Back on the Road

Hello to our Winter away from Minnesota for the year 2013-2014. Hot Damn.
We left our home in Lake City on Monday October 14th at approximately 1445 hours. Yes I know it's late in the day to start but hey at least we are on the road again, thanks Willie.  Anyway we made it 100 miles that day.  Spent the night in a Jellystone Campground for only $20.00 for full hookups. The check in Lady told me they were closing for the season the next day; which could explain the price.

On Tuesday we again headed West on I-90 heading for Box Elder South Dakota, our new home state.  We arrived in Box Elder on Wednesday mid morning checked in for our expected short stay. I said expected because after settling in we realized we did not have our Birth Certificates for the residence change. Have everything else but  the most important.  Called my older brother who had to drive to our house, go through the safe and find our Birth Certificates.  God Bless him he found them put them in the mail priority so we should receive them no later than Monday the 21st hence our expected stay turned into a 7 night stay. Of course it's cold and wintry here. Just had a small blowing snow storm come through but thank God it only lasted a few minutes.

Yesterday, the 17th we drove the Black Hills, Paha Sapa, visited Dead Wood and more interestingly the Crazy Horse Memorial. The face is completed and looks Great!! It has been close to 10 years since we last visited the Memorial we were really impressed with the progress.  We took a short bus ride for $4.00 which took us up to the base of the rock. What a view we were able to get a few pictures.  If you have not been to the Crazy Horse Memorial you need to go it is well worth the $20.00 per person cost to see the memorial and visit the Awesome Museum of American Indian Artifacts.

October 19, 2013
Good Morning.  Woke up early today to beautiful sunshine. Love It!  It looks to be a beautiful day. Are plans are to drive up to Deadwood today a do a little gambling. Several years ago while there with the kids I was fortunate enough to win $400.00. Maybe I can do it again. If so I will take Barb to the Texas Roadhouse for dinner tonight.

As soon as I can figure out how to do it I will add pictures to this Blog.  See you later.

October 21, 2013
Today is Monday. We received our Birth Certificates in the mail today thanks to my older brother, Nick. Tomorrow, Tuesday we go to the local DMV and get our SD drivers License and our SD License plates. We will then be SD residents. (Oops it turns out we needed our Marriage Certificate too.  I'm not brave enough to call Nick again. Our plan is to drive back out to Box Elder after we get home in the Spring.) After that we can get back on the road, heading to Utah. South towards the warm weather, hopefully because it can get cold in Utah too. Hopefully we will be able to find the Spires State Park again. This time we will spend a couple of days boondocking while we hike the area. Last season it was only on night. We left with a promise to return and hike the area.  We are so looking forward to moving on. This long a stay in the Rapid City area was not planned on. Today we spent looking around the Prairie Edge store where we bought several items. I finally bought a flute and am in the process of learning to play it. Hopefully it won't take me too long. Just the little I've played with it I've improved so I have high hopes. More to follow in the coming days.  So far I haven't chased the wife out of the RV so I guess that's a positive for me.

We made it to the kids house last week Wednesday, the 23rd of the October. It was a joyous reunion.  Little Jimmy ran up to me with his arms open a big smile and his face and gave me a big hug. I feel so loved. Jakob has the dark shadow of a mustache already and  he is only in 6th grade. My they grow up fast.  Soon he will have his driver's license and a whole new set of worries will start. He is such a loving young man with a great big gracious heart. My only wish at this time is he would get outside more and off the couch. Put the Gameboy down Jake, you need sun. Ha Ha.

Today my son, Tannen and I drove to Boise and did some shopping. Went to Camping World and I bought several needed items then on to Wood Crafters where we spent time looking around. Tannen bought some wood clamps. We then drove to Sonic had some lunch and then home. It has been a good day. Praise the Lord for  his many Blessing and answered Prayers!

Sunday 11-24-2013
Good Morning. It is my intention to place pictures on this blog however, I'm having a little bit of trouble just finding the folder I saved them to. I will keep at it until successful I promise. Right now the Queen of this here traveling home is requesting McDonalds for breakfast or Dennys, of course she has to drink her coffee first which is understandable. 

