Busy Busy

We have been rather busy lately. We have had quite a few visitors, some that we have known for many years and some that have met us thought our website and travels. Also our Grandson came to visit for a couple of days. He helped Nana bake cookies.

He just loved visiting Nana and Papa at the beach. He got to go in the water with some friends while Nana sat on the beach, occupying herself with Video Poker. Where was I? Well I took the work duty so Susan can spend time with our friends. I had plenty of time, however to man the camera for a few shots.

The weekend around here was busy but quiet. I was rather surprised being we were full for the weekend. Next weekend will be a Holliday weekend so we will see what that brings.

This morning I caught a squirrel trying to enjoy a little snack while this bird was trying to steal a free meal. The squirrel won out and got his snack.

Well the weather is taking a turn for the worst. We haven’t seen too much of the sun in the last couple of days and they are calling for rain tomorrow, however, after that it is supposed to clear up again and be nice.

Beach creatures

For the next couple of months, you will most likely see a lot of beach shots. Does anyone know what the first photo is? I believe it is a Sea Slug. There are some pretty cool tide pools along this beach so all kinds of strange things can come crawling out of the sea. This guy was about 8” long.

By the way, this is our job. We strolled the beach this afternoon to make sure everyone was observing the rules. I know, it’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.

Life is rough

Well, today we moved into our winter home. We are in a Southern California State Park right on the beach as Camp Host for the rest of the year. The temperatures are in the high 70s during the days and in the high 50s at night so life is good right now. I am sure we will be getting some stormy weather as the next 2 months progress. But we are talking about Southern California storms so how bad can it get? The only down side, looks like I will have to be dragging my lazy body out of bed at 5:00a twice a week.

Class C on steroids

Thought you might get a kick out of this Class C on steroids.

The Grandson

This little guy is one of the main reasons we come back to Southern California. The other reason is, of course his sister.

Almost living in the Service Center

This morning, I had to get up at 7:00 in the middle of the night. I call it 7:00 in the middle of the night because I believe there is no such thing as 7:00 in the morning. There is 7 in the evening and 7 at night. Anyway we had a 8:00 appointment to get the brake recall done on the motorhome. This was supposed to be a 4 hour job. We waited all day for the call that our home was ready but it never came so at 4:00 we headed down to the service center to see what the deal was. The service writer informed me that they will have to set us up in the service center because it was not ready. I asked him why a 4 hour job has turned into a 8 hour job. I also asked him if he was going to pay for our reservation we had for tonight and tonight’s dinner. It just so happened as we were talking, the technician was done and taking it out for a test drive. So tonight we are back at the Pechanga RV Resort where we should be.

Back in Temecula

We arrived back in Temecula CA today. The Rexhall Rally was a blast. We can’t wait until the next one. We wanted to stay for the Good Sam Rally but we have an appointment at the Temecula RV Service Center for our brake recall. Tonight we are spending the night in the Pechanga Casino parking lot. The reason we are not in the RV park is because we need to be at the RV service center at 8:00a and figured for just an overnight we will hangout in the parking lot. Tomorrow after we get the motorhome back we will check into the RV park. We will hang out at Pechanga RV Resort until our Host jobs at San Elijo next week.

Back on the road

One of the reasons we went Fulltime is because we never wanted to leave (to go home). I thought by going Fulltime I would never again have to say I don’t want to leave but tonight was the last night of the Rexhall Rally and, I don’t want to leave. We had such a good time, as we always do, and have got to see our good friends we have made in the past and have meet so many more good friends. As with last year we have a new bunch of friends to stop and visit on our travels around the country. We got some good tips on places to visit next year and got invited to a couple more upcoming rallies, which I am sure we will take advantage of.

By attending the seminars, I have gained a little more knowledge about Rving and the Fulltime lifestyle and picked up a few more tips from our fellow Rexhallers. I even sat down with Mr. Rex, one on one at one of the dinners and had a short but good conversation and shared some tips with him. I am sure he gets this a lot though.

I got a chance to head on over to their service center and pick up some Rexhall specific items I needed for our coach. Now we are good to go for another year.

This rally was also good for the motorhome because staying the parking lot at the fairgrounds, we had no water or sewer hookups and limited amperage power so this gave me a chance to exercise the boondocking systems in our coach and make sure everything is still in working order. I am glad to report that everything works very well.

So tomorrow, it’s back on the road again.

Fun Rally

We are just having the best time here at the Rexhall Rally. Above is a picture of just some of the top notch entertainment that we have enjoyed here at the rally. I have taken in a lot of the seminars and have learned a thing or two, even though I thought I knew it all. One thing I learned was the AirCard offered by Verizon to access the internet has a larger coverage area than I though. I was using the Verizon High Speed network and was paying $79.99 a month for their unlimited usage plan. With the AirCard I can use their Broadband and where the Broadband is not available it used the same Verizon High Speed network I was using for only $59.99. That’s a $20 savings for faster internet. And I don’t have to tie up the cell phone anymore.

