We Have Reached New Heights.

October 14, 2019

Good Morning from Walmart in Laramie, Wyoming!\

It was a long day yesterday, especially for Tom. Besides driving 346 miles we stopped in North Platte, NE at Larry's RV to have the refrigerator looked at. A very nice gentleman took the time between appointments to take a look at it. He could not see anything obviously wrong with it but in order for him to check it out completely it would need to run for about 6 hours while checking on it. We have not had a code come up so that does not help. He offered two options: we could stay there and he would work on it or we could continue on and when we come to someplace we are going to be staying for a while have it looked at. Since, North Platte was not on our destination list we decided to move on. We will be checking into some authorized service centers ahead of us.

(FYI: all of today's pictures were taken through a very dirty windshield. It is impossible to get rid of all of the spots even with "spot fix".)

Pulling out of Elm Creek, NE under sunny skies.

One of several construction zones. Though as you can see from
the speed limit signs no real slow down even with one lane.
Not for us anyway we travel at about 55mph  for the people
caught behind us there was a slight slow down.

Not as much water in the South Platte River
as the others we have crossed.

I could see ahead a building which looked like a large Cabela's and then when we passed it sure enough.

Cabela's World Headquarters
Sidney, Nebraska

We saw a lot of cornfields as we drove through Nebraska.
I even caught one windmill.

Still in Nebraska but as we travel towards higher elevations
it looks more and more like the southwest.

It is hard to tell in the pictures but we are going up. We started the day at an elevation of 2,267 feet and we are presently at 7,156 feet. Now for those of you who live at higher elevations you may be thinking no big deal but for us we are up there. Escanaba sits at 607 feet.

We have crossed into Wyoming.

This is one of the shortest trains we have ever passed.

Our destination today was a Walmart in Cheyenne. I called ahead and the woman I talked to said we were welcome to come and park. What she failed to mention was there is a city ordinance against parking over night in their parking lot. So when we got there and saw the signs Tom made another call and the woman he talked to told him the same thing. What about the signs? When asked, she told Tom they do in fact tow vehicles and give out fines to those parking overnight, not all the time, but Walmart does not care if you park in the lot. (Two things come to mind "here is your sign" and "you cannot fix stupid". I guess that is being mean but seriously just add that part when you are talking to someone.)  So we called the Walmart in Laramie and continued down the road for another hour.  By now though we are in the dark and we try to avoid traveling after dark, plus, we are missing the scenery. (If we had not stopped in Cheyenne we would have made Laramie before darkness set in.) Then there was the 5 miles of a downhill 5% grade which would have not been bad during daylight when you can see the curves ahead but in the dark...lets just say fun. It did not help that every few miles there was a lighted sign saying, watch for wildlife. In the end we made it safe and sound and tucked in with the rest of the RVers out by the lawn and garden area. Just another fun bump in the road.

As we pull out this morning we look forward to the adventures ahead.

Hope you all have a wonderful day.

We are glad you took the time to stop by.

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.

Two Quiet Days....Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

To All Our Canadian Friends. 

We hope you are having a Wonderful Thanksgiving!

October 12 & 13, 2019

Saturday was to be our last one here so we decided to ride over to Amherst for 5 o'clock Mass and go out to dinner afterwards. When I called the church to confirm the Mass Time I had a lovely chat with the pastor of this mission, he has two other churches, during our chat he told me about a place called Stockman's Bar and Grill in Amherst. He mentioned their Saturday night special was prime rib and he had heard good things about it. It was an interesting place, larger then we thought it would be, clean, and the food was good. The price was right so all and all a good choice. (Side note: meeting this priest in person he was just as friendly. Plus, this was a very small church and several of the parishioners thanked us for joining them.)

The ride through  the country side in Nebraska.

St. John Capistran Catholic Church
Amherst, Nebraska

We got back to the Stinger "B" about 8 o'clock and when I opened the fridge the first thing I noticed was everything felt slightly warmer then I thought it should be. (This is the lovely fridge we bought back in January.) We moved it from electric to propane and Tom went outside to make sure the pilot light was on, it was. Thinking maybe they had lost power while we were gone we decided to leave it on propane and see if it would cool down. About midnight we decided it was not happening. So Tom brought the two smaller coolers we have with us in and we moved what we could.  Luckily, unlike last time, I did not have as much stocked in the fridge but just the same we did end up losing some food. 

