STATICSTICS

Here's a post from Dave!  As the family (and work, and church, and HOA!) bean counter he compiled the following statistics:

If you are interested, our trip back from Portland covered 3811 miles, we used 500 gallons of gas for an average mileage of 7.62 miles/gal.

We paid $1849 for gas or an average of $3.70/ gal (high of $4.57 in Canada and low of $3.24 in Virginia.)

On our total trip (Charlotte to Charlotte) we covered 9628 miles, we used 1312 gallons of gas for an average mileage of 7.34 miles/gal (difference between a headwind and tailwind!).

We paid $4918 for gas or an average of $3.75/ gal (same high of $4.57 in Canada and low of $3.24 in Virginia – overall prices were cheaper in July, 2013 than in April or October 2012)

HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN, JIGGETY JOG!!

Once that homing beacon starts, it’s a powerful force.  We truly enjoyed our last campsite by the New River.  We are definitely back in the South….we were both bothered by the heat and humidity!  But the river and mountains were beautiful and we enjoyed one last campfire and cookout.  We both remarked how peaceful it was and how we both didn’t want it to end, yet we were definitely ready to get home.

 

 

That beacon really got into our body rhythms and about 5 am I realized we were both awake, so we just went ahead and got up and got ready to head out!  We were on the road by 5:55, a true record!  The ride over the mountain down to Beckley was as curvy as anything we experienced in the Rockies, if not as high and the mist coming off the river was beautiful though a cause for slow driving. 

It’s only 9 am and we are already in Virginia and will be at the NC line soon.  It’s time to call Mollie and get her to move cars so that we can park in our beloved 4^th Ward and unload Bessie, or “the machine” as Dave calls it!

IT'S TIME FOR THE ODD SIGN POST!!

Here are some signs we've seen along the way.  For reasons obvious, and sometimes unknown, I wrote them down!  Enjoy...

• Bikini Girl Baristas
• Big Foot Java (which is more appetizing....having your made by a nearly naked girl, or with a side of foot!!)
• Udderly delicious ice cream (now there's another culinary picture!!)
• Stillaquamish Creek
• Farm to Market Road (know exactly how that one came about!)
• Ecology Students Working (trash pick up - did they know they were signing up for that?)
• Trampoline in front yard with basketball goal rolled up beside it.... dunking guaranteed!
• Big Ass Rhubarb Wine (now that really sounds appetizing!)
• Nature in Action!  Rapid City's Taxidermy Complimentary Exhibit (we passed.... a complimentary dead zoo!!)
• Caution  Prairie Dogs have Plague (that will keep you from petting and feeding them!)
• A series of billboard for Firehouse Brewing - all with real fire trucks on or beside them
• 780th Street (WHERE are they counting from?  Don't these folks have any imagination!)
• World's Largest Frying Pan
• World's Largest Truck Stop (they should have been together!!)

DESIGNING THE "PERFECT" RV PARK

Having gone across country 4 times now, we feel qualified to compose the list for the “perfect” RV Park.  We’ve seen most of these in one campsite or another, a few we have improvised.  Sometimes, the item became important, because it was seriously lacking at one site or another!  Of course no one site will ever have everything, but we can hope….

REGISTRATION

·       Reservations easily made on line

·       Pictures of sites on line and ability to pick specific site

·       Reasonable priced

·       Reservation board as you drive in,  and auto registration if pre-registered and paid on line

·       Address on website and GPS match

·       Pleasant staff

·       Give out map of area with grocery, hardware (Home Depot, Lowes), cheap gas and local sites marked

·       Near attractions or scenic with woods, water feature, etc.

·       Library with DVD’s and “take one leave one” books

·       Small store with basics, especially ice cream

GROUNDS

·       Easy in and out

·       Good mix of pull thru’s, back in’s, tent, group, and paired sites

·       Full service sites with 50 amps, water and sewer and cable with a good mix of channels

·       Utilities positioned so that you can either front in or back in and so that your picnic table is not beside the next guy’s sewer!