The Rexhall Rally

We did the big trip today. We traveled from the Lancaster Fairgrounds Campground into the Fairground for the Rexhall Rally. It took more time to bring in the slides and pull up the levelers than it did to make the drive. The turnout this year is really down because of the gas prices. Most all the rigs have California plates on them. The Rexhall Rallies are a lot of fun. The have RV accessories vendors (already spent $100), New Coach displays, Seminars, Breakfast, Social Hours, and Dinners. There is something going on all the time. We always make new friends every year. We have already been invited to other get togethers in the short time we have been here.

I got a chance to clean up the motorhome and car again so I am much happier now. I think we have driven in the rain maybe 3 times this year and it sure makes a big mess out of everything, especially the poor car being drug behind the motorhome. I did it with a bucket of water and a rag. Then I go over it with my bottle of spray detailer. You do what you have to.

Movin’ on to Lancaster CA

We arrived in Lancaster today about 11:00a. We are in Lancaster for a Raxhall Rally. Rexhall is the manufacturer of our motorhome and every year they sponsor a Homecoming Rally. It is always a whole lot of fun.

Last night was supposed to be a quiet night at the race track since most of the race crazies had gone home. However, the thunder showers were pretty noisy.

It rained all the way to Lancaster this morning and now my motorhome that I spent 3 weeks cleaning is all dirty again. The car is even worse. This campground will not let us wash it. At least I can run the car through a car wash in town. I will see if I can just give the motorhome a sponge bath later. We will be in the Lancaster County Fairground Campground for 2 nights then we move into the Fairgrounds for the rally on Wednesday, so my next trip will be about a ½ mile drive. For the next 2 days we will catch up on some laundry and shopping.

The rains came and so did the race

Well we woke to rain this morning. It was looking like the race was not going to happen. The California 100 was supposed to be the first race but the rains kept coming. Finally a break came and they started the Toyota 400 race. The ended up with enough time after the 400 to run the 100.


The rain kept a lot of fans from filling the stands.


The safety crew got in a quick nap before the race started.


We had a front row spot and the best place to catch the race was on the roof of the motorhome of course. Susan chose to watch the race through the windshield from inside because it was LOUD. She also had the luxury of having the TV on and got to see all the replays and close-ups of the wrecks.

The curse

The curse of Dan and Susan, the Fulltimers may strike again. They are calling for rain tomorrow. As you may know if you have been following our travels, it has rained in just about every place we have visited this year. If it rains tomorrow, the Indy Car Race may not happen. I sure won’t be telling anyone here it was out fault.

Man is it HOT

We are now at the California Speedway in Fontana and my outside thermometer says it is just a tick under 100 degrees. And that’s in the shade. Of course we have the generator running with both airs on. The weather report says it should cool down a bit and possible rain Sunday. There is nothing going on here right now. Tomorrow things start happening. I will try to post more later.

Off to the races

Tomorrow it’s off to the races. The Indy Car raced to be exact. We are headed for Fontana to the California Speedway. We went last year and had a great time so we decided to do it again this year. I will try to post a few photos if I get a chance.

Still in Temecula

We have one more week here at the Pechanga RV Resort then it’s off to the Indy Car Races in Fontana. Believe it or not, we haven’t even gone into the casino yet. I have done a pretty good job of whittling down my fixit list in the last couple of weeks. There are just a few items left, but I need to pick up some supplies first. It seems however, that every time I take one thing off the list another goes on. The other day the wind kicked up a bit, and I failed to retract my awning soon enough, that it pulled the awning arm loose from the side of the motorhome. I fixed it so that will never happen again by drilling clear through the wall to the inside and replacing the lag bolts with through bolts and large washers and nuts inside the motorhome. Fortunately it is in an inconspicuous location so you don’t see the hardware from the inside. Now in order to come loose, it will have to rip a large hole in the side of the motorhome.



I don’t know if you remember, we had a new Granddaughter just before we left on our journey last December. Being back here in Southern California, we have had time to get acquainted with her. It is going to be difficult to leave again after getting to know her. Grand kids are so cool.

As you may recall we spent the month of April in Florida visiting Susan’s Cousins. Well Jim has come to Southern California to participate in a Celebrity Golf Tournament. Last night he invited us up to Laguna Beach to have dinner with him and Jennifer. What a nice time we had. They sure are good people.

The weather here in Southern California has been absolutely fabulous. I just hope it holds out for our 2 months here as Camp Hosts at San Elijo State Beach.

