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[View, Print, Save this letter as a PDF file.] [Download
Adobe Reader PDF file reader.] 12 December 2005
Click on the pictures to enlarge them.
Christmas greetings from Albuquerque! We hope you are having a joyous holiday
season. 2005 has been a big travel year for us. In our July newsletter we
described our 30-day trip to Australia that we made in March and April. We also
talked about our 10-day visit to Utah and our 3-day trip to Navajo Lake here in
New Mexico. In July we also mentioned that Robert had just had surgery to remove
fluid in his middle ears and restore good hearing. We are happy to report that
the surgery was completely successful.
SHORT TRIPS
Linda made a short trip to Colorado Springs with her brother for their uncle
Fremont Baxter’s funeral just after we published our July newsletter.
Unfortunately, we returned there for her Aunt Barbara’s funeral in October.
A LONG TRIP
For a long time we had wanted to make a visit to the Canadian Rocky Mountain
parks. Since the Family Motor Coach Association would be holding the summer 2005
convention in Minot, North Dakota, we decided to plan the Canadian trip for this
year. (In 1978, Robert had made a brief tour of the parks, and had gone up
through Minot.) We had another special reason to go to Minot. Robert’s Leinius
cousins were planning a family reunion, and we wished to go. The reunion was
scheduled for 23 July near Grand Forks, North Dakota. Since the Safari pre-rally
and FMCA convention were not scheduled to take place until 10-18 August, we had
time to travel around between the reunion and the Safari rally.
COUSINS EVERYWHERE
In the course of his family research, Robert has discovered many cousins
whom he has never known of previously. Many are located in the area that we
would be driving through, so we scheduled many stops to visit. These included
the Leinius cousins that we mentioned above who live primarily in central North
Dakota. We also wanted to visit Linda’s family in Colorado Springs and also near
Edmonton, Alberta.
This is what the trip map looked like:
Trip to Canada 2005.
The blue portion between northern Utah and Albuquerque will be explained later.
TO MINOT
We departed home on 15 July and headed north. The next day we were with
Linda’s aunt and cousins in Colorado Springs. We spent a couple days in Boulder
with cousin Jim Howard.
Robert and Jim.
We made overnight stops in North Platte and in West Omaha, Nebraska. We then
spent an evening with Richard Molseed and his family in Sioux Falls, South
Dakota. Molseed is a spelling variation of Malseed. We both trace our ancestry
back to Co. Donegal, Ireland. Our next stop was Larimore Dam, North Dakota, and
the Leinius family reunion. Robert’s grandaunt Martha Sichardt had married
Herman Leinius and moved to North Dakota about 90 years ago. The families had
lost contact until a few years ago.
With some of the Leinius cousins.
Robert’s g-g-great grandfather, Andrew Malseed, married Eliza Shubert. Eliza had
brothers, Garrett and Henry, and a sister, Georgianna. Betty Gard, a descendant
of Garrett, lives in Grand Forks, ND, and we went to see her after the reunion.
Robert & Betty.
Early in his Air Force career, Robert had been a Falcon Missile system
technician, and was stationed at Duluth, Minnesota from 1960-1962. We made
Duluth the next stop on our trip. The Air Force installation that had been there
at the airport was closed many years ago and converted primarily to a federal
prison. The flight line and shops area, however, were given to the airport
authority. Robert’s old missile shop is still there, but now it is a sheet metal
shop where parts are made for Cirrus Aviation.
Old Duluth Missile Shop.
We spent quite a while there talking to the shop personnel, and telling them
what used to happen there over 40 years ago. They let us wander all around and
Robert took many photos as he reminisced. Here are two photos taken in one of
the missile storage bays. See if you can tell which one was taken 44 years ago.
Robert then and now. 1961-2005.
We also toured the town of Duluth that afternoon, visiting Enger Tower, the
Glensheen mansion, Park Point, and the Aerial Lift Bridge.
Enger Tower.
Aerial Lift Bridge from Enger Tower.
Robert at Aerial Lift Bridge.
Glensheen mansion.
Our next stop was Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where we visited with Greg R.
Russell and Greg M. Russell, father & son. The elder Greg and Robert have the
same great grandparents. Robert was delighted to see a photo of his great
grandmother.
Green Bay was our next stop. We stayed at a park on the bay, and went to visit
Woodlawn Cemetery. There we found the graves of Robert’s g-g-g-grandaunt
Margaretta Shubert Hastings and 3 generations of her descendants.
Robert at Margaretta and Samuel Dexter Hastings' grave.
From Green Bay we drove west across Wisconsin. We passed Oshkosh as the
Experimental Aircraft Association was having its annual convention. Planes were
flying overhead in a constant stream. We stopped at La Crosse, WI, and camped on
an island in the Mississippi River.
