We’re intentionally skipping forward to two months ago (or is that backward?) when we started our Joiner’s Journey again after a great summer in Montana! And you can’t ask much more than to spend summer in Montana, close to family and great friends (you all know who you are, and we love you!)









We left Hot Springs on September 2, with several Montana destinations ahead of us, first, $.99 propane at Bretz RV in Missoula! Second, several days at Georgetown Lake to play with Jaime and James. Some good eating and paddle boarding! Third, on to the Paradise Valley, Old Chico and Emigrant Gulch to spend time with Bryan and Sally Wells.







We had a big destination in our sights this year, New England, and what a time to do it, outrageous diesel prices and a leaky radiator overflow reservoir! Yikes! Well we ordered a new reservoir (not manufactured any more – on special order!) so we patched up that bad boy with some flex seal and flex tape (and it worked!!) Slow and steady ought to win the race so that’s just what we did. The only thing we knew was we wanted to arrived somewhere south of Boston before September 20. Hating to be tied down to reservations, time restrictions, etc., we made one reservation for six days on — CAPE COD!! United States Coast Guard Station Cape Cod on Buzzard’s Bay, a military only park (affordable and secure).
Back to the trip east, we headed slowly from Emigrant back up to Livingston, Billings, and down to Sheridan where we spent our first night at a Harvest Host Golf Course. Last time in Sheridan we stayed at the County Fairgrounds. Just one night, and then our journey east really began. Well, we did stop in Sundance, Wyoming at a really cool coffee shop, where, of course, we run into someone we know! Joanette’s childhood friend and Madrona Way neighbor, Phyllis Eelkema Cook! Her daughter owns the coffee shop. Chief was welcomed in and we had a great cup of coffee and a good long visit!


We traveled through very pretty South Dakota, staying at a little RV park in a field near a bar, below the Badlands, on I-90 in Montrose, SD, then on to Northern Nebraska and into Iowa. We spend a couple of days in Iowa at an Corps of Engineers (ACOE) campground on a lake near Centerville where we spent a couple of days looking for Wells and Joiner ancestors. None found! On to Illinois and another Harvest Host outside of Springfield. We really enjoyed Springfield, and moved to the State Fair Grounds for a couple of days so we could “do” Lincoln. The Lincoln Library and Museum, The Lincoln Family home, and The Lincoln Tomb. Springfield was wonderful! Gotta love a city that is easy to navigate around!








Springfield, Illinois was a great way to brush up on history and ignite the desire to learn more. And we did. In a later blog we’ll talk about, Lincoln’s Memorial, Lincoln’s Birth Place and First Memorial, and Lincoln’s Boyhood home and stomping grounds!
From Illinois on through Indiana, and into Ohio. But before we begin, let us say, we really enjoyed the Midwest. It was very green, agricultural, rural America to the core!
One night spent in the Ohio Valley RV Park in Martin’s Ferry Ohio, and lunch with our dear friend Brenda. We met Brenda at a great smorgasbord restaurant, Quinet’s in New Martinsville, near her home in Sisterville, West Virginia (Just down the Ohio Valley from Martin’s Ferry) Brenda is one of the surviving siblings of one of the crewman of Fido 15, the B-47. We appreciated her taking the time to meet us, and enjoyed her generousity. We were so sad (stupid, is what we were) we didn’t get any pictures of the three of us. But she is a beautiful lady, living in a beautiful area and we are proud to know her!




Back to Martin’s Ferry and another date with old friends. This time in Coral Pennslyvania and the young Navy couple that rented from Joanette’s parents when she was 10! Pat and Orlando, were just like she remembered them, although we’ve all gotten older, maybe they remember her as a 10 year old too!


From Coral to a Cracker Barrel in Wilkes Barr PA and on to Connecticut. By this time we are getting anxious to be at our destination, the states are getting small and clustered together with lots of roads, many of them narrow looking, or looking too close to NYC! We bee lined it on to Cape Cod and got set up for our first long stay in a month!
Views and Architecture along the way, September 2 – 20, 2022.











