All is well, we had a good driving day we finally have sun, and we are in a very nice campground on the Snake River for tonight and tomorrow. We are in Delco, ID - just south of American Falls and not quite to Twin Falls.
It's the last day of the month and I need to do financials. So, will post a narrative tomorrow with photos.
Friday, June 30, 2017
Thursday, June 29, 2017
Yesterday's Photos and Today's Adventures
I'm posting early today as we have a great wifi signal and I want to upload photos before this evening when everyone is using it.
When I quit writing yesterday we were having a hellacious hailstorm. It finally moved on and the evening was cool and damp. I turned on the fireplace/heater and used the remote to set a temperature and it ran for a while and then shut off. I assumed it was because it had reached temperature. Later, when it got chilly again, I tried to turn it on. We got an error code that said the thing was overheated. The code kept blinking on and off as did the "fire." After a while it quit. Rog pulled the unit out and unplugged it thinking it just needed a "reboot." It didn't work when we plugged it back in. Now we get the "fire" blinking five times and then it stops when we turn the power on. Not sure what I did, but it is messed up. I've emailed the maker's support line, but have not heard anything. Looks like we might have to take it in to a dealer as it isn't something Mr. Fix-it can do anything else with - unfortunately.
A guy who has the same model RV, but a year older, stopped this morning to talk and compare notes. He's had some real issues with his unit but still thinks it's a good RV design-wise. The good thing about comparing notes is now Roger can be on the look out for similar problems and maybe do preventative measures if need be.
We are in Dillon, MT for just one night. It's a KOA - a very nice KOA. Lots of grass, a river boundary by the tent sites, and lots of shade. It's raining right now and 69 degrees, but it was quite nice when we pulled in. (Roger wants to know if it rains every afternoon in Montana. I don't think it did last summer but we were here in August not June.)
It looks like tomorrow we will start finding the heat. The forecast for home on our arrival date is currently 100 degrees. I hope the air conditioner works better than the little fireplace! At least we are getting to test all the systems on our way home! With any luck we won't have to spend too much time and effort getting things fixed before we head to Arizona for the winter.
 |
| Our lunch place yesterday |
 |
| View of Absaroka Mountains from our site |
 |
| View from the walking trail along the river |
 |
| Yesterday's campground |
Rog had to re-seal the tracks for the shower door onto the shower stall. We were getting water on the floor. He pealed off the old stuff and dried it out underneath and resealed it. Haven't had a shower since, so don't know if it fixed the issue. Hoping so.
We awoke around 1:30 this morning to sounds of another storm passing through. It lasted about an hour. The storms left snow on the mountains and it was just lovely this morning. Quite cool, but beautiful.
A guy who has the same model RV, but a year older, stopped this morning to talk and compare notes. He's had some real issues with his unit but still thinks it's a good RV design-wise. The good thing about comparing notes is now Roger can be on the look out for similar problems and maybe do preventative measures if need be.
We had some rough road today and a few more things found themselves on the floor. The weirdest was that the freezer door flew open and all ice cube trays fell out. Lots of water and ice to clean up but no damage done to anything else.
We stopped at Wheat Montana Bakery and Deli in Three Forks and picked up sandwiches for lunch down the road. We stopped there on our trip last summer and the food is very good. The cinnamon rolls are the size of a dinner plate! Didn't get one, but they sure looked yummy. Maybe I should have. We could have eaten from it for several days!
We stopped at Wheat Montana Bakery and Deli in Three Forks and picked up sandwiches for lunch down the road. We stopped there on our trip last summer and the food is very good. The cinnamon rolls are the size of a dinner plate! Didn't get one, but they sure looked yummy. Maybe I should have. We could have eaten from it for several days!
We got in earlier than expected as we took a short cut route this afternoon. (I call it a hypotenuse route between two interstates.) It cut off over an hour of travel time and it was a lovely drive through a river valley. Lots of ranches and farms and spots along the river to fly fish. Every town has a fly shop and an outfitters to give the angler the best experience. The road was two lane but good and we only had about half a dozen cars stuck behind us because they couldn't pass the slow pokes.
It looks like tomorrow we will start finding the heat. The forecast for home on our arrival date is currently 100 degrees. I hope the air conditioner works better than the little fireplace! At least we are getting to test all the systems on our way home! With any luck we won't have to spend too much time and effort getting things fixed before we head to Arizona for the winter.
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Hail and a Clingy Dog
I'm trying to work here with a dog in my lap. Lots of thunder and lightening and even a good hailstorm or two this afternoon. This morning was mostly sunny but by early afternoon the temperature dropped and the skies clouded over. The storm cells have been intermittent. I'm looking at the mountains behind us and the tops have sun shining on them while the rain and pea-sized hail are pelting us right now (3:30pm). Boy is it loud!
I've tried again to upload pictures. Not a happening thing. I'll post them as soon as I can - hope it won't be too much like yesterday's news by the time I do.
We really like this RV park and it's location. Maybe someday we will come back and stay a few days. It is a bit pricey being so close to Yellowstone, so it will have to be a special treat.
We did sleep in a bit this morning - 'till about 7:30, but I found something last night to use to cover the windows and that made a huge difference.
We went down the road about five miles this morning to a little town called Emigrant. I think there's maybe five buildings. But they had fuel and a bakery/cafe. All we needed - gas and lunch. Bought a loaf of fresh sourdough to bring back.
Rog has had a nap between storms and is right now checking for leaks in the RV. So far, so good. He's not finding any.
Really nothing else to report. We are trying to rest for the next leg of our journey. Tomorrow - Dillon, MT.
I've tried again to upload pictures. Not a happening thing. I'll post them as soon as I can - hope it won't be too much like yesterday's news by the time I do.
We really like this RV park and it's location. Maybe someday we will come back and stay a few days. It is a bit pricey being so close to Yellowstone, so it will have to be a special treat.
We did sleep in a bit this morning - 'till about 7:30, but I found something last night to use to cover the windows and that made a huge difference.
We went down the road about five miles this morning to a little town called Emigrant. I think there's maybe five buildings. But they had fuel and a bakery/cafe. All we needed - gas and lunch. Bought a loaf of fresh sourdough to bring back.
Rog has had a nap between storms and is right now checking for leaks in the RV. So far, so good. He's not finding any.
Really nothing else to report. We are trying to rest for the next leg of our journey. Tomorrow - Dillon, MT.
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Following the River
Like William Clark and Sacagawea we followed the Yellowstone River all day today. At one point I saw someone in a canoe - maybe they are still out there? I think it probably took them longer to go the same distance we did today, though. It was a long day for us - 278 miles. We surpassed 6,000 miles on the trip-o-meter today. Except for going through Billings, the scenery was wonderful. (As for Alice's comment on yesterday's post - Yes, it is beautiful country. I was just too tired to appreciate it!)
We were up at the crack of dawn again this morning. We've got to find something to block that darn sun from coming in the windows so early. The new window blinds are not black out shades or even close to it. If this keeps up we will both be zombies from lack of sleep.
We found the snow covered mountains this afternoon as we left Billings, MT going west. Such a welcome sight. It's been forever since we've seen any and we feel like we are almost home. Maggie's not so sure she likes being back in the West, though. Stickery dry grass at all her pee stops instead of the lush green grass she's been used to for the last two months. Again today we could not take her into the rest area where the real grass was but to the outer edges where the yucky stuff grows. Such discrimination!
Picking a campground/RV park is a crapshoot at best. There is some info out there on the web about some of them and I do research before I pick a spot, but sometimes the info isn't truthful and is probably written by the owners. As we got closer to our destination tonight I started getting nervous, as I always do, about what we will find. Because of it's location I expected a rustic campground in a pine forest. No. We hit the jackpot today like we did in Houghton, MI.
We are at Yellowstone's Edge RV Park about 35 miles north of Yellowstone Nat'l Park and about 20 miles south of I-94 at Livingston, MT. The park sits right on the river, is clean and modern and the views of the river and mountains are tremendous. There is grass between the sites and a long grassy area along the river's edge for the dogs that has benches for the people. We were assigned a site where our back window overlooks the river with the mountains in the background. (Now all I need to do is wash it after that rain and road dirt the other day messed it up.) I'm so glad we have booked two nights as tomorrow is our day of rest after three days on the road. It will be so relaxing and the setting is spectacular. It's a bit cool - around 70 - and we did have a thunderstorm roll through here about dinner time but the sun is shining right now (7:30MT).
Unfortunately the WIFI signal here is awful and I haven't been able to upload any pictures of the RV Park or the views. That one of the river above took forever to come in and now it won't let me import any more. I'll see if I can go up to the office tomorrow and get a stronger signal and load some photos. We are in such a lovely place and I want to share.
