Sunday, August 25, 2014 Visit with Tina & Waylon

Today dawned with heavy clouds, although the forecast calls for a high of 91 F. Whew!

At 9:45 we went to Tina's for a visit.  Shortly after we arrived, the clouds cleared and the sun shone. We played outside with Waylon who showed us how to launch a rocket.


Tina gave us a tour of their travel trailer.









We had lunch with Tina & Waylon while Waylon was eager to go swimming as soon as lunch was over.







     

                      Please blow up the turtle, Grampa......












Grampa and Uncle Marcel are both working on it while Waylon looks on.  It is 88 F in the sun and the 'inflators' are seeing stars!














The finished product which never did make it into the pool!




After going home we heard that we were under a tornado watch. Great! Thunder was rolling around by 5:00 and shortly after there was a heavy downpour that lasted for fifteen minutes. The cloud formations were interesting, but I didn't see any tornado activity.





The skies brightened up a little and at 6:30 we went to Olive Garden (Chris' favourite) for dinner. He had his usual Italian Margarita.










                           We all enjoyed a delicious dinner.

Saturday, August 23, 2014, Back to Camping World

At 9:00, we were off to Camping World in Rogers, MN to try to return the Magellan GPS that I bought in Oregon and look at an ice maker that is on sale.

I was amazed. There was no problem exchanging the Magellan GPS for the Good Sam one. I was under the impression that the Magellan was wi-fi enabled but apparently it was not. With the Good Sam one, I can use the internet to find fuel prices along our route. It is a little late for this trip, but will be useful in the future! Also, it was on sale at less than what I bought the original one for.
We looked at the ice maker & bought that also. Marcel picked up some RV parts, so it was a profitable trip (for Camping World).





At 11:30, Chris & I went to Joyce's to help with her lunch.










In the afternoon, we went to Brian & Kirsten's for dinner. Brian cooked a delicious chicken in his smoker. It has a lovely, unique taste!












We enjoyed good company and a great meal of smoked chicken, pasta salad, mashed potatoes, tossed salad and mixed vegetables.The meal ended with a variety of cheesecakes for dessert.

Sorry, we didn't get pics of the rest of the children!

Friday, August 22, 2014, more shopping and happy Hour

We were off to Menard's early this morning at 9:15, to check out the 3-day sale. We wandered around for an hour, looking at things. Menard's was a building supply store, but seems to have evolved to become a full-service store with everything from snacks, frozen meats, housewares and a variety of groceries. Of course, it is also the go-to home improvement store, competing with Home Depot.

After a couple of more stops, we were back home for lunch.

In the afternoon, we went to see Joyce at Kingsley Shores.











We went for a walk-about.













Every Friday at Kingsley Shores is Happy Hour at 3:30, so we joined them for Strawberry Daiquiris, which were delicious.

Thursday, August 21, 2014, Family dinner

There was a light rain through the night, which cleared up by 8:00 am.

We went to my favourite grocery store, Aldi's for a look around. Among other things, I picked up a 16-inch fully loaded pizza for $5.99.





For lunch, we enjoyed the pizza out on the deck, since it has warmed up nicely.

After lunch, it was time for a Costco run where I managed to find a few items that we "needed"!





This afternoon, Brian & Kirsten came over with their 4 children, Colin, Lliam, Kaitlyn and Declan. Christina, Justin and Waylon joined us also.  What a fun time we had! It was very warm and extremely humid outside, so the children played inside.

We all enjoyed a fabulous dinner of strip loin steaks, potato salad, tossed salad and Spinach & Mozzarella Ravioli. Of course, there was cake & ice cream for dessert.

Tina was in charge of the children's table!

Wednesday, August 20, 2014, Savage, MN, cont.

Relaxing day, clear skies & 80 F.
We went to see Joyce after lunch, then stopped at Best Buy where I bought an external DVD writer. My new PC does not have a DVD in it.

For dinner, Chris grilled Walleye (pickerel) that he caught on a fishing trip to Lake of the Woods.











It was a delicious dinner of fish, rice and salad that we enjoyed on the back deck.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014, Savage, Minnesota

It felt downright chilly this morning, as it was overcast and 18.6 C. We were told that we could check in to our next stop after 9:00, so were not in any hurry to get on the road. That and the fact that it was only 16 km to my brother's driveway!

Having slept in Nebraska and Iowa, it was time to affix the stickers on our map, leaving only 4 small states on the east coast that we have not slept in!
We have driven through them, but that doesn't count!

I don't think we will be able to add the Hawaii sticker, however.





After fueling up at the RV park station, we hooked up & were on the way by 9:30 under grey skies, threatening rain.

