WELCOME TO RIVER DAVES PLACE

Highways, byways and waterways of America - Summer '21

havasuhusker

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From one fellow Nebraska fan (born and bred Nebraska Red)....Go Big Red Wendy!!!!
 

sirbob

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it just surprises me, no matter where you go you find a place to park. It's normally not that easy when towing a boat...

..

That really has been one of the neat things about the trip. I’m always plotting access and parking.

And always looking for a place to take a good pic! Plus my confidence has gotten pretty high on where I can put it.

In the stadium pic in front of the statue I’m actually on the side walk 😊
 
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sirbob

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Almost home...

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HubbaHubbaLife

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Welcome back..... and thanks for sharing your journey. Hope it was as therapeutic as it appeared to be. Made me feel good following you!
 

SlowMyRoll

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Welcome home sirbob/Jim. I’ve enjoyed following your trip for the past several weeks, great pics and posts. As a long time San Clemente resident, maybe I’ll see you on the beach trail one of these days!
 

sirbob

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Welcome home sirbob/Jim. I’ve enjoyed following your trip for the past several weeks, great pics and posts. As a long time San Clemente resident, maybe I’ll see you on the beach trail one of these days!


When I'm home I walk the trail most days in the early afternoon. I'd love to run into you and say hello!
 

sirbob

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I officially made it home!

It was a great trip, learned a lot about myself and found myself becoming a little more emotional from time to time than I expected. I met some great people along the way and enjoyed seeing things that I would usually of flown over and never thought twice about.

Northern Michigan has some of the best summer boating I’ve ever seen and is a place I will seriously look at buying another place to visit in the summer (I don’t do winters very well!).

I’m looking forward to working with Dave’s video guys to see if we can put together a recap documentary of the last couple of months on the road. There were lots of pics and vids I didn’t post that hopefully we will be able to include in an extended video recap.

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Took the travel cover off and replaced with the dust cover for storage.

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Total trailer pulling miles - 7130! I love how the Lincoln shows miles pulling a trailer!

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Over all miles for the trip - 8694!

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sirbob

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States traveled through...

Califonia
Arizona
New Mexoco
Texas
Oklahoma
Missouri
Illinois
Indiana
Ohio
West Virgina
Maryland
Pennsylvania
New Jersey
New York
Massachusetts
Michigan
Iowa
Nebraska
Wyoming
Utah
Nevada

o_Oo_Oo_Oo_O

I've got a few more states to hit on my next trip but 21 states was a pretty good look at the Highways Bi-ways and waterways of America for this summer!
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
 
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snowhammer

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A sincere thank you for sharing your travels and also the human side of it (your insight and emotions). For what its it's worth, I know you have connections in Michigan, but feel free to reach out if you need an opinion or an attempt to make any connections.
 

sirbob

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A sincere thank you for sharing your travels and also the human side of it (your insight and emotions). For what its it's worth, I know you have connections in Michigan, but feel free to reach out if you need an opinion or an attempt to make any connections.

Thank you for your offer, I never have enough connections!

How about a beer next time I’m there?
 

HubbaHubbaLife

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I officially made it home!

It was a great trip, learned a lot about myself and found myself becoming a little more emotional from time to time than I expected. I met some great people along the way and enjoyed seeing things that I would usually of flown over and never thought twice about.

Northern Michigan has some of the best summer boating I’ve ever seen and is a place I will seriously look at buying another place to visit in the summer (I don’t do winters very well!).

I’m looking forward to working with Dave’s video guys to see if we can put together a recap documentary of the last couple of months on the road. There were lots of pics and vids I didn’t post that hopefully we will be able to include in an extended video recap.

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Took the travel cover off and replaced with the dust cover for storage.

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Total trailer pulling miles - 7130! I love how the Lincoln shows miles pulling a trailer!

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Over all miles for the trip - 8694!

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Classic!
 

Havasu Rehab

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Thanks for taking us along with ya! I’m sure seeing your front door was a welcome sight. Glad it went well [emoji1303]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

throttle

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This has been a great trip. I’m about seven weeks in and so far and I’ve met a number of incredible people. I’ve seen some of the greatest small towns you can imagine. I’ve been in a number of places I could see having a second home. I have enjoyed myself immensely, boating on lakes I only dreamed about and generally speaking Ive had a great trip so far...

