Rogue's Gallery, Hulett, Wyoming

Northern Black Hills

Wild Bill Hickok and George

George at Roughlock Falls

Roughlock Falls

Bluegrass at Shipwreck Lee's

The Bluegrass Badboys, pickin' and grinnin'

Needles, Custer State Park, SD

Don't even say it!

Enough!

Mount Rushmore

Monument seen through tunnel, on the approach

Close-up of George Washington 

George tries out a teepee

Sweetgrass Inn, Rapid City, SD

View from the porch

Wildflowers, Badlands, SD

Thistle

Sunflower

Bison, Buffalo Gap Grasslands, SD

Badlands, near Rapid City, SD

Sphinx?

George at the Badlands

Beware of rattlesnakes

White pelicans, Sandhills of Nebraska

Broken Bow, Nebraska

You feel naked in Broken Bow, without cowboy boots.

Where we stayed: the Arrow Hotel, in Broken Bow.

The Bonfire Grill at the Arrow serves a nice steak. In Nebraska, beef is what's for dinner.

Band-stand in the middle of the square, Broken Bow.
There's a Norman Rockwell feel to this town!

Fire works! Doing their best to remain in business.

Gateway Arch, St. Louis, MO

Taylor House, Columbia, Missouri

Taylor House

Leaded window, front porch.

We stayed at one of the best inns we've found anywhere, the Taylor House in Columbia, Missouri. The owners renovated this 1909 house starting in 1999, and have been operating it as an inn (and living there) since 2001. It is beautifully restored, with most of the original finishes and carpentry.

Parlor, dining room in background.

Mammoth Cave, KY

Well, it is Mammoth (more than twice the length of the second longest cave system in the world).

Westward Ho!

Out the door!

We'll be posting here while headed out west, stopping on the way at Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, the Badlands, Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills of South Dakota, the Bighorns in Wyoming, the Stillwater River valley in Montana, Yellowstone and Grand Teton Parks in Wyoming, and Fort Collins and Denver areas, in Colorado. We'll be visiting with Lee and Lynn in Nye, MT, Mary and Dan Ricker in Fort Collins, Beth and John Krauklis and Robin and Darold Smith, in Denver. Then home. Whew!

Yeah, it's off-topic, but it's our blog. So deal with it!

Pontoon boat fuel tank advisory

Update: please disregard; replacement tank has been installed (7/26/2011).

Caution: Combustibles!

From Georgia Tech's Combustion Lab . . .

Probahker, Jackie, Chris, Jack, Andrew and Hillary

Richard and Sarah

George, Sarah and Richard, enjoying the spa garden.

Andrew in the hot tub

Andrew hanging out in the hot tub, after wearing himself out on Mom's projects.

From the Hollywood Hills

Lynn, George and George. Hollywood, GA (not CA).

And after supper, a tour of the farm and gardens in Hollywood, and a whippoorwill serenade on the front porch.

Down from New Jersey

Gail and George

Southeastern lake tour: a night at the Blue Fish Lodge on Lake Burton, then a night at Ginger's, on Lake Keowee, SC.

Up from Florida

Beth and George keep this rock from falling down on the Hemlock Falls Trail. Thanks, ladies!

Dinner with Jane and Lu Li

George, Lu Li (Beijing doctor in Atlanta on CDC assignment) and Jane

Timpson Cove Tornado, Chapter 6 - Meetinghouse Mtn Road

The destruction was terrible along Meetinghouse Mtn Road, where the north shore of Timpson Cove meets the main channel of Lake Burton. Photos are below the fold; click on any picture to enlarge.

Timpson Cove Tornado, Chapter 5 - This and That

Glass table tops decided to meet in the SE corner of our boathouse,
and managed to get there without breaking.

Timpson Cove Tornado, Chapter 4 - Parallelogram Boathouse

The posts (with the rope) are vertical. The boathouse, not so much. This one,
where Jones Branch meets Timpson Cove, got pushed out of square.
The door and windows didn't like it.

Timpson Cove Tornado, Chapter 3 - Woody's House

Rootball of the massive double-trunk tree that destroyed Woody's house.
It's not that the house is far away from the rootball; the rootball is just huge, and so is the tree.

Timpson Cove Tornado, Chapter 2 - Bill's boathouse

Part of it in his yard, part floating between our boathouses,
and part of it on the other side of our boathouse (so it must have sailed over our boathouse).

Timpson Cove Tornado, Chapter 1 - Our Maple

We were lucky to avoid major damage. Our maple . . . not so much!

Rabun Roads boys clear a path down Timpson Cove Road, by our downed maple

Purple azaleas

Overhanging the lake, near hot tub

What is this flower?

Stalky bush with yellow flowers in April. If you know the name, leave it in a comment.

Water's edge

Hummer

Hummingbird at dusk, at our balcony feeder.

Need to learn how to force the flash, to bring out the color.

Native azalea

In a neighbor's garden.

Self-portrait of the captain

Spring at the Blue Fish

Spring bursting out at the Blue Fish Lodge:
cherry blossoms, dogwoods, azaleas and so much more

Propane

We use propane for cooking and for the gas fireplace. The tank is in the side yard between our house and Bill's, and has a percent-filled meter on it. If it gets below 10%, we need to get it filled. How?

Parking pad goes in

Jerry Kyle's crew built us a parking pad on the boathouse side of the road, using river rock. No more mud!

Grading and clearing out the roots

Dumping the rock

Spreading

Finished product

Georgia's garden and maple tree