·       Shaded sites with gracious spacing.  Free firewood (hardwood) and fire rings. 

·       Paved or hard gravel roads.  Grass so that you don’t get dust  or mud in the camper.

·       Low decks for the picnic table

·       Low level lighting so that you can find your way, but not so bright it doesn’t wash out the stars

·       Pool with Jacuzzi

·       Safe playground for children

·       Garbage and recycle picked up by your tires every morning

BATHROOMS AND LAUNDRY

·       Enough of them so that you don’t have to walk forever

·       Clean tile with hooks and a bench

·       Hand held shower nozzles

·       Plenty of hot water and water pressure

·       High and low air dryers

·       Wheeled baskets for the laundry and a generous table for folding

·       Change machine

ACTIVITIES

·       Regular card nights

·       Movies

·       Group camp fires with a mixer

 

 

 

"Stop and Dropping" our Way Back Home

Sunday....As we drove into Indianapolis this afternoon, we realized we were finally back in the Eastern Time Zone.  We began computing our next couple of potential stops and realized that we had turned the corner and are definitely Homeward Bound!  The last couple of days have been "stop and drops" in Iowa and Illinois and we have seen more corn than we ever thought possible.  This is truly the country's "bread basket". In one little town we saw an "ADM plant" on steroids that would make ours look tiny!!  The Iowa stops were fun.  Who knew Iowa had lakes?!! Then again, when you are in land-locked state with no mountains, you exploit whatever natural features you have.  We really enjoyed the Okoboji Lake and its amusement park.  We do have a confession to make, we got this site by "mistake."  We thought the sign meant it was free after July 12 and after we got all set up, we realized that it was RESERVED through July 12 (It was July 12!).  The guy next door said, "Yea, he hasn't been here all week"... it was already 6 pm.... we took our chances and put $20 in the box  anonymously when we left (it was a State Park).

Dave, the campfire, wine for Deb and a drink for Deb by Lake Okaboji

Deb packing up the next morning

Good by Lake Okaboji

Then it was on to Lazy Dayz near Cedar Rapids, Iowa where we were in a bean field but the sites believe-it-or not were really not bad... lots of grass, if no trees between them!  Next we came to Carlock, Illinois to a very memorable, if infamous, campsite that was just above a WalMart parking lot.  At first, the owner of Kamp Komfort (I swear that was the name!!) wanted to put us in a site that was basically in the road with a water and electric box beside it.  We were just getting ready to tell him that we would take our chances at WalMart, when he miraculously found a better site down the way (next to the highway and across from the corn field!!). 

Corn and Windmills out "Bessie's" window

Dave  - Homeward Bound!

Now we realize that we are just 2 or 3 stops from home and that "homeward bound" mindset has truly set in.  On the way here we've noticed that the corn has gone from "knee high by the 4th of July" to tasseling! 

'CROSS THE WIDE MISSOURI

We liked the American Creek RV Park so much we stayed an extra day.  We camped on the shore of the Missouri River near Chamberlain, SD.   The river was beautiful with a high bluff across from us to the west which made for terrific sunsets.  We were in a grove of old trees with a fire ring, so Dave was literally a happy camper!! We used the extra day for maintenance and laundry and general R&R. (you know this camping thing is just so stressful, every now and then we have to stop!! LOL)  These pictures don't need captions!!.....

In that vane, we have a challenge for you engineers out there…. Lol… as you drive across the country much of the concrete tends to “sing” as you go over it…. Wouldn’t it be fun if the groves and joints of the concrete were “programmed” so that it sang a specific tune if you went right at the speed limit.  We had  Springstein's “Borrrrrrn in the USA” in mind…. Yep we’ve been on the road too long!! LOL

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY!!  We Skyped and the girls and I sang Happy Birthday together!  We pushed on to  Emerson Bay State Park on the Okoboji Lake in Iowa.  We went to Arnold Park on the lake and rode a wooden roller coaster built in 1927!!  It was a real bone shaker, but Deb rode it twice!!!  We have many great memories of Emily growing up, one being her standing on tip toes to be tall enough to ride Thunder Road at Carowinds and outlasting her daddy holding her hands up!!   

