Rivers And Waterways

I chose our route for speed as much as I did for cooler temperatures. The temperatures got a bit cooler as we headed north, but not by much. The route took us onto the Interstate a few times just to save some time, then dropped back onto the smaller and more scenic roads. I managed to get us on a nice road along the east side of the Mississippi River, from Prairie Du Chien to La Crosse in Wisconsin. Again, it was a "Red Ribbon" road in the old Rand McNally Atlas, and met that rating with us as well.
Almost every trip we take has us driving along or across the Mighty Mississippi River. It seems this trip is no different. We have been at the head waters in Itasca State Park where the Mississippi River is but a trickle and have seen it in all its glory in the Crescent City (New Orleans, LA). Our travels have taken us to St Louis when its banks were overflowing and to Hannibal, Missouri with the National Guard watching flood waters on the verge of evacuating the town. We have been on the banks of the Mississippi in Minneapolis, MN and Memphis, TN. And when we die our ashes will travel the full length of that great river.
The Mississippi River has a huge system of locks running the full length of the River. We stopped at one of the locks located at Lynxville, Wisconsin while travellling down scenic highway 35 on this last trip.

There was signage explaining how the locks are used to adjust the depth of the river, allowing the huge container ships to come up the full length of the river as far north as Minneapolis. If not for the lock systems, there would be areas that are too shallow for these huge barges to go. The signage explained how the river depth is regulated with the lock system, allowing the naturally shallow areas to hold more water.

I don't know why I like the lock systems and dams so much, but water intrigues me. And the flow of water fascinates me. How can water keep flowing year after year and not run out? I know, it rains and snows, and replenishes the head waters. And all the smaller streams feed the larger ones. But really, what an amazing feat, keeping all these water systems running over the mileniums. It blows me away.

The Mississippi River is such a huge river, and it is always so lush around the banks no matter where we are along its vast length. The section we were travelling on this trip was filled with almost constant small islands of green.

We left the Mississippi in La Crosse, WI, crossing into Minnesota and heading west. This will not be our last encounter with the Mighty Mississippi, at least not yet!

Swap Meet In The Sun

We got to the swap meet early, not sure how long the line would be for vendors. The gate opened at 5:30am for vendors to line up, but we did not have access to the fair grounds themselves yet. With only about six vehicles ahead of us we were sure to get a good spot. We had never been to a swap meet in this area before and were not sure what to expect. While we waited for the gates to open we got out and chatted with a few of the other vendors. The fellow in front of us was a regular. He lived close by and came out to the meets in the area. He had a trailer of trials bikes with him, and several more back home.
The gates opened at 6am as promised. We paid and were told we could park our rig anywhere we liked. There was plenty of grass to choose from. Having never been there before, we chose a nice spot next to the fellow with the trials bikes. He was friendly, and the spot was next to the road, offering an easy way out of the fair grounds when we were ready to go. In hind sight, a spot under a tree may have suited our needs better, as temperatures rose way past tolerable and shade was scarse where we were located. Our swap meet neighbours were lined up against the side of our RV at one point, standing in a sliver of shade just trying to keep a bit cooler.
The swap meet itself had a lot of vendors, and a steady stream of customers. But we were told it was nothing compared to the meet they have in the spring. Apparently, that is the one to be at. This meet was more of a social event. Many of the vendors knew each other and spent the day chatting with each other. Some of the customers were regulars too. As for us, we talked to a lot of people, learned a lot about swap meets in Illinois, and made some friends to boot.
The next day we headed north to Wisconsin. We had another deadline to meet and had to be back in the St Cloud, MN area by Wednesday. That meant we would not be spending any quality time along that great scenic road we were just on. Drat. But it is still on the list of places to visit in the future.

Iowa Has Mountains, Who Knew!!

After leaving Osage, Iowa I checked the map again. There was a nice county road going down the east side of Iowa that looked interesting. According to my Rand McNally Road Atlas it was one of the "Red Ribbon" scenic routes. That means the road would be scenic as well as having good restaurants and possibly antique shops or other tourist type locations of interest. The road fit into our basic route, so off we went down Highway 52. We were not long on the road when we found mountains. Who would have thought Iowa had mountains. This was one of those roads that you start down and wish you had a motorcycle with you. And on this trip it was one step worse. We had a sportster in the trailer. Ward kept threatening to pull over and take it out for a spin. But we were under time constraints to get to Woodstock by Sunday.
The road kept twisting and turning, rising and falling and showing us some great scenery. Then it went down into a valley and into the town of Guttenberg, which was right along the edge of the Mighty Mississippi River. It looked like a wonderful little tourist town. One we would love to stop in if we had the time. It got added to the list of places to go, next time we were in the neighbourhood.
We spent the night in Dubuque, Iowa. Again, add that town to the list. We stopped counting motorcycles because there were just too many. The roads in that area were screaming to be ridden on two wheels.
The next day started with the same wonderful scenery as the last, and just got better. Motorcycles were everywhere on the highways, there must have been a bike run that day. And what perfect roads, we added this whole stretch of highway to our list.
We were in Illinois now, and soon came to the town of Galena. By this time I was just kicking myself that I didn't go and get my camera. I should have been taking pictures of these roads all along this highway. The town of Galena, Illinois was amazing. The highway took us right through downtown.

