Month: July 2021

Our drive out of Wisconsin was scary as hell (for me, anyway) as we used the interstate roads leaving Milwaukee. That is to say, we drove on the interstate directly into the EXTREMELY congested metropolis & then transferred to a second interstate at the city’s center. I do NOT like cities of this size! But we made it without incident with me driving the car & Perry following in the motorcoach. The ride north was pretty uneventful through Green Bay & beyond. We did have to carefully navigate the downtown area, including turns, of one mid-size city just before hitting Michigan. No issues there, either.

Our destination was Pioneer Trails Campground, a county run park, between Escanaba & Graystone. GPS was telling us it was on the left side of the highway which forced us to make a u-turn, & then we promptly got frustrated because it wasn’t there. I finally went into a store & asked directions. It was on the other side of the highway so we got back on it & did another u-turn. Found it & drove in. But the park manager chased us down in his truck. Apparently, the ages old water pump broke the Friday before & no sites had water to them. AND the bathhouse was inoperable! The manager wanted to let us know before we parked & set up in case we needed to fill the fresh water tank at the main water pump. We were assured a company would be out the following day to fix the broken pump so we would have running water. In total, it took an entire week to get the water on & sanitized which put it into our 4th day at the park. No worries though – we have an 85 gallon fresh water tank that we had filled before leaving our last location, so we were good for a few days. We even had showers & no limitations on cooking or using the toilet for those days.

That evening we drove into the nearby city of Gladstone & had dinner at a nice waterside restaurant. It was a busy night but the hostess put us at a wonderful table overlooking the marsh & the water beyond. Dinner was delicious & the view was spectacular – rain & all!

Continue reading “Entry #73 – MICHIGAN – PART 1 – July 6 – 19, 2021”

We arrived a day later than planned because of the repair/service we needed to get on the motorcoach. We had called the office at Ft McCoy & let them know of our expected delay & called again when we were finally on the way to keep them from releasing our reserved campsite. Always good to be respectful & keep everyone in the loop.

Our drive was easy & was mostly on 4-lane, divided highways. Just after noon, we exited the highway to find a spot to have lunch. I usually make a couple sandwiches in the morning of our travel days & tuck them into the cooler with some frozen ice packs. This eliminates the need to open the fridge & let the cool air out. The fridge stays at 36 degrees for trips that last 8 hours or more. The freezer goes from 0 to 20+ in that amount of time but I think it’s because there is a faulty/twisted seal on the bottom we hadn’t addressed with any fix it techs.

Continue reading “Entry #72 – WISCONSIN – June 21 – July 6, 2021”

We made it to the lovely, small & clean campground in Glencoe, Minnasota! The bathhouse was spotless! Not that most are bad, but this one was perfect – it’s obvious the Camp Host took pride in his work!

We chose this spot because we wanted to visit with old friends that were our neighbors during our nearly two years in Alaska. We had not seen John & Phyllis in nearly 36 years! This traveling proves to be a cool way to reconnect! Oh yes, the drive to Minnasota was smooth until the last half hour. There were detour signs all across the straight away we were on with no indication as to where to detour to – no connecting road in site. Perry stopped the RV & I snaked around said signs in the car to go “investigate” the situation. I drove 2 miles, not seeing any road work going on. There were road closure signs at the intersection where we were to turn but still no road work going on. I drove back to Perry & had him snake around the signs & follow me. We did the same at the other end & turned into the city park where we were going to stay. No LEOs came to take us to jail so we must have gone undetected.

Continue reading “Entry #71 – MINNESOTA – June 14 – 21, 2021”

As we drive through the states, the landscape changes immensely. Going north out of San Antonio we took note of the hills with rock covers, anticipating tumbleweeds would appear & roll across our “trail”. Then into Oklahoma the views became a vast open range with hues of light green & pretty prairie flowers. Crossing the border of Kansas the views included more trees & small hills. Side note: Kansas highways are by far the most trash free I have EVER SEEN – maybe because of the toll roads revenue? Then in Iowa the land resembled easy waves & the trees were a beautiful deep green, almost black. At least in the southern part of the state where we landed first. This trip had a few rough spells but it made my heart sing as well. America the Beautiful is an understatement!

The park we choose to spend the week was HUGE (Timberline Campground)! Even though we touched on the southwest corner of DesMoines to get to it, the traffic was no problem & the turns were super easy. The office staff of the campground was right on top of things with check in & we were led to our campsite by a great guy on a 4-wheeler. The campsite was a pull-through, long & level. The full hook-ups worked perfectly. And the bathhouse was extremely well kept. The area around our site was not huge & there was no shade but there was a picnic table & firepit. Unfortunately, the temp was in the low 90s & the ground was more than parched – not conducive to sitting outside. It also created a LOT of dust so the cars & campers were all the same pale cream color & no one could see out the windows that didn’t have wipers.

