Tumbleweeds and Shiny Braids: Rv Travel Journal out West

By Kelly Weddle

Tumbleweeds and Shiny Braids is a travel journal ideal for RVers and others planning a trip out west.

Tumbleweeds and Shiny Braids

Provides you with a guide to your trip with little research on your part
Enables you to do the exact trip just by following along
Provides you with must see attractions along with extra attractions for each state
Tells you which cities to visit in that state
Informs you of mountainous winding roads that large RVs should avoid
Tells you which campgrounds to visit to centralize your location in order to see all the areas attractions without moving your home base constantly

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 7, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504914864

Kelly Weddle

The author Kelly Weddle wrote Tumbleweeds and Shiny Braids to give you facts, details and opinions about the attractions as well as some helpful hints and tips. If you are wanting to make that trip out west and do not want to research what cities and states to visit and do not want to research while enjoying your vacation Tumbleweeds and Shiny Braids is a necessity for your travels.

Book preview

© 2015 Kelly Weddle. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 08/31/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-1487-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-1486-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015908617

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Introduction

May 2013 Hittin’ the road!

May 13: Bloomington, Indiana-Morton, Illinois

May 14-16: Morton, Illinois-Davenport/LeClaire, Iowa

May 16-17: Davenport/LeClaire, Iowa-Monticello, Iowa

May 17-19: Monticello, Iowa-Savage/Minneapolis, Minnesota

May 19-22: Savage, Minnesota-Sioux Falls, South Dakota

May 22-25: Sioux Falls, South Dakota-Mitchell, South Dakota

May 25-28: Mitchell, South Dakota-Wall, South Dakota

May 28-June 1: Wall, South Dakota-Rapid City/Hill City, South Dakota

June 2013 Livin’ the dream

June 1-2: Rapid City/Hill City, South Dakota-Devil’s Tower Wyoming

June 2-5: Devil’s Tower, Wyoming-Medora, North Dakota

June 5-7: Medora, North Dakota-Mandan/Bismarck, North Dakota

June 7-10: Mandan/Bismarck, North Dakota-Fargo, North Dakota

June 10-11: Fargo, North Dakota-Jamestown, North Dakota

June 11-13: Jamestown, North Dakota-Medora, North Dakota

JRed Trail campground

Pitchfork Steak Fondue dinner

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Musical at the Burning Hills Amphitheatre

June 13-17: Medora, North Dakota-Cody, Wyoming

June 17-20: Cody, Wyoming-Billings, Montana

June 20-23: Billings, Montana-Red Lodge, Montana

June 23-27: Red Lodge, Montana-Bozeman, Montana

June 27-30: Bozeman, Montana-Butte, Montana

June/July 2013 Hot, Dry & Dusty

June 30-July 3: Butte, Montana-Alder/Virginia City, Montana

July 3-7: Alder City/Virginia City, Montana-West Yellowstone, Montana

July 7-11: West Yellowstone, Montana-Victor, Idaho

July 11-15: Victor, Idaho-Lander, Wyoming

July 15-17: Lander, Wyoming-Thermopolis, Wyoming

July 17-20: Thermopolis, Wyoming-Cody, Wyoming

July 20-22: Cody, Wyoming-Sheridan, Wyoming

July 22-24: Sheridan, Wyoming-Cheyenne, Wyoming

July 24-26: Cheyenne, Wyoming-Laramie, Wyoming

July 26-29: Laramie, Wyoming-Vernal, Utah

July 29-Aug 1: Vernal, Utah-Salt Lake City, Utah

August 2013 Are we there yet?

Aug 1-3: Salt Lake City, UT-Arco, Idaho

Aug 3-6: Arco, Idaho-Jerome, Idaho

Aug 6-8: Jerome, Idaho-Clarkston, Washington

Aug 8-11: Clarkston, Washington-Polson, Montana

Aug 11-16: Polson, Montana-West Glacier, Montana

Aug 16-21: West Glacier, Montana-Canmore/Banff, Alberta, Canada

Aug 21-26: Canmore/Banff, Alberta, Canada-Hinton/Jasper, Alberta, Canada

Aug 26-27: Hinton/Jasper, Alberta, Canada-McClure, British Columbia, Canada

Aug 27-31: McClure, British Columbia, Canada-Burnaby/Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Aug 31-Sept 6: Burnaby/Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-Orcas Island, Washington

September 2013 How’d we get this far?

