Category: Venturing Out and About

Thankfully we got off to an early start to see the falls as I heard it’s incredibly crowded in the afternoons.    We opted to head for Goats Island first where you can walk to the Bridal Veil Falls and watch the Maids of the Mist nose in close inside the curves of the horseshoe.   The sound the falls makes is awesome,  I had forgotten as it’s been close to 40 years since I was last there.   This was the first time for Kathy.

We took a bunch of pics and walked all around then headed for the path to the American Falls.    Funny thing is there are no signs to get you to either falls by walking, and they are very close. All the signs are for the concessions:   Trolleys,  Cave of the Winds, Maid of the Mist, etc.   Herd the cattle this way and that for a small fee.

It was a delightful stroll over there.   It was a beautiful morning with a light breeze and maybe 70 degrees.  Not at all what I remember about August on the East Coast.  It is a beautiful pathway and bridges around the river and the rapids before you actually see the falls!

The American Falls are almost straight across, but you can get right out over them and look down, which is very cool.  Big rainbows on a sunny day!  [You could also walk out on a bridge to a tower and look back, with a beautiful view of them all, which I did for $1.25!]

Then we drove off the island and into the town of Niagara Falls.  Kathy compared it to Tijuana…  It was a bit ugly and dirty,  but she may never have been to Tijuana.  It was much cleaner than TJ.

We headed over there to see the American falls from the other side and to go onto that big overlook structure.   The whole place is very commercialized.  That overlook charged to go out there.   It was a very small fee, but why charge for that?

The campground was extremely nice, but they were the most expensive place we have camped so far, even more than Joe’s Lodge.  It had everything and was very well maintained.  What an incredible place for families with kids!!

Here are some other pics.   We head for the 1000 Islands area  tomorrow. 

 

We decided to check out Drummond island the next day which was via the ferry from De Tour Village.   Turns out they charge for the car and for the passengers.   $14 round trip.   The route to the island is short but is on the main north/south channel from Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, so the ferry dodged a large ore carrier that was really moving south toward Lake Michigan.  There is no other way to the island,  no bridge or causeway.  And after getting over there and driving around for an hour or so, I see why.   It’s a large island with no town and lots of long roads leading seemingly no where.    We were not very impressed.  We had wanted to try a Mexican restaurant there, but it was closed on Mondays.

While we were there, Chris texted us that he was on his way to San Diego to drop off all his worldly possessions as he was moving out of his school apartment at 1111 Wilshire Blvd.  and then the next morning was on a flight to Europe for three weeks, so we headed back to the coach to walk him thru fixing some issues caused by a blackout in our neighborhood last month and also help him get the garage door opened so he could unload his stuff into the garage.  I had powered down most of the house and bolted shut the garage door so it could not be opened from the outside.

He was able to fix everything that had stopped working and then headed toward the U-haul return facility so he could catch the train back to LA!

On Tuesday morning we were headed toward Gaylord Michigan to have the fridges sensor fixed.

We lucked out and found this campground at the last minute.  What a beautiful site it was in Winnie Dam Campground,  built and managed by the ACOE (Army Corps of Engineers).  We had about 1/2 a football field of clearing and trees around the RV for $12 a night.   It only had 50 amp electric with no water or sewer hook ups, but there is a dump site that looked very nice.

I knew the water situation before going, so I filled the 120 gallon water tank and emptied the other tanks prior to leaving Joe’s.    We really only need the electric so we can run both the AC’s.    We can run them both on the genny, but so far we have only been running it on our lunch breaks in the Interstate rest stops.  We get both AC’s and the microwave while parked on the hot tarmac.   That is a pretty awesome capability when you think of it.   Our genny is a quiet diesel, so it just sips from our engine’s tank and can power everything in the coach if we decide to boondock.   We also have 4 house batteries and a 2,800 watt inverter that can also power everything except the AC’s quietly.

I ventured over to look at the dam on Lake Winniebigoshish, which is the Mississippi River.   It says it’s 170 river miles from the headwaters, which seems odd as we were there the day before,  couldn’t have been 60 miles as the crow flies.  And it’s a very big lake!

While I was walking over there, I was scoping out the exit to see if I could get out of the woods with the car attached or if I needed to hook it up afterward.   I was able to maneuver out with the car attached.

Off to Duluth…

We headed north on US 59 from Detroit Lakes Friday morning to take that all the way up to US 2 heading toward Bemidji and Joe’s  Lodge about 10 miles east of town.   We had a difficult time getting anything near Bemidji and ultimately found Joe’s which had 2 RV sites.   It was a quaint little place a couple miles down a fairly well-graded dirt road.   But as soon as we turned down their driveway, the tree branches dropped a couple of feet lower and were bouncing off the antennas.   Then a much thicker branch scrapped the satellite and A/C units..   Kind of sucked.

