Day 47 – August 1, 2007 – Wednesday – Took the car down to a place near the base. Guy tried really hard to find the plug to check the error codes on the car. He thought he found it but turns out that it was the wrong thing. As we left his place, we got a new light for the ABS brake system, the cruise stopped working, and the sunroof wouldn’t open! This car is falling apart right before our eyes!
Long story short, three repair shops later, found the plug for the codes to be read behind the ashtray NOT under the glove box like the books said. Code indicates a possible bad EGR valve (same as the rig) but since we aren’t having any noticeable problems, technician recommended not fixing it yet as replacing the EGR valve may not make the light go off.
Golfed with Al at Hiawatha in the afternoon. Dave had his best round since his hand was broken but Al had his worst round in months. Really missed Bill Milem, who is in New York now but we managed to work in the "golf sucks" salute a couple times during the round.
Got home and walked the cats back at Volk. Saw the largest skunk I have ever seen in my life! It was about 50 feet from our rig while we were sitting outside the rig. Grabbed the cats and ran in and closed on the doors and windows. Thankfully he went quietly and odorlessly (is that a word Ruth?) on his way.
Day 48 – August 2, 2007 – Thursday – Already our last day here at Volk. Dave is golfing with Al this afternoon with the boys so I’m getting my hair cut at Wal-Mart and getting some supplies for the road. Can’t believe the bridge collapse in Minnesota – what an awful, frightening thing.
Day 49 – August 3, 2007 – Friday – Made it across the bridge at LaCrosse, WI without problem, have to admit I was holding my breathe more than usual. We drove up Highway 61 hugging the Mississippi River on the MN side. We took that route last year and it is just stunning. Next year we hope to ride the bike trail on the opposite side of river in Wisconsin.
Filled up with gas on the way. Paid $2.709 for 50.202 gals Mileage 34,324.
Got into Prior Lake at Mystic Lake Casino about 1:30p.m. Had dinner at Carolyn and Dave Whitley’s home. Lovely meal and great people to share it with – what more can you ask for in life?
Mileage for day 198. Mileage – 34,393 – Total Mileage for Trip – 3,212
Day 50 – August 4, 2007 – Saturday – There is plenty of rain in the forecast for today, which they really needed around here. Probably another day spent surfing the net looking for places to visit on our way to Yellowstone. We ran out to PetSmart to get the cats their favorite canned food that only they stock. Don’t want to run out – who knows how Kitty will react?
Found a toaster oven at Sam’s Club that I had been reading about on the RV forums. It should make it a lot easier to be without a regular oven in the rig. I never got good at using the convection microwave that we have now. We’ll also be able to use this oven outside so that when it is hot, we won’t have to heat up the rig with the inside oven.
Had lunch with Dave Whitley at the golf course restaurant. You should have seen the golfers coming in off the course – they were soaked. Lunch was great and Dave took us on a tour of the new facilities at the Casino. They will be getting some really big name entertainers in beginning this fall.
Day 51 – August 5 2007 – Sunday – Found a place on the Passport America website called Forest Hills Golf & RV Resort in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. It’s about 45 miles from the South Dakota border. Weather report looks pretty bleak for getting in some golf but they have a pool, hot tub, and a fitness center all included at our $15 per night rate for full hook-ups and a pull through to boot!
Got some gas on the way at $2.799, which should be cheaper than any thing we will find in South Dakota. You have to love www.gasbuddy.com with a Sprint Air Card for Internet access on the road!
Mileage 34,614 – Mileage for day 221. Total mileage for the trip 3,433.
Day 52 – August 6, 2007 – Monday – We used the fitness center last night and then followed it up with a dip in the indoor pool and the hot tub. The golf course looks really nice and our site is long enough to fit in another whole motorhome with tow car. Nice and level too.
Took a bike ride down near the lakes today. Stopped in to the Chamber of Commerce to check it out first. Still looks like rain but we only went about 5 miles one way and got back before it started.