Fixing and Cleaning

We have been here for almost a week now and I still haven’t had time to clean up the motorhome. Well actually my back started acting up again and my grandson came to visit. Tomorrow, hopefully I will be able to get started. I came up with a pretty good list of things the clean and fix. Hopefully I can get most of it done in a couple of weeks. Pechanga RV Resort is just as we left it in January except they did raise the weekend rates $10. I don’t know why they have to raise the rates since they make millions off their casino. They even raised their buffet price to $21, they just lost my business. Otherwise the RV Resort is still as nice as ever.

We moved again

We have moved up to Temecula CA today. We are at Pechanga RV Resort. This is the place we started the year last January. I sure like this place. We will be here for about 3 week. This will give me time to clean things up a bit and fix the things that need a little attention.

Oh No, California

We are back in Southern California. We made a B-Line from Medford Oregon to Escondido California. Made it in 4 days. This is not my usual mode of travel. Susan had some things to tend to otherwise we would be somewhere along the California coastline right now. We plan to hang around here for a couple of weeks then head for the California Speedway for the IRL race then off to an RV Rally. After that we will be heading back down to Southern California for our Camp Host jobs.
Oh Yeah, looks like we will be hosting at San Elijo State Beach instead of Carlsbad. It is only another 10 miles down the coast. Looks like we will be hosting the south loop. We should be in site #55 if anyone is interested in stopping by to say hi.

What a Dump

I have a link for Park Reviews but this one warrants a front page mention.

We decided that since the Lost Hills KOA had such a bad rating that we would drive an extra 1.5 hour down the road and stay at the Pyramid Lake “Resort” in Gorman CA since it had a better rating. What a joke! I have not figured out what constitutes a Resort. Some of the Resorts we have seen are worse than a lot of the campgrounds we have stayed at. This park would normally be a drive through however we had been on the road for 4.5 hours and there was nothing for another 2 hours. This is a Western Horizon Membership Park. This is an Excellent reason why one should not buy into a membership “Resort”. This place is a Dump! They warn you about the rattlesnakes when you check in. The grass has given way to what weeds could even survive the neglect. Their cable TV has about 7 channels and none of them are clear and most are not even watchable. I couldn’t even level the motorhome the site is so far off. I could go on and on with the things that are out of order and dirty and run down. Good thing this is only a 1 niter.

I hate Interstates

Actually I hate the California Interstates. We traveled I-10 through Texas and everyone I talked to said Texas was long and boring. I actually enjoyed I-10 through Texas. It was rolling hills, clean and green. California’s stretch of I-10 is either Los Angeles traffic or barren desert, depending on where you are. We are presently traveling down I-5 and it is dry, brown and boring.

No Cell, No Internet

We have been traveling and staying along the Oregon coast for the last couple of weeks. Even though their land line phone carrier is Verizon, they do not have many cell towers around. We have been without cell phone and internet connection for most of the time.

Our stay at South Beach State Park near Newport was nice. We got a chance to visit the light houses in the area. It seem kind of strange that a lot of the sights we have seen are featured on the Travel Channel shortly after. Last night we watched a bit on Haunted Lighthouses and the ones at Newport were on the show. Quite interesting.

Our next stop was disappointing, the campground that is. We had made reservations at a place called Beach Loop RV Village in Bandon near Coos Bay because it was the holiday weekend and I read some good reviews about it. When we arrived they told us they gave our site away because we had called and canceled. No We Didn’t! They found us a spot anyway. The place is in dire need of some maintenance. The office was always locked up and you had to ring the bell to get the managers to come out of their house and open it. Their “advertised” internet connection was their business line and was in the office so you had to disturbed them to use it. I didn’t bother. The town of Bandon doesn’t have much to offer.

The beach along the Beach Loop Drive has a lot of nice scenery to offer though.

The one thing we found very interesting was a place called Game Park. This is a walk through animal preserve. Much like the drive through ones where the animals roam free, except for the big cats and other dangerous animals.

We got to pet and hold baby tigers, bears, foxes, and skunks. Yes Skunks. These were what were called a golden skunk. They were a golden color with a darker stripe down its back. Of course they were de-stunk.

Our next stop was a campground on US-199 in California about 5 miles from Crescent City. This was a nice place right at the edge of the Redwood Forest. We took a drive today and got lost. I really do need a GPS for the car. I mapped out a route before we left but took a wrong turn and ended up WAY away from where we wanted to go. At least some of the sights were nice.


We then headed over to Medford Oregon to visit some good friends we know from Southern Cal. They moved to Oregon quite a few years ago and after spending some time in the area I can see why. Susan has found a new place to settle. That will be sometime down the road though so who knows.

Things came up and we have to be in Southern Cal by Sept 14th so we are making a b-line down I-5. Something I do not like but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

We are in Red Bluff California for tonight and as you can see I finally got back on the Verizon Network so we are back online again. Verizon cell phone was almost non existent in Oregon. I think next year we are going to head back up to Oregon and spend more time there. It is really pretty country.

