We are Finally Home

WHERE ARE WE? Rivers Provincial Park, Rivers Manitoba

Today is the last leg of our journey back to Manitoba.  We have about 2 weeks to get Cj's ready for business so we have to get there and get busy.  

When we woke up it was raining and after taking Archie for a quick walk he cuddled up with Sue on the couch.  He is not spoiled she says.

So we pulled up our legs and headed north in the rain.  

Our trip took us North past the Minot Airforce Base.  This is the base that the B52 bombers fly from and they used to fly at low level over our farm when I was young.

A quick stop at Dales Truck Stop in Dunseith for fuel.  $3.49 a US gallon which equates to about 1.08 a liter in Canada with all the exchange factored in.  Gas in Brandon is about 1.48 a liter right now so that is a good savings on 200 liters of fuel.  

Border crossing went without a hitch.  5 minutes maximum.  The border agent was not interested in doing paperwork so she said no problem when we declared the $1000 e-bike.  So we headed into Canada.  It still feels like home every time we cross the border and we are happy to be here.  It wasn't long and Rivers came into site.  Rivers is about 1.5 hours north of the US border.

First stop was to pick up Max and Grace to come for a sleep over.  Our babysitting duties began even before we arrived home!!!  Actually Gramma Melaine was doing a good job of the babysitting but we stole the kids from her.

We got to the park around 5 pm and got unhooked and set up in our parking spot for the summer.

First things first, we got the bonfire going and had some supper.  Max and I ate outside because it was rather a nice day.

Then it was time to put the kids bed down.  Sue pressed the button and nothing happened.  Oh oh what now.  So I spent a couple hours figuring out how the whole system worked and where the fuses were and where the wires ran.  

After a lot of head scratching I went right back to the battery box and wiggled wires and found one loose and poof, the power came back on to the bed and down it went.  Problem solved.  I guess all that rattling down the roads of Mexico has some consequences.  

While I was busy fixing the kids bed, they were in our bed watching a movie and eating popcorn.  Later when I went to get into bed I was met with a bit of a mess.  Apparently popcorn doesn't all get in their mouths.

Anyway it was bed time.  This is what I will dream about tonight.  The joys of RV ownership is the satisfaction of fixing things.  Good Nite!!!

A Day in Minot Just Because we Can

WHERE ARE WE? Minot, North Dakota

We are feeling pretty lazy these days so we are not getting in a rush to go anywhere fast.  Sue did a bit of shopping in Bismarck, and then after lunch we headed to Minot.

Remember I said we like to "Chase 24C"?   Well how about that.  Look at the temperature.  I'm sure that will cool a bit for a few days when we get home.

Its pretty bad when all I have to show for the day is my chicken dinner.  Winner winner.

We got all parked up at Walmart in Minot for the night.  We have to purge out fridge and cupboards before crossing the border tomorrow.  Good Nite!!!

Back in North Dakota

WHERE ARE WE?  Bismarck North Dakota

I quite often have trouble coming up with stories on moving days.  No different today.  I would take scenery pictures but the screen on the side window gets in the way and the bugs on the windshield don't make for nice photos.  See what I mean?

Yup thats where we want to go

For all my farm friends.  Do you remember all the wiggly lines in the field before auto steer?  This guy must have been drinking.

We needed propane so we stopped at a place and they filled us from the truck.  Gotta love small town America.  

We did buy a shower curtain rod to put up to block the dash off so Archie can't go up there.  He does get in the way when we are in cities and navigating corners and such.  We left it up when we were out of the MH and when we came back he was sitting in Sues seat peeking over the dash looking so distraught.  I don't think he likes the bar.  

It was only a little over 300 kms to go today so we had lots of time to spare.  We were only going to Bismarck today.

We stopped at Costco to get gas at $3.09 a gallon.  Then we parked and went in to the store.  There wasn't much for free treats so I went back out to the MH and hung around with Archie.

When Sue was done at Costco, we headed over to Walmart for the night.  I caught a nice sunset over the city.  Good Nite!!

The Big Dick

WHERE ARE WE?  Pierre South Dakota

It was a beautiful morning in McCook when we woke up this morning.  We took our time getting going because we only had 500 kms to go today.  While I was packing up and getting water Sue went off to play with Archie.  She had his tug toy and was throwing it for him.  Woops she threw it up in a tree!!  Now what?

So there was a stick close by so she tried throwing it up after it.  Well guess what?  Yup, the stick ended up in the tree as well.  Now what?

So off I went to get a big stick to get them down.  Sue was laughing as she remembered our daughter Karalee when she was just young playing in the bushes next to the soccer field where Kaitlyn was playing soccer.  Of course there were lots of parents around and all of a sudden, Karalee comes out of the bushes sporting a big dead branch.  "Look Mom, I got a big Dick" she hollered at the top of her lungs.  Everyone had a good laugh at her expense.  Sue reminded me that I had fetched a "Big Dick".

I did succeed on getting both the stick and the tug down.  Then I had to put the big dick back in the woods.

We saw a lot of open country today.  Actually the drive was quite pretty in its own way.  

Archie kept a keen lookout for cows and horses along the way.  Most of the time he controls himself but every once in a while he just has to bark his head off.  Yes he gets to ride on the dash.  He stays on Sues side and most of the time he is laying down.

We had to stop for fuel half way through the day and guess what?  My credit card got stuck in the pump and wouldn't come out.  I always fear that that thing might happen at one of the fuel stations that are not manned.  Oh well, until it happens, no sense worrying. 

We arrived at our destination in Pierre about 5 today after an uneventful drive.

We are Wally docking again today.  We are just overnighting so I have no problem with parking here.  

We were about 1/4 mile from Menards, so after supper we went for a walk to check it out.  The store has changed a bit.  They now have groceries which doesn't seem quite right.  Oh well, it killed an hour or so.

We did see the duel of the floor washers.  One machine was manned by a teddy bear and the other had a human on it.  They happened to meet in an ally and instead of the human backing up and going a different way, the guy got off and rerouted the teddy bear!  Oh well I don't imagine either one had a college degree!! lol

We hung around the store long enough to miss the actual sunset.  The aftermath was quite pretty as we walked home.