On The Road Again - May 2021

  Sunday, we drove into Rochester to have breakfast with Tim and Kathy.   Afterwards, Tim came back with us to the campground while Kathy (on the pretense of visiting her Mother) took off and supervised/worked on the surprise party for Tim.   It was no problem keeping Tim busy as we had several things we needed to do with the motor home (still unnamed).   We were low on propane and gas so we went to a local Tractor Supply Store to take care of that chore.   Very friendly and we were glad they were open on Memorial Day weekend.   Also bought some quick-disconnects for our water hose.   Fiddling with the hoses in the rain prompted that purchase.   Now it’s a snap (pun intended) to hook up the water supply.   Tim also helped with a shelf which I had snapped off.   Note to self – don’t lean on a shelf under the window when opening the window.   It don’t support my weight ☹ .   A really awkward spot behind the recliners made for a d...

  Saturday was another rainy day on the shores of Lake Ontario.   Campsite started to fill up with late arrivals.   We really like the site – all trees and nice and quiet. Great day to do laundry and some shopping and then we met Kathy and Tim at their home.   Checked out Costco to get some fuel for the Jeep – we don’t keep the tank filled while we’re on the road – just extra weight to tow around.   Same principle as not keeping the fresh water tank filled.   Went to a new brewery named Heroes which Kathy and Tim had recently discovered.   Kind of a neat history – couple started it during the pandemic (now there’s a leap of faith).   The couple have the business sense and they have a brewer who takes care of the magic in the back room.   The owner gave Vi and I a tour of the brewery.   Really fun to compare the process and equipment to other micro-breweries we have been to.   They had about twenty bags of spent grain from the brewin...

  Broke camp this morning in the rain (and a cold rain at that).   Drove I-90 through the little bit of Pennsylvania that was left and then on to the New York State Thruway.   Still not sure how the toll authorities are going to catch up with us.   I guess sooner or later we’ll find out!   Stopped at the New York Welcome Center and picked up a map, then it was on to Webster Campground.    This is a Monroe County campground not far from Lake Erie.   Campground is heavily wooded and the sites are very private.   Talked to Tim enroute and he met us at the campsite shortly after we got there.   Set up camp in the rain again – don’t they know it’s supposed to be summer 😊 .   After lunch, we three went for a tour of Webster and somehow ended up at the Knucklehead Brewery.   Good beer and conversation.   Kathy joined us later and we went to Ferrari Pizza for dinner.   If it sounds like all we did was eat and drink, that...

 Another cool day of driving on the flat, lake-covered country in Indiana and Ohio.  When we left the Indian Lakes campground this morning, we passed by a lot of Amish farms.  It looked like there was a lot of horse and buggy traffic.  Vi figured out that they were taking their children to school.   We traveled east on US 20 rather than US 6.  It paralleled 80/90 and was a lot more picturesque.  Only a two lane road, but there wasn't much traffic.  Stopped in Angola, OH to do some shopping at Walmart.  Hard to park the RV in a double spot, but we just blocked one exit lane. Around Toledo, we moved over to the Ohio Turnpike which is actually I-80 and I-90.  Wasn't sure what the tolls were, but they weren't too bad when we exited the Ohio Turnpike and took I-90 east to Cleveland.  Cleveland is a pretty city and the interstate goes right through downtown by the stadium.  Could have stopped at the Rock and Roll Museum, but dec...

  Here we are in the heart of Amish country, after having travelled down I-94 to just south of Chicago, where we connected with I-294 and on to I-80 (seems I’ve heard of that interstate before).   Was interesting traveling the toll roads since there were no toll collectors and they said you could just contact www.illinoishighwaytoll.com within the next two weeks.   Not sure how they were going to identify us because we don’t have plates on the RV - just a temp paper sticker in the back.   Maybe they’ll pick up the Jeep license plate.    Guess we’ll find out when the cops pull us over on the way back for toll avoidance.   Interstates were crowded and full of truck traffic, but we managed to make it through even with all the construction.   After we checked in at the Indiana Welcome Center, we went over to US 30 and decided to skip the interstates.   After a while, we switched north to US 6 which also sounded familiar since we usually cross it...

  Interesting drive out of Underwood this morning.   Took mostly back roads down south to hook up with I-94, then it was I-94 all way to our destination.   Actually, we took 694 around Minneapolis – didn’t really need to visit the Mall of the Americas.   Crossed the river into Wisconsin – still on I-94.   We did run into some traffic because of an accident which probably delayed us a little less than an hour.   We stopped at a Camping World to have the lights checked out, but they were less than helpful.   In Osseo, Vi spotted a Ford dealer and we pulled in there to have them check it out.   Since the umbilical cord had checked out ok in Underwood, it had to be a fuse, but we couldn’t figure out which one.   It didn’t take them long to get it squared away – even bought an extra 40 amp fuse, but it probably won’t happen again.   Total of $6.00 to have them get it working.   Now signal and brake lights work fine – makes it a lot safer...

