Ellsworth AFB, SD

We awoke to a wind warning for the area starting this afternoon and going into the evening. So, to stay or to go on to Ellsworth AFB was the question. We had to determine the seriousness of the hydraulic leak first. I opened the access hatch at the steps leading into the coach to allow me to observe the hydraulic pump and switching solenoids while Barbara brought in the slides. We did manage to get all the slides in for travel, but as each slide came in there was a substantial spray of fluid which I caught in a beach blanket to keep from making any more of a mess of the camping site than we already had.

When we had slide trouble in Durango, CO the mobile tech that was helping us out made some slide locks for us out of his wife’s old crutches. Those of you that have followed our travels may remember that event. Well, we put those to good use again this morning to hold the curbside slide in and blasted off for Ellsworth AFB FamCamp in Rapid City, SD. We are going to try to salvage as much of this trip as possible. We managed to get there before the winds got too strong, and got laundry out of the way.

The jeep continues to have a problem with the shift linkage, and in fact, it is getting pretty bad. I tried to find a source of wire to make a temporary fix, but had no luck. I did manage to get a zip tie on the shaft to hold the cable end in place and hope that it works for a day and a half, because I bit the bullet and made an appointment at the local jeep dealer to replace the shift cable.

Back at the campsite things were getting interesting as the sun began to set. We could not put our slides out because of the hydraulic problem we had, but we would have kept them in anyway due to the forecast winds. Some of our neighbors did finally get the clue and brought theirs in. Unfortunately not in time for the coach on our right, and the cloth awning that covers slides was blown out to the point that the spring retractor was overcome. He pulled the slide in, but what we call the topper was not retracting as it should. Actually, it did not retract at all. As it puffed up in the wind it stood the chance of further damage. I went over with a length of rope to lead over the fabric and tie around the slide structure to minimize the amount of billowing. He will need to get someone to get the fabric wound back up as in needs to be, but this should allow him to save the fabric.

Barbara took Nia for a walk and had to fight the wind, which according to Weather Bug is gusting to 42 MPH. Nia was distracted by all of the bags and other debris flying by.

Back inside they found that the wind chime I brought inside when the wind picked up was now chiming away from the rocking of the coach in the wind. Can you imagine a 27,000-pound wind chime?

Tomorrow we are off into the Black Hills and all they offer.

Badlands National Park, SD

We slept in and then did a few motorhome chores, then headed back to Badlands National Park. For the most part we spent the day off the paved roads. It was nothing in the way of serious off-roading, but still off the beaten path in some cases. We were rewarded with terrific views and more wildlife.

We added buffalo and a coyote to our list of sighted critters while here. 

Oh, and more sunflowers! They are everywhere, and this time we could get close.

We also ran into three European families that were touring the states in European RVs that they had shipped over for the purpose. The European’s camp a little less lavishly than Barbara and I do. These RVs were expedition vehicles with four-wheel drive and high road clearances. There was a large Mercedes, a slightly smaller Land Rover, and a Ford that appeared to be based on an American full size van.

On the road to Sheep Mountain Table

Sheep Mountain Table

Sheep Mountain Table

Sheep Mountain Table

We stopped by a couple of campgrounds in case we come back this way. The one in the park was pretty basic with no hookups. You would be off the grid completely, including no water. Another was a KOA a few miles south of Interior, SD population 100. It was in a nice location along the White River, but the sites were a little small. The third was in downtown Interior. While not anything special the sites were good sized and would likely be where we would go if we were to come back.

This national park is worth a visit if you are up this way. It is not large, but it has monstrous views. You can see everything in a day and since it is about an hour east of Rapid City you need not stay here to enjoy the sights. There are certainly more amenities in Rapid City, and from there you can also visit the Black Hills an their attractions.

We are going to try to head that way ourselves tomorrow, but there is a hitch. I have noticed a large puddle of hydraulic fluid under the front of the coach. That means there are slide or jack problems, or both. It is quite possible that our modified plans to spend next week in the Back Hills will be modified yet again. This is the second major trip we have had to cut short because of mechanical problems. It is real disappointing to travel half way across the country to start the enjoyable part of our trip only to have it cut short.

Tune in tomorrow to see how the adventure progresses.