Happy Birthday BABY!!

 

We are now less than 1000 miles from home!!

WHERE THE DEER AND THE BUFFALO ROAM!!!! - CRAZY HORSE, MT. RUSHMORE AND THE BADLANDS

 We rolled into Ft. Welikit  (get it?.... we like it… or lick it, we weren’t sure) just in time for a late lunch and were greeted immediately by Rob and Karen Monteperto.  They had reserved a prime spot for us. 

After settling in we took off for Crazy Horse.  The head is complete except for the flowing hair and you can begin to see the horse and pointed arm with some imagination.  The big difference from 13 years ago is they have “gone commercial” with the grounds, putting in a theatre, Indian museum, his original home and studio and lots of shops!!  It will still be decades before it is finished!! 

We want to compare these to the ones we took in 1996

The long straight piece will be his hand pointing and you can see where they've drawn the blocking for the horse

The scale model with the mountain in the background

Back at the campsite, we grilled chicken and caught up with Rob and Karen around the campfire.  They are “work camping” at this campground until Labor Day and seem to like it.  They are amazed at all the work that is required to keep a campground up and running.  They work in the office checking in campers for 20 hr/wk in return for a free site.  Their 5^th wheel is huge and Karen gave the tour of the den/living room/office/conservatory/dining room/kitchen…. A true “great room”!!!

That night and the next morning we “slept” through rolling thunder and thought our day at Mt. Rushmore might get rained out, but by 9:30 the sky was blue and we took off.  Our first view of Rushmore was of just Washington’s head… it was a pleasant surprise on a beautiful road of needle rocks and rolling Black Hills. Unfortunately, the Black Hills may soon be renamed the Brown Hills, for they are having a terrible pine beetle infestation and hundreds of thousands of pine trees have turned brown and died.  They have thinned some and done limited spraying, but about the only cure is a cold hard winter, which they have not had in several years.  At Mt. Rushmore we ran into our  first “touristy crowd”.  The monument was buzzing with people.  This is truly one of the most patriotic places in the country I think.  The vastness of the monument, the avenue of state flags, all of the exhibits are so well done and makes you think maybe we have “gotten it right.”  I just hope we don’t screw it up!!

Our first view of George

To create the eyes they have large "posts" for the eyeballs.... how did they figure that out?

Look how they created the illusion of eyeglasses on Teddy

The tunnel, truck, me and the Presidents!!

 

On the way back from Mt. Rushmore we drove the Neblock Highway that is filled with whirligig twisting switchbacks and 3 small tunnels… and I mean small tunnels!  They will not accommodate anything other than a small car or truck.  But 2 of them “framed” Mt. Rushmore as you were coming through them.  The highway is truly “engineering art” as the brochure claimed.  Then we rode through Custer State Park and took the wildlife highway.  We saw several kinds of deer and sheep and then, WOW… a whole herd of buffalo!!  They just walked across the road and definitely backed up traffic!!  It was a lot of fun. 

White tale deer grazing

And their 4 babies!

A Prong horn Deer - aptly named!

Buffalo ALWAYS have the right-of-way!!!

And there were MANY of them!!!

I had had about enough nature, so Dave dropped me off in town and he took the truck on yet another scenic drive though the needles highway.  The town of Custer didn’t offer much, and after seeing his pictures, I think he made the wiser choice.

Then we joined Rob and Karen for a true South Dakota steak dinner in the nearby town of Hilltop at the Aspen Inn.  During the day they serve German fare, but at night the menu has only 2 items: a 6 oz bacon wrapped filet or you can get it as 8 oz!!  It was delicious and not at all pricey.