  Weather broke today and it promises to be a bright, sunny day.   We’re staying at Ken and Melanie’s lake cabin on East Lost Lake (I don’t think it’s really lost because we found it pretty easily).   Had to fill up the RV with water which we forgot to do before leaving Fargo.   Thankfully, Ken had a long hose which made it easy.   Don’t really need to fill up the fresh water tank, but it’s nice to have the water handy on the road.   We try to keep it fairly low because it’s just that more weight to carry.   Ken had an appointment to get his pontoon boat into the lake at a public access point on the other side of the lake.   He came across the lake and I drove home – both arriving almost at the same time.   Here's a photo of East Lost Lake from their front porch. We all had errands so the morning passed pretty quickly.   Harvested some rhubarb and asparagus from Melanie’s garden which will make nice additions to our menu on the road. ...

  Right in the heart of the Minnesota lake country is where Ken and Melanie and Russ and Melinda have their summer cabins.    We left Lindenwood Campground in Fargo about noon to head down to the lakes.    Michelle and Adrian stopped by for coffee and a chance to catch up.   We hadn’t had time to get together for a relaxing conversation because of all the excitement of the graduation party.   Checked out of the campground and hooked up the Jeep and then Melissa stopped by with some leftover food from their party and some items for us to take to Ken and Melanie.   Following Melanie’s travel direction, we drove down to Fergus Falls and then across some county roads to their cabin.  Parked on the grass and plugged in a stay at their place.  Hope we don’t sink too far into the grass!   Melanie got here shortly after we arrived and we headed over to see Russ and Melinda’s cabin.   They just finished a great new addition to th...

  Nice cold day in Fargo.   I think someone forgot to turn the heat on, although I must admit it’s better than the heat and humidity we experienced on our first day in Fargo.   I guess it’s just hard to keep us satisfied!   Went to Scheels Home and Hardware (a little different store than their normal sports-centered stores).   We were looking for a small gas grill which we could use on a picnic table – the folks in the store couldn’t have been more helpful, friendly and experienced.   We could have spent hours just looking at all the “stuff” on display; however, this isn’t the time for accumulating things – just the necessities.   Took the opportunity to have some keys made, so we have duplicates.   I seem to have a tendency to mislay keys, so it’s always good to have an extra set.   Drove out to Ken and Melanie’s because we wanted to drop off some of the family history items which I had accumulated over the years (see above note about no...

  We are still enjoying our stay at Lindenwood Campground in Fargo.   I’m using Starbucks as an internet source first thing in the morning and like watching the long lines at the drive-up window as I sit outside on their patio.   After breakfast on Friday, Vi and I went shopping at Walmart to pick up some necessities.   Ken and I had made plans to go play golf (nine holes at Village Green in Moorhead) while Vi met up with Karen and spend the afternoon with her.   Fun golf, mostly because I hadn’t played in a while.   We won’t talk about score.   Course was a public course with lots of water and sand.   Good condition, but really fast greens.     In the late afternoon, Vi and I met back at the RV (still unnamed) to get ready for Colin’s party.   We got there a little early and I got some pictures of the very cool set-up which Michelle and Adrian had put together – with lots of help from Colin and Ryan.   Michelle had done a ...

  A rainy day in North Dakota!   Off and on showers throughout the day, so it was a good day to take a quick trip up to Grand Forks while Vi went shopping at the mall in Fargo.   She met up with Melanie while I went up to meet with Sean Johnson at the Blue Moose in East Grand Forks.   Nice drive up with lots of construction on I-29 which forced all traffic over to the south bound lane with one lane of traffic each way on that side.   Nobody drives slow around here so it didn’t make for any traffic jams.   Grand Forks is a neat town (home of UND which both Celsey and Carley attended) – the NDSU side of the family just barely accepts its’ existence.   Speaking of NDSU, this was the first year that they were not a power house in the FCS.   Their string of FCS victories was broken, mostly because of the Spring season which caused them to lose their star players to the NFL draft.   Strange how the pandemic has affected so many things in our lives....

  Well, after 1850 miles, we arrived in Fargo (the first of our planned destinations).   We stayed a little longer on Wednesday in Bismarck to take care of some housekeeping.   Because our tires were a little sun-baked from all their time in Arizona, we had planned on replacing them at some point.    That point finally arrived – we felt it would be more comfortable driving with new tires and not have to worry about another one blowing out.   There was a tire shop near the KOA and after some checking around, we decided to take the RV (still unnamed) over and have the tires replaced.   We’ll use the one we replaced in Green River as our new spare.   Now the only thing we need to do is replace the hubcap which we lost when the tire blew – how difficult can that be :-).   While we were waiting for the “retiring”, we drove around Bismarck, checking out the capitol.   They have an unusual capitol – not your normal domed edifice.   It’s a ...