Sept 6 -9: Orcas Island, Washington-Port Angeles/Sequim, Washington

Sept 9-11: Port Angeles/Sequim, Washington-Silver Creek, Washington

Sept 11-12: Silver Creek, Washington-Castle Rock, Washington

Sept 12-14: Castle Rock, Washington-Prospect, Oregon

Sept 14-18: Prospect, Oregon-Crescent City, California

Sept 18-21: Crescent City, California-Chester, California

Sept 21-24: Chester, California-South Lake Tahoe, California/Zephyr Cove, Nevada

Sept 24-28: South Lake Tahoe, California/Zephyr Cove, Nevada-Groveland, California

Sept 28-Oct 1: Groveland, California-Three Rivers, California

October 2013 Still goin’ strong

Oct 1-3: Three Rivers, California-Lake Havasu, Arizona

Oct 3-4: Lake Havasu, Arizona-Winslow, Arizona

Oct 4-7: Winslow, Arizona-Albuquerque, New Mexico

Oct 7-11: Albuquerque, New Mexico-Santa Fe, New Mexico

Oct 11-13: Santa Fe, New Mexico-Alamosa, Colorado

Oct 13-15: Alamosa, Colorado-Durango, Colorado

Oct 15-16: Durango, Colorado-Mancos, Colorado

Oct 16-22: Mancos, Colorado-Monument Valley, Utah

Oct 22-29: Monument Valley, Utah-Moab, Utah

Oct 29-31: Moab, Utah-Torrey, Utah

Oct/November 2013 Things are windin’ down

Oct 31-Nov 3: Bicknell/Torrey, Utah-Hatch/Bryce, Utah

Nov 3-7: Hatch/Bryce, Utah-Springdale, Utah

Nov 7-11: Springdale, Utah-Page, Arizona

Nov 11-15: Page, Arizona-Sedona, Arizona

Nov 15-18: Sedona, Arizona-Needles, California

Nov 18-22: Needles, California-Las Vegas, Nevada

Nov 22-25: Las Vegas, Nevada-Beatty, Nevada

Nov 25-Dec 1: Beatty, Nevada-Malibu, California

Dec 2013 The end is near

Dec 1-3: Malibu, California-Twenty Nine Palms, California

Dec 3-7: Twenty Nine Palms, California-Tucson/Benson, Arizona

Dec 7-10: Tucson/Benson, Arizona-Las Cruces, New Mexico

Dec 10-13: Las Cruces, New Mexico-Carlsbad, New Mexico

Summary

About the Author

Introduction

My husband Rich and I decided we would take a trip out West. Rich had been semi-retired for almost a year, and as of April 2013 he would be fully retired. I was already retired so why not take off and explore the great American West? This sounded a little crazy, considering that I wanted to be away for at least ten months and didn’t even want to be home for the holidays. Rich was shocked, to say the least. I had to convince him it would be fun. This was an unusual twist, because it is usually the other way around. Rich usually has to convince me to travel. He thinks maybe it’s a midlife crisis and who knows, maybe it is. Whatever this turns out to be, I believe the trip will be fun.

I have a friend who inspired me to take this trip, but she doesn’t really know it because I haven’t told her yet. Her name is Dinah. When we were in Florida for the month of January 2013 we saw our friends Dinah and her husband Gorden. She mentioned to me that she wanted us all to travel out West together. I said I wasn’t ready, but after I left that day I started thinking about how I could go out West and still return to Florida.

Not being sure how we could do both, we saw an ad for the international balloon festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We both really wanted to go. My wheels started spinning and I came up with a plan to start our trip in the northern western states, and then end up in New Mexico for the balloon festival. So, after returning home from Florida in February 2013, I decided to start planning our trip out West.

The original plan was to leave in August, 2013. However, as I started the research for the trip I realized we would need more time to see almost everything without rushing too much. I wanted to see everything, well, everything within reason, even some of those cheesy roadside attractions. So the departure date kept getting moved up as did the length of the trip. Originally we thought we could do the trip in three months but that quickly changed after my research showed how much there was too see and do. I sat down at the computer and researched for 10 to12 hours per day, four weeks straight.

I kept adding more states as we went along. Rich called it project creep. It just seemed like since we would be so close to Banff, Canada while in Montana, that we should just go there too. Then, of course, we would then be close to Jasper, Canada, so why not go there too? Anyway, this is how the project creep evolved.