All my Grandchildren. Two from Ohio and two from Oregon. They are certainly spread out.  We love them so very, very much.

Right now we are camped in the Marina Dunes RV park in Marina California, 8 miles North of Monterey. I highly recommend this RV park. The spaces are level, showers clean and based on location the price of $70.00/night is not too bad. We leave here tomorrow and move to an RV park in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Palo Alto to spend Thanksgiving with Barb's sister and husband, Daren.

December, 21, 2013

We have been back from Monterey, CA for some time now.  The weather here at our son's house sucks. Cold with several inches of snow on the ground. While I dearly love our Children and Grand Children and look forward to Christmas Day I'm also looking forward to leaving for Mesa, Arizona and warmer, sunny weather.

Our plans to have Barb fly back to our home in Minnesota are still on the front burner. However, the plan to sell our place is not as happy a thought for Barb as it was a month ago.  Now she is back to talking about renting instead of selling and moving west.  I can't keep up with her changes  nor feel the strength to argue the selling point anymore.  My dream of buying a Class-A is on the back burner again. My plan to full time for a year without a house payment and save that money for a house in Idaho is off the table once again. Oh well as the saying goes; Que Sera.

Oh yeah I talked with my Older Brother, Nick the other night and found out he is in Prescott, AZ and will, I assume, be in AZ for some time.  Hopefully we can hook up while we are in Tombstone.  It would be nice to tour the historic areas with Nick. Since Mom's passing we haven't been as close as I would like but understandable I guess, at least I'm trying to understand.  The Cochise Stronghold is only 100 miles from Tombstone as is Fort Huachuca.  There is a lot to see within driving of Tombstone. I'm so looking forward to being back in the desert and warm sunshine.  Nick told me he is renting a single wide Manufactured Home for some lady and is happy with  his decision.  He told me the people on either side of his place are very friendly and came over for a visit. The man on his right and the lady on  his left.

Back Home Early

While we were enjoying our two week stay in Tombstone Az we rec'd some very sad news.
My Mother was dying!! It turned out to be one of the worst days of my life. She was 93y/o and had outlived her pig valve by almost 10years. Just 5 months after losing her life time Mate, my Father, of 69 years Mom joined him in Heaven.  I prayed she would not suffer as we pulled up stakes and headed home. Back to the dreaded Minnesota Winter.  We did not make it in time except to make it to the funeral services held in St.Mary of the Lake, Catholic Church in Lake City, Minn.

Until next Winter, Winter of 2013 our travels our over.  We will be back on the road come this October.

Bye Mom & Dad we Love You!

Woe to Us

I managed to delete several days of blogging in one swell swoop called accidental Delete; OOPS!

I decided to try and add some pictures to my blogs and thought I would start with one of the worst days we have had so far.  The title shall be:

THE DAY I RIPPED OFF THE AWNING

 

 



 

It all started out quite safely. I very carefully backed out from underneath the overhang which is supported by 4X4 posts of treated lumber (I shall get back to the 4X4 post later.) Our son's enclosed shop is the North end and the street is the South end.  The purpose of the moving of the RV in the first place is to fill the propane tank and dump the black water holding tank.  Both were accomplished without mishap. 

 

Upon my arrival back at our son's place still without mishap I proceeded to drive under the overhang when my 11 yr old grandson caught my eye.  Paying more attention to him I struck one of the support posts, remember those I wish I had, thinking it was a tree branch I was sliding under I paid no never mind, OOPS, wrong!  I caught the back awning support bracket pulling it lose from the side of the RV. In my attempt to extricate myself I managed to tear the rest of the awning off.  Along with the porch light and grab handle.  Now all of this happened after our first full day here when we managed to burn out the TV and Converter Charger because we plugged into 240 instead of 120.  The first clue was the smoke coming from the TV. OOPS!  It has been a very expensive visit so far. I don't watch a lot of TV but I do like the History Channel and PBS.  On Monday 12/31/12 the insurance adjuster will meet with me at 10:30am. I pray he will agree with the estimate and replacement of everything listed on the claim. I need the claim # so we can proceed.  Dennis Dillion RV of Boise will do the work provided the Adjuster agrees with the cost.  It will take Dillion RV one day to fix the problems but two weeks to receive the replacement parts.  I want to get moving on this so we can get to the desert.  Another lesson of patience provided by the Good Lord.

