June 9th AM - Not Much Activity

Not a lot going on here right now. We are getting acclimatized to the warm/hot weather. Todays high is supposed to be 90 with a low of 67 tonight. Where we are parked at Binder Lake we have some shade. We haven't had to run the AC at all so far but that is probably going to change today. Fortunately we have a 50 amp electrical connection so we can easily run both AC units, as well as any other electrical appliances.

We have extended our reservation at Binder Lake until June 20th. Hopefully by that time we will be close to being able to move our motorhome to our house. We don't have a sewer connection but should have a good electrical connection so we can run the air and sleep in the motorhome, in case we haven't bought new bedroom funiture by then.

Yesterday we did some appliance shopping and I started checking out metal roofs. Our shingle roof is on its last legs, which we knew when we bought the place. Kathy thinks she would like the looks of a metal roof and with our setting back in the woods, I also think it would look nice. Andy told me that Butch, his brother, just put a metal roof on his home. I will have to check with him (Butch) to find out where he got the material, and maybe get some installation tips. We don't have to do it until next year, or maybe even the year after, but we might as well just get it done.

We are probably going to have to do some countertop and cabinet modifications for the stove. It appears that Carl had their range in place and built the cabinets and countertop to fit TIGHT against the range. The opening is as much as a half inch narrower than some of the ranges we looked at. Fortunately there is plenty of room between the cabinet units. The problem is where the countertop overhangs the edge of the cabinet, which was done to make a nice tight fit with their stove. I'm sure I can figure out a reasonable way to trim the cabinet fascia piece but am not sure how to trim the countertop and backsplash. The countertop is one piece around a corner and has the sink in it. Removing it, for trimming, does not appear to be an option.

We met the neighbors who live in one of the houses out by the road where we turn back to go back to our house. Carl and Diane Cary (not sure of the spelling). Carl works part time at Lowes. We stopped and visited with them for a while yesterday evening. They seem like a nice couple, about our age.

There are things that we could be doing at our home, while Carl and April continue moving out (they are not living there now) but most of my "stuff" is in Tennessee. I need to do some substantial trimming to be able to get the motorhome down the driveway. Some small trees need to be removed and a lot of branches need to be trimmed back. Since my chain saw is in TN I may try using my recip saw to cut down the small trees. I bought a pole saw at Lowe's but think it is going to be a piece of junk that I will take back. I tried it out at the campground and it wouldn't even cut through a 3/4" limb, even though it claims to be good for limbs up to 1". The one we bought from OSH (Orchard Supply and Hardware) to use at Drew's place was far, far better. The one from OSH was only a few dollars more. The one I have in TN is also far, far better.

After my second trip down the drive to look at the house I think we can get the motorhome down the drive, after the trimming, without having to do a bunch of fill and re-grading. The drive goes down a steep hill, then levels off for a very short distance, and then goes back up a very steep hill. During my first trip back to the house I  thought we might have to have three or four tandem axle dump truck loads of fill brought in to make the "flat spot" longer so we didn't drag bottom in the back when we made the downhill/uphill transitions. Once we get back to the house/barn I'm still not sure where we are going to park it. I will probably have to do some regrading to make a reasonably level place to park it near enough to the barn for an electrical connection.

Doug is coming out today and bringing with him some of the stuff we have been storing at his house in Indy. He and Anthony are going to make another trip out here on the 18th. On the 18th they will drive both my pickup, loaded with the rest of the stuff they were storing for us, and their car. They will leave my truck.

Our tentative plans are to pack Andy, Kelsey & Lydia into the motorhome with us the first week of July and head for Indy. (We will also follow the motorhome with my pickup) Plans are to go up to Coldwater to see my Mom and whatever family is available. Then we will head for TN to see Kathy's Dad and her brother and his family. We will rent a couple of U-Haul trailers in TN and put one behind the motorhome and one behind my pickup. Hopefully with two U-Haul trailers and my truck we will be able to get all our stuff from TN in one trip.

We are at Andy & Kelsey's this morning. Kathy is doing (helping) Kelsey with some cleaning. Andy is painting some exterior trim and I'm loafing on the computer.