I looked up each state we were planning on going to see where to go, what to see and how long to spend there. Of course, as I would do this I would find many other places that we should see. I read trip advisor, travel blogs and many different websites to search out different destinations. I made reservations for every stop after researching the route and nearby campgrounds. I then made an itinerary of activities or interesting places for each day. These were basically the sights that are ‘must sees’ or try really hard to see. The itineraries were pretty flexible. I thought they would serve as a guide to help us with what to do and what was in the area without having to research everything at the time and along the way. I wanted to just enjoy the trip and have the research and hard work already completed. I made veterinary appointments and grooming appointments for the dogs along the way. I printed information on all the places to see including directions, hours of operation, travel tips, etc. I made 75 packets, one for each stop. We just pulled out each packet along the way and had everything we needed in front of us. I was hopeful this would save some time on the road and we could enjoy the trip more.

Rich was very helpful, as I spent every minute of my time doing this research. He would make dinner, do the dishes, take the dogs out, get more printer ink and paper and so on. Which I might add was very costly, as he pointed out over and over. He claims we spent $1000 on printer ink. WOW! I said, I hope this pays off.

We did a lot of planning. We tried to think of everything we needed to take care of before leaving. As a matter of fact, before we committed to the trip, I made a list of everything that I thought would be a potential problem or conflict for the trip. Both Rich and I then came up with a plan or solution to these problems to determine if we could leave our house for ten months. And, indeed, we actually could. I would never have dreamed that it would be possible and would have said how in the world can you leave your house that long, what about this or that? But we answered those questions, came up with a plan and then put the plan in action.

It took us from February to the time we left in May to prepare for our long journey ahead of us. We arranged online mail service, banking and bill pay. We installed timers on the lights at home, dusk to dawn, in case of power outage. The bulbs are LED; we hoped they would last the whole time. We put a radio on a dusk to dawn timer also. The outside lights are dusk to dawn and we have a company maintaining them once a month. Our lawn will be mowed once weekly and the pasture biweekly. My mom and her significant other Dennis will be watching our house once a month and checking on things to make sure everything looks good. Some of our friends will check on the house if they happen to drive by. Our neighbors will also be watching the house. I told them if they see anyone in the drive loading up a bunch of stuff with the garage door open, that was bad. We have our friends Joe and Maria pulling weeds for us and spraying herbicide. My sister will be helping with my dad’s needs. Rich has suspended all unneeded home services and we have unplugged everything not in use, including the refrigerators. We have drained the hot tub, and didn’t open the pool. We traded our 2002 Avalanche for a newer 2011 Honda CRV. Rich wanted a more reliable vehicle with better gas mileage and lighter weight to tow behind the motorhome. I hoped we hadn’t missed anything. We would be missing traveling with our friends Gorden and Dinah, as they would be unable to travel with us due to their current life circumstances.

I am not sure we could have ventured out on this trip without help from our family and friends, especially my mom and Dennis, who will be watching our house, and my sister and her husband for helping with my dad’s needs. I told my mom she could be my watch dog, LOL. We’ll see.

On a Monday, after getting everything in order at the house, we were on our way for ten months of adventure in our RV; a 40 foot bus, a 2007 Tiffin Allegro Bus to be exact with rear diesel engine. The RV has four ‘slides’, sections that slide out to expand the interior space. We will be towing a car behind. The towed car has an auxiliary braking system on board, called a Brake Buddy. The towed car is referred to as either a ‘toad’ or ‘dinghy". The RV is equipped with all the necessities that we would need from home. There are three TVs (I wouldn’t really call having a TV a necessity but for me it is), a full kitchen with a large side by side refrigerator, convection oven, microwave, stovetop, even a dishwasher. Which I might add the dishwasher became known as the ‘souvenir cabinet’ and was never used once except by accident when it was full of souvenirs, oops. We have a king size Sleep Number bed, a full shower and even a washer and dryer, the most important things of all; well I guess some could argue the diesel engine might be the most important thing of all, but hopefully you get the idea. So, having all the luxuries from home, we were ready for the trip of a lifetime. I can’t wait, because all the planning has been stressful for me. Anyway, so the time has arrived and here we go in our ‘luxury apartment on wheels’ with the two doggies by our side in a space less than 500 square feet. It was just me, Rich, Winston and Webster along with our motivation and excitement about what we might discover in the great American West.

May 2013

Hittin’ the road!