 

December 31, 2012

 

NEW YEAR'S EVE (DAY)

 

Mike the adjuster showed up right on time. Imagine that in today's world, On Time.

 

He approved the claim so I should have the claim # by January 2, 2013, wow 2013! I didn't think back in 1968 I would make it to 2013, damn surprise, surprise.

 

I digress.  Once the claim # is issued it will be 2 weeks before the parts come in and then on to Tombstone and Boondocking in the desert. So looking forward to warm weather again. Not that staying with our son and his family is a bad thing. The grand kids are great and we love them so much as we do both our son's and their families. But on to warmer weather as soon as we can.

I had to open a checking acct with Chase so I could cash a damn refund check. Oh well I hear good things about Chase so I'm happy. Plus when we move we will already be set up. Now to get our pension checks directed deposited to Chase. 

Received a much need check from Mom for Christmas.  I will deposit in our new acct tomorrow as it is too late today the bank is closed. Reportedly I can take a picture of the check and then some how send it to the bank but I don't feel comfortable with that procedure just yet. I will check it out though while I'm at the bank to make sure I'm doing it right. After a trial run I should have some confidence in the procedure. Tannen's renter has been doing it for some while now so maybe I should ask him. Maybe!  Found out how to deposit checks via my smarter than me phone without asking for help. It's simple really but first you have to sign up for the privilege, duh.

 

January 1, 2013

 

I woke this morning to 9 above and frozen holding tanks.  When I wrote the title "Woe is me" I didn't realize how apropos it would be.  Currently I have an electric heater outside under the holding tanks in my feeble attempt to thaw things out. What I need is a portable waste tank so I don't have to move the RV every time I want to dump.  I just looked them up on Camping World and was shocked at how expensive they are.  Over $200.00 for a decent sized one and that's on sale via the Internet. Of course shipping is another $45.00.  I guess I'll drive down to Boise tomorrow and buy one at their store.  We need to move on to warmer weather that's all there is to it.

 

January 2, 2013

 

It's 0100  hours and my older brother, Nick, called to tell me our Mom is in St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester, MN.  Earlier in the evening I had made my usual daily call and Mom told me she didn't feel well and was having trouble breathing.  Nick's call was to inform me of her admittance and let me know they placed her on Lasix IV which brought her Oxygen level from 84% saturation to 97% saturation. This is quite an improvement but decided, wisely I think, to keep her overnight for observation. Mom has been struggling with Congestive Heart Failure for a while now. All I can do is pray and ask the Good Lord to help her so she won't suffer like our Dad and that he will lay his healing hands on her.  I pray with all my  heart she will get better and be at home when we get there in the Spring. I hope this doesn't sound selfish I'm not prepared to lose her just yet.  But I don't think I will ever be prepared for this loss.

 

 

January 7, 2013

 

 

I'm sitting in the RV watching it snow.  Of course Minnesota is snow free and warmer than here in Ontario.

 

Mom came home last night and I called her this morning. She sounds good. A lot better than she was while in the Hospital. Our prayers were answered. In view of all the prayers I've offerred up and the times our Good Lord has answered these prayers I can't understand those who don't believe.  His presence is strong in me and I'm grateful.  I'm not sure how I would handle the trials he has put in front of me if I couldn't pray for guidance.  Thank you God!

Barb has Jimmy to snuggle with on the couch. Of course she has the touch for getting him to take a nap.  She had the same effect on Jake and me. When we were dating I could fall asleep in seconds while snuggling with her on the couch.  She is soporific.

It's still snowing here in Ontario.  The kids love it but of course I don't. I find it a terrible inconvience at best.  I left Lake City to get away from this shit and here I am back in it.  I feel like Don Corleone trying to get out of the mob while I'm trying to get away from the snow.