The Badlands

Our first National Park visit was in South Dakota; The Badlands. It is quite something to come upon after all of the very flat, open farm land. Suddenly you see the peaks and valleys of the Badlands. We can imagine how it got its name when the going suddenly got very rough. Getting across this in a covered wagon would have been difficult.

On the way to the park, we found that there was going to be a ranger talk at the site of one of the Minute Man missile silos which used to pepper the western half of South Dakota, as well as other parts of the middle of the US. Although this one had long since been shutdown, there are still many in use throughout the country. The missile was long gone from this one and they had a glass cover over the silo so you could look in at the mock-up missile. The ranger was very informative since he was once stationed at this very silo so he knew all of the inner workings.

Then we went on to Badlands National Park. We guess we had not this when we came through here before because there was no entry in our National Parks Passport. It is some quite interesting landscape. It is also interesting in that it is surrounded by flat farm land on all sides. The pictures tell the rest of the story.

Making Strides

We have been “haulin’” for a couple of days, at least for us. 480 miles in one 11 1/2 hour day and 433 miles in 10 1/2 hours the next day to get from Joliet, Illinois to Wall, South Dakota. But we wanted to get here quickly because we want to have most of a day to travel through Badlands National Parks before we move on to Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills. Also, being in Wall to have our dinner at Wall Drug is pretty special. It has been nearly 23 years since we were here last with our sons during our Summer of ‘93 trip around the country. That was a wonderful trip and we hope our kids remember it as fondly as we do.

From here, it was a short trip, for us, to Rapid City, SD, and a longer stay at Rushmore Shadows Resort. We will be here for 6 days and will see a lot of the Black Hills including Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park, Crazy Horse, Deadwood and Lead. It should be fun but hopefully also relaxing.

Westward Ho!

We have left the Northeast in our rearview mirrors and taken the Great Rolling Yellowstone Caravan a couple of states further west. From Ohio, we traveled to Shipshewana, Indiana. Ellyn and I were here two years ago on our Lake Michigan Circle Tour. We loved the gigantic Flea Market and Auction they have in town and it was supposed to be even bigger over Memorial Day weekend. We wanted our friends to see it as well, so we dropped in for four days. It was fun. Our friends seemed to be really interested in the Amish and what drives them to follow the lifestyle. We went to the Menno-Hof Center and got the whole story on the formation of the Amish and Mennonite religions. The center is an immersive multi-media experience and shows the whole history of the Christian religion and how it lead up to the Anabaptist movement where the Mennonite and then the Amish sects evolved. Ellyn and I had not visited there on our last trip.

The flea market was packed on Monday, Memorial Day, but less so on Tuesday and Wednesday, which is when the auctions are held. Ellyn and our friends went back for the auction on Tuesday but Geoff did some more mundane things around the RV. However, we always got together for meals and enjoyed a few of the local restaurants, which are very deep in “comfort food”. We also spent some time driving through the country side following the Heritage Trail, a CD with information on the area. We followed it until we got into Nappanee, IN, where the Newmar Corporation builds RVs like the Dutch Star we own. Ellyn and I had done the tour of their build facility in 2009 when we had first started our adventures, but we wanted to see it again now that it is probably a little more busy and we wanted our friends to see it too.

We were right about it being more busy. Instead of the 4-5 rigs a week they were building back then, now they are doing 7-8 a day. It is quite an impressive process and it really makes us happy we own one, since the process is really high is quality. If we could win the lottery, we would definitely buy a new one, although not a too glitzy one. Some of them seem to have too many lights, chrome and mirrors. However, four TVs might be OK.

On the way out of Indiana, we stopped off at the RV/MH Hall of Fame and Museum. They have a lot of old RVs in that place, and all in immaculate condition. It was a fun stop, although we did have a bit of trouble finding it, as our GPS tried to navigate us in over a gravel road. No thanks in the RV.

After Indiana, we headed to Chicago, another place we have visited before but there is always something to see that is new. Plus, our friends have family in the area that they wanted to touch base with as we passed through. We stayed at the Hollywood Hotel and Casino Campground, somewhere we have been twice before while visiting Chicago. Our good friends Ken and Martha live here as well, although they have been on the road for a long Winter and will be just getting back into town when we are on our way out.