Got down to the bottom of a small grade and found the office, checked in, and the lady lead me to the site.   First thing I noticed was the electric pedestal was next to the road and the water and sewer were about 40′ away at the extreme back of the site.   I knew this was going to be a challenge.   I guess they had a lazy electrician as putting that pedestal near the road will be a problem for most RV’rs.   As it was, I had to move the front of the rig all the way up to the road with my mirror sticking out into the road so the power cord could reach the pedestal.  And I have a pretty long cord at 30′.   30′ of that 50 amp cord probably weighs a couple hundred pounds.  Thankfully I have a power reel to pull it back in.

Anyway,  we got the RV set up, fixed some lunch and headed out for Lake Itasca and the Mississippi Headwaters about an hour away.

We arrived, paid our way into the state park and drove to the other side of the park to walk down the trail to the water.   It was a very pretty, tree-shady trail out there, maybe a quarter of a mile or a little less, but we were there in a few minutes, and the dogs were allowed on the trails (Hooray!) 

It’s hard to imagine the headwaters, which is a small watering hole with a rock bridge so you can cross, is the beginning of the Mighty Missippi!!

We spent maybe 20 minutes out there to get a picture and watch the kids playing in the water when I noticed very dark clouds moving in, so we hightailed it back to the car.   Good thing as we had left our rain gear in the RV as it was beautiful when we left home and also when we arrived at the state park gate.

No sooner than we got the pups into the car, it started to rain.  Just a bit at first, then the winds changed an order of magnitude and we were in a big blow as we headed out of the trail parking lot.   It poured and the wind howled like we hadn’t seen prior.   It became as dark as night even though it was about 4 hours till sundown.   Most of the drive back toward Bemidji was at 30 MPH on the 60 MPH road.   That almost felt too fast for the conditions.

As we got into Bemidji, the rain subsided and the sun almost came back out.  We had to drive over to Paul Bunyun and Babe, the Blue Ox, for a quick pic.   Kathy wouldn’t even get out of the warm and dry car.   We made a quick trip to the market for fruit and veggies and headed east to the coach.

As we turned onto the dirt road, we saw two trees in the road.  We were able to go around one of them, but the other blocked the whole road.  (sign of things to come)  I tried to move it, but it wasn’t going to budge, so I drove over it at the edge almost in the ditch, to Kathy’s dismay.

The wind had really ripped thru the campground, snapping large trees off at 10 feet off the ground, ripped the shade structure off the RV across from us.  Lots of damage.   The power and water were out.  And as I noticed, so was my refrigerator.   Not good as it should have gone into battery/propane mode.

Other than the fridge being dead, we saw nothing else with the coach.   I spent many hours that night and the next morning troubleshooting it till I found a bad sensor the next morning and jumped around it till we can get somewhere to get a replacement.    Hey,  now I know where are the fridge relays, breakers and fuses reside – three completely different places in the RV!

 

Oh the Joys of Traveling!

We were spending 5 days in Detroit Lakes to visit some friends/relatives.  I had to trust Kathy on the “relative” aspect as I would have needed a flow chart to follow the relationships.   Turns out they were visiting relatives too, and they lived right on Little Detroit Lake year round.  (I cannot imagine what it would be like to live on a large lake in northern Minnesota in the winter)

The funniest thing occurred, our campground was maybe a mile from their house.  Not sure how we did that as I did not know where they were in Detroit Lakes when I made the reservation.

Detroit Lakes is a nice little town with lots of railroad tracks and lots of long trains on them.  We all went to breakfast the first morning at a small cafe in the heart of downtown.   Wheat or white toast.  Geez, the Midwest.  Where’s my sourdough or even rye bread?   The food was good, but don’t ask for Chulula sauce,  just received a blank stare.   The best part was at the end of the meal we tried to pay the bill with our credit cards.  They didn’t take cards,  just cash.  the Midwest strikes again.  Between the 4 of us, we scrounged up enough to be allowed to leave without doing the dishes…  Off to the ATM.

Afterward we toured the lakes and Kathy wanted to see the turkey farm Jacki’s family grew up on, so we headed out there.   The farmhouse, barn and a few outbuildings were still there, but the rest of the farm was sold to a large corporation.  Not sure what they are doing over there.     A funny thing happened as we drove up the driveway and around to the back of the house,  there was a woman and a young child sitting there and she waved to us to come in, she said she had been expecting us.   I started thinking I was in a Twilight Zone episode.    We were all wondering why she was expecting us..  It was just a bit odd to me.   (turns out she was actually expecting a real estate agent, as they are selling the property)

Jacki gave us the grand tour of the area:   the cabin she and John owned with her parents, schools they went to, where friends lived, and just a beautiful drive around the lake and the town.  We ended the day with hors d’oeuvres and beers at the Longbridge  Grill, overlooking the lake in the afternoon.   Left as it was about to rain.

