The Badlands and staying healthy

As we travel we do the occasional post on Facebook, and I’m sure some of you are saying enough already, but then we hear from others who would like more FB posts…. Go figure. What we usually post is the typical; we are here and maybe add some photos. Those of you who are reading this blog are getting all the photos you could ask for and hopefully some interesting stories to go along with them. You win! Wooo hoooo! I digress. The reason I mention this is that when we do post on FB we usually get comments from people who have been there, and how much they like it and what we shouldn’t miss. All of these comments are appreciated and we definitely take a look at them if we can. I only mention this because this trip was a first for me; Lynn had been in the badlands before. I have dreamed about making this trip. I had one planned 20 years ago but I never made it out here, so this was a big deal for me. So forgive me if our posts are numerous and maybe a little over the top. Now back to our adventures.

When we last left our travels we were at Badlands National Park soaking up the view.

 Let me backtrack a smidge. Enroute to the park we did something I have been avoiding. We stopped at a tourist attraction while pulling the trailer. Ahhhhgggg!. That wasn’t me screaming it was the other drivers on the city streets trying to get out of my way. Let me refresh your memory. My pickup truck is 22’ long pulling a 39’ trailer. Now with a 5^th wheel there is an overlap of the trailer and the bed of the truck but overall we are still 55’ long and 8’ wide. I have nightmares of turning down a street, driving 3 blocks and discover I can’t get through. So I have to back up 3 blocks. Ahhhhhgggg! That was me.

But this tourist trap was the “Corn Palace” in Mitchell SD,  which had RV parking, oh and did I mention it was under construction? Not the parking lot, The Palace. So we were not very impressed, but we did it. Another bucket list item scratched off, but at what cost…. not to us….. to all the drivers in Mitchell SD who had to deal with me driving on their downtown streets. I hope someday they can forgive me. Ok, it really wasn’t that bad; I only cut off one or two drivers that’s all. I wish I had a camera on the back of the trailer so I could see their faces. I am so bad. 

Inside auditorium Mitchell Corn Palace

When we arrived in the Badlands it was spectacular, better than I had dreamed.  The view just got better and better with every hill and turn. I am so glad that I/we finally made it. We wanted to do some hiking but Lynn was still not feeling well. So we did the driving tour so she didn't have to exert herself. 

Sign says "Beware of poisonous Snakes!" yikes!

The next day we planned on going to Wall Drug, but Lynn was getting worse and the closest clinic/hospital was in Rapid City, so off we go, and it was a good thing that we did. Lynn said the Doctor might have been old enough to have reached puberty, but he said she was right on the edge of have full blown pneumonia. So she got some antibiotics and back home we went.

The next day we took off, to give Lynn some rest and then went to Wall Drug the next day.  Lynn was such a trooper. I knew she still wasn't feeling well, but she insisted we go. It was a fun stop, had some great food, and a few laughs. It was a great day. 

Now that's a desert!

Jackalope ride!

Wall Drug had something for everyone

We took another day off, and then we did another driving tour of the park on the next day. This time however we stopped at all of the overlooks and points of interest. Towards the end of the day a storm was moving in and I was lucky enough to get a picture of a lightning strike.

Here is the lightning strike. Very cool. 

Still recovering

Yes it does rain in the badlands

The nice thing about storms is that afterwards there are rainbows. If you recall back in the U.P. we saw a double rainbow on Lake Michigan. Well the Gods must be smiling down on us because right outside our window we had another one, very cool.  This was a great way to end our visit to the Badlands. 

See you down the road.

Next stop The Black Hills.

Illinois and the beginning of our journey west.

After leaving the U.P. we headed down to Sycamore IL. to stay at the Sycamore RV Resort because our Florida friend Neal was spending the summer there,  and to get back to civilization, which was the main reason we left. Well we also left because my son was getting married in Chicago and if he asks, that was the main reason.

The resort was very nice. Two nice size lakes where you could fish and one had a beach for swimming. We did not utilize either of these amenities however because we were just too busy relaxing and enjoying electricity, satellite TV, and water. Ah the comforts of home.

The wedding in Chicago was unbelievable. Now I’m not saying that because it was my son. The pictures will speak for themselves because as you will see the ceremony was on a yacht as it cruised the harbor with the Chicago skyline in the background. 

The Happy Couple

Lynn and Tiff enjoying the trip.

Nice back drop for a wedding.

And the sun slowly sets. 

The view from our room at night. The Chicago River and Navy Pier!

The Air and Water show was going on while we were there. From our room we could see the Blue Angels practicing .

After returning to Sycamore we left for Sioux Falls SD. Enroute we stopped to visit our friend Heidi who lives in Iowa now. We had lunch and got to see her new apartment. Very nice!