We took an Architectural Cruise on the river through Chicago and learned a lot about the buildings along the river. They range in age from the 1920s to just a few years ago, and even some new ones still going up. It was fun although it was sunny and very warm. Each time we would go under one of the many bridges, the shade felt good.

Our next day around Chicago was not as nice weather but we had planned mostly indoor things for this day anyway. Our first stop was breakfast with one of Ellyn’s sewing friends, Martha. Waffles and pancakes. Yum!

Our next stop was at a B’hai Temple. It was beautiful and we got an introduction to the B’hai religion.

Next, our friends went to the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Ellyn and I borrowed their car and went to visit with another of Ellyn’s sewing friends, Carole. We had stayed at her house two years ago when we were traveling through to Michigan.

Our last day was more laid back. We hung around the rig and did some relaxing. Ellyn worked on some of her sewing and Geoff looked ahead for possible fuel stops along our route. The next few days will be pushing through to The Black Hills of South Dakota. We would like to be there fairly early in two days so we will try to put a lot of miles behind us tomorrow and the next day. Westward, Ho!

The Great Rolling Yellowstone Caravan

After a great time in Boston, we headed to Croton Point Park in Croton-On-The–Hudson, NY. We were supposed to meet up here with our traveling companions, Dave and Myra Snowise, but Myra had a doctor appointment in Connecticut, so we just spent two nights here by ourselves. Ellyn did meet up with a friend for dinner one night, but otherwise, it was just a couple of relaxing days. Geoff was able to get a belt for the dash A/C compressor and got that working again. It was a good thing because the weather jumped suddenly into Summer. The day we arrived, the high temperature was in the 60s and the next day it was in the 80s. The forecast for the weather there and as we travel westward in the Northeast is for this heat to continue, so the A/C will be needed.

We left Croton and headed across the Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River to New Jersey and a meet up with Dave and Myra. There is a huge construction job going on on the Hudson to replace the bridge. It is quite impressive. Our dashcam caught much of it as we drove along. We’ve been having fun with the dashcam. Geoff has captured all but one border crossing (missed Rhode Island when the memory card filled up. Now we make sure it is empty at the start of each day).

We arrived at the meet up spot, had lunch, then found out Dave and Myra were just leaving home. So we sat in the motorhome with the generator and A/C on and watched TV. Finally we got the call they were almost there, so Geoff went out by the road to wave them in and show where we were parked. We then had some ice cream at the Cold Stone Creamery and discussed where we would try to get to before night. We picked a campground about 2 hours away, called ahead to make sure they had room, and headed out. When we arrived, we had time to set up, have a nice dinner (Myra cooked, we opened up our table and put out settings. It was relaxing after a long day and everyone got some sleep. End, Day 1.

The next morning we were on the road about 9:30 and headed for our first site seeing, the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, PA. A sad place but very well done. They have a big visitor’s center and a wall with the names of all of the victims near the crash site. They have planted a huge grove of trees along the approach and, in about 20 years, they will be magnificent.

We stayed at the memorial a little long and had a long drive afterward to get to our next stop near Cleveland, OH. The road to and from the memorial was the Lincoln Highway, US 30. This highway goes up and over the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania. This was a job for the motorhomes, although going down is a bit hairier than going up. At one point, just before we turned back onto the main highway, we saw signs warning trucks from driving any further on US 30. After we got back to the highway, we still had about 3 hours of driving to do, but we powered through. The campground in Ohio is in a State Park, so we only have 20 amps of electric and had to make sure we had plenty of water onboard. We will only be here for two nights though before moving on to Indiana. Memorial Day weekend is here and we are getting patriotic!

Hangin’ with Simone

It is always fun to see our favorite Grand Daughter, Simone, when we are in Boston. She is such a smiley, happy kid. And at 17 months, has a surprisingly large vocabulary. She has been able to do a lot of animal sounds since she was one, but now she is starting to be able to name those animals. She is not quite getting “Grandma” and “Grandpa” yet but she has figured out “mama” and “papa” and “Gus”. She is even working on her first two syllable word, “water”.

We got to accompany her on her first bicycle ride. Maureen seemed a little unsure at first but Simone didn’t try to look around her very much, which can make controlling a bike tough, when the center of gravity keeps shifting around. But it went very well and Simone seemed to have a great time riding along behind Mama.