It is REALLY dry here. Andy & Kelsey's grass is crunchy when you walk on it.

That is enough of a book for now.

Good day to all and may God bless you and yours.

June 7th - LYDIA ARRIVES!

Our great-granddaughter arrived around noon today. Baby Lydia, Mom Kelsey and Dad Andy are all fine.

We went out to our new home today. This is the first time I've seen it. It has the potential to be a beautiful place, but it is going to take a LOT of sweat before the grounds get close to their potential.

This is the largest of the outbuildings. Carl's, the previous owner, woodworking business was located in this building.

We planted the rhubarb we brought from Elaine's. It looks pretty sad right now.

This rabbit watched us while we planted the rhubarb. Carl & April used to raise rabbits. Some of them escaped. They think this is the last one still around. It was no more than 10' from us while we planted the rhubarb. Carl walked up to within about 3' from it before it took off.

We have closed on the house but we don't take possession until June 23rd. Carl and April have already moved to their new house but they, especially Carl, have a lot of moving to do. I feel a little sorry for Carl. He has to be worn out. He has already done a lot of moving and still has a long ways to go.

We went back to the hospital tonight and visited more with Kelsey, Andy and Lydia. Everyone is still doing fine.

God has been so good to us.
First - Kelsey and Lydia are healthy.
Second - Lydia was due June 16th. When we left Twin Rocks camp in Oregon we planned on not arriving here until then. We didn't make an effort to hurry, but ended up arriving here last night. Lydia arrived around noon.
Third - We did not make reservations at the only convenient local campground. (In our 11 months of travelling we have never had a problem staying at the first place we tried.) When we checked in last night we were told that the campground was sold out Thursday through Saturday and that we would have to move out by 11 AM. It would be a bother, but we figured we could move to Kelsey and Andy's driveway for those three nights and then return here for Sunday night. Early this morning the campground host came and told us that one of the campers left (actually he was ejected) during the night so we no longer needed to move.

The above things are only the ones of which we are aware.

Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.

June 6th - Missouri

Today we drove from Elaine's in Collins, Iowa to Binder Lake Park in Jefferson City, Missouri. It was about a 280 mile drive. The roads were good, with a few minor exceptions, and traffic was light. We arrived here around 5:30 PM. We filled up with fuel at a BP station in Macon, Missouri, $3.599/gallon. With the exception of one place that was the cheapest price we saw for diesel. Later we saw what we think was diesel advertised for $3.469. Most stations had diesel priced between $3.649 and $3.759/gallon.

We had checked this park/campground out when we were previously in the area. It is a nice little campground and a good deal for only $15/night. The good news is that we are here. The bad news is that every camp site is reserved starting tomorrow, so we won't be able to stay here as we had planned, unless someone cancels. The reservations people had already gone home for the day before we arrived so we will call them in the morning to better determine our options. I'm sure we can always park in Andy & Kelsey's driveway, as we did the entire month of November. The nice thing about staying here is that we are connected to "sewer" and don't have to worry about filling/emptying our grey/black water tanks.

We are "tucked" in with trees on all sides. Down the hill behind us, through the trees, is the main entry road and beyond the road is a large recreation area. When we were out sitting behind the RV earlier we could hear the crack of bats and cheering at a ball game that was occurring in the recreation area. Listening to the kids hollering was quite enjoyable.

Today's high we in the mid 80's and the low tonight is forecast to be 57.

Tomorrow we plant the rhubarb we dug up at Elaine's and we will probably do some tree trimming along the drive back to our property. Doug and Kathy both thought we would need to do some significant trimming before tying to drive the motorhome back to the house. It is late to be planting tomatoes but I bet, if we can still find some plants, that Kathy will also want to get at least a couple of tomato plants in the ground at the new house.

Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.