We said good bye to Rob and Karen this morning (Tuesday) and I realized we had now been out 3 weeks.  As we traveled toward our goal of the Missouri River (again) we did the obligatory stop at Wall Drugs.  For the uninitiated, it makes South of the Border look small and upscale!! LOL… though I thought they had toned down their signs a bit and they aren’t quite as obnoxious as Pedro’s.  We had the 5 cent coffee and donuts…(Krispy Kreme is not in danger!!), bought a game and some post cards and were back on our way.  We drove a small loop through the Badlands.  I just think of the westward settlers… what must they have thought when this formidable landscape loomed suddenly before them???

The colors just don't show up in the photograph!.. reds, yellows, oranges....

They now have a whole main street! 

Mt. Rushmore and Wall Drug gave me a few more license plates.  Dave was so sweet!  He even buzzed an extra floor of the parking deck for me!  My count is now 46… only 4 to go!

As I write this I am sitting on the banks of the Missouri River with a cool breeze.  It is absolutely idyllic (slap, slap!) except for the dang flies!!

Sorry this is fuzzy... but downloading it has been a monumental task!!!As good as it gets!!

HOW TO MEET YOUR NEIGHBORS AND CURE YOUR HOMESICKNESS IN 10 EASY STEPS

1.    Buy a book for your granddaughters at almost every stop you make.

2.    Keep them handy in the pocket of your front seat.

3.    When selecting campsites, choose one that  has young children next door ….OR

a.     Get lucky and have a family “move in” beside you.

4.    Watch the family without stalking… this can be tricky.  You want to observe the children to make sure they are not brats and won't tear up your books.  Usually this is not the case and they are fun to observe.  This also helps you choose the right book.

5.    Meet the parents and talk about your granddaughters.  This establishes that you are a grandmother and not a stalker!! LOL

6.    Compliment their children.  This ALWAYS works!!

7.    Ask the children for “help” deciding if the books you bought will be liked by your granddaughters.

8.    Offer to read in sight of the parents so that everyone feels safe.  I have found this very effective and the parents are usually grateful so that they get a few minutes to finish cooking dinner, complete a chore or just have a few minutes of peace!

9.    Read with the child or children.  Enjoy using lots of expression!  You know you've done a good job when the children ask for more or a repeat!  OR the grown ups have to listen too!!!

10.    Be delighted when the child returns after a few hours to show you her new shoes , even though she was too shy to talk during the book!!

Devil's Tower

As we left Billings, MT the landscape changed quickly to wide vistas of rolling hills.  We stopped at this overlook and changed drivers.

I drove about 2/3 of the way to Devil's Tower.  Before you congratulate me too much... it was a pretty straight interstate and I pulled off at a chain-up site for Dave to drive into the campsite.  But I'm slowly learning to do everything:  yesterday's lesson:  the sewer!!  After reading about the pig poop being made into asphalt in the Observer this morning... I guess I'm just right with the times!! 

We got into Devil's Tower mid afternoon but it was so hot, we cooled our heals a few hours.  Our neighbors are from Oak Ridge TN and it sure did feel good to talk Southern again! LOL  There's really not much to do here but to go watch the prairie dogs (fun and fascinating) and walk around and gawk at the tower... but it sure is fun.  There was a storm brewing so the climbers had mostly come down. 

After supper we wandered down to part of the movie in the camp cafeteria.  Of course it was Close Encounters of the Third Kind!!!!

The monument was a gold mine for license plates and I'm now down to needing just 10 ... I have great hopes for Mt. Rushmore.... anyone want to join the pool for "when will Deb find the last one and what state will it be?"(hint:  all East Coast, except 1)  LOL

OK... so this post should be entitled... "remembering how Mom embarrassed us as teenagers".... when we did this trip with the kids, I would embarrass the kids with my relentless search for license plates and by "talking Southern."... hopefully they are mature enough now to just laugh WITH me and join in the fun!! LOL


Bessie in the shadow of the tower... we didn't rate a site with trees!! LOL

Unlike the mimes, they don't ask for $1 per pose!!