The next day we got to have dinner at Simone’s house. It was a very nice evening so we had dinner out in the back yard and then did some playing. Jordy went along and got to hang out with Gus a little. We all went for a walk and played with balls in the back yard. It was great fun!

Day three had us having brunch out with Simone. It was a belated Mother’s Day brunch. Simone was a little lady and wore a cute little sweater that Grandma brought for her from our friends Dave and Myra. It was another sparkling day in Boston. We have had a lot of those while we have been here. our luck with the weather has been very good after a lot of rain and gloominess in Connecticut. We’ve had a couple of cool days but for the most part, temperatures have been in the 70s.

After a break of one day, we got to see Simone again for dinner at her house, but this was a very busy day for us. We got up early to join one of our favorite Rabbis, Neil Gold, for breakfast and a long catch up on all the things that have happened in the last year and a half since we had seen him. There have been some big changes in his life but his family is doing well and he seems very happy with how things have turned out.

Next, it was into Boston to go to the Science Museum. We have a membership at the Mote Aquarium in Sarasota and this gets us free membership at the Science Museum in Boston. Pretty sweet. However, we did spring for admission to a couple of the Omnimax movies they have there. We really wanted to see the one on National Parks because we will be seeing some of them this Summer.

After a great dinner at Simone’s and some fun around the living room before bed time, we headed off to our fourth event of the day, a meet-up with an ex-coworker of Ellyn’s from IBM, Mary McDonald. She lives in Texas but was in Boston for some work related activities and we met her at The Cheesecake Factory for dessert. Whew! And poor Jordy was home alone the whole day. We did get a dog walker to come to the RV around 3:00 but Jordy would not go for a walk with her. He did get his dinner though.

So on Saturday the 21st, we stopped by Simone’s house to baby sit while her parents went tout to look at a house. They did not decide on t, but we got to get some hugs from Simone before her nap and then some quiet time while they were out and she was napping. Then Logan and us went to see the Red Sox play at Fenway. It was one heck of a game with the Red Sox winning over Cleveland 9 to 1. We had a great time!

Sunday was Geoff’s birthday and Simone and Logan came by in the morning after Maureen went off on a business trip. We played in the playground at Normandy Farms and walked around the campground a little. Then we all went out to lunch at Fresh Catch before Logan and Simone headed back home for nap time.

A New Re-Start

Well, we spent 10 days in Connecticut doing something we prefer not to do when traveling by RV; we moved out of the RV and into a friend’s house. Then we put the RV into a storage lot. However, we were in the area to visit and say good bye to a good friend who was dealing with cancer. There are no RV parks in a reasonable distance and we had no other alternative. It turned out to be a good way to handle it and the amount we paid for a month in the storage area, of which we only used 8 days, was less than we would have paid for a campground for that time. And our friends were very good to us, cooking on most occasions.

Their dogs and Jordy got along well although Jordy seemed to prefer the food their dogs were getting over that which he normally gets. He also refused to come up to our bedroom one night and he slept with our friends on their bed. The next few nights we had him come to our room but allowed him to sleep on our bed. This seemed to work OK and everyone got a good night’s sleep although we got up earlier than our usual time because of Jordy’s desire to get going. Normally, we have him in his crate and he stays put until we let him out after we get up.

The RV was OK after being in storage and getting its new batteries. However, a problem has returned of it stalling out after about 20 seconds of running and then restarts hard. It did it when leaving the storage lot and then did it again the next morning when getting ready to leave. Geoff is thinking it might need a new fuel filter. He regrets not getting an oil change done while it was waiting on the new A/C unit in Florida. Now it will probably have to be done on site in Massachusetts. He is also going to see if he can get a new belt for the dash A/C compressor. the old belt disappeared during the trip North. We may not need it for a while but we will want to have it by June. Things might be warming up a bit by then. We will also get a spare in case we lose another one.

So now we are in Massachusetts at one of our favorite campgrounds. We came to Normandy Farms in Foxboro back in 2008 after we bought our first RV. The campgrounds have changed somewhat since then but is still a great place to spend a couple of weeks. Our plan is to be here until May 24th and then we will go to New York to meet up with our friends from Connecticut again to start our journey West. Coincidentally, we came upon some other friends here in the campground who live at Sun-N-Fun in Florida. We and they were equally surprised to find each other camping within 100 yards of each other. You just never know what your going to find when you live the good life. We are looking forward to seeing our 17-month old Granddaughter, Simone, for the first time since we were at her first Birthday in December. We have been able to see her a lot over the internet but it will be fun to hold her again.