No issues with the RV today! Haven't discovered anything new, either.
Monday, June 26, 2017
GPS Fun
We were awake very early this morning - time change issue? We had to poke around so we didn't leave too early but it's been tired out today! I normally have no issues with staying awake on the road, but I was fighting it today. It was warm and the scenery at times quite boring. I don't know how Roger managed to stay awake as he was up even earlier than I. We anticipated warmer weather today so we put on short legged pants and short sleeved shirts. I didn't realize that the bruises just below my knees that I got from that fall a week ago were still so big and beautiful! We have enjoyed the warmer day, though.
Last night we got to try out the furnace. It works very well and is a lot quieter than our previous one. Only one problem we have is that the register in the bedroom isn't getting any heat. The bathroom right next to it is, but no hot air is flowing to the bedroom. Rog will have to check it out on his next "day off."
Today we got to use the air conditioner. It, too, is quieter than the last one, and seems to be doing a pretty good job. Like the last one, though, the thermostat just doesn't jive with the room temperatures. We've got thermometers every where - kitchen, bedroom and living room. They all say different things and the thermostat that controls the heating/cooling on the wall in the hallway has a different reading. We have to play with it to get a comfortable temperature and we end up with some ridiculous settings.
Last night when we were looking for a wall outlet to plug in my iPad we discovered that we have two USB ports in the wall in the bedroom. That was a nice surprise. We've searched and can't find any more. Why the bedroom and not put one in the living area? Silly.
We had a bit more disturbance inside today but we did have some rough roads and going into Theodore Roosevelt National Park visitor center we crossed a horrendous cattle guard. It was a pretty intense. I believe we are officially in the west now - cattle guards, sagebrush, and cottonwood trees.
We did stop for a few minutes to get pictures at the scenic turnout of the TR Nat'l Park, but didn't stop for a real visit.
We had lunch at a Montana roadside rest. Again - no pets allowed in the picnic area. "Please take your pet to the designated pet area." Of course, there are no tables to have lunch in the pet area. So, we just found ourselves a table in an enclosure and Maggie stayed behind us. What are they going to do? Kick us out?
We followed the Yellowstone River most of the afternoon and that put us back on the Lewis and Clark Trail for a while.
Lots of beautiful ranches/farms in the river valley being irrigated by river water.
Our GPS has messed us up once again. She told us to get off exit 141, and just as we got on the exit ramp we saw a sign that said that the KOA exit is 135. Too late, we were off the interstate. We figured we would just go ahead and follow her directions and see the town on the way (Miles City, MT). It seems there is a railroad overpass in the center of town we needed to go under. It is only 11.5 feet high. We are 13.5 feet high. Oops. Fortunately Rog spotted the warning signs in time to avoid it, and then we had the frustration of getting out of the center of town with the RV and back to the interstate. Sal is telling us to go down 3rd Street and Google Maps on the phone is telling us to go down 4th Street. KOA signage says turn on 4th Street in half a mile and then at 3rd Street it shows the KOA logo with arrow to turn on that street. We were in a bit of a tizwaz by the time we finally got here. I'm afraid I vented at the guy in the office (the owner, I think). He says he is having issues with the city about his signs. He either has to take them down or leave them, but he can't move them for some crazy reason without paying the city some exorbitant fee. He says he pays $2400 a year to let him put them up, but they are hassling him when he wants to make it right. Anyway, it was pretty crazy getting here.
And then - he says we don't have reservations. I told him I did it on line. Apparently the computer assigns a spot when you reserve on line. Somehow someone was in that site and he had to spend some time but finally found us and gave us another site. The park is packed tonight, so that would have been a real adventure if he didn't have some extra ones for late comers.
Lots and lots of families on the road and camping for their summer vacation. One little guy about 7 came over to us when he saw Maggie and brought her a small ball. He told me that he had a big dog and when it tried to play with it he choked on it and maybe my little dog would like it. Also, the dad came over and told us that our spare tire was bouncing around loose under the RV. Sure enough it was! Rog had to tighten it back up. First time that's ever happened to us. It was nice of the guy to let us know. RVers and campers are always looking out you if they see something amiss.
I went back to get my phone to check the reservation confirmation email and, lo and behold, there are instructions on it not to use exit 141 but go to 135 because there's a low clearance issue in town. Duh, if I had read that we would have saved some grief. I saw the subject line of reservations confirmation and didn't take the time to read the whole thing. I've learned another lesson! I did go into the office and apologize for venting my frustrations at the poor guy.
The park is a typical KOA and is filled with cottonwood trees. The ground looks as if it has been snowing. It's not a great park, but works for a one-nighter. BTW, one boundary of the park is the railroad track! When Rog was looking at the GPS he commented that our destination looked as if it were sitting on the railroad tracks. Well, close!
Tomorrow's destination is a campground on the Yellowstone River about 20 miles south of Livingston, MT. We will be there two nights as it is time for a day of rest. Weather doesn't look like it will be terrific - rainy and cold, but maybe the forecast is wrong. Today we had a high of 88 - we haven't seen that since we left Iowa a couple weeks ago.
Last night we got to try out the furnace. It works very well and is a lot quieter than our previous one. Only one problem we have is that the register in the bedroom isn't getting any heat. The bathroom right next to it is, but no hot air is flowing to the bedroom. Rog will have to check it out on his next "day off."
Today we got to use the air conditioner. It, too, is quieter than the last one, and seems to be doing a pretty good job. Like the last one, though, the thermostat just doesn't jive with the room temperatures. We've got thermometers every where - kitchen, bedroom and living room. They all say different things and the thermostat that controls the heating/cooling on the wall in the hallway has a different reading. We have to play with it to get a comfortable temperature and we end up with some ridiculous settings.
Last night when we were looking for a wall outlet to plug in my iPad we discovered that we have two USB ports in the wall in the bedroom. That was a nice surprise. We've searched and can't find any more. Why the bedroom and not put one in the living area? Silly.
We had a bit more disturbance inside today but we did have some rough roads and going into Theodore Roosevelt National Park visitor center we crossed a horrendous cattle guard. It was a pretty intense. I believe we are officially in the west now - cattle guards, sagebrush, and cottonwood trees.
We did stop for a few minutes to get pictures at the scenic turnout of the TR Nat'l Park, but didn't stop for a real visit.
We had lunch at a Montana roadside rest. Again - no pets allowed in the picnic area. "Please take your pet to the designated pet area." Of course, there are no tables to have lunch in the pet area. So, we just found ourselves a table in an enclosure and Maggie stayed behind us. What are they going to do? Kick us out?
We followed the Yellowstone River most of the afternoon and that put us back on the Lewis and Clark Trail for a while.
Lots of beautiful ranches/farms in the river valley being irrigated by river water.
Our GPS has messed us up once again. She told us to get off exit 141, and just as we got on the exit ramp we saw a sign that said that the KOA exit is 135. Too late, we were off the interstate. We figured we would just go ahead and follow her directions and see the town on the way (Miles City, MT). It seems there is a railroad overpass in the center of town we needed to go under. It is only 11.5 feet high. We are 13.5 feet high. Oops. Fortunately Rog spotted the warning signs in time to avoid it, and then we had the frustration of getting out of the center of town with the RV and back to the interstate. Sal is telling us to go down 3rd Street and Google Maps on the phone is telling us to go down 4th Street. KOA signage says turn on 4th Street in half a mile and then at 3rd Street it shows the KOA logo with arrow to turn on that street. We were in a bit of a tizwaz by the time we finally got here. I'm afraid I vented at the guy in the office (the owner, I think). He says he is having issues with the city about his signs. He either has to take them down or leave them, but he can't move them for some crazy reason without paying the city some exorbitant fee. He says he pays $2400 a year to let him put them up, but they are hassling him when he wants to make it right. Anyway, it was pretty crazy getting here.
And then - he says we don't have reservations. I told him I did it on line. Apparently the computer assigns a spot when you reserve on line. Somehow someone was in that site and he had to spend some time but finally found us and gave us another site. The park is packed tonight, so that would have been a real adventure if he didn't have some extra ones for late comers.
Lots and lots of families on the road and camping for their summer vacation. One little guy about 7 came over to us when he saw Maggie and brought her a small ball. He told me that he had a big dog and when it tried to play with it he choked on it and maybe my little dog would like it. Also, the dad came over and told us that our spare tire was bouncing around loose under the RV. Sure enough it was! Rog had to tighten it back up. First time that's ever happened to us. It was nice of the guy to let us know. RVers and campers are always looking out you if they see something amiss.