Wall, SD

It rained most of the night. Not a stormy kind of rain, but a moderate, constant rain. By the time the coffee maker woke us up at 7:30 the skies had cleared, but by then the damage was done. Not literally, but we found the leak had not been fixed after all and there was water coming in to the bedroom. Not much, but enough to eventually ruin the interior structure of the coach. Of course, it is Saturday, and we are another 300 miles into our journey and far from the Winnebago factory. It will not be until Monday that we can call the service center and work out a plan of action. What is obvious is that Yellowstone and Colorado, the two major goals of this trip, are now off the table. To salvage this trip we will extend out stay in South Dakota through this coming week. Then, based on the schedule at Winnebago, we will return to Forest City to have this slide problem addressed. It is simply not something that we can let go, and it is complex enough that we came to Winnebago to get it right.

We had a great drive over to Wall, SD this morning and got set up here at the Sleepy Hollow campground. The drive was uneventful. There were miles more sunflowers, but they began to yield to other crops and cattle.

 

Wall is a town of 818 people that exists to support Wall Drug. Early on when people were beginning to travel across county by car, oases cropped up at certain intervals to provide food, fuel and accommodations. Many have disappeared, but a few have thrived and grown to be full-fledged wallet vacs.  Think South of the Border in South Carolina on I-95, and Little America on I-80 in Wyoming. Families stop to break up the boredom on the long drive west, and over the generations it has taken on a life of its own. It is the gateway to the Badlands National Park, though, and that is what drew us here.

We plan to explore it thoroughly tomorrow, but this afternoon we took a quick recon. It is amazing; you drive through miles of prairie and all of a sudden the terrain drops away into a weathered and eroded landscape. 

How would you like to mow this yard?

The wildlife is great fun to watch. We have seen Prong Horn Antelope and Bighorn Sheep.

Prairie Dog towns are all over, and we stopped at one particularly large colony for Barbara to take pictures. When she was done I went to put the jeep in gear and … no dice… it was in Park and that is where it was going to stay.

“Hello, Triple A? We are in the middle of Badlands National Park 25 miles from the nearest town (of 818 people). Can you send help”? “Sure, I will hold”. “You say no one answers in South Dakota”?

That is how it went, so I got out and tried to find the problem. It was obviously a problem with the linkage. I had a similar occurrence last spring. I would have been surprised if it was the same problem because I had a very robust fix for that problem. I crawled under the jeep and confirmed that the linkage at the transmission was intact. Barbara tried shifting while I looked under the jeep. Everything looked proper, so I started at the other end of the linkage. I managed to lift the dust cover mechanism at the shift lever and was able to see that the linkage cable had become disconnected. Luckily I was able to put it back in place and we were able to continue. I have to be careful though because there must be a clip missing or something that allows the fitting to come apart. I will start looking for a Chrysler dealer as we move towards Rapid City.

Stay tuned to see what goes wrong tomorrow as we drive into the back roads of Badlands NP.

Presho, SD

Well we have finally made it to a state that we have not camped in, and can now add South Dakota to our states visit map.

We were finally able to settle up with the Winnebago Service Center late in the afternoon Thursday. Everything that we needed done was done and done well. It was also done at a reasonable price, so we are happy campers, as they say. That is not to say we don’t still have some glitches with the coach, just did not have time to keep going over every little thing. The big items that we did not want to trust to just any shop (like fixing the leak in the bedroom slide) are now done.

The item that kept us the extra day was the broken Corian countertop in the bath. This was a one and a half inch by three quarter inch chip out of the edge of the sink and it was very noticeable. The previous owner broke it, and the two pieces glued back in place in a noticeable fashion. On one of our trips the rough highways bounced the medicine cabinet open and a can of shaving cream fell on the repaired area and broke it again. That is quite possibly the same thing that happened to the first guy. I could not find anyone in Orlando that was interested in repairing Corian. I guess everyone is doing granite now.  Winnebago fixed it so that you cannot tell it was ever broken. Bravo Winnebago!

We were off as scheduled this morning, and were heading west at nine. We had some rain along the way and some pretty strong winds most of the way across southern Minnesota. Those winds abated around Sioux Falls, but the temperature has dropped twenty degrees. We are still at the point where we welcome the cooler temperatures after Florida’s summer heat. One point of interest on the way was the miles of sunflowers! I mean miles! Now you know where all those seeds come from.

We pulled in to the New Frontier Camp ground in Presho, SD around 4:30 and got set up for the night.  It took a little longer than normal because of a particularly chatty neighbor. Nice fella, but lots to say.

View from campsite. Lots of farmland, not many people.

We will take this opportunity for a quiet night's sleep before departing for Wall, SD and the Badlands National Park tomorrow. Hopefully we will come up with some more interesting pictures.

