Trick or Treat

Today was a long day and we covered 450 miles.  We wanted to be somewhere to see some costumes so we set our sites on Wally Docking in Mineral Wells TX. 

First I have something real important to share. This morning as we were leaving the campground in Dumas, I snuck into the bathroom just because.  Apparently due to cost cuts, privacy was not a priority in the bathroom.  I guess it would be a good place to catch up on the gossip with your neighbours.  So maybe this is something that might catch on in modern homes.  Just set the toilets up along a living room wall.  Would save a lot of money.  I know they tell me bathrooms are one of the most expensive rooms to build!!!! 

While I was in there, no one came to chat, but there was a fairly large friend down in the corner.  I just left him alone and went on my way.

It was still quite cold out this morning so we had the heat on again today.  We will be soooo ready for some 24C temperatures.

We did get to see some cotton harvest equipment all lined up ready to start a field.

A little farther down the road we spotted some buffalo.  It seems that lots of ranches in Texas are raising Buffalo.

We needed to stock up the Ponderosa with groceries so spent some time in Walmart shopping and watching all the kids coming in to get treats.  It helped us to get over not seeing all our kids and grand kids this Halloween.  One thing that impressed me about this store was the male waiting area just inside the entrance.  Pretty comfy place to hang out.

We did get pictures of most of our kids and grand kids in their costumes.  Because it is our blog we can share all the pictures of our family that we want and you have to look at them.  Enjoy!!!!

Sheri & Gord

Dani, Donovan, Rio, Joey

Close up of Dani

Although not his costume, Donovan got all dressed up for take a kid to work day.

Abigail

We will never forget our angel Clayton taken a few years ago.

And Silas

Greg Kaitlyn & Grace

A close up of Grace

We got all the grand kids, just missing Derek and Nicole, and Karalee.

We hit the sack early tonight because we have one more big day of driving to make it to our destination, Magnolia Beach.  Here is the view from our window tonight.

Moving on to Texas

When we woke up this morning near Denver, the thermometer was not nice to us.  It said -5C.  We knew it was time to head farther south.  We got off to an early start and spent most of the day driving across Colorado, then and hour across the Oklahoma panhandle, and into Texas.

Charlie by now is getting a little sick of the cold weather and between naps on the couch keeps looking at us as if to say "When will it be warm?"

The cotton is almost ready to be harvested and in fact we did see one field being processed but neither Sue or I could get to our cameras in time to take a picture of the harvesting.  Here is a field that is ready to go.

Sue found a little campground in Dumas TX for us.  It is free for a one night stay and includes 50 amp service and a dump station.  Some of the little towns down here know how to treat travelers right.  Thank you Dumas.

Because it was dark when we got there, I didn't get a window picture tonight.

Weekend with friends in Denver

When we talked to them Friday night, the Darby's were a bit apologetic about the fact that they were going to be busy all weekend with baseball.  Both of their older daughters were playing in a ball tournament Saturday and Sunday.  They were on two different teams which were playing alternate time slots, so it meant back to back baseball all day Saturday and Sunday.   Now many of you know I love to watch baseball, so this was right up my alley.  There was no better way to spend a weekend with them.   It was good quality softball and the teams were quite talented.  The first game we saw was Nicole's team.  Then we moved to a different diamond and watched Loren's team.  Because the girls had both just joined these teams, they didn't see much action.  We were glad we got to see Nicole pitch one inning and sorry we missed Loren playing field in a game we missed.  Thanks for entertaining us girls.  We didn't get much for pictures but will share the one we have.

Nicole pitching

After the ball games Saturday we were invited back to their house for a wonderful supper.  The 2 younger girls, Olivia and Emily were going to a Halloween party.  I managed to get a photo of them in their costumes.

Olivia & Emily

When we met Dave and Julie Darby 2 years ago in Cottonwood AZ,  they were living in a motor home for a year with their 5 kids, Johnathan, Loren, Nicole, Olivia, and Emily.  They also had a dog named Truman who is a big ole lovable Great Pyrenees.  It was Truman and Charlie meeting that actually led to us meeting the whole family.  We immediately fell in love with them and have kept in contact ever since.  For that reason, I have to include a picture of Truman and since that meeting another dog, Kennedy, has been added to the family.