Got a few things for the world’s smallest fridge in our rig and Dave got a lock for the bike hitch so we don’t have to keep locking it in the car when we use the bikes.
Dave went up to use the fitness center again while I spent some quality time with the kitty cats. By the way, when I told Dave that today was day 52, he said he was definitely going to get a big, big, big medal – anyone know what he is talking about? I know my medal hasn’t arrived yet!
Monday, August 6, 2007
Days 37 - 46 Canada, UP Michigan, Wisconsin
Day 37 – July 22, 2007 – Sunday – Saw the kids off today after the Webb Wedding last night. Most of them still had blue icing somewhere in their hair, including the oldest kid who has to stay behind to run a golf course. You’ve heard of the wedding singer, well it turns out there is also a wedding drinker. Think Ron’s first drink was sometime on Wednesday of men’s night and pretty sure his last for a while was shortly after the cupcake fight. Jen, of course looked great as always after all the action.
Day 38 – July 23, 2007 – Monday – Time for our nearly annual golf game with Erin Thorne. Missed last year so this is four of last five years. What a great lady she has grown up to be. Erin will graduate in December of this year and also plans to be in Lakeland, FL in November for the Futures Tour qualification. Good Luck Erin!
Spent the afternoon getting things ready for the road tomorrow. Next leg of the adventure is coming up quickly. Think we’ll stop at Chutes Provincial Park tomorrow.
Met up with Webbs and Joel’s parents, Mike & Rona, for dinner at the Japanese restaurant in town. Mike and Rona are really great people! Could talk with them for hours. Joel looks just like his Dad.
Day 39 – July 24, 2007 – Tuesday – On the road by 8 a.m. only planning to go about 200 miles today so I let Dave and the cats sleep in. Pretty drive today, saw more large bales of hay today then I had seen in my entire life put together. There had to be three hundred bales stacked in one field alone. Stopped for the night at Chutes Provincial Park in Massey, Ontario. Took a hike, probably about 2 miles maybe. There was a great waterfall with some very pretty scenery here. $32.75 for electric only – Canadian Cash.
Mileage was 33,466. Mileage for Day – 201. Mileage for trip – 2,285.
Day 40 – July 25, 2007 – Wednesday –.Time to get back to the USA today. Going over the border at Sault Saint Marie, MI, which is a first for us. We’ll be staying at the Bay Mills RV resort in Brimley, MI. Full hookups for $20. Adequate campground, nice level sites, but rather dusty.
Had a nice dinner at the Casino and managed to gain a little money on the slots. NUVI found a very nice Dairy Queen for us after dinner.
Mileage was 33,618. Mileage for the day was 152.
Day 41 – July 26, 2007 – Thursday - Drove on to Ishpeming, Michigan today, just west of Marquette. Plan to stay here at Country Village Resort Campground for two days. Found this campground on our Passport America membership website. Total paid for two nights $32.95 with full hookups. Finally got the sat dish to come in although we did lose the signal a little when the wind was strong. Was starting to wonder if we had a problem with it. Dave went up to the hot tub but Kitty, Casey and I took a break back at the rig. Kitty is walking more and more with every stop. Can’t imagine when she got so brave.
Got some gas for $3.139 15.053 gals in Newberry MI. Found out after we got the gas that $3.139 was a pretty good price and we probably should have gotten a little more……
Mileage was 33,781. Mileage for day 163.
Day 42 – July 27, 2007 – Friday – Took the bikes down to Marquette for a really nice 12 mile bike ride along the Lake Superior shore line. It was misting pretty heavily so we decided to go ahead and put up the bikes. Took a tour of the Maritime Museum and the Harbor lighthouse. Got some gas in the car, which was getting pretty low. Wouldn’t you know that the check engine light came on about an hour later after a quick bite at Taco Bell. Gotta have that looked at when we get to Wisconsin.
