Let the Games begin

WHERE ARE WE? Moon Lake Recreation Area, near Jamestown ND 

NEXT DESTINATION? Somewhere in South Dakota

We woke up this morning about 7 am.  Why so early you say?  Well today is the day that we fly to Grand Forks ND and begin the US portion of our 2021/2022 journey.  We were off and running about 8 am and of course the pickup truck we are driving belongs to Keith Barkman, the owner of Red Rock Transport, is auto programmed to go directly to Tim Hortons.  We tried everything to change that, but we ended up there anyway.   That's ok because it will be the last Timmies for a few months.

From Tim's, we headed a few blocks to Fast Air, which is the charter company that will fly us to Grand Forks.  It was funny because all 9 people who were going on the flight were all arriving at the same time and hurrying and scurrying to the hanger to make sure they were first in line for the plane.  It reminded me of the show "The Amazing Race" where everyone had to race around the world and one team would do anything to get in front of the other teams. I could hear the narrarator saying "Team Green, you are the last to arrive and have been eliminated from the race!!"  However that was not the case and we all made it on the plane.   We had to show our covid tests and passports and we were good to go.

When we arrived, they were scurrying around our plane in a frenzy trying to get it ready for the flight.  There seemed to be a lot of work being done and we were not sure we wanted to fly on this plane.  Oh well they seem to know what they were doing.

Just kidding!!!   They actually headed us out to our plane which was a Beechcraft King Air 350 which is a fast little turbo prop twin engine.  

We loaded up and and our co-pilot fired it up and we were moving in no time.  They said 35 minutes to Grand Forks and we will be flying just under 300 miles per hour.  

Our co-pilot was a very young lady who did a wonderful job of the flight.  She greased it onto the runway in Grand Forks like a pro and we taxied right up to the Customs building.

Clearing customs was a breeze and took like 2 minutes.  Just the normal questions like where are you going and how long do you plan to be there.  The customs agent was a pro and he was watching our reactions to the questions and I think figured us out real quick for the country bumpkins we are!!   Sue asked him if he wanted to see our vaccination papers or our negative Covid test and he said they didn't mean anything to him.  I guess it is Canada that is making us test going in AND out of Canada. Sometimes it makes you wonder.   Outside we met Keith Barkman and his father in law who were flying back on our aircraft to get some more vehicles to bring over the border.  Our Motorhome was parked right outside the door and we were off in no time.  

We headed a little east of Grand Forks and then turned south down some quiet but good highways with the destination of Moon Lake Rec Area in mind.  We stopped in Cooperstown to pick up some food because we had cleaned out the fridge for crossing the border.  We turned a 2 hour drive into a 5 hour event and arrived at our destination shortly after 3.  That is exactly how we plan to travel for the rest of our trip down to Arizona.  Slow and scenic.  The little dispersed camping area will be perfect for us tonight.  There is only 1 other camper here so it will be quiet.  That is good cause we haven't slept that well the last couple nights thinking about the whole border process.  

So bottom line to everyone who feels the need to head south with their RV or even just a car, get hold of Keith Barkman from River Rock Transportation Inc.  The only way he will respond to you is if you e-mail him at keithbarkman81@gmail.com  .  He has some 300 people on the list right now so don't delay.  Even if the border opens on the 21st, he only keeps the $50.00 booking deposit, so don't be afraid to get your name on the list.  He is easy to deal with and a straight shooter.  He does what he says and walks you through the process.  If you want to see the process and the rates, you can go to River Rock Transport Facebook site, or check on yesterday's blog.  I posted it there.  Also a shout out to Fast Air and everyone there that made our trip low stress and pleasurable.  Thanks again.

So there you have the first part of our adventure complete.  They said it couldn't be done, and here we are, living proof that anything can happen if you believe you can do it.  Thanks to John Ford for tipping us off to this service.  

For tonight we are by a pretty lake with a cool breeze blowing.  We have food and drink and a comfy bed.  What more could one ask for?  Hope you had a great day too!