It has been a few years since I visited the Great Sand Dunes National Park so I thought it was time to finally bring up a full gallery of pictures from my visit. This park is located in southern Colorado. Click on any picture to see a larger slideshow view. Continue reading Galleries – Great Sand Dunes NP
Ft. Wayne Indiana is an interesting town in the northeast corner of the State.  I go there on an annual basis to pick up my supply of Sechler’s Pickle products. I am simply addicted to their kosher dill green tomatoes. During a visit a few years ago we discovered a local museum that had a large section to do with Prohibition.  That is what I am … Continue reading Ft. Wayne, Indiana
I thought I would use this week’s ISOA post to show you some pictures of old buildings and such I have found during my travels in Indiana. Continue reading Places Around Indiana
Antonito Colorado is without a doubt one of the strangest towns I have ever been in. We went through the town on our way back from Mesa Verde two years ago.According to the statistics, it has a population of about 800 people, we didn’t see more than a handful while we were there. Continue reading Antonito Colorado
  One thing that Indiana simply doesn’t have are mountains. To me, there is just so much majesty in mountains. Sometimes I have brief glimpses of being a mountain man but I think that is probably just too much watching “Jeremiah Johnson” than anything approaching reality. 🙂 So, this InSearchOfAmerica post gives you some of my favorite pictures of my travels out west in the last … Continue reading Mountains…
  In this weeks ISOA post I thought I would finish off my report about San Francisco. Of course the first view is the Golden Gate Bridge, second is The Wharf. Don’t miss the Aquarium, it is one of the best in the country. We must have roamed about 6 miles one day throughout the neighborhoods. Not bad for a couple of senior citizens. Regretfully we … Continue reading San Francisco..
  I will be the first to admit that I have only been in California on a handful of occasions and only once in the 21st century. But here is my gallery celebrating your State.  I visited San Francisco and those pictures will be coming soon. But for this gallery I want to concentrate on the central farm lands and such. Here is a gallery of … Continue reading Here’s To You California..
I need another ISOA post to take my mind off this very stressful week. For this week’s ISOA (in search of America) post lets go to the Oklahoma State house in Oklahoma City and focus particularly on the paintings and sculptures there. Â This was one of the most lavish state houses I have been in and it was also the most paranoid as far as … Continue reading Oklahoma State House..
Here we are in mid-January in the Midwest so there isn’t much growing. But that doesn’t prevent me from enjoying the flowers I found in the Des Moines Botanical Gardens a few years back.  I haven’t had to deal with much snow so far but I still got the winter blahs…. so I need plenty of flowers. 🙂 As usual click on any pic to see … Continue reading Flowers In The Middle Of Winter…
  One of the most impressive city projects I have ever seen is the Wildnerness Park that extends through downtown Omaha Nebraska. I goes on for about a mile with bronze after bronze celebrating the buffalo that once populated so much of that State.  Here is a rather extensive gallery/slideshow but it is still nothing like actually seeing them in person. As usual click … Continue reading Omaha’s Wilderness Park
I have been remiss to put out a gallery post of my visit to the Spirit of Vincennes Rendezvous this past May. Since I am a Hoosier I know I am supposed to see George Rogers Clark as a hero but I just can’t get over his brutal slaughter of so many Native Americans in to clear out the State for others to take over.  He, … Continue reading Vincennes Rendezvous
  I spent a couple of summers during high school as a farm hand. A lot of it was putting up hay but some was helping with the planting and harvesting.  I hate to admit it but some of these antique tractors were the same models that I drove during those years.
Everything is being automated now. Even the tractors are beginning to be driven by GPS enabled robots. Less then 1% of us are now working the land. Its good to look back on the past to see where we have been. Â I enjoy the continuing tractor shows here in the Midwest. Continue reading “Antique Tractors…”
  A part of my “In Search Of America” journeys is about documenting the many different containers used in our past.  Each one is as much an art object as it was a functional container for our goods.  They come in various sizes and materials.  Here is a sample of some I have collected: Continue reading Containers Through History..