Day 43 – July 28, 2007 – Saturday – Got some gas at the BP as we pulled out this morning. $162.01 at $3.179 per gal – 50.96 gals – 7.92 miles per gallon.
Getting back to some familiar territory again today. We’ll be staying at Volk Field in Camp Douglas, WI for about 5 days. Dave used to spend quite a bit of time here with Al Boothby and Bill Milem back when they all had J O B S. Actually Al still has a J O B, he’s the Family Support Coordinator now that he is retired from the Air National Guard.
Bill & Twana Milem are in New York this week so we’ll have to catch them another time. Had dinner with Al Boothby and his lovely wife Ali at the Target Bluff restaurant.
Mileage was 34,107 Mileage for the day 326 (our longest day this year) Total mileage for the trip is 2,926
Day 44 – July 29, 2007 – Sunday – Spent the day doing laundry and tidying up around the RV. Defrosted the refrigerator. We put some more gas in the car hoping that will make the check engine light go out. Dave went ahead and disconnected the battery. We’ll see if the light comes back on.
Day 45 – July 30, 2007 – Monday – Have an appointment today with Coulee Region RV Center to have the generator problem looked at. Al had a couple friends coming by this morning to take a look just to see if the generator is putting out power.
Al’s electrician friends confirmed that the generator is indeed putting out power. So it is probably the transfer switch, guess we’ll see this afternoon.
Hooray!!! When the technician at Coulee’s started to look at the transfer switch in the back bedroom, he found a loose wire! $27.72 later and we’re outta there! Can’t believe it was that simple. He was going to check out the generator first, but since we already knew that was fine, that probably saved us at least 30 minutes. Plus since we already knew where the transfer switch was located, he didn’t have to waste another half hour checking all the outside compartments looking for it.
Day 46 – July 31, 2007 – Tuesday – Left the rig at 7:30 this morning heading for Elroy, Wi and the 400 Bike Trail. Take a look at their website if you’re interested – www.400statetrail.org. The trail is 22 miles one way and runs from Elroy south to Reedsburg. We rode the Omaha trail last year, which is 12.5 miles one way, which intersects with the 400 trail. God willing, we plan to ride the Elroy-Sparta State trail next trip, which is 32 miles one way. There are a couple other trails that go on west and north from there for a total of 117 miles.
Got on the trail at 8 a.m. Still a little cool but it is supposed to get up in the low 90’s today so we want to get going. Had our trail passes, helmets, bike gloves, frozen water bottles and some great peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We’re not sure how far we will go today but I would like to ride all the way down and back. There is a town at 4 miles, then another 4 miles, 7 miles and then Reedsburg after another 7 miles. Got down to the 15 mile mark pretty easily so I convinced Dave we should go on down the last leg.
Got to Reedsburg at 12:15, and we had taken a couple short breaks on the ride down so about 2 hours actual riding time. We decided we would take pictures on the way back instead of on the way down. Ate our sandwiches at Reedsburg and had about a 25 minute break before heading back towards Elroy. I’m starting to toy with the idea of throwing in another 3 miles somewhere so I can bike my age.
Made the first 7 mile leg pretty well, took a break and headed on up to the next town. Took a couple more breaks on the next 7 mile leg and decided to stop at Bernie’s for lunch. Don’t let the boys know that Bernie’s has Bud Light on tap for $1 a mug and 50 cents a glass. Had a nice lunch and about a 30-minute break. The last 8 miles were a little slower and I started to apologize to Dave about the 35-mile mark. At the 42 mile mark, I decided biking my age is not nearly as impressive as golfing my age so I’ll set my sites on that goal in a couple decades.
Have to say that this leg is billed as being the most beautiful because of the Baraboo river but the water level seems to be pretty far down and a lot of the spots the river looks like several stagnant ponds. The Omaha trail from last year was much prettier in my opinion.