20 minutes later, we arrived at our destination and settled in on the driveway. The sun has come out and it is 20 C.














We sat out on the deck catching up for the rest of the morning, then enjoyed pulled pork sliders for lunch.

Following lunch, we went to Kingsley Shores to see Joyce. As it turned out, they were taking some of the residents on an outing to Dairy Queen. Of course, we went along!




My dear brother, who loves to cook, BBQ-d some awesome ribs for dinner!

Monday, August 18, 2014, Next stop, Minnesota

Happy 7th Birthday, Jacob!

It is a very humid 23 C as we continued east on I-80 to Des Moines. Fortunately, the highway took us around Des Moines on I - 35 and we exited on I-35 N towards Minnesota.

We passed yet another extensive wind farm with over 100 turbines, gently turning in the wind.

At noon, we entered Minnesota and stopped at the Welcome Centre for lunch.
There was a lovely walking trail behind the building, which gave us a chance to stretch our legs.











We had decided to stay at Dakotah Meadows RV Park, which is next to Mystic Lake Casino and arrived there at 2:30. It is a very nice, clean park with concrete pads and full services, including Wi-Fi. My computer seems to have fixed itself since I had no problem getting online. Whew!

The campground provides a shuttle between the casino and campsites - too convenient! Naturally, we visited the Casino, which has over 4,000 slot machines, the majority of which are my favourite 1 cent machines!
We took the shuttle back to the park to call Jacob on his birthday, then returned to the Casino for the buffer supper. What a spread! After which, we played some more slots. By the time we left, Marcel had broken even and I "donated" $17.00 to the cause. It was a great evening.

Sunday, August 17, 2014, Moving on to Iowa

By 8:20, we were on the road driving east directly into the bright sunshine. It is already 24 C (75 F).

Three miles east of Kearney, Nebraska, we came across the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument, which is a museum of and monument to Nebraska's and the Platte River Valley's role in westward expansion.
Designed by a Walt Disney team, the Archway spans more than 300 feet over Interstate 80 and weighs nearly 1,500 tons. The Archway takes visitors along the trails, rails, highways and superhighways in a self-guided audio tour that includes stories of travellers along the way. The show starts in the 1840's with the Mormon Trail, Oregon Trail and California Trail that converged at the nearby Fort Kearney before heading west.

The displays of different time periods feature a buffalo stampede, gold seekers, the Pony Express, the telegraph, the transcontinental road, a drive-in movie and a 1950's cafe. 

Continuing along the highway, we saw corn, corn and more corn! Next thing we knew, it became foggy and the sun was obliterated. About eight minutes later, the clouds cleared and we were back to sun & 25 C (77 F). Later, we found out that the fog was due to the moisture in the vast fields of corn evaporating under the hot sun. 

Next, we passed by Lincoln, the state capital, and continued on to Omaha. Shortly after, we crossed the Missouri River into Iowa. It is cloudy and 27 C(80.6 F).

The road is quite rough and the trailer brake plug came loose (meaning we have no trailer brakes or lights). Fortunately, there was a rest area just 15 miles down the road. It was the nicest rest area we have come across! And it has Wi-Fi! There was a quiet picnic area behind the building away from the highway traffic where we had lunch. Kudos to Iowa.  





As we were about to depart, in came a truck which was ferrying five 110-foot telephone poles from Oregon. We had marveled at these stately trees and wondered how tall they were! Could be tricky turning corners! 






Much to Marcel's disappointment, we had left flat Nebraska behind, and were now into hilly terrain. 

We came across yet another extensive Wind Farm, this one called the "Adair Wind Project". Iowa is a leading state in wind power generation with 27.4% of the state's electricity generation coming from wind in 2013. There are 193 turbines comprising the project.

At 2:00, we arrived at the Des Moines West KOA, our stop for the night, where the temperature has reached 30 C (86 F) 
"Something" happened to my computer & I couldn't get online. I got a message "no wireless devices detected" That was scary. Shut down & left the computer. Marcel could get on with his computer running Windows XP. LOL.

The KOA had an on-site pizza place, so we ordered Pizza & Wings for supper. Not so great, but beats cooking!

Saturday, August 16, 2014, still in Nebraska

Time for laundry before moving on. $1.00 to wash & $1.00 to dry!

Saw these interesting notices posted in the campground's restrooms. Glad I didn't see them last night!






















It is warming up quickly and has reached 24 C when we get on the road by 10:00.

11:30 - The driver is very happy with the flat, flat, flat landscape! We pass field after field of corn being irrigated and the temp has risen to 30 C (86 F)

11:40 - Change to Central Time Zone, time is now 12:40.