I went back to get my phone to check the reservation confirmation email and, lo and behold, there are instructions on it not to use exit 141 but go to 135 because there's a low clearance issue in town. Duh, if I had read that we would have saved some grief. I saw the subject line of reservations confirmation and didn't take the time to read the whole thing. I've learned another lesson! I did go into the office and apologize for venting my frustrations at the poor guy.
The park is a typical KOA and is filled with cottonwood trees. The ground looks as if it has been snowing. It's not a great park, but works for a one-nighter. BTW, one boundary of the park is the railroad track! When Rog was looking at the GPS he commented that our destination looked as if it were sitting on the railroad tracks. Well, close!
Tomorrow's destination is a campground on the Yellowstone River about 20 miles south of Livingston, MT. We will be there two nights as it is time for a day of rest. Weather doesn't look like it will be terrific - rainy and cold, but maybe the forecast is wrong. Today we had a high of 88 - we haven't seen that since we left Iowa a couple weeks ago.
Sunday, June 25, 2017
Weather and Time Changes
We are back to Mountain Time tonight! Getting closer to home!
We left Minot around 9:30am. It was about 50 degrees, no wind, but very overcast. By the time we got several miles south of Minot we hit rain. It was intermittent and never very hard, but the roads were wet and Roger's clean truck and new RV got dirty :-/ Oh, well. It was bound to happen sooner or later.
We stopped for lunch just north of Bismarck, ND and it was raining and the temperature was 48 degrees. Needless to say we ate inside the RV. Once we turned west on I-94 it took about an hour before we encountered sunshine and this sculpture of flying geese (look closely and you may recognize the birds.)
We arrived in Dickinson, SD around 2pm, having gained an hour. It was sunny and 72 degrees. YAY!!! It will get cold tonight, but we are used to big temperature swings from night to mid day living in the desert. We were beginning to think North Dakota doesn't have summer.
The terrain between Minot and Bismarck is just lovely. Rolling farmland and ranches with bright yellow flowers filling the fields. I saw one patch from a distance and remarked at how beautiful it was and as we drove further there were more and more fields of these flowers. Of course I had to google, "what crop in North Dakota has bright yellow flowers?" Rapeseed - think canola oil. I learn something new every day!
There was a huge coal mining operation near Underwood, ND. you could see the processing buildings and streams of water vapor pouring into the sky from a long way. The Falkirk Coal Mine is a major producer of coal - surface mining not deep shafts.
Roger commented on how the terrain and distant horizon reminded him of the movie "Dances With Wolves." We love having the horizon so far away and not being in tree tunnels! North Dakota is absolutely beautiful - at least this time of year. We've spent more time here than ever before and that we would have ever thought we would. I've learned it's not a wasteland but is full of rivers, lakes and ponds and farmland. You can just picture the bison on the hillsides as you drive. We crossed the Missouri River a few times and the Lewis and Clark Trail. (Now that could be a crazy trip - follow the LCT from St. Joe, MO to Astoria, OR. Hmmm...)
As for the new RV: We absolutely love the automatic leveling system! What a hassle saver. I didn't have to go into the RV with a level and guess how many legos go under which side and then hope I'm right. If I'm not, Rog has to pull off and we have to adjust a layer. It sometimes is pretty stressful at the end of a long driving day depending on how many times I make him pull forward and then back up as I adjust the legos and then still have the RV not really level and doors swing open or closed. Once I even put the legos under the wrong side. That was a fun day! So this will save time and stress and the doors on the fridge and bedroom won't swing!
The shower is wonderful. Just like a real one in a house. I even have a seat/ledge in it so I can shave my legs easily. And, having a full sized porcelain toilet instead of a small plastic one, is a nicety for sure.
We discovered another amenity/upgrade today. The screen doors on RVs have a slide on it to open and reach through to the latch that opens the door. Often this slider doesn't get closed behind us as we go out and bugs come in. Well, the new RV has a little gizmo that sits on top of the latch handle and you just depress it without opening the slider! This is a wonderful invention. Trust me, it's exciting!
We know that the suspension on this rig is different from the other - some special new system for RVs - and I didn't find any doors open or anything having fallen off the counters, or things fall out on me when I opened a cupboard door. It seems to have made a nice difference in how little things were disturbed inside. Rog says it made for a more drive too.
Maggie doesn't like the uncarpeted flooring in the living room. She keeps curling up under the table where there is carpet or gets on the furniture. I brought her outside rug in tonight in hopes she will use it. We will put the big red/gold rug back down when we winter but for traveling it is too cumbersome for taking up and down. We have used it in last two RVs to save the living room carpet from dirt. Now it'll be used for a different purpose - to make sure Maggs is a happy camper.
Roger took some time today to put some plexiglass over the bottom of the screen door BEFORE Maggie rips out the screen! Preventative move rather than a repair. You can't even tell it's on there - at least until the scratches show up. We had to go out yesterday for errands and had to take the dog with us because we were afraid we would come home and find our new door demolished. Now we can go out without her and have peace of mind knowing that if she gets agitated we won't come home to a disaster like we did in Pensacola.
We are staying in the North Park Campground in Dickinson, ND. It's a large park with long pull pull throughs and wide roads. No trees in the park except along the perimeter where they have a dog walk and one strip along the road behind us. One side of the park is next to a business area and the other side is open fields of someone's farm. It's quiet and I'm not seeing too many lights. It's filling up pretty fast this evening. When we got here it was quite empty but now all the sites on our row are filled.
Tomorrow we are going to Miles City, MT for one night. We will pass through the Teddy Roosevelt National Park at Medora, ND on the way. We stopped there and did the tourist bit on our first RV trip in 2005 in our first little travel trailer. It's a nice place to visit, but once you've seen it..... Obviously Teddy liked it because he visited often and had a ranch there.
We left Minot around 9:30am. It was about 50 degrees, no wind, but very overcast. By the time we got several miles south of Minot we hit rain. It was intermittent and never very hard, but the roads were wet and Roger's clean truck and new RV got dirty :-/ Oh, well. It was bound to happen sooner or later.
We stopped for lunch just north of Bismarck, ND and it was raining and the temperature was 48 degrees. Needless to say we ate inside the RV. Once we turned west on I-94 it took about an hour before we encountered sunshine and this sculpture of flying geese (look closely and you may recognize the birds.)We arrived in Dickinson, SD around 2pm, having gained an hour. It was sunny and 72 degrees. YAY!!! It will get cold tonight, but we are used to big temperature swings from night to mid day living in the desert. We were beginning to think North Dakota doesn't have summer.
The terrain between Minot and Bismarck is just lovely. Rolling farmland and ranches with bright yellow flowers filling the fields. I saw one patch from a distance and remarked at how beautiful it was and as we drove further there were more and more fields of these flowers. Of course I had to google, "what crop in North Dakota has bright yellow flowers?" Rapeseed - think canola oil. I learn something new every day!
There was a huge coal mining operation near Underwood, ND. you could see the processing buildings and streams of water vapor pouring into the sky from a long way. The Falkirk Coal Mine is a major producer of coal - surface mining not deep shafts.
Roger commented on how the terrain and distant horizon reminded him of the movie "Dances With Wolves." We love having the horizon so far away and not being in tree tunnels! North Dakota is absolutely beautiful - at least this time of year. We've spent more time here than ever before and that we would have ever thought we would. I've learned it's not a wasteland but is full of rivers, lakes and ponds and farmland. You can just picture the bison on the hillsides as you drive. We crossed the Missouri River a few times and the Lewis and Clark Trail. (Now that could be a crazy trip - follow the LCT from St. Joe, MO to Astoria, OR. Hmmm...)
As for the new RV: We absolutely love the automatic leveling system! What a hassle saver. I didn't have to go into the RV with a level and guess how many legos go under which side and then hope I'm right. If I'm not, Rog has to pull off and we have to adjust a layer. It sometimes is pretty stressful at the end of a long driving day depending on how many times I make him pull forward and then back up as I adjust the legos and then still have the RV not really level and doors swing open or closed. Once I even put the legos under the wrong side. That was a fun day! So this will save time and stress and the doors on the fridge and bedroom won't swing!
The shower is wonderful. Just like a real one in a house. I even have a seat/ledge in it so I can shave my legs easily. And, having a full sized porcelain toilet instead of a small plastic one, is a nicety for sure.
We discovered another amenity/upgrade today. The screen doors on RVs have a slide on it to open and reach through to the latch that opens the door. Often this slider doesn't get closed behind us as we go out and bugs come in. Well, the new RV has a little gizmo that sits on top of the latch handle and you just depress it without opening the slider! This is a wonderful invention. Trust me, it's exciting!