The buildings seemed all to be very old, and not of this century at all. We passed signs for Ulysses S. Grant's house and a few other famous people. But there was no time to stop. Ward mentioned we would come back this way and spend a bit of time in the area. What was that about best made plans?
Oh well, another time. And Galena is definitely on the list of places to come back to, most definitely.
Just as we rolled into Rockford, Illinois we got a flat tire on the trailer. Ward pulled the motorhome over into a parking lot and we got out to assess the damage. We have a great CAA plan that we could use, if needed. But we didn't want to use it unnecessarily. I got on the internet, I just love my mobile internet stick, it comes in so handy sometimes. I googled tire places in Rockford and found one a block away from the lot we pulled into. We called them to make sure they had trailer tires and limped our rig over. An hour later we had two new tires on the trailer, and a spare tire in the trailer. It's a good thing we didn't stop earlier in those scenic towns. The extra time was needed for this repair during daylight hours.
Before nightfall we were in Woodstock. The next day would be the swap meet. Vendor set-up 6am, you could pay at the gate.

Ho - Ho - Ho - Green Giant

Who would have thought there would be a 50 foot statue of the Jolly Green Giant located in a small town in Minnesota. But there it was, larger than life, and green.

When I found it listed in the road atlas, and it was so close to our actual route, I made a point of taking it in.
The association of the City of Blue Earth, MN had the statue erected in 1979, according to their brochure. Each winter the town folk put a red scarf around the big green guy, marking the change in seasons and preparing the fella for winter.
We were in corn country. Just about every field we drove past was corn, and as we crossed into the great state of Iowa that didn't change a bit. More corn. It was corn and cows, and more corn.
We stuck to the smaller county roads, and continued to enjoy the scenery and the lazy feel of driving through the US Mid-West.
As we drove through the small towns along the county road, we were looking for a grocery store. It was getting on in the day and we wanted to make sure we had provisions for dinner. The gas attendant at Caseys in Osage, IA gave us directions to the Payless Foods in town. She said some of the prices there were good, but other items were a bit expensive. Good to know. The directions got us easily to the store and we went inside. I found the prices to be very good and was wondering what that clerk was talking about. Then I saw the canned goods. It worked out great because we were after some meat and fresh produce, and those prices were in line with what we wanted to pay. I picked up some pork chops and cream cheese and headed back to the RV.
We took a break from driving, and had some down time in the parking lot of the grocery store. It wasn't long when we heard that Monty Python sound of coconuts clapping together. No, wait a minute, that was the sound of a horse on pavement. And that was a buggy that just passed the window.

The buggy stopped, and an Amish man got out and tied the horse to a hitch on the pole in the parking lot. Then a young girl got out and slid the pocket door closed on the buggy. I guess we were in Amish Country.

The town folk didn't seem to find it odd that a horse and buggy pulled up in the parking lot of the food store, and there was a hitching post already set up for the horse. The fields may be all corn and cows, but there is much more going on in the land than initially meets the eye. This is one of the reasons I like to get off the Interstates when I travel. One gets to see a more real image of the regions travelled.

Our House Was Just Around The Corner

We were on a mission. We needed to get to Woodstock by Sunday, June 24 and it was Wednesday. Just four days to do the trip and so many scenic roads to travel.
I checked the map and found the Jolly Green Giant resting in a small town along the southern border of Minnesota. Blue Earth, Minnesota was now marked in as a destination on this trip south. Other factors in determining our route were that we wanted to travel along the smaller county roads, and did not want to go near any larger cities. It may add miles to the trip, and definitely takes longer to travel that way, but it adds so much more to actually seeing the country and getting a feel for the different areas we travel through.
As you may know, Minnesota has a saying on their license plates "Land of 10,000 Lakes". Now to a Manitoban that may not seem like such a big deal. Our province boasts 100,000 lakes. But really, most of our lakes are up north, where most people never see them. Every square inch of Minnesota is accessible by roads and every lake is within a stones throw of civilization. We noticed this on our last trip when we pulled over on some dirt road between Fargo and Detroit Lakes only to find a lake on that road.