Relatively easy drive today as we arrived at Sunny Meadows Campground at 2:50. There was no meadow, just gravel, but it is a full service campground with Wi-Fi. We pulled in to the first spot we saw & got set up. It is 32 C (89.6)
Unfortunately, could not get on to the internet and when we went to fuel up, saw the wi-fi antenna at the other end of the campground. Naturally, we packed up & changed sites to be near the antenna. We are right beside a cornfield.

It is very hot! 35.9 C (97 F). I was cooking a chicken outside in the roaster oven and joked that it would not even need to be plugged in!
The temperature registered 40.6 C (105 F) in the sun and the A/C cannot keep up.



No, we didn't have corn for supper, but the sunset was really pretty.

Friday, August 15, 2014, Power problems and moving on.....

Woke up at 2:30 am to find that the power was off. It appeared to be on in the rest of the park, so what was the problem? Marcel said that he heard the surge protector click back on three times, and apparently after three tries, it stays off (thereby cutting power). That is exactly what it is supposed to do if it detects an electrical problem - high or low voltage - in order to protect the electrical equipment in the rig.
We finally got up at 5:30 to investigate and discovered that the surge protector was showing high voltage.  After testing all the cables & plugs, which tested out OK, we packed up & departed Rawlins under sun/cloud and 19 C.

It was an interesting drive along I-80 where there were miles & miles of wooden fences apparently randomly placed in the fields near the highway. It turns out that they are snow fences!

Snow fences, those rambling, slat-wood barriers erected along many of our nation's highways, saved I-80, and continue to perform their seemingly impossible feat every winter. Icons of the American landscape, these “fences to nowhere” channel wind and snow in remarkable ways to clear the road ahead. Think of them as wind-driven snow plows to manage wind-driven snow.
Over 5.2 million dollars was spent to construct these fences along a 44-mile stretch of the highway.


At 10:25, we reached Laramie and saw Pronghorn Antelope in the fields.   Shortly after that, we had climbed to 8640 ft, the highest point on the I-80. The temperature has risen to 23 C.
At Cheyenne, we picked up a sub for lunch, then stopped at a rest area, where it is now 28 C.

Shortly after getting back on the highway, we crossed into Nebraska. The terrain is very flat at 5,000 ft.





Our stop for tonight was at Cabela's RV Park, which is conveniently located next to the Cabela's store.
We got set up & the power was good! No problem.
Also have cable TV.







For those not familiar with Cabela's, has a distinctive look to its retail operations, which turns its stores into tourist attractions. The stores are more like cavernous showrooms, bringing the outdoors inside They feature museum-quality displays of taxidermied wildlife, large aquariums, indoor mountains, and archery ranges.  Fascinating place.

Thursday, August 14, 2014, On to Wyoming

At 8:55 we were packed up and on the road under sunny 22 C skies. Continuing south-east on I-84 through the mountains at 4800 ft. This is ski country : Snow Basin, Powder Mountain and Nordic Valley among others.



 By 9:35, we were driving along the base of the mountains at 5,000 ft.!



We gradually climbed to  6800 ft by 10:15 when we entered Wyoming.

There was a nice Welcome Centre, complete with a covered wagon and bison.

That is our "covered wagon" to the right of the old one.






After climbing to 7400 ft, we encountered a Wind Farm.
At this Wyoming Wind Energy Centre, there are 80 1.8 megawatt Vestas wind turbines.
Each turbine is approximately 350 feet tall from the ground to the tip of the blade when extended.
Each blade is more than 125 feet long.
The tower diameter is approximately 14 feet.
The total weight of each turbine is about 260 tons.




Following a stretch of construction which reduced the highway to one lane each way, we were back to the four lane highway at 6500 ft. We drove through a barren wasteland.












After a lunch break, the road was tunneled through the mountain. Thank goodness we didn't have to go over it!









We stopped at a Rest Area at Bitter Creek and learned about the importance of the Sagebrush.
It seems endless, the sage, the rolling sage, covering Wyoming hills. Sagebrush is the shrub that means survival to the world's largest populations of pronghorn antelope and sage grouse. Blown free of snow by the Wyoming winds, sagebrush is the main winter food for these species, and provides important habitat for a host of small mammals and birds.


As we continued on, we crossed the Continental Divide twice at 7,000 feet, and saw nothing but sagebrush before arriving at the RV park in Rawlins, Wyoming.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014 North Ogden, Utah

This morning was overcast & 15C when we got up, but by the time we departed at 9:00, it was 21C under sun/cloud. We were heading south-east on Interstate 84, where the speed limit is 80 mph! That translates to 129 km/h!!!