Remembering

As I sit and watch the news of all the disaster on the gulf coast, I can’t help but be sad. We spent March in New Orleans and Biloxi. I remember the beautiful Colonial homes in both areas. They are all gone now. That was a big part of history, gone. I took a moment to look back through my photos today and remember what it was like.

Newport Oregon

It took us about 3.5 hours to get from Fort Stevens State park near Astoria to South Beach State Park near Newport. We traveled US-101 all the way. I had talked with a person while at Fort Stevens that said 101 was boring. He said the coast looked the same the whole trip. He was wrong. It was a nice drive traveling through small towns along the way. Some of the views of the coast were outstanding. We first pulled into Beverly Beach State Park north of Newport but it didn’t look like we could get much Satellite TV in there and we had no cell phone reception so we moved on to South Beach. No problem here. You really can tell we are on the coast here with the sound of 2 fog horns in the distance and if you listen carefully you can hear the seals on the jetty. The photo is one of the lighthouses here in Newport. This one is unique because it combines the light keepers house and the light in the same building. We will be spending 3 nights here before moving on further down the coast.

More Rain?

We were going to do some sight seeing yesterday but guess what? It rained! I did mention that rain has followed us all around the country. Well I can’t really say this was our fault since they get 10 inches a month during the winter and 1 inch a month the rest of the year. It always rains here. Today we got a chance to get out with only a short burst of rain and then the rest of the day was nice.


We visited an old ship wreck which is the rusting remains of an English sailing ship that ran aground in 1906 on the beach in the State Park we are in. Then we went over to The Ft Stevens Historic Area at the mouth of the Columbia River where a number of Batteries were set up to protect the rivers entrance. The photo is a replica of what they called the disappearing guns.


These guns were hidden behind earth mounds and could raise, fire, and lower leaving the enemy wondering where the fire was coming from. We took a drive through Astoria and view some of the historic homes in the area. Tomorrow should be a good day which is good because we will be traveling. We have been lucky that we have only had to travel one day out of the year in the rain.

Astoria Oregon

We are at another fine Oregon State Park. We are in Astoria Oregon which is located in the extreme northwest corner of the state. Right on the coast. Although it is on the coast, you wouldn’t know it because of all the trees. It feels like we are in a forest. It is a bit cooler and damper here than what we have seen for the last few months so you can tell we have reached the coast. There is a lot to see here so we will spend 3 nights. Susan seem to thing Astoria is where the movie The Gooneys took place.

We got a bonus

When we mapped out our route from Susan’s Sister’s place to the coast, we decided to follow the Columbia River just because it was the most direct route. It looked pretty grim for a while as we traveled the eastern part of Washington and Oregon. There was nothing but miles of dry nothing. However, we didn’t count on The Columbia River Gorge and The Historic Columbia Highway. This is listed as one of Americas Scenic Byways, and rightly so. There are seven waterfalls, a couple of overlooks, and the Crown Point Vista House within a 15 mile stretch. It just so happens the Oregon State Park we stopped at is right in the middle of it all. Sometimes you just get lucky.

Ainsworth State Park

Today we went from dry barren rolling hills to green lush mountainous terrain. We ended up in an Oregon State Park near Dodson, right in the Columbia River Gorge. The above photos show how it looked when we started our trip today and how it looked when we ended. We traveled half the trip in Washington then crossed over the Columbia River to complete the rest of the trip in Oregon, just because we can. The photo below is a view of Mt. Hood, 11,239 feet high. I do believe it does have snow all year round. There is a drive that circles Mt. Hood but we are not going to do it this time. It is 146 miles and takes a little over 3 hours. Instead, tomorrow we are going to view the many waterfalls in the area along the Historic Columbia River Highway. The State Park we are in is nice but it is so thick with trees that we have no view at all. I was hoping for something along the river. Susan did enjoy picking black berries all day since the park is full of them. When we got here there were plenty of spaces but the park has filled up since then. That’s the beauty of getting off the road by 2:00p. We usually get first pick of sites. Actually we were done by noon today because we got an early start.

Plymouth Washington

We are back. We finally have Internet access again. After Kamiah Idaho, we stayed two nights at a nice park called Chief Timothy just outside of Clarkston Washington. We were on Extended network so I could not access the internet.

Tonight we are in Plymouth Washington. What a dry barren drive to get here. We did pass through some nice little towns and farms along the way so it was scenic at times. We will only be spending 1 night here and don’t know for sure where we will be staying tomorrow night. It will be somewhere around the Columbia River Gorge. I don’t know if we will have internet access or not.

