A collection of observations and thought along the way

In editorial contrast to B's observations, I have my own list that I've been building on for a while, and suppose that I should post as well now! :)

This post is just a collection of stuff that we want to get out into the world, in no particular order.

The podcasts that Barbara did in reporting for WIBM at Seneca Falls are at http://www.wibmnews.com/

Some particularly useful stuff -
* The Rand McNally "The Road Atlas '07" (thanks to the Wiley's!) is the best and easiest atlas and the default reference that we use. It has in fact been so used that we ended up having to duct tape it together. A very well though out and thorough reference.
* The bike trailer/jogging stroller that we got with the intent of getting a bike to haul it around has actually been most useful as a laundry and shopping cart. It does have a particularly annoying tendency for its front wheel to lock up and keep turning to the right...
* Bike rack on the back of the RV is not only useful for Delilah's bike (which followers of the blog will know has only been used briefly twice), but also the three folding chairs.
* The "iGo Juice 70" power system from Radio Shack. This is a "universal" charger designed to power laptops, and recharge things like phones, Palms and I suppose Ipod type deals. It has both an AC and DC/Car input, and can power a laptop while charging a phone at the same time. It came with an assortment of charging tips for laptops (and works with both my work laptop, and also in a pinch, Barbara's), but you have to buy the tips for the phones separately (which I've done). One box can thus charge almost everything that we have.
* Watering Hole from Camping world. Though the engineering on this could have been better in terms of lid removal, this water dish is great at doing just that - providing the cat with a supply of water, while not spilling on the floor. Simple design, cheap and it works.
* AAA membership, with the RV extension...
* The Radiant Oil Heater - heats much more uniformly than a regular convective air heater, you don't toggle from hot to cold. But it is big, and always a pain to stow.

Some general observations about the trip and the space -
* I thought that we would have tons of free time - and we most certainly do not have tons of it. Most of the free time that we do have after travel, sight seeing, doing our work stints, blogging and e-mailing is spent playing with Delilah. All the time that i thought that I would have to improve my guitar playing, learn more about database to web connectivity, reading, watching movies, etc., just isn't there.
* The internet satellite dish has worked well, but much of the time we simply haven't needed it since more than half of the parks that we have attended now have WiFi. In retrospect, we would have saved money having not bought the dish, and just staying in hotels those nights that we needed the WiFi. C'est la vie. Hopefully we can sell it without too much of a loss.
* Ok, so 25 feet for 2 months is a bit short on the RV. It has been good that we could drive and park it "almost" anywhere, but there is a particular congestion point coming out of the bathroom/emerging from the "comfy bed"/looking at ones self in the mirror/getting stuff out of the drawers that is most inconvenient if you are planning on doing any of the other above listed activities. That said, we don't plan on doing another trip this long in the foreseeable future, and for shorter trips, it really is a good size.
* Car - to tow or not to tow? As noted above, the relative small size of the RV has allowed us to go many places that we certainly wouldn't have gone in a much larger rig. There are still times that it is much easier and faster, or even only possible with a car. We decided to not tow a car behind, since towing complicates things (for those that have never towed anything, backing in particular is vastly complicated by towing), and thought that we would rent a car more often. To date, we have only rented one time - and that was more a luxury. We could have gone where we went in the car, in the RV, but it would have required breaking camp and setting up again each day (a process that takes from 10 minutes to half hour or more, depending on what we are using). Certainly if we were doing RVing full time (i.e. retired) a car would make sense. For us, we have done fine without it.
* RV's operate at a higher state of entropy than houses do. Things get dirty faster, break more often, and fall into disarray almost instantaneously after any organizational attempt.
* Things are more likely to spill in an RV. A pickle jar in the fridge will fall over and disgorge all of its fluid, making much of the fridge's contents worthless and stinky, and simultaneously allowing the remaining two pickles in the jar to dry up. A "bag of wine" will somehow spring a leak, and will be only slightly disguised by the smell of pickle juice. A tiny jar of jam normally used in single usage at a hotel, will manage to coat the contents of not only the drawer it was in, but also somehow the contents of the drawer above it (????). An inconspicuous glass of water left on a counter will either be knocked over during a midnight trip to the lou, or the cat will knock it over, or we will forget about it and start to drive.
* Laptops are reasonably good at being the "backup plan" for many things. If the Atlas doesn't have what we need, the "Streets and Trips with GPS" that I got for like $80 has done well enough to get us where we need, though it is worthless without a human driving it. Likewise, the laptop can play DVDs (albeit the interface is tough, and the video to the TV is mediocre) - but better to have the $30 dedicated box. Finally, they are a reasonably good backup for the real computers that we are used to working at at home, or at work... Dang, I miss my four monitors and high performance workstation at work some times!