Continue reading “Entry #70 – IOWA – June 7 – 14, 2021”

The trip out of Kansas was so much better than the trip into the state! We got onto I-35 North in less than 2 miles out of the front gate of the base. Well, there was ONE little incident that caused “butt pucker” for a sec. The GPS took us north on I-35 into Topeka. There we were to transfer onto I-70 over to Kansas City. Most of Kansas was toll roads so we had to go through the pay booth on the left & then swing hard right & across traffic to an exit ramp. Then we were to go to the first light & make a U-Turn to get onto I-70 East. No problem with a car. But a 38 ft motor coach is a whole different matter. Perry attempted the U-Turn – it didn’t work. So he had to back up toward the cars that were following him into the U-Turn & then turn tighter. Thankfully, he didn’t squish anyone & no one honked either. We followed the GPS directions around Kansas City & headed north, past St Joseph & then into the town of Maysville.

I had made reservations at a park through my planning app – RV Trip Wizard. I called & spoke with the owner several weeks prior & she said payment was due when we got there. That’s the case about 50% of the time & I always call the day we are on the move to be sure they are expecting us. I did & she said all was good. Now, RV Trip Wizard is a wonderful app & has many bells & whistles I love. One is written reviews by folks that have stayed at a given park, along with a listing of the anmenities available, estimated pricing & more. The reviews for this park, unfortunately, had not been added to since 2017. They were okay reviews but I know now more current reviews are more telling. We drove on the dirt road into the campground & stopped at the “office” to be directed to our assigned spot. The owner was busy with another project at the moment & told us to drive up the road & pick out whatever site we wanted & she would take care of the registration later. Well, the road through the campsites was BADLY potholed, the “fishing pond” was stagnant water with a solid green algae on top & the further we drove through the road the worse the sites became. Every three RVs were set up to use a single electric pole & single water outlet (most parks have only ONE RV hook-up per site. And all sites were terribly unlevel, badly overgrown with grass & weeds & had so much trash on them we’d have to clean them up before we dared to back in. I lead the way in with the car so I stopped & went to “discuss” the situation with Perry. We decided we would just drive on out of that hot mess & go back toward Kansas City to a Cracker Barrel to regroup. It was one of the worse campgrounds we have come across – a surprise given the amount we were quoted for a night’s stay!

Continue reading “Entry #69 – MISSOURI – June 1 – 7, 2021”

We had extended our stay at the campground in Oklahoma for an extra day because the wind was too much for safe travels in the plains. It ended up not being a rainy day at the Oklahoma spot but, with a 13 ft tall motor coach, that wind could cause a disaster if we had hit the road. Better safe than sorry.

The drive to Kansas was one that will haunt me for a lifetime, even though the wind was not the culprit. Our GPS was directing us to go through Oklahoma City which on the beginning day of a National Holiday weekend would have made traffic even crazier than what we had witnessed on our car excursion a couple days prior. So we choose to go west & then north & then cut across to the interstate north of the big city. Well, maybe making up our own travel route was NOT a smart idea!

We ended up on a road that, as it crossed into Kansas, was a freshly paved (no lines painted yet) road that became a soft dirt road almost 4 miles in. Perry stopped the coach while I went ahead in the car to check the road conditions further up. About a mile ahead was a bridge that would not sustain the weight of the RV. We were essentially in the middle of NOWHERE with no phone reception to get directions on the GPS! I returned to the RV & had a serious meltdown, snotty tears & all. And I could NOT figure out in which direction to go from there – no roads were showing on my GPS! And turning a 38 ft long motorhome around on a dirt road … Lawdy!

We finally made it back to a small town & a road that took us to I-35. I certainly did not mind paying a toll as long as it got us to our next stop safely.

Continue reading “Entry #68 – KANSAS – May 28 – June 1, 2021”

Heading north out of Texas we went through Mineral Wells, Texas. I wish I had planned the travel day better so I could have called on Casey & Gretchen Hilley who live there now. Casey was a friend of our son Robby’s from back in their pre-school days. His mom Lynn Hilley & I shared the duty of driving our youngin’s to & from pre-school at Winder Methodist Church. Robby invited another student, Conner Devine, to come spend the afternoon with us one day. When we dropped Casey off at his uncle’s house before going to ours, his uncle came out to the car all excited. He said he had something for the boys to see & lead the three into the backyard. He had killed two deer that morning & had them strung up on the dressing pole, one was skinned & was ready to be butchered. I’m not implying there is a single thing wrong with hunting (it was hunting season), but Robby & Conner had never seen such a sight. They were bug eyed with their mouths agape. Robby turned to Conner & exclaimed, “Let’s get out of here!” I laughed so hard! I guess they thought they were next? Anyway, I had a long discussion with the city boys later in the day & explained legal hunting & how it helps the species survival. At the ripe age of 5, Casey had already been acclimated to hunting – he was far more advanced in the country ways. Robby is now in his mid-thirties & has learned how to hunt. His first time out, he got a young buck & was so proud. I imagine he recalled the deer skinning episode, a life lesson for sure.