Everyone should have a picture of Devil's Tower growing out of their heads!



Billings was a Bust... almost!

Every place can’t be the best….and Billings wasn’t…. maybe not a complete bust, but we didn’t even take any pictures!  Does that tell you something?!!  We rolled in hoping to join the Fourth celebrations.  We settled in at a KOA with really tight spaces….Dave had to drive around twice to position the RV so that our slides didn’t extend out over the neighbor’s picnic table!!   We had gotten here too late for any Fourth of July parades,  but we were about “paraded out”… as we were looking up directions to the craft fair and fireworks, a  swift wind came up and a sudden driving rain begin to fall.  We understand that is familiar to most of you in North and South Carolina.  This put a damper   literally on our plans, so we  got BBQ in the campground and settled into the fireworks in New York on TV.  Usher really put a different twist on it…. Beautifully coordinated, but not as patriotic as we are used to… guess we are getting to be old fogies…   Just as Dave was going off to bed, I realized that I could see some fireworks out our front door.  Though framed in the trees, they went on for over an hour!! 

The Fifth, brought a day of rest from driving.  After lunch we drove into town and did two breweries in town.  They were good, but nothing really special.   Rents must not be very high in Billings (feels about the size of Greenville), for there are 4 or 5 breweries right down town.  They had a “brewery trolley” like our Gold Rush running between them.  Mike… that could be a project for CCP… but they would have to run out to NODA and out to Old Mecklenburg…. Lol….We decided to end our day with a movie, The Heat, with Melissa McCartney and Sandra Bullock.  Don’t look for it at the Oscars….but it made us laugh. 

Saturday will be another “stop and drop” near Devil’s Tower and then we will meet up with Rob and Karen Monteperto near Custer.  They are full-timing and working in a RV camp 20 mi from Mt. Rushmore and 6 mi from Crazy Horse.  We are looking forward to catching up with them, but I hope they don’t talk Dave into full timing!!

I now have all but 13 license plates... anyone want to play the "what will be the last one" game?...

Good by Canada....Baaaack in the U S A!!!!

Tuesday  - We dropped down out of the Canadian Rockies and into the prairie very abruptly.  Suddenly the land was flat and sky was “big”.  We saw fields and fields of hay and what we later learned was canola plants in wide yellow swathes.  They were in full bloom and beautiful.  We also saw the largest dandelions I’ve ever seen!   

 

 

It was a long day of driving, yet after settling in at a “stop and drop” we drove into town for a little grocery shopping.   At almost 4 pm it was too late to go to the area’s sites.  I had already put in “Head Smashed In Buffalo Drop” in my funny sign list and found out that it is actually a World Heritage Site!  It celebrates the thousands’ year practice of the prairie Indians herding buffalo off cliffs as a way of hunting without weapons.  There was also Fort Whoop Up, one of the first fur trading posts.  We have to leave something for the next trip!! LOL

Back at the campsite we grilled our supper (the end of the Copper River Salmon we bought) and later joined the owners playing a rather mindless game of card bingo for a quarter a game.  It was fun in that the conversation was nice and we learned a little about owning a camp ground.

Wednesday, we took off for the border!  Maybe a little too quickly!!!  Dave got a tongue lashing about driving too fast from the border agent (but no ticket – just threats to send us back to Canada!!)… and while he probably was speeding (the border point came on us very quickly!),  after we thought about it, the “speech” sounded a little canned and we thought he “played this card” when he was a little bored!  As we drove toward Helena the canola disappeared replaced by waving grasses, and strong cross winds.  We crossed the Missouri River several times as it and we meandered through a small canyon.  The campground brought welcome showers and laundry.

We’ve heard from Rob and Karen Montaperto and hope to meet up with them in Custer, SD. Next weekend!

Ohhhhh Canada!

It took us 2 “stop and drops” to get up here but we arrived in Banff Sunday afternoon just in time for Canada celebrations (like our 4th of July).  The Provincial Park we are in has no hook ups so we are “dry camping” using our generator and tanks.  BUT it has great Wi-Fi (with Dave’s magic connectors!!)… go figure!!!