WE MADE IT – the entire 44 miles! Got back to the station at Elroy at 2 p.m. so took us 6 hours overall for the entire 44 miles. We probably had somewhere between 4 and 4 ½ hours of actual riding time. Not too bad. Drive back to the rig and literally hosed Dave down. The showers at the base campground have solar heated hot water and for some reason they don’t stop heating. Trying to take a shower here on a 90 plus degree-day is not a great idea. Then it is time for a nice long, well-deserved nap.
Bad news is the light on the car came back on so we’re having it checked out tomorrow morning.
Day 38 – July 23, 2007 – Monday – Time for our nearly annual golf game with Erin Thorne. Missed last year so this is four of last five years. What a great lady she has grown up to be. Erin will graduate in December of this year and also plans to be in Lakeland, FL in November for the Futures Tour qualification. Good Luck Erin!
Spent the afternoon getting things ready for the road tomorrow. Next leg of the adventure is coming up quickly. Think we’ll stop at Chutes Provincial Park tomorrow.
Met up with Webbs and Joel’s parents, Mike & Rona, for dinner at the Japanese restaurant in town. Mike and Rona are really great people! Could talk with them for hours. Joel looks just like his Dad.
Day 39 – July 24, 2007 – Tuesday – On the road by 8 a.m. only planning to go about 200 miles today so I let Dave and the cats sleep in. Pretty drive today, saw more large bales of hay today then I had seen in my entire life put together. There had to be three hundred bales stacked in one field alone. Stopped for the night at Chutes Provincial Park in Massey, Ontario. Took a hike, probably about 2 miles maybe. There was a great waterfall with some very pretty scenery here. $32.75 for electric only – Canadian Cash.
Mileage was 33,466. Mileage for Day – 201. Mileage for trip – 2,285.
Day 40 – July 25, 2007 – Wednesday –.Time to get back to the USA today. Going over the border at Sault Saint Marie, MI, which is a first for us. We’ll be staying at the Bay Mills RV resort in Brimley, MI. Full hookups for $20. Adequate campground, nice level sites, but rather dusty.
Had a nice dinner at the Casino and managed to gain a little money on the slots. NUVI found a very nice Dairy Queen for us after dinner.
Mileage was 33,618. Mileage for the day was 152.
Day 41 – July 26, 2007 – Thursday - Drove on to Ishpeming, Michigan today, just west of Marquette. Plan to stay here at Country Village Resort Campground for two days. Found this campground on our Passport America membership website. Total paid for two nights $32.95 with full hookups. Finally got the sat dish to come in although we did lose the signal a little when the wind was strong. Was starting to wonder if we had a problem with it. Dave went up to the hot tub but Kitty, Casey and I took a break back at the rig. Kitty is walking more and more with every stop. Can’t imagine when she got so brave.
Got some gas for $3.139 15.053 gals in Newberry MI. Found out after we got the gas that $3.139 was a pretty good price and we probably should have gotten a little more……
Mileage was 33,781. Mileage for day 163.
Day 42 – July 27, 2007 – Friday – Took the bikes down to Marquette for a really nice 12 mile bike ride along the Lake Superior shore line. It was misting pretty heavily so we decided to go ahead and put up the bikes. Took a tour of the Maritime Museum and the Harbor lighthouse. Got some gas in the car, which was getting pretty low. Wouldn’t you know that the check engine light came on about an hour later after a quick bite at Taco Bell. Gotta have that looked at when we get to Wisconsin.
Day 43 – July 28, 2007 – Saturday – Got some gas at the BP as we pulled out this morning. $162.01 at $3.179 per gal – 50.96 gals – 7.92 miles per gallon.
Getting back to some familiar territory again today. We’ll be staying at Volk Field in Camp Douglas, WI for about 5 days. Dave used to spend quite a bit of time here with Al Boothby and Bill Milem back when they all had J O B S. Actually Al still has a J O B, he’s the Family Support Coordinator now that he is retired from the Air National Guard.