Forest City, IA Day Three

It is our third day in Forest City and we hoped to have the coach completed today, so we stayed close. As we have for the last two mornings we dropped the coach off at the service center and went to Sally’s for breakfast. Sally’s is a typical small town family owned restaurant that does breakfast and lunch only. Nice little place, and the food is pretty good. One of the fun things about being on the road is finding places like this.

We returned to the Winnebago facility and found a quiet spot to try to plan out the next leg of our trip. The visitor center had a nice comfortable area, but the WiFi was spotty and made our research more difficult. We have a rough idea, though.

We returned to Sally’s to investigate the rumor that Sally has terrific pies. Turned out to be true, and afterward we visited an area called Heritage Park. This is an interesting attraction in that it is an assortment of museums of early farming and industrial machinery combined with a large collection of historic buildings that have been moved to this site from their original locations. It is not fully available for visitors everyday, but opened only for special events. It is, however, open to drive and walk  through. This would be a great area to return to on a future visit. The community should be proud of these attempts to save the past.

Three o’clock rolled around and it was time to pick up the coach. Turns out it is not quite complete. We are awaiting material to fix the sink in the bathroom. I rushed the coach back up to the parking area to watch the final America’s Cup race. The race had already started and New Zealand was out front. We have to watch it on the internet and the WiFi was acting up. Through the starts and stops of the service we saw Oracle pass the New Zealand boat and continue to gradually build their lead all the way to the finish line. What an exciting comeback from being eight down by wining nine straight. Unheard of.

Good news! Since they are not expecting the material we need first thing tomorrow we get to sleep in!

Forest City, IA Day Two

Knowing the coach would be in the shop all day we left right after an early breakfast (again, the coach goes in at 7:00 each morning) and drove to Staceyville, IA to visit our friend Elly Anderson. She is home caring for her dad over the summer, while her husband Curt remains at home in Orlando. We had a nice time with Elly and her dad, and then we went over to brother Dale’s farm to check out the vines that are coming due for harvest in about a week. Dale and his son operate a well-run farm operation that is quite diversified. They are heavily invested in corn and soybeans, but also have cattle and hogs. For the last eight years they have been developing a vineyard. The grapes are being grown for a specific award-winning vintner.

When we returned to Forest City the coach was not complete, but they were done for the day. We brought the coach back to the parking area and dove right into the coverage of the America’s Cup. We had missed the first of the two races, but picked up the coverage half way to the second mark with New Zealand in the lead. Rounding the second mark Oracle Team USA took the lead and pulled away from there on. They won both of the races today to tie the score after being down 8 to 1. The race tomorrow will decide who keeps the cup.

OMG!

What a beautiful sunset! Look at that moon!






















Oh, wait! That's a SUNRISE! Yuck!

Our day started with me in line at the service  center at 6:30. Not much to report today, but we did get a nice breakfast in town, and got laundry done as we waited for the day's work to be done. We met nice folks that were also waiting, and how about Oracle Team USA! Five unanswered wins in the America's Cup. They need only three more wins and we keep the cup (oldest continuous athletic event for those that don't know).  The problem is that New Zealand needs only one win to take the cup. They have been excellant.

Forest City, IA

We arrived at the Winnebago factory in Forest City, IA around one o’clock following a nice leisurely drive up from Clear Lake. The drive took us through rolling farm country, and as we are approaching harvest time we were treated to beautiful scenery and moderate temperatures. Lots of folks beat us to the service center and the spaces in front were all taken. We were able to find a space at the visitor center on a slight hill overlooking the service area lot.

We are packed in pretty tight here, so only have slides out on one side of the coach. 

We were sure to dump all waste and stock up on water in Clear Lake because we knew that we would only have electrical hook ups here at the factory.

Once settled in we walked Nia a bit and then settled din to watch America’s Cup racing. The weather cooperated and race one for the day was a very close one. Oracle Team USA managed to hold off the New Zealand boat to win by twenty seconds. They won the second race by a slightly better margin. They now need to win four races to take the cup. The bad news is the Kiwis only need to win one more and the cup heads down under.

The Night The Music Died

Morning dawned fresh and clear and was such a wonderful change from the humid heat of Florida. By early morning the heater was coming on about every ten minutes, and since it is below the bedroom it was waking me up frequently. It had good reason to be coming on since it got down to 39 overnight!

We went in to the town of Clear Lake to the farmer’s market and a walk down Main St. While small, unlike in the Orlando area, this market had farmers and their produce. We went in search of corn on the cob, but came away with peach habanero jelly! I would say, “COOL”, but the lady that canned it says the opposite.