On the First Part of Our Journey…

We finally got our RV all loaded with the things we needed for our Summer adventure, at least we thought we did, more about that later, and pulled out of Sun-N-Fun around 11:30 on Sunday, April 24th. The RV was performing well and, other than the fact that “loaded” does not necessarily mean “stowed”, meaning the place was cluttered with bags and boxes we would have to deal with down the road, it was smooth sailing North. The repairs we had had done to the RV seemed successful. The dashboard air system was blowing nice, cool air and we had tried out the rooftop A/C while loading and it was working well too. Hate the expense but love the results.

The first day was pretty uneventful and the traffic was clear. We made it about 430 miles and into South Carolina for the night. After Geoff put out all of the slides, and we were putting away stuff, Geoff saw a movement in the bedroom. Quickly he grabbed a clear cup and a piece of cardboard and coaxed a small tree frog that had somehow found its way in, into the cup. It is not known if he came in while the slide was being put out in SC or if he had traveled all the way from Sarasota with us, but we hope he likes his home in SC.

While unpacking, we discovered the first of the things we forgot. Our very expensive knife set was left behind as well as our grilling utensils. We have some old knives we will have to make do with and some other utensils we can use with the grill. So far, nothing critical.

The next day was longer because we got on the road earlier. We ran into a construction delay in North Carolina but Ellyn was able to anticipate the backup using the social networking app Waze (ways) and we turned off and went through some local towns before getting back onto I-95. We stopped at a campground just north of Washington DC. We were glad to miss any rush hour traffic on the beltway. In the first two days we had covered almost 1000 miles and had about 350 to go the third day.

We usually do not like to travel this fast but to give ourselves some time to relax between long trips but a good friend of ours is very ill in Connecticut so we made the best time we could to get up here and see her. We will be staying in the area for a week or two until traveling on to the Boston area. Since there are no campgrounds close by, we are staying with friends in Trumbull, CT and have put the RV into temporary storage. It is not how we like to travel but, once again, the circumstances require it.

Post Script: Beware unusually low fuel prices! We stopped at a station in South Carolina and topped off because the price was only $1.90/gallon, about 10-20 cents lower than other prices we had seen along the highway. When we got to Connecticut, we saw an unusual warning indicator on the dash. It turns out this indicator means that water has been detected in the fuel. Geoff will have to drain the fuel filter and add more Howes Lubrication to the tank to see if that fixes it. Beware!

Post Post Script: Oops, too quick on that bad fuel call. Turns out the connector on the bottom of the fuel filter that feeds the “water in fuel” indicator was broken by some piece of road debris. I found it when I went to drain the water. Nothing but fuel in that filter so no water problem after all. A judicious use of Duct Tape and we should be back in business. However, (isn’t there always a “however”?) I have not been able to start the engine since we put in the storage lot. I think I have to get a better charge on the coach cells. I ran the generator for a couple of hours today but I might have to get some help. Not a good sign for our big trip.

Last Post Script: After some consideration, we decided that the chassis batteries needed to be replaced. We are not sure if they were ever replaced by the original owners and we have not since buying the coach in 2010 so we found a local source and put in two new starting batteries. This did the trick. Geoff got the coach restarted and warmed up. Things should be good to get back on the road again.

About to Relaunch

Ok, the long, cold Winter of 2015-16 is over and we are coming up on our spring launch into RV travel mode again. April 24th will mark our departure from the Sun-N-Fun RV Resort and the beginning of a six month adventure into the 48 contiguous United States. Stay tuned to this blog for updates as we go. It will be our most adventurous since the 2012 Alaska Adventure. Let's just leave it at that for now. Keep coming back to see how it unfolds.

As for us, we have been here in our SNF vacation home since the first week in August of last year. This is our longest time in one spot since we started this journey back in April of 2009, just over 7 years ago. It has not been boring because this resort is never boring. Things were quiet in the "home owner" area of the park because there were not many of us, but the rest of the park was hopping with Summer campers and Day Pass people enjoying the pool area. We enjoyed the peace and quiet around our end of the park and were able to let Jordy out without a leash to chase a ball on our walks. 