Bill & Twana Milem are in New York this week so we’ll have to catch them another time. Had dinner with Al Boothby and his lovely wife Ali at the Target Bluff restaurant.
Mileage was 34,107 Mileage for the day 326 (our longest day this year) Total mileage for the trip is 2,926
Day 44 – July 29, 2007 – Sunday – Spent the day doing laundry and tidying up around the RV. Defrosted the refrigerator. We put some more gas in the car hoping that will make the check engine light go out. Dave went ahead and disconnected the battery. We’ll see if the light comes back on.
Day 45 – July 30, 2007 – Monday – Have an appointment today with Coulee Region RV Center to have the generator problem looked at. Al had a couple friends coming by this morning to take a look just to see if the generator is putting out power.
Al’s electrician friends confirmed that the generator is indeed putting out power. So it is probably the transfer switch, guess we’ll see this afternoon.
Hooray!!! When the technician at Coulee’s started to look at the transfer switch in the back bedroom, he found a loose wire! $27.72 later and we’re outta there! Can’t believe it was that simple. He was going to check out the generator first, but since we already knew that was fine, that probably saved us at least 30 minutes. Plus since we already knew where the transfer switch was located, he didn’t have to waste another half hour checking all the outside compartments looking for it.
Day 46 – July 31, 2007 – Tuesday – Left the rig at 7:30 this morning heading for Elroy, Wi and the 400 Bike Trail. Take a look at their website if you’re interested – www.400statetrail.org. The trail is 22 miles one way and runs from Elroy south to Reedsburg. We rode the Omaha trail last year, which is 12.5 miles one way, which intersects with the 400 trail. God willing, we plan to ride the Elroy-Sparta State trail next trip, which is 32 miles one way. There are a couple other trails that go on west and north from there for a total of 117 miles.
Got on the trail at 8 a.m. Still a little cool but it is supposed to get up in the low 90’s today so we want to get going. Had our trail passes, helmets, bike gloves, frozen water bottles and some great peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We’re not sure how far we will go today but I would like to ride all the way down and back. There is a town at 4 miles, then another 4 miles, 7 miles and then Reedsburg after another 7 miles. Got down to the 15 mile mark pretty easily so I convinced Dave we should go on down the last leg.
Got to Reedsburg at 12:15, and we had taken a couple short breaks on the ride down so about 2 hours actual riding time. We decided we would take pictures on the way back instead of on the way down. Ate our sandwiches at Reedsburg and had about a 25 minute break before heading back towards Elroy. I’m starting to toy with the idea of throwing in another 3 miles somewhere so I can bike my age.
Made the first 7 mile leg pretty well, took a break and headed on up to the next town. Took a couple more breaks on the next 7 mile leg and decided to stop at Bernie’s for lunch. Don’t let the boys know that Bernie’s has Bud Light on tap for $1 a mug and 50 cents a glass. Had a nice lunch and about a 30-minute break. The last 8 miles were a little slower and I started to apologize to Dave about the 35-mile mark. At the 42 mile mark, I decided biking my age is not nearly as impressive as golfing my age so I’ll set my sites on that goal in a couple decades.
Have to say that this leg is billed as being the most beautiful because of the Baraboo river but the water level seems to be pretty far down and a lot of the spots the river looks like several stagnant ponds. The Omaha trail from last year was much prettier in my opinion.
WE MADE IT – the entire 44 miles! Got back to the station at Elroy at 2 p.m. so took us 6 hours overall for the entire 44 miles. We probably had somewhere between 4 and 4 ½ hours of actual riding time. Not too bad. Drive back to the rig and literally hosed Dave down. The showers at the base campground have solar heated hot water and for some reason they don’t stop heating. Trying to take a shower here on a 90 plus degree-day is not a great idea. Then it is time for a nice long, well-deserved nap.
Bad news is the light on the car came back on so we’re having it checked out tomorrow morning.
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