Barbara found a wonderful antique store on Main St. and picked up some cute wooden boxes. Main St. runs right down to the lake where there is a nice park and band shell. Clear Lake is really a wonderful little town, but while peaceful now, it is very busy during the summer.

My main interest in coming here was to visit the Surf Ballroom, which the older folks will know as the site of the last concert of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and The Big Bopper. After the show they departed in an aircraft that crashed a few miles from the airport. The ballroom eventually fell into disrepair, but was restored in 1998. It has been a successful venue for top acts ever since.

The lobby area walls are filled with autographed photos of the people that have played there. Every rock, country, and big band group that you can think of has played here. It is a real historical place. The Green Room of the stage where the acts would wait their turn to take the stage bears the signatures of all the acts since the renovation. Pretty interesting. I was impressed at the size of the facility. 

There is a large dance floor and seating for hundreds at tables on three sides of the ballroom. Sorry the picture of the ballroom is a bit blurred, but the phone camera can only capture so much.

You can visit the site of the crash. We drove out into the corn and soybean fields and parked along side the road near the trailhead that leads to the site. At some point the farmer evidently became tired of people wandering through his bean fields and fenced in a path to the site. Someone has marked the trailhead with a large pair of Buddy Holly’s trademark black rimmed glasses. It is about a half-mile walk through the soybean field to the site, which is marked by some small steel sculptured memorials. It looks like many people that visit leave little memorial items, but they evidently are not cleaned out very often so things do look a bit shabby.

We returned to the campground to watch the Virginia Tech game, but found we did not get ESPNU. Rather than go out again we decided to just relax in the wonderful clear air. Our next event was to watch America’s Cup racing, but it was delayed and eventually cancelled due to unfavorable wind. New Zealand only needs one more win to rap this up, so we will tune in again tomorrow to see what unfolds.

Tomorrow we will be in Forest City at the Winnebago factory for service starting Monday.

Clear Lake, IA

It was much cooler when we awoke this morning in Amana. It turns out there was some damage in the park last night when that storm came through. All we suffered was a lens blown off of one of the rear marker lights. Duct tape to the rescue.

There is not much to report today. We drove up to Clear lake, IA and got settled in at the Oakwood RV Park in time to watch today’s America’s Cup races. 

The AC72 catamarans are something to watch. They are extremely fast when they are up on foils, but the first race of the day was in very light winds and they could not finish the race in the allotted forty minutes. A good thing for the US team who were 1200 meters behind when the race was called. One win by the Kiwis and they take the cup home to New Zealand. The second race of the day was more successful, not only because there was more wind, but because Oracle Team USA won.

Once the races were over we got the grill out and fixed smoked brats that we picked up in Amana yesterday. Ahh, life is certainly good.

Tomorrow we will explore Clear Lake. I think I earlier referred to the Crystal Ballroom as the place Buddy Holly played his last concert. But I had that wrong. It is called the Surf Ballroom. Pictures tomorrow.

Amana Colonies, Iowa Day Two

Barbara and I really enjoy getting away from the built up metropolitan areas and out into the country. Frankly, the people are much nicer and life’s pace is, well, livable. The scenery is gorgeous, too.

Many of the early immigrants to this country were fleeing persecution for their chosen way of life or religion. The founders of the Amana Colonies here in Iowa were such people. The Insperationalists left Germany in the mid-1800s and formed a communal culture that grew to six villages. They lived in large communal homes housing 30-40 people and ate in communal dining houses. All of the property surrounding the homes was put in to service as gardens to grow the food that would sustain them through the year. They were farmers and craftsmen that pooled resources. This way of life continued until 1932 when, following the death of the groups leader, the resources and assets were distributed among the member families and they developed a more capitalist economy. The homes and many of the crafts are proudly displayed in museums and shops. Tourism and artisan products augment the agrarian economy. There are plenty of artists, craft shops, and antique shops in the villages. Oh, let’s not forget appliances! Whirlpool’s Amana division is based here.

Fun Rube Goldberg like sculptures. The windmill powers...

...This sawyer. A video would have been better, but he saws the log.

Barber took a little extra off, but we are having fun.

Honey, I shrank my husband.

The two major restaurants in Amana echo the German heritage of the region, and Barbara and I had a great German beer and sauerbraten for lunch. I about lost my head when I told the waitress we were happily done and she strode off. I looked across the table and noted that we were definitely not BOTH happy. Barbara had her eyes on chocolate cream pie. I quickly called the waitress back.