The only problem with being here in August and September was the heat. 80-90 degree days with lows only in the 70s and frequent rain storms. Actually the heat lasted well into November and it really did not get cool enough for a major change in how we would dress for each day until January. By then we were lucky to remember how to put on long pants and socks.

The 2016 season was loads of fun with Geoff teaching and playing guitar lots and Ellyn doing loads of sewing projects. Geoff was also able to do lots of bowling, despite an abbreviated league season, there was lots of open bowling times he was able to enjoy. We joined a local synagogue this year and enjoyed meeting lots of new friends there. We attended the local Jewish Film Festival as well as the Sarasota Film Festival which is just winding down. We also got to attend four Spring Training baseball games here in the Grapefruit League.

Among other special events this passed season, we went to Walt Disney World 4 times, one of those times on our own but the other times to meet up with friends. The biggest event this passed December was the new Star Wars movie, which we saw three times in the theaters and purchased on disc the day it was released. Since we had seen the original when we were first dating, this was a very special event. It was as strongly anticipated as was "The Return of the Jedi" back in 1983. It did not disappoint.

Now, we are getting the RV ready with some needed maintenance and a top to bottom cleaning before filling it with the necessities for 6 months away from our stationary home. Geoff already replaced some lights and did some PM on the hot water heater. We have some minor A/C issues to get fixed and then we can head out. We had a big chassis inspection done last Summer so we think it should be all set for a long trip. We are looking forward to being on the road again.

Update: We finally got to the A/C repairs although perhaps a little late. Today is Thursday, April 21, and the work is not done. We are hoping to get the rig back early tomorrow so we can get loaded up before Sunday morning. However, we have a Passover Seder tomorrow evening and a show to go to on Saturday evening. This will cut into our time. There has been a slight change in plans for when we leave here though. We were going to stop off in Charlotte, SC for a few days and near Washing DC as well, but now, because of a very sick friend in Connecticut, head straight there, hopefully a three day trip. We will be there for a week or two before heading off to Massachusetts.

Maine Summer

Although we have been spending most of our summer in the Boston area, we have taken a week and spent some time on the water in Maine. We pulled into Libby’s Oceanside Camp (“camp” is the Maine name for a campground) where we have a second-row view of the ocean. The Ocean side sites are reserved for mostly seasonal stays. Also, we don’t think they are deep enough for a 40 footer. But we like our spot and the weather has been probably the best we have ever encountered on a trip to Maine. Usually we will have some cool or rainy weather but, for the most part, it has been warm and sunny.

The campground is right at the southern end of Long Sands Beach here in York, ME, and the beach is very nice at low tide but when the tide comes in it is nearly completely covered. It is kind of funny to see the beach crowded with people at low tide and then nearly deserted at high tide. Some even have to take to putting their chairs up on the sidewalk if they want to sit near the water at all.

A little north of the beach is the Nubble Lighthouse. We drove up there on one of the sunnier days here and took some nice pictures. Then we continued on up to Kennebunk and hit some quilting stores Ellyn has been looking for. There is a competition going on called Row by Row where a pattern for one row of a quilt is sold at each store. The first person to turn in a quilt with those patterns at each store wins (something). Ellyn will likely not be competing but she likes to get the rows. They have a decidedly nautical theme this year.

We went down to Portsmouth, NH and took a boat ride out to Star Island, one island in the Shoals Isles group. The islands are split between Maine and New Hampshire. Star Island is in NH and has big hotel on it as well as some historical markers and old stone buildings. The day was one of the coolest of our time here but the sun came out and it was very nice.

Of course, we visited lots of seafood restaurants and at some wonderful Maine lobster. The lobsters here are very fresh and is one of the most sustainable crops in the world. The rules for lobster fishing here are designed to keep the fishing plentiful and the lobsters go from the ocean to the boiler in very short order. Ellyn had three in total while we were here and Geoff had a couple of lobster dishes as well (he is too lazy to try and get the meat out of the shell himself).

We also met up with some friends up here.  A couple that Ellyn used to work with at IBM that live in Portsmouth met us for dinner and then we visited their house that they are remodeling. We also drove to Biddeford, ME to have lunch with Logan’s MIL, Diane, and exchange experiences with our shared Granddaughter, Simone.

It was a great week of camping in Maine. Now back to Salem, MA to finish up our time in the Northeast.