Except for one thing.

I miss my wife terribly. It’s not possible to convey the sense of loneliness I’ve felt at certain times on this trip.

The times I miss her the most are when I’m driving for hours at a time and she’s not next to me...

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Or those times I was sitting on a dock at night with a drink and some music on in the boat. That was by far her favorite part about being on our boat. She loved the early evenings as the sun went down and the music got louder and louder as the evening got later...

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Wendy, wherever your little place in heaven is - I hope you are enjoying this trip with me. I know you’ve been watching and doing everything you can from heaven to keep me safe. And I love you for doing that...

I know you are near and I’m always reminded of you. I love you and miss more than I can express ❤

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On to the next fuel stop...

AMEN! Outstanding and Amazing in so many ways!!! I couldn't help but think about your thoughts of having Wendy along with you. welcome home
 

Willie B

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👍… Very therapeutic cross-country drive…I honestly was a little concerned after your loss about you hitting the road alone …Then I scratched my head…and thought that’s been some of my best boat towing cross country ventures…
…Yes life does have a tendency to put us through many changes…An adventure well done.. Kind Sir…
 

sirbob

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Even being on a trip for 7 weeks, sometimes you can’t get it all in!

I was hoping to be able to stay in Michigan to see the wooden boat show in Hessel this summer but had to get home a week before the event.

My friends sail boat Susanna (while not a performance boat haha) won 1st in the sailboat class! There were lots of great boats there - they put on one of the best wooden boat shows in the country.

Wish I could have stayed on the trip a little longer to enjoy this weekend with them.

Congratulations Charlie on being awarded for the 4 year restoration Susanna just competed!

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Nice full shot of Susanna in the background of this pic - across the harbor.

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Blue Oval

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I was on Walloon all day on the 7th. My nephew is friends with the owners on Avalon. His best friends Grandparents live next door. I have a lot of Walloon back ground. If you went out to eat at the Barrel Back, one of my sons are the bartender. I lived right down the road from there when I was 19 years old for a summer being a caretaker of a home. Awesome Lake.
 

sirbob

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I was on Walloon all day on the 7th. My nephew is friends with the owners on Avalon. His best friends Grandparents live next door. I have a lot of Walloon back ground. If you went out to eat at the Barrel Back, one of my sons are the bartender. I lived right down the road from there when I was 19 years old for a summer being a caretaker of a home. Awesome Lake.


HAHA - I figured its a pretty small circle there!

Yes I ate at Barrel Back - I sat at the bar. It must have been your son that served me! I left Walloon on the 5th - Near miss. The owner of Avalons' Family has the house there and the President of Avalon bought a house on Walloon a year or two ago.

What a great lake and area! Great shot of the Woodies also :)
 

Blue Oval

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This was the place I got to hang for a summer on Walloon lake. The family sold it after many years. The new owner flatten it, and is building a new home. This is just west of Randall Point. Randall point is the sand bar with the big flag pole. Randal Knife Company's family still own that. Still a lot of family owned property there. The Hemingway cabin is across the lake. Still owned by the family. Yep, I can bore you with a lot of Northern Michigan history. LOL
 

Blue Oval

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(Northern Michigan has some of the best summer boating I’ve ever seen and is a place I will seriously look at buying another place to visit in the summer (I don’t do winters very well!).)
I met Pete B. in Florida years ago, I got him to start taking pics for Boyne Thunder. He now has a summer home up here. Friends we met boating 20 years ago from Lansing just sold their house and bought one in Boyne City. We have been very lucky and met a lot of great people while boating with my family. The amount of people that have ended up here is crazy. Yes, some day I will spend my winters somewhere warm.
 

sirbob

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This was the place I got to hang for a summer on Walloon lake. The family sold it after many years. The new owner flatten it, and is building a new home. This is just west of Randall Point. Randall point is the sand bar with the big flag pole. Randal Knife Company's family still own that. Still a lot of family owned property there. The Hemingway cabin is across the lake. Still owned by the family. Yep, I can bore you with a lot of Northern Michigan history. LOL

I know the Randall property well - the flag pole is what we tell the “cast family’s” (people being photographed in the Avalon boats) to use as a destination while we film them for the Avon/Tahoe shoots that take place there. We start in South Arm and when we get to the flag pole we have them float while we do circles around them for the photo/video crews to get the shots they need. They were shoring up their shore line while I was there a few weeks ago with a bunch of rip rap.

