WE MADE IT!!!

Saturday, we took off from Soo Michigan, crossed the border in under 10 minutes and were back on Canadian soil before 11:30 a.m. We had received regular reports that Sudbury was experiencing a heat wave. And sure enough, as we drove east, the temperature soared and the sky was cloudless. This caused Nui to speculate that the weather gods had been fooled, since it is a well-known fact that temperatures drop and torrential rains begin the second she sets foot in Ontario for her annual camping trip. But, of course, we had forgotten that we had arrived a day early. This so upset the natural balance of the universe that it caused the roof of a shopping mall in Elliot Lake to collapse, just minutes after we drove by that town. By the time we arrived in Sudbury, the temps had dropped and we awoke today to torrential rains and freezing temps. The gods are smiling once again.


And so ends our adventure. We met a lot of great people – Americans are among the friendliest and most helpful people on earth. Our biggest frustration was finding help when we had problems with the RV. Considering that it is a mobile lifestyle, we had expected that RV repair places would be a little more helpful in dealing with sudden problems that occur on the road, instead of telling us to come back in mid-July. We hope that people at RV service centres like Capital RV (Bismarck), Countryside RV (Jamestown), and Big Sky RV (Bozeman) think about adding a service to help travellers get back on the road. Our thanks, once again, to Chris (Moses Lake), Keith (C&T RV, Bozeman) and “the smoking man” at Crossroads Repairs (Jamestown) who went out of their way to help us. They made our trip so much more comfortable. 


We had several highlights: the mountains (although Nui had had quite enough after nearly 2 weeks), the Badlands, the 1880 Town (Murdo, SD) which had a diner in an old train that featured the best pie in the world – “sour cream raisin pie”. We’d drive back just for that pie! It would also give us a chance to take a photo of the skeleton walking his T-rex. There was the tour of the Little Bighorn Battlefield memorial, the incredible amphitheatre built into a bluff in the Badlands for the Medora Musical, the Painted Canyon, the Enchanted Highway and so much more! It seemed that every day was busier than the last and so we didn’t get to do any geocaching, metal detecting, or gourmet dining at Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (mostly because we couldn’t get reliable Wifi to let us find the places!).  But that’s not such a bad thing – it gives us an excuse to go back. 

We had a great time, great fun and a great trip.  And so Prince Porketta is back at home and Nui is preparing for her camping at Grundy Lake.  The 2 Fat People in an RV are signing off.  Thanks to everyone for reading our blog and for your comments.
   

Dry Dock in Michigan

We managed to make it out of Minnesota and Wisconsin without having to put pontoons on the Beast (just barely). Our last day in the USA went off without a hitch. Prince finally got to eat a Klondike Bar and Nui managed to drive on a straight stretch of road without either road work or buffaloes. There are a few cyclists that may be a bit upset because she still tends to hug the right part of the lane – oh, and Wisconsin may be missing a sign or two. (sorry) We made it to Michigan and just to add flavour to our travels, we took an RV lot at the Soo locks. We had our choice of lots…. right next to a gaggle of children who, the lady at the office reported, “seemed like nice kids”.   However, we had seen the billboards advertising how people should take their kids hunting, so we decided to take the second choice, which was on a hill, directly downwind from a sewer dumping station. We think we made the right choice.

Damp in Duluth

Planting rice this year?

We suddenly realized that we were about half way home, and had used up about 2/3rds of our available time, so it was time for a push. We left Jamestown, intending to stay in Brainerd, after taking a photo of Paul Bunyan. Unfortunately, we never did find his statue, so we moved on and planned a long driving day, ending up in Cloquet, MN for a DDD dinner. No such luck. As we approached the highway turnoff, we were stopped by the police, who told us the road was closed due to flooding and re-routed about 35 miles north. So off we went, on one of Prince’s specialties – the unplanned detour. 35 miles later, we turned east and were expecting to make it to Duluth but we were stopped again, and told we had to go another 30 miles South because of flooding. The highway person strongly recommended that we stop for the night at the Blackbear Casino, since there was no way anyone was going to Duluth last night. There was a LOT of water everywhere and all the side roads were closed. So, Prince got his wish and we camped in a parking lot with the generator running. And we didn’t gamble! Good thing we stopped because the road ahead was washed out and some people died. Today we made it past Duluth and drove into Michigan, where it is a lot drier. We stopped just outside of Marquette and finished our hunt for sapphires and garnets. Still have amethysts to sift through. We’re on schedule and may even make it back a day early. How’s that for planning?

Sapphires, Garnets and assorted pretty rocks
 

The Life of a Blogger is Not an Easy One.