Other more general observations along the way -
* Many places in the world don't have sprinklers to water their plants. They don't need them. They have rain. Strange concept to have a lawn with no sprinklers.
* Many people are obsessed with their lawns. We have seen all manner of people tending their lawns, in particular with their riding mowers. We've seen kids not older than 12, women, men older than the hills they grew their grass on...
* Despite often incomprehensible differences in some peoples basic tenants from my own, the trip has reassured me of the basic goodness of humanity.
* It does seem that people in smaller towns are more friendly, and more genuine. People in small towns don't honk their horns - they are in fact more likely to let you in front of them at an intersection, they don't glare at you, but may raise a quizzical eyebrow, and ask if they can help.
* It is curious what it is in a small town that makes it thrive. Certainly, they need to become a "destination" and in so, need to somehow attract tourists. To do that, they need to appeal to "something" unique. Many thriving small towns have an art scene, antiques, or have created an inviting space for visitors. Why does a town like Shamrock Texas (Just off route 40, and once a sprawling stop on the Mother Road) wither and die, and a place like Galena can in time flower? Shamrock had fallen to the point that a single building was shared by a Radio Shack along the front, a pharmacy along the back and a used appliance place along one wall. Most of the stores along its one main road were dead, but there were still two 50's era gas stations (non-functional) kept almost as shrines to their heyday.
* It would be largely impossible to be a vegetarian or vegan and actually have a social life in many parts of the country.
* The United Methodists are putting up "The Good Fight". There are few bergs that we have been through that didn't have a Methodist Church sign "Rosemont First United Methodist Church - 2 blocks on the left", etc.

Into South Dakota, Badlands and Wall Drug - May 15th and 16th

Today, heading into South Dakota towards the Badlands. South Dakota seems to be a bastion of practical, albeit conservative folks. The speed limit is just "75" on the highways - no special speed limit for trucks, or weight limits, or so on. Even in construction areas, the limit is 65. Of course the reality of the RV is that it once you hit 70, things start shaking about, and you need to back off. At least we can run at 70 here.

Lots of land in between, green and fertile. They also really like their signs here - one of the famous landmarks down the way is Wall Drug, which has been advertising "Free Ice Water" since the 1930s. There are stretches that have a sign every fraction of a mile which makes for some amusement in driving.

We got in to Badlands towards the end of the day, and managed to find a campground with wireless. I was able to play my "game night" with friends in San Diego for a few hours which was fun. It was a nice place with a park that D enjoyed - and she actually went to sleep without a fuss!

On the 16th, after a tough start in the AM (including pancakes), we toured through Badlands some more, and saw some beautiful places. After that, we wandered in to Wall, ate at Wall Drugs, and then headed on towards Mt. Rushmore. Tomorrow, we'll see the heads, a Native American, and a cave...

Jordan Minnesota and through the prairie - May 14th

The KOA that we stayed at last night was one of the nicest places in terms of people that we have stayed at. The couple that owns it was so friendly, and the workers (many of which are retired folks, that are doing the full time RV life now) were all a nice bunch - the way thing should be.
Barbara was working on one of her web sites, and so we asked if we could stay past their noon checkout. The guy said as long as we were out by 10PM he'd be fine...
While B worked on her web site, I did a little brain teasing on work stuff, and then finished up some projects on the RV - they let me borrow a ladder to install the "stink sucking" vortex, put the new sticker expansion set (Canadian provinces) up, more laundry, played with D in the park, and all sorts of stuff before we pulled out of camp about 3.

From there, westward bound again - through south Minnesota. Stopped in Walnut Grove of "Little House on the Prairie" fame. There was a farmer here that had actually reconstructed a number of dwelings using period materials including a log cabin, sod hut, sod house, and sod shed. Interesting process using a horse or ox drawn sod cutter making 1 x 2 ft "flakes" of sod, that were stacked two deep, then one across every third layer. They actually run the sod house as a Bed and Breakfast some times, people dress up in period clothing, etc. Nice fellow - was harvesting asparagus from his garden. They charge a few bucks admission to keep it up. The History channel actually visited a ways back, and did a show on Prairie Dwelling construction. Interesting stuff - and Delilah had a very nice time dancing in the prairie grass (pictured above).


From there, on for a while, stopping at a bar and grill/tanning place/camp ground that was a very local hang out. Dinner for the three of us (Cheeseburgers and fries with one beer) came to $12 total... Several ladies at the counter cursing a blue streak - hope Delilah didn't pick up too many funny words along the way.

A pretty view of windmills at sunset.

Camping in a nice little historic burg called Pipestone, which we will explore tomorrow.