When we arrived in Sioux Falls we accomplished another first. We stayed at a county fairground, Sioux Empire Fairground. Full hookup and centrally located to just about everything. There were two red flags however that we were not too sure about. We were right next to a train track and not too far from an airport. The train only ran during the day and not all that often so that was not a problem at all. The airport however was loud. But you know what? We didn’t mind at all. Why you may ask, well the planes stopped around 10pm and the ones that flew during the day were part of the 114^th Airborne. The Jets were F16’s. Really, really cool! I was like a little kid every time they took off or flew over us, One of my childhood dreams was to be a pilot flying fighter jets.

One of the bad things that happened was right after we arrived, Lynn got sick. She probably caught it in Chicago. So far I have dodged the bullet but living as close as we do I think it’s only a matter of time before I catch it as well. Oh joy. But we did manage to get out one day and visit  Falls Park which was the reason we were here in the first place. We also snuck in St Joseph Cathedral. Very beautiful.

As I’m writing this Lynn and I are sitting in our chairs outside our home looking at the Badlands. We just arrived and are taking a break enjoying the view. How can I be so lucky to have this as my view for the next 4 days?   

Well time for dinner.  Next post will be after we leave SD. See you down the road. 

Da U. P. or Boondocking 101

So here we are, June 28th, and we are at Lynn's sisters cabin on the Garden Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We are planning on being here until August 18th with a few side trips to Sheboygan Wi. for a wedding, and then to Chicago for my sons wedding. It will be a good chance to spend some time with her sisters, friends in Sheboygan, my brothers in Chicago, and a good chance to save some money. How you may ask? Well by boondocking at her sisters.

The road leading to the cabin.

For those of you who are not RV'rs let me explain what boondocking is. It is defined as: "Boondocking is essentially camping without hookups. You may also hear it referred to as ‘dry camping’. Often, dry camping means staying in a campground without hookups, whereas, boondocking typically means staying in a completely undeveloped area. You may also hear people talk about ‘dispersed camping’, which is the official term often used by government agencies". Now for those of you who have seen our home, you know that we have a generator that can power the entire rig, a freshwater tank that holds 54 gallons of water, and a 45 gallon black tank, (black referring to waste or toilet water). So we can park our home just about anywhere and have all the comforts of home. 

When we arrived we traveled with a full tank of water. We know that Carol and Bob, (our landlords), were not going to be arriving for a few days, so we wanted to do some things to help pay our way so to speak. First, was to cut the grass. Anyone who has ever owned a summer cottage knows that the first time you arrive for the season the grass is really tall. Years ago at a summer place we used to have, that was the case. But there I had a push mower. Here I had a snapper riding mower, Much easier! 

The typical spring growth of grass. 

While cutting the grass we parked the trailer off to the side. It was not on level  ground so a lot of the water in our tank poured out the overflow valve. First lesson for boondocking, oh well, the grass needed it anyway. Then I cut the grass. I only ran over one of their solar landscape lights and one or two of her flowers. Not too bad considering I couldn't see anything. After the grass was cut we parked and leveled the trailer and set it up. Our backwoods home for the next month plus.  

Prior to our arrival Lynn's sister Jane told us to bring plenty of bug spray as the stores in the area were running out. So we did, and even with the spray, we were fighting off the swarms of mosquitoes. For those of you who have never been to the U P  the mosquito is their state bird. They are that big! To make matters worse the bat population in the U P came down with what they called the white nose disease which killed off a very large number of bats. Bats eat mosquitoes. Not this year. And then there are the ticks. Now I must admit that doing tick checks every night was something I looked forward to, but after a while, especially after we found a couple, it became a necessity. I found two on me that first day. 

So we finally got settled in. The grass is cut, the trailer is in place and level and we are covered in bug spray so we can venture out to the outhouse. Oh, that's right, I didn't mention the outhouse. It's really nice as outhouses go. There are always scented candles burning and cans of deodorizer and bug spray are near by if needed. But it is an outhouse. If you haven't ever used one you are missing one of the basic experiences of life. My first experience was as a child up at the farm in Door County. Back then I thought it was cool. But the farm also had indoor plumbing so you didn't have to use it. Up here it is the only toilet for the cabin. That 2am call of nature was all that more challenging when you have to put on pants and shoes, grab a flashlight and keep an eye out for raccoons, skunks and bears. But that was before we had our trailer. Now we just used the outhouse during the day so the black tank wouldn't get full too soon. If it did we would have to hook up and drive half an hour to the state park to dump. 

Now part of the set up was a hose leading from the grey tanks into the woods. For you non-RV ers the grey tanks are shower and sink water. We discovered that there are state parks that allow you to use this kind of setup in their parks. Another boondocking lesson. 

Soon the sisters arrived and we settled into our routine. You should know that we have vacationed here before, but not with our home. We stayed in the cabin or at her other sister Jane's. So we have done most of the site seeing things in the area before. It was not on our agenda this trip. Just relax, catch up on our reading, and spend time with her family. The fact that we had no cell service, internet, or television wasn't a problem at all. It allowed us to reconnect with the more basic things in life. Alright, after a week we were going nuts. Lynn was going through all the symptoms of withdrawal. Nervous tics, talking to herself, staring longingly at her blank phone screen. Ok, it wasn't that bad, but we did miss the modern conveniences of our lives. 

