Heading On Down the Road

Walls Drug is a memory,

as are the views of South Dakota.

And beginning of a bummer week.

But our patience paid off and we were on our way again.  Really had to twist Chuck arm to get him to stop at the Corn Palace, once he got the wheels rolling he was in go mood.  But he admitted that the stop was worth it. 

Each year they completely change the design, so basically it is almost always being put together.  The turrets and spirals had yet to be decorated.  Quite interesting, and the inside auditorium is also done.                                    

                                

We stopped and had lunch with Dave & Bev in a great little local café.  We had planned to spend a few days earlier, but glad we got to have a nice visit.  Other than that we just took our time, although 1000 miles in 3 days, is a little more than we usually think about doing.  But we wanted to get here with time to spare before the Montana rally, which starts Wednesday.  Getting our axles, wheels the whole 9 yards looked, to see if we need to upgrade/repair, what ever it takes. 

Our first day here, Saturday, we had to pay a visit to Rise N’ Roll.  If you  ever are in the vicinity well worth a stop, the caramel donuts are to die for. And Chuck wants everyone to know that he had a donuts for one and all.  Then we headed for Shipshewana only to find the flea market wasn’t open…….but Yoder's was!  We came back through Goshen and hit a few of the stores.  A shopper I am not, but let me tell you, Chuck almost had to drag me out, think there are nail marks in the carpet of Target Super store.  It has been at least a couple of months since we have been around the big stores, once I got in I just looked and touched like I was in heaven.  Back to earth, today was laundry which means we are good to go. 

Tuesday we take the RV by MorRyde and see what their suggestions are.  Then we will move to Goshen where the rally is, after it is over, we will come back and have the work done.  Once that is taken care of we will be making our way to Tennessee for Lisa’s Gathering.

Life is Good

Purgatory

That is what we are thinking we are in.  Left Gillette, heading east, final destination was to be Elkhart/Goshen.  Just a buzzing down I-90 when we get a ding, ding.  Overheating???  Stopped and sure enough we had water coming out the bottom of the engine pretty serious like.  Well luckily we had cell service, Good Sam RS, once again. This was shortly after noon, and each time we thought someone was coming to our rescue, near the scheduled arrival time, we would receive a call saying they were not coming.  They were actually hinting that we might be there till the next day.  We could see a water tower, Kadoka, SD, in the distance and as it was getting dark we agreed to a tow there.  Bad move.  That ended their responsibility….have a good day, idiot.  We found a dodge/ford/gmc dealer (one size fits all) 20 miles away, but we had to arrange the tow there. Thank goodness for cell phones and the internet.  We were lucky after 3 days they installed the water pump, but there is a small part that is needed to keep the pressure up or down or something, anyway they don’t have it, NO ONE has it ANYWHERE.  A shipment is scheduled to arrive in Denver this coming Tuesday, so even with overnighting looking at Thursday at the earliest for getting on the road.  But they did warn us that it was only a scheduled shipment. 

Woke up yesterday and the fridge was not working.  Luckily switched it to gas, went and got a couple of bags of ice, and it cooled off. Seems to be working, not switching it back till we are in Elkhart. 

Hopefully this will one day be one of those funny stories for around the campfire someday, but right now, well we are still finding a little humor in it. That is it, done moaning, whooo is me.  Enough. We have some friends passing through next Tuesday and they have promised to stop, so looking forward to seeing them.

Tomorrow is the 9/11 anniversary, 10 years ago, we were sitting on a plane in Sacramento waiting to take off.  Compared to something like that, we are totally blessed. 

Life is Good

GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL..

 

Last night, we joined the other rally “left overs” for a surprise 50th birthday party for Marcia Jones.  Chasingthe70s  Think she was truly surprised,  and we all had a great time.  Happy Birthday, Marcia.

Up early this morning, hitching the old horse to the wagon to start the trek down the road.  We are heading for Iowa,, where we have friends that we will spend a few days with.  Want to make a stop and take in the Corn Palace too.  So with plans laid out, we will soon have Gillette in our rear view mirror.  Made some great memories, enjoyed it very much.

Life is Good

Escapade 2011

Almost 700 rigs, double that for attendees, and a good time had by all.  Our leaders, Bob and Molly Pinner, along with many volunteers did an outstanding job. 

There were vendors galore, nightly entertainment, many seminars to choose from, and of course all the “happy hours”. 

Best of all, seeing friends we have met over the years, and the chance to make new ones.  We also got to meet a few of the fellow Jojobaians, we can’t wait to see our new parking place in Jojoba Hills in California.  When closing ceremonies took place we were ready for it all to come to an end.  Busy, busy turned into tired over the week. Now we will take a few days to let it all sink in, visit with friends, as most are staying for at least a few days. 

Class of 07 adopted about 8 couples this year, so we are becoming quite a large ”family”.  We had a happy hour earlier this week with a large turn out.  Tonight we are having a baked potato gathering. That is always fun, everyone brings a baked potato and one topping, and that lowly potato turns into a gourmet treat.