I’ve heard about Hemingway but don’t know where that place is?

And that video... hard to watch. That was sad for me and I’ve never been there! What ever they built is not as nice as the original place restored to a 10 with some modern upgrades. Add a building if you need more but tough to see old camps like that lost.
 

Blue Oval

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The properties were originally a lodge. There were several cabins along the shore. Towards Randal Point. There is one still standing all of them have been torn down. We stayed in the building behind the main cabin. It also had a 5 car garage. I parked my Jeepster in one, my buddies had a 64 Triump and a 68 Mustang. We lived the high life. The owners only came for 2 weeks in the summer. Great times. Yes very said to see the history get torn down.
 

DILLIGAF

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Well done and thanks for sharing your travels. Glad to see you got home safe

i am currently on apx 8500 miles so far. Trying to figure out where I want to go next. Hesitant to head W from SD simply due to fires and smoke. May just head to Texas but not sure yet.
 
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sirbob

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Well done and thanks for sharing your travels. Glad to see you got home safe

i am currently on apx 8500 miles so far. Trying to figure out where I want to go next. Hesitant to head W from SD simply due to fires and smoke. May just head to Texas but not sure yet.

Keep on trucken!

I would suggest checking out the front range in CO - I noticed the highway over the Mountain from Denver to Utah was closed when I came through - not sure what that’s about.

The smoke was an issue it seemed every few days even when I was in MI. Depending on the jet stream it was hazy and dark all the way in the UP! Good luck with the rest of your adventures - we are all following along 😊
 

HydroSkreamin

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@sirbob , thank you for sharing your travels, I felt like I was right behind you the entire trip!

I read your MI posts a little too late, or I'd have tried to convince you to go around the top of Lake Michigan and cruise through WI, as I see it didn't make your list.

Give me a couple days notice, and there's all sorts of lakes in Wisco that your boat would look and run very nicely. Beers and dinner on me if you do! And if the boat isn't with you, you'll have to put up with a tour in the StressEliminator...
 

sirbob

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@sirbob , thank you for sharing your travels, I felt like I was right behind you the entire trip!

I read your MI posts a little to late, or I'd have tried to convince you to go around the top of Lake Michigan and cruise through WI, as I see it didn't make your list.

Give me a couple days notice, and there's all sorts of lakes in Wisco that your boat would look and run very nicely. Beers and dinner on me if you do! And if the boat isn't with you, you'll have to put up with a tour in the StressEliminator...

I debated heading from the UP west. But in the end, I needed to get back for some things and had pushed the envelope on being gone just under 2 months. I know there is great boating in Wisconsin, maybe we can take up your invite next summer!

Thanks following along!
 
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sirbob

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Did you meet Tom Borisch on your trip to Walloon?


wow - neat stuff! What a great look at Wallon. I saw a number of woodies running around but its great to see them all together.

And that collection Tom has - wow. Is he up the west arm? I only went up there once this trip and don't remember seeing his dock on the lake?
 

bowtiejunkie

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this post and #289 were strong on onions! Boy o boy. Sorry to hear about your wife. Your love for her comes through so beautifully within these posts.

My Grandpa was a native Nebraskan (born in Cambridge) and he was a big Cornhusker fan Super cool this showed up in your thread. Nice stadium!!

I upgraded internet service and apparently can magically watch your videos now, which are great. But, now I have a lot of videos to catch up on! You have a great narrative voice. Thanks for sharing your trip. Stellar thread.
 

Blue Oval

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wow - neat stuff! What a great look at Wallon. I saw a number of woodies running around but its great to see them all together.

And that collection Tom has - wow. Is he up the west arm? I only went up there once this trip and don't remember seeing his dock on the lake?

Yes. His Brother and Dad own Barrel Back and the Hotel. Well, pretty much the village. Nice people, great about supporting the local economy. Tom is one of the largest sponsors of Boyne Thunder.
 

Blue Oval

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Dang.... those are pure artwork. Prohibition era bootlegger boat too, eh..... no wonder I've seen old pictures of the Kennedy's in these.
Friends own this place in Boyne City. If you get back to Boyne call for a tour.
 
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