The Pioneers

     We took in a little Lake County history today.  We visited a museum with turn of the century stuff including sleighs with bells and buffalo robes at Dakota State College and then we visited a closed Prairie Museum (a group of building from all around the county placed as a village at the turn of the century).  It was closed but we could walk around and peer in the buildings.  It was very windy and cold (30 but much colder with the wind).  I can kind of visualize how harsh the winters were and are here. 
     We leave tomorrow morning going south.  That direction looks good right now for we are huddled in the RV with both the heater and electric cube heater on, listening to a whistle the RV is making now and then.  I made crock pot beef stew for dinner and early bed is looking good!!!!!!!!!!  In this state park there is a very small log cabin from the homesteading days on this peninsula which is Herman State Park.  White caps are on the water.  I bet the homesteaders must have hated the winter on the plains!
     John and I have our licenses now so we are now official South Dakota residences.  We also looked into medicare insurance and will have to change before January 1st our other coverage will not apply.  I will buy another camera so I can take pictures as we head south!!

Pipestone National Monument, MN

We did laundry today and visited a national monument 44 miles away in Minnesota.  Pipestone National Monument is an old quarry used for thousands of years by native peoples.  Peace pipes were made from the red stone.  There was a demo by a Native American fashioning a pipe, a small museum, a film about the quarry history and on our walk we found another person in one of the quarries banging away at the hard layer of quartzite trying to get to the pipestone.  People have to get permits to dig here.  It was interesting and a very nice walk on the tall grass praire.  We went back to the RV in time for the crock pot dinner of pulled pork.  A walk around the campground and a few games of Rummy Cube ended our evening....just another day in South Dakota!

Madison, SC

We are at Lake Herman State Park in Madison, SD until Monday.  Tonight there are 8 sites taken and very quiet.  Autumn in SouDak on 10/13 is glistening gold hues, sunny skies, and very windy.  Our site is right on a pond and we can see the lake. We are right across from the bathrooms at a host workcamper site.  The workcamper hosts have left for the season.

From the pond in Woodstock

                                                                      to autumn in PA

                                                              to Ohio sunsets

              to Iowa wind farms we traveled on to South Dakota.

We are finally traveling!!!!!!!!!!

On Saturday 10/8 at 1pm we left Woodstock traveling to the Welcome Center in PA where we stayed for the night. (No trucks allowed from 7pm-7am) We went I-80 through PA mountains and saw autumn landscapes.  I saw an adult flying Bald Eagle and a road kill bear in PA....2 firsts!!!!!  We traveled flawlessly through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois with the only shock being expensive tolls - $55.25 - the quickest is not the cheapest!!  On the toll road I-90 in Ohio there are RV pads with electricity for $20.00 at some rest stops (away from everything and fairly quiet.)  We put the slide out and unhooked the car. We stopped at Elkhart, Indiana to see May West's travel coach and many other antique RV's at the RV Hall of Fame. We have stayed at three rest stops and and one Walmart (last night) and just keep traveling along.  Crossing the Mississippi River into Iowa I am posting from the Welcome Center viewing the great river.  We will be traveling west through plains farm country and then up to catch the I-90 in Minnesota and into South Dakota.  I will post pictures next stop.

Scion Blip

It was a fender bender!!!!  Saturday September 24th John was rear ended so with estimates, insurance adjusters, parts, and fixing the bumper, it is now October 6th and we are still in Woodstock.  The good news is we have our car back today and lift-off is Saturday. These next few days are scrambing to make sure every duck is in a row.  Our house is empty of all freezables and cabinets look very empty.  Mice proofing has been done and the refrigerator/freezer has been cleaned and transferred.  All we need to do is drain and put pink stuff in the water pipes/heating pipes.  It is like winterizing a very large RV! I will miss my big bathtub and the washer/dryer but...the leaves are turning color so it will be a pretty drive~~~~South Dakota, here we come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ALMOST GONE

It is September and we are almost gone.  We have not cleared the house and it is not rented. Our date of 9/15 was moved ahead to last week of Sept. because of hubby's shoulder.  We have made a large dent in our "Stuff" but it is not gone!  We will be traveling to Madison, SD first and then down to Organ Pipe Cactus in AZ for November.  We will be back in the spring for taxes and then make a push to go full-time.  The last minute items are being packed and house/yard arrangement are being done.  We will be off very soon!!!!!!!!!!!

First Toad Trip

     The first toad trip to VT was uneventful.  We traveled most of the way by highways and Molly Stark State Park was only 17 miles off the of I-91.  Hooking up and unhooking was easy.  I noticed the hard pull up Hogback mountain and thought -what would it be like to be in the Rockies?  I am glad we traveled in the B last year up, down, around and over the Continental Divide several times and we have no plans at present to do the divide again.
    This trip we learned without electrical hookups, the power should last 3 nights without using the generator, a good thing to know in the future.  Our full time RV friends were hosting in Molly Stark.  They have been on the road 5 years.  My friend and I used their blow up kayaks/peddle boats one afternoon in a neighboring lake.  It was great relaxing fun.  Molly Stark has lots of grass and flowers and a modern bathhouse.  It is a very small pristine park, winning the Best State Park Award in 2010.  We hiked to the fire tower on a steep thickly wooded trail to find 4 men and a truck at the top.  What a surprise!  They were putting a signpost up. They took a much wider trail from somewhere else!  The view from the fire tower was of 4 states, MA, NY, NH & VT.  All in all a great tester trip to Vermont.