Mall of America - Mothers day, May 13th

Today we drove a few hours on to the Mall of America. http://www.mallofamerica.com/

Along the way, we stopped to make lunch and parked near a small building, that turned out to be the town hall for a community. The entire building was perhaps 15 by 30 feet in size, tiled glass windows a few places for light. Sort of an interesting space to imagine what sort of important decisions for the future of that community may have been made there. We called our respective mothers to wish them a happy day, and wandered on.

From there, on to MOA. Huge structure, the largest indoor mall in the USA. Apparently during the long winters, this is the place you go and pretend that it is summer. They have an amusement park in the center of the structure, an indoor/underground aquarium and 500 stores. Problem is that even with 500 stores, about 498 of them are the same stores that we have seen in ever other mall, either duplicated, or in some other way slightly tweaked as if to make it more digestible for the regular public. Delilah and Dave went on some rides, while B attempted somewhat unsuccessfully to shop for clothes. Delilah likes the rides - on one mild rollercoaster she looked over at me and said "I think I like this!" I say "I'm glad, because your mom doesn't like rides, and it's been rather lonely at the parks" to which the lady in front of me cracked up.

The other highlight of the day was Delilah got her ears pierced. She was remarkably stoic about the experience with only a heavy blink when they did her ears, no crying, no complaining, nothing, which was probably at least partially due to Barbara doing a little "work" on D to distract her. Obviously, D is a girlie girl... We'll see how my granola eating, tree hugging, Barbie hating sister responds :)

Off to another KOA- this time a well appointed place, with a really friendly owner. Tomorrow, a little time to play in the AM, and then off again.

Galena Illinois and into the northern mid west - May 12th

After a difficult start with D wanting to play with her now otherwise preoccupied friend of the previous night, we went in to Galena which at one point was THE main city in Illinois - at that time Chicago was little more than a bog. Interesting thing that faites of time - these little cities such as Galena and Bizbee that at one time were major holders of fortune, hotspots along the road, and looked to have such a bright future, events come along and they slowly fade into obscurity or worse...

A great down town,with lots of shops, good food, and galleries. Spent several hours walking around on this beautiful day, and rolled out of town after lunch. From there headed over to Dubuque, Iowa, briefly, thinking that we might stay there, then decided there really wasn't that much of interest there, we continued on into Wisconsin and later Minnesota.

Along the way we saw several interesting things - one in Dickeysville Wi, was a decorated rock construction done by a priest in the 1920s. Apparently, applying all manner of rock, shell and other materials to a mural like construction was a meditative act for him - and in the process of 7 years, he made a massive and elaborate construction, with railings, a grotto (cave), numerous shrines each featuring a different kind of stone in the background. A bit garish, but a remarkable feat of love and dedication to have done this.

Then we also saw a number of Amish buggies driving the roads here. Friendly folk, waving as we passed. A beautiful land they live in - particularly at this time of year, where it is neither too hot nor cold nor humid. Another perfect driving day, even with a few showers later in the afternoon.

One of those little tourist cards at one center shared that a nearby town is the "Sink hole capitol of the world..." We might just have to stop by tomorrow and take some pictures...

Barbara decided that for her Mothers-day she wanted to stay in a hotel, so we found a place with a mini-suite to stay for the night. Saw a billboard and actually found a pretty good Mexican restaurant up the road a few miles, imbibed in some decent margaritas, good chips, and headed back to the mini-suite where we enjoyed a soak in the jacuzzi tub before bed.

Unfortunately, the definition of what a "suite" or "mini-suite" is, is sadly blurred. It can mean anything from one big room, or two rooms with no door in between, or in some rare cases two actual rooms with a door. Traveling with a kid, it would sure be nice to at least have a louvered wall partition in between the compartments so that the kids room is dark while we are still up and reading, or other wise want privacy. Would be a great application of the illusive "instant wall".

Also, a general "I'm sorry" to everyone out there that this blog has been the only source of contact with you all. I think I've sent only a handful of personal e-mails, and made 2 personal phone calls the whole time. Oh well, at least you can all feel loosely connected by the blog... :)

A long day of driving - May 11th

From Milan, Ohio, I woke up early not knowing I had my watch set in the wrong mode. Thinking that it was a few minutes after 9AM, and knowing that the rest of the family was tired, I showered, packed up camp, and left B and D sleeping in their respective beds, and rolled out of camp (checking for noxious spiders as I went). It wasn't until I stopped at the office to pay the bill and found them closed, that I realized that it was actually only 7AM... Delilah still managed to sleep until almost 10, but Barbara was up before 8 - being that she sleeps in the back of the RV, she is actually beyond the fulcrum of the tires, and as such she gets a major bump whenever we go over anything in the road - a little crack in the pavement becomes a bounce.

