sign in the window. We were hired on the spot (the owner was desperate, and she must have thought we looked dependable). The job ended up being alot of work, but we met many nice people, and we still enjoy the food!

   

     The "megatop" with all the yummy ingredients

      

       We got good at making cups of Dole Whip

       One of the best things about our job was that it was at Brownwood Paddock Square, one of the Villlages' four outdoor venues for free live music and dancing every evening, 365 days a year weather permitting. When we worked the lunch shift, we would usually have a poke bowl for dinner,  then stay for the live music at the Square.  We had so much fun dancing and watching the crowds! We were able to see around 25 different bands this winter. Yes, we had our favorite, and followed them around to the different squares like groupies! Our biggest surprise was when our friend Debbie and her family met us to see Scooter the DJ. I thought "it's just a DJ, not a band," so we had never bothered to go see him before.  It turns out that he is quite the phenomenon! He leads the crowd in some crazy, silly line dances, and some traditional line dances that we know. The wild part is the crowd! He fills the whole square with people being silly, moving their bodies,  and having lots of fun for 4 hours!! He doesn't take any breaks, but we did sit down a few times!

A night of music and dancing at Brownwood Paddock Square

            

Visiting with my friend Sue

      We are so fortunate to have some wonderful friends that are still in the area not far from the campground! We enjoyed dinners, kayaking and hanging out with friends! One of my highlights was getting to try spinning wool! My friend, Pam, is an amazing spinner and knitter, and she shared her knowledge with me. I made a drop spindle and then she let me try out her spinning wheel. It was harder than I imagined, but lots of fun!

        Dinner at Island Fin Poke with Pam, Don and Pepe

     I spun this alpaca wool                           

   (with  bit of help from Pam)

Kayaking with friends on Rainbow River

We went to an optometric continuing education meeting in Sarasota. We were surprised to find two of our friends from optometry school at the meeting! It made it a fun day! It was also a great excuse to go to the ocean.  We went to Siesta Key, where we got engaged, 35 years ago! It is still a beautiful area!

        On the drive back north after the meeting, we stopped to visit our former campground neighbors, David and Chas.  They bought a cute place down in Gulfport!

     We made another stop outside of Tampa to visit my Girl Scout co-leader and her husband.  It was great to catch up with Lisa and Jeff, and see their beautiful home! She cooked us an amazing Cuban meal!         

     On our way back up to Ohio, I needed a bit more beach time, so we stopped at Jekyll Island, Georgia! We were there with my parents, our kids and our first exchange student, Feri, back in 2000! Then we were on to Santee State Park for a bit of exploring. Continuing north, a visit with Ben and Anthony in North Carolina wrappped up another great "winter," which we really call "second summer!"  

     

Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, Georgia

Now we are in Ohio, visiting family, and getting organized for our next trip!

Ireland and family, descendants of the boy that was left behind

      We made it to Ireland, and we were greeted with blue skies! We picked up our rental car at the airport. Unfortunately, they gave us an upgrade to a larger car, exactly what we didn't want, and no smaller cars were available. We headed north from Belfast to the Antrim coast and Bushmills where we checked into the loveliest airbnb that I think we'll find. We grabbed a quick late lunch and headed to the Giant's Causeway, a gorgeous area of basalt columns on the coast. We picked up take-away for dinner since the few restaurants in town were booked. We ate in our room overlooking our hosts' lush vegetable garden. After dinner I just had to knock on her door for a tour of the garden and a lovely visit with her and her husband! The perfect ending to our day!

Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge

Toured Bushmills Distillery,
 the oldest licensed whiskey distillery in the world!

Walking through the ruins of Dunluce Castle

Dunluce Castle

Wonderful people!

     People were so friendly and helpful. At least four different times, people just stopped and offered tips and advice as we traveled around Ireland!

The boy that was left behind

     In 1846, Mark's ancestors came to the United States on the ship Superior from County Tyrone, Ireland. His great great great grandparents Samuel and Jane Fenton brought 8 of their 9 children with them, and left one behind. Mark's dad understood that the child, George, who was left behind in Ireland, was 18 or 19 years old, had a girlfriend and so stayed in Ireland. Another story that we heard in Ireland was that the child was just an infant, and too young to make the trip and so he stayed with his mother's parents and brothers. The third and most likely story is that George was 7 or 8 years old and stayed in Ireland to take over his unmarried uncles' farm.

