Looking For A Lull

Being held back by the weather for a few days lit a spark under us and today we decided we would tackle both Mount Rushmore and Crazy horse in the same day.  Once again the weather stepped in and made the job pretty easy, the wind was wild and cold when we were at Rushmore and made it hard to even keep the camera up on it's tripod.  The leftover snow had the presidential trail closed so we were limited in what we could see but we did see the mountain. Crazy horse was nice as I remember it.  It is great to see the progress that has occurred in the time since I was last there. I also love the museum and the history that they present. With time left over we did eat lunch at the game lodge in Custer State park and follow that up with a ride through the loop to see the Buffalo.  It was a great day and I feel as though we actually accomplished something we had set out to do. The first Blog Video! There has been progress in the last 16 years Love this pla...

We finally arrived in Custer to a plowed out campsite and melting snow.  The temperature, although chilly was warm enough that the melting had already started.  After situating the trailer and taking the Donk for a much needed walk we explored the little town and ate some lunch, picked up provisions and returned to relax.  Not a terribly exciting day, but relaxing enough. Tatonka Statues in Custer SD

After two nights at the Jackson, MN KOA we decided that we wanted to situate ourselves closer to the black hills without going into the snowy bits so we took off to Wall, SD.  We had to leave EARLY in the morning because heavy winds were expected to move through in the afternoon and boy did they have that right.  We pulled into a reasonably priced campground in downtown Wall and not long after checking in the wind came.  The rain was blowing sideways and the trailer rocked all night.  Surprisingly, the Donk was relatively unfazed by the weather since there was not thunder. After checking the weather and seeing the forecast for 8 inches in the black hills we extended our stay one additional night. Wall is a neat little town, famous for Wall Drug, the tourist trap/drugstore that keeps it pinned to the map.  We spent a decent amount of time and money at Wall Drug and it was pretty fun.  It is also close enough to the Badlands for us to do a driving tour on...

Got up extra early and hit the road on our first leg of the adventure.  We rode all morning and arrived at Jackson MN with no issues.  After checking the weather report it looks like we aren't going to be in the black hills for a few days as the snow will be piling up before we will be able to get there and so we decided to stay at this campground for an extra night and decide if we can get closer for another day before moving on to our final destination.  I called the KOA in Custer, SD and let them know and they were fine with our plan. The Jackson KOA is nice, the people are friendly and if you happen to stay there bring the owner a bottle of hot sauce for him to add to his collection; better yet make it two so he can try one and put the other on the shelf above the check in counter. Everyone was friendly at the local eatery, grocery and hardware store.  It seems like a neat little town to live in and a fine bunch of people that call it home.  I was perfec...

We stayed overnight at the lake and in the morning hit the road to Michigan on the first leg of our adventure.  It was smooth sailing and I parked Chappy in front of Mom Tyler's and hooked up to 110 shore power so we had lights and took the time to fill the propane tanks.  The weather forecast for SD is not looking too good at the moment with a ton of snow expected in the Black hills so we may have to delay our arrival by staying a few days in MN or as close as we can get without being in the snow.  YUCK. Big Joe met up with us and we plan to leave EARLY in the morning. Chappy all hooked up and ready to go at the Lake

We took the first load of supplies out to Chappy at the campground and we are planning on staying there will all 3 dogs before starting our Michigan leg of the trip. The first morning, Sara Dog, gets dropped at the Kennel.  She is getting old and is too much for Mom Tyler to look after.  Katia tried when we did the Florida/Georgia trip, but it proved too much for her too.  Then we hit the road.  We've divided the trip into 3 parts going west. Updated map to include our Stops Ohio to Michigan (4H 27Min 291 Miles).  There we drop off Rocky Dog at Mom Tyler's and pick up Big Joe.  We will spend the night before Karen, Big Joe, The Donk and I move on. Michigan to Minnesota (9H 22Min ~650 miles)  We have booked accommodations at a fine camping establishment. Minnesota to South Dakota (7H 472 Miles)  The 7 hours here does not include the stop we are going to make in Wall SD so Big Joe can visit Wall Drug.  It is kitschy yes, but it real...

Looking at the long term weather forecast for SD.  I'm not sure I'm liking what I'm seeing: For Real? I think I've mentioned it before, but I hate cold!   We are going to make it work though.

We finally got Chappy back from the dealer, all fixed and ready for the road, and dropped him off at the campground.  I had been waiting for that before I took my truck in to have the oil change and tires rotated and I wasn't expecting to have to wait so long, but that is done too.  The packing list is ready, the road food list is ready, We are starting to pack. Amidst all of that, Tyler moved to his new apartment and we helped with the move. Mom Tyler is coming to visit and we are picking her up in Michigan on our way back from South Dakota and that brought on a whole bunch of work I wasn't expecting.  We want her on the main floor so she doesn't have to deal with the stairs so I moved my office to Tyler's room.  Karen moved our old bet from the basement to the old office and all of this while I was on call for work. I still have to mow the lawn, finish packing, and have everything ready to go so we can stay the night at the campground and leave early the next m...

