On our way to Illinois...

September 5 - 9, 2016

We left South Dakota and headed for Morton, Il.  to see my best friend in the world!  Julie Cleveland & her husband Anthony.  Julie & I have been friends for more than 50 years!
Had reservations at Spindler Campground, http://www.fondulacpark.com/facilities/carl-spindler-campground, there Thursday, September 7th to Saturday the 10th.

We got as far as Waterloo, IA & decideded to stop for a couple days.

Found a nice KOA campground,http://koa.com/campgrounds/waterloo, that was reasonably priced, close to the interstate.

What a nice park!  We were up on a hill overlooking a small lake.  The off leash dog park was right behind us.  It was beautifully landscaped & had gravel roads in great shape.







Went to lower the landing gear so we could unhook the truck.  Only 1 side was going down!

How could this be?  They work together.

I got on my phone to find a mobil rv repair place.  They apparently weren't as common here as they are in Florida.  Got a lot of nope, we don't do that but you could bring it in.  We could get to it in a few days.  Yea...that's not going to work for us.  We finally got hold of a guy that listened to Georgie explain what he saw.  We sent a few pictures.  He called & told us how to fix it.  Wish we had his name.

About 2 hours later we got it fixed & unhooked. Whew!  What a relief.

Enjoyed a couple days there.  They had a nice, new casino, Isle Casino, http://waterloo.isleofcapricasinos.com.  We went a couple times.  Did some laundry & just kinda hung out.

On the 7th we got ready to hook the truck up...best layed plans...HA!  Both truck batteries were dead!  Unfucking believable!   Called AAA.  They were there within a 1/2 hour.  Not so bad.  Georgie decided we should get 2 new batteries.  So he followed the guy that jumped us back to his shop.  The guy tested our batteries...they were fine.  We needed a new alternator.   Oh yeah!  How long was THIS going to take?  A very nice surprise...only about 45 minutes!  The guy was great!

Georgie got back.  Backed up to the hitch.  Oh...ANOTHER NICE SURPRISE! (not really)
I went to extend the landing gear...it wasn't moving!  We had to raise it to get the truck hooked up! WTF!  (said out loud)   Spent about an hour trying to figure out what it was.  OH!  We figured it out...it wasn't good!  Called that same guy, sent pictures, etc.  He had to order a part.  He ordered a new worm gear & had it shipped to him overnight.  It came, we picked it up & tried to figure out what we had to do.  It took 2 days!

Luckily the KOA was able to extend our stay...day by day.  We didn't think it would take 2 days...but it did!

September 9 - 12, 2016

We were finally on our way to Illinois.  We were also lucky that the campground there could change our dates...and didn't charge any additional fees!

We got to Spindler Campground about 7:30 pm.  Guess who was waiting for us?  Julie & Anthony! What a really nice surprise!

We spent time with them.  Went to dinner with Julie, Anthony, her sister Janet & husband Greg, and her brother Jim!  We laughed all night!  I may have peed a little in my pants.  I didn't tell any of them that.   I did, however, seem to spill my guts about most everything else that's happened to my bodily functions as I've grown older!  (I'm chuckling a little to myself right now)

Julie is one of those friends that you can talk to once a month and it's just like it was yesterday that we talked.  We just pick up where we left off.  That's why I love her so much!

Never enough time with her but...we had to get on to Pennsylvania to see our daughter Jessica & her family.

A Year in Review....

November 5, 2016

It's been a year since we started this Great American Adventure!  What a wild ride it's been so far!

I unexpectedly quit my job of 22 years with a 30 minute notice.  Our plan to RV full time got moved up about 3 years.

George put his business up for sale.

We bought our 40' 5th wheel toy hauler.  Sold everything we owned.  Sold our home of 20+ years & moved into our 5th wheel. 

 







We found a beautiful park to move the 5th wheel to, Timberlane RV Park & Resort http://timberlanervpark.com. 

We moved here November 1, 2015 and stayed until July 1, 2016.  George's business sold & closed in June 2016.



Daisy

While we were here the motor on our bedroom slide had to be replaced, the living room air conditioner had to be replaced,  we made some changes inside the rig


Before

...and one of our Golden Retrievers, Daisy, passed away.  This happened in February.   We thought, maybe it would be easier to travel with just 1 golden retriever, Tori, and our cat, Alley.


After

That lasted about a week!  Tori was depressed.  We were depressed.  We were a 2 dog family!  We started our search for another Golden.  Daisy was a rescue & was such a good girl we knew we only wanted another rescue.

We ended up with Annie...a goldendoodle!  She was not a rescue but an 8 week old puppy!  We were NOT prepared for a puppy!


We prepared to take our first road trip...July, August & September.  We wanted to be back in Florida October, November & December.

We spent the next 2 weeks getting the rig ready.  George made an appointment to have the brakes checked on the rig as well as getting 6 new tires.  We took it to A & A Trailer in Bradenton, http://www.aandatrailerhitch.com. 

They had the tires off & were checking the brakes.  The brakes were shot!
We not only had 6 new tires put on but we had to replace all 6 brakes!

While we were waiting for the brakes to come in our refrigerator stopped working.  We need a new refrigerator!

Finally...off to some of the western states!  Our 1st stop was St. Cloud, FL.  Our 2 boys & their families live here...5 minutes from each other.

Brent & Ashley (& Lyla) live on 5 acres east of St. Cloud. 

He put in 50 amp service so we could park at his place.  It's a 3 hour drive.  We going to stay 3 days...best laid plans!