On this trip we went past many more small lakes just like this one. The terrain was rolling hills filled with ponds and lakes surrounded by farm land. I could imagine the farmers a few hundred years back finding this land and choosing a spot next to a lake. And today, after a day in the fields, jumping into the lake to cool off. I wonder if they go away to the lake on holidays, or if they just sit in the back yard and enjoy what they have right there.
As we were driving down one of the county roads, we came up to yet another lake. But this time there were signs along the side of the road. They said "no parking anytime". The road went right up against the lake. On one side of the road were houses, and the other was filled with private boat docks and their boats. These must have been cottages along the lake, and I bet they were not economy cottages. The scenery at that spot was amazing, and I am sure we would have pulled over if we could. But the signs said no. We went a little further on and came across another lake, and another set of signs stating that we were not welcome to stop there either. Then we pulled into town, and followed the signs to the public beach and park.

It was the town of Annandale, MN. We stayed at the park for the afternoon, having a picnic lunch overlooking the lake and enjoying the breeze. While sitting there we watched a heron perched on a post at the end of the dock. But before I was able to get my camera out and snap a photo, it was off. We watched it fishing for it's lunch and sat back and enjoyed the wonderful scenery. And our house was just around the corner.

Journey Into The Bowels Of The US Mid-West

Or, as Ward would say: "Adventures In The Bible Belt".

We left at the beginning of June, just as soon as we could get the trailer hooked up, and make sure the lights were all working on it. We had a connector at the back of the RV for a trailer, but it was the wrong end. So, we removed that one, and got the correct connector installed. After a bit of experimenting, all wires were connected correctly, and the trailer lights worked as they should.
Sunday morning we headed south. The border presented no problems this time. They asked the last time we crossed, and the nature of our visit. "About a month ago, and we were looking to buy some motorcycles to bring home."

Back in the U.S.A. Don't know how lucky we are! We're back, back in the U.S.A.

The Rv had been acting up a bit. Every now and again it would run out of fuel. The gas tank wasn't empty, but it acted like it was. We were thinking the electric fuel pump might be packing it in. So, we were planning on buying one in the States and saving a bit of money on the purchase. Ward said he could install it himself. The plan was to pick it up in Grand Forks and have it on hand if needed.
As it turned out, the RV was giving us a bit of trouble as we were nearing Grand Forks. We made it to the Walmart without incident, and the next morning we stopped in at O'Reilly's and got the fuel pump.
The trip from Grand Forks to Fargo ended up taking about 6 hours. The RV ran out of fuel every 20 miles. We would sit on the side of the highway for 20 minutes, and it would be ready to go again. This went on for most of the journey into Fargo. But as we got closer, the RV got worse. By the time we were pulling into the city limits the RV was barely going 40 MPH and was stopping with greater frequency. It got us to the Walmart, though.
We found a nice place to park, under a tree with a patch of grass. It was almost park like. And there we changed the fuel pump. But it didn't fix the issue. Something else was causing this. We ended up taking it to Tuffy's Auto Service Center. It was just around the corner from the Walmart. Ward and I walked over and talked to the guys. We explained what was happening and asked if they would be able to take care of it and see what was going on. We even suggested a few tests they might do to see if the issue was with the carb, or with the fuel pressure. And we mentioned that the fuel guage didn't work. So, if they were dropping the tank, we would get the fuel guage fixed at the same time. We were asked how much we were wanting to spend. Not a good sign. But I said to go up to $200 for diagnostics, then call. And that is exactly what they did. I am not sure what diagnostics they did, and the work order didn't explain that either. But the charge was listed. They did drop the tank. They fixed the hose inside so it took fuel from the bottom of the tank. (Apparently it was sticking up and wasn't accessing the bottom of the tank, or some such thing). And they changed the fuel float. Oh, and they charged us $750. They took it for a test drive around town, and said all was well.
We made it 20 miles outside of town, and the RV died. No, really. It died. Ward complained that his backside hurt from the transaction that took place at Tuffy's, and I said we were not going back there. Not now to complain, and not ever.
We made it as far as Park Rapids and found a real mechanic. Within minutes, maybe even seconds, he said it was the carb. He said the float was sticking and gas was running back into the gas tank. We needed to get the carb re-built. Whitey lent us his car, and let us sleep in the RV at the back of his shop until the job was done. We found a great mechanic in that town, and had an RV that would actually run when he was finished with it. We were back on track again.
It had taken ten days from the time we first entered America, until the RV was finally running properly. We were in no hurry, and had no real deadlines, so the time was not a real bother. And while we were in Park Rapids, we had a courtesy car, so we could get around, go to the beach, and whatever else we wanted to do. But it was nice to have the freedom of the open road again, knowing we could head down the highway and not worry about our house breaking down.
Our plan to hit the Walnecks swap meet in Woodstock, Illinois was back on track. We had four days to get there, so I checked the map and planned our route. I planned the route to take us down county roads and of course through Blue Earth, MN because I wanted to see the Jolly Green Giant.
Stay tuned for more, and a picture of the big green guy, coming soon to a computer near you.