We know that the suspension on this rig is different from the other - some special new system for RVs - and I didn't find any doors open or anything having fallen off the counters, or things fall out on me when I opened a cupboard door. It seems to have made a nice difference in how little things were disturbed inside. Rog says it made for a more drive too.
Maggie doesn't like the uncarpeted flooring in the living room. She keeps curling up under the table where there is carpet or gets on the furniture. I brought her outside rug in tonight in hopes she will use it. We will put the big red/gold rug back down when we winter but for traveling it is too cumbersome for taking up and down. We have used it in last two RVs to save the living room carpet from dirt. Now it'll be used for a different purpose - to make sure Maggs is a happy camper.
Roger took some time today to put some plexiglass over the bottom of the screen door BEFORE Maggie rips out the screen! Preventative move rather than a repair. You can't even tell it's on there - at least until the scratches show up. We had to go out yesterday for errands and had to take the dog with us because we were afraid we would come home and find our new door demolished. Now we can go out without her and have peace of mind knowing that if she gets agitated we won't come home to a disaster like we did in Pensacola.
We are staying in the North Park Campground in Dickinson, ND. It's a large park with long pull pull throughs and wide roads. No trees in the park except along the perimeter where they have a dog walk and one strip along the road behind us. One side of the park is next to a business area and the other side is open fields of someone's farm. It's quiet and I'm not seeing too many lights. It's filling up pretty fast this evening. When we got here it was quite empty but now all the sites on our row are filled.
 |
| The dog walk area across the road from our site. |
 |
| Happy Campers! |
Tomorrow we are going to Miles City, MT for one night. We will pass through the Teddy Roosevelt National Park at Medora, ND on the way. We stopped there and did the tourist bit on our first RV trip in 2005 in our first little travel trailer. It's a nice place to visit, but once you've seen it..... Obviously Teddy liked it because he visited often and had a ranch there.
Saturday, June 24, 2017
We Won't Be Doing This Again For a Very Long Time!
 |
| Our New Little House On Wheels |
We are finished moving in, though, and the new place is looking like ours. We have everything put away (although, locations of some items may be moved to more convenient places at a later date) and added our personal touches such as Roger's woodworking, flowers, wall decorations, clocks, etc. Now all we have to do is remember where we stashed everything.
We knew we were getting a smaller space, but I really didn't think that two feet in length would make much of a difference, but it does. Some spaces are a much tighter squeeze. The living room area is smaller, the kitchen is larger, the bathroom is smaller but has a full sized shower and toilet, and the bedroom seems larger. There was a king sized bed in it but we asked that it be taken out and our queen sized sleep number bed (that we just bought in December) be put in. That freed up about six inches on each side of the bed, which seems like a huge amount. I no longer have to turn sideways to walk between the bed and the closet. The bedroom closet is huge. Cupboard space is close to the same, but some spaces are narrow and deep and awkward to fill. The pantry is wonderful! I no longer have to sit on the floor to get foodstuffs out of the cupboard and it has a light in it that has a motion sensor. I love the pantry. I have a handrail at the stairs and a small light on them that comes on at night. No more falling down them when I miss a step. We are back to a couch and two recliners. They call them theater seats and they have a heat setting for achy muscles and backs. We've already used that feature! We really like the combination of light and dark wood throughout.
Roger doesn't have as much basement space, so right now it looks like Fibber McGee's closet but neatly packed in. He's got some serious work to do when we get to Arizona to get it organized again.
Yesterday we had an 8 AM appointment to do a walk-through of the new unit. Maggie went with us, of course, and she was such a good dog and made lots of friends. She even got treats. She was a bit stressed though when we started working and curled up in her bed in the old rig. At one point she went outside and sat on the cold cement watching us going in and out with her ears down and looking very pathetic.
Did I mention cold? Yesterday was about 60 degrees and the wind was blowing at about 30mph.
Once the walk-through was over, they pulled the old rig into the bay next to the new one and switched the wheels/tires for us (we just bought new tires in March and didn't want the Chinese tires that were standard equipment on our new rig ). Once that was done, they put the two rigs outside, head to tail so that the doors were opposite each other to make it easier for us to move our things. They moved the mattresses for us but after that we, of course, were on our own. Each RV has a four step entry and then three inside up to the bedroom. We certainly got our stair stepper points yesterday. (read Sore Quads.) At one point, Roger decided he would bring the stuff out of the old one and hand it to me to put in the new one. He did a lot more steps than I did, though. We finally finished about 2pm after a quick sandwich around lunch time. Since we had our food with us, it wasn't a problem.
We came back to the RV park and continued the process of putting stuff away. Rog would bring me a bag from the basement and I'd find somewhere to put the contents. We finally quit about 7:30 and just crashed in our chairs. Tired, sore, and still wondering what the heck we had done and why.
This morning Roger put away all the basement things that he had left outside at the campsite. It was colder today. It hovered around 55 all day with strong winds. He was out there in his winter sweatshirt, hat and gloves. This afternoon he did things like put up the key rack, put the hand rail bar on the door, put up our bedroom reading lights (the ones in RVs are too bright and not in the right place for us), and then he hauled the boxes and tubs that were loaned to us back to the campground manager's. We both stayed busy until dinner time.
After lunch we went out for groceries for us and Maggie food, too. The bag of dog food we bought a week or so ago got put in the basement under a bunch of stuff so it was easier just to go buy a new bag. As I came out of the grocery store, this dog greeted me! Prepping to move:
 |
| Out one and into the other at the dealer. |
We had a few things to put away:
Many hours later, everything in it's place - or close to it:
 |
| All Settled In Her New House |
We start our journey home tomorrow with a short drive (about 120 miles) to see how the new rig handles. Although the rig is shorter, it is heavier. Rog now has a back up camera on it, so he can see behind the RV when parking it. He's going to like that! Hopefully the wind will die down and it will be a bit warmer so we can enjoy the trip without the stress of head winds.
Thursday, June 22, 2017
Hurry Up and Wait
We worked hard all morning packing up and getting ready. Rog packed most of it in the basement so it's out of the way and we can just move it inside as we unpack it. Sure seems like a lot considering how small this place is. Closet floor is full as well as the shower! Lets just hope there's places to put all of this in the new rig! There's only so much we can do until tomorrow since we have to close the sliders to move. We have to use lots of small containers as we can't lift anything heavy. More trips in and out but we won't throw our backs out!
This afternoon we spent sitting around inside looking at the mess. Drove us crazy. We couldn't be outside because the wind was/is blowing so hard. Weather Channel app says it is blowing at 30mph and gusting to 60mph. Maggie didn't even want to be outside. It's not supposed to let up until tomorrow afternoon some time. That will make three days of it. It's getting on our nerves for sure.
We are due at the dealership at 8am tomorrow for a walk-thru of the new rig. It's going to be a long, busy day. Not sure I'll be up to writing anything tomorrow night, but will try to get some photos during the day for the next blog post.
 |
| Piling stuff up outside so we don't have to take it with us to the dealership in the morning. |
This afternoon we spent sitting around inside looking at the mess. Drove us crazy. We couldn't be outside because the wind was/is blowing so hard. Weather Channel app says it is blowing at 30mph and gusting to 60mph. Maggie didn't even want to be outside. It's not supposed to let up until tomorrow afternoon some time. That will make three days of it. It's getting on our nerves for sure.
We are due at the dealership at 8am tomorrow for a walk-thru of the new rig. It's going to be a long, busy day. Not sure I'll be up to writing anything tomorrow night, but will try to get some photos during the day for the next blog post.
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
Sitting and Waiting is Getting Old
Today should be our last day of non-activity. It really is wearing sitting around without much to do. Tomorrow we can start putting things in bags and boxes for the move on Friday. The campground manager has offered us boxes for dishes and the like, so that will help. We've gone through all the cupboards and cubby holes and we pretty much need everything else that's left in the RV.
We did go out for lunch yesterday. We went to a home store to get a piece of plexiglass to cover the screen door right away in case Maggie decides she doesn't like being left in the new house when we go out for groceries or whatever. Today we found a funky restaurant in the old industrial area near the river in downtown Minot. They served good wood fired oven pizza but the place was way too noisy for us. We stopped at the Target for a couple of little items. That's been the excitement. Well, Maggie is keeping us entertained as all she wants to do is play ball. That takes up some hours of the day!