  Recently I visited the Zoar Village in central Ohio that  is one of the few villages where the whole town is on the National Register of Historic Places.  As is often the case Zoar was platted by Germans escaping religious prosecution by the Lutheran church in the early 1800s. It was a communal colony but unlike most did not discourage gawkers so it has a rich … Continue reading Zoar Village – Ohio
  On one of my recent uRV trips to northeastern Indiana I visited the Swiss Heritage Village. It was recommended to me by the tourist information center in the city of Berne.  I was not aware that there was a strong Swiss presence in that part of the State. Here are some pictures of that visit. (Click on any picture to see a larger slideshow view) … Continue reading Swiss Heritage Village – Berne Indiana
 Country music has never been my friend but in 1012 when we were in the area we visited the Grand Old Opry, or at least the early version of if. It was fascinating to see this almost eighty year old building that had been the start of so many country and blue grass artists. Here are some pictures of that visit. As usual click on … Continue reading Grand Ole Opry…
This morning I put out a post of the cons for my recent trip into southern Illinois so this afternoon I wanted to give you a gem to counterbalance it. That gem is Giant City Lodge. Before I do that I want to give you a little background on my habits during my uRV trips. I usually stay the night at a State park at … Continue reading The Gem of Southern Illinois…
I have always had pets in my life but I didn’t know an extreme animal lover until I met my wife. Simply stated she would likely wrap her car around a tree rather than hit a chipmunk crossing the road. We have had a large variety of pets over the years, mostly indoor ones but also a myriad of outdoor critters. I haven’t counted but … Continue reading I Am Dreaming Of Critters
I am back from a six-week hiatus here at InSearchOfAmerica. I wanted to take this time off to thoroughly enjoy the beautiful Spring season here in the Midwest. While I was gone from daily blogging I worked on some improvements to the site. Since pictures are at the heart of this blog I brought up a new “Gallery” option in the header menu. I also … Continue reading New & Improved…
Let’s use this post to show some pictures of my current homestead. Since we live in the country we have a variety of critters who visit us regularly. We also have plenty of room for flowers (although weeding them is another story). Â We don’t get out in the gardens much this time of year as it is just so darn hot out there! I wish … Continue reading Around the Homestead…
No this post is not about hunting or eating but about drinking! Â We visited Wild Turkey distillery during our stay in Louisville in April 2010. The large buildings, there are scores of them in the area, Â in one of the pictures is where they age the bourbon. The present factility is very old but they are about to move to a new one. Â I’m not … Continue reading Wild Turkey!!
We visited Louisville in April 2010. No, we didn’t go to Churchill Downs but did visit the Louisville Slugger store. Louisville has some unique statues throughout the downtown area. Continue reading Louisville, KY…
Let’s do one more series on the Eastern seaboard. These were taken during a 1998 long weekend on the island of Nantucket. My wife being a basket collector insisted we had to go there so she could get a Nantucket basket. President Clinton and family were there that same weekend. We didn’t run across them but the local newspaper was full of pictures of their … Continue reading Nantucket …
Let’s continue with the NYC pictures taken in 1999. The last picture in this post was from the Window on the World Restuarant that was on top of the World Trade Center. We celebrated Yvonne’s birthday there that year. Continue reading NYC continued…
These pictures were taken in 1999 when we lived in New Jersey. Â They are mainly of Central Park and the Guggenhiem. Â The picture by the Duck Pond is one of my favorite ones of my wife Yvonne. Continue reading NYC…
I have always been a big fan of the songwriter Woody Guthry and especially his song “This land is your land”. Of course one of the places he mentioned in the song was the redwood forests. These pictures where taken in June 2009. We took a mile and a half hike through the Lady Bird Johnson Grove of redwoods in northern California. These pictures can’t really convey … Continue reading The Redwood Forests…
Galena Illinois is one of my all time favorite towns. These pictures were taken in October 2009 which was our third visit to the city. Â Beside having an absolutely beautiful downtown area it was also the home of President Ulysses S. Grant. Continue reading Galena IL
My wife and I have always had pets around our homes.  I can’t imagine life without them.  So, I have put together this collage of some of our furry, and not so furry, friends. No, we don’t actually have any pet cows but I think if Yvonne could have figured out how to get one in our trunk we would have! 🙂 Continue reading The Pets of my Life…
These pictures of the Iowa Historical Museum, that is in front of the Capital Building, were also taken during our June 2010 trip. Besides the Iowa political primaries section of the museum one of my favorite things was the skyscraper made from Leggo blocks that was in the lobby. Continue reading Iowa Historical Museum – Des Moines, IA
Here are some pictures from inside the Des Moines Capital building. Â I particularly like the library with the spiral staircase. Â As usual click on any photo below to see a larger image. Continue reading Inside the Capital Building – Des Moines, IA
Let’s stay in Des Moines for a few more posts. Here are some pictures of the outside of the Capital building. Â It is one of the most beautiful capitals we have visited in the U.S. But, we did get there at the peak flower time. Whenever we visit a State we always try to manage a visit to the Capital. Continue reading Capital Building – Des Moines, IA
We visited here in June of this year. Â They have, in addition to the town in the pictures, several different farms set representing different Iowa farming eras. as usual click on a thumb nail below to see a full size version Continue reading Living History Farms – Des Moines IA
I must admit that I am a U.S. history nut. In my life I have read several hundred books on the subject. Being non-violent at my core this list does not include many books on our wars but instead I focused on the people of the times. Except for the Revolutionary War which is necessary to understand the foundations of our society, I pretty much … Continue reading Bent’s Old Fort – One of My Favorite Historical Sites
RJ's Corner 