Ever-so-closer to THE DREAM!

So, one thing I have noticed in our trek across the north states, Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, there seems to be a lot of "NO" spread out.  Signs everywhere, rest stops, RV parks, freeway exits, all with an abundance of "NO" information (no pets, no services, no overnight parking, no excessive drinking, etc.).  It seems there were more attempts at over-regulation than we get in California.  There was even a placemat in a restaurant in Montana that had "Little known facts about Montana" that stated it was illegal for a married woman to fish alone on Sundays.  I find that one really hard to believe...One other thing I found a little strange. I know my diesel truck does not get the best of mileage, but because of the massive expanses here in the northern parts, I found diesel gas stations few and faaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrr between.  So much so that it is really weird to start worrying about the next fuel station when you are at 3/4 of a tank, FULL!  But, push on, we must.

We did an overnighter in Miles City, MT, at a place called Meadow RV Park.  It looked to be a new upstart park in the middle of town, some of the sites did not appear to be finished. It was OK for an overnight stop, albeit a little pricey for the bare bones that it was ($31/night).

The next stop was Lewis and Clark Caverns Nat'l Park, near Trident MT.  This was a secluded park with limited electrical hookups and no water hookups. We never made it to the Caverns hike/tour and only stayed overnight here.  It was also a bit pricey for the bare bones that it was ($28/night).

The next two days we stayed in bustling Arco, ID (insert sarcasm here).  We found a nice RV park, Mountain View RV Park which had full drive thru hookups, clean showers/bathrooms, and free real breakfast for RVers.  They also ran a cafe for dinner out of the park as well.  Sites had some shading and fair spacing between them.  While here we visited the Craters of the Moon Nat'l Monument.  It was a nice park with great walking paths and lots to see. Lots to learn about volcanic activity.

Inside Indian Cave, one of the large lava tubes in the park.

Some of the local terrain...eerie!

Our front yard at Mountain View RV Park.

Peace and quiet!

Unfortunately, we have stumbled back into fire zones.  Local fires created a thick smoky haze that just didn't go away.  Oh well...

The final frontier...

Well, it's time to head back to California.  Gotta get the house packed up, looks like escrow will be done October 2nd.  South Dakota is OK scenery-wise, as long as you stay at the west end (Mt. Rushmore area) or east end (Sioux Falls area).  There is a WHOLE LOTTA nothin' in between.  Our whole run thru Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, saw a lot of dirt and sky, not much civilization.  Sioux Falls was kinda cool, 160K people scattered over a large patch of dirt.  It looked a lot larger than Santa Rosa which has 200K+.

Sioux Falls Park

A bird's eye view...

We stayed at a place called Tower RV Park. Convenient off and on the freeway and they give discount to customers of Alternative Resources.  It was an OK basic park, no pool or store, but the spaces were not crammed together and they had a new shower/restroom facility that was spacious and clean.  And their squirrels are of the red variety, not like the gray squirrels in CA.

On our way out of town, I had to stop and get our rear bumper repaired, one of the welds had broken and the bumper seemed to have gotten mangled somewhere along our travels, for the life of me I cannot figure out where I might have done it.  I know I bottomed out on a driveway during last year's trip south, which I guess could have weakened the weld enough to postpone its eventual breakage.  Nevertheless, I found a place in Worthing, SD, called Great Plains RV's.  They sell used RV's and trailers and service/repair them.  They also "rescue" RV'ers who need repairs while travelling away from home.  Scott at Great Plains RV's treated us very well, got us in promptly, they worked on the bumper for 3 1/2 hours but only charged me for 2 hours labor, and I would strongly recommend them if you are on the road and find yourself "in need".

Ouch!

I still can't figure out how the hole got punched in there?!

So we moved onward.  Tried out our first State Park campground.  Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park is in the Bismarck/Mandan area of North Dakota.  This was a very nice area right on the Missouri River where the Heart River joins it.  The campground was more like a real campground, lots of trees and grass, nice "comfort stations", with water & electric sites and a central dump station.  Our first night there we got treated to an 85 degree thunderstorm accompanied by elephant tears for rain.  Jeanne made good use of her new toy, an emergency weather radio, and I got to hear a ringing phone ALL NIGHT LONG!  Gotta love it...

Camping, Fort Lincoln style...

View of Big Muddy, aka: the Missouri River, from the walking trail.

Well, time to inch back toward the left coast again. Onward ho!

Bye-bye, Montana...

Well, now we can say we stayed at the very first KOA, in Billings, MT. It's a nice RV park, but wayyyyyy overpriced at its normal nitely rate of 60-some dollars.  It was nice to get out of the smoky haze.  While in Billings, they had their Montana Fair going (I don't think it was THE state fair, but Billings version of our county fair).  We went to the fair, expecting some monstrously huge rural extravaganza, since of course we ARE in Montana. Sad to say, our little city slicker version of a fair, the Sonoma County Fair, puts this one to shame! Instead of horse races, this fair had a rodeo, which we also attended.  Now, in the future, Jeanne can actually use the phrase, "This ain't my 1st rodeo!". And prices at fairs don't seem to vary much, state by state, overpriced food and such.  Sonoma County Fair food is MUCH better!