I did spend another several hours this afternoon on the computer, with the map next to me on the couch, plotting stops to get home. Every time I think I have distance figured out, there's no campground around, or if there is, we don't want to be there because of bad reviews. This time I started backward from Sparks which helped a little. The biggest issue right now is that everyone and their half brother are camping right now and especially next week. Got turned down by several places that I called for the weekend before the holiday. It's a bad time to be on the road if you haven't made reservations early. I did finally manage to secure places to stay from now until we get home. Rog will have to drive 3 days, rest a day, drive two days, rest a day, drive two days and be home. Home on the 3rd of July. It's about 1,500 miles from here to Sparks through Montana and Idaho.
We are estimating this trip will be a total of about 7,000 miles from start to finish and will have taken 66 days. We did spend 22 of them in Pensacola, FL, 5 in Houghton, MI, and 10 here in Minot, ND - so about half of them not on the road.
The campground managers here have been so great and very helpful. This has turned out to be a good place to have to sit for a while. I definitely will be writing some excellent park reviews for Good Sam and RVParkReviews for them. One of the real pluses has been that the wifi has been excellent. We are right next door to the office and the wifi antenna and we've experienced no issues with it at all. Rog has even been able to watch You Tube videos on some of the features of the new RV that we haven't had before. He's been studying!
Very windy and warm today - it got up to abut 82. We expect more wind tomorrow but cooler temps. Friday for the move it's not supposed to get to 70, which I think will be good because we will be working hard.
We did go out for lunch yesterday. We went to a home store to get a piece of plexiglass to cover the screen door right away in case Maggie decides she doesn't like being left in the new house when we go out for groceries or whatever. Today we found a funky restaurant in the old industrial area near the river in downtown Minot. They served good wood fired oven pizza but the place was way too noisy for us. We stopped at the Target for a couple of little items. That's been the excitement. Well, Maggie is keeping us entertained as all she wants to do is play ball. That takes up some hours of the day!
I did spend another several hours this afternoon on the computer, with the map next to me on the couch, plotting stops to get home. Every time I think I have distance figured out, there's no campground around, or if there is, we don't want to be there because of bad reviews. This time I started backward from Sparks which helped a little. The biggest issue right now is that everyone and their half brother are camping right now and especially next week. Got turned down by several places that I called for the weekend before the holiday. It's a bad time to be on the road if you haven't made reservations early. I did finally manage to secure places to stay from now until we get home. Rog will have to drive 3 days, rest a day, drive two days, rest a day, drive two days and be home. Home on the 3rd of July. It's about 1,500 miles from here to Sparks through Montana and Idaho.
We are estimating this trip will be a total of about 7,000 miles from start to finish and will have taken 66 days. We did spend 22 of them in Pensacola, FL, 5 in Houghton, MI, and 10 here in Minot, ND - so about half of them not on the road.
The campground managers here have been so great and very helpful. This has turned out to be a good place to have to sit for a while. I definitely will be writing some excellent park reviews for Good Sam and RVParkReviews for them. One of the real pluses has been that the wifi has been excellent. We are right next door to the office and the wifi antenna and we've experienced no issues with it at all. Rog has even been able to watch You Tube videos on some of the features of the new RV that we haven't had before. He's been studying!
Very windy and warm today - it got up to abut 82. We expect more wind tomorrow but cooler temps. Friday for the move it's not supposed to get to 70, which I think will be good because we will be working hard.
Monday, June 19, 2017
We Are Now Committed or Maybe We Should Be :-)
We signed the paperwork this afternoon for our new little house on wheels. We can't back out now. It was stressful enough we stopped at Panera Bread on the way home and got an order of comfort food to take out - mac and cheese.
We spent about an hour in the new rig measuring and taking pictures so we could plan the move better. Rog left the flashlight he took and I left the camera on the sink in the building's restroom. Nice work on both our parts! We did get a better idea of what will go where, though. It will be a challenge as some of the cupboards are smaller/narrower, but we will figure it out. There are lots of shelves in the closet - but they won't be really convenient to get to once we hang clothes in there. Shall see how it works out. I thought the fridge was going to be stainless steel but it is black.
One of the ladies who worked with us on the paperwork just moved back here from Reno so we had a conversation while we waited for the finance manager to do her thing. This young lady is a graduate of UNR and said she was thrilled to meet fellow alums. Go Pack!
Walk-thru the new rig is 8am on Friday and then we start doing the shuffling of stuff from one to the other. We are making progress on the purging but are not quite finished. Still have three days to get our act together.
I plotted out our route and stops to get home - leaving here on Sunday morning. Then I called the Sparks Marina RV Park to see what they had available the week of the 4th so I could back into those dates - totally afraid that they would be booked solid all week. Surprisingly we got reservations for the nights of the 3rd and 4th! We can move our clothes/food/ meds/etc to the house and Roger can dump tanks and prepare the RV for storage. Tomorrow my mission is to find a place to store the RV for four months. Keeping our fingers crossed.
Weather today is, again, cool, breezy and about a high of 72. Wednesday is supposed to get to 82. Rog thinks that is their one day of summer.
Today our geese were in the water. There are four families with goslings of different ages.
We spent about an hour in the new rig measuring and taking pictures so we could plan the move better. Rog left the flashlight he took and I left the camera on the sink in the building's restroom. Nice work on both our parts! We did get a better idea of what will go where, though. It will be a challenge as some of the cupboards are smaller/narrower, but we will figure it out. There are lots of shelves in the closet - but they won't be really convenient to get to once we hang clothes in there. Shall see how it works out. I thought the fridge was going to be stainless steel but it is black.
One of the ladies who worked with us on the paperwork just moved back here from Reno so we had a conversation while we waited for the finance manager to do her thing. This young lady is a graduate of UNR and said she was thrilled to meet fellow alums. Go Pack!
Walk-thru the new rig is 8am on Friday and then we start doing the shuffling of stuff from one to the other. We are making progress on the purging but are not quite finished. Still have three days to get our act together.
I plotted out our route and stops to get home - leaving here on Sunday morning. Then I called the Sparks Marina RV Park to see what they had available the week of the 4th so I could back into those dates - totally afraid that they would be booked solid all week. Surprisingly we got reservations for the nights of the 3rd and 4th! We can move our clothes/food/ meds/etc to the house and Roger can dump tanks and prepare the RV for storage. Tomorrow my mission is to find a place to store the RV for four months. Keeping our fingers crossed.
Weather today is, again, cool, breezy and about a high of 72. Wednesday is supposed to get to 82. Rog thinks that is their one day of summer. Today our geese were in the water. There are four families with goslings of different ages.
Sunday, June 18, 2017
Sunday in Minot
 |
| Our resident gaggle of Canada geese |
The geese all headed for the water when they saw us coming this morning. We weren't even close to them but they weren't taking any chances when they saw Maggie. The young ones are almost as big as the adults but you can tell they are still learning the ropes.
Minot AFB is about 15 miles north of town. It was a pretty drive out there this morning. I'm still amazed at how green North Dakota is. Never would have thought it. We shopped at the exchange, had lunch in the food court, and then went and "made groceries" at the commissary. Nothing special, but it got us out and about. This could be a really get to be a long week waiting for the new RV. We need to find something to do every day.
Roger spent the afternoon cleaning out the basement and I did a little clearing out in the RV. We took several full trash bags over to the dumpster, so we are making progress. No hurry - we have all week.
I spent most of my afternoon on the computer updating and organizing the password application that we use to store our passwords. Very exciting - not. Something to do and it did need doing.
Weather is still cool. It didn't get to 70 again today, we had mostly cloudy skies with a few raindrops and some thunder later this afternoon. We're beginning to think this is typical for here in June. The furnace is running in the wee hours of the morning and we are turning on the "fireplace" when we get up and have our morning beverages.
Roger talked to Mike, Pam and Stephanie so far today - Father's Day calls. We expect to hear from Andy and Tony later. Everyone is doing great! Stephanie says she needs positive vibes sent her way to help with finding a job! So, if you have any spare positive vibes please help her find some employment.
Saturday, June 17, 2017
We Didn't Get Much Sleep Last Night
I don't know what was keeping Roger awake early this morning - maybe me tossing and turning, maybe thinking about what we did yesterday - but I was awake for several hours during the middle of the night and into the wee hours of dawn. I was mentally putting stuff away in the new RV and thinking of the logistics for the transfer of our possessions! I think I have most of it figured out and I'm exhausted today. Monday when we go to sign the final paperwork, I need to go inside the RV and do due diligence on checking out the cupboards. I'm afraid I was spending too much time oohing and aahing over the upgrades, whistles and bells, that I only did a cursory accounting of the number of cupboards and where they are. Shame on me.
We talked with the campground host this morning and we will be allowed to empty a lot of stuff from our basement (tables/chairs/tubs of stuff) and leave it all at the site when we go to do the transfer. It should make it easier and less hurried when we put it all in the new rig when we get back. She said she wouldn't put anyone in the site next to us to make it easier. Nice lady.