We left it on overnight, hoping, but it did not cool down. So this morning we decided to stay put and do some research about where to bring it. There is a service place about 15 miles back but the gentleman here at the park, without Tom asking when he told him why we had decided to stay another night, mentioned there is a service place back a short ways back, he named the place we were thinking of, and he told Tom he would not recommend it. There are two places in Cheyenne so we will head out early in the morning and hopefully be able to get into one either Tuesday or Wednesday and it will be an easy fix.

We realize in the scheme of things this is just a tiny little bump. Mostly it is annoying especially since the fridge is not even a year old. 

So today was another laid back day. We did some more research on Utah and what we want to see. Our conclusion is there is simply to much to see in one visit. 

Tomorrow we will continue our trek west and hopefully by the middle of the week we will again have a working refrigerator. 

Today was filled with sunshine and blue skies in Elm Creek, NE. Hope you had sunshine, also.

We are glad you stopped by.

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.

Still Windy

October 11, 2019

When Tom opened the shades this morning it was to sunny blue skies with just a few fluffy clouds. The temperature was hovering at 25 degrees but the sunshine coming in the windows felt a lot warmer. At one point today we made it all the way up to 43 degrees but we are presently at 36 degrees, The wind seems to have finally died down so that is a good thing.

Not a lot happening here today. Tom took some jeans over to a building next to us where they have a couple of washers and dryers and I did a couple of batches here in the motorhome while reading blogs and then doing some crocheting.  Other then that it was sort of a lazy type of day and we enjoyed every minute.

I did venture out to take a couple of pictures.

Our Spot

Looking out towards the trees we can see just a little color.

Looking off in the distance across the field we can see the traffic on I-80,

All day I could hear the wind blowing and howling around us. Now that the darkness of the night is upon us and the wind has died down it seems so quiet.  I can once again hear the train whistles in the distance as they make there way across this land. There is the muffled sound from the Interstate as the travelers and the trucks make their way east and west and somehow that noise is reassuring that life keeps moving forward.  It was a good day here hope yours was too.

We are glad you stopped by.

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.

We Have Stopped to Catch Our Breath

October 10, 2019

We are stopped in Elm Creek, Nebraska for three nights. Not a destination spot but we do have full hookups and the price was right with our Passport America Membership.

Actually, the weather has stopped us in our tracks. There were predictions of snow ahead and the wind is pretty steady with "nice" gusts that rock us back and forth.  It seems like we have been on the go pretty constantly since we arrived back into Michigan this past April so these three days will give us some time to just relax.

We pulled out of Walmart around noon today. We only had about 61 miles to go so we were not in a big hurry. Online it said check in was at 3 but the woman Tom talked to when he called to see if they had a site available said whatever time we arrived would be okay.

It is cold and wet. The rain came down pretty good last night and  earlier today it rained on and off. Now it is just very windy. We do not have to go outside so no problem.

This was today's ride.

Out the side window through the raindrops.
We have noticed all the rivers we have gone over look high.

We could see this in the distance and wondered what it was so I looked it up.

Great Platte River Road Archway Monument

The Archway is a monument that features a historical exhibit of Nebraska's and the Platte River Valley's role in the building of America. The Archway spans more than 300 feet over Interstate 80 three miles east of Kearney, Nebraska.

This compelling museum covers the legacy of travelers along the Platte River Road. Interactive exhibits and dioramas chronicle the rich history of fur trappers, Native Americans, Oregon Trail pioneers, Pony Express riders, the workers who built America's first transcontinental railroad and the daring motorists who ventured on the nation's first coast-to-coast highway. (Information found on the internet.)

For a while this afternoon we could see blue sky peeking
through the clouds.

It has been a quite day here in the Stinger "B", well except for the rock and rolling the wind is causing. We have been able to hear an occasional train whistle in the distance which is somehow comforting. All and all not a bad day.

"There is no such thing as bad weather,

only different kinds of good weather."

                                                    ~John Ruskin

Hope you had a good weather day.

We are glad you stopped by.

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.

The Sixth Adventure Has Begun

October 10, 2019

We left Escanaba on Saturday, October 5th. It was a grey dreary day as we pulled out of the Walmart parking lot. (Our time was up at the fairgrounds and we still had a few things to take care of on Friday so Tom drove the Stinger "B" over to Walmart and we spent our last night there.) There may have been dark clouds outside but inside the Stinger "B" there was a feeling of excitement as we headed out on our Sixth Adventure. This is the route we planned on taking two years ago and when that did not work out we thought we would do it last year. We did not want to jinx anything so we did not make any firm plans but we thought this year the third try would be the charm. Some times things just do not work out. 