Yesterday (Sunday) we settled in and went into Banff and walked around.  I left Dave in the “day care center” (read Irish Pub) while I shopped the “chotsky” shops.  It really didn’t take long.  Truly nothing but T Shirt shops!!  I guess I’m just not into “western art”.  The 2 “dress shops” I went into had furs and cashmere sweaters….not exactly garden wedding material!! LOL…. We tried to ride the tram up the mountain, but discovered that we would not be able to go to the restaurant, for it was closed for a private event and the parking lot looked like it was VERY crowded.

This morning (Monday, Canada Day) we got up and headed for Lake Louise.  The drive up there is beautiful and the lake is beautiful with a Fairmont Hotel next door!  They were having birch bark canoe races on the lake for Canada Day.

Lake Louise

Birch Bark Canoe Races on Lake Louise

They weren't expert canoers! 

A Dandelion field next to Lake Louise

 

Then we drove up the Icefields Parkway.  The lakes up there were just as pretty, if not prettier than Lake Louise.  We hiked up to the Peyto Lake and had views of the Crowfoot Glacier.  The hike took us to almost 7000 ft.  My knees did the climb really well… but we were both wishing for “low country” humid air in our lungs!!  Dave took MANY pictures…. Now can we remember which peak is which?  And will you know…. care????? Lol…. We decided not to ride all the way up to the area where you can walk out on the glacier.  We had done that in Alaska and it would have taken the rest of the day. One of the information panels said that the glaciers have lost 70% of their ice since 1990.  I kept trying to imagine what they looked like when Dad was here in the 90's.  And if trends continue they will not be here for Abbie and Ella.

Peyto Glacier

Crowfoot Glacier and Lake Hector

Peyto Lake
the blue color is from "glacier flour"

This documents we went to almost 7000 ft!!

As we were driving up on this great road, there would be grassy overpasses every few miles for the animals.  Supposedly you can watch a night camera and see them using them at……..Dave and I decided if you were a mountain lion you could just hang out at the overpass and catch your supper every night… lol  Go to www.parkscanada.gc.ca/transcanada to see the camera in action.  As we were driving, we realized that we are still in slightly southern Canada…. What other beautiful sights are north of us? 

Back in Banff, we decided to try the tram again.  Everyone was in town for the parade, so it was not crowded at all!  The views were spectacular!!!  We still didn’t eat in the restaurant, Daddy, because it wasn’t supper time!!  But I had orange ice cream with licorice pieces!!  We got back down the mountain just as they were closing off streets for the parade.  We got out our trusty segways and made our way to a good viewing spot.  It was bands, marching Mounties , the Japanese Society , politicians, the Shriners in Smart Cars instead of little ones, and beauty queens riding horseback.  We waved our Canada flag and clapped for everyone.  It was just “slightly different” from the parade in Fremont…. Then again everything is different from that!!!  It was fun… if hot….I wonder what little western US town we will be in on the 4^th of July…. Could be a great contrast… but probably more of a similarity. 

The Gondola Ride at Banff

View of Banff from the Gondola

Royal Mounties

Well they had Kilts and Bagpipes
Now quite as exciting as painted bicyclers.... but charming none the less!

Wow what a busy day! Tomorrow (Tuesday) we finally head South and East (we are already in a closer time zone!), though we will probably have one more campground in Canada.  We hope to get south of Calgary. 

A few observation on western Canadaians….They are VERY polite… and know more about us than we know about them…..They are very ecologically conscious….They are very diverse and seem to embrace their diversity with gusto.  They are a salad, not a melting pot….They are very proud of their heath care system and seem baffled by ours…They camp with LOTS of children! ….Their streams are crystal clear, you can see the rocks and fish and everything….and we are so far north, it doesn’t ever get dark!! At least not til 10 or 10:30…. (can we go to sleep yet?)