I started in on the purge today and cleaned out a few cupboards and drawers. I tossed some stuff and took about a dozen books over to the laundry room. I pick the books up in laundry rooms on our travels and think we are going to read them - and sometimes we do - but there were some in there that we've been carrying around for years. If we haven't read them by now most likely we won't.
While I was loading the book shelves in the laundry room there was a man sitting at the table working on his computer. He noted the number of books and asked if I liked to read. He's published four books and is on a tour of independent book stores to do signings. He had copies of them in the office and I looked at them - they looked fairly interesting but I wasn't going to pay $20/ea for them. One has won awards for "new indie author" according to the cover. (Listener in the Snow) He writes mysteries set in Wisconsin and Minnesota - his characters are Finns and Native Americans. Tim Jollymore. His card says you can find his books at independent booksellers. He is traveling in his SUV and tent camping on a tour of 36 cities to promote his books. He said last year he did 54 stops. His website: www.finnswaybooks.com Interesting gentleman. I told him I was in a mystery book group through the life-long learning program at the university in Reno when I wasn't on the road, and when I told him how many participants there were he offered to come talk to the group if they choose one of his books. I'll give the info to the facilitator and see what happens.
Woke up this morning to find this bus parked next to us. Really a bus - has the folding doors at the front and everything. Windows were all covered, so couldn't see inside, darn. A homemade RV for sure. We saw an older gentleman come out and inspect something in the rear and then he drove away. We were wondering if he did the graphics himself.
We felt as if we were back in Santee in the winter today. It was cool (didn't make 70), overcast and/or it rained. Even Maggie didn't want to go walking.
Yesterday coming back from the laundry room in the rain I slipped on the steps coming into the RV and caught my toe on the threshold. I went down with a thud as I catapulted into the RV. Rog saw it happen and was afraid I had broken my wrist when he saw me go down. Fortunately, nothing is broken, but I was "all stove up" the rest of the day and have bruises today to remind me to not hurry in the rain - it gets slippery out.
It's not supposed to rain tomorrow so we will get out for lunch at least. There is an Air Force Base here, so maybe we will go check out the base exchange just for entertainment. Don't want to buy anything as we already have enough money to transfer around on Friday! Shall see how that goes.
We talked with the campground host this morning and we will be allowed to empty a lot of stuff from our basement (tables/chairs/tubs of stuff) and leave it all at the site when we go to do the transfer. It should make it easier and less hurried when we put it all in the new rig when we get back. She said she wouldn't put anyone in the site next to us to make it easier. Nice lady.
I started in on the purge today and cleaned out a few cupboards and drawers. I tossed some stuff and took about a dozen books over to the laundry room. I pick the books up in laundry rooms on our travels and think we are going to read them - and sometimes we do - but there were some in there that we've been carrying around for years. If we haven't read them by now most likely we won't.
While I was loading the book shelves in the laundry room there was a man sitting at the table working on his computer. He noted the number of books and asked if I liked to read. He's published four books and is on a tour of independent book stores to do signings. He had copies of them in the office and I looked at them - they looked fairly interesting but I wasn't going to pay $20/ea for them. One has won awards for "new indie author" according to the cover. (Listener in the Snow) He writes mysteries set in Wisconsin and Minnesota - his characters are Finns and Native Americans. Tim Jollymore. His card says you can find his books at independent booksellers. He is traveling in his SUV and tent camping on a tour of 36 cities to promote his books. He said last year he did 54 stops. His website: www.finnswaybooks.com Interesting gentleman. I told him I was in a mystery book group through the life-long learning program at the university in Reno when I wasn't on the road, and when I told him how many participants there were he offered to come talk to the group if they choose one of his books. I'll give the info to the facilitator and see what happens.
Woke up this morning to find this bus parked next to us. Really a bus - has the folding doors at the front and everything. Windows were all covered, so couldn't see inside, darn. A homemade RV for sure. We saw an older gentleman come out and inspect something in the rear and then he drove away. We were wondering if he did the graphics himself. We felt as if we were back in Santee in the winter today. It was cool (didn't make 70), overcast and/or it rained. Even Maggie didn't want to go walking.
Yesterday coming back from the laundry room in the rain I slipped on the steps coming into the RV and caught my toe on the threshold. I went down with a thud as I catapulted into the RV. Rog saw it happen and was afraid I had broken my wrist when he saw me go down. Fortunately, nothing is broken, but I was "all stove up" the rest of the day and have bruises today to remind me to not hurry in the rain - it gets slippery out.
It's not supposed to rain tomorrow so we will get out for lunch at least. There is an Air Force Base here, so maybe we will go check out the base exchange just for entertainment. Don't want to buy anything as we already have enough money to transfer around on Friday! Shall see how that goes.
Friday, June 16, 2017
We Will Be In Minot, ND for Another Week!
We went out this morning to buy a new surge protector for the RV. Only one RV parts place in town and it just happened to be a dealer, so that's where we went. Bought a new 5th Wheel but no surge protector (they didn't have any). Yep, we did it. It won't be ready to be delivered until next Friday. Fortunately we are in a fairly nice campground and they had no problem letting us stay!
We looked at the new version of what we have (Montana High Country) and it was pretty much what we expected. Then we were shown another brand and it already had everything on it we wanted and it felt more solid. It's a bit smaller - ours is 342 sq ft of living area and the new one is 337. It is 2 feet shorter (35.5ft), but is a bit heavier. Being sold in this area it is heavily insulated, which is one of the things I was looking for. So.... we sign the papers on Monday and take delivery on Friday and leave on Saturday morning.
What we bought was a Grand Design Reflection 337RLS. Here's a link to The New RV.
We are now recovering from this morning's moment of insanity and trying to figure out what we can purge before we start shifting all of our stuff into the new one on Friday. Cupboard/closet/basement space is configured differently so we aren't sure if we have same amount of storage or less. We are guessing a bit less, so we need to do some culling!
Now, to figure out what to do with ourselves for the next six days!
We looked at the new version of what we have (Montana High Country) and it was pretty much what we expected. Then we were shown another brand and it already had everything on it we wanted and it felt more solid. It's a bit smaller - ours is 342 sq ft of living area and the new one is 337. It is 2 feet shorter (35.5ft), but is a bit heavier. Being sold in this area it is heavily insulated, which is one of the things I was looking for. So.... we sign the papers on Monday and take delivery on Friday and leave on Saturday morning.
What we bought was a Grand Design Reflection 337RLS. Here's a link to The New RV.
We are now recovering from this morning's moment of insanity and trying to figure out what we can purge before we start shifting all of our stuff into the new one on Friday. Cupboard/closet/basement space is configured differently so we aren't sure if we have same amount of storage or less. We are guessing a bit less, so we need to do some culling!
Now, to figure out what to do with ourselves for the next six days!
Thursday, June 15, 2017
We were the last of the transients to get out of that park in Grand Forks this morning and we left at 8:30. The smell was still there and the place was still creepy. Glad to see that place in our rear view mirrors!
Rog was so tired today from bucking 25-30mph head winds all day. It was a chore keeping the truck and RV on the road and in our lane. Big Blue sucked down fuel like there was no tomorrow. We stopped for lunch and another RV pulled in at the same time. He was griping to Rog about it being his second day of driving into the wind and he was getting 7mpg on his truck. We averaged 10.6 when our normal is about 14. The wind was strong and it was constant. Very draining on us.
We stopped at a nice road side rest next to a small lake for lunch, but had to eat inside because of the wind. See the waves on the water? The temperature was about 67. The majority of today the scenery was farms and small lakes and wetlands. I was surprised at how much water there was everywhere. I guess I didn't think of North Dakota as being wet, but it is (at least where we were) and very green. There were lots of ducks, geese, egrets, red-winged blackbirds, sea gulls, and I even saw a yellow-breasted black bird - something I've not seen before. It was quite beautiful. There were a few hawks but I'm not sure what kind - small ones, though. Rog said the drive was boring today, but since I get to watch more than the road, I didn't find it so.
In a small town called Rugby on US2 is this monument claiming that the town is the Geographic Center of North America. There were also signs there with mileages that didn't quite make sense to us, but maybe has something to do with the way things are measured. 
I
Curiosity got me again because the signs didn't seem right so this evening I googled Geographic Center of North America in North Dakota and this is a link to what I found. Seems this site was determined in 1931 and new measurements show it is not correct. A small town nearby called, of all things, Center, actually is the center. Interesting article if you want to click on the link above. Rugby isn't tearing down their monument, though.