    During the pandemic, some English cousins contacted our side of the family in the states (more on those cousins later). Through them we learned that there was still family in Omagh, Northern Ireland, still living near the farm that George inheritied. We were able to contact them on Facebook Messenger before our trip. We traveled to County Tyrone and we were so fortunate to meet descendents of the son that was left behind. Marshall Fenton (Mark's 4th cousin) and his wife Linsay picked us up at our Airbnb, brought us to a wonderful restaurant, and treated us to a great dinner, so we could get to know each other.  They also introduced us to banoffee pie and our first authentic Guiness stout. A pint in Ireland just seems better than anywhere else! After dinner, we toured the countryside to see where the old Fenton land was, and to see where George once lived. Marshall took us to his childhood home to meet his parents, Roy and Margaret, and two more cousins that still live nearby, Roy's siblings Hazel and Marshall. 

     We had such a wonderful visit, and we were welcomed so warmly! We just couldn't stop smiling over the fact that we were meeting family that we didn't know existed until a few years ago, and here we were in their home! We even were able to get Mark's dad connected through the internet so that he could meet the family also!! Hopefully we will have have a chance to see them again!

The lower part of this building was the old house where George,
 the boy that was left behind, lived before it was converted to a barn

Dinner with Linsay and Marshall

Back row: Margaret, Mark, me, Marshall
Front row: Hazel, Roy and Marshall

  

The Fenton men

    

      We spent the next day at the Ulster American Folk Park and the adjacent Mellon Centre for Migration Studies library. We had a wonderful librarian that helped us find some census data to help us try to solve the mystery of the boy who was left behind!

A replica of a ship similar to the Superior that brought our family to the US 

We headed south from Omagh, and county Tyrone, to continue our adventure.

Corcomroe Abbey from the early 13th century

As we drove through the Irish countryside, I thought to myself
 that it would be nice to visit another castle. Shortly after,
we happened upon Dunguaire Castle.

The Cliffs of Moher, a popular tourist attraction

Beautiful coastline at the cliffs

We spent the night in the small village of Doolin, where we walked down the road from our Airbnb for dinner and great traditional Irish music!

On our way to Tralee, we stopped at a great beach, called the Banna Strand, with beautiful sand dunes, and  surprisingly warm water!

Our next destination was the Dingle Peninsula and the Slea Head Drive.

We felt like we were in the Caribbean with the water colors on Dingle!

The view from Dunquin Pier 

Some interesting standing stones

Cool rocks 

i never knew that fuscias could be tree size! I thought they just grew in baskets that I always buy and hang outside for the hummingbirds! These were gorgeous, and grew as hedgerows all over Ireland! The flowers in Ireland and Scotland were so beautiful!

These were enormous and growing wild! 

So much color everywhere

Gallarus Oratory, an early church that is over 1000 years old. The stones were fit together so perfectly with no mortar so it is still water tight!

      Since we had another  perfect weather day, we made a stop at another beautiful beach on the Dingle peninsula called Inch Beach. Cars were parked right on the huge beach. Signs indicated the high tide time and warned that cars needed to be moved before then so they didn't get washed away. After the beach, we headed for Killarney and a wonderful dinner followed by fun entertainment by a street musician. 

  

Inch Beach, a beautiful long and wide beach

The next morning we started our drive on the Ring of Kerry. We stopped at Cahergal stone fort, and took a distant peak at Ballycarberry castle then on to the Skellig ring. After driving the roads in Scotland, Mark was ready for Ireland's single lane winding roads! 

Cahergal stone fort was built around 600 AD, flights of stairs ran all around the inside of the outer wall.

This was a fortified settlement, and you can imagine
guards standing on top of the wall keeping watch

Remains of a circular
building inside the fort

Views from the Bolus Barracks walk
 (we only did a part of the walk)

The Cliffs of Kerry were quite impressive

We spent the night at an airbnb right across the street from St. Finian's Bay! Great spot!

    Continuing around the ring of Kerry the next morning, we visited Derryanne beach and gardens. We overheard someone say that this was the prettiest beach in Ireland, so we didn't want to miss out! It was absolutely beautiful, we didn't want to leave!

Islands and coves at Derryanne beach

Mussels and small shells

Staigue stone fort is one of the largest ring forts in Ireland.
The walls are 6 meters high and 4 meters thick, with 2 small chambers built into the wall.
The fort would have housed a number of people, and was set in a beautiful valley. 