I like toys, and oh boy, I'm pretty excited to play around with this one on the upcoming SD trip.  I just picked up a GoPro Hero 7 Black. Got to Love my Tapestry in my office as a background.  HeHe One thing I love to do is to take pictures and video.  I'm not quite as addicted to it as I used to be and I've kinda swung the pendulum in the opposite direction from my huge Canon 7D with this purchase but it is exciting nonetheless. In the past few years I've been taking most of my photos with my Phone camera in lieu of busting out the 7D because, lets face it, my phone is always there, it's light, it's easy to get the video off of and it's more resistant to the elements (Think pouring rain at Blarney Castle Ireland). There are some downsides to using the phone though: Storage is an issue as the entire phone has 256GB of storage, internal storage.  This is shared between apps and pictures/video everything.  The photos and video have to be removed b...

Chappy is ready to leave the dealership!  The door came in and is now fixed.  We will be picking him up and dropping him off out at the campground. With all the recent rain here, I'm hoping getting him in the site won't be an issue.  The ground is pretty soggy.  Unfortunately for him, there won't be much rest there because we will be hooking up and taking off for the SD trip soon. With helping TW move and being on-call this week I feel like I'm WAY behind the 8 ball on the trip planning and preparation.  There is so much to do, but luckily I started planning months ago so at least I have everything planned out.  My only problem is that Karen has plans for my time next week too, outside of trip planning and preparation she want's me to move my office into Tyler's room so that her Mom can have a bedroom on the main floor when she comes back with us after the SD trip.  Hopefully, the on-call weekend will be quiet and I can get some stuff done this wee...

One thing that I find myself doing when we travel over the road is eating a ton of garbage.  It's so easy to just grab a quick bite from McD's at the Flying J while your filling up or stuffing 5 Slim Jims down your gullet because they were right next to the register when you bought fuel.  I've vowed to not let this happen as much on the next trip and we'll see how it goes.  Here is my initial plan:  Make food ahead of time.  Assemble a few sandwiches, pre-cook some taco fixings, pack a small cooler for the truck with pre-made, easy to eat stuff. Buy some fresh fruit before leaving.  Banana's make a great breakfast snack, and grapes or cherry's are awesome when you just want some finger food to munch on.  Must have garbage bag for the skins and pit's, but we can throw them out at the truck stop. Bring more healthy drinks.  This one I do ok at as I don't drink a ton of soda, but I have gotten back into having a little caffeine now and then and...

We stopped by the campground this past weekend even though Chappy is still at the Dealership.  It's probably a good thing he's still there as the ground was very soggy and they had not yet fixed the electrical at our site.  Regardless, I'll probably call the dealership today and see if they can give me an update since we are fast approaching our next big trip! There is a lot going on around here.  TW found an apartment and we started helping him move his stuff over the weekend, all of this rain lately has really made the grass grow so I need to mow again, with Chappy still gone we are falling a little behind on our packing/planning/cleaning that we had planned, and to top it off I'm on call for work this week which means that I'll probably end up rushing around next week to get most of my stuff done before we take off. I hate being rushed.  When rushed I find it easy to try to blow through the checklist and then something inevitably only gets half done or skippe...

Luckily the weather yesterday was a little warmer albeit wet and I've been able to do a few things around the house, but I'm anxiously waiting for that phone call from the dealership.  Chappy is still there, the campground is now open and I'm missing it! Hopefully we'll have him out there by the weekend and in the meantime I've been able to work on some projects around the house besides Lego.  I put a new battery in the mower and cut the grass, worked on a new bedside table I'm building, got further refinishing an old radio, and put together most of what I need to fix the under mount for the kitchen sink. I find it is hard to sustain work on any one particular project because, despite my planning, I always seem to run into a situation where I don't have everything I require and need to pick up something from the store.  Take the bedside table for example; I had all of the pieces cut, planed, initially sanded and I was ready to glue up the top when I foun...

The campground opens soon but Chappy is still at the dealership.  We are waiting on a door to come in for the outside fridge compartment.  I'm really itching to get moving and to make things worse, the weather here in Ohio has been cold and rainy which has put a damper on my ability to work outside or do the finish work I need to do in the wood shop. So what is one to do when you can't go outside, you're tired of watching TV or reading, and you really want something interesting to do?  Well you build Lego's of Course! I recently bought my first Lego set in years, a truck and 5th wheel and I had so much fun putting it together I purchased a few more to do in times where I just can't do much else.  This  past weekend I tackled the coolest Lego set of them all, the Saturn V rocket.  Just take a look at this beauty! The box is very Slick 1968 pieces as an homage to the year 5 hours later...time for bed Got up early just so I could finish ...

FYI for anyone who read this post: That mattress is comfortable.  It is so comfortable we bought one for home. Disclaimer:  I have no involvement with the company that makes it or any company or person that sells it (Other than buying other stuff from them) so I have nothing to gain from recommending this mattress other than letting you know that I think it's awesome and the price is better than you will find for anything comparable.  YMMV Now that is out of the way, really that thing is the best mattress I've slept on in years.  We bought our previous mattress after reading a ton of reviews and paid more than double what we paid for this one and  it was not bad at all, but after 9 years it's developing sleeping troughs that you sink into when you lay down and that is becoming uncomfortable.  We decided to try this out for the camper and I liked it so much we decided to buy another to replace our old mattress. Packaging: Ours arrived in a box via ...