As I always write down the address of where we are going so that when we set out I can enter it in SAL. Most of the time it works - especially if I put in the correct address. Well, today's destination was a little tricky. Minot, ND has two 500 54th Streets. I chose the wrong one. One had SW and one had NW. We ended up turning at a rather strange place in town and then down a residential street. Seemed wrong, but we couldn't figure out what the problem was. I googled RoughRider Campground on the phone and it came up something different than what SAL had. Then I entered the campground name in SAL and the two devices finally agreed. The campground is in the NW part of the city, not the SW. Oh, well, saw some interesting areas and got Roger's blood pressure up all at one time!
The campground is a pretty nice one and I'll post photos tomorrow. We have a nice view of a ranch across the road with cows and horses. No bugs to mention - they probably don't like the wind, either. But, when the wind is just right there is a faint manure smell. I hear trains but no road noise. There's a small creek bordering one side with a gaggle of Canadian geese on the banks.
As we pulled in and were just about hooked up the skies opened up and dumped on Roger for about 15 minutes. This was after he couldn't get the power to turn on with the 50 amp breaker. He tried the 30 amp breaker. Nada. Great - we are already unhooked from the truck and leveled. He did stop to think for a minute as to what the issue was and figured it might be our surge protector had blown. He took it off and plugged in without it and we had power. He then tried the surge protector on other power poles and got nothing. So, tomorrow we will be trying to find a RV accessory place so we can replace it. It'll only be about $300. Have to have it, though. Lost a microwave once (more than $300 to replace) because of power fluctuation before we invested in one.
Now the water ??? leaks. He can't figure out why. It just started yesterday. He wanted a beer or two tonight but settled for a cup of chamomile tea to calm down after this day of work, confusion, and busted stuff.
We are staying here tomorrow - it's our rest day after three days on the road. We'll be doing laundry and looking for an RV parts store.
P.S. passed 5,000 on the trip odometer yesterday.
Rog was so tired today from bucking 25-30mph head winds all day. It was a chore keeping the truck and RV on the road and in our lane. Big Blue sucked down fuel like there was no tomorrow. We stopped for lunch and another RV pulled in at the same time. He was griping to Rog about it being his second day of driving into the wind and he was getting 7mpg on his truck. We averaged 10.6 when our normal is about 14. The wind was strong and it was constant. Very draining on us.
We stopped at a nice road side rest next to a small lake for lunch, but had to eat inside because of the wind. See the waves on the water? The temperature was about 67. The majority of today the scenery was farms and small lakes and wetlands. I was surprised at how much water there was everywhere. I guess I didn't think of North Dakota as being wet, but it is (at least where we were) and very green. There were lots of ducks, geese, egrets, red-winged blackbirds, sea gulls, and I even saw a yellow-breasted black bird - something I've not seen before. It was quite beautiful. There were a few hawks but I'm not sure what kind - small ones, though. Rog said the drive was boring today, but since I get to watch more than the road, I didn't find it so.
In a small town called Rugby on US2 is this monument claiming that the town is the Geographic Center of North America. There were also signs there with mileages that didn't quite make sense to us, but maybe has something to do with the way things are measured. 
I Curiosity got me again because the signs didn't seem right so this evening I googled Geographic Center of North America in North Dakota and this is a link to what I found. Seems this site was determined in 1931 and new measurements show it is not correct. A small town nearby called, of all things, Center, actually is the center. Interesting article if you want to click on the link above. Rugby isn't tearing down their monument, though.
As I always write down the address of where we are going so that when we set out I can enter it in SAL. Most of the time it works - especially if I put in the correct address. Well, today's destination was a little tricky. Minot, ND has two 500 54th Streets. I chose the wrong one. One had SW and one had NW. We ended up turning at a rather strange place in town and then down a residential street. Seemed wrong, but we couldn't figure out what the problem was. I googled RoughRider Campground on the phone and it came up something different than what SAL had. Then I entered the campground name in SAL and the two devices finally agreed. The campground is in the NW part of the city, not the SW. Oh, well, saw some interesting areas and got Roger's blood pressure up all at one time!
The campground is a pretty nice one and I'll post photos tomorrow. We have a nice view of a ranch across the road with cows and horses. No bugs to mention - they probably don't like the wind, either. But, when the wind is just right there is a faint manure smell. I hear trains but no road noise. There's a small creek bordering one side with a gaggle of Canadian geese on the banks.
As we pulled in and were just about hooked up the skies opened up and dumped on Roger for about 15 minutes. This was after he couldn't get the power to turn on with the 50 amp breaker. He tried the 30 amp breaker. Nada. Great - we are already unhooked from the truck and leveled. He did stop to think for a minute as to what the issue was and figured it might be our surge protector had blown. He took it off and plugged in without it and we had power. He then tried the surge protector on other power poles and got nothing. So, tomorrow we will be trying to find a RV accessory place so we can replace it. It'll only be about $300. Have to have it, though. Lost a microwave once (more than $300 to replace) because of power fluctuation before we invested in one.
Now the water ??? leaks. He can't figure out why. It just started yesterday. He wanted a beer or two tonight but settled for a cup of chamomile tea to calm down after this day of work, confusion, and busted stuff.
We are staying here tomorrow - it's our rest day after three days on the road. We'll be doing laundry and looking for an RV parts store.
P.S. passed 5,000 on the trip odometer yesterday.
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
So, Where's the Scenery?
We are taking US 2 because: a) we've been told it's an awesome drive across some beautiful countryside, and b) the road map shows it as a scenic drive. Well, it's hard to see the scenery when it's all behind trees. What has been nice, though, is seeing the small towns, not having to go through major cities, and having only minor truck traffic. When you can get a glimpse of the lakes and countryside, it is beautiful.
The first third of the drive was hilly and forested and the small towns we encountered looked as if they had been forgotten by the world. Small industries and shut down store fronts.
We crossed into the Fond Du Lac Chippewa's reservation and we started seeing lakes through the trees and signs for resorts on the lakes, but never the resort. Looks as if the main "industry" is fishing, spending time on the lake at a resort, and outfitting those who want to go into the woods. We passed a lot of lakes - or at least signs to them. (Minnesota's slogan just may be correct!) We crossed into the Leech Lake Tribe's reservation and it was the same geography, but more lakes. As we got to the edge of the Chippewa National Forest, we then entered the Red River Tribe's area. As the land was becoming more flat, we started seeing ranches and some farms. Each reservation has a casino - again we stopped in one for lunch in the parking lot. We encountered swarms of dragonflies the size of our hands. Maggie just looked confused trying to figure out whether she should ignore them or chase them. Three out of four pick up trucks we saw were towing fishing boats. Roger commented at one time, "There goes Virgil Flowers." If you've read any John Sandford books, you will know who he's talking about.
I spotted a HUGE nest up in the top of a dead tree and as we got closer we saw two bald eagles. One was perched on a branch and the other standing on the nest. Bet there were babies up there!
Birds - a side note here - We have seen many different kinds, but I think that this trip through the farmlands has produced the most sitings of red-winged blackbirds I have ever had on any trip. They are more numerous than crows and are much prettier!
Lots of logging going on in these forests and there was a huge paper mill in one of the towns. When we got to Bemidji there were all kinds of signs referencing Paul Bunyan and Babe, so in the 1800s this area must have really seen a lot of logging.
The last third of the drive today was flat and full of farms. I'm assuming sugar beets because I saw a Sugar Beet Museum as we passed through one town. Sugar beets and alfalfa seemed to be the crops of choice.
We crossed the Mississippi River twice and saw a sign pointing to a small lake that is the headwaters for the river. At this latitude the river is only a few feet across and it's hard to imagine that it will become the giant river that it does.
Wind - we had a headwind most of the day - a pretty strong one. The winds are following that big storm system from yesterday. As we got closer to Grand Forks, SD (where we are staying tonight) I saw lots of toppled and broken trees. Here in the RV park the place is littered with broken cottonwood branches. The young woman in the office said that they had 80mph winds here with that storm system yesterday. We had overcast skies and cool temperatures this morning when we left Duluth, but as we came west the sky cleared and the temps got up into the 70s. The big deal today was wind.
We are in a campground just south of Grand Forks, ND called the Grand Forks Campground. It is a former KOA (the building gives it away) and is pretty disreputable looking. It's near the highway, has many permanent residents, and has a weird odor. It is surrounded by sugar beet farms so may be the smell is from that - although I know what manure smells like and this isn't it. There is farming equipment spread out all over the place, and some broken down trucks parked off to one side. There are plenty of spaces for over-nighter's and we've already got several neighbors in the transient side of the park. We did get a long pull-through with full hookups. Half the site is under water from the storm and the utilities are, again, a long way away. Rog managed to get situated so that everything reached and the entry steps are on dry land. We didn't put down the stabilizers in back because there was too much water to wade through to get to them. Let's just say it's not one of our favorite places we've stayed on this trip, but better than a couple of them.
