Thursday, July 18 - on the road west

Left Fargo, ND and headed west. Stopped in Bismarck at General Sibley Campground. This is the most spacious camp sites we’ve ever had BUT the mosquitoes were bad. We did get to hike 2 miles before the mosquitoes got too bad. 

We crossed the Missouri River which was really high since all the rain (which you can see on the windshield as I took the picture).  

As we continued West, the terrain changed from prairie to rolling hills. 


We are headed for Medora, ND, to see the Badlands of North Dakota before we head to South Dakota to see their Badlands.  

Day 5 - Greco Wrestling begins

Nathan also qualified for the PA Greco team, we are back at the FargoDome. 

Nathan had a bye for his first match and then he won his second match 10-0. 

Papa Shuff congratulating Nathan on his win. 


Nathan showed Papa one of his moves. 


Great article in the Brookville paper about 2 All Americans!

Nathan lost his 3rd match which put him in consolations. He lost his 2nd match in consolations so he’s finished for this year. 

It was a great run for all of us. Can’t wait for HA Wrestling to begin. 

Day 4 - no wrestling, day off

Since none of the Brookville boys wrestled today, we just spent time around the campground and Fargo. There’s not much to do in Fargo though. UT there is a great quilt shop!

The campground maintains their grounds with beautiful flowers. Since this is where Roger Maris, was born, the park has a memorial for him. 

Fargo has had so much rain that they had to close the one campground by the Red River. Here are some pics of the river and the grassy area where it flooded. 

Day 3 - FargoDome

Today is the medal round. Nathan took 7th in the nation at 220 lbs. 

Pennsylvania took the state team award. People out here say PA takes Wrestling seriously! This is the PA team. Nathan is having a great experience meeting people from all over PA and the US. 

FargoDome- day 2

Another day, another pin, another win - yahoo, Nathan. He really looked confident. 

And again another win 11-8. He had to work for this one. The kid had good defense moves. 

Notice the outfits are blue and red, they change them but not sure how often. 

He had to win the next match yet today, Sunday, to be in the medal round. 

It is 5 pm, Day 2, Nathan has wrestled 6 matches since yesterday. He is Wrestling his heart out. This match was a real fight. It ended up 11-9. 

FargoDome- Nathan Wrestles

Wrestling started in the FargoDome at 9 this morning. 

Nate lost the first round so he moves into consolations. There are 25 mats going. Here’s just a third of them. 

Nate won his next two matches with a pin and a solid decision. 

Onto tomorrow. Go Nate. 

July 7-11 - visit Mary Laeger-Hegimeister in Minnesota

Left PA July 7 after Jillian’s HS graduation party. Stayed at Deer Ridge Campground in Richmond IN. Nice campground. Would stay here again. 

July 8 we made it to Davenport, IA. Stayed in Scott County campground. Nice place but registration was a hassle. 

July 9 we made it to visit Mary Laeger-Hegimeister. Bill and I were both colleagues of hers when she lived in PA. We stayed in a really nice campground about 15 minutes from her place - Town and Country RV Park in Savage MN. 

To celebrate my birthday, we visited Mary’s son’s business called Tacocat. That was fun to see Dan and have some tasty food. Next we went to the Minnesota Institute of Art to see the Native American Women’s art. We had a docent explain a lot of the exhibits. Quite interesting and informative. 

Thursday Bill went to visit Fort Snelling and Lenny and I went to hike in the Wildlife Refuge. This was a sculpture there. There has been so much rain that fields and trails are flooded. 

As we drove across Ohio, Illinois and Indiana, we noticed the fields of corn weren’t very high. They couldn’t get in to plant as early as usual. As we came into Minnesota, corn was much taller. 

Friday, July 12 we left for Fargo. Stayed in Buffalo River State Park. If you’ve heard about the mosquitoes in Minnesota, they were correct. They are all over. We did hike for about 3 miles and got plenty of bites. Nice hike other than that. 

This is a picture of the prairies of Minnesota. I didn’t realize how flat it was here. 

As I was driving to the FargoDome, we saw field of sugar beets. We don’t see many of these back home.