Yesterday we decided to stay in North Dakota and see some things, do some last minute stocking up and get the laundry done. 

Today we crossed into Canada.  We keep saying if we didn't have bad luck we wouldn't have any.  A rig went, threw up a rock and you guessed it - big chip in our windshield.  And the road was so rough it just kept spliting until it went all the way up.  It's also working it's way down. 

So far besides bad roads Canada has been foggy, cold and windy.  Some vehicles even have ice on their antennas and mirrors.  Guess the temp is in the low 30's.  It wouldn't be so bad if the wind weren't blowing so hard. 

We have been traveling on Hwy 11 to Saskatoon and taking 16 to Edmondton.  As for scenery along this route there isn't much.  Alot of flat farm land, some oil rigs, wind turbines and lots of geese.  Not really much to write home about.  We tried to stop at a roadside rest area, but realized we had missed it when we saw a sign for it on the other side of the road going the other way!  So we found a gas station and pulled in there, got some gas and noticed truck after truck pulling in ( of course there was a Subway inside the station ).  We pulled around and saw 2 picnic tables and figured we had accidentally found one of the roadside parks. 

We took the advice of the Milepost and are getting gas quite often.  The stations are few and far between. 

Hoping tomorrow will bring better weather, and sights.   In the meantime, enjoy these photos and I'll talk to ya later!

Sunrise & field of wind turbines

At the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center

Lewis & Clark

Roadside park - see the tables?

Patty

Got to Bismark and went to the Double Ditch Indian Village.  Not really alot to see, but lots of markers to read and become informed.  The Mandan Indian earthlodges, and mounds and fortification ditches were visible.  It was right along the Missouri River.  Nice walk and lots to learn.

Hope you enjoyed this portion of our trip. 

See you next time.  Probably from across the border!!!

Patty

We are really making good time.  It's just after 2 and we are almost in Bismark.  Going to try to find some Indian ruins we read about.  Wish us luck.

It has been an uneventful day.  Earlier Warren saw a coyote run across the road.  Then he saw a pheasant.  Naturally, I missed both of them as I was playing Words.  So put it down and started looking around.  Unfortunately, all I have seen are alot of roadkill.  They do have some huge racoons out here.  Also saw a couple of large flocks of geese flying north.  The first flock must have had at least 100 and the second maybe 50 or so.  Oh, almost forgot - we drove by an buffulo ranch and did see a few of them, but mostly they were behind a ridge, so no good photo op. 

Also noticed that they have some of the silliest names for their Inns  Settle Inn, C'mon Inn.  You get it!  And finally saw patches of snow and alot of the ponds still have ice on them, even tho it is getting into the 70's. 

I drove for a short time, just to get the feel of it.  He really seems to enjoy the driving and I can take it or leave it.  Your arms really get tired if you aren't used to it.

Those wind turbines are gigantic!

Okay, later!

Patty

I'm not sure how to write about the rest of today.  Quiet, uneventful, nice!  So I will just let the photos tell you about it.

The field of wind turbines was pretty neat, and then along comes a bunch of semi's carrying some of the blades.  Couldn't believe how big they really are.  They sure have them in the right place tho; windy as can be. 

Then our first home cooked meal ( bless the person that created the electric skillet ), one of our favorites, stir fry.  Then a beautiful sunset to finish it off !  Now watching old John Wayne movies and relaxing!

Have a wonderful evening and thanks for stopping by!

Patty

Ok, so where did we leave off?  Oh yeah, got the camera.  But nothing picture worthy now.  Maybe later.

Soon we stop for fuel and Warren notices a tire is low, so we go to get air only to discover a broken valve stem.  So across the street to the repair shop to have that fixed.  Almost 2 hours later we are on the road again.

  Well, got a couple shots of the Arch in St Louis and all was going fine.  Suddenly, the radio quits, all the plugs quit and it drains my battery.  So I have decided to change the heading on my blog to As the Wheels Turn...

We are coming into Oak Grove, MO, so I frantically look for a repair shop.  It's already 4:20, I locate one and it doesn't look far.  We get some directions really quick and head over there to find out they all left at 4:30 ( it's now 4:35, of course ).  She tells us if we come back and are here before 8 am she will get us in right away.  So we go across the street to a little truck stop.  But it is really nasty looking so decide it is worth the short drive to go back past one we saw at the last exit.  It was a Petro and pretty big, and clean.  Thought what the hey, lets have a hot dinner, so we did.  Fish and salad.

Once back out in the "cabin", Warren starts checking things out only to discover that the outlets are now working but still no radio.  But we decide it is not worth stressing over and watch Survivor on the laptop and then head to bed.

Got up this morning and went and got a great shower, then headed to the RV shop.  We weren't there long and the lady came out.  Told us ( which we figured was the problem ) that they are geared so the outlets only work when the engine is off.  The radio was probably just a loose wire and she hated to take our money at $109 an hour for labor ( and it would probably take about 3 hours to tear it apart to get into the radio ) so we decided we could just talk to each other.  Music isn't all its cracked up to be anyway! 

So until the next shoe falls ...

Patty

After all the excitement of yesterday morning we thought last night would be a breeze.  That's what I get for thinking.  You can really tell we are new to all this RVing stuff.  We got parked for the night and went to the fridge and it was warm.  Not really warm but not so cool as to keep things from sweating inside.  So we are frantically looking through papers to see what is wrong!  We don't want to leave the engine running all night but don't want to lose all our supplies either.  Fridge seems to be running correctly, generator too.  What the hell!  So after working up a good sweat ( so glad we are going north, getting too hot for me already ) we gave up and went to bed.  If everything is thawed out in the morning I will be cooking til the sun don't shine! 