We took some time to reevaluate our route from here. The plan was (and is still) to continue on US2 to Minot, ND and then drop down to I-94 from there. Since we haven't seen the "awesomeness" of US2 yet I thought maybe Roger would like to go down the interstate and catch I94 at Fargo. After looking at the wind forecast he opted to continue on our original plan. Better, he says to face strong headwinds than have strong sidewinds. The wind forecast for tomorrow is 15-25mph coming directly from the west. As it did today, the truck will probably suck down a whole bunch of fuel bucking the wind.
I'll be giving Roger a haircut tonight before he takes his shower. Wish he could do the same for me. The minute I figure out what day we return to Sparks is the minute I call Jill, my haircut lady! Up until now the longer hair hasn't been an issue - it loves the humidity and stayed nice and wavy/curly. Now that we are getting to the drier climate, it's not looking so good.
The first third of the drive was hilly and forested and the small towns we encountered looked as if they had been forgotten by the world. Small industries and shut down store fronts.
We crossed into the Fond Du Lac Chippewa's reservation and we started seeing lakes through the trees and signs for resorts on the lakes, but never the resort. Looks as if the main "industry" is fishing, spending time on the lake at a resort, and outfitting those who want to go into the woods. We passed a lot of lakes - or at least signs to them. (Minnesota's slogan just may be correct!) We crossed into the Leech Lake Tribe's reservation and it was the same geography, but more lakes. As we got to the edge of the Chippewa National Forest, we then entered the Red River Tribe's area. As the land was becoming more flat, we started seeing ranches and some farms. Each reservation has a casino - again we stopped in one for lunch in the parking lot. We encountered swarms of dragonflies the size of our hands. Maggie just looked confused trying to figure out whether she should ignore them or chase them. Three out of four pick up trucks we saw were towing fishing boats. Roger commented at one time, "There goes Virgil Flowers." If you've read any John Sandford books, you will know who he's talking about.
I spotted a HUGE nest up in the top of a dead tree and as we got closer we saw two bald eagles. One was perched on a branch and the other standing on the nest. Bet there were babies up there!
Birds - a side note here - We have seen many different kinds, but I think that this trip through the farmlands has produced the most sitings of red-winged blackbirds I have ever had on any trip. They are more numerous than crows and are much prettier!
Lots of logging going on in these forests and there was a huge paper mill in one of the towns. When we got to Bemidji there were all kinds of signs referencing Paul Bunyan and Babe, so in the 1800s this area must have really seen a lot of logging.
The last third of the drive today was flat and full of farms. I'm assuming sugar beets because I saw a Sugar Beet Museum as we passed through one town. Sugar beets and alfalfa seemed to be the crops of choice.
We crossed the Mississippi River twice and saw a sign pointing to a small lake that is the headwaters for the river. At this latitude the river is only a few feet across and it's hard to imagine that it will become the giant river that it does.
Wind - we had a headwind most of the day - a pretty strong one. The winds are following that big storm system from yesterday. As we got closer to Grand Forks, SD (where we are staying tonight) I saw lots of toppled and broken trees. Here in the RV park the place is littered with broken cottonwood branches. The young woman in the office said that they had 80mph winds here with that storm system yesterday. We had overcast skies and cool temperatures this morning when we left Duluth, but as we came west the sky cleared and the temps got up into the 70s. The big deal today was wind.
We are in a campground just south of Grand Forks, ND called the Grand Forks Campground. It is a former KOA (the building gives it away) and is pretty disreputable looking. It's near the highway, has many permanent residents, and has a weird odor. It is surrounded by sugar beet farms so may be the smell is from that - although I know what manure smells like and this isn't it. There is farming equipment spread out all over the place, and some broken down trucks parked off to one side. There are plenty of spaces for over-nighter's and we've already got several neighbors in the transient side of the park. We did get a long pull-through with full hookups. Half the site is under water from the storm and the utilities are, again, a long way away. Rog managed to get situated so that everything reached and the entry steps are on dry land. We didn't put down the stabilizers in back because there was too much water to wade through to get to them. Let's just say it's not one of our favorite places we've stayed on this trip, but better than a couple of them.
We took some time to reevaluate our route from here. The plan was (and is still) to continue on US2 to Minot, ND and then drop down to I-94 from there. Since we haven't seen the "awesomeness" of US2 yet I thought maybe Roger would like to go down the interstate and catch I94 at Fargo. After looking at the wind forecast he opted to continue on our original plan. Better, he says to face strong headwinds than have strong sidewinds. The wind forecast for tomorrow is 15-25mph coming directly from the west. As it did today, the truck will probably suck down a whole bunch of fuel bucking the wind.
I'll be giving Roger a haircut tonight before he takes his shower. Wish he could do the same for me. The minute I figure out what day we return to Sparks is the minute I call Jill, my haircut lady! Up until now the longer hair hasn't been an issue - it loves the humidity and stayed nice and wavy/curly. Now that we are getting to the drier climate, it's not looking so good.
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
This Is The Craziest Campground Setup We've Ever Had
Does something look a little strange here? Take a minute and it will come to you! 
Look how far away the utility pole is and what side of the RV it is on (note the location of the stairs and the rear of the truck). This is the only water/electric pull through site in the campground. (We didn't need sewer tonight.) We were told to pull in heading in this direction because of the utilities. Rog said, "No way, that's crazy. I'll go in the opposite direction so they are on the correct side." So, we did. That placed the utility pole so far away that neither our power cord nor our hose reached the RV. We pulled out, drove around the outside circle of the park twice before we ended up driving across another site so we could pull in the original direction. The roads and sites are all screwy. Rog still had to break out a brand new water hose he had for emergencies because the one we normally use wasn't long enough. It's a good thing we didn't need a sewer hook up because if there had been one, it, too, would have been out of reach for us. Crazy. Looking around, it's a very nice, clean, well maintained park, but you can't see where any of the sites are. There's poles with site numbers and picnic tables and fire rings and utility poles every which way. It really is a bizarre set up. In my walk around I noticed that we were not the only ones with utility hookup issues. We are in Indian Point Campground at the southern end of Duluth, MN. We are on a point sticking out into the St. Louis River and we are surrounded by trees. I hear a train in the distance, but there doesn't seem to be any lights in the park or any road noise. It will be very dark tonight. As it turns out, we stayed here on our first cross country trip in the little travel trailer. It was a real dump then and has been cleaned up since. We had planned on staying tonight on the other side of the bridge in WI but with the storms and high winds predicted for tomorrow morning, Rog wanted to cross the bridge today. While we had our lunch, I started calling places and this was the first one that had any sites available that could accommodate our size. This was a last minute choice. I didn't remember that we had been here until we pulled in.
There was a series of severe storms happening along our route, and today we got caught in one about 30 miles east of Duluth. We could see it coming-the sky was almost black, then the wind whipped up to at least 50mph, then the rain came down in buckets. We pulled off the road and sat while the storm cell moved past us - about 30 minutes. The air temperature dropped from about 72 to 46 degrees as we sat there. Once it passed we had light rain and some wind but it was ok to drive in and it warmed up into the mid 50s. By the time we reached Duluth we had no rain at all. We are expecting another series of storms tonight and into the early morning hours. We will check all the weather apps in the morning and determine if it is safe to travel across Minnesota tomorrow. Right now (6pm CT) there is no rain but the wind has started howling. We had a nice break from it for a little while, but it's back. Maggie's ears made her look like Dumbo ready to take off when we went for her walk earlier. 
Crossing the northern most part of Wisconsin today we, were again in tree tunnels most of the way, but as we neared Duluth the landscape opened up and we could see Lake Superior. The St. Louis River drains into the lake at Duluth. Duluth is a huge port for shipping grains, food, whatever from the mid-west across the Great Lakes and down the St. Lawrence Seaway out to the Atlantic. This container ship was going under the bridge on his way into port as we crossed from WI to Duluth. Duluth's other distinction is that Roger's mother was born here, as was a friend in my book group! Most of the territory we covered today was reservation land - the Red River Band of the Chippewa. We stopped at a casino parking lot for lunch. They have several large areas designated as reservation land and there is a huge BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) facility in Ashland, WI. The housing areas I could see and the facilities seemed to be better than most and I suppose that is because they are using the gambling revenues for the tribe.
We will be running the furnace for sure tonight and most likely will pull the bedroom slider in to sleep to keep the rain from coming in and the pitter patter away from our heads.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)