Tuesday started late,  delicious albondigas soup by Jacki at the house,  then Dairy Queen.  Haven’t been there in ages!!

Wednesday, we all piled in the car with the dogs and drove to Park Rapids, a cute little town about an hour east of Detroit Lakes.  Spent a couple hours strolling through the shops with a stop for John to get a haircut!  We never did find the rapids!

When we got back, we enjoyed burgers and beer at the Shorewood Pub on Lake Street.  Great burgers!!   Then after a break for a rest, we got together and went to the  movies:  War of the Planet of the Apes.  Fun to go to the movies, which we hardly ever do, but it was a sad one 🙁

Thursday Jacki invited us over for relaxing at their beautiful backyard on the lake and a wonderful salmon dinner.  Her cousins were there and some other friends came over.  It was so nice to see Jacki and John for a longer visit.  Crazy that we met up about 2,000 miles from San Diego!!!!!  Who would have thought that?!

 

 

 

We left Wall SD early as it was a long ride to Sioux Falls and we had a sick puppy that was going to need a few stops along the way.   Our first stop was just a short turnout with nothing but blacktop and weeds.   It was about 50′ off the freeway and wide enough to have around 3 vehicles abreast stopped there.

The second stop was at the Missouri River crossing rest stop.  Pretty nice spot with a nice view.  It appears to be where Lewis and Clark crossed it as there was a blurb about that and a very large statue of Sacajawea.

I didn’t realize that river was so large.  The Colorado river is puny compared to it.

 

Sioux Falls was a nice little city.  Lots of train tracks running every which way and a nice historic district of older homes on streets with trees forming a canopy.    We mainly stayed there to get the furkids groomed but Baxter decided to get something call C.Diff that prevented him from a haircut.   Dusty is all trimmed up and looking good.  Baxter looks like a ball of hair at the moment.   After getting Baxter to the Vet and Dusty to the groomer we gave them a day to recover and then headed out to find Sioux Falls namesake… namely the falls.  Turns out they are in the middle of downtown.  And fairly impressive for a downtown park with waterfalls it was.   Check out these pictures.   Hard to imagine these are in the middle of a downtown city of about 150k.

 

 

 

We packed up and left Custer, SD, late in the morning Tuesday to head over for a one-night stay just north of the Badlands National Park in Wall, SD.   After a couple hours, we pulled into Wall and found our campground and a line of motorhomes in front of the office.   Once checked in, we proceeded toward our site down the maybe once long in the past gravel road.   It was just dirt now.   We drove till we came to the back of another coach blocking the road.   It appeared the two RV’s that were at the office when I pulled in were given the same #6 site.    Not a good sign.   But once the office fixed it, we got to our empty site, we deployed the living space and hooked up.

Since we were only here overnight, I headed over to the Badlands right away.  Kathy begged off on this drive to stay with Baxter who got really sick.  [We called the only vet in the town and he was out doing some annual check of the cows so no one was available.]   It was only about 8 miles south of Wall, so I filled the car with gas and took off.   The Badlands must have been a sight when travelers heading west had just ridden a thousand miles of green prairie and came upon this desolate place.

I stopped at the first viewpoint and noticed a huge wall of black clouds far in the distance touching the ground,  probably back near Rapid City.   I walked down to the viewpoint and snapped a few pics, some with the storm in the distance.   I then headed further into the park and was about halfway thru when the radio squawked with one of those emergency broadcast tones.   Then they started talking about a severe thunderstorm.  Thankfully not a tornado warning, but 75 mph winds and quarter-sized hailstones.   They stated everyone should get under cover now.

It was just east of Rapid City and moving west at 35 mph directly toward the Badlands.    I made a U-turn and headed back home as quick as possible to button up the coach.   But as I got closer to Wall, I could see the storm was going to pass a few miles south of the town, and just then it started to sprinkle on the windshield.  But that was all i was going to see this afternoon.

I was kind of bummed I only got to see the top half of the park and won’t have time in the morning to drive the rest as we need to make it to Sioux Falls tonight so the pups can get groomed tomorrow morning and its a bit of a drive.

Of course we had a rude awaking later, around midnight the wind started howling and the coach started being buffeted around.   Then came the thunder and lightning.   I jumped out of bed and opened the laptop to view the NWS Conus weather radar.   There was another big storm coming thru.   Luckily its biggest red area was south of town, but there was a lot of red and yellow almost upon our location.   I immediately dropped the TV and moved the recliners back into their stowed position so I could bring in the slides quickly if it got any worse or if it started to  hail.   I went back to bed to watch the lightning from the little window and quickly fell back to sleep as it appears the worst was already over as my head hit the pillow.

