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!

A Covid test and the Motorhome is safely in the USA.

WHERE ARE WE? Days Inn, Winnipeg Mb NEXT DESTINATION? Grand Forks ND.

After a terrible sleep in the parking lot of the Flying J, we spent the morning cleaning out the fridge and doing up our paper work to make the MH ready to clear customs into the USA today.   We will be handing it over to a commercial company around supper time so they don't want anything even questionable in there.   We chose a company by the name of River Rock Transport Inc to do the job for us.  We booked our move about 3 weeks ago and everything has fallen into place nicely.  Here is their information.

So before we can fly to the USA we have to have a Covid test.  The US accepts the rapid antigen test which only takes about 15 minutes to get the results.  We booked our appointments a couple weeks ago for 2 pm today with Stars Drug Testing.  They are one of the only places that perform the test in Winnipeg and they are located on the complete other side of the city from the airport.  So we headed over there after lunch.  They do a quick swab in the nose, (not the crazy down to your lungs one.) and then you get to wait on a comfy couch for the results.

And just like that we are cleared of the Covid.  Whew dodged a bullet there!!  You have to have one of these within 72 hours of flying and our flight goes out tomorrow morning at 9 am.

So we now just sat in the parking lot and waited for Keith to show up and take the MH.

Keith  came around 5;30 and him and his father in law headed out with another SUV and trailer.  They are driving to Grand Forks tonight and then will fly back on the plane that we go down on so we will see them at the airport in the morning.  For tonight Keith gave us his truck to drop off at the airport in the morning, so we had wheels.  We felt right at home in his pickup which was filled with oil barrels that he is making bio diesel with.  He is definitely a country boy like us.

We headed over to the Days Inn near the airport to spend the night.

We slipped over to Dennys for a quick supper.   Sue posed for a photo.  The potato soup was delicious.

Then it was back to the hotel and put the feet up and relax.

Just about then we got a text from Keith.  We were happy to know he made it across with no problems.  Another hurdle jumped.  Now to get us across.

Our travels today took us from one side of Winnipeg to the other.  Here is where we went today.

Hope everyone had a great day!!

Our 2021 Adventure begins

WHERE ARE WE? Flying J, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada NEXT DESTINATION? Grand Forks ND on Thursday.

Welcome back to our blog.  Today is the day we leave on another adventure.  Our Daughter Sheri left a little note for us and we hope some of our kids may join us later this winter.

Some people over the last 18 months or so have lost some of their hope in life and are just existing now.  Travel is something that is great for the soul.   I saw this the other day and it about sums it up.

We have packed up CJ's and stored everything for the winter.   We pulled out about 1 pm and headed into town to pick up our Jeep TJ.  We will be bringing a little tougher Jeep with us this year so we can do more exploring.  

We had Shane at Daly repair install a hitch on the front and we haven't had the time to try it out yet, but what the heck, lets just head out and see if it works.

We got about 2 miles down the road and our bedroom window decided it wasn't coming with us on the trip.  This is the escape window and I think that the latches may have got opened without us realizing it so off it flew.   We had to rig up a temporary window with whatever we could on the side of the road.  I will deal with it later.

Harold and Pat met us in Brandon for an early supper so we could discuss what our plans are with them.  They are not leaving until near the end of the month so will meet us farther down the line.  Boston Pizza was a great place and after a nice conversation we were off.  

We headed to Winnipeg today.  We have an interesting plan in mind which will play out over the next couple days.  Make sure to come back and see what we are up to next.

We are spending the night at the Flying J in Headingly which is on the outskirts of Winnipeg.  They have RV parking spots so we are hunkered down for the night.  Have a great evening.

Another Week in the Life!!

WHERE ARE WE? Rivers Provincial Park, Rivers, Manitoba, Canada
NEXT DESTINATION? South in the Fall


Happy Mothers Day to all the wonderful moms of the world. 

Spring is Coming

WHERE ARE WE? Rivers Provincial Park, Rivers, Manitoba, Canada
NEXT DESTINATION? South in the Fall

Here is an update for the week.  We are still in COVID jail for 4 more days.  Time has actually gone by quite quickly because we have been keeping busy.  There is lots to do to get some things done in CJ's before we open.  We have decided that we will open on May 15th which is the beginning of the May long weekend.  The park opens on May 8th but we figure we will give everyone a chance to figure out what is going to happen slowly before we throw Ice Cream and Hamburgers into the mix!!!
Kaitlyn and Greg have been busy bringing us supplies and the pickup and delivery windows of the Jeep have worked fantastic. Whether it is necessary or not is not an issue here, it just gives everyone a good feeling to have a little barrier!!   A little rainy the day she dropped off these supplies.