While there our little Annie was playing outside with Tori, Zoe & Emma (Brent & Ashley's 2 Goldens).  She ran, full speed, into the L pin on our front leveling jack!



This is one expensive dog!  1 surgery & $1200 later...

 

Now...off to Colorado!

 

Ran out of fuel in Texas! 

 

July 15...made it to Cortez, CO! 

Had to take Annie to a vet in Durango.  She had an infection where she had been stitched up. 

Another surgery, 2-3 visits for the next couple of weeks & $2000 later...  Plus an extra week's stay...in Durango.

 

Found out our "gas tank" was leaking!  It supplies gas to the generator & also serves to fill the bikes if needed.  Patched it.

Made the best of this unexpected stay...rode the Million Dollar Highway to Silverton & Ouray, CO!

August 8...off to Cripple Creek, CO

August 16...off to Cheyenne, WY. 
WAIT!  Only made it to Colorado Springs.  The brakes on the truck were smoking!  BAD!  Had to get new brakes on the truck so we spent 3 days in Colorado Springs. 
Made the best of it.  Got to ride up Pike's Peak!

August 19...finally off to Cheyenne, WY.

August 26...on to Keystone, SD (Mt. Rushmore)  Took some fantastic rides...Sturgis & Deadwood, Custer State Park, Needles Highway & Iron Mountain Road!

September 5...headed to Morton, IL to see my best friend...Julie Cleveland!
(More on this & rest of our trip in separate blogs...soon I hope)  We had reservations at Carl Spindler State Park outside of Morton September 8-11. 

We decided to really take our time getting there.  Decided to stop in Waterloo, IA for a couple days.  Ready to head out on the 7th but...the bar that runs across the leveling jacks broke so we couldn't hook up!  Ended up there until September 9th waiting on the part then installing it!

September 9...another delay but finally got to Morton, IL around 7pm. 

Julie & Anthony

September 12...on to Pennsylvania to see our daughter & her family for a couple weeks.

She, Fid & the girls had just moved into their new log home a couple days before we got there...oh yeah!  Poor kids. 

They also had a 50 amp service so we hooked up there a few steps from their place.

September 26...off to Luray, VA...to see the Caverns!  Spent 2 days!  This is a must see!

 







September 30...made it back to Timberlane RV Park in Bradenton, FL.  Here until January 1, 2017 but will probably leave December 17 & head over to St. Cloud for an early Christmas with the boys & their families then on to....somewhere between there & Las Vegas, NV!  Meeting our friends, Ray & Jackie, January 22-26 for a well deserved "Vegas Fix"!

Thinking we may not come back to Florida until November for a couple of months.  October this year was SO hot!

Our Adventures in South Dakota....

August 26 - September 5, 2016

Left Cheyenne, WY and got to the Black Hills the same day.  We stayed in Keystone, SD (pop. 347) Pictures of Keystone, SD 2016 and camped at Holy Smoke RV Park.
Holy Smoke RV Park.
This was really a nice little park about 5 miles from Mt. Rushmore, National Park Service Mount Rushmore.  We took some really cool rides while we were here.

More Pictures of Mt. Rushmore, SD

We rode to Sturgis, SD (pop. 6,883) & Deadwood, SD (pop. 1,270).

Sturgis, Sturgis Website, was just a dinky little town.  Maybe 1 stop light at the most.  I think the biggest business there was the Harley dealership.  We were there the week after the rally (thank God!)  The population in this little 2 horse town grows to over 1/2 million people for this one week!  I don't even like a crowded elevator!  We've been to Bike Week in Daytona Beach, several times.  This is a much, much larger city (pop. 61,000) and they get around 1/2 million people for this!  There's a lot more room to put that many people!

Deadwood, Deadwood Website, on the other hand was an old, national historic landmark.  The cemetery, Mount Moriah Cemetery, is where Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, as well as other notable wild west outlaws are buried.
There's a museum, plenty of gaming halls & casino's, a gold mine and quite a few places to eat & shop. 
The HBO series, Deadwood, was based on this little town.  When talking to some of the local's, they said that HBO spent quite a bit of time there doing research on the true history as well as the original saloon where Wild Bill was shot.  The series buildings were modeled after the buildings in town.  Pretty cool.

We took a ride through Custer State Park, South Dakota Custer State Park.  Beautiful!  We came across a herd of about 200 wild bison.  We had to stop as they walked across the rode...coming very, very close to my bike.  I think I might have shit a little in my jeans.  I didn't move!  They just meandered by in no hurry at all!
Georgie took a ride the next day by himself (I didn't mind a little "alone time").  He called after being gone an hour or so and could hardly speak.  He had been almost trapped by 1000 or so bison!  He said one stopped right in front of his bike and just gave him the hairy eyeball!  He wasn't sure what to do.  It finally walked off but left him a little nervous.


 

 

Pictures of Custer State Park, SD 

We rode Needles Highway, Black Hills Needles Highway, part of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway, Highway 87.  This road was way too cool!  Only motorcycles or small cars could fit through some of the tunnels...like threading a needle.

More Needles Highway...

 

Also on our list of rides there was Iron Mountain Road (16A), http://www.allblackhills.com/scenic_drives/iron_mountain_road.php.  It was part of Custer State Park.

Finally...I will be updating this blog in the next week.

Well...there's a lot to talk about.  I have been very, very bad not updating this.  We didn't have very good internet connections (we will be looking into this in the next few months) plus we have just been going & doing non-stop.
Since we left Cheyenne, WY we have been to:
-South Dakota
-Illinois
-Pennsylvania
-Virginia
-Back to Florida for 3 months now.