We are having our RV weighed when we leave here on the 6th, hopefully we are not too much overweight.  Be wonderful if we were under weight, something that I personally have never had to deal with.  We have taken a lot off the rig, and replaced it with much lighted items, so I’m hoping…… sort of like taken off your shoes before stepping on the scale.  I did go through the cupboards and donated lots of can goods, even 5 pounds of sugar, to the food drive the Escapees was having for the food bank in Gillette. Okay, that is like taking off the earrings!  It will be nice to have a storage shed on our lot, give us some place to store things that we only need when we are sitting for awhile. We may not have a stick and bricks, but we have “stuff” stored all across the USA. 

Our last minute purchase at the rally, a Adventure Caravans 7 day tour for the Rose Parade.  This will make the 4th time we have done this and each time has been better than the last.  I think of all the things we have done or seen this is by far my favorite. It is so nice to just park the rig, and let some one else do the driving, AND parking.  Highly recommend it to anyone thinking of taking the parade in.  My favorite part is the post float viewing, it is amazing to see some of the uses of fruit, vegetables and flowers up close. The floats are parked for a few days which gives you plenty of time to have a good look.

Life is Good

Rally Round

We spent six days in Cody, had a great time.  The RV park was ever so nice to us, letting us use part of the restaurant at night to play cards.  They also did a breakfast buffet which was quite good, and the price of five dollars was very reasonable.  Chuck took advantage of it, I believe 3 times, but I only tried it once.  Not so much of a morning person, I kind of like to ease into the day.  Three of the group was checking into the rally one day earlier than the rest of us, so they ran on ahead.  Being as we had to check in before noon, we decided that we would spend the night closer to Gillette, making for a short drive the last day, so we bedded down in Buffalo.

Waiting for Thanksgiving, well maybe not, they looked kind poorly.

The drive over the pass into Buffalo was very scenic, with a climb to almost 10,000, it still was an easy trip.

 

Made for an easy drive 70 mile jaunt the last morning.  Once here it didn’t take us long to get settled in.  What a wonderful place to have a rally.  Huge facility, and everything is under one roof. What a fun time we had, an update is in the works and will have that up soon.

Cozy In Cody

We pulled up stakes last week and made the move to Cody, Wyoming.  Well, almost, we are 17 miles shy if it, but close enough, and they have a Wal-Mart.  We had a run of bad luck, first we had a tire blow out, and our pressure pro did not even make a beep.  Luckily Chuck seen the smoke almost right when it happened, so there was no damage, but I’m so disappointmented in the pressure pro, I really felt so much better having it, but no more.  It is not working at all. We were following Mac & Netters and they did not see us pull over, so bless their hearts, once they waited a while, they turned their “freight train” around and came back looking for us.

Of course we were inside Yellowstone, no cell coverage, but help arrived and we were soon on our way.  Wish it ended there, but, once we got set up in the campground, our electric was pegged out.  We had a loose wire in the plug, so it burned up the toaster oven and coffee maker.  Being it was in the cord after the surge protector was no help.  Luckily did not realize the burn-outs till the next morning so it got bad news got spread around, makes it easier that way.  Could have been a lot worse and for that we are thankful.   The campground here is very accommodating, they are letting us play cards in the one of the dining rooms at night.  So we have been having some heavy 10 penny games.  Last night we played hand and foot with Bob, Barb and Don and Suzie.  It was 1 & 1, so will have to have a play off some time.

Other than Wal-mart, we have been taking in some of the sights.  There was the miniature museum, which was huge, and free.

 

Old Town, that had lots of relics.

People back then were really TOUGH, the west would never be discovered in todays world.

The first exercise bike?????? Now I do know what this is, lol………….

     

One of the more colorful characters, Jeremah”Liver Eating” Johnson.  They reburied him here in Old Town.

     

The rock formations around here are truly amazing.  We have a wonderful view from our back window.

Pictures just don’t do it justice.  Well it is getting close to “happy hour”, got to put this blog to bed.  Thanks for looking in. 

Life is Good

Gonna Be A Bear

Just could not resist this one.  Just one more day till we move to Cody, and believe me we are all ready to get those wheels rolling.  The first 2-3 weeks here were great, but as we seen everything, got the t-shirts, well that is when the days got long.  Tonight we all went to town for pizza, and it was good, been awhile since we had had that.  See ya all down the road.

Those Sixty’s Were Great!

                     

Oh yah, way to go, girl.  I’ve reached that magic age where I can say just about anything. After all wisdom does come with age.  Some times. Of course there is  the other option, maybe I’m become senile.  At times that has crossed my mind, but that thought comes and goes.  To tell the truth, I just down right feel comfortable in my own skin, now it could be because it seems like there is so much more of it, but not going to dwell on that thought.