At LaCrosse we visited Oak Grove Cemetery. Georgianna Shubert had married Harvey
Gillitt, and Harvey’s sister (Phoebe) and mother (Jemima) were buried there.
Robert loosely refers to Georgianna’s mother-in-law as his Aunt Jemima. Here is
Robert at her grave.
Robert at "Aunt" Jemima Gillit's grave.
We followed the Mississippi upstream to Hastings, Minnesota. This is where
Georgianna and Harvey settled and were joined by her brother, Henry, and his
wife after the Civil War. We were met there by Virginia Carlson and her sister
Cathy Rhein. They are descendants of Henry. They took us on a tour of the town,
showing us where the family used to live, and to the cemeteries where Georgianna
and Henry and many of their descendants are buried.
Robert with Cathy and Virginia.
At Henry and Georgianna’s graves.
We have previously visited the grave of Garrett in Missouri. Unfortunately we
have no idea where Eliza is buried as she was not buried with Robert’s
g-g-grandfather who died much earlier.
An overnight stop in Forest City, Iowa, gave us the opportunity to visit with
Robert’s fifth cousin, Jane Nagy. She and Robert are descendants of Emmanuel
Russell of Lewes, Delaware. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. After a
night’s stay in Oacoma by the Missouri River, we arrived in Wall, South Dakota.
We spent a day there visiting Badlands National Park, and the famous Wall Drug
store.
Badlands National Park.
The bumper stickers are right. There really is a Wall Drug.
Custer, SD, in the Black Hills, was our next stop. We have visited the Black
Hills several times and have enjoyed the area. We spent two days visiting Jewel
Cave National Monument, Wind Cave National Park, and the Mammoth site in Hot
Springs.
Linda in Jewel Cave.
The famous box-work formations in Wind Cave.
Mammoth site in Hot Springs.
We then moved a short distance north to Spearfish, South Dakota. From there we
explored Deadwood and Lead. It was an interesting time to visit there as the
great Sturgis motorcycle rally was underway. Over 500,000 motorcycles come to
the Black Hills for the annual rally. Hog Heaven!!!
A few of the bikes in Deadwood.
In Spearfish, we visited Tim Molseed, brother of Richard whom we visited in
Sioux Falls.
Robert with Tim & Mary Molseed.
Heading due north from Spearfish we drove up to Medora, North Dakota, and
camped along the Little Missouri River for two nights. We visited the historic
De Mores house and went to the famous Medora Musical in the Burning Hills
Amphitheater that evening. The next day we drove through Theodore Roosevelt
National Park. The former president had lived here when he was young.
Teddy Roosevelt’s cabin.
Little Missouri River in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Lake Sakakawea State Park was our next stop. It was the site of the convention
pre-rally for the Safari International Chapter of FMCA. We had fun there meeting
friends who had Safari motor coaches. We also toured the fish hatchery and met
with Randy & Charmayne Leinius who live nearby. On 13 August, we formed a
caravan of Safari motor coaches and traveled together to Minot.
Part of the Safari caravan.
Over 4,000 motor homes gathered there for the convention.
We are in a field near the top of the photo.
On Sunday we went to Minot AFB for the Northern Neighbors Day air show.
At the Minot air show.
We toured around Minot as well by ourselves and with friends from New Mexico. We
enjoyed the Heritage park and the old Norwegian church building.
Norwegian church in Minot Heritage Park.
An inch of rain fell one night during the convention, turning some portions of
our parking lot into lakes. Fortunately we were on higher ground and were able
to leave on our own. Others had to be pulled out.
Driving through North Dakota we see many fields of bright yellow sunflowers.
INTO CANADA
When we left, we headed north into Saskatchewan and stopped at Moosejaw.
From there we headed west to Medicine Hat, Alberta, and then north to Drumheller.
How you know that you are in Drumheller.
The exceptional Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology is located in Drumheller.
The area is well known for its rich deposits of dinosaur fossils. We spent an
entire day at the museum. The following day we drove through rain north to
Hastings Lake about 25 miles east of Edmonton. We stayed at Kawtikh campground
which is owned by Linda’s second cousin, Larry Kliewer.
Linda with Ruth and Larry Kliewer.
A short drive took us to Edmonton the next day. We parked the motor home at
Gambit Products, Ltd. and spent a couple nights at the home of the company
founder, Alex Latta. Alex is not known to be a cousin, but he is a descendant of
Ulster Scots who lived very close to Robert’s Ulster Scot ancestors in Ireland.
We met some of Alex’s family, and he showed us around Edmonton. The tour
included the unbelievable West Edmonton Mall. It is a huge shopping mall that
also includes an amusement park, water park with beach, ice hockey rink, and a
smaller water park.
The West Edmonton Mall water park.
Alex and Robert at the Mall’s Chinatown.