 

 

We got up early and I headed over to Jewel Cave to purchase tour tickets as we heard they sell out very early and only sell them the day of the tour.  I picked a tour time of 4 pm so we would have plenty of time for the rest of the day’s activities.

I got back and we headed off to Mt. Rushmore.   It was a short half-hour ride over and surprisingly they have parking garages.  Shade!!   The pups weren’t allowed too close.   I guess they are worried they might pee on the granite.    It was an awe inspiring place.  Hard to imagine guys on wooden ladders with pneumatic tools did that.   I have always wanted to see it in person.  They are huge!

On the way there from Custer, you can see the beginnings of the Crazy Horse sculpture off the 185 highway.   It’s going to also be massive but only the face is close to finished.

There is no entrance fee at Mt. Rushmore, but there is a $10 parking fee,  and as I said, the parking garages are awesome on a warm day in the Dakota’s.

We stayed there about an hour, it was a bit too warm to hike the mountain and there isn’t anything else to see there… just the chatchski shop and some food joint.

From there we headed out to find Iron Mountain Road.   I read about it and a tunnel carved into the rock that had a great view of the dead presidents’ heads.    And they were right.  What an awesome view  it was.   And one of the windiest roads I think I have ever been on.  (and me a brain dead motorcyclist)  Turns our there were three square tunnels blasted out of the granite, and two of them lined up directly with the monument.  They had even cut down the trees in a straight line so they would be visible.   What a great road.   There were also a lot of wooden bridges that were shaped in like a spiral staircase so you curved around and went under where you just were.  Thank god we weren’t in an RV for this road.

After all that fun we headed back to the coach to eat some lunch and change clothes for the tour.   I neglected to tell Kathy there were 750 stairs on this tour.   It was awesome!   Although climbing all those stairs to get back up to the elevator was a real bear.  Thankfully it was 49 degrees down there so we weren’t sweating as much.   It was very different than Wind Cave.  I had a lot of fun,  but I think Kathy is done with caves for a while.

We leave Tuesday morning for the Badlands, staying across the street from Wall Drug.

 

 

 

We left Devils Tower before 9 am this morning for Custer, South Dakota.        Mt. Rushmore is the main attraction in the hills, but there is also the Crazy Horse memorial, which is a work in progress; then there is Deadwood; Custer State Park; and the two big caves,  Jewel and Wind Cave.

We headed into the hills just below Deadwood, which was nice, but it wasn’t at all like the TV show, so we kept going.  Also,  hard to park a 65′ vehicle in a small town like that.

It was a beautiful ride thru the hills to Custer.   We passed by another huge lake on the way there.   We are staying at a Horse Ranch Campground,  lots of barns and horse trailers,  but quite a few RVs too.   We were having a hard time finding a place to stay when a coach arrived next to us in Cody.   I mentioned we were heading to Mt. Rushmore and were finding it difficult to get a spot to park.   He had just been there and told us to try this campground.   It’s really nice and doesn’t even show up in the Good Sam app.  The pups like all the horses!

We arrived early and decided to check out Wind Cave.   Bought some tour tickets and headed into a very cool crevice at 5 pm (54 degrees cool), felt real nice on a 95 degree day.   It was a very interesting cave.  So far they have explored over 147 miles of it.  They speculate there may be up to a thousand miles left to explore.  There are lots of stairs and low ceilings.  I can’t imagine how hard it was to get concrete all the way in there to make the walkways, but it was carried on people’s backs in tire tubes.     And they don’t spend much on electricity,  pretty dark down there.  The ranger had to pass out flashlights at one point due to the lights going out completely.   You cannot believe how dark it gets in a cave 200′ below the surface.

They had the most amazing formations in there.   These box lattice like things,  I’ve never seen anything like it, never even in pictures.  The ranger explained it’s only found in 7 caves in the world, and this cave has 90% of all the structures found so far.   They explained them as if there was a brick wall and all the bricks were removed, leaving just the mortar.   If they were done by a brick layer,  they should find another occupation as they were at all angles.   And there wasn’t even one stalactite or stalagmite, like I had seen in the only other cave I have been too,  Luray Cavern.  Went there as a kid on vacation with my parents.  It was somewhere in Virginia.  This is a dry cave, so it was very different than what I remembered from back then.

Just prior to getting into the cave, we got to experience why it was called Wind Cave.  As far as they know, there is only one natural opening into it.   It’s a small hole in the rock about 15″ in diameter.  There was a stiff breeze blowing out the hole while we were there, maybe 20 mph, and cooler than what blows out of your air-conditioner at home.   It all revolves around the air pressure.  When there is a storm coming (low pressure) it is really blowing out the hole, and when it’s beautiful outside (high pressure) the hole is like a big vacuum cleaner.   There was a big thunderstorm brewing when we got there, so we got to experience the big outbound wind.