The drive across Montana was pretty unremarkable.  But you could definitely tell the difference once we got into northeastern Wyoming and then South Dakota.  South Dakota in the summertime is very scenic and pleasant.  We stayed in Sturgis a week after the Rally finished. Extremely small town, we could only imagine what Main St. looked like a week ago.

Where's all the bikers?!?!

Main St., Sturgis, SD after the bikes have gone...

A biker ghost town...

Well, whilst we were in Sturgis, we accepted an offer on the house, so it looks like the clock may start on us here shortly.  Whoooooooopppppyyyyyy.

Took a day trip to Mt. Rushmore.  Awe inspiring to say the least.  I was surprised at how close you can get to the actual carved mountain, we walked the trail right up to the bottom of the carvings. We also walked around downtown Keystone as well, had a nice lunch.  All in all a very relaxing day.

Hello, Mr. Presidents!

The Boardwalk along downtown Keystone, SD.

We should find out tomorrow if the clock starts ticking on the house escrow. Time to hit the big city of Sioux Falls and probably establish a residency there.  Hopefully South Dakota remains scenic for the final leg of the trip...



Yep, 'dems some big skies...

Well, big sky MEANS big sky I guess.  Heading up I-15 thru Idaho to Montana the scenery gets increasingly better and bigger, meaning one had better pay attention to the gas gauge because gas stops are very few and faaaaaarrrrrrrr between.  This is the literal definition of "no man's land" up here. Luckily we found a little pit stop in Lima, Montana. Ever since we entered Nevada and up to now the smoke and haze from all the fires has been pretty thick, not a lot of clear blue sky.

We stayed at the Butte KOA for a couple of days.  Not one of the better KOA's I'd have to say.  Spaces were too crowded and not much shade over the gravel spaces.  We did take the Trolley Tour of the area.  It was an interesting historical adventure sightseeing this area that was initially a gold mining establishment, then silver, then copper which ended up being it's big draw in the early 20th century. The dogs enjoyed the lengthy paved nature trail that ran along the creek here at the KOA.  From camp we could see the large statue, Our Lady of the Rockies, standing on the Continental Divide 8,510 feet above sea level.  It is a 90 foot statue similar in nature to the Christ of the Ozarks we saw in Arkansas.  The historical nature of this town aside, I don't think I could live in a town built around a very large pit of toxic, contaminated mining water which has an acidic level similar to battery acid.  Yuk...

The lovely Berkley Pit in Butte, MT. Anybody for skinny dipping?

You know an area is in sad shape when all the locals you talk to tell you there is nothing to do and that you do not want to visit or be here during the winter.  Oh well, live and learn.  We already got 3 offers on the house, so our full time trekking ways are getting closer. And we are slowly carving up the country into parts we want to see, parts we want to see again, and parts we never want to return to or through. Our journey continued E/B I-90 across Montana and following the Yellowstone River.  We finally got rid of the smoky haze but traded it for some clouds and rain.  Still, a pleasant change for a while.  Next stop, Billings MT and the very first KOA campground, established 50 years ago.

You can have Nevada...

So, the Fernley RV park was not so bad.  But our next stop was scenic Wells, Nevada.  We found a Passport America RV park called Crossroads RV Park. We never even pulled in.  It was almost not large enough to pull into! I even think I heard banjo music. The few trailers present in the gravel "wide spot in the road" were not well maintained and the whole area I would designate as an American eyesore!  We toured the "downtown" area and found the Mountain Shadows RV Park.  It was actually a well maintained park for its size and had very nice shower/bathrooms.  The only issue I actually had with this park was I could detect a faint to moderate odor similar to a meth cook from somewhere in the area.  Oh joy! This would be another overnight stop for us. The I-80 freeway through Nevada has been terrible with all the construction zones and crazy driving truckers (I got seriously cut off by a driver of a triple rig).  Jeanne actually got feeling a little frisky (no, not THAT way!) and wanted to try driving the rig.  So I got a big break after lunch and got to be obnoxious as she sweated through the ins and outs of driving an oversized beast on a highway.

Such a serious face!



Oh, OK, NOW we are having fun!

But her fun quickly came to a crashing halt when we needed to stop for gas.  We pulled up almost all the way to the TRUCK STOP pumps (you know, the place where they drive extremely hugely large semi-tractors with multiple trailers into for fuel) when she jumped out of the driver's seat and declared she was done.  OK dear, I'll take over.

We got to a small town area called Declo, Idaho where we stayed at another Passport America place called the Village of Trees RV Resort.  This was not a bad stop.  Lots of spacious sites and shade trees that have large canopy but nothing so low as to scrape the trailers.  We were right on the Snake River.