It has been a great ride, have a wonderful husband, lovely daughter, wonderful son, great SIL, and DIL.  Three grandsons, one of whom has own family, beautiful wife, with the most precious great-grandson and great-granddaughter.  Truly have been blessed.

Also the last five plus years that we have spent roaming the states has been a wonderful adventure, that we hope to continue for as long as we are comfortable doing it.  We know that there will come a time, but till then……..

Hopefully to be continued…..

The Last Trip of Yellowstone

We think this is our final trip through Yellowstone.  That is till we hook up the rigs on our way to Cody, as our route takes us right through the park.  We started out later in the day. thinking that we would arrive at the more popular sites, when the larger part of the tourists had passed through, making finding a parking space easier.  And….. IT WORKED!  Don’t you love it when a plan comes together?

The prism pools were beautiful, although the day was on the cool side and the steam did obscure some of the beauty.

      

   

Then there were the paint pots, not so pretty, but very interesting, the smell not so much.

The drive on the Firehole Loop produced this interesting crater.  The plaque said that it would erupt some time in the next 48 hours, we gave it 10 minutes, no luck.

Some of the wildlife we were lucky enough to see.

    

The sunset was the crowning glory, had so many pictures of it, was hard to choose, but this was my choice.  Most of my pictures are thanks to my friend Lynette, as I had not charged my battery and it was rather low.

Although Yellowstone has many truly wondrous sights, the remnants of the fire in 88, are still very visible, but the new growth is coming back as strong. 

The rest of the week we have been doing a whole lot of nothing and doing a real good job of it.  A few happy hours, couple of potlucks, few rounds of card games.  Chuck and I snuck off one night to the playhouse for the Phantom of the Grand Ole Opry.  What a talented family, they do a great job.  So that bring another week to a close.  The weather has been wonderful, feel some what guilty when we hear of the heat some of our friends are having to endure. 

My love/hate relationship with my Droid continues.  Turned it off the other night at the show, when I turned it back on, it said must be activated, so hit that button.  Well, that wiped my phone clean, no numbers, no pictures. nada, zip, all gone into the black hole.  And that darn Verizon assistant that is suppose to keep everything on line, well it transferred back one number, ONE!  Beginning to think I’m too stupid to  have a phone like that.  And of course there is no Verizon store within 200 miles. 

This week RVer’s lost one of our own, Doug  Dubrouillet.  We were lucky enough to have met Doug and JoAnn in Tennessee last fall, and being the owner of Fillmore (standard poodle) was one of his claims to fame.  JoAnn, we have you in our thoughts and prayers.  Bless you.

Yellowstone

Wednesday, the six of us (Sullivan's,  Roaming When We Can & McHenry's, Mac and Nette's Road to Retirement ) rented a van and took off to see the upper loop along with the Lamar Valley.  We had been told that the wild life was quite plentiful in the valley and we were not disappointed.

Okay, my idea of a joke.

Sharing the road.

Elk

We caught a glimpse of this black bear, so turned around, and right in front of us he was crossing the road.  Scruffy looking, think he/she  was having a bad hair day.

Grizzly bear, but he was at quite a distance.  There was one more black bear, have to steal a picture.  Thanks Netters.

We also took in the Mammoth Hot Springs.  It was very interesting and pretty, although it is killing everything around the area.

 

We stopped along the way for a picnic, there are quite a few area with tables, so it is very nice to take a break and not “break” the bank.  This area is a bit on the pricey side.  Then we made our way to Upper and Lower Falls.  We got there around six and parking was no problem.  Unfortunately the sun was not at it best for viewing, but it was still very impressive. 

The canyon wall.

The Lower Falls

The Upper Fall.  The amount of water going through here was unbelievable. 

From there we made our way back to West Yellowstone, turned in the van, and decided that we would have ice cream for dinner.  It had been a long day, 12 hours, but priceless. 

The rest of the week, we did make another trip in Rexburg for blood work for Chuck and Mac.  Thankfully they are both in range so they can retest in two weeks this time.  They did find a clinic here so it will be easier.  Other than that we have been playing cards some, chase the ace, ten penny.  Ten penny, was a new game for some of us, really a fun game.  The park had a potluck last night, they had a good turn out.  We all went, ate too much, as usual. Tonight Donna is treating us all to her Chicken fried steak.  We have been trying to not over do the nightly get togethers with too much food, and it is working out.  Did hear that we got in for the Montana rally in Goshen near the end of September.  Want to have Keystone replace the front mountain decal as it is really peeling.  Last year they redid the Montana decal, but thought the other was okay. 

This coming week we will try to get back into the Yellowstone, might be able to meet up with some friends that are in the area for a few days.  Also have tickets to the Mack’s Inn Playhouse to see the Phantom of the Grand Ole Opry, on Wednesday.  Sure that we will be able to fill in any open spots as they arise.  Staying busy doesn’t seem to be a problem.

Life is Good