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Monday, May 13, 2013

Bloomington, Indiana to Morton, Illinois:

Today is the first day to venture out on our new adventure. I am excited, but worried, because I sprained a ligament in my left knee about four days ago. I am moving slower than normal and being very careful. I have pain and swelling in my knee. I hope it will improve soon. I have never done that before. We are leaving our house around noon today after we get the house in order and prepare to leave for ten months. What a strange feeling, leaving our house for that long, knowing that we will not see it again for a while. Almost feels like moving…

I have packed so much stuff in the motorhome, I’m not sure if it will be able to move, LOL. At 12:53 PM we were finally rolling out of the driveway. It was gorgeous weather, in the 60s, sunny and crisp. We are traveling to Wal-Mart in Morton, Illinois to spend the night and stock up on last minute food and items. We drove two hours, stopped at a rest stop for a late lunch and then drove another two hours to Wal-Mart. I was really sleepy after lunch.

After arriving at the Wal-Mart parking lot, we saw a sign that was posted saying that no overnight parking was allowed. I was shocked because I had called ahead several weeks ago to get permission. I called the manager at Wal-Mart and informed her of our story and she decided to give us permission for an overnight stay this one time. We lucked out, yea! We went shopping at Wal-Mart and then fixed dinner in the RV; grilled chicken, rice and edamame pods. We went for a short walk with the dogs around the parking lot and then read and relaxed in the RV. When we leave tomorrow, we are headed for LeClaire/Davenport, Iowa. This is where the American Pickers are located, the ‘antique archeology’ show from TV. The original building is here. We may or may not see Danielle, Frank or Mike. We watch the show a lot, so it would be kind of neat to see them.

Upon going to bed tonight, we tried to sleep without the air conditioners running or the windows open, but it was too hot and noisy. A semi-trailer parked next to us with his generator on, which is very noisy. I decided to turn our generator on and the air conditioners and then I slept like a baby until…

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Morton, Illinois to Davenport/LeClaire, Iowa:

Webster is whining from his kennel. I looked at the clock and it says it’s only 6:00 AM. The time zone is different here. So really it’s 7:00 AM at home, but still 6:00 AM here. Way too early for me, but I guess Webster had to go outside really bad. So I reluctantly got out of bed. After taking the dogs out and having breakfast, I have decided to start writing about our adventure today.

We will get ready this morning and head to Davenport, Iowa. We have taken showers and are hanging out in the RV at Wal-Mart, waiting to head to Davenport. Check in time at the campground is not until 1:00 PM, so if we leave now it will be too early when we arrive. We have decided to leave Wal-Mart about an hour later. Our car battery is dead because the auxiliary brake drained the battery. Rich flagged downed some guy in the parking lot to jump start us. After getting the car started, we left for Davenport LeClaire, Iowa. We drove about 1.5 hours to the Interstate RV Park. The check-in lady Sandy was very nice. It is a nice RV park, nothing fancy, but clean and well kept. Our battery was dead again in the CRV, so we had to get someone to jump our car again.

After setting up the RV, we had lunch and took off to explore. We drove by the PJ and Mabel Palmer residence in Davenport. The mansion is located on Palmer university campus. PJ Palmer was a chiropractor and the mansion is on the national register of historic places because of the uniqueness of the porch (a showplace of the Palmer collections). The Palmers would travel a lot and had many collections from around the world. The university is for chiropractory. We did not tour the mansion because the guided tours are only on Friday and we are here Tuesday and Wednesday.

After driving by the mansion and taking a photograph, we decided to go to the villages of East Davenport. This is a quaint historic shopping district located on the banks of the Mississippi River and also on the national register of historic places. It was established in 1851 as a logging town. Logs from the northern forests were rafted to the saw mills of the village and carried as far west as Denver on the railroad. Depleted forests and a disastrous fire ended the logging era for the village. We walked around the town for a few minutes but we were not impressed with this quaint town. It was built up to sound better than it is. There was not much to do or many shops to see. We did take a picture of the log trestle railroad bridge from the early 1900s. This was the first bridge to span the Mississippi River and was struck by a steamboat. The bridge burned but was soon repaired. The steamboat company sued the railroad, which was successfully defended by a young lawyer named Abraham Lincoln.