Left Rapid City on I-90 heading east, then took blue line roads north through South Dakota and up to North Dakota.  Fairly uneventful trip although we did manage to mangle our light connection from the RV to the Jeep.  Probably didn't fasten it tight enough.  When we stopped for gas at a local country store which had an auto repair shop attached, we got a replacement.  Although the guy was happy to put on a new connector, it still isn't working properly.  Have to work on that when we get to Fargo.   Rolling prairie (again) on our trip north.  We skipped stopping at Wall, SD even though they entice you with billboards all along I-90.  We have been there a couple of times and didn't see the need to revisit on this trip.  If you haven't been, it's an interesting tourist area and worth a visit.  From the picture below (taken by the navigator), you can see the kind of road and view we experienced on our trip north.  We did have one ...

Remember that picture of the view from our RV out over the valley?  Well, this morning, you couldn't see across the road because of a dense fog across the valley.  According to the news, it's a usual occurrence here, but it sure seemed like we were in San Francisco with the fog rolling in.  Eventually, it burned off and it was a beautiful, sunny day.  After breakfast, we decided to do some touring and take a ride up to Sturgis and Deadwood.  On the way we stopped at Camping World which is to RVer's somewhat like being like a kid in a candy store.  How can you do without all those toys, accessories, etc.?  Managed to resist most of the temptations, but we did pick up a few of the items we found that we needed. We drove through Sturgis and can only imagine what it will be like in August when all the bikers arrive.  Right now it's a pretty drive through a small town which is still preparing for the tourist rush after Memorial Day.  The same can ...

Had a rainstorm come through last night and we fell asleep to the pitter-patter of rain on the roof.  It's times like this when we're glad we not back in the tent camping stage of our travels.  That's been a long time ago.  A little muddy when we left the campground, but the ground drains well.  Started off on I-25 South (again to go east), then got off after twenty miles to wend our way north to the Black Hills and Rapid City.  Mostly prairie land and easy driving across the rolling countryside in Wyoming.  Whether you're on the interstate or US highway, it looks like a brown ribbon across the green landscape and you can see for miles.  Neat seeing the antelope sharing the grassland with cattle.  Unlike Nevada and Utah, the rest areas in Wyoming were open and made for good stops.  When we hit the Black Hills, it was the start of tourist-ville!  Most of the places are closed now, but we can imagine what it will be like during the summer ...

 Well, today was an exciting day - not the kind of excitement we wanted, but it proved the worth of our RV insurance with Progressive.  Got a fairly early start from Evanston and planned a leisurely trip up to Casper, WY.  However, the road Gods had other plans for us.  As we entered Green River, WY, we heard a huge bang.  Got off at the next exit and realized that we had blown the outside right rear tire on the RV.  Found a good parking spot in the Green River Police Department parking lot.  Thankfully, it was Saturday and the parking lot was empty.  Called Progressive Insurance with whom we have our roadside insurance.  They were outstanding and within an hour, a tire repair truck from Rock Springs arrived. There's no doubt in my mind that I could have handled the flat tire and gotten us back on the road (yeah, right).  Nice to have someone take care of it who has the proper equipment and, more importantly, knows how to use it.  S...

It didn't take long last night for the casino to react to the latest CDC advise about wearing masks.  Almost as soon as it came out, they had signs up all over that fully vaccinated patrons didn't have to wear masks.  And just as quickly, people were taking off their masks.  It'll certainly be interesting to see how this new policy affects the population.  I must admit that it was nice to not have to wear a mask all the time.  It was an easy drive across the Great Salt Lake and through Salt Lake City - mostly because we missed the rush hour traffic.  Leaving SLC is always a fun trip as you wind your way up the canyon leading to Park City.  It's a canyon filled with beautiful rock formations and a golf course down to the side of the highway.  Looks like a beautiful course to play someday.  As we crested the Wasatch Mountains, there were beautiful homes around the ski areas.  Reminded us that Char and the boys were here around Christmas ti...

 This morning, we left the GSR campground and headed east on I-80.  It was good staying at the GSR site for two nights - we actually only spent last night in the RV.  It gave us a great opportunity to load it up, check it out, and see what we may have missed in our planning for the trip.  Even so, we had to make one last trip home Wednesday night.  Got an early start on Thursday, but we really didn't need it.  There was an accident on I-80 at milepost 41 (Painted Rock) and it caused an hour-long delay - big traffic jam.  An 18-wheeler decided to take out several hundred feet of railing before landing on its' side just off the highway.  Not exactly a great way to start our trip. We retraced the pioneers route (only in reverse).  It still amazes us that they were able to make that trip across Nevada back in the day.  As we have said before, I-80 follows the same route as the railroad, the wagon trails, and the Indian trails.  Pretty m...

 Well, it's time to travel again!  Today is the first day of our adventure; however, it will not be a long trip.  Vi came up with the great suggestion that we stay at the Grand Sierra Campground for the a day or two and make sure everything was packed up and ready.  Since we had two free nights there and they were useable at the campground, that's where we'll start our trip today.   After some errands, we'll bring the motor home to Bexley Square and load it up, then make the first leg of our trip (all the way across town).  This way, on Thursday, we'll be able to get on I-80 and wend our way to North Dakota, New York, and Vermont. Stay tuned for future details.  Trust me, there will be more :-).