West-Day Three

Rained overnight, some thunder too. Today all is going well until lunch. We stopped in Mitchell, SD for lunch and gas, and I needed to add 1 quart of oil today. When I checked the car, one of the tire straps was broken with both sides still in place, but needed to get a new one to continue. Well, in a town with a Menards, TSC, Walmart, 2 auto parts stores, a large supplier of trailer parts and accessories, Cabellas, and more, I could not find a strap that fit my tow dolly. So, I asked about a U-Haul rental place or a trailer sales place and finally found two used ones at the trailer sales place. I drove all over that town, back and forth for about 3 or 4 hours to get them. Now we will make ALL the rest areas to check the car the rest of the way.

Finally got going again. Wanted to visit the corn palace, and Cabellas for a longer time, but had to find those straps. Stopped at one rest area that had a nice overlook, but look out! There might be some snakes along that path. I didn't go any further. Wind switched from the south and started just as hard from the north. We got a little rain, but not much. The picture looks worse than what we had, but I think someone got it. The wind unraveled some of our awning. We will have to pull it down in the morning and roll it back up and hope for less wind. It happened about 4 miles from our nights stop, so we just went slow with flashers on. We got a room tonight and finally some much needed internet service. We have about 4 hours if all goes well to finish up tomorrow. Brandy wants to know if we are there yet. We will have a stop in Rapid City at the walmart for supplies and then climb the hills.

Westward Travel-Day Two

We was not able to update the blogs due to computer troubles and also connection problems. So, I am catching up tonight. Sorry.

Wow, is Iowa windy! I wish they would turn off those wind turbines. Around 25 mile per hour winds today and gusty! I spent plenty of time at our rest stops just thinking about how windy it will be when I get back out there to fight the battle of the wind ghost. Very hard to keep rig between the lines. Rode on the rumble strip quite a bit today. Even while going on a right hand corner, I had to turn the wheel to the left. Strong wind out of the south and nothing to block it. We filled up on LP and everything works, so we were definitely out, so now we know our inside gauge is off a bit. We fought the wind all the way to 29 today, then it was like driving a car, easy as could be with the wind at our back. We stopped at a Indian casino for the night--only $10 to hook up for the night. Car straps still in place today. Oh yeah, Brandy finally pooped!

Westbound Travel-Day One

Let the games begin! The travel challenges game that is. Off we go. An otherwise uneventful day came to a halt about 25 miles from the Iowa border when someone pulled up beside us and was pointing to the back, so we stopped and found that one of the tow dolly straps to hold the car in position had come off on the hook end, but was still hanging on the ratchet side. So we had to hook it back up. And off again. We had just gone through some rough road and in a construction area with a couple of crossovers that rocked the rig, so maybe that is where it came undone. We stopped for the night at The Worlds Biggest Truckstop "Iowa 80". It seemed like about 1 out of every 4 trucks on the interstate was stopping at this place. LP is not working, gauge says between 1/4 and 1/2, but can't even light the stove burner, so will stop for a LP fill tomorrow. On the first fill up we got 6.22 mpg. We thought we would get about 7, so we were close. Of course that will change when we start running the hills. 364 miles today.

Ready to Begin our Journey

Well, this is it. The last night in Michigan for awhile. We will leave in the morning. Supposed to have a freeze warning here for the morning. It was still quite windy today, but is supposed to be less tomorrow-hopefully. It will be another sad day. We did good today to get downsized some more, got the car loaded two different ways at the same time, and made final contacts with utilities, ect.

We plan to get into Iowa tomorrow. We will clean up both the rig and ourselves in the morning and hit the road. I hope we will have a trouble-free day.

Take care everyone! We will miss you.

Final preparations for travel

Well, after a very long day, we finally arrived at Dad's. First we had a low battery, so I switched batteries and it started right up, but then, since the other battery was low, the steps wouldn't retract. So we had to wait for the battery to get charged up enough to retract the steps. I couldn't push them up manually because they are gear driven. We made one quick stop on the way.

We will be here at least one more night to take care of such things as charging a battery, ect. We have to get more organized also before making the trek to SD.

More later . . .

Getting Closer

Well this week was busy. We finally got the car back (sure looks pretty all cleaned up), but have to take it back to have the tire and rim replaced. Rim is ordered, and I found a bubble in the tire and called shop and need to stop in Monday morning so he can inform adjuster.

Also, we got a tow dolly for the car. Rig is getting filled and have slept in it most of the week. We also will have our South Dakota address this week. TV is off and internet goes Friday. Dad will be here Saturday for final load (hopefully the last one). Right now it looks like we will hit the road on the 27th.



The temps for the next 10 days in Hill City, SD range from a high of 59 and a low of 34 with rain 4 of the days. Here the range is from a high of 71 and a low of 31-which is for tonight!



LP turned on and furnace works great! Have to check the water system yet, but will pick a day that is warmer this week for that. Lights working for the tow dolly from rig. Will need to get a drop-down hitch to allow for more level towing of car.



Brandy is still adjusting to all the changes and activity going on here. And we are very tired and ready to go.



Off to Mom's tomorrow for her Birthday. Happy Birthday Mom!



Until next time, take care everyone.

Corner Ahead!

Wow, what a week. Dad helped with some cabinets. Thanks Dad! We picked up one of the granddaughters on Saturday for spring break week. Realized that I need some items from storage.

My lady had a mishap with the car and have to get it fixed-can't drive it now, so it is in the shop being repaired (something about not turning when the road did)-both of them are ok, maybe a little sore. Car also will need to be detailed, as she was taking several plants and bulbs she just dug up to her moms when the accident happened, so there is alot of dirt everywhere in the car -even all the way up on the dash. Always something.

The girls slept in the MH a few of the days this week, even part of the night we had severe thunderstorms. And tonight it is supposed to get down to 31, so we will see if they make it all night (I don't have the LP on yet-I didn't think when it got cold, that they would actually sleep out there). I plugged in a small space heater for them to get the chill off.

Loading has begun at a slow pace along with more sorting. Will be getting new address soon in South Dakota. Time is getting short. Need to finish some local business too. So next week will be quite busy. Hopefully we will have the car back by the end of next week. And since we are having some troubles now, we won't have any problems on the road.

Motorhome is back

Well, finally the rig is back from shop and also traveled to Indiana to replace leveling jack too. Now a little tlc to complete and then start loading. Most things out and cleaning has begun. Dad is coming tomorrow to help with a few things. Looks like we will get about 7 mpg. Sounds better now after tune up and oil change. Nice day today (70's) and tomorrow is supposed to come close to 80! Vacuumed most areas and started loading the basement. More cleaning tomorrow and some minor repairs inside to make it our home. Spring break is upon us and we will have one granddaughter here for a week. April is finished with school too and things will be coming together sooner now. Have a good Easter weekend and God Bless.