Hey, I did not sign up for this!

Cool shade!

We went for a run along the river path. This was through a horse pasture and it turned out to be a good run.  Now, I'm no runner by any stretch of the imagination, but Jeanne is even less than me.  As we poked along at her pace, we came across a "mini herd" of horses, some with foals.  Jeanne was traumatized as a young'un when she got chased by a horse.  This was all it took for the pace to quicken to a comfortable speed as she tried to put as much distance between her and the evil equine beasts.

Here is the small fishin' pond inside the park.

There's already been quite a bit of action on the pending home sale.  Several showings even before the open house and looks like there will be lots of activity and interest in it. It's good to be on the road...

On the road to Fernley, NV

Oh boy, on the road again, FINALLY! It was quite hectic trying to escape town while getting house repairs done to prep it for selling and getting the 5th wheel prepped for the road. In my conversations with fellow workers who are also RVers I found several who we're unaware of the need to change the anode rod in the water heater. I just changed mine ( I'm going to do it once a year, the trailer manufacturer recommends once the rod is about 75% eaten up). After one year, you can see that mine was not even close to 75% chewed up.  Changing it will help prolong the life of your water heater.


That stuff can eat the water heater!

Wouldn't you know it, there has always got to be some testing of one's intestinal fortitude (or should I say one's common sense quotient?) when hitting the road.  While driving along fat, dumb, and happy as we approached the mountains into Truckee, reading the "miles to E" gauge on the truck and monitoring the mileage on Agnes (the GPS built into the truck) it appeared we were going to have plenty of petrol to get us to Reno and beyond. But NOOOOOOOO, hold on there, not so fast buster, all that technology fails to take into account a lengthy pull to over 5,000 feet altitude-wise.  As we traversed that incline I could watch the gas gauge race over closer and closer to the "E" and no petrol stations with diesel in sight. Having no alternative but to chug along, I watched as, I swear, the "miles to E" gauge went from 50 to 25 to 10 in about a 3 mile stretch.  It would be great if sweat were a good substitute for diesel because I produced a few tankfuls of that.  But, the man upstairs must have been smiling down on me and wanted to show He too  has a sense of humor.  As I am getting seconds away from going dry, one of the Truckee Chevron stations popped up, with diesel!  As I pulled in I was thanking that man upstairs and then I caught on to His humor.  He gave me diesel, but did not give me a high enough clearance under the roof, so I had to gas up by hand, one 5 gallon gas can at a time.  I'll take it anyway I can.

We got to our destination for the day without further drama.  The Fernley RV Park is in a little hole-in-the-wall town east of Reno.  It was 90's, but not unbearable.  The RV Park was actually very nice-paved driveways, concrete pads for the trailer and the picnic/front door patio area, and actually green grass well maintained.  This was a Passport America member site, so the $16 fee was a nice change of pace as far as pay sites go.  Full hook-ups, 50 amp, cable, wifi, it was a good stop.

Concrete, level pads. Yeah, we're roughin' it!

What's that, a few clouds on the horizon? In August?

The only bummer parts of the trip will be these one night stopovers.  Looking forward to lengthier stays and enjoying the areas and visiting the "neighbors" more.  Stay tuned for more...

We're almost there...

Well, "best laid plans of mice and men"... We had to postpone our upcoming road trip.  In preparing for   putting the house up for sale we got seriously kicked up side the head.  25 years in this stick house led to some severe dry rot issues involving all the floor joists under the master bedroom and in a couple other areas of the foundation.  We went ahead and had the boyz of Hitmen Termite Co. in Santa Rosa do the repairs as well as treat the exterior for termites (thankfully there was no current infestation found, but again, the damage was done).  And we have to say, the work crew doing our job were hard working lads and pleasant to deal with. 

Repairs nearing the end, oh boy!

That also put a rather large dent in the funds we were willing to expend on our indeterminate vacation road trip.  More than likely we will shorten the journey and focus on hitting Sioux Falls to establish residency there and hopefully return to a sold house.  And wouldn't you know it, just as we are about to head out on that trip our tomatoes and corn are just now getting close for picking in our garden.  Summer here has been not too keen for gardeners, the sunshine being insufficient to turn the green tomatoes red, until now.  Our fresh veggies' fate will now rest in our daughter's hands as she is being left behind to tend to the house.

Lots o' green tomatoes!

Corn on steroids!

Cherry tomatoes just starting to turn...

This being our very first house, bought and soon to be sold, we did learn some very important (and costly!) lessons.  The main one is, if we ever buy another stick house, we will most certainly get regular pest inspections to keep severe issues from accumulating. Each day that passes gets us closer to our full time RVing goals, "Yippppppeeeeeeee Kaaaaayyyyyaaaaaaayyyyyy!"

House for sale. Any takers?