Kamiah Idaho

We drove from Missoula Montana to Kamiah Idaho today. Another nice drive. We went over the Lolo pass which is not very LoLo, in fact it is pretty HighHigh. It wasn’t as steep as some I went over but long, especially the down grade. I dropped it down to 2nd gear and coasted all the way down. At the bottom of the grade Susan spotted the sign that said we were in for 77 miles of windy road. Susan does not handle curvy roads well but I took it slow and she did well. We traveled through the Clearwater National Forest, Nez Perce National Forest, and Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness following the Clearwater River all the way to Kamiah. This river is named appropriately. It is crystal clear the whole way. There are periods of rapids and periods of deep glassy water with sandy beaches. There were wild berries growing along the way but we didn’t stop to pick any.


We are camped out on Susan’s sisters property. They live out, and I do mean OUT, in Kamiah. You hang a right just before town and travel 20 miles over the hills into the wilderness. No cell phone coverage out here. They cleared a spot of land and are in the process of building a log cabin on the property. The cabin is really nice with 3 stories, the bottom level being underground. In the evenings the deer come up and graze on the grasses in the yard. Of course as soon as we arrived it rained. I think we are going to hire ourselves out as rain makers.

Kamiah Idaho

We are now in a little town called Kamiah Idaho. We are visiting Susan’s sister. We are out 30 miles from anywhere. There is no cell phone, internet, or anything for that matter, so updating this site will be difficult. You may not here from us for a couple of days so check back later for updates.

Good timing

I sat down to download the photos from my camera’s memory card and it went caput. Well, it turns out that I was wanting a new camera anyway. And guess what…There is a Costco right across the street from the campground. Just a short visit to Costco and I got a new camera. Hopefully I can get some really good pictures now that I have zoom. The bad part…We just left Yellowstone.

Speaking of Yellowstone, I just added some Yellowstone photos to our photo link.

Missoula Montana

Seems like we have been in Montana for a long time. We have since we spent 9 days at Yellowstone. We are in Missoula right now. We were going to stop over for 2 nights in Garrison but we got there by 11:00 and it was too early to stop and the drive was good. We climbed a pretty good mountain at a 6 to 7% grade for a few miles. I just dropped it down to 3rd gear and let up on the accelerator and never got below 50 mph. The motorhome wasn’t even straining. We pulled into Missoula just before 12:30 so that worked out good. We will spend a few days here then head on into Idaho.

Three Forks Montana

Today was a bit depressing. We left Yellowstone this morning. We are now in a little town called Three Forks. I haven’t seen the town yet but I don’t expect much. We are in a nice KOA that has horses for petting and feeding. There are also chickens running around. Kind of cool. Tomorrow we will venture into town and check it out. We will be here for 2 nights then it’s on the road again. Oh by the way, it’s raining. We are thinking of hiring ourselves out as rain makers.

Yellowstone again

Monday we planned to go back into the park. We got a late start and by the time we got going the line to get into the park was backed up into town. That’s a little more than a mile so we turned around and went back to the motorhome and relaxed all day. Yesterday we played it smart and got an early start. We put another 130 miles on the car in the park. We traveled all the way to the little town of Mammoth to visit the Mammoth Hot Springs. On the way we stopped at the Artisan Paint Pot and spotted the big guy in the photo above. He was just grazing along side of the parking lot not caring about the spectators. On the way back from Mammoth we stopped by the Norris Geyser Basin but only had a brief look because a good friends of ours was stopping by for the night on their way to Whitefish. We had a great time last night starting out with a pizza party then later a slumber party. There were 6 of us in a coach that is really designed to sleep 2 but the couch folded out for 2 and the other 2 were on the floor. There was plenty of room. Today will just be another lazy day of lounging around.

Yellowstone National Park

Old Faithful

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

What a full day. Today we saw Forests, Mountains, Geysers, Lakes, Water falls, Canyons, Pastures, Elk, Buffalo (Lots of Buffalo), Deer, and all in one day. We even crossed over the Continental Divide. This is the point where the snow melt runs into 2 rivers, one running all the way to the Pacific Ocean and the other running all the way to the Mississippi and eventually into the Gulf. This peak is over 8300 feet. I put over 120 miles on the Toad. And we only saw a small portion of the park. We are going to go back to see more in the next couple of days. Everyone knows about Old Faithful. Well, it was neat but the real treat of Yellowstone is what is knows as The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. This is a deep gorge dug out by the Yellowstone River. The colors of the walls are amazing and the waterfall is taller than Niagara Falls. We liked it so much that the next time we go into the park, we are going to go directly to The Grand Canyon and spend more time. We have to drive the upper loop also, which has the highest concentration of wild life. While driving through the park today we were held up a couple of times by buffalo just standing in the middle of the road like they own the place…Oh yeah, they do own the place. Also there was a big bull Elk standing in the middle of the road looking at the line of cars he was holding up as if he was saying, “What!”. Such a cool place!