We decided after this to head to LeClaire to visit the Antique Archeology site (American Pickers TV show location.) This was the main reason we decided to stop here on our way out West. LeClaire is a quaint town with small shops, the river front and a few museums and restaurants. The downtown area had outdoor speakers on the light posts with Dixieland jazz playing throughout the streets. The Antique Archeology site was neat. It was small and located right behind a gas station, one block off the main road. Mike, Frank and Danielle were not there because they are getting ready for a big picking session in Europe. I asked the girl at the desk if she had been on TV and what her name was. Her name is Emily and she has not been on TV and she said there are five other girls that work here that haven’t been on TV yet either. Maybe someday stardom will be for her. There were lots of old motorcycles, black leather jackets, an Abbot and Costello head and a Majestic sign. A lot of stuff was only for display and not for sale. They had a lot of souvenirs for sale (touristy stuff, like T-shirts, patches, key chains, etc.) We could hear the answering machine upstairs where people were leaving messages saying what kind of stuff they had available to pick through. There was a girl upstairs listening to messages and the upstairs was blocked off to visitors. There were many other visitors stopping to look at the site. We took some pictures, had a soda and snack at the nearby gas station outside overlooking the Mississippi River and moved on to the Buffalo Bill Museum.

The Buffalo Bill Museum is a small museum on the river banks, charging $5 admission. They had a small amount of Buffalo Bill information, and lots of other general community history stuff. This was not really a big deal. After the museum, we walked downtown and stopped at a restaurant for a drink. We went to the Blue Iguana and set outside overlooking the river. We had a drink and some chips and salsa. We decided to head back to the RV and rescue our doggies, but not before stopping at a bookstore for Rich to find a book. Back at the RV we fed the doggies. Webster didn’t tear up anything this time. Thank you! It was 93 degrees F today, kind of hot, but not really humid.

We are not sure what we will do tomorrow on Wednesday. The Putnam Science and History Museum is something Rich would enjoy. We might visit the Davenport sky bridge. Rich may want to metal detect at Lindsay Park at the villages of East Davenport. There is a restaurant on the water that looks like fun for lunch called The Boathouse. We’ll just decide tomorrow. For now we are relaxing at the RV with the doggies. We went for a walk around the campground and met some guy that said he went to high school and college in Bloomington, IN. He doesn’t live there now, but he knew a lot of people in Bloomington, go figure. That is all for now.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Davenport/LeClaire Iowa:

Webster woke us up whining again! We are not sure why. This time it was about 6:20 AM. It’s another sunny day, yeah. We just had breakfast and are going to take showers and venture out somewhere today. We went to the Putnam Science and History Museum today. There were tons of school age children on field trips, they were very noisy. We walked around for about two hours. The museum was ok for its size. We watched The Flight of the Butterflies 3D on a large movie screen similar to IMAX. It was pretty good. The story described a man who was curious about where the monarch butterflies migrated to in the winter. His entire life was about researching the monarchs. He finally discovered that they migrated to Mexico during the winter months and migrated back northeast during the warmer months. They somehow knew where to go generation after generation. I felt like I was in a classroom full of 5th graders, LOL.

After the museum, we visited the sky bridge by the river. The sky bridge is 600 feet long and 50 feet wide, and all glass. It wasn’t that big of deal. We then went to The Boathouse on River Drive for a late lunch. We sat outside on the river’s edge. It was sunny, warm and a little humid. Our food was just okay. After lunch we went to upper Lindsay Park (which is located at the villages of Davenport East.) Rich wanted to metal detect for about an hour. The park was pretty, overlooking the river, but noisy because of the road below. The road was out of sight, but loud. The park was used as a parade ground for training Union soldiers stationed at Camp McClellan. Union soldiers and Native American prisoners were very much a part of the village in the 1860s.

After the park, we drove back to the RV for dinner, rest and relaxation. Tomorrow we are leaving to head to Monticello, Iowa for one night. The campground is Walnut Acres. We are going to visit the Field of Dreams movie site and maybe the world’s largest frying pan if we have time, then move on after that. Tonight we will relax in the RV.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Davenport/LeClaire, Iowa to Monticello, Iowa:

Webster didn’t wake us up this morning. I awoke around 6:30 AM but went back to sleep until 7:30 AM. We had breakfast at the RV and decided to move on to Monticello, Iowa. Our departure wasn’t very smooth. After Rich pulled the RV forward, I saw we had left the jack blocks down. Some guy stopped me on the way out to let me know that the door awning on the RV was still out. When trying to hook up the CRV, we realized we needed to disconnect the radio fuse to avoid the auxiliary brake draining the car battery. But I had already been through half the steps to put the CRV transmission in neutral gear. So we had to start over and then remove the fuse. However after removing the fuse and trying to put it back in, it got dropped, never to be found. We tried another fuse and it got dropped and lost also. Some guy at the park helped us with another fuse, because we didn’t have any more and that one got dropped and lost. The radio fuse was in a very difficult location and could only be put in place at a certain angle. When they dropped they would go behind a panel that we couldn’t remove. By this time Rich decided to walk about a block away to a store to see if they had any fuses. The other guy checked and had another one. I was able to get the fuse in and get the car ready to tow. Rich came back with more fuses and tools. I guess we can use those next time. I also realized that one of the slides wasn’t all the way in. Wow, kind of a rough start. Oh well, no harm, just frustration.