We didn’t spend much time in Mitchell, SD. It’s biggest claim to fame is the incredible Corn Palace, whose outside murals are completely done with corn and grains. It’s an amazing site and they change themes every year. This year was dedicated to youth activities. Following that, we started to think about some of the things we had missed. We are sorry to say that we’re going to miss the Testicle Festival in Montana and the Whorehouse Days in Gilbert, ND. Prince mentioned that we had forgotten to visit the Enchanted Highway in ND, so we hightailed it north and decided to go West to see it. Along the way we were told about the amazing Medora Musical in an amphitheatre built into the bluffs of the Badlands. This was highlighted by a Pitchfork Fondue dinner, where they spear steaks on pitchforks and heave them into huge vats of oil. Naturally, we couldn’t resist. The steaks were awesome (and huge) and cooked to perfection. The Musical is really something to see – the backdrop of the Badlands just made the whole little (300 mile) detour worthwhile. The festivities were cut short by rain (of course, we were in the West), so this morning we turned around and came back to Jamestown. On the way back, we took a 32 mile detour to see the Enchanted Highway near Regent, ND. Enchanting isn’t the word. These sculptures are amazing – even more so because they are just sitting in fields, miles apart, on an almost completely deserted road. It’s truly inspiring to see what some people do with a little extra time on their hands….. 42 foot grasshoppers, for example. What was even more amazing was that the 32 mile inbound detour took something like 95 miles to get out of. Nui was getting a little concerned when some of the roads looked like they were nothing more than grass tracks and tractor trails. But she stayed on the paved parts and eventually we wound up back on the interstate. Tonight we’re camped next to an Old West fort and 3 sunglass wearing albino buffalo. Haven’t seen the buffalo yet, but we’ll try tomorrow before we leave for…….

A big thanks to Crossroads Repair Service in Jamestown, who helped us on our way by fixing the side mirrors, which were threatening to blow off, and refused to take any payment for the work. Thanks!!!

Plans have changed – we’re going West

You can never please fat people…. We’re not that jolly. We got tired of the flat terrain, warm weather and never ending sunshine, so we’re going back to the hills. If you have any questions or comments, post them here.

How to do Mt. Rushmore on a budget

Crazy Horse Memorial.... one giant head
 

Nui waving at other Class A drivers
 

We made it! From Deadwood, we took another series of long, long, long hills but we finally made it to Keystone, SD, the home of Mt. Rushmore. Since we had only travelled about 45 minutes, we decided to forge ahead before dropping anchor. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that you can see Mt. Rushmore from the road. It was amazing. However, so was the traffic jam going into the parking lot, so we decided to cruise by very slowly and admire it from a distance. We figured nothing much was to be gained by standing there watching a rock for an hour. So on we went to the Crazy Horse memorial. Again, you can see it from the road and all it is is a great big head. So, we talked our way past the gatekeepers, drove up, took a quick picture and drove back out. Then we headed for the Badlands. That generated a lot of “wow, look at that!” from both of us. What an amazing sight! We drove in, through and out in about ½ hour and made it Interior, SD just in time for a major wind and thunder storm. The whole day cost us absolutely nothing and we saw 3 of the major sights that were on our to do list. Since we’re ahead of schedule, we’ve decided to backtrack and head for North Dakota and the enchanted highway, after seeing the corn palace in Mitchell, SD.



Wow....look at that!
 

Suck it in and Suck It Up

That’s our cue to hook up and get going: suck in the slides and haul up the jacks and away we go. We’re getting quite good at packing up in a hurry. After leaving Yellowstone, we headed east and happened upon the Little Bighorn Battlefield. This again proves Nui’s contention that we really should be looking at some of the brochures people keep handing us. The memorial came as quite a surprise – we thought it was further east. So we stopped and had a great tour and were impressed by how well marked the site is. For $8.00, the tour is well worth it. Prince finally got a chance to kick the grass to look for rattlesnakes but it was too hot for them to be out. Too bad we weren’t there the day before, since a lady told us she had seen a big one. From the Little Bighorn we crossed into Wyoming and stayed at a smallish town called Sheridan. There again we took a tour but it was a whole lot different. The driver careened around the town while playing a nearly inaudible tape which described scenes and locations that weren’t anywhere near where we were. The highlight was when he whacked his mirror on a road sign and had to stop. Too bad it wasn’t near a historic site. We slowed a little near the Sheridan Inn, which is the home of the Buffalo Bill museum. The reason we stopped here is that Prince’s son was graduating from Sheridan College in Ontario and we thought it was most appropriate to watch the convocation from Sheridan Wyoming. Prince’s eldest daughter graduated from St. Lawrence College today as well, but we didn’t see the town of Lawrence on the map until after we’d arrived in Deadwood, SD. Again, proving Nui’s point that we should be looking at brochures. Deadwood is really, really high!

Sorry we’re late with the reports. We not only couldn’t get Wifi, we can’t even get the GPS or cell phones to work. This is odd, since we are several thousand feet closer to the satellites than we normally are. So here we are in Deadwood, after a 4 hour trip up one mountain after another, culminating in Strawberry Ridge, which nearly brought the Beast to its knees. We are at roughly the same altitude as we were in the Rockies. Nui is convinced that there is no such thing as the ‘prairies’ and that it is just an urban legend meant to fool people into driving around endlessly in these )(*&)&* mountains. Does this country never flatten out?! Prince is finding that his oxygen levels go down the higher up we go. For this reason, he has decided to abandon his trip to climb Mt. Everest. Deadwood is a great little town and we took a local Texan’s advice and went to the Mineral Palace restaurant and casino in the heart of the town (actually, the old red light district). Another interesting spot. We ordered a really nice steak to share, since we were told that the portions were quite large. Fortunately, there was an elevator to take us downstairs, since neither one of us was capable of walking after that huge meal. The town has over 60 casinos and all the gas stations have been re-purposed into some neat little shops, such as the Chubby Chipmunk chocolate shop. We may go visit that tomorrow before we suck it up and suck it in and head for Mount Rushmore.