     We spent the next two nights in Kenmare, Ireland. It was one of our favorite small towns. It was picturesque and pretty. We enjoyed live traditional music both evenings there! The next morning we headed into Killarney National Park for a walk to Torc waterfalls. The trail took us through a lovely woods lined with rhododendrons! After the waterfall hike, we walked around Muckross Gardens and down to the lake. 

Torc waterfall

Muckross Lake (this view reminded us a bit of
Jordan Pond in Acadia National Park)

Muckross House looks small behind
this spectacular tree!

    We continued on to a tour of Ross Castle, a 15th century tower house that overlooks Muckross Lake.

     One of our favorite stops was a ruin that we almost skipped because it was getting to be late in the afternoon. It is Muckross Abbey, a Franciscan friary founded in 1448 and rebuilt several times. Growing inside the central courtyard is a big beautiful yew tree that is believed to be around 400 years old. There were passageways, staircases and walkways to explore!

                               

The beautiful yew tree in the courtyard 

This beautiful lace design in the shape of Ireland was made by the owner of our air bnb.

Kenmare, a picturesque Irish town

After leaving Kenmare, we headed east through County Cork and on to the Rock of Cashel. Dating back to th 11th century, it was the traditional seat of the kings of Munster, one of which was converted to Chrisianity by St. Patrick. The king of Munster donated his fortress to the church. It is a very popular tourist attraction and quite crowded. 

The Rock of Cashel

The round tower at Cashel

Hore Abbey, a beautiful ruins

"The Druids Circle" in Kenmare and we were the only ones there.
It dates back to the bonze age, 3000 years ago.
It might have been used as a primitive calendar, a burial site, or for druid rituals

    We continued east to Glendalough, an early monastic settlement founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century. St. Kevin was a young monk who moved to the isolated and beautiful area intending to live as a hermit in nature.  His reputation as a holy man and teacher spread and it became an important monastic site.  Unfortunately it was destroyed by the Normans in 1214 AD. The site has many Celtic crosses and other well preserved gravestones. It was notably the first day that we had any rain while we were in Ireland, but it didn't interfere with our plans. 

St. Kevin's church

The round tower was a lookout and shelter for the monks. 
 The small rectangle in the front was the door, 3 1/2 meters up,
 accessed by a ladder. The ladder could be pulled up during an attack. 

St. Savior's Priory.
Situated away from the better known ruins, we found this peaceful and beautiful church. It was reconstructed after it collapsed. We loved exploring it on our own, admiring the arches and appreciating the fine details of the carvings. 

Some of the intricate carvings

Glendalough is set in a beatific valley with lakes, streams, 
a pretty waterfall and even a small mountain for Mark to hike

We drove north to Belfast to return the car.  Yeah, now Mark could relax! We dropped the car at the airport, hopped on a bus into the city center, then walked to our hotel. This is why we packed in backpacks,  to give us the flexibility to take public transportation. We also had small duffle bags which gave us some extra space.

Backpacking down in the elevator!
We packed light and had enough. 

    

    Belfast is a combination of old buildings and new. There are murals and pubs and markets. We explored the city and took a tour of the city hall. 

Belfast City Hall

     We took a bus from Belfast to Dublin. We did our own walking tour of the city.  We wandered around Trinity College and the Temple Bar area, then peeked at Dublin Castle, which just looked like a city building to us at first.  We walked into a pretty garden and stuck our head into a church. It was St. Audoen's Church, which is a medieval parish church that is still in use and is also part of Historic Ireland. A wonderful docent there have us a brief history of Dublin, which was originally founded by the Vikings. Afterward, we checked out the Chester Beaty collection of ancient books and manuscripts.

An older section of St. Audoen's 

We had lunch in the gardens outside St. Patrick's Cathedral

Dublin Castle

We enjoyed sampling local beers
at traditional local pubs!

     The people of Ireland, and the family connections that we have there, made for an amazing visit. When we arrived back in the US, our Irish connection continued. Ian Fenton and Lynn Buckley, more cousins descended from George that now live in England with their spouses Helen Fenton and Roland Buckley, came for a visit and for the annual Fenton family reunion. We had a wonderful time getting to know them and discussing our shared heritage and possible stories of the son that was left behind! They toured areas that were originally settled by the Fentons around Newcomerstown, and met with different cousins each day to share information, stories and food. 

Roland, Ian, Helen and Lynn, our cousins from England

                       This ends our wonderful Irish journey, thanks for coming along on our adventure!