Early in the evening we were bemoaning Oracle USA’s standing in the America’s Cup racing in San Francisco when I noted a weather warning on the iPhone. (Thank you WeatherBug) I looked at the radar and noticed a wall of weather approaching from the west and suggested that we pull in the slides that expand the volume of the motor home and make it a more comfortable abode.  The motor home is more stable and better sealed against the weather with the slides in. Good thing we did. 

A gust front hit us with substantial force and rocked us around a good deal. It brought a torrent of rain. The local airport reported winds of 50 miles an hour, but it was impressive what ever the official reading was.

Tomorrow we are off to Clear Lake, Iowa

Amana Colonies, Iowa

OK, those of you that have been paying attention are correct. I am late. Normally I get this blog going as soon as we leave, but alas, this is the third night on the road. I have even been sneaky enough to not set off the SPOT locator in hopes of avoiding detection.

I spent most of Sunday afternoon trying to get the Dish Network service up and running. We went with Dish over DirecTV because they offered a pay-as-you-go plan allowing us to not pay for the several months each year that we do not use the service. Sounded good in theory, but in practice it has been a pain in the gluteus maximus. It has been a royal pain to get the service restarted each time, and in this case it was made worse by the failure of the two year old receiver. The customer service representative on the phone (in the DR as it turns out) said all I had to do was UPS the defective unit to them and they would send a replacement. Hello! I am leaving in the morning for six weeks! OH, well maybe we can get a technician out to you. “Just sit in the motor home from noon to five and he should show up”. An hour later the dispatcher for the local techs called me to confirm the appointment and get a feel for the problem. He said, “no way that he could help with that, they do not do motor homes”. I should “try one of the equipment retailers”. Shortening the story a bit, I went to the local Camping World and bought a new receiver and after two more hours on the phone with the Dish people I had the system working. Now to get local channels on the road I must call them and have them change my service location each time I stop at a new location. This requires at least thirty minutes of hold time and conversation trying to explain what I am doing to the customer service people that are not familiar with the plan. They do home stuff after all, not RVs.

Why do I go through all of this? Simple: DWTS.

Monday we loaded up the last minute stuff like food, and the dog, and were on the road by 1100. 

We timed our departure to be sure not to miss the love-bug season. 

This time I prepared a bit and RainX’d the windshield, so when we arrived at dusk in Jackson, GA (just in time for the peak mosquito period) the hundreds of bug bodies came off with minimal effort with a bucket of suds and a long handled brush.

With cleaning out of the way I cranked up the sat dish. After all the trouble the day before, we now did not have local channels because trees blocked our view of the satellites. Luckily, I was able to get over-the-air reception just as the show started. Ahhh, she-who-must-be-obeyed was happy.

Not much to report for Tuesday. We stopped in Marion, IL and despite calling in our new address the Dish people messed it up and we did not have local channels available. Luckily, the campground had cable, so I got us hooked up. Reception was not great, but as it turned out the new season of the show we were after does not start until next week.

Nice day to cross the big muddy

Tonight everything is working fine, but we are not interested in TV. Besides, Barbara has Golden Retriever Rescue tasks to perform and I have this blog to keep me entertained. Thank you for putting up with my rant. If you are an RV’r contemplating the pay-as-you-go Dish plan I would offer this advice. If you are a seasonal user spending a season at one location, and then going home, it is probably a good system. If you are going to do multiple trips to differing locales during the year you might be better served with just paying for the fulltime service. You will still need to call in for address changes to get local channels, but I do not think that is any different than DircTV. Just put up with it until they reinstate Distant Network Services, which allows either west or east coast network reception, so you get the network shows.

This was our third long driving day. We got settled in at Amana Colonies RV Park in Amana, IA. It is a nice big facility and it is a good time of year to be here. There are about thirty RVs with space for over four hundred. There is plenty of elbowroom. The park is in a farming valley and is surrounded by cornfields.

While I was grilling burgers I was being serenaded by Canadian Geese flying overhead, and cows somewhere in the distance. The large field that makes up the park is also home to hundreds of cute ground squirrels. Their burrows make for a serious trip hazard, so I have to be careful. But, it is better than Prairie Dogs.

Speaking of dogs, Nia is still a bit unsure of things while moving, but perks up when we set up camp.

Nia and her buddy Flea

We are going to spend two nights here and use tomorrow to check out this historical area despite the 90% rain forecast. Then it is off to Clear Lake, IA.