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Grid

Well, we did it. We have managed to equip the motorhome with solar panels, a generator, and functioning propane so we don't need to hook up to the grid.
I finally got the solar panels mounted on the roof of the RV. After watching several youtube videos on the subject and reading up on it, I was ready to tackle the project. I had access to a scissor lift, which made the whole project so much easier. Thanks so much for the use of the equipment. After a bit of consultation, it was decided that I make no holes in the roof of the RV at all. I used angle iron and set up a basic roof rack style mounting system and drilled holes in the sides of the RV, going into the top wooden frame. After drilling the holes I filled them with silicone, then mounted the brackets. I drilled another, larger hole in the side of the RV to receive the wiring from the panels and ran that through the cupboards inside, straight to the regulator. From there I ran wires down the channel housing the fridge wiring, and out the back of the RV straight to the battery box that we mounted on the bumper. Another set of wires came back into the RV to the inverter. And now we have electricity. So far it's only 45 watts per hour, during maximum sun strength, but it's enough to power the lights, TV, DVD, and recharge the batteries on the phones and laptop.
While I had access to the scissor lift I took the opportunity to redo the seals on the roof vents and seal the side trims. I finished off the partial container of sealant goo I was given, then went out in search of more. I ended up getting another brand of rubber sealant from GNR on Dugald RD in Winnipeg. It took only one coat and went on fairly easily. The hardest part of the whole job was scraping off all the old sealant that had peeled, cracked, and curled.
Lastly, we took the RV in to GNR for them to have a look at our fridge. We could get it working on regular electricity and DC power, but were not able to get the pilot light lit on it. They were able to accomodate us on short notice and took the RV in. They cleaned the mechanism on the fridge and lit it. Then we were given a quick lesson on how to light the fridge. Apparently it worked all along, we just could not see the pilot light. And actually, we still cannot see the pilot. We were told that it was really hard to see, near impossible is more like it. Now we know to just push the buttons a few times and  decide it is lit, then wait a few hours to see if the fridge is still cold. What a difference it makes, being able to have the fridge on all the time while travelling. We have had no problems with our fridge since turning it on with the propane power, and we found the perfect temperature setting so it does not freeze our food.
My wonderful husband mounted our generator on the back bumper of the motorhome so we have access to the extra power when we need it.
That was enough for us to go on our next adventure. We borrowed a utility trailer, hooked it up behind the motorhome, and headed south.

The Negligent Blogger

I know.
I know.
Mark, I know. I haven't been blogging.
What can I say.
The cat ate my homework....
I was busy....
I fell down and couldn't get up....
I was out having fun....
It was too hot....
I'm sorry, ok?
I'll try and do better in the future.

Much has happened since last I blogged. I guess I left off in a rest area just outside Fargo, ND. We managed to make it about 3 miles that day and ended up in a grassy knoll inside Moorhead, MN city limits. That trip lasted eight days, including a stop in Detroil Lakes where we found the Oof-da Taco trailer. Oh my gosh, we pulled over. We had been looking for that trailer all trip, and never caught on that we could just check their website to see where they would be touring next.



I had never had an Oof-da Taco before, but my husband had. He raved about them every time we drove through North-Western Minnesota. I was so glad to finally get a chance to try one. It looked so good I wolfed most of it down before thinking to take a picture of it to show you.

Sorry about the missing bits. It was just a little too good to let sit around for any amount of time.
If you have never had them, and if you cannot see in the photo of my almost devoured taco, it is a taco on fry bread, and is about a foot in diameter.
The Oof-da taco is one of those food items that must be tried at least once.

It's getting late, and my laptop needs some quality down time. So, that's all for tonight.
I will tell you more about our adventures tomorrow.
Oh, and Mark, that Mexican Restaurant was delicious. (tee hee, tee hee)