June 5th - Iowa

This morning, after breakfasting on some really good egg casserole at Elaine's, we headed out for the day.
First stop was to see Marvin Senter, another good friend from our days in Maxwell. We had a good time renewing acquaintances. We had not seen Marvin for 32 years.
After our visit with Marvin we drove by what had been our home in Maxwell. We had 29 acres, all inside the town limits. It was interesting to see that parts of the 29 acres had been sold off and to see the newer homes on what had been alfalfa fields while we lived their.
We then went to West Des Moines to shop at a Costco. Once we get to Centertown, Missouri the closest Costco will be in St. Louis, a two and one half hour drive. It was interesting to see all the growth around Des Moines.
We headed to downtown Des Moines for lunch. I remembered eating at the Spaghetti Works while working in Des Moines, and it is still there. We had a delightful, and inexpensive, lunch.

Des Moines is a beautiful and interesting city. I had forgotten about the Living History Farm, the Botanical Garden, the downtown skywalks, etc. The restaurant was blocks away from the capitol. I took a photo of it on our way back out of town.

 Kathy and Elaine are off visiting Elaine's Mom and another friend. I am on my own for the evening.

Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.

June 4th - Parked at Elaine's in Collins

Yesterday we "veg'd" at the park in Adrian, MN. It was a beautiful day and we just sat around and enjoyed the day. Actually we did do some "people watching" as many of the groups packed up and headed out. By then end of the day there were very few left in the area where we were parked.

Today we drove to Collins, Iowa. It is only a few miles from where we lived in Maxwell, Iowa; from 1977-80. We are parked at Elaine Anderson's house. She was one of our good friends while we were out here (that doesn't sound quite right, she is, and always will be, one of our good friends). She and her husband Max came to visit us when we lived in Niantic, Illinois, around 20 years ago and that was the last time we saw one another. It is so good to renew acquaintances with friends.

Current plans are to stay here a few days and to then head for central Missouri.

We drove around 280 miles today. It is about another 300 miles to our new home in Missouri.

Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.

June 2nd - Adrian, Minnesota

We got up this morning and went to the Mitchell Corn Palace. It was worth seeing. It is amazing what people will do to drum up some tourism. According to the story the reason for starting the Corn Palace was to lure people to the area by showing them that corn was a viable crop in South Dakota. By the way, we never saw any corn west of the Missouri River, in South Dakota. As soon as we crossed the river we started seeing corn fields.
http://www.cornpalace.org/

All the ornamentation that you see is an agri-product, mostly corn although rye grass was one of the other things mentioned. The "balls" and towers appear to be of standard construction. The building exterior is completely redone in a new scene every fall. It takes about 200 acres of local crop land to grow the materials used.

 One of the murals on the inside of the auditorium.

 Zoomed in on the cowboy. You can begin to see the different colored ears of corn.

Zoomed in on the horses head.

 The above mural is at the far left of the auditorium.

 Kathy posing.

 After the Corn Palace we went back out to the Interstate. I had never been to a Cabela's sporting goods store and there was one at the exit we used so Kathy dropped me off and she went to a Walmart in the same area to buy some groceries. The Cabela's was nice but after seeing all the wildlife at the museums we have been at recently it was a little of a let down. The certainly do a have a LOT of stuff. It was interesting. $3,000 for a 9.9 hp boat motor. I was stunned. $16,000 sale price for a place old used fishing boat out front. It had a 115 hp motor and another much smaller one. People must be nuts! Tell me again how many people are not keeping up with their mortgage payments.

After Cabela's/Walmart we went back to the campground, packed up and headed for Minnesota. We stopped at a rest area and Kathy heated up some hot dogs and we finished off the potato salad she made the other day.

We arrived in Adrian during the mid-afternoon. We would have went further but this campground looked like the best deal around, by far. The campground is in the city park. There is room for over one hundred units here. They have anything from tent space to full hook ups with 50 amp electric. I think our site with full hook up, WiFi, cable TV and 50 amp service is $26/night, including tax. There is also a very nice pool. It has water in it and looks inviting but they are still balancing the chemicals. It probably won't be open tomorrow.

At supper time we walked a couple of blocks to a steakhouse Kathy had spotted on the way in. This place is really big inside and can seat hundreds.