What a beautiful drive

No Interstates today. It was a straight shot from Bozeman to West Yellowstone. The whole way was a very easy drive down a two lane mountain highway. We followed the Gallatin River the entire route with lots of trees and mountains in the background. All along the way we saw many rafters tackling the rapids in the river. We climbed over 3000 feet but it was so gradual that I did the whole thing in 5th gear with no strain. The weather was beautiful and the big plus was at the end of the drive, Yellowstone Grizzly RV Park. This is a very nice resort style park full of nice Big Rig coaches. We are already talking about extending our stay. We are actually outside Yellowstone park but only less than a mile from the entrance. We will be spending a lot of time in the park.

It’s been raining all year

I think that every stop we have made this year with the exception of about 3 or 4, it has rained. Fortunately the rain has usually come during the late afternoon so driving has not been a problem since we are off the road before 2:00p. At least the rain has given me the chance to locate all the leaks and fix them, yes I have had a few. Since we don’t drive during the rain, keeping the motorhome and car clean has not been a problem. Usually the rain washes the dirt away. Today I spent half the day washing and cleaning the motorhome and car to remove the road grime that the rain didn’t wash away. When I find a park that will let you wash the rig, I take advantage of it. Most parks do not allow washing.
Tomorrow we will be heading for West Yellowstone. We are looking forward to the drive that follows the Gillian River and is suppose to be very scenic. And there are no Interstates.

Billings Montana

Last night we were in Buffalo Wyoming and today we are in Billings Montana. Billings is suppose to be the largest city in Montana, right on the Yellowstone River. In fact we are in the KOA which is right on the Yellowstone River. This is the very first KOA and you would think it would be old and run down, however it has got to be the nicest KOA we have stayed at yet. There are lots of mature trees, so much so that I couldn’t get any satellite TV, the grass is green, the place is well kept, and clean. I am not too impressed with Montana so far. We traveled miles and miles of nothing but barren rolling hills but we have miles and miles to go so we will see what lies ahead. We are staying two nights so tomorrow we will do some shopping and hopefully visit their Wildlife Habitat.

By the way, I just added more photos to the Photos Of Our Journeys link.

Devils tower South Dakota

Today was an easy and enjoyable drive. We left Rapid City around 10:00a and arrived at Devils Tower around noon. What a sight as we came over the hill and saw Devils Tower. The town consists of a very small post office, small gift store with minimal grocery supplies and a snack bar, and the KOA RV Park. The KOA is the biggest thing in town with the campground two gift shops and a restaurant. This is a nice KOA and Devils Tower is right in our back yard. This is the campground where the movie Encounters of the Third Kind was filmed. Every night just after dark they show the movie on the back wall of the office. You can sit and watch the movie and look over at the Tower. Tomorrow we are going into the National Park to get a closer look.

It’s good to know people

The local long time residents give the best tours. Today we hooked up with some friends we met at one of the rallies we have attended. They have lived in this area all their lives and travel in their motorhome during the winters. I asked Jim what the winters are like around here and he said, “I don’t know. I haven’t been here for about the last 3 winters.” Anyway they took us on a tour of Deadwood and Sturgis today. Jim told us about the days when he used to go into Deadwood and hangout in the bars. He was able to scrounge up enough money to pay the 50 cents for a beer and go upstairs into the brothels. He claims he never had enough money for the brothels but had a good time just hanging around there. We also found out that he is the great grandson of Calamity Jane. Yeah, that’s what I though, a bunch of bull, but he has artifacts at home to back up his claim. Turns out his grandmother is the illegitimate daughter of Calamity Jane. The very one that Calamity Jane tried to claim was the daughter of Wild Bill Hickok. We then went over to Sturgis where Jim took us down Main Street where all the action happens. He explained how the businesses along Main Street close down, put all their merchandise in storage, remove there plate glass windows and rent there stores out to the venders. You could see that a lot of businesses have already cleared out there stores and there were venders booths already setup and in business along the streets. Jim also took us out to some of the bars and campgrounds where all the action will take place. We also got to see the original building where the Sturgis phenomenon all started with about 13 bikers. When we got back to our campground I noticed they have already changed their marquee to “Welcome Sturgis Bikers”. This place will be filling up soon, we will be leaving soon. All this today and I forgot my camera!

Mt. Rushmore Tour

Yesterday sure was a full day. We were picked up at the campground and taken to Fort Hays (the movie set of Dances with Wolfs) for a tour. First thing was a pancake breakfast then on the bus for the tour. We visited Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial, and traveled the Needles Highway. The bus driver didn’t stop talking for the whole trip. He pointed out all the spots of interest and told stories of the colorful characters from the area such as Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, Custer and Crazy Horse. After the tour we were treated to a Chuck Wagon Supper Show with BBQed and beans served on a tin plate. The band was great and the comedy was so-so. I highly recommend this tour package if you come to Rapid City.

