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Showing posts from August, 2007

The Ultimate Destination

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You were probably wondering the whole time. Well, I must finally admit it. The only reason for the trip was to find my own park. Here it is and I like it! What do yo think?

High Points

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I learned about High Points about three years ago when I was passing through Lone Pine, CA, the closest town to Mt Whitney, which is the highest point in the lower 48 states. No, I have not attempted Mt Whitney, yet. We also learned of highpointers, a group of people that set out to reach the high point of all 50 states. We thought that would add an interesting touch to our travels. I have no intention of reaching all 50 highpoints. Five of the highpoints require technical mountaneering skills and specialized equipment. Dianne has rebelled at just the idea. As of the end of this trip we have conquered ten state High Points. I just learned that in addition to the High Points, some folks have also gone to the state Low Points. Here is Harney Peak at 7242 feet, the High Point of South Dakota. Shown is an abandoned fire tower that was constructed by crews during the WPA days. It is listed in the national historic register. View from the top of Harney Peak. Timms Hill, at 1951 f

High Points Continued

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Again, we continued on our High Point quest. This time we scaled Hoosier Hill, the high point of Indiana at 1257 ft. It is located on private property about 50 ft from the road. We temporarily parked the coach in a truck stop that was within about 10 - 15 miles. We next (later in the same day as Indiana) conquered Campbell Hill, the Highest point in Ohio at 1549 feet. This site is located in the campus of Ohio High Point Vocational school at Bellefontaine, OH. It was once a Nike missile site. On our way home now, we bagged Hawkeye Point at 1670 feet, the High Point of Iowa. This is located in northwestern Iowa in a farm yard. Yes! we had permission. Approaching Hawkeye Point we passed through the city of Okoboji, IA and an area called the Great Lakes of Iowa. It was a water wonderland and clearly, one of those "secret" treasures that are unknown to the rest of the country. Next at 5424 feet was Panorama Point, the High Point of Nebraska. This site is also located on

Home Again

We're home! Yes, that home, the one in Reno. You probably thought that we had fallen off the edge of the earth since I have not posted for so long. I haven't had convenient access to the Internet in all that time. Sometimes the connection was not reliable or not secure. Other times, too much was happening to take the needed time. We began this journey by dawdling and meandering wherever the road lead us. We avoided the Interstate wherever practical. The terrain is quite similar on both routes, but the Interstate bypasses nearly all the small towns and cities. I believe that the heart of America lies in the small towns. It cannot be found in any of the shopping malls or chain stores that proliferate along the Interstate and in the larger cities. We found treasure after treasure, along with a few duds. The duds were the price we paid to find the treasures Treasures cannot be found on a Denny's menu or in chain stores. The treasures also depended on not adhering to