We finally arrived at Walnut Acres in Monticello, Iowa and checked in for one night. We had lunch at the RV and ventured out to explore. Our first stop was the Field of Dreams movie site in Dyersville, Iowa. This is where the movie was filmed in 1988, with Kevin Costner and Ray Liotta. Ray played ‘shoeless’ Joe Jackson. The movie site is out in the middle of nowhere in a farm field. The farm was chosen by Hollywood because it met all their criteria and the local chamber of commerce helped to find the farm for them. They wanted a traditional all American farm. It had to be surrounded by corn fields, set in gently rolling hills. The farm had to look like a one man operation. The house had to be white two-story with a long driveway. It took four days to construct the ball field. When we visited the site today it was very peaceful and quiet. Only about four people were there, however it gets about 65,000 visitors per year from all over the world. Rich ran the bases; we sat on the bleachers and had a short break in the shade under the pine trees. There is a carving in the bleachers that says ‘Ray loves Annie’ with a heart around it. Kevin Costner carved that himself. People live in the house currently. We have both seen the movie, we bought the movie there today and we are going to watch it again later. We were told by someone there that the cornfields surrounding the farm were going to be divided into several different areas with ball fields being built for teams to actually play. The Field of Dreams ball field is not used for teams to play ball or other events. It is only a tourist destination and remains the original movie site. The movie should be even better this time around.

After leaving the movie site, we decided to visit the St. Francis Xavier basilica in downtown Dyersville. It was impressive from the outside; with red brick and limestone, twin spires, a fine example of gothic architecture. We decided to go in and it was breathtaking, what a site in such a small town. This is one of only 53 basilicas in the US. It has 64 stain glass windows. As we proceeded down the center aisle, the main body of the basilica was 66 feet wide and 140 feet long. All the decorative paintings in the church were done between 1904 and 1905. Above the altar is an 1873 wood-carved crucifix. We only stayed a short time. They were having ‘adoration.’ There were several older ladies sitting and praying quietly. We didn’t want to disturb them too much with our oohs and ahhs and camera shutters.

Dyersville, Iowa is a nice clean farming town. I really liked it there, it’s kind of small. I guess the Hollywood director of the movie also liked Dyersville. There is a story where he and some other directors were looking for a movie site in Iowa. They had dinner in a local restaurant. After about 45 minutes, he had to go to his car. When he approached the car he realized he had left his trunk open with his filming equipment. He thought it was going to be gone, but to his surprise, nothing had been disturbed. This really made an impression on him, compared to what would have happened in Hollywood.

After leaving the basilica we decided to drive to Alamosa, Iowa to visit the National Museum of Motorcycles. Alamosa is about 30 minutes south of Dyersville, Iowa. This is a great museum. I told Rich on the way there that I bet Frank from American Pickers had been here, because he is so into motorcycles. While we were paying I saw a flyer of Frank and Mike from American Pickers. I ask the girl if they had ever been there. She said yes, you just missed him. He just left about 45 minutes ago. Bummer, we missed the pickers again, oh well. The museum was full of so many amazing and unique motorcycles, many very rare or one of a kind.

After getting recommendations for restaurants, we decided to go to Daly’s Winery and Bistro. Rich did some wine tasting then we sat outside in their courtyard for dinner. We bought a bottle of red dessert wine. Everyone knows that I don’t usually like or drink alcohol or wine. But I do love dessert wine and this wine was wonderful. It was pomegranate flavor. I drank a glass and could really feel it until I had dinner. Dinner was wonderful and the waitress was very sweet and attentive.

After dinner, we headed back to the RV to be with the doggies. We are going for a walk soon around the campground. It is a beautiful evening, mild in the 70s. Overall, I really like Monticello, Dyersville and Alamosa. As we drove around in the country to the Field of Dreams movie site the surroundings reminded me of Washington, Indiana. Tomorrow we will head for Minneapolis, MN to visit with Rich’s daughter Lauren and her husband Ronnie.

