While still in Alberta, we couldn't resist a short side trip to the city of Vulcan, which takes advantage of its name by having a combined Welcome and Star Trek Center, in a building shaped like the Starship Enterprise (Vulcan was the home planet of Mr. Spock in Star Trek). We were able to put on Federation-type clothes and get a picture sitting in an Enterprise bridge mock-up. Annette bought "Vulcan ears", and actually wore them the next day in a restaurant named "Space Aliens". Would you believe that the waitress in such a restaurant had never heard of Star Trek? What's become of the young people today?

Crossing the border was a non-event, other than the wait in a long line of vehicles. When we reached the inspection point, the only questions were "Are you US citizens?", "What is your destination?" and "Do you have anything to declare?" When I said "No" he said "Have a good day." Much less hassle than we are used to when re-entering the US.

An objective on the rerturn trip was to visit with our good friends the Hundleys in Great Falls, MT. Steve was our pastor in Newark before moving to the west. We were able to attend Steve's service at First Presbyterian Church of Great Falls, have coffee with him, his wonderful wife, Elaine, and their great daughter Bethany downstairs after the service. We aroused large protests from the church members when we joked that we had come to take the Hundleys back to Delaware. Lunch at a nearby barbecue joint allowed us to catch up on each others' happenings.

On the 10th we arrived at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the badlands of North Dakota. We had visited there before, but had not yet seen the outdoor "Medora Musical" that is so highly rated. We took a driving tour around the park, interrupted by a herd of lazy bison, then drove up to the site of the musical. At that site, high on a plateau, there is also an outdoor dinner, which we also signed up for. The dinner is unique, being a "pitchfork fondue". Large steaks are placed on the tines of full size pitchforks, which are then immersed in large vats of hot oil. In about 5 minutes the first round of steaks are done, and the dinner bell is rung. They are able to serve a crowd of about 200 in a few minutes. After this feast, it was a trip down a long (7 story drop) escalator to the outdoor amphitheatre, with a stage backed by wonderful natural badlands scenery. The musical covered several events in the history of the area and the life of Teddy Roosevelt. Quite an enjoyable evening.

Another interesting stop was in Alexandria, MN, where there is a museum containing what is claimed to be a Norse Runestone from 1362. It was found by a farmer in the late 1800's, and the inscriptions are apparently valid, thus making a strong case that northern Minnesota had Norse visitors long before the time of Columbus. The actual stone is clearly seen in a glass case.

We were fortunate enough to be able to spend some time with good friends from past RV trips. Mike and Noel Keller, Bob Jenkins and Maddy Hubbell were with us on our original (2003/2004) Mexico motorhome trip, again on our Panama/Guatemala trip, and we will be traveling together to Egypt, Greece and Turkey next year. Our projected paths came close to one another this trip, so we met them at a campground in north central Wisconsin and had a great time reminiscing, planning, and having food and drink together. Jim and Melody Briggs (friends from two Mexico trips) invited us to spend time with them at their beautiful lake house on Higgins Lake, near the middle of the "mitten" of Michigan. The hospitality was great, including a boat tour of the lake and cookouts with the lake as a backdrop.

That brings us to Indiana, with three more days before arriving home. I'll post the last entry soon.