It was also colder up here then we expected. The following is boondocking lesson # 3. It was dropping down into the 40's at night. Now if we weren't boondocking we would just fire up the furnace or turn on the fireplace to heat our home. But we didn't want  to waste the propane so we just added blankets. That was fine for the first night. But the second night it was even colder. So I fired up the furnace, much better. When we woke up in the morning the batteries, which run all the lights and refrigerator were dead. The fridge was flashing at us. Batteries low, or my interpretation "I am dying......dying......dying". The furnace fan needs electricity to run. Not just propane. Duh! Also the fridge needs electricity as well to keep the circuit board going. The fridge is slowly defrosting. Also, there isn't enough juice to fire up my generator. So we borrow Bob's generator and charge the batteries (thank you Bob!). Then fire up my generator to really charge them up.  To make a long story short, after this we had to charge the trailer batteries at least twice a day to keep everything going. This did not seem quite right. Also at this time I noticed that the auto leveling system display is not working. Great..... let me get on the phone or internet to troubleshoot these problems...... Oh wait, I can't. So let's drive into town and sit at Big Boy to use their WiFi and make some calls. The auto level people say the batteries need to be fully charged for the display to work or it's a faulty display, which doesn't happen very often. Also, for the batteries charging that often is not normal. The batteries should last 2 to 3 days. So the batteries are shot and not covered under any warranty so we need to buy new ones.  So I call the autoparts stores in town. Neither have two of the batteries that I need but they can order them and have them there the next day. Great! Something is going right. 

So the next morning I take the two batteries out of the trailer. The fridge gasps its last gasp and the thawing process begins. But wait. This is strange. The batteries are not the same size. Huh? Well I know the autoparts stores has one of each size I need so off we go. On the ride into town the fact that I have two different batteries is nagging at me. So when we get to town we park in a lot and call our friend Nate. He is the manager of an RV maintenance department. " Nate is this normal?" I ask." Hell no!" he says. "With two different size batteries they are basically killing each other". No wonder they won't hold a charge. So a quick call to the manufacturer. Please leave a message after the beep." I'm melting..... I'm melting" keeps repeating in my head. After three calls someone finally calls me back. "Two different size batteries? That's not good,  But the dealer is the one who puts the batteries in. Not us". 

Please leave a message after the beep. "Melting..... melting". Finally after threatening the operator with bodily harm, I am put through to the sales manager. "Two different size batteries? That's not good". I tell him about my melting food. He says" call an emergency service and have them fix it". "We are in the U P of Michigan" I explain. "Then buy batteries and put them in and send us the bill". OK. What size do I put in. The bigger one or the smaller one?. "Hello Nate". The bigger one of course. Bigger is always better. Duh! "Hello autoparts store. do you have two of the bigger ones? No huh". "Melting.......melting". Then Carol says "Let's drive to this little town on lake Manistique. I know they have several marine stores. How far, I ask. Only an inch on the map. An hour & 20 min. later. "Hi, I need 2 of this battery". Only one huh? Next store same question, same answer. But they are the same. So we buy one at each store plus a new case for the second larger battery, and we're off.  Two hours later the batteries are installed. The Fridge is happy and the auto level system is talking to me again.  Did I mention the mosquitoes? Needless to say it was a crappy day with a happy ending. Oh, and the check is in the mail. 

I mentioned before that we have a 54 gallon fresh water tank. Taking quick showers every other day that should last a long time. Did I mention the mosquitoes? Almost every day we had to spray ourselves down if we wanted to spend any time outside. So we were taking showers daily. So on two different occasions we had to grab these 5 gallon bottles and go into town and fill them at the spring. Then pump the water into the trailer. Not all that difficult  but just one of the things you have to do when boondocking. 

These guys are all over the U. P. This one in front of Big Boy of course. 

And there is plenty of natures beauty.

They had a street festival while we were there.

 We also saw a double rainbow on Lake Michigan. What was cool is that it started and ended on the lake.

The required photo of the lighthouse in the hand.

Other then that, the trip was fun. It was great to spend time with the sisters and we even canoed and kayaked up the river to the family cabin. 

 Going up river 

The family cabin.

We discovered a new game. Farkle. But in the end we left early. We discovered that boondocking is fun, but only for a week. Maybe two at the most. We like our creature comforts. We earned them. 

And our side trip to Sheboygan was great. We stayed with Ed and Karen and they made us feel right at home. Still trying to convince them to join us on the road. If not full time then part time. And we got to see the grandkids. Bonus! 

The Grandkids

Having some fun.  

Right now we are at Sycamore RV Resort. A nice park in Sycamore IL. We came here so all we have to do is hop a train into Chicago for my sons wedding, and because our friend Neal has been staying here all summer. It's great to see him again. Next stop the Badlands and Mt. Rushmore. We can't wait to get on the road again.