Friday, May 17, 2013

Monticello, Iowa to Savage (Minneapolis), Minnesota:

Today we are heading to Savage, MN to Town and Country RV Park and Campground. Our drive will be approximately five hours. We departed smoothly this morning, yeah. The drive felt really long for some reason. It rained off and on and was raining heavily when we arrived around 4 PM. The campground is kind of tight, it works, just feel like a sardine where we are located. It is a nicely maintained campground with amenities and nice people, just a little tight. The CRV was a little tough to remove from the tow bar because we were on a slight angle, however it eventually came loose. Arriving in the pouring down rain is not the best. We have to check in, disconnect the car, take the dogs out, park and hook up the RV. This is not fun in the rain, and more challenging. Rich had to hook up in the rain and was drenched when done. His clothes are in the dryer right now and he is relaxing with a cup of coffee. We will relax here tonight and watch the movie Field of dreams since we had just visited the site yesterday. It’s going to be a rainy evening so staying in sounds good especially after driving all day. Tomorrow, we are supposed to meet Lauren and Ronnie for lunch. Well, we did watch the movie tonight and it was interesting. The carving from the bleachers had been moved from the lower bench to the upper bench. I think they may have moved the board to preserve the carving, but I’m not sure. It was cool to watch the movie after just being at the site. We somehow felt like we had been at the filming of the movie.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Savage, Minnesota:

We woke up this morning to pouring down rain, thunder and lightning about 6:30 AM. We didn’t want to get out of bed, but waited for a break in the rain to get up and take Winston and Webster outside. Our break didn’t last long enough, Rich still got wet. Savage is a suburb southwest of St. Paul, MN. It looks like a nice clean area. We are headed to St. Paul to meet Lauren and Ronnie at the History Museum. It will take us about 45 minutes. When leaving the motorhome this morning, there were at least three inches of rain puddle outside the motorhome door. It was pouring!

After walking around the museum for approximately three hours, we all decided we were hungry. Lauren had picked out a restaurant in St. Paul called Pizza Luce. It was a casual deli style pizza, sandwich, salad shop. It was pretty good food. After lunch we came back to the RV to take the doggies outside. Lauren and Ronnie came over and we played euchre for a few hours and then drove back to St. Paul for dinner on Grand Avenue at La Cucaracha’s. It was a good Mexican restaurant. Grand Avenue was an amazing street with old, huge, stone houses. Just around the corner were more restaurants along the strip. It had kind of a small town feel, a little like Bloomington but just a little bigger. There was a lot of outside dining with umbrellas and such.

Ironically about two miles away was a totally different part of town. It seemed a little rough when we stopped at Wal-Mart. I had preferred that Rich and I stay together while in the store, because there were some bad looking dudes walking around. Funny how one area is the happening place and less than two miles away is such a rougher place. Anyway, I would definitely go back to Grand Avenue and Summit Avenue.

We are resting with the doggies at the RV tonight. We will be leaving tomorrow for Sioux Falls, South Dakota. They are calling for severe thunderstorms with strong winds and possible hail. I hope we do not have any problems on the way to Sioux Falls. We will be staying in Sioux Falls for three nights. South Dakota is our official state for heading out West, how cool is that? We will be leaving in the morning. It is very tight in the campground so I hope it will not be raining heavy when we depart because it will just make things more difficult. But we cannot control the weather. Good night

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Savage, Minnesota to Sioux Falls, South Dakota:

Today we are headed for Sioux Falls, SD. We are leaving before 9:00 AM. Our drive to Sioux Falls was pretty good. On the way there I noticed that we had a window opened. When I tried to close it I realized there was a loose screw from the window lock and it had fallen behind the couch. When I tried to reach it I couldn’t. I decided to try harder this time, so I spread my breasts apart and lunged at the screw with my left arm. When I did my chest hit the couch and I felt a pop and an uncomfortable feeling in my chest, almost like a pop or rip. I became sore later in my chest area and into my back.

Lauren had mentioned a place off of I-90. It was exit 119, Blue Earth, Minnesota. There is a 55.5 foot tall Jolly Green Giant statue. It has been in Blue Earth since 1979, but the headquarters of the namesake company are in Le Sueur (about 60 miles away). Paul Hedberg hosted a show in Blue Earth called Welcome Travelers. He would interview people as they would pass through town. He would give them green giant vegetables at the end of each show and they would sometimes ask, Where is the Green Giant? Hedberg learned that I-90 would bypass Blue Earth and cut off his supply of guests so he figured that a life size giant by the freeway might be enough to lure travelers to town. The company isn’t responsible for the statue, which is why the company is 60 miles away. They only gave their approval. We stopped here to visit the statue, which is pretty neat. There is a museum but it was closed. The statue stands beside the fairgrounds and is very impressive. We took a few pictures and then got some burgers from DQ and headed down the road for Sioux Falls.