Truman in the front

We spent the evening chatting at their house, and after some pumpkin pie and whipped cream, we headed for the Ponderosa.

Sunday the girls teams were both in the playoffs, and when Nicole's team made it to the final, we decided to go watch.  It was an awesome game and both teams played their hearts out.  Nicole's team ran out of runs and congratulated the opposition on being tournament champions.

After the game we went back to their place again and ordered in Pizza and wings.  It was great making the bond we did with this family.  We really enjoyed our time with them and will make time to visit again.  They have an awesome view of life as well as an awesome view out their back window of the Rocky Mountains.  I will leave you with that as our view out the window tonight.

Off to Denver

We have been watching the weather and thought that if it looked like Denver would not be in the grips of winter, we would head that way to meet up with RV friends we met a couple years ago in Cottonwood AZ.  They live in Erie which is just north of Denver.  The weather looked good so off we went.

We drove all day through nothingness. Miles and miles of cattle country.  It is beautiful in its own way but would cost a guy a tank of fuel just to visit his neighbour.

When we arrived in Longmont (which is just outside Denver), Sue had already found us a campground in the Longmont fairgrounds which had 50 amp power and dump site and water for 10 bucks a night.  Because the nights will be cool, it will be nice to be able to use the electric heaters instead of propane.  We have a birds eye view of the mountains from here.

We just relaxed for the evening after a long drive and will meet up with our friends tomorrow.

This was the view from our window.

Mount Rushmore

Woke up this morning to cold temperatures.  Our plan for coming this way was to see Mount Rushmore and we will do it by hook or by crook.  We headed out around noon so it had time to warm up a little bit.  Still only around 2C.  Brrrrrr   As we climbed up the mountain it started to snow and blow and we wondered if we had made a good decision

By the time we got to the top and Mount Rushmore the clouds thinned and the sun peeked out a little bit.  The visit there was worth it even though it was cold, and its one more thing off the bucket list.

Once you are at Mount Rushmore you have to go another 20 miles to the Crazy Horse monument that they are currently working on.  It is a slow process and they charge you 25 bucks to see it.  They do have a lot of exhibits in the information area to look at.

Here is what the finished product should look like.

 We headed back to the Ponderosa and ran into some pretty icy roads on the way.  This is why we head south for the winter to get away from this.

The view from our window is the same as last night.

Surprise in Sturgis ND

Today we traveled from Williston ND to Sturgis SD.

We noticed how green things were in this part of the country.  The temperature was great and the road was smooth.  Charlie even enjoyed the trip.

Saw a couple of planes mounted at some junk business along the way.  Some people will do the darndest things to get attention.

We have always heard what a great biker town it is and how there are parties 24/7.   Well when we got there you could shoot a cannon down the main street and there was neither a party or a motorcycle to be seen.  I guess the parties are not held in October.

Sue found us a great place on BLM land again.  She is so awesome at finding great spots.

When we got there it was about 26C so we spent and hour or so soaking up the sun.  Sorry for the view but it felt good on the bare skin.

View from our window for the next 2 days.

Its time to go

Monday morning we had breakfast with all our Rivers kids and grand kids and our friends Pat & Harold and Cam & Jill.  I spent most of the afternoon doing some stuff at Greg and Kaitlyn's while Sue looked after our grand daughter Grace.  We left around 4:30 and headed to Reston to have supper and spend the night with Derek and Nicole and grand kids Abby and Silas.   The toughest part of this whole south adventure is not seeing our family for that long.

We headed out from Reston Monday morning and crossed into the USA after lunch, south of Estavan Saskatchewan at Noonan.  We were at the border for less that 5 minutes while the customs agent came on board and confiscated half a tomato and 2 yellow peppers.  He waved and said have a nice winter and we were off.

We called it a day in Williston ND and found a nice spot down by the Missouri River.

  

We woke up to the most awesome sunrise ever the next morning.  Sure glad to be back on the road again.

Here's where we traveled the last 2 days.

The view from our window tonight