So we get up this morning ( in Paducah, KY ) to find that everything is frozen and fridge is working fine.  Guess it was just the adjustment from engine to generator.  Who knows.  So we ate breakfast - have you ever tried peanut butter Cheerios?  Yum!  Brushed our teeth and are now headed to St Louis, MO. 

Oh man, gotta quit typing and get the camera!  Just passed the biggest wild turkey! 

Y'all have a great day!


Patty

Well, we made it!

Could have been worse, but our last day in Cleveland was crazy!  The plan was to do all the final packing, have a quiet evening by the chiminia fire and saying our goodbyes to the last 10 years.  Didn't quite happen that way.  I was supposed to deliver my car to the lady that bought it at 10 am.  Unfortunately, White County thought after 10 years it was a good idea to have me do some jury duty in April.  Called them to tell them I would not be here and was informed that I had to bring a letter to the judge and request release.  So I go to the courthouse with my summons and the letter.  She informs me that I will be expected to appear in October.  I told her I didn't know if we would be returning.  Oh, in that case you have to request you be excused from service.  Oh, here comes his secretary, hurry, finish your letter and go.  I'll call you when I have an answer.  Make sure to leave a cell phone number.  So, OK, whatever!   I'm leaving in the morning for AK and you can come find me there!!

Get back to the house and the cell phone won't work.  After an hour on the phone with them it is worked out and once again operating.

I finally got the car delivered and it couldn't have been a more perfect day to ride around with the top down! I wanted to do that the day before, but it was raining!  Figures.  Oh well.   Really gonna miss that car!

Now we get back home and start getting the packing done.  We are exhausted and hungry.  The rain the day before made the wood all wet, so the fire wouldn't light.  Oh well, the stars are pretty and our spacemen are out there, so we say our goodbyes.  No, I'm not crazy, but that's for another time.

So, we try to sleep and he does ok, but I end up until 2 am. 

Anyway, we finally got on the road after almost hitting a tree getting this monster out of the driveway. 

We are just outside of Chattanooga now going up 24 heading toward Nashville.  Will let you know if anything exciting happens along the way!!!

Later,

Patty

3 days left ...

The house is almost empty. The bed left today, so we will be on the floor for the next few nights.  At least we have our Comfort Air mattress.  Some of the goodbyes have been said.  The jewelry has been delivered.  Extra supplies have been bought.  Some extra baking is still in order and a few munchies for the road need to be decided upon. 

So much is running through my mind.  Family and friends that mean so much to us.  It is hard to say see you in the fall.  Are all the finances taken care of and paid up since we will be on the move for a bit?   Will there be enough room for the rest of our stuff in the RV?  What will the trip hold in store for us?  Leaving the place we have lived for 10 years is scary.  I just have a zillion things going through my mind, it is beginning to affect my sleep.  But we are putting it all in Gods hands.  We know He will put us on the path that He has for us and we will be fine!

Talk to you again real soon!

Peace,

Patty

Time is really flying now -

Warren's got the oil changed, I'm getting tons of backing done, now I need to finish last minute stocking of supplies and cleaning and packing and ....   It seems the closer the time gets the more I find I need to do.  Go see friends that I won't see for at least 6 months.  Finish delivering things that folks bought at the sale.  Get as many sets of earrings done as possible to leave at InsideOut Sautee. 

We got our final work clothes shopping done yesterday, so we are as ready as we can be for that part of the adventure.

So, time to get busy!  Be back soon!

Peace,

Patty

The countdown continues ...

Only 7 days - ONE WEEK - left!  The tags are on and the bikes are ready to load.  Half the clothes are in and some of the extra supplies.  We signed the lease yesterday and they have rented for a year.  Got our address changed on everything, I think ( I hope )!!  Drawers and closets are just about cleaned out and as much as I can pack is packed.  It will all come down to the last couple of days when I can get it all loaded into the RV. 

Now I just hope that the gas prices will level off and not continue to rise.  And that the weather starts to "spring" up.  But we have given ourselves plenty of time and all we can do is hope that Mother Nature will cooperate.  But all the planning in the world won't change what God has planned for us.  We will take whatever it is in stride and just pray it is good.

Talk to y'all soon!


Peace,


Patty

11 days and counting ---

It's really beginning to feel real.  I guess that's because we put 2 vehicles on a trailer to be delivered to 2 of our sons in Florida today.   That way we don't have to put anything in storage.  Next Thursday we go to Carmax to see if they will give me what I want for my car.  :0(  I'm going to miss that car, but no sense letting it sit for 6 months.  We will see about finding a small, inexpensive car in AK and may haul it back if it's worth it.  We'll have to wait and see.

All that's left to pack are the everyday things we are using.  So the last day will be somewhat hectic, but the day we leave won't be a rush as we are giving ourselves plenty of time to get there.  We are planning on trying to drive about 500 miles a day, but also will stop if need be or if something really fantastic comes along. 

I never did get back to packing, but it's sort of been whatever we aren't using at the moment, extra grocery supplies, books, maps.  We have taken out most of our winter clothes since it really hasn't gotten that cold here.  We have also gotten bikes and can't wait to try them out. 

Come back soon and I'll let you know how it's going.  In the meantime, if you have any questions, just ask!


Peace, 


Patty