When we arrived at Sioux Falls, there was A LOT of construction going on. The construction was right beside the KOA campground and also the highway. How unfortunate, because otherwise the KOA was a pretty nice campground. We are not very happy about the construction noise. The drive took a lot longer than I thought. It was supposed to be about 3.5 hours but it took 5.5 hours. The Green Giant tour and rest stop was about an hour. Then we stopped for gas and another rest stop. I was pretty tired when we arrived at the campground for some reason. We just relaxed at the campground. I later made some homemade ‘snicker doodle’ cookies. They were just okay. Rich and I were eating them faster than I could make them, guess they weren’t that bad.

I noticed today when we left Savage that Webster had a small dime size blood red spot on his belly. It looked like internal bleeding, but he was acting okay. I also noticed that he had a small amount of greenish drainage from the corners of his eyes. The red spot faded slightly over the next few hours, but still there. His eyes got worse. Worried he might need to go to vet, we decided to wait until morning. So off to bed we go.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Sioux Falls, South Dakota:

This morning started out with construction noise and hammering. The hammering went on for hours. Rich and I were trying to sleep, but we could still hear the hammering even with ear plugs in. What a terrible campground choice this was! Anyway, when I took Webster from his kennel he had dried crust covering his eyes, bummer. I knew a veterinary appointment was needed. I wiped them clean with a warm cloth until the crust was gone. I looked for a vet this morning. I called three and finally got in to one. Rich was working on our Hydro Hot system, so I took Webster to vet. The vet did a few different eye exams and put Novocain in his eyes. He said that dogs have a 3rd eyelid. He pulled the 3rd eyelid up from the bottom of his eye. The pink conjunctiva is at the bottom of the eye. He pulled that up with a pair of tweezers and turned it inside out. He said that Webster has mild follicular conjunctivitis. He scraped them a little. He said it was an immune response and he may continue to have this problem. He gave Webster some eye drops that we will need to put in his eyes 4 to 6 times daily. Webster and I went back to the RV with his little bloody stained eyes and yellow fur. He was not hurting, but looked kind of sad.

Rich had called technical support about the Hydro Hot system not keeping our water hot for long time like it normally does. He had been troubleshooting that while I was gone. Hope he fixed it, because I need to wash my hair tomorrow.

We then decided to explore Sioux Falls. The first place on the itinerary was the Phillips Avenue Diner downtown. There was MORE construction downtown, bummer. Anyway we ate at the diner and it was good. It must be a popular restaurant. When I called Sioux Falls during my research to find out about the ‘sculpture walk’, the guy on the phone told me about the restaurant. After lunch we walked around town viewing the various different sculptures. Sculptors from all over the world enter their sculptures for prizes. There were over 50 sculptures to view throughout town. This was really interesting and it is done every year in Sioux Falls. After the sculpture walk, the second stop was Falls Park. Falls Park was a straight shot down the main street from Phillips Avenue, normally. But guess what, there was more construction, so we couldn’t get in the park and had to figure out how to get in. There was too much construction going on around this town. But we finally arrived at Falls Park. Falls Park is a park with waterfalls. In 1878 a mill was built so farmers could avoid the cost of shipping wheat to Minnesota or Wisconsin. The mill actually opened in 1881 with a seven story main structure built of Sioux quartzite quarried on site. The mill closed in 1883 due to inadequate supply of water and wheat. In 1929 it was converted into a warehouse, but in 1956 it was destroyed by fire. The lower walls still remain at the site. Falls Park is very pretty with the numerous different waterfalls and the beautiful quartzite stone. The quartzite with its reddish color is such a great contrast next to the water, blue skies and green grass. Rich and I spent a few hours there walking around, taking pictures, having a drink overlooking the falls at the café and climbing a tower for an even better view. After this we decided to visit the Cathedral of St. Joseph. The first mass here was held in 1919. It has twin towers that stand 185 feet tall. As we walked into the cathedral, I was taken aback by the sound of the pipe organs resonating throughout the church. There was a man playing the organ and it just sounded amazing. There are 3292 pipes with 62 ranks and 44 stops. The pipes range in size from a few inches long, weighing a few ounces, to