Leaving the big city on 26 August, we headed west to the Rocky Mountains where
we stopped for 2 nights at Jasper National Park. Then we spent 2 nights at Lake
Louise and one night at Banff in Banff National Park. The mountains, lakes,
waterfalls, rivers, glaciers, and wildlife were outstanding. We also drove
through parts of Yoho and Kootenay National Parks.
Here is scenery we enjoyed in the parks.
Rugged mountains and Athabasca River.
Glacial rock flour gives the water its turquoise color.
Athabasca Falls. Sunwapta Falls.
Loons.
Columbia icefield in the distance.
Glacier and lake at Mt. Edith Cavell.
Athabasca Glacier from Icefield Center
On the Athabasca Glacier.
Lake Louise.
Our galley view at Banff
View at Banff.
View from Banff gondola.
Takakkaw Falls.
Moraine Lake.
Sheep
Bear at Lake Louise.
We left the parks on 31 August and headed into British Columbia. We stopped at
Canyon Hot Springs for one night and Merritt a second night. We crossed into
Washington State on 2 September and camped at the home of cousin Dave & Kay
Malseed in Anacortes. The next morning we took just our car and crossed back
into Canada via the ferry. We went over to Victoria on Vancouver Island. We
toured the beautiful harbor area of Victoria, and then we met Lorraine Rhode, a
descendant of Margaret Malseed of Rathmullan, Ireland. The next day we spent at
the magnificent Butchart Gardens.
Linda in Victoria Harbor near the Empress Hotel.
Butchart Gardens.
We then took a British Columbia ferry over to Vancouver and drove down to White
Rock to visit with Nora Gibson, a Maultsaid cousin.
Robert and Nora in White Rock, BC.
BACK TO THE U.S.
We returned to Anacortes and spent 3 days there before moving south to
Issaquah. We visited Robert’s newest cousin in Maple Valley. Caleb Wicker was
just 4 months old. His mother, Suzanne, is a first cousin, once removed.
Caleb in Maple Valley, WA.
Moving further south we spent a day with Suzanne’s sister, Beth Araki and her
family in Gresham, Oregon.
With Beth, Les, Matthew, Josiah, and Hannah.
Our next stop was Spokane, Washington. In Spokane we met Doug Freese, a
descendant of Henry Shubert.
Robert and Doug.
Robert in Henry's chair.
Robert got to sit in Henry’s rocking chair. Thirty years ago, Robert inherited
letters that Henry wrote to his sister during the Civil War. It was great to
visit Henry’s grave and also meet some of his descendants and sit in his chair
on this trip. We then drove into Montana and spent four nights with our friends
in Hamilton. Then we continued to Idaho Falls.
DISASTER STRIKES
We left Idaho Falls, intending to reach Salt Lake City that day. (We had
wanted to spend 2 days at the Family History Library before returning to
Albuquerque.) However, as we were climbing the grade up to Malad Summit in
southern Idaho, the engine blew in the motor home. We pulled over amid a great
cloud of smoke. We were towed into Tremonton, Utah, where we left the motor home
at a large truck repair facility to have the engine replaced.
In Tremonton.
Since it would obviously take a while, we drove home in our car. The trees were
turning color in the Wasatch Mountains and were beautiful.
Trees in the Wasatch.
After several weeks, we were told the Trek was ready on 5 November. We arrived
back in Tremonton on 7 November, but discovered that something was wrong with
the motor home. We spent a day in Salt Lake City while they were
troubleshooting. They decided that the transmission was bad, so we took the Trek
over to AAMCO in Logan. They discovered that the flywheel was installed
backwards and warped. They replaced it. We tried to leave Logan, but the engine
gave out. The motor home was taken back to Tremonton. The engine had the wrong
heads. After another week of work, we were told it was ready. We picked it up
and headed home, but it was evident that it did not seem to have much power. Our
MPG figures were very low, and we had trouble climbing hills. Finally, 70 miles
west of Albuquerque, the engine quit and we had to be towed home on 23 November.
The Trek is now at our regular maintenance shop. Our mechanic has discovered a
very long list of discrepancies with the repair job. We are now preparing to ask
the Utah shop to pay for repairs. (They already knew that there was one issue
that had to be fixed when we got home.) The delayed return home explains the
blue portion on our trip map.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
We are presently trying to learn our music for the Christmas concert on
Sunday, 11 December.
THE BOTTOM LINE
We continue to be thankful for the Lord's providing for us in all ways. We
trust in Him, and pray that you will do likewise and enjoy a blessed Christmas
season and New Year as well.
Love,
Robert & Linda
Le Gach Deaghui i gComhair na Nollaig agus na Bliana Nua.
Frohe Weihnacht und ein glückliches neues Jahr!
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Page last updated:
14 March 2007
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