After a fuel stop, we were back on the flat, straight I-84, elevation 4350 ft. The land is desert-like and we pass signs reading "Occasional blinding dust storms" and "Frequent severe high winds".

A short while later, we reached Malta under clear & sunny skies, despite a sign "Severe storm area next 20 miles".

At 11:15, we reached Sweetzer Summit at 5530 ft.











After crossing the Utah State Line, we stopped at the Welcome centre, where a plaque explained the history of the area.
"Lake Bonneville. 200,000 years ago, this land was under water. It was formed in a basin from which no river reached the ocean. This became the largest lake in North America. Finally the lake rose high enough to overflow into the Snake River.Then, after the climate got drier, and the great basin of Utah & Nevada became mostly desert, the lake receded. Salt Lake and two other remnants are all that are left of this old 20,000 square mile lake".
We could see mountains straight ahead!
Fortunately, the road went south-east and alongside the mountain. The Great Salt Lake is on our right side.

We arrived at the RV Park at 1:15, dropped off the trailer and went to the Dodge dealer in Ogden to get an oil change on the truck.
While that was being done, we went for a walk to "Johnny's Dairy" for lunch on the recommendation of the technician at the dealership. Turned out to be a 20 minute walk under blazing sun.

The RV Park is in a nice location, at the base of the mountains.

So ends another day on the road......

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

We were on the road by 8:15 on this overcast 24 C day, heading for Hagerman, Idaho.
It will be an easy drive, east on Interstate 84......or maybe not so much. Didn't take construction in to account.
By the time we reached Boise at 9:25, it was 30 C (86 F). Thank goodness for A/C.

We have seen fields and fields of corn but no Idaho potatoes.

We made a short stop at a Rest Area, from which we could see a huge wind farm with the turbines turning.

At exit 147, we arrived at High Adventure River Tours and RV Park. After getting set up, we drove across the road to the Malad Gorge State Park with our picnic lunch. It is sunny and 31 C.

The Malad River Canyon is 250 feet deep and 2.5 miles long. At the state park, you can view the canyon and walk along the rim.



Well, we had planned to have a picnic lunch, but found the picnic area flooded!

In search of a dry picnic table, we drove on the park road to the various viewpoints.  The deep basalt canyon was formed by a retreating huge waterfall about 4 million years ago as volcanoes spewed enormous amounts of lava over the area. 

Since the area is very dry, it must be irrigated. Therefore a diversion canal was built, both to produce electricity at the generating station and to irrigate the farmland.

We were fortunate to meet a Park Ranger who explained some of the features of the park and told us that they flood the picnic area on purpose! Families apparently go to wade in the water. It has a comfortable grassy bottom and is shallow.

Of course, we had to check it out and perhaps cool off. 

Then, it was back to the RV Park to cool off in the A/C

Monday, August 11, 2014 Rest day in Fruitland, Idaho

The forecast calls for a high of 99 F (37 C) today!
Laundry day & we walked around the park while waiting for it to finish. It is getting warm already by 9:30.

At 1:00, we went back across the Snake River to Wal-Mart in Ontario, Oregon. (4 km from the RV Park) The temperature has risen to 34 C already!
This was our last chance to shop tax-free.

We had a lovely shady site, with cable TV & great Wi-Fi, which were the main reasons we stayed for a second night!

Uneventful day until we heard the news that Robin Williams died of an apparent suicide! So tragic.

Sunday, August 10, On into Idaho

The morning dawned sunny and 15.5 C, but warmed up quickly to 25 C by 9:00.

There is a tee-pee available at the Hot Springs and it has a private Hot tub inside!














Once we got on the road, we drove through farmland  which was irrigated. There were also cattle ranches. After turning east onto US 20, the landscape changed dramatically.







Driving east on US 20, we were climbing steadily among barren hills until we reached 4785 feet, then came the descent to 3600 ft.

For 2 hours, we drove on this desolate highway without seeing any towns & very few signs of habitation!

We lost an hour when we crossed into Mountain time zone.










Once we passed Harper, we were out of the barren hills, and saw farms with fields of corn and hay. The temperature has risen back up to 30 C.
A little later, there were acres and acres of onions growing. Apparently, Idaho and Eastern Oregon is "Onion Country USA", with over a billion pounds shipped each season! www.usaonions.com

After a stop at the Idaho welcome centre on the Snake River to get a map, we arrived at the "Neat Retreat" campground in Fruitland at 1:30.







RV washing is allowed and the wi-fi is excellent, so Marcel washed the trailer and I worked on catching up on the blog! We also have cable TV!
At 8:30, it is still 30C. The A/C is just able to keep up.