Bear Country

Right next door to our campground is Bear Country. This is one of those drive through wild animal preserves. You drive up to the gates, pay your admission fee and drive right in. Following the road we came across wolfs, elk, and bears. Lots and lots of bears. The elk stand right in the middle of the road and sometimes block the road to where a worker has to come out and chase them away to unblock traffic. You wouldn’t want to upset them in anyway because they have a rack on their head as wide as your car and could probably do some damage. The bear area is similar with bear walking down and crossing the road all around your car. There must be 100 bear in this area. Their in the dens, in the water, rubbing up against the trees and like I said walking right down the middle of the road. I guess it was too hot for the Buffalo because we could see them huddled up in the shade a distance from the road. After the drive through, you have an opportunity to get out of your car and walk around some pens where you can see badgers (snarley mean little buggers), cats of all sorts, and baby bears. The baby bears were of course the main attraction. This was a lot of fun.

Rapid City

We have made it to Rapid City South Dakota. We made a one night stop over half way between Sioux Falls and Rapid City. The drive was a straight shot but very windy. I am real happy the way this Workhorse Chassis handles a strong cross wind. It wasn’t a struggle at all. There is not much on the road between Sioux Falls and Rapid City. We have traveled through forests, bayous, and corn fields. But the travel across South Dakota is nothing but rolling hills of nothing but wheat fields. You can see for miles and not even see a tree.
Of course we got here in time to get setup just before the thunder storm hit. The local news says it should be short and then it will get hot again. We will be here for a week so I will have time to get things cleaned up again. We plan to do a lot of touring and hopefully lookup some friends that live here in Rapid City.

Sioux Falls Park

Well, you can’t go to Sioux Falls without seeing the Sioux Falls. Yes, there is a reason why it is called Sioux Falls. Today we visited Sioux Falls Park while the Motorhome was in the shop (more on that later). This is where the Sioux River comes crashing down over a section of Quartzite stone. They created a park around the falls which was pretty nice. There were a few people just sitting in the park enjoying the sound and sights of the falls and a few kids fishing from the rocks. I guess the locals around here call it there own Niagara but I have seen both and there is NO comparison.

As I said in the earlier post, The motorhome developed a starting problem. I found that it took a few cycles of the fuel pump (key on, key off) to build up the fuel pressure to start it. Fortunately there is a Workhorse shop in town so we buzzed by on one of our outings. They said, sounds like a fuel pump and they can get me back on the road in 1 day. I said how about Monday since we have to be out of the park that day, so the appointment was made. They found a pretty clogged up fuel filter and we decided to go ahead and change the fuel pump since the filter had a lot of crud in it. They had the whole job done in 2 hours. Tonight we are “camping” at the Sioux Falls Wal-Mart and will get an fresh early start in the morning.

Sioux Falls South Dakota

We decided not to make a stop between Avoca Iowa and Sioux Falls South Dakota as we planned. However we did stop for lunch at the point where we had planned to stop for the night. We almost were forced to stop there for a while because the motorhome refused to start on the first 2 tries. Finally on the third is started and everything seemed fine. We traveled the last 100 miles to Sioux Falls without any problems. I decided to leave it running while I went in to register just in case and it was a good thing because when I did shut it off at our site it would not start again. After several tries I called my roadside service and found out that they do not do roadside trouble shooting. They will tow us to the nearest service center. We didn’t feel like spending the night in a service center so I told them I would call them back it I couldn’t figure it out. Well with a little fooling around I got it running. I found no fuel at the engine. The problem is, I don’t know why this is happening. Sounds like vapor lock but I didn’t think these modern engines suffered from vapor lock. We got the last site at the park we in and will stay for 4 nights and relax. We have been through to many states in too short of time lately and need to slow down a bit. The car and the motorhome are so dirty. I can’t wait to get things cleaned up.

Avoca Iowa

This town is like something you would see in a movie. It is a very small quiet country town. There is actually a Drug Store on the corner in town. The park host says the town closes at 10:00p. The sheriff imposed a 10:00p curfew. We only drove 2 hours today. After yesterdays drive I wasn’t ready for another long haul. We are at a County Fairground Campground. We were actually going to stay at a campground across the street but after taking a look at it decided the Fairgrounds Campground looked better. We are on grass under some nice full shade trees with full hookups and all for $10. The only problem is the biting flies. I think if we were across the street we would still have to contend with them. You are on an honor system here. You fill out the envelope and put your money in and slip it into the slot. There is a Camp Host here that keeps an eye on things. He is from Oregon and is really friendly and helpful. He helped me pick out a choice site, helped me back it in and even trimmed a tree branch because he was concerned I would scratch the motorhome. I would really like to sit somewhere for a while but haven’t found any thing worth staying for at the last few stops. For two days in a row now, I placed the satellite dish on the tri-pod, went inside to get the settings and it was right on without any adjustments needed.