Plan A was to take US-2 West through the UP and continue until we connected with I-94 in North Dakota. Eventually turning South into the Black Hills of South Dakota and continue South to Cheyenne then West towards Utah. Checking the weather we found predictions of snow in North Dakota so we said, Plan B it is. US-2 as far as Iron River then we will make our way towards I-90 and take it across South Dakota to the Black Hills. Again checking the weather there are predictions of snow. So we are presently enjoying Plan C and have made our way south through Minnesota and Iowa as far as DesMoines were we connected to I-80 and turned West towards Utah.  As I finish this blog this morning we are parked at a Walmart in Grand Island, Nebraska. 

Looking ahead at the weather yesterday we could see that cold temperatures and wind was coming this way. So we have found an RV Park about 60 miles down the road and called ahead. We will be heading there this morning. It rained last night and it is presently 39 degrees and the wind is rocking us.  It will be nice to just sit back and relax for a couple of days. 

(Side note: the majority of the pictures in this blog were taken through a dirty front windshield.)

Leaving Escanaba on US-2 South and US-41 South.

The colors are pretty, of course, sunshine would have been nice.
One thing for sure with all the rain  this is the greenest fall we have ever
seen.  Neither one of us can remember the grass being this
green in October.

So why only 90 miles the first day. The answer would be to stop and see my youngest brother in Iron River. (In September before we left Escanaba Tom and I drove down to Green Bay to have lunch with his sister and brother along with their spouses. My sister drove up for a weekend and spent a couple of nights with us which was nice. We, also, had the opportunity to go out to dinner with my other brother and his wife.)

Way back when Tom and I were first married and Tom was canoe racing this guy came along more than once and tented with us.  I hate to admit it but back then he was 9 or 10. It had been awhile since we had seen each other and it was so nice to just be able to sit and talk. We spent two days there and it was really fun.

I even remembered to take pictures for once.

We went to Mass at St. Agnes Catholic Church and I thought it was such a pretty church I needed to include it.

St. Ann and Mary I just love this statue.

The Klint Safford Memorial RV Park right in Iron River.
The sites are large and even though you are right in this small town
it was quite and peaceful. We would definitely stay her again. 

As we drove through the UP then into Northern Wisconsin on Monday the colors were beautiful.

We stopped for the night, October 7th, at the Walmart in Chippewa Falls.
The next morning we made our way into Minnesota and crossed over the Mississippi River.

I could see this  sign off in the distance.
How could I not include it?

There definitely is wind.

We are seeing water in farm fields.

The color is not has vivid here yet but there are spots of color.

As we were driving through Minnesota today on I-35 one of the times we had to merge left because of construction Tom saw a sign that said: Begin merging...take turns. I wish I had seen it and got a picture.

We saw this and Tom said, take a picture which I did but if there was a
sign saying what this was we missed it.

We stopped for the night, October 8th, in a rest area near Dows, Iowa.
Tom read  inside at the rest stop that Iowa lost more men per capita  then
any other state during the Civil War.  This rest stop seemed to be dedicated
to honoring those lost.

As we left the rest stop this morning the sky was blue with a soft covering of white.  We were also grateful that no one knocked on our door and told us to leave. during the night. According to what I read Iowa allows overnight parking in there Rest Areas with 'extenuating circumstances'. Not sure what their definition of  'extenuating circumstances' would be but we figured we would go with...no signs and extremely tired.
One last note about this rest stop there was a dump station available.

We have made it past Des Moines and we are heading west on I-80.
We will be on this Interstate for several days.

We saw quite of few of these wind turbines today not moving and there
was wind. I caught this rest stop with one of the blades out my side window
as we drove by. That little white diamond shape is on my window.

Passed lots of farm fields.

Then it did a little raining.
Very grateful to be going down the road inside the Stinger "B".

We crossed into Nebraska and looked like we were headed towards blue
skies. They soon disappeared under more clouds.

The first rest stop we saw in Nebraska it mentioned on the sign  travel
information but there was not even a map available.

Going by York, Nebraska they have a very colorful water tower.
 It reminded me of a hot air balloon

So this is the beginning of our Sixth Adventure.  

Not exactly as we planned it but as I have mentioned before we like "to fly by the seat of our pants" and do not need everything and day planned out so we are as the saying goes, Enjoying the Ride.

We are enjoying our days and hope you are doing the same. 

We are so glad you took the time to stop by.

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.