As we traveled into Oklahoma we experienced our first toll road. $2 for the car & the motorhome was $2, too. Thought it would be more than that but I guess it is determined by how many axels? We also experienced some sudden gusts of wind. I was driving the car ahead of the motorhome & felt it. Perry said he felt it tilted the motorhome so much the wheels on one side came up. We slowed WAY down for a bit. We also used our new 2 way radios & they were awesome! We HAVE to be able to talk to one another about turns, needs of a stop, etc. We found the campground easy & got set up with no issues.

Our campsite was the first in the very small park, actually on Ft Sill Army Base. It was clean & neat & had full hook-ups which we appreciated. There was a stream nearby which attracted a good many fishermen & picnickers through the day. And the base had LOTS of amenities – a small city within it’s borders. Ft Sill is a training base for artillery so we had to adapt to the onslaught of cannon fire & such throughout the day. A bit disconcerting for us as we have been away from anything military for several years.

Continue reading “Entry #67 – OKLAHOMA – May 24 – 28, 2021”

We FINALLY left Louisiana after the mess with the drive shaft breaking & the Ragin Cajun calling the police on us. Bless his heart. We decided I’d be much happier driving the car separately – I was entirely too freaked out over the bridges & the height over the road. And the pups were equally unhappy in the RV. I lead the way & kept my job as the navigator.

Our travels took us north to Baton Rouge to pick up I-10 West. The shorter route would have been to Lafayette but our RV is TALL & the GPS indicated a low clearance was going to be an issue. No way did we want to chance scraping the a/c units off the top of the rig. Once we crossed the border into Texas the road was a mess! LOTS of construction & broken pavement & bouncing around was going on. That mess only lasted for a short while & then the roads were okay.

Continue reading “Entry #66 – TEXAS – May 13 – 24, 2021”

We left Mississippi on I-10 heading west into Louisiana. And I found out I absolutely freak out when going over bridges in the motor home. Most bridges don’t have a shoulder area so it appears one small inch to the right would dump us right into the brink! Sitting 10 ft up in the air over the road made it even worse! My stomach was turning & I kept my head buried between my knees the majority of the LONG drive.

Also, Louisiana roads are horrible! And … alligators! People! There were alligators on the blasted interstate! Some were just laying on the grass by the road, others were either dead & torn up from being run over, while still others were withering from injuries & would soon die. It was carnage – blood & guts everywhere! I would never have dreamed of gators on the road but knew I’d soon be having nightmares about it!

We made it around New Orleans & the CONTINUOUS bridges that are the interstate system in the southern part of the state. Our destination was about an hour past that but, because the land is low & swampy, the bridges continued until just a couple miles before our campground.

Our campsite was backed up to a lake with the beach nearby. During our stay that beach was used a LOT – constant happy squeals of children filled the air. But some folks continued to swim during the evenings when the water was inky black. I asked the camper next to us who was from the area if there were gators in the water. He said there sure were! And people were swimming in it?!? Lordy! Cajun folks are fearless!

Continue reading “Entry #65 – LOUISIANA – May 3 – 13, 2021”

I wish I had taken a picture … but maybe not. As we drove across bridges into Mississippi, I told Perry the bouncing was so severe my dentures would bounce out. And I don’t even have dentures! The scenery was wonderful but the roads were seriously lacking. Taking that into mind, I should have realized my fridge would have been in the “shake, rattle & roll” mode. When we got set up & I opened the door the entire tray of 14 eggs leapt to the floor in a chickadee malay! Biggest damn mess ever! One even jumped on me! I guess I got too comfortable & trusting of the fridge stuff not moving. Congrats to the stellar Mississippi roads!

Continue reading “Entry #64 – MISSISSIPPI – April 26 – May 3, 2021”

On April 15 we got up to hit the road, heading toward Alabama. The second COVID shot I received the day before had me feeling really achy & a bit nauseous. Happy Birthday to me! No matter, we had things to do, places to go & things to see so I pulled up my big girl panties & got on with it. Perry was a saint in getting any lifting & heavy stuff done but I’m still the organizer & had to stay focused on the details & making sure everything was secure. We managed to pull out by 10am which was right on schedule. We stopped at the front office at Fort Yargo to connect the car to the back of the RV & put Waldo in the driver’s seat. Then it was “on the road again …”

We had purchased a Garmon GPS – specifically for RVs – but we hadn’t spent the time to figure out all the nuances so we reverted to using my cell phone GPS as usual. Somehow, I had managed to kill the sound so, once we got on a long straight-away, I had to change my phone back to factory settings to get the sound back on. So frustrating!

Continue reading “Entry #63 – ALABAMA – April 15 – 26, 2021”

Today we left our beloved Barrow County Georgia on our first leg of what will be a 5 year (or more) camping trip across the big, beautiful USA! 

Rain was pouring as we hooked up the car to the back of the motorhome (first time doing it on our own so it took more time than expected & we were drenched). We put Waldo, our mascot mannequin, in the driver’s seat of the towed car for giggles. And when we arrived at our first destination some 5 or 6 hours later, rain started coming down yet again. But we made it without incident. Waldo had lost his hair & glasses with the bumpy ride so I made note to add a little museum putty to his head before our next move. 

Continue reading “Entry #62 – GEORGIA – March 31 – April 15, 2021”