Altoona Iowa

We woke up this morning to Dennis. The rains from Hurricane Dennis started about midnight. It was only a gentle rain but steady. It wasn’t until a few miles down the road that we finally broke out and the sky lightened up and the rain stopped. Then is started getting hot again. I decided since we left at 9:00a that we could drive a little further today. What a mistake. I think if it were some nice country roads it wouldn’t be so bad but there was no good way to get here than to take the Interstate. Putting up with trucks whizzing past at 70 MPH and bad roads for over 4 hours just doesn’t work. We stopped for gas and lunch and got here by 2:00p. This is just too long on the road. We don’t have to be in such a hurry. We are now at a park called Adventureland, which is between an amusement park and a casino in a town called Altoona, which is just out of Des Moines, the capitol of Iowa. This is just another overnighter. Oh, by the way, we passed 2 mile stones today. We crossed the Mississippi river heading west and the motorhome turned 10000 miles.

Build it and they will come

We are camped in a corn field for the night. Actually we are in a campground called Hickory Hollow, next to a corn field, in a little town called Utica Illinois. This is only a one night stand and is a Passport America park so we got a full hookup pull through site with 50 amp service for $15 a night. It is a fairly new campground and is really nice. As you can tell we chickened out and decided not to head for Hurricane Dennis. Even though it is pretty much petered out there is still all the rain associated with it. We have had enough rain in the last 6 months.

Bad timing

Our plans were with good intent but our timing is off. While in Niagara Falls we decided (well, I decided) to head on over to Elkhart Indiana and visit some motorhome factories. And while we were at it we will head on down to Kentucky and visit some good friends we have met along the way. Well it turns out that most of the factories have shutdown for the 4th of July week so factory tours are out. It hasn’t been a total loss though. We did visit the RV Museum and are planning to take a tour of Amish farms. There are a lot of RV dealers here, of course, so we have been checking out new motorhomes. Also with hurricane Dennis heading on up this way it looks like the weather in Kentucky is going to be a little hairy. I have come up with an alternative route if Dennis look like too much of a mess. I will decide Monday morning which way we are heading when we hit the road. I guess I should be grateful that I have a choice.

Elkhart Indiana

Click on photo to enlarge

Last night we spent the night at a campground in Bowling Green Ohio. The place was pretty nice. It's is a Passport America park and only cost us $13 a night. It is called Fire Lake and all sites have a lake view since all sites surrounding a small lake.
We found out that our LP alarm works yesterday when Susan dropped a container with rum in it on the kitchen floor. It instantly shut off the LP and set off the alarm.

Anyone that knows RVs knows about Elkhart. This is where a large number of major RV manufactures are. As you drive down the roads in Elkhart you have to keep an eye out for the horse and buggies. There are a lot of Amish here. The shopping center parking lots even have parking places for them with posts to tie up the horses. Some of the RV manufacturers use their skills in their cabinetry. We will be touring a few factories and visiting the RV museum.
The drive here was so relaxing. We drove US-6 all the way. Maximum speed was 55 mph as we passed miles and miles of corn and wheat fields. The farms look just as they do in all the pictures I've seen with old red dilapidated barns and silos.

As we work our way back toward the west we are still in the Eastern Time zone. What this means is the closer we get to the Central Time zone it stays light later. It doesn't get dark around here until 9:30. It's hard to get used to.

All quiet on the Eastern front

Click on photo to enlarge

Where did everyone go? Today is the 4th on July and this place has cleared out. I guess since most people have to head back to work tomorrow, last night was the big celebration here at the campground. There were fireworks all over the campground for hours. This morning almost everyone packed up and headed home. It is very quiet tonight.
Tomorrow we are heading out. We will spend one night in Bowling Green Ohio then it's over to Elkhart Indiana. We plan to take in a couple of RV factory tours while in Elkhart. Might even leave with a new home. Who knows...

We are camping

Click on photo to enlarge

This is the first time since we started our Fulltime journey that I have felt like we were camping. We are in a campground In Geneva-On-The-Lake in Ohio for the fourth of July weekend and it is full of campers. Not RVers but campers. We are in a large open grassy area where you just find a spot and setup. There is water and electricity spread through out so if you got here early enough you can at least have power and water. We missed out on all the 30 amp power and all we could find is 20 amp power. There are families everywhere and people out mingling with others and helping each other out. It is a far cry from some of the RV parks we have been in where you might not have any contact with your neighbor other than maybe a friendly wave or a nod. Here you have the sounds of people having fun, kids playing, the smell of campfires, and the sound of fireworks all around. Fireworks are legal here, heck they even sell them at the local Wal-Marts. I think it is going to be a noisy and entertaining weekend, but we are ready. After all the touring of Washington DC, Gettysburg, Hershey, and Niagara, we are ready to just sit for a while and do nothing. This is the perfect place and a good long weekend for that.