Since the next planned stop on the trip is "Mall of America" in Minnesota, and the day was the most lovely driving day that we had yet had, I drove with a compulsion through Indiana, a brief bypass and breakfast in Michigan (tag), then through Illinois, skirting most of Chicago (but still getting caught in traffic at 2PM), and finally getting off the toll roads which have milked well in excess of $100 from us, we drove towards the "Historic town of Galena" which supposedly had camping near it. The instructions in the Woodalls guide said 2 miles east of the intersection of a highway, just outside of town. Problem is that this highway snakes around the town, and in fact intersects twice. So in our questing for the campground, we ended up getting lost, and eventually thought that we must have passed it. Back tracked to a dirt road with a camp ground sign on it, and went several miles out into the boonies to find another broken sign, and no actual camping. Just some guy in a field, hauling a pair of logs back to his house - he saw us, and high tailed it away without looking back... Finally went through the town, and upon coming out the other side, found the campground next to a 24 hour Wall Mart.

Got in to camp about 6 (office was of course closed), but D had some good time to play there, and made a new friend of an 8 year old who was very sweet, and put up with a lot from D. After D's bed time, I wandered down to Walmart (which I admit to having done more often than I like to on this trip) to buy an "Ice Cream Ball" - basically an ice cream maker in the shape of a ball that you operate by rolling and tossing around with the Birthday money from mom (thanks mom!). Somehow a cheap DVD player also ended up in the basket, which will be much easier than trying to use the laptop as a DVD player (birthday from my bro- thanks Mark!).

Niagara falls and the drive on - May 10th

Broke camp thinking that the other playground with the GOOD stuff would be open in the AM, but alas, no. Still closed for the season, so B was relegated to some 20 year old swings. This place definitely shouldn't be open yet - even something as simple as a propane fill took close to 20 minutes with all the waiting, etc. Not all KOAs are created equal...

Went in to town to see the falls, which were impressive as always. I have been before as a kid during our family travels. This was B's first time. We walked along the upper falls, then did the Maid of the Mist tour which includes an overlook and a boat tour around the base of both the US and Canadian falls. The US falls are nice in that they are much lower volume than the canadian falls, and as such, you can actually see the falls. Getting close to the Canadian falls, you basically just see a solid cloud of mist with a few fleeting views of the falls as the mist wafts about. Thoroughly drenching, even with the plastic ponchos that they provide, but definitely a great thing to see. During the cruise we crossed over to the Canadian side briefly, so I can ad Ontario to the list of provinces that we visited :).

From there, on to take care of some other pressing business - on to Camping World for some more stuff, including a vortex thing to help suck the stink out of the black water tank, which with the warmer weather has gotten noticeably worse. Problem is that it is a bit more of an undertaking to install than I had thought, so we'll see when I actually get around to it. Also got the tire replaced and the spare rotated back - ready for the next tire event!

From there, driving out through another corner of PA, then into Ohio, and stopped in Conneaut, Ohio for dinner (you know what they say about "It's who you Conneaut..." :) ). Since we had only stopped at one other McDonalds, and D is always asking, we decided to stop there. Actually parked in front of a Methodist Church. As we were sitting, chewing on our victals, an elderly lady walked up to the end of our table, and started staring out the window. Delilah was also looking out the window (a train had gone by earlier), and noted a bug "A bug!" she says.
The lady replies "That's my dog"
I say "I think, she was talking about the bug"
The lady says "yeah, that dog is quite a digger. She'll see a gopher, and dig a hole half as long as her body!"
"Wow, that's quite a digger alright"
"Yup, she'll catch a gopher and drag him out of the hole. Then she'll let him run just so far, before she'll grab him again, and drop him back that same spot."
By now, both Barbara and I are a bit worried about where this was going - and D was just looking on. Politely, I say "Oh, really..."
"The other day after she played with one for a while, she ripped it in half, and brought half into the house, and left the other half on the patio".
For some reason about now, the hamburgers started looking less appetizing...

Then past Elyria (home to Ridge's Pipe Inspection group that SeekTech sells to), and on to Milan Ohio for the night late - by 10PM and D not sleeping in the RV, we decided that it had been a long enough day.

Pulled into a place doing the "honor system" thing, and wandered around in the dark trying to find a flat and accessible spot. Finally found one, which B helped me back in to. While trying to hook up power, I first noticed a Black Widow in the power box, so went to the RV for a squirt can of WD-40 (works wonders on spiders). As I went to open the box a second time, I saw anothe spider on the outside which I was less familiar with - but looked something like what I remember a Brown Recluse to look like... Squirted that one, and the widow, then flung off the cover to avoid other issues, and finally had power. Proceeded back to the RV in all due haste...