 Yes, my prime rib was as good as it looked. A trip to the soup/salad bar was part of the meal. This was only supposed to be a 12 oz piece of meat but it had to be larger. I brought the yeast roll and a piece of the prime rib home with me for a snack. Three hours later and I'm still far to full to want a snack.

Kathy had a fish platter with broiled walleye and some other types of fish/seafood. She said it was excellent. She also had a bowl of soup which she said was also quite good.

We walked back to the campground and spent over an hour sitting outside. There are quite a few people here. It reminds me of one of my favorite movies, Doc Hollywood. There are numerous kids, of all ages, walking, or riding bikes, up and down the gravel drives around the campground. Diagonally across from us a guy is playing a bean bag game, Kathy said it is called cornhole, with his son while another guy is cooking something for all of them on a grill. Next to us, opposite the side we set on, is another family. It appears that Grandpa and Gramma rode their Harley to the campground to spend the day with them. The Harley fired up about a half hour ago and the older couple left on it.

This is a nice place. We plan on staying here two nights and heading for central Iowa Monday morning.

Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.

June 1st - Out of the Badlands

Today we left the Badlands National Park. It was so nice again today that we almost stayed another day/night. This was the edge of the road on the way out of the park. I almost didn't get this photo snapped. Over the edge of the road is at least a 50' drop. The road has started to "slide" down the hill.

We stopped at the 1880 Town near mile marker 170 on I-90. I was apprehensive about it being a tourist trap but I wanted to check it out. Look at the beautiful sky. I could have taken dozens of photos of just the sky today.

 The 14 sided barn is the entry to the "town". It also contains many artifacts on two different levels. Note the train cars to the left.

 Before actually paying to go into the town we decided to try out the diner. It is actually the kitchen car and a string of dining cars. You get to walk through the kitchen car on your way back into the dining cars. Today's special was hot beef sandwiches (Beef Manhattans). We both had one. They were excellent!

 This is the view of the town from the other side of the barn. I actually took the photo below on the way out. But note the sky in all the photos. After we had entered we were not in the town 15 minutes before it started raining, HARD. The was parked on the other side of the highway, which was over a good, long block from the entry "barn". I wanted to see the rest of the town so I ran out to the RV and got raincoats. I was WET by the time I got to the door of the RV. As I was fumbling in my pocket for the keys the rain stopped. By the time I returned, back through the entry barn (I walked back <grin>) the sky had cleared and was beautiful again. I wished I had a video showing a fat old guy (me) running through the rain.

Below is the 1880 farmstead. It is about a quarter mile from the back of the church that you see in the above photo.

 This is the first windmill I ever saw with this type of wood vanes.

 Kathy only walked part of the way up to the  homestead. This was a swing. It was not attached to the wheels. Above the wheels was the axle, between two support posts. The swing was hung from the axle.

 Looking back down at the town from the swing area.

 The south side of the street.

 The north side of the street.

 The school.

There was far to much to photograph. It was well worth the $8/person entry.
As we continued on east we drove back into the rain.

 Kathy was getting tired of driving, especially with all the hard rain and we stopped at the rest area on the east side of the Missouri River. We no more than got the RV stopped and the rain stopped. You are supposed to be able to see 7.5 miles from this point.

 It rained some more after we left the rest area, but never as hard as it did prior to stopping. We were blessed to be able to see this rainbow for miles. Sometimes only parts of it were visible, sometimes we could see parts of a second rainbow.

Tonight we are at a campground in Mitchell, SD. Mitchell is the home of the Corn Palace. We don't know exactly what that is but tomorrow we will find out.

We had read about the broasted chicken served at one of the restaurants at this exit. It isn't really a restaurant but more like a fast food place in a gas station. It is very close to where we are parked and so we walked up and bought 4 chicken breast. We had no idea how large they might be or even if we would like them. They cooked us four fresh ones while we waited, in some type of pressure cooker, deep fryer. It cost less than $6 for four large breasts. We brought them back to the RV so that we could eat them with some of the potato salad Kathy made the other day. I liked